Let's celebrate best things! (AM)

You know that here at Miss Soft Crab we love to talk about best things and today I just wanted to share a few things I was really delighting in the other morning. It may be because I'm still pretty tired from moving or because we have a crazy puppy sleeping over or because I am just kind of physically uncomfortable, but I guess I just want to forget these annoying things think about what makes the sweet life.

Raspberry jam on buttered toast.

Oh sure I was eating a fancy French brand (fancy insofar as it is French) buy I don't know that is why it makes me so happy to eat it on toast in the morning. I think it is just because it is sweet and tangy and goes so well with butter and seems like such simple yet indulgent thing to eat. Yeah, raspberry jam, way to make breakfast special. 

White Birkenstocks. 

Remember that time I told you how much I loved white things in summer and that I was probably going to buy some white Birkenstocks? Well, I bought them. And I love them so hard I pretty much have worn them everyday since I bought them in December. I love how they are white and I love how they slip on and they are kind of ugly which means they go with nothing on the one hand and yet by the same token they go with everything. I love having a shoe I can wear pretty much every day and make me happy every time I put them on. That's a shoe. And that's love. 

House plants. 

Before we moved house we were living in a pretty small space and every surface was covered with some necessity or some shit masquerading as a necessity. But now, that we've only moved half our stuff I have surfaces for plants. And it is so sweet! Finally I'm living my house-plant filled fantasy, and I gotta tell ya, so far so good.

Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh, see. Just thinking about these sweet things has totally distracted me from the crazy dog and physical discomfort. Now you try!

There is absolutely nothing funny about this post (AM)

I had a super restless night's sleep last night thinking about what to talk about today.

I intended to talk about my Sunday afternoon in the kitchen, trying out a new cake recipe and some different decorating concepts in preparation for Crimpy's birthday next weekend. But after sampling a considerable amount of each concept last night after a meal of cassoulet that Appleheart cooked with all the spirit of a French farm housewife, I pretty much don't want to think or talk about cake for a little while (read: just today). 

I certainly don't want to talk about the election. Though they do make one quite reflective, and this one in particular has given me off the charts reflective impulses. I keep thinking about the Kevin 07 election and how exciting it was to wake up the next morning and get out bed knowing there was a new PM and things would be different. And how obviously absent that feeling was yesterday. I also kept thinking about the last election night, which I spent at Miguel and Legsley's place I think. Is that right? I think it's right. It must have been just after their wedding which means I would have just met Crimpy, the person for whom I spent so much of yesterday baking.  

J and K dancing at the Miglegsley wedding. Such a swell time.

At that time, Baby would have been a fairly newborn baby.  Iszzle, the Miglegley's son, wasn't even a twinkle in their eyes. But now baby is a proper little boy and Izzle is a proper little baby, just one of a slew of babies who've arrived in the last year and a bit. See what I mean about this reflective malarkey? It's ridiculous. 

So nah, I don't want to talk about any of that. I don't want to bore you guys with it. The mood I'm in, I could go on and on. Instead, I'm just going to head off to work and see what happens today. But before I go, I just want to draw your attention to the photo at the top of this post. See that little green pot up there? Well in 2011, when I got that little green pot (a gift from Crimpy, coincidentally), it had three tiny little plants in there, much like it does now. I took care of them and they thrived and now the are the plants living in the terrarium behind the little green pot, and new tiny plants have taken their place. 

Amazing, non?

 

Nature vs. Nurture (PM)

You know mate, I didn’t have that good a weekend and getting up for work this morning was no picnic. At least the cool change had come. But the weirdness of the weather just made it hard to chose an outfit. (People, you do not want to know what I am wearing right now.)

Then I started reading your post about gardening. Oh L I thought. I wish I was a good gardener. But I suck at it. I cannot grow a thing. (Although that tomato plant and basil you gave me a few weeks ago seem to be doing ok.) ‘Sucks to be me’, I thought.

And then I saw the penis plant. HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA. Way to make my day better!

Nature vs. Nurture (AM)

This post was going to be about gardening - how much I love growing things and how much I love my little collection of plants, especially my current favourite, the Maidenhair Fern, which looked like it wanted to die a few weeks ago, but is now looking really good:

I spent a lot of time in the garden this weekend you see, and so gardens and plants are really on my mind. I think garden love is going to make a great post some day, but today is not that day, and this is not that post. Something happened yesterday that I think is ultimately more enjoyable than the garden post would have been, so I think you guys should really hear about that instead.  This post is related to the garden, but really it is a chance to indulge in a little lowbrow humour, which frankly is probably he reason you are all here, right?

Ok, first a little background. I went to visit Midbro, Mrs Midbro and Niecey yesterday. Poor Mrs. Midbro. She's a million weeks pregnant and it seems that summer and extreme pregnancy do not mix. From what I could gather, summer pregnancy looks less like this:

And more like this:

Lady is in no mood to do anything at all. Even breathing seemed like a total drag. But Mrs Midbro is a total trooper and never complains about anything.
Nevertheless, Mum and I thought we would do her a solid by taking Niecey off her hands for a while.  We decided to hang out in Mum and Dad's garden where it was nice and cool.

What a wholesome and delightful a scene it was - my adorable little niece frolicking amongst the flowers while my sweet old Mum picked fresh daisies for me to take home.
This is the life, I was thinking. We're all so down to earth, tending the garden and walking around barefoot. So salt of the earth. I also thought. High five to us!
Then my Mum started giggling and said "Have a look at this!!". I scampered down to see what she was pointing at assuming it was something charming and natural, befitting the scene. It wasn't, guys. It wasn't. It was this:

Mum told me that they call it the  Penis Plant. Well, obviously. How could they not, right? It was not what I was expecting, but gee whiz, it is pretty hilarious. Sorry to lower the tone so early in the week, guys, but can you believe this thing? Apparently it just grew like that.