#but anyway i love both thistle and spotted <3

[thistleclaw-and-miku]

So… what do you think about Spottedleaf’s Heart?

i dont liek it :(

i haven't read the book in a while though but from what i remember from it, i didn't like how mapleshade interacted w/ spottedpaw... mostly bcuz i really liked spottedmaple lawl

but aside from shipping stuff, i just read it as more of a forbidden "romance" than a story of a character being groomed because of how it was written. it didn't make me feel like: "SPOTTEDLEAF GET AWAY FROM HIM" more like: "oh... he's manipulating her... into training in hell..."

but yeah that's what i think about the book that isn't canon in any way!!! :D

thanks for the ask 😘

[poge-life]

hiya! Can you do sweet pea x reader imagine where they have kind of a love-hate relationship (they insult each other all the time but kinda jokingly if you know what I mean) and they get stuck on a elevator together and the reader is claustrophobic and sweet pea calms her down and they reveal their feelings? thank you :)

Anyone who had eyes could see that you and Sweet Pea feelings for each other. Well, everyone but you two. You two were always finding ways to insult each other, then going to flirting with each other. That’s how it always was with the two of you.

Veronica had invited everyone to the Pembroke for an ‘after prom’ party. Inner circle only, meaning her, Archie, Betty, Jug, Kevin, Fangs, Toni, Cheryl, Reggie, Josie (much to your chagrin) and then you and Sweet Pea. You had decided to be civil for the night and put your hatred for Josie aside, I mean she snuck into his tent and asked him to be her date to her moms wedding, anyways.

You and Sweet Pea had agreed to go to prom together, due to the fact you two were the only ones in your friend group that were single, along with Reggie and Josie but you weren’t going with Reggie and you sure as hell weren’t letting Pea go with Josie.  Your dress was a red ball gown type dress with a black lace detail on top with emerald glitter scattered throughout the dress and Sweet Pea had on a black dress shirt, black skinny jeans (his only non-ripped pair) dress shoes, and his Serpent Jacket. But you didn’t expect anything less of him. 

You were all gathered around the living portion of Veronica’s suite, all with glasses of various liquor. You had your feet placed in Sweet Pea’s lap as you had kicked your shoes off the moment you stepped foot in Veronica’s suite. Toni and Cheryl sat next to you with Veronica and Archie in the arm chair and then the other 3 couples took various spots on the floor. 

It was a little past 2 when you decided to call it quits for the night. You placed your glass on the table behind you and placed your feet on the floor, “Ronnie, thank you for once again being an amazing host but I’m gonna call it quits for the night.”

“I’ll take you home. Considering I was your ride here.” Sweet Pea stood up, placing his glass next to yours. You leaned down to grab your shoes, earning a whistle from Kevin. “That’s a whole lotta boob going on this way, (y/n)”

You quickly leaned up, sending Kevin a sarcastic smile, bidding your goodbyes on your way towards the door. Sweet Pea shut the door behind both of you, making your way towards the elevator.

“I’m kind of upset that Keller got to see your boobs before I did.” Sweet Pea laughed, wrapped his arm around your shoulder. You shivered at the feeling of the cool leather on your bare shoulders. 

“You wouldn’t know what to do with yourself if you had a chance to see my boobs, Sweets.” You teased, sending him a wink

“Please. One night with me would have you questioning why you didn’t do it sooner.” He smirked, pressing the button on the elevator. You scoffed, leaning against the wall, looking up at the giant. “I’m not even sure you know how to use that thing.”

Sweet Pea raised his eyebrows at you, crossing his arms over his chest. You took notice of how the leather around his biceps tightened from the strain if his muscles. 

“Please. Like you even know what to do if that time presented itself.”

You simply rolled your eyes at the boy, entering the elevator, pressing the lobby button as Sweet Pea entered the elevator. That’s how it’s always been between you two. You would go from flirting with each other to insulting each other real quick. But that’s what makes you guys, you. If anyone else were to insult either of you, they would get shut down real quick.

You both kept taking side glances at each other, not saying anything. Suddenly the elevator jerked, causing you both to stumble. The lights flickered before they shut off and the emergency light turned on. You went to press the button, panic starting to rise within your chest. You didn’t do very well in tight or small spaces.

“No no no no...” You mumbled taking a step back. Sweet Pea, who was leaning against the wall opposite of you, had noticed your change of demeanor. He was so use to seeing the confident girl who sent him a wink as she made her way off the stage after doing the serpent dance, the girl who on many occasions, knocked him down a peg.

No the girl in front of him was not one he recognized. Your breathing had picked up and your hands began to shake. Sweet Pea pushed himself off the wall and closed the short distance between you two. “You okay?” 

Placing a hand on your shoulder, caused you to jump and turn to look at him. He took notice of the way your bottom lip quivered and the tears that gathered in your eyes, “I don’t do well in small spaces. And being in an elevator while its stuck, is considered to be a small space.”

Sweet Pea let his thumb rub across your shoulder and you leaned back into his touch. “you gonna be okay? Do you need me to do anything?”

You shook your head, wringing your hands together, trying to control your breathing. You let the tears fall silently and started panicking again. Sweet Pea didn’t hesitate to bring you into his chest and wrap his arms around your shoulders. You buried your head in his chest, wrapping your arms around his torso. He gently dropped you both to the floor and pulled you to sit sideways in his lap.

Oh if the inner circle could see you guys now. Never in a million years did they think Sweet Pea would be sitting in an elevator, in a dress shirt, with a girl in a ball gown, crying in his lap as he comforted her. He let out a slight laugh at the reaction they would get when their friends would find out about this,

You lifted your head off of his chest, sniffling as you looked at him, “What?”

“Nothing. Just thinking about how everyone would react if they could see us.”

You shook your head, letting a slight laugh escape past your lips. Sweet Pea lifted his hand and wiped the tears off of your face, causing you to look at him.

“Did I tell you how beautiful you looked tonight? When I saw you come down the stairs at Coopers house, you took my breath away.” Sweet Pea murmured, brushing your hair that fell out of its up-do behind your ear.

You had all agreed at getting ready at Betty’s house, since Veronica was hosting the after party and no one really wanted to go to Thistle House voluntarily. 

“You look very handsome. Even if you’re wearing something pretty casual. You still look very handsome.” You smiled, wrapping your arms around his neck. You both sat there in silence for a few moments before he broke the silence, “I like you. I do. I wasn’t sure if I did or if I just liked how we were with each other. But seeing you tonight, made me realize, I’m absolutely head over heels for you.”

You looked up at the boy, letting a smile dance its way across your lips, “I like you too. I have for a while. I think it was when we went to Veronica’s opening night at La Bonne Nuit and we both went together and we just danced together. I knew then that it’ll always be you.”

He let a smile break through before placing one hand on your face, “Can I kiss you?”

You simply nodded your head, leaning forward to connect your lips.

[noorakardemmomesaetre]

Through The Snowfall 

Or Read It On AO3 

Pairing: Betty Cooper x Jughead Jones

Summary: The Coopers and Andrews have rented the same cabin in the woods every holiday season since their kids were two years old. 

And with Archie and Betty leaving for college in just a few months, Betty is determined to make this Christmas a memorable one…by telling Archie how she really feels.

What she doesn’t plan for is Archie bringing his best friend. 

Or the way her gaze is suddenly lingering on the wild dark curls peeking out from beneath a crown beanie rather than the ginger spikes she’d set her sights on so long ago.

Chapter One: Moonlight 

She wrings her hands together in front of her body as she takes a shallow breath and straightens her shoulders. 

“Archie,” she begins softly, tugging her bottom lip between her teeth nervously before releasing it to continue. “I like you. Like really like you. I have for a long time now.” 

Her reflection stares back at her blankly and if that’s any indication as to how this confession is going to go she’d rather shove her hand in a garbage disposal. 

Shaking her head, Betty turns on the faucet and splashes the cool water on her heated cheeks in an effort to relax. When that’s not enough, she turns to the clawfoot bathtub behind her and begins running the water, tossing in a lavender rose bath bomb. There are dried petals laced throughout and watching them rise to the top of the now swirling purple water begins to calm her nerves. 

She can do this. 

She’s spent two weeks of every winter holiday break with Archie Andrews for the past fifteen years, since they were both running about this very same cabin in their diapers and ugly toddler-sized Christmas sweaters. 

Though they had never been able to spend more time together than that, they’d grown closer every winter and a few years ago they’d declared themselves the best of friends. This had lead to the occasional impromptu FaceTime conversation, encouraging texts before her school paper article releases and his important football games, and even a phone call before bed if either of them were feeling especially anxious. 

Her family had moved to Connecticut, away from their hometown of Riverdale, when she was two years old due to her father’s new job. Archie and his family had remained in Riverdale, which had only broken her mother, Alice, and Archie’s mother, Mary’s, hearts. They’d quickly decided they couldn’t bear not to come up with an annual reason for the families to spend an extended amount of time together and after several glasses of wine and much research, the ladies had decided on a yearly holiday trip to a little upscale town outside of Whistler, Canada. 

She peels off her pajamas and undergarments as soon as the water fills the tub and the hot water is exactly what she needs to quiet her overactive mind. She tilts her head back against the tub rim and runs her fingers absentmindedly through the colorful bubbles atop the water.  

The chime of her cell phone interrupts her efforts and she glances at the device resting on the small side table near the tub. 

Reaching out to see who the message is from, a small smile forms on her lips when she recognizes the name. 

V: Is three full suitcases too many for this winter wonderland vacation? Be honest. 

Betty rolls her eyes and chuckles to herself as she imagines her - and she means this in the kindest of ways - high maintenance best friend dragging all of these suitcases up their snowed in cabin driveway. 

B: I’d strongly advise cutting back to two. 

V: Please tell me you’re joking. 

B: Are you packing with Cher? Only she could convince you to pack that much for a two week trip 

V: Fine. Cutting back to two and a carry on! 

Betty smiles and closes her eyes once more, about to set her phone back on the nightstand when the sound of her phone pings once more. 

Cher: @ me next time, Betty Dearest. 

B: 😘

Betty grins at the fact that her best friends are currently together and turns the sound off of her phone in an effort to focus on the relaxation she’d drawn this bath for in the first place. 

The steam from the tub has been rising against her face and she welcomes the warmth and the invigorated way it makes her skin feel. She’s wondering whether she should apply a deep clean clay face mask - one can never look too refreshed and moisturized when professing their longtime feelings for their even longertime friend - when she spots her phone lighting up out of the corner of her eye. 

Groaning, she’s about to flip it over until her heart begins to thump erratically. 

Archie: packing to see u tomorrow 

B: Shouldn’t you already be packed? I thought your plane was leaving around noon! 

Archie: it is! considered packing in the morn but gotta get in that last work out u know 

Betty smiles to herself, knowing she hasn’t seen him in an entire year and she’s sure football has been working wonders on his already impressive body. Although, she’s never been that interested in overly muscular guys…but this is Archie. It’s different. Right? She brushes the thought away as she runs her tongue along her bottom lip and decides whether she should take a little risk with this next text. 

B: I’m excited to see you tomorrow :)

Archie: same. see u then ;) 

She tries not to overanalyze the winky face emoji as she sinks further into her now lukewarm bath. 

__________________

Veronica arrives promptly at 3:00PM and Betty rushes out the front door the moment she sees Veronica’s private driver pull into the driveway. She looks like a picturesque beauty snow queen as she steps from the car in a lovely periwinkle snow jacket and matching beret, but the second she sees Betty, she squeals excitedly. 

They throw their arms around each other in a tight hug as though they hadn’t just seen each other at school a few days ago. Veronica had agreed to come with Betty on vacation this year as soon as Betty had asked and she knows it’s because Veronica’s home life is currently a parental war zone. 

She also knows she’ll have to ask more about that later. 

“Oh, Betty! This cabin is absolutely gorgeous! I can already feel how cozy it is from here,” she says approvingly as she waves for her driver to follow behind her with her bags. 

Betty wonders if she should help him, but he seems to have an understanding with Veronica and follows suit. 

“It’s so wonderful! Mom has the fire going and wait until you see our bathroom,” Betty gushes as Veronica loops her arm through hers. “We even have a clawfoot bathtub!” 

They make their way inside and Veronica tips her driver an amount of money in cash that Betty’s only seen a couple of times in her entire life. Alice rushes over to squeeze Veronica tightly while berating her for not wearing a heavier jacket with these freezing temperatures. 

Hal brings her into a quick hug and lets her know that he’s got a pot roast cooking in the crockpot for dinner, if she’s interested. 

Betty’s laying on her stomach across Veronica’s bed in their large shared room on the second floor of the cabin, her ankles crossed as she swings her feet gently back and forth. Veronica is unpacking and chattering on about the latest drama with her parents before she shakes her head.

“Okay, enough of that! When is the infamous Archie Andrews coming?” 

Betty’s cheeks warm as she rests her head against a pillow and looks up at her best friend. “Around 8:00PM, I think? That’s when we’re expecting them anyways.” 

“I’m so excited to meet the boy you haven’t stopped gushing about since you fell for him three years ago,” Veronica says, giving her a teasing smile. “He better be everything you’ve amped him up to be.”

“No pressure,” Betty groans, tugging the pillow from beneath her and smacking her friend with it. Veronica laughs and tosses a pair of rolled up pantyhose at Betty’s head. 

“Do you think you’ll tell him tonight?”

“Of course. The earlier I tell him the more time we get to spend together,” Betty replies happily before grimacing. “Or the longer amount of time I have to face rejection.” 

“He won’t reject you.” Veronica arches an eyebrow dramatically and purses her lips as she says, “unless he’s a complete idiot.” 

Betty laughs just as Alice waltzes into their bedroom and she fights the urge to ask her mother if she has any idea knocking exists. 

“Elizabeth, darling, have you told Veronica about the Snowflake Soirée?” 

“Not yet, Mother.”

“Oh, do tell, Mrs. Cooper!” Veronica sits down next to Betty, crosses her legs, and smiles up at Alice, clearly excited about the prospect of an event. 

“Every Christmas Eve, everyone in this little town dresses to the nines and heads down the road for an upscale evening party. There’s dinner, decorations, dancing, champagne!” Alice is currently opening her drawers and refolding the sweaters Betty already folded yesterday and she curls her fingers into fists to keep from snapping. 

“That sounds absolutely wonderful! B, you could go with Archie!” Veronica claps her hands excitedly as Betty’s eyes widen in her direction, attempting to send an ohmygod, not in front of my mom, V! message. 

Alice finishes with the last of Betty’s sweaters before flashing Veronica a bright smile of approval. “That is a great idea, Veronica. Elizabeth, be sure to straighten your shoulders when the Andrews arrive, slouching makes you look lazy and indifferent.” 

She plants a kiss atop Betty’s head before waltzing out of their bedroom door and Betty’s nails are now threatening to pierce the skin of her palms. 

“She makes my mother look like a nominee for Mommy of the Year,” Veronica scoffs, making Betty chuckle as Veronica reaches over to clasp her hands in hers, somewhat effectively releasing the tension in her fingers. 

“Do you want to FaceTime Cher?” she asks in an attempt to distract Betty from her mother’s whirlwind appearance. “She and Toni are dying to see the cabin and you know they’ve been snowed in at Thistle House for the past two days.” 

FaceTiming Cheryl and her girlfriend, Toni, lightens Betty’s mood until she forgets about her mother’s controlling ways and can only think about the impending arrival of the Andrews. 

__________________

Betty and Veronica are sitting on the loveseat admiring the cabin’s over-the-top holiday decorations and sipping hot chocolate with marshmallows from festive mugs when the Andrews pull into the driveway in their rental Jeep. 

Betty pulls at her black tights anxiously as her father swings open the front door. 

“Fred! It’s been far too long, my friend!” The men embrace as Betty and Veronica stand and Betty finds herself smiling. Fred Andrews has always been nothing but kind to her and today is no different. He greets her with a bear hug before turning to hug Veronica, a girl he’s never even met. 

“How are you, Betty?” he asks and she knows the question is genuine. 

“I’m good, Mr. Andrews! Excited for these next couple of weeks off.”

“I already told Mary I’ll be sleeping until 11:00AM everyday,” he says with a look of defiance and the girls can’t help but giggle as Mary comes bustling into the house with a few containers of home baked Christmas cookies. 

“And I’ve already told him he will absolutely not be doing that,” Mary says loudly, making Fred huff teasingly before heading back out to bring in their bags. Mary hugs Betty and introduces herself to Veronica before adding, “honestly, he couldn’t sleep that late if he tried.”

Betty’s trying to focus on what Archie’s parents are saying, but her eyes dart to the front door at any sign of movement and she tucks a few loose strands of hair behind her ear nervously. 

“I see him!” Veronica whispers excitedly, standing on her tiptoes to see through the branches of the elaborate and large Christmas tree Alice and Hal had been working on all morning. 

Archie barrels through the door, not a moment later, his duffel bag slung over his shoulder and a wide smile on his face. Betty’s heartbeat quickens and her face breaks into a wide grin at the sight of him. 

But he looks...different. 

His muscles are large and defined now from his football training and instead of the cropped haircut she’s used to, his hair is coiffed to perfection. He spots her out of the corner of his eye and his entire face lights up. 

“Betty!” He makes his way over and quickly wraps her in a huge hug, his arms and body enveloping her petite frame. She giggles into his chest, happy that, at the very least, he smells familiar. Like a dash of men’s cologne and spearmint. “Still rockin that ponytail?” 

He releases her and she rolls her eyes, shoving him playfully. “Archie, this is my best friend, Veronica Lodge.” 

She’s now hyper-aware of her ponytail swinging gently behind her, brushing her shoulders. Does he not like the ponytail? Should she wear her hair down more often? But the ponytail is her signature look…

Her thoughts are interrupted as an unfamiliar feeling of dread settles in the pit of her stomach. Veronica has stepped forward, slipping her hand in his in a formal greeting that Archie seems all too eager to take part in. 

“Veronica? Betty’s told me a lot about you.” 

“Oh, I’m sure she has,” Veronica answers easily, tilting her head and smiling that 100 watt Lodge smile. He smiles back, but there’s a curiosity behind his eyes that makes Betty’s fingers close into fists once again. 

It’s not that she hadn’t thought about this predicament occurring when she’d invited Veronica, but she had convinced herself that Archie’s wandering eye only applied when she wasn’t in the room. Standing right next to him. 

“Shit.” 

There’s a commotion near the front door and Betty immediately turns around to find another guy their age attempting to pull what looks to be the Andrews’ small wagon overfilled with gifts through the front door. 

“Oh, son, I should’ve helped you with that!” Fred and Hal immediately move to where the guy has managed to get it halfway through the front door.

Archie is laughing as he watches the scene unfold, his eyes glittering in amusement. “Oh, Betty, you remember me telling you I was bringing Jughead, right?” 

Betty’s eyebrows furrow because she absolutely does not remember this. She does remember that Jughead is Archie’s best friend from home, but she’s never actually met or seen the guy. 

“Jughead, come meet the girls!” 

Jughead drops his own duffel bag near the front door, shaking hands with Hal and Fred before he turns around and shakes his head in fake irritation at his best friend’s lack of assistance with the wagon. 

Betty’s mouth parts. 

She’d always assumed that a boy named “Jughead” could only be some weird Jeffrey Dahmer-esque kid covered in dirt who curses loudly and demands extra meat with every meal. 

But Jughead is nothing like what she had spent the last few years imagining whenever Archie spoke of him. 

He’s handsome. 

Tall and lean with a smile that tugs on the corners of his mouth as though his happiness is a secret only a few are privileged to know. A worn gray beanie in what looks like a misshapen crown rests atop his head in an attempt to tame the wild dark waves peeking from beneath it and falling just above his eyes. 

“Hey, you must be Betty Cooper,” he says as he closes the space between them, tugging his snow-dusted gloves off and shoving them into the pockets of his flannel jacket before offering his hand to shake. “My sole competition for Archie’s friendship.” 

Veronica nudges her and she finally blinks, registering the introduction. She slides her hand into his and, despite the fact that he’d just had gloves on, is surprised to find that his hand is warm and soft. She smiles at him and shakes her head causing her ponytail to swing gently once again. 

“That’s sweet that you think you’re any competition at all.” 

He chuckles good-naturedly, his free hand moving to tug at one of the points on his crown beanie and her heart suddenly feels warm. She’d made him laugh. 

“I guess we’ll have to let Archie decide.” 

“Then I guess we’ll never know.” 

“Touché.” His playful smile widens at their shared knowledge of Archie’s indecisiveness being an obvious character trait.

After another few seconds her gaze follows his to where their hands are still currently interlocked in what could now be debatably referred to as the longest first meeting handshake of all time. 

His grip is warm but lax, as though he’s waiting for her to make the move to break the contact and she feels her cheeks burn. 

She immediately drops his hand and turns to Archie and Veronica, who are now both watching them with curious expressions. 

“This is my best friend, Veronica Lodge.” Betty introduces them and quickly moves next to Archie in order to put some space between herself and his best friend.

“Is that Alice’s famous hot chocolate?” Archie asks suddenly and Alice confirms from across the room that it is and that both of the boys should come grab a mug. 

They make their way over to the kitchen and Betty swallows audibly, touching the ends of her ponytail that fall against her shoulder. She’s watching Archie talk animatedly as he adds marshmallows to his mug, his arms flexing in his long-sleeved Under Armour shirt even from the small movement. 

But then her gaze shifts to where Jughead has shrugged out of his large flannel jacket, nodding along with whatever Archie’s saying as he grabs one of the cookies from Mary’s tupperware. 

“He is good looking,” Veronica observes next to her and it takes a moment for Betty to realize who she’s talking about. 

Archie. 

“Yeah, he is,” she confirms, turning back to the small table where they’d left their own mugs of hot chocolate resting. 

“So...are you still planning to profess your love for him tonight?” 

Laughter from the kitchen fills the air and Betty immediately looks in the direction of the sound, the tips of her ears burning. Jughead. 

“Um...no,” she decides suddenly, ignoring the look of confusion crossing Veronica’s face. “Maybe not tonight.” 

___________________

happy december everyone! ☃️❄️

thank you for giving this little holiday fic a chance! it’s been a ton of fun to write and i hope it adds a little Christmas cheer to your holiday season. 

i strongly advise enjoying with a mug of hot chocolate - extra marshmallows 

xx B 

[this-lioness]

Weekend Review

Long, boring and mundane, as usual, but I find it relaxing.

The last two grocery orders for my Mom were only about 1/3 to 1/2 full, and I knew that wasn’t going to hold her very long.  Food is readily available in the stores, it’s just that the stores are no longer doing substitutions for out-of-stock items, so if there are six versions of a given item available online you have to hope that the one you pick is one they have in stock, otherwise you’re not getting anything at all.  Your only choice is to keep ordering and ordering and ordering or physically go into the store.  Ugh.

There’s a Grocery Outlet up the street from us, and we decided Friday afternoon would probably be less crowded than a Saturday morning, and took our chances going out.  We wore masks and gloves, to be safe, and I left most everything home -- purse, glasses, phone.  I didn’t want to have to decontaminate more than I absolutely had to.

It went pretty smoothly, all things considered.  We have a full decontamination area in the pantry now: drop cloth on the floor, rolling rack with a bleach-water solution, washable wipes, clean grocery bags and gloves.  So we bring everything in through the back gate, I spray everything down with bleach (or SimpleGreen, if we’re worried about bleach getting on it) in the pantry, let it sit, then Marc wipes it dry and transfers it either to our own cabinets or into clean bags for my Mom.  Produce gets transferred directly to the sink where it’s washed with warm, soapy water and then dried.

Is it enough?  I don’t know.  It’s certainly a whole process, which makes me feel like we’re doing some amount of good, but I suppose you can’t really know for sure right now.

Saturday morning we had our breakfast biscuit sandwiches and coffee, then packed up (what we thought was) all my Mom’s groceries and drove them over.  En route she texted me to ask for Splenda (*sigh*) and a flashlight, because Jim uses a flashlight to navigate to the bathroom at night.  By then it was too late, but it turns out we’d forgotten all her frozen items anyway, so I told her I’d bring it the next day.

Dropped everything off with her and then went to Lowes to pick up garden soil and some drainage rock.  It was still cold and cloudy out, but warm enough that we got a good hour or so of work done in the back yard -- mostly cleaning up the winter muck.

A few months ago we bought a stack of old icing buckets from a baker ($1 each!) and Marc drilled holes in the bottom and layered them with rock and soil.  He also dug up one of the original three blackberry beds which we decided to retire.  I’d planned to just toss the canes, but they were already greening up so nicely that he took the chance they could be salvaged and transferred them to three new planters.  To my surprise they don’t seem shocked at all, so we may be able to keep them going in a better location!

Marc is debating what to do with the retired bed, but we’ll probably use it to dry firewood or store things off-season.

I went over the blackberry bushes and cut off all the old winter growth and one or two dead canes.  They’re greening up beautifully, and one of them has thrown FIVE NEW CANES, two of which have sprouted in the little gap between beds.  Complete assholes.  I rocked off the gap so it is now unofficially our new third berry bed, and gave it a stern talking-to about behaving itself from now on.  I swear to God those canes grew more since just yesterday.

The raspberries are greening up, but not so vigorously.  I need the time to get them back in order, frankly -- we have to completely redo the training wire.  There’s fucking thistle everywhere, I want to scream.  The harder you try to get rid of the stuff the more aggressively it spreads.

Blueberries are greening up as well.  I acidified the soil as best I could, but we’re giving them just this year to prove themselves.  If they can’t grow berries I can’t spare the garden space, and frankly it’s just too much work trying to acidify their beds.  The blackberries and raspberries would literally kill their mother to take over that space, and I’d love to try some gooseberries or something else new and different.

I pulled last year’s baby maples from their winter bed and gave them a once-over.  They’ve got tiny little buds on them, it looks like they all made it -- a good five or six at least!  I’ve got them in the sun now, anyway, to see if we can coax them fully back to life.

After choring I cleaned litter boxes, showered, then came downstairs and completely tore the pantry apart -- mud room, cabinet pantry, and the two sides of the kitchen island where we normally keep canned goods.

We normally keep a very well-stocked pantry, but I wanted a better idea of everything we had, and it was starting to get cluttered in a way that made it hard to get everything.  I spent a good few hours -- and Marc even got into it, and was a huge help -- taking everything out, combining items, moving some bulk goods to air-tight containers, and then sorting it all back new spots.

I had a bunch on hand that was more than we needed, and offered to bring it to my Mom with her frozen stuff.  In exchange she offered us some polenta and a few frozen items that neither she nor Jim would eat.  Good trade.

I’ve run past Marc the idea of organizing his tool chest as well, which is currently a six-foot-tall column of absolute madness that I have to avert my eyes from, but it seems like that’s going to wait until tomorrow.  Ah well.

Had tacos, watched Onward (I wasn’t expecting much but I actually really liked it), played some Animal Crossing and went to bed.  Good day.

This morning Marc made chocolate chip waffles and then we popped back out again.  The plan was just to drop the groceries off at my Mom’s, but we managed to get a few other things done: brought over the old tiered planter so she can use it for herbs and annuals, and set up the frame for a raised garden bed so she can grow some veggies (with my help, no doubt).  Later this week I’ll go over and lay down some weed blocker for her and fill it with soil.  I’ve got more than enough broccoli sprouts to spare and I’m sure the same will be true with the peppers, so she’ll have that if nothing else.

Afterwards we hit Lowes again, picking up a few more bags of top soil, bird seed, and more buckets.

Today was absolutely beautiful, cloudy on-and-off but warm and good for gardening.  We did a bang up job!

Marc gathered all the old wood paneling and other crap that’s been accumulating and got it into one spot so we can call a haul-away company.  He also cleaned up most of the leaf litter from around the yard and helped me organize the little collapsible greenhouse we got for free late last year.  It’s really handy, we’re already talking about replacing it with something more permanent.

I planted some of the broccoli sprouts and put them out in the sun.  Here’s hoping!  The three onion bulbs I planted a few weeks ago were sprouting up green so I got those into a planter and plugged most of the rest of the bulbs into biodegradable containers to see if we can get them growing as well.  Onions seem complicated, but I’ll do my best.

I’ve been saving every kind of little container I could get my hands on, these past weeks, and I filled them all up with soil and got some eggplant seeds going as well.  The bell peppers are just now starting to sprout, they need a bit longer, but I think they’ll get there.  Also planted some pinto beans and cat grass.  I’ve still got some baby spinach and pumpkins to get going, but I’m holding onto those for just now.

We sorted the “guest” patio chairs off into the side yard, as we don’t really anticipate having anyone over this summer.  We can always break them out again if we need to, it’s easy enough, but right now I’ve got almost every single sunny spot dedicated to something we can grow and eat.

We’ll have tomatoes at some point, too, but I’d prefer to buy them as seedlings.  I’m already unsure just how well the current round of babies is going to do.  I’m so worried about that broccoli, but I guess at some point you have to just let it do its thing and hope for the best.

I hope everything comes up.  I’ve read everything I can, but sometimes it all gets confused and muddled, so at some point I just sort of have to... hope.  Supposedly last year’s corn should return, but man... I don’t know.  We’ll keep an eye on it.  If it hasn’t come up by the time seedlings start appearing in the store we’ll just pull them up and replant.  That was a wonderful exercise last year.

We also put out more clover seed in the front (last year’s clover is BOOMING), and spread some wildflower seeds around as well.  Marc filled up the bird feeders, hosed off the patio and set up the chairs.  We’re going to buy a better pressure washer than the old electric one we have from the old house, both for our use and so my parents don’t have to keep hiring someone to clean their siding.  That will make a big difference.

It’s amazing what a difference an afternoon of work made in the back yard -- it looks and feels so much better.  Afterwards we got showered up and changed, and then a little bit ago I made some veggie fried brown rice with steamed veggie dumplings.  A little later on I’m going to make us some sakura lattes and maybe something light to snack on for dessert.

And how are you?