Crafty

I love to make crafts.

The only problem is, I’m not very good at it. The idea looks good in my head, but I have a hard time getting things to translate.

But I made this mushroom. 

And I think it’s pretty stinking cute.

The medium I used is needle felting, which is just stabbing roving, which is just wool that hasn’t been spun into yarn, over and over and over with a rough needle, watching so that you don’t stab your fingers too badly.

My dream would be to just be able to craft and blog all day, selling my wares on somewhere like etsy or big cartel. I don’t know what I want to be when I grow up, but crafts were always my favorite part of Girl Scouts, I like the idea of making something out of basically nothing.

Film, Literature and Culture

The English class that I’m taking this semester is Film, Literature and Culture. I really like the class so far, the writing that we do is a little bit less formal, and I think that is always an easier medium for me to work in. I have a hard time blending my opinions with research without using I.

Every class meeting though I find myself wanting to stand up and scream. Tonight we were starting to watch the movie for the book that we just read A Thousand Years of Good Prayers, and the discussion ran kind of long. So we kept talking. And talking. And people kept repeating things that has already been said by other students. I had already worked for six hours straight without a break and had only eaten an overpriced sandwich from Starbucks so at this point I was kind of done. (Usually by 6 pm on Wednesday I’m fighting a headache and am feeling stabby. And I’m still left with an hour of class to suffer through. ) Once we started watching the film, in the sweet, blissful dark, our instructor kept stopping it. I understand why, she wanted to explain the different scenes, and what they represented. It’s just really hard for me to watch movies in that way. If you keep stopping, I’m not focused, I’m waiting for you to stop the movie and talk again. Don’t get me wrong, I’m a notorious movie talker, but only when I’ve already seen the movie. Instead of having music on when I’m home alone, I put in a movie or tv show to keep me company. I find the taking soothing and I can better track the passing of time this way. Pieter thinks I’m crazy too.

Next week we get to meet the author of our book tho and that’s really exciting. She’s written two collections of short stories and I think that that might be a medium that I enjoy working in, since I love to read short stories so much. I need to actually think about what I plan to do with my English degree since I should be graduating soon. Hopefully.

Love is a Racket

Tomorrow I’m making a solo trek to IKEA, to buy the new stand for our tv.

I’m very excited, since getting something to put the tv on means I can have my coffee table back. I’m excited, I’ll probably assemble it myself before Pieter comes home. Shockingly I really like to assemble things myself; it makes me feel so handy!

In other news I’ve been consistently painting my nails in an effort to stop biting them and picking at my cuticles. (Gross I know) It’s working and I’m super happy. I’ve also noticed that keeping my hands moisturized helps to keep the urge to mess with my cuticles at bay. I’ve been painting them for about a month, and I’ve also been buying nail polish like it’s going out of style. I really like OPI, I figure if I'm going to take the time out of my day to paint my nails, I don’t want them to chip right away so I buy better quality polish. The OPI for sephora was disappointing, it chipped right away, and it was way thinner than you would expect a polish that costs $9.50 to be. The color (Domestic Goddess, if you’re interested) was a really pretty light purple, but the regular OPI (the Niki Minaj collection, color Fly) has lasted considerably longer, and was a dollar cheaper. I painted my nails Tuesday, and they only started chipping Saturday.

On a tip from a coworker I checked at Marshalls for OPI, they had the Serena Williams collection on sale for only $7.99 for a set of two, so I bought it. I’m going to paint my nails Love is a Racket later tonight. I’ll have to remember to scope out Marshalls for nail polish again, I never really think look at places like Marshalls or TJ Maxx, but every time I do, I find the best stuff!

Back to School

Well I’m back in school now.

I didn’t want to go back, but I really want to finish up.

This week I had English and Biology at SJSU, and tomorrow I’ll have the class that I’m taking at SJCity tomorrow morning.

Super anxious about tomorrow. Tomorrow I start my sign language class. I’m so nervous! I’m sure it will be fine, and I remember the alphabet from when I was in kindergarten. (I KNOW! My kindergarten teacher would be so proud!) So I do feel like I have an advantage over my classmates. I just hate going to class on the first day, it’s so awkward and forced. So I feel more prepared for actually going, I went to SJCity this afternoon to locate the space that my class is in. Luckily I found it pretty easily, and I also discovered a parking structure that’s a hell of a lot closer than where I parked. (I also thought that I originally parked in a staff lot, but I didn’t.)

I can’t wait until I’m done with school, hopefully I will be soon. 

Time for some pizzazz in our lives

I’m trying to be more crafty. I’m currently working on crocheting two different scarves, and am painting some framed mirrors that I want Pieter to hang on the wall.

On a side note, all of the walls in the apartment are blank. We’ve lived here for two years and we haven’t hung a stinking thing. (To be fair we did hang a bulletin board right when we moved in. But that. was it.)

I’m painting them a funky purple and since they are smallish we’re going to do three across the wall since it’s a smaller wall. If it turns out really well, I’ll post pictures. I chose purple not just because I love it, but because everything in the apartment is beige, and it needs some spice. Beige carpet, beige walls, light wood furniture. Since I don’t want us to live a beige life, I’m changing up the scheme of things.

We’ve been living in this 700 square foot apartment for two years. It’s time to turn it into a home.

Oh hey 2012

I can’t believe that it’s already 2012.

I’m not really the type of gal that likes to make resolutions, but I made the resolution to cook more in 2011, and I really stuck with it! So here is my list of resolutions for 2012!

-Save more money. Pieter said it himself, if we save enough money up, we can go somewhere fun this summer. Sounds like a challenge to me!

-Don’t procrastinate! Finish the things that I start in a timely fashion

-Read more

-Stop spending so much time doing nothing online

-Tidy the apartment a little bit every day, and try not to let the mess get so out of control

-Brush Chompers everyday so her fur stays untangled

-Be healthier. Not just ‘oh, this year I want to lose X amount of pounds’ but just eating healthier being more active kinds of things

-Do more activities on the weekend days that I have off, stop just doing just nothing on days off

-Keep cooking!

Hopefully I haven’t bitten off more than I can chew with my resolutions, but I think that I can do all these for a year if I stick to them. 

Today.

Today I...
Woke up at 4:40 for work.
Got loads done at work, realized I love all my coworkers mucho, and that this might be my favorite job so far.
Went to barnes and noble when I was off.
Bought more books than I should of. Wondered if I will ever feel like I have enough books. I won't.
Bought a cute gift.
Thought about how happy reading makes me.
Resolved to read more.
Took a short nap.
Didn't clean the apartment.
Ate Japanese food for dinner with Pieter.
Bought Chompers new, big-girl food.
Started clicker training with Chompers. (Hope it works!)
Watched two movies.
Decided to read before bed (The Red Queen, by Phillipa Gregory if you're interested)

What did you do today?

Home Alone

So…Pieter is camping this weekend with his family, and I’m home all alone.

For the long weekend. For only the second time since we got married. I’ve left Pieter on his own, for weekends pet-sitting, and the two weeks that I recently spent in Minnesota, which were also the longest time I’ve ever been away from home in my life. What can I say, I’m a homebody.

I’ve never really been on my own so I feel strangely anxious. (and like a HUGE baby to boot) When we got married I literally moved from my childhood bedroom that I lived in for 22 years into the apartment. I still only have half of my stuff because I have 22 years worth of stuff in that bedroom and only so much room in the apartment. It’s not that I don’t like to be at home alone because I do, but it’s really quiet at night at the apartment complex.

At least this time Pieter’s gone I have Chompers to keep me company. Sunday is going to be pretty strange; I’m going to have all day to myself.

I’m probably going to spend the day watching Big Bang Theory and finally alphabetizing by books.  And finally washing the carpets. And going to Costco to buy a fan. And giving Chompers a bath. But more likely doing nothing and not showering.

Hopefully tomorrow afternoon I remember to leave a light on when I leave so I don’t come hope to a unnervingly dark and empty apartment.

Serious Case Of The Ouchies

Today I got my nose pierced.

Not my septum, like both my baby sibling and co-worker suggested, but rather the right side. My right, not yours.

It’s something that I had wanted for a very long time, and I finally decided that I should just do it, and I can always take it out and allow the hole to close up if I don’t want it anymore.

This was the most painful experience of my life.

I’m done getting piercings. While the piercing guy was quick, fun to talk to, and an all out hottie, it did not take away from my desire to scream and smack him all around the face and neck while he put the needle through my nostril, dragged it all of the rest of the way thru, and then insert the stud, then continue to touch it for cleaning. I flinched something fierce once or twice (or five times) when he was cleaning it, and I opened my eyes and he had a Q-tip near my eye. The three burly cholos who were tattooing/being tattooed were unimpressed by me going ‘this hurts. This really really hurts. Oh. My. God. This hurts. This hurts so bad!’ And then sniffling because I was crying a little but mostly because I had just had an eighteen gauge needle rammed through my nose. So definitely not going to get another piercing anytime soon…and by soon I mean ever. It’s so much worse with the needle over the gun. Hopefully the piercing heals quickly, because right now it has a slight ring of blood around the stud, which is just a simple silver with a small rhinestone.

I have been home for three hours, husband has clearly seen it, but has refused to acknowledge it. Oh he saw it when I walked in, but is simply acting like it’s not happening. To be fair, he has had a tough week; I cut my hair really short, and then dyed it red both of those things he did not like, and then I come home with a hole in my nose.

Quarter Life Crisis

The last five to six-ish weeks of the semester are always the hardest. (In my opinion at least.)

And I don’t know if it’s because I really because I’m not really into my classes this semester, but I’m kind of (possibly thinking about, wondering how much work it would be, how I would go about doing it, who I would talk to about it, if I even can because the school is so impacted) considering changing my major. I don’t know what it is, but ever since I transferred to SJSU I haven’t really been into my English major. I don’t feel like it’s what I want to do anymore, and I don’t really feel like I’m good at it. The grades I’ve been getting aren’t really that impressive, and I feel out of place in my classes. Like everyone is operating on a different frequency than I am. I don’t know if I still want to be a book editor, or even if I want to write.

But at the same time…then what do I do? Do I major in Lib Arts? Humanities? Art History? Then what do I do with my life? If I major in Art History what the hell do I do with my life? Become a museum curator? Aren’t Humanities and Lib Arts in the same family as English? If then do I bother? Why do I have cranberry juice but no vodka? I have so many questions and no direction at all. I only went to one class this week. To be fair, I didn’t have class today. But I did the other three days, and I only made it to one class. Not one day, one class. Out of five. I might not be considering majoring in math as a major but 4/5 classes attended is not good.

Is this what a quarter life crisis looks like? Because it feels like one.

I really hope that this is just because of the time of the semester, and because I kind of hate my classes this semester.

I think I have a lot of thinking to do this summer before I pick classes for the fall semester.

People and Places

Certain places always remind me of certain people.

Today I was at Costco, and as always I thought of my grandma.

When we were little, she would take me and my brother with her to Costco for what we liked to call lunch. We would run from sample stand to sample stand getting away from the cart, and probably being royally in the way. My grandma would yell at us, constantly telling us to stay by the cart, and to hold on to the side. I still hold on to the side of a shopping cart if I’m not pushing it, Pieter can confirm this.

The only thing that would make me stop running from aisle to aisle was the area with the books. Ever since I can remember I’ve loved books; the way they feel, the way it smells when a hardback book gets a little old, the way a library sounds and smells. I will always associate these things with my grandma, and how she passed on her love of books to me. It bothers me that now her library is no longer expanding, but rather being snuck away in the suitcases and purses of me and my mother. Honestly? I’ve been taking those books for years. I always used to ask before we would leave to go home, ‘Grams, it’s ok if I take these books, right?’ the answer was always yes, but I felt like asking was appropriate.

I can’t remember ever getting too many books from Costco, I preferred the library where I could take 18 books out at a time and they were all free, but today I bought two.

I also bought an area rug when I was only going for toilet paper but that’s neither here nor there.

I know it’s kind of silly, but I always think that it makes her happy when I buy books at Costco, because it’s cheaper. I always thought that she never understood why I would stand in line until midnight or later for the last two Harry Potter books when I could get them cheaper the next morning at Costco.

Last Second Shopping

Pieter and I decided that our presents to one another this Christmas would be the new bed that we’re getting. (Once I remember which mattress we wanted at Ikea, which may or may not involve me taking a stealthy trip to Ikea next week to remind myself.) But now he’s possibly planning on getting me something, and based on the last couple of gifts, iPad, Chompers, it’s probably not going to be small. He started bringing it up a week or two ago, and I’m really clueless for once, he has left no real trail and that’s amazing because I LOVE surprises!

But I haven’t gotten him anything. Nada. Zilch. So tomorrow once im done working at the hell-hole that the mall currently is, I’m going to brave the (stupid, pointless, pushy, self-centered) crowds as a shopper. I don’t think ill tell him that I’m going to get him anything, I’m just going to wrap it before he gets home from work. This is our first married Christmas, and I really hope that it’s special. Not like with material stuff, but I want us to be able to really appreciate where we are in our lives. I think it’s important to realize how far we’ve come and all of the obstacles that we have overcome as both a couple and as individuals. That and I’m a huge cheese ball. 

Fall Semester Wrap Up

Friday wrapped up my first semester at SJSU, with a final at the ridiculous hour of 7:15 am. I got B range grades on all my papers, which leads me to believe that I could possibly get A’s next semester if I start early. So I’m planning on starting stuff earlier next term. We’ll see how that actually plays out though. I also hope that I feel this good about this past semester once grades are posted, hopefully I did well like I think I did, but you never know!

Our apartment is decorated for Christmas, and I caught my semi-annual holiday sickness. That’s right folks; I’m sick, just in time for Christmas! Pieter got told to stay home since I had a fever over the weekend, and we went to the doctor today which was a complete fiasco. My doctor, who I don’t really care for, was out today and the other doctor at her practice refused to see me. Ooooook. So after talking to the insurance company I called about six or seven other doctors who all wanted me to come in next week. I felt like I had strep throat, and I really wanted to get my throat looked at so we decided to go the acute care. Well my insurance won’t cover us unless it’s after 5pm, so Pieter’s mom suggested we go to her doctor, and he squeezed me in. And by God, that man gave me the roughest throat culture I’ve ever had in my life. A throat culture is not ever pleasant at best, but this was by far the most painful. I don’t know if it was because he’s a doctor and I’ve usually only had it done by nurses, but my throat actually hurt worse after and my eyes watered like crazy. I actually gagged after he walked out of the room, to give the thing to the nurse. It was the worst. But at least we found out that I have a crummy virus and not strep throat. Almost all of the spousal pity has dissipated once we were told that it’s a virus and not highly contagious and I just need to wait it out. The best part is that I don’t need to worry about getting the other people at work sick, since it’s a virus and I don’t go around coughing on people’s faces.

Keep your fingers crossed that I’m better by Christmas Eve!

My High Hopes And Cool Shade

So I have high hopes for the new flea stuff were doing with Chompers. After a really good tip from Sarah from Pencil To Paper we gave her a couple of baths with Dawn, and that seemed to really help. I also did a ton of Goggling, and I found that if you give your dog a little bit of apple cider vinegar (apple cider only though, not white wine or sushi vinegar) it can actually change the ph of her body, making the fleas not like the way she tastes. Also after her bath with Dawn, I rinsed her with a mixture of warm water and apple cider vinegar. It all seems to be helping so were really happy about that.

Also at the advice of one of the girls at work, I got her a flea comb and have been coming her with that nightly. Which she is beginning to hate and bark at the comb when I come at her with it. Which is frustrating since she’s a long haired dog, and she needs to be brushed at least every other day. So it’s not like she can just pass on it.

In other news I spent yesterday afternoon at Ikea with my mom and I’m really excited about the lamp that I bought. Or I’m more like excited about the lamp shade that I bought. I’ve never had a lamp that you could put a shade on, and it turns out that I really like that as an option. It has really vintage-y flowers embroidered on it, and it reminds me of some of the needle-point artwork that my great grandmother did that I’ve always thought were super cool.

The apartment is actually starting to feel more like an actual home now, so that’s good. I think we’re going to apply for an Ikea credit card, and then we will probably get a new bed (the double that we have now is just not cutting it) and a new frame, and hopefully some book shelves. My poor books are living mostly in boxes now, and that really bums me out. I can’t find my favorites, and most of my books are actually still at my parents. I’m really excited to get the bookshelves, I think they will looks really good by this half wall that we have separating the kitchen from the dining area. It’s pretty blank right now and I’m excited to liven it up. And I’m excited to get some other stuff to start livening up our apartment. Its making me feel like such a grown up!

Surprise surprise!

Fabulous hubby surprised me about a month ago with something adorable. A puppy of our very own.

She weighs about 2 pounds now, and will be a grand total of 3 of 4 pounds when she’s all grown up. She’s a Pomeranian micro-pup, and we named her Chompers.

I love her, but I’m not a wait, let me take my dog out of my pocket kinda gal. Don’t get me wrong, I’m so much happier since we got a dog (I was happy before, but I missed my parents Boston terrier astro. I still do, he’s my baby.) I forgot how much I missed puppy kisses in the morning.

But I feel like I’m having the hardest time potty training her. We originally were just going to take her outside and…have her go outside. But we have to take her all the way over to the lawn, make sure it’s not wet, make sure no other big dogs (most people leave their dogs off the leash here it drives me crazy! Dogs on leashes please people!) Are also outside, make sure no rogue cats are waiting in the bushes to make a nice snack out of Chompers. (I’m not really kidding; she’s the size of a big guinea pig.) It was turning into a fiasco.

So I got her a litter box. And special litter. And special spray to let her know that this is where she should be going potty. And put it in an area that she liked to poop in anyways. …and all she does is take the litter out, and gnaw on it. Or lay in the litter box which causes me to internally vomit. Because sometimes she will go in it. And then she wants to take a nap. In the same space. Gah.

It’s been more than challenging, but the vet did say that with toy breeds the learning curve is a little off, so they tend to be a little behind on picking stuff up. So I’m trying not to get so frustrated with her. Because she apparently can’t help it. Occasionally she will use it on her own, which earns her tons of praise and treats. And makes me happier than I ever thought possible. I can only imagine when I have to potty train a human child.

ALSO she has been getting fleas something fierce. She spends a few afternoons a week at my mother in laws and her (technically hubbys, who couldn’t come with us because I’m allergic) cat gets fleas because he loves to make a bid for freedom and then comes home covered in fleas. So my baby gets fleas. Aside from the bad press that they have gotten of late I haven’t ever felt good about putting flea poison on animals. And with Chompers being so small, lots of things don’t come in an appropriate dosage for her.

So I did some research online and found some flea spray that is primarily oils that seems to be working pretty well. But I think I need to use it more like 2 times a week instead of every 2 weeks. Poor baby had a bunch of fleas on her face after her bath yesterday. I had to pick most of them off and she was not having it and trying to make a bid for freedom out of the sink. It was a nightmare. Hubbys hand is all bandaged still, so he can’t really help me to wrangle a wet dog. So I was standing in the kitchen for about half an hour saying things like ‘mommy is trying to help you Chompers!’ ‘mommy doesn’t want you too have fleas on you!’

I have become that woman who refers to herself in the third person whilst talking to her child. Or in this case, to her puppy.

Candy, My First Love

I’m going to start this off by saying that Easter is my favorite season for candy.

Peeps, Jellybeans, chocolate. It’s all good.

At our local (in what would be our backyard if we were in a house instead of an apartment) grocery store, they had a big bin of discount Easter candy the week after Easter. I snagged a bag of 73 cent Jellybeans and promptly forgot about them in the cupboard.

The other day (whilst snacking on the couch) I cracked that sucker open.

And I’m now at that revolting part of the bag (that has been stored on the coffee table (re. trunk stuffed with beanie babies) for the last 4 days) where all the Jellybeans are just the orange or yellow ones. And I’m sad.

I HATE orange candy with a buning passion. It comes from needing to take copius amounts of Dramamine as a child to not end us vomiting all over the car on road trips. My mom thought that the orange chewable ones would be easier to take and they weren’t, they just put me off of orange candy for life.

I might eat some of the yellow ones, but I won’t enjoy it.

All of the orange ones are going to hubby, since he doesn’t associate orange with long trips in the car, and the faint smell of vomit.

Update!

So a lot has changed since my last posting. Mostly good things…I can’t actually think of anything bad.

So here’s a rundown:

-I got MARRIED. Madness.

-We moved out. Into an apartment that we both LOVE.

-I got into SJSU! I’m so excited that I won’t have to drive out to eastbay in the fall!

-I’m finally taking a whole semester off. I was only going to take one class, but I decided not to, since things are pretty crazy right now and I didn’t feel like I could focus on learning.

-Were waist deep in the greencard process right now.

-I got my new Clinique today, and I’m hoping that it will finally finally clear up my skin.

-We moved up our trip to Disneyland to may instead of june since I’m not in school.

-I found a pair of $200 jeans for $60.

So things have been pretty crazy. Were really happy now, and it feels good to finally be married and living together at this point in our relationship. So my life may have gone from zero to crazy in a few days, but I’ve never been happier!

I'm Looking For Something

and i dont know when ill find it. i want a job that will help supplement my low-retail working paychecks. something that is self paced-so i want to do it. i want something that will help me to pay off my sky-high credit card debts. i want something that will make me feel like im gaining experience with my english degree that im working towards.

im thinking about joining a website that will let me write for them, and pay me for it. i would consider getting ads and stuff for this page, but i dont think id get many hits. so im looking in other directions. if i want to move in late august then i need some more dinero to help pay for things like rent. i feel like i have a lot on my mind about the future and money and stuff.

i mean i dont really have a plan for the future, its all pretty blank right now. i dont know if ill have to move when i graduate in 2 years, i dont know where P will be, i dont know if well be married by then, if i will have actually moved out, if ill be doing a job i love. if we will be in the bay area still. its all so up in the air. this is the place of most twentysomethings, but im starting to feel the heat. im going to be 23 next month, and thats close to the midpoint of 25. im not being vain, i thought i would be more accomplished by now. i havent traveled, im still in school, im not married.

im trying not to worry, since worrying never gets you anywhere.

the universe will take care of me, it always does.

Stupid Chegg. We Are No Longer Friends!!

i was wrong about Chegg. they weren't different or special. i was under the impression that i would be able to mail my book back on the day of finals. i was   too lazy.

i was under the impression that i my due date for my book was the 14th. it turns out that i was wrong, and my book was due today. 

i thought that i would be able to sell them my old books, not for much, some of them are old, but i would like the shelf space.

i was wrong on all counts.

my friend C was right about Chegg. Amazon would of been a better bet. then i would of already sold my book back, and have gotten the money for it.

on top of everything else, i spent the last half an hour unearthing books from the bottom shelf of my closet, scraping off bookstore labels, and typing in long codes.

the amount ill get back?

that i was thinking to myself 'hey, i can use this money to buy some shoes! i haven't bought shoes in a while!' about?

the grand total?

$6.17

yeah thats all. i get like $7.13 if i use it as Chegg credit, so i might do that since i apparently have late fees now.

so even though its more(ish) next semester im using either the bookstore at school (eek!) or amazon.com.

lesson learned!

Earthquake!

so in the last few days we have had a couple of earthquakes. i have mixed feelings about things like this, because ive never experienced a big, destructive earthquake, well i was 2 when the big 1989 one happened, so i was alive...but 2.

it makes me kinda worry, but worrying wont actually get me anywhere so im trying not to care. its not like that will actually change anything anyways.

i do, however, worry that it will happen while im at work while im responsible for 2-3 other girls, and a, yenno, store. i know some girls wont run from the store screaming, but i think some other ones might. and then i worry that ill have to drive home and it will take me 6 hours instead of the 15 to 20 min it usually takes me.

but whateves, worry will get one nowhere, so im using this as motivation to not let my gas tank get to the point it usually does, running on fumes alone.