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!