Monday, December 19, 2011

dear self,
remember when you cleared out all the perishable food items before you went away because you always do that, because you hate coming home to rotten wasted food items?
And you think you're so clever and you're really keeping house?

Will you for once remember every time you come back and you have no food in the house?

Love,
Hungry self

Sunday, December 11, 2011

before i go

I'm not doing the Biostatistics exam that I really, really meant to do, but I'm blogging that I really, really need to do it tomorrow (because it's due). I'm finishing out Biostatistics, but not Core Concepts of Public Health.
Tomorrow, I have my day job, then the exam, and really NOT MUCH ELSE, OK, SELF?

I don't have too much left to do on the exam, just one problem I'm really stumped on but the professor said everything I need is given...


All the other things I want to do include watching the DVDs I took out from the library, cleaning my house, knitting and sewing. I have time to knit this weekend though- I'll be headed to Maryland to see some of my family! I am very excited but a little nervous. Will it feel like "home"? Also, I still don't have a present for one of my family, and one present has yet to arrive in the mail. I have a back-up present for that first person also arriving, but I'm a little put out to feel that I need to get something for this recipient when I just don't think they will appreciate it. It's just not the same feeling when I think that everyone else will either like the thought I put into it or at the very least, be polite and not have "present-face": http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yMWTs0YT928

I should watch the DVDs because they are due before I would come back from Maryland, but I could also just take them back because I'm starting to go through all the things I am currently most interested in at our little public library, and maybe I should pace myself. ^_^

For some reason, though, I really want to start a new quilting or beading or embroidery project... forgetting the long-term quilting project I already have and the TWO knitting projects and the friendship bracelets and the clothes I ought to resize so I can actually wear them comfortably.

New project, right?

Tuesday, December 6, 2011

a little life

Tonight I got home from work and found that my landlady had taped a note on my door.. that she had written on a paper plate. Apparently when you live in a cottage, everything must be adorable.
Not-so-adorable are the mice. They really haven't been too much of a problem- I haven't found ANY evidence of a mouse eating my food- but they're leaving their, well, leavings, and it's a bit gross. Mostly inoffensive, on the scale of poop, but still not cool. I've stuffed a few holes in the walls with steel wool, as I read that they can't chew through that. Soap-impregnated steel wool pads were what I could find cheapest at the grocery store, so my cottage now features sparkly tinsel like corners, filled with soap!

I am finally getting some good responses in my new position as a recruiter at my therapy staffing agency! I don't want to take on too much more, though, because next week is my last week before I will leave for an extended period and try to get a car and etc.

I am withdrawing from the Master's program I was in because I was overwhelmed and I didn't feel like the school was the right fit for me. I am still going to finish out one of my classes, but I feel better already. I won't feel better about paying my student loans, but at least I'm in America to do so- and I am not adding to them, which is very important to me right now.

I am looking forward to not being tired ALL of the time.

I met another person who can never work for Target again. Apparently it's called "redlining."

I am partway through War and Peace (still in the War part). I picked up a lovely copy at a yard sale and don't really feel much of anything about it right now.

I joined the public library and it's great! I've been watching a lot from their randomly-large selection of British shows and movies. Pie in the Sky is about a detective chef, and it's sweet but a bit unsurprising (for a mystery show!) and the characters are a bit flat. I have been ALL ABOUT Agatha Christie's Poirot. I've resolved to ride that Orient Express one day. It'll make up for not being able to fly in the Concorde.
Funny how free books and DVDs inspire me to save up several thousand dollars to blow on a luxury train trip!

I also started volunteering with Meals on Wheels. Just once a week, but it's been fantastic. Most of the volunteers are very nice to me. One wasn't.. but it worked out fine, because instead of riding along with her, I got to ride along with a fantastic guy in this fantastic car:

Definitely one of the coolest rides I've ever had. It's up there (I do indeed have a list). The man still has the original manual!