I am in the last week of classes of have finished my first complete year of full-time college education!!

Let me just say WOW. What a whirlwind this past year has been.

The first semester was pretty easy. Biology+lab, English, Health (ha!), Algebra. It was like high school all over again. The second semester was a little more involved. Chemistry+lab, Art, Speech, Sociology, and my absolute favorite, FOOD. I was also forced to take a "First Year Experience" class, which thankfully was only once a week and mostly informative rather than useless. Although this semester was much harder on me (I was working too much, I realize now) I still managed to pull out B's in Chemistry as well as the Chem lab and A's in all other classes. I have one winter class coming up after the new year, then Year Two begins. I'm working less (thank goodness) so I can stay more focused and LESS STRESSED. I like to think I'm a laid back person by nature, but I've definitely learned I do have certain triggers. My procrastination is a big problem, and I know now that when I can't get my housework done like I'd like that's a huge stress too. Is it possible to become Type A?! I'm fighting it!

and everywhere I go, people hand me quarters
and they pat me on the back, they treat me like I'm famous

In the squeaky and high-pitched words of a young Shirley Temple, "Oh my goodness!" I have not written in a long time. July thirtieth, to be exact. At which time I promised to write more, and soon.

Sorry 'bout that.
I won't lie anymore. Really.

So, let's just jump right in! Our cruise back in February was fantastic!!! I'm hooked! But broke, so another cruise will have to wait a bit. I'm finally posting a link to my flickraccount for your viewing pleasure. There's some other neat stuff on there too, not just cruise photos.

In March we got a new addition to our family. A (now former) co-worker's dog had puppies and we got the pick of the litter! Ursa (Latin=bear) is a chow/rottweiler/lab mix we believe, and she has been quite the learning experience stressor joy! Even today, she is still very full of puppyness. But, then again, she's not quite a year old, so of course she's still a mess! Jumping forward a few months, we got another doggy to give her an intra-species companion. Lots of work, but very rewarding and it's nice to see them both enjoying each others company so much. Ursa's sista from anotha mutha is Zada (Arabic=lucky), a rescue dog from the SPCA in Onley, VA. She had been shot three times before we brought her home, but you would never know she was harmed by any human. She is absolutely sweet and serene and extremely careful, unless Ursa is around. Then... madness! As Ursa is white-ish and Zada is mostly black, we like to call them the yin yang.

they say vision
it takes you back to just where you want

Huh. I haven't written a word since the end of January. I must have been busy. Want a quick recap? With more to come? I promise!

-February: Cruise to the Bahamas, 26th birthday - all in all a great month!
-March: New addition to the family! Also, a rather intoxicated St. Pat's celebrated at the Greene Turtle. I heart Irish car bombs!
April: Jim's 29th birthday! I love that guy.
May: What the hell happened in May?? Please remind me!
June: Allison and Kevin's lovely wedding! Great times. Also, earned straight A's for my first semester. Success!!
July: Fantastic cookout for the fourth. Kristy and Mark's lovely wedding! Great times AGAIN! I also took a week's vacation... only slightly disastrous...

It's bedtime again, but I promise to elaborate! I really do.

well lucky you,
to have me by your side...

I've been tagged both on Facebook and within the giant vague interwebs to list some random facts about yours truly. I don't know how many I'll think of, but I'll go until I can't go any more. So there! er, here...

1. I have bitten my nails since I the day I started to remember that kind of crap.
2. My oldest friend and I met in preschool. We would play Rainbow Brite most every day. HE played Rainbow Brite - I was the cat, Kitty Brite.
3. My bestest friend and I have been together (sometimes in life, sometimes in spirit) since first grade. I heart her very much.
4. I've had glasses since second grade, contact lenses since seventh.
5. My parents are AWESOME! They are very.. interesting.. people. I'm happy to say they've been married almost forty years now.
6. My dad was a disc jockey/radio personality/radio news director for almost thirty years, until commercial radio as we know it got a little too bureaucratic.
7. Due to number six, I have a keen appreciation (and fairly good knowledge of) top 40 music prior to 1980.
8. I realized just recently that my absolute favorite song (if favorite means I can listen to it over and over) is Bobby Darin's version of Mack the Knife.
9. My favorite male singer is Meat Loaf, whom I discovered while watching Entertainment Tonight in the early '90s.
10. My favorite female singer is Tori Amos, whom I discovered while watching David Letterman in the early '90s. Thanks a bunch, CBS!
11. I never had cable TV growing up.
12. I started getting tattooed/pierced the day I turned eighteen.
13. If I had kept up with getting a tattoo each year on my birthday, I would be getting my ninth pretty soon. Sadly, I'm stuck at four due to lack of funds.
14. I have two penguin tattoos, one lizard, and a Wolfsburg crest.
15. I've been through a couple of piercings: tongue, both nips, and three in each ear. The bottom holes in my earlobes are now at 2g, and the top two sets are at 14g. My tongue and nip piercings are no more :-(
16. I'm a huge snob about other people's body mods. I know what I like, and I really know what I don't.
17. I had my third first day of college on Monday.
18. In the time between graduating high school and meeting my husband (about a year and a half) I lost my virginity, started school at SU, dropped out of SU, drank a LOT, did some drugs, smoked a lot of cigarettes, and still managed to keep a job. I don't know how.
19. I have lots and lots of cookbooks, and sometimes I even use them!
20. I collect vintage Pyrex.
21. I FREAKING LOVE PENGUINS
22. I like to wear hoodies pretty much year-round.
23. I only recently found out what I want to do when I grow up. And I'm actually headed in the right direction! Hence, my third first day of college. And one day, I'll be a Dietitian.
24. My friends and I made a movie in high school. It was called Murder of a Girl Scout and it was fantastic. I wish I had a copy to show you.
25. I really really really love Edward Gorey, thanks in part to watching so much PBS as a child. He did the animation at the beginning of Mystery!.

So I did think of 25 things! And I could really go on, but I won't tonight. Maybe later. Maybe not. Stay tuned...

yeah, the streets are deserted, and that's the big news,
it's Christmastime for the Jews

If you ever had any doubt that Jim and I were meant to be... I point you in the direction of Christmas 2008. I got Jim the complete set of Monty Python's Flying Circus on DVD. My darling Jim got ME the complete set of Monty Python's Flying Circus on DVD. If that ain't nerd love, I don't know what is :-D

side note just for Jim: 80085!

'tis the season to be jorry,
fa ra ra ra raa, ra ra ra raa.

It's almost 2009, and what have YOU done with your year? Me, I've completely lost it! Not my mind, but my 2008. It has FLOWN by. I really cannot believe it's already a cold, cold winter and almost a frosty new year. I'm looking forward to 2009, it's got so much to offer! I start school in January, go on a cruise in February (AND turn 26! woo hoo!), and I know that the year will only get busier from there. I have a lot I hope to achieve in this upcoming year, but no real "resolutions." Most of what I want to do involves success in my education and still keeping up with housework as well as family and friends, but I would also like to enhance my recipe repertoire. I need to stray from my usual four or five recipes (delicious and easy as they are) and branch out into some still tasty and simple(r) but more exciting choices. I've got tons of recipes that I've never used, and cookbooks I've read but never taken from, and I need to change that.

girl, you got to know these days
which side you're on...

It's not even really cold yet, but personally, it's cold enough. We'll be in this house four years in November, and the only year we were actually comfortable in the winter was 2004. We had a little bit of propane that winter, and it was the nicest heat. Every fall after that, we just never had enough money to keep our heads above water, let alone buy gas to heat with. Electric baseboard is heat enough if you're desperate, but it's pricey. As a bonus, our house is wired in such a (sucky) way that the one thermostat is situated directly over a strip of heat. Meaning: as soon as that strip of heat gets warm, the thermostat shuts the whole damn shebangabang off. Niiiice.

On a lighter (and warmer!) note: HALLOWEEN!!! I bought a shit ton of candy at Giant yesterday (all on sale, thank you very much) and I think this weekend we'll finally get the decorations up and the house ready for our party. Just a little bit of cleaning in the dining room and some re-arrangement and we'll be set. We also ...gasping for breath from utter excitement... bought a Wii!!! One of our finer investments, honestly. In the past several months, thanks to getting bills caught up and some paid off (State of MD, Providian, Wells Fargo, Dr. Dormer, just to name a few) we have a copious amount of spending money. Seriously, we bought a ginormous TV with our economic stimulus check, a Wii just for fun, a cruise for vacation, and Jim traded his car in for a 2005 Chevy Colorado. Craziness! Honestly, I'd like to have a lot more locked up in savings, but why not stimulate the economy? And honestly, I don't know how much money I'll be bringing in once I start classes in January, so we'd better spend it now. See why I'm not in financial planning?? hahaha

In all seriousness, life is really, really good. We have been married for three years, honestly and truly happy with each other. Being financially stable is a huge weight off any couple's shoulders, and I can really see how much less stressed we both are thanks to more money intake and less outgoing. I don't feel selfish about first wanting, and now really going, to school, because I am confident that we can make it. I was informed just a few days ago that I am eligible for a Federal Direct Unsubsidized Loan. That's a mouthful! It doesn't quite cover the full tuition for a year, but it's damn close. I did the online loan counseling and signed the master promissory note last night. Good times.

All other news:
-HOCKEY IS BACK! that is all.
-New cookbook: 1000 Vegetarian Recipes Really a nice cookbook. Not bad for $6.99 at Ollie's Bargain Outlet. I'm an Army member, you know. :-P
-Sivan is teaching me how to crochet. I'm not really good at it, but then again I haven't really practiced much since she taught me last wednesday. I've got to get on the ball!
-I've almost lost ten pounds! That's my first goal that I get a reward with. And what's that reward, you ask??

fingerstache! -

throw away yesterday
today is a brand new day

I'm in! Saturday's mail brought me a lovely acceptance letter from UMES and the endearing quote from Jim: "No surprise there." Thanks, baby. :-)

this isn't just in my mind,
we're suspended from space and time...

International Talk Like a Pirate Day! awesome. We're going on a cruise in February to the Bahamas, I'm going to try my best to play a pirate on an island.

I took the initiative to talk to a financial aid counselor on Wednesday. Not really anything I didn't know, but I felt like I had to talk to a real person rather than finding info from the internets. I feel better knowing what kind of paperwork I need to turn in and having a time frame for everything. I have a completed application, the form to get my official college transcript released to UMES, and twenty-five dollars (non-refundable, of course!). Supposing I'm accepted, the financial aid party begins. We make too much money for federal aid, but not enough money to just pull it out of our asses and pay cash. That wouldn't be a bad thing, but keeping up with an old house isn't the cheapest living arrangement. And so, we press on...

And now for something completely different: 6g lobes! very exciting. I feel the need to be more tattooed, but stretching is a *much* less expensive mod, and it's very gratifying. I was skipping two gauges at a time previously (just 14g to 10g), buuut skipping from 10 to 6 was a little more intense. I think I'll stick to one gauge at a time from now on. It's getting to the point now that my co-workers are noticing the size changes. A teensy tiny part of me feels like I'm sticking it to the man just a little bit, and I like it! As per our company dress code, no piercings other than ears are permitted, and absolutely no visible tattoos. Indeed, we are a conservative financial institution. But, I am not a conservative representative for said financial institution. Sadly, I would rather have a consistently paying job than dress/be tattooed/be pierced as I wish I could be. Sometimes we have to make choices that are a means to an end. When my 401k is fully stocked and I don't have to report to someone else for my daily chores, it's on, you best believe it!

In other news, threadless.com has some awesome tees. I got a nine-dollar penguin (!!) shirt and a twelve-dollar non-penguin (is there any other distinction??) shirt. Black, with glow in the dark thingies all over. It don't get much better. Seriously, go there. It's the perfect time of year for new tee shirts! You can wear them under a HOODIE.

Also, more new Pyrex came into the family. Three pieces (one with a lid!) for ten bux. Goodwill, Salisbury. I think I may photograph my queendom of Pyrexia one day, just to watch it expand visually. I think I'm up to maybe twenty pieces now? ... I just had to go count! I was close - twenty-one patterned pieces. Do the batty bat :-D

where do bad folks go when they die? they don't go to heaven where the angels fly.
they go to a lake of fire and fry, won't see them again 'til the fourth of July.

<---originally posted aug. 30, 2008--->

Bug-Out! The biggest all-VW show on the East Coast. I think...

The last one of the year is tomorrow. There's two a year, Memorial Day and Labor Day weekends. Always a good time! Good food, great friends, a (relatively) short drive. Only two and a half, maybe three hours to get there. Typically, we'd go up on Saturday and stay overnight. This particular trip is a one day affair, mostly because of lack of hotel rooms, and a lot of club members being kinda tight on cash. Still, a really good time. I highly recommend it! (Manassas, VA - Google it, yo!)

Exciting news! We now own leether.com! Look for a leslie.leether.com coming to the internets near you!

More exciting news! Sivan, my excellent friend and occasional inspiration, helped me with some ever-exciting spray painting today. We managed to get two kitchen chairs finished, as well as a living room lamp. Also brainstormed ideas for the lampshade, purchased items for said lampshade, and had a lovely dinner at Friendly's in Pocomoke.

Hopefully more craftiness to come :-) I'm taking the fall semester off in anticipation of some remodeling and hopeful admission into the Dietetics program in the spring. yowza. That makes me so nervous, you have no idea. I know I can do it, yes. I'm just feeling apprehensive about the financial part. I haven't been a full-time student in quite a few years, and I (and Jim) have definitely become used to a two-income household. I certainly don't make a lot, but it is enough to cover some bills and stash a little away for a rainy day. I am confident, though! We'll kick ass.