Spring Break and What's Next

I'm on spring break this week; it's important that I'm occupied and at least semi-productive so I don't feel like I've wasted the week. Today is only Tuesday, and already I have been so busy!

Monday, I went to the outdoor store for a new compost pail and a rake. I drilled ventilation holes and transferred the compost from the full pail to the empty so I can use the soil at the bottom in the garden. I wasn't sure how it'd look, how composted it'd be; but I was pleasantly surprised! It looks like dirt!

I had to add the "compost only" label because the old neighbors used the pail to get rid of broken glass, so that was awesome.

Today, I got a baby dwarf Lionhead bunny! S/he is really cute and has been practicing her sprints tonight. I'll definitely have more pictures (and a name?) soon.

Tomorrow, I'm spending the day with my friend Amanda and we're going to drink booze with lunch and get massages. It should be pretty amazing. Thursday, I have to do some homeworks and then J and I will spend Friday, Saturday and Sunday together! I'm pretty sure there's a bike ride in our future.

My seedlings have really taken off and I am also making rejuvelac from sprouted spring wheatberries this week. Thanks for the idea, Tovah! All good fermented things come from Tovah.

Regarding this semester, it has been really hard. So much more difficult than I thought it'd be. It's also been kinda lonely, complicated and confusing. My life is so different now than just a couple of months ago! I'm glad I'm done with my mid-terms and I'm really glad I'll only have a month left when I get back.

I have struggled with one class in particular, Intro to Human Development. The class is all theories and nuance and stages and if you don't get all the little details, you're sunk. I bombed three quizzes and kept going to the professor over and over again. But I busted my ass preparing for the midterm and I was able to get a 74. It's not awesome, but it's better than a 50 and I think it'll give me a boost of confidence to get me through the end.

I still have a ton of work to do, but in a month; it'll all be over.

After that?

We visit Rachel and her husband Eric in Philadelphia for a few days, hopefully have dinner with Megs Sherry and her parents and relax a little before my Summer term begins.

Stay tuned for: meet my friend Amanda, a visit with Tovah, a wedding in Michigan and a few days with J's fam, and news of the fall semester!

Eco-nundrum

The organic peppers (our preference) are imported from Israel. The pesticide pepps originated in Mexico. Is it better to buy organic with a much larger carbon footprint or consume the pepps that are "closer" to home?

I bought the organic. What do you think?

Birthday Party Leeway

I'm trying to be a good wifey and give my sweet husby lots of leeway to fuss just as he did for me a couple of weeks ago for my birthday party. I did try the following, though:

Lisa to Jesse: It's okay if you want to be a little less snappy with me.

It seemed to work! He laughed at my nice presentation of a perfectly reasonable request and we kept plugging along with our preparation.

We should have a nice day and a nice celebration.

No Matter How Much Time I Spend with My Husby

It never seems to be enough.

Summer 2010

Here's what I'll be doing between May 25th and June 25th.

• Social Science Research Methods
• Psychology of Women's Bodies

So if I stop answering emails or phone calls during that time, you'll know why. I'm gonna be pretty, pretty, pret-ty busy.

Overheard in the J and L House

Lisa to Jesse: I feel nervous.

Jesse: What are you nervous about?

Lisa: Everything.

Why I love My Husby

Reason# 73

When were sitting across from each other eating lunch, Jesse wiped a little snotty-ness from my nose. He could have said, "Oh, you have a little...." or "Hey, grossy, you've got snot all over." No. He just took care of it. So sweet.

Reason #410

He is doing a superb job helping me with my massive stress and anxiety over school. School is way, way, way harder than I anticipated and it is taking a toll on me and Jess is caught in the aftershock. He is being supportive and loving and encouraging. Way to go, Jesse!

p.s. even when he's doing a little micromanaging (which makes me resistant), I know he's micromanaging with love.

Reason #130

I was interested in some candy recently and we had none. So part of my birthday present was permission to have a "very tiny candy shopping spree." It was the cutest.

Just a Little Reminder

via Natalie Dee

Go To Sleep, Little Baby

I wake up tired and spend all day hoping for a nap. Then I get into bed at bedtime and I can't sleep.

I Had a Birthday Party

And it was excellent!

Overheard in the Produce Department

scene: Wegmans produce department. Lisa bumps into a funeral director colleague (Steve).

Steve to Lisa: Hey! Are you ready to get back into the business?

Lisa, with no hesitation: pssht. NO!

So, is that my answer? Am I done with funeral directing? I've been trying to answer this question since April 2008 (before, even). J thinks I'm stuck in the past, that I shouldn't sacrifice my future to live in the past. He's right, right? Why can't I let it go?

MJ Sings to Me from Beyond the Grave

via Rachel@Canada

Tomorrow Is The Day!

Tomorrow is my birthday!

I got my hairs cut for the occasion. Wheee!

The Reason I Have A Blog

Is so I can broadcast all of your family secrets to the six people who read this blog.

Thank you and goodnight.

Re: Very Sophisticated Earplugs

J asks why I don't include an alarm in my VSE. I guess that's a pretty good idea; I didn't think of that. Better than the "turkey timer" idea, I suppose. So, I want that, too.

::huff::

Dear readers,

Why don't you comment on my blog? It'd be so nice. You used to comment but now.... not so much. What happened? Is everyone mad at me?

Very Sophisticated Earplugs

Jesse has always been a snorer, often keeping me up or waking me from my sleep. It's even worse since his surgery because he's sleeping on his back. Normally, I'd poke him and ask him to turn over but I can't do that now.

For years, my mom-in-law has been suggesting I try earplugs and last night, I did. They worked ok. It was a good suggestion, but they make me feel vulnerable, more open to attack. I know this sounds crazy, but I'm concerned that I wouldn't hear an intruder. I shouldn't say this shortly before I am about to have a house guest (Rachel@Philly is coming for my birthday!), but I don't feel that this house is particularly safe.

There are some other problems that are not inherent to the earplugs themselves but to me:

1. I rely heavily on my white noise machine which I can't hear through the earplugs.
2. I often "can't" hear, don't hear, manage to ignore my alarm(s). The use of earplugs would certainly exacerbate this.

So, while I was dreaming of squirrel-hunting bitches, I was apparently also devising a plan for Very Sophisticated Earplugs. These earplugs would have a white noise machine built into them which would also improve their sound-muffling ability. They'd also have a timer/alarm. Let me see if I can explain this: you'd set the timer/alarm for your normal wake-up time and you'd also set your alarm clock. At the designated time, the central portion would pop out like a turkey timer, rendering them unable to muffle sound and allowing you to hear your alarm clock. I don't want them to pop out entirely since then you'd also have to find them. Just the center should pop to allow sound into the ear canal; the center should still remain a part of the earplug, though.

I don't know how to improve the earplugs to allow for me to hear attackers, though. I guess I have to keep working on this.

What do you think of my VSE?

"Overheard" in My Dream

Michael, my brother-in-law to Lisa: No bitch is truly alone until she's hunting squirrels.

In my dream, he then proceeded to tell me about a male scientist who was tracking and researching rabbits with exceedingly long stomachs. If I told you the details of this research, you'd know that my brain science is not sensible or accurate; therefore, it's much too difficult to try to explain further details.

This is my brain at work, folks.

Re: Spring 2010

I'm about to be a professional student. Oh, shittrumpet....

via Natalie Dee and Rachel@Canada

Life is Random and Unfair; Life is Pandemonium

As the title to this post (and the lyrics to a 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee song) suggests, there are a variety of changes happening in and around the J and L house. I'm going to try to give a thorough and long overdue update.

I've finished three weeks of school at Binghamton University. Generally, people fall into one or more of the following categories: they are really nice; they are really pretentious; they are from Long Island. Also, I HAVE NEVER SEEN SO MANY UGGS! I haven't quite figured out if/where I fit in. Maybe I need my own Uggs. Maybe not.

Regarding the classes: they are incredibly difficult. In my first Intro to Human Development class, Dr. Merriwether told me and my 89 classmates that most of us will receive a C in her class. YIKES! That is not good enough!

There is a lot of controversy going on about BU in general and their basketball program specifically; and the controversy, unfortunately, involves my program (read about how this convoluted situation affects me in this week's NY Times article). Basically, my program, Human Development, will be getting exceedingly difficult to overcompensate for how easy it used to be (the dummy basketball players were funneled into HDEV because the program wasn't overly difficult and they needed to get good grades).

So, after spending a good portion of the past three weeks freaking out about how difficult school is going to be and about how I can't attend all the necessary review sessions and study groups because of my work schedule (not to mention the many extra hours of studying I don't have time to do in order to keep up), Jesse and I decided it'd be best if I give notice at bagel town. Granted, I haven't been thrilled with bagel town in a long while, but the impetus to move on so abruptly sincerely was my need to thoroughly focus on school.

Unfortunately, eliminating my (exceedingly minimal) income will certainly have repercussions. At this point, we're concentrating on how important it is for me to do well and finish my B.S. so I can get a real job. One of the more unfortunate repercussions is that I have to (further) postpone the arrival of my baby hedgie. Boooooooooooooooo!

So, I've covered work and school. Now, onto a sad note. Our close friends Emily and Philip, who have been having some pretty serious marriage difficulties for a while, have split up. If that's not bad enough, she's from Pittsburgh and he is from Rochester. That means that when they split up, they both leave town. It's so sad; I know I'm still processing it, so I can't imagine being in either of their situations. It hits me occasionally; I can't believe it's true. We had so many great times with them and it's hard to deal with the fact that we'll likely never be with them in the same capacity again.

I know I've covered a lot; so much has happened all at once! I know I am hoping for some respite soon; I am sure J is, too.

Some good news: J has been back to work since Tuesday and is healing nicely after his hernia repair surgery. I'm still doing all the manual labor around here, but that's nothing new. Ha! I am hoping he'll start driving again this weekend so I can stop hauling his gimpy ass around (again, that's nothing new)! I kid. You know I love my husby!