Cremes

There’s always something going on, isn’t there? Between puppy accidents and toilet overflowing, I have a million adventures per day! I plan to get out of the house for a bit today, I’m starting to feel crushed by school work and that’s no good. I can’t motivate myself to do it at all. I tried to do some studying this morning, but I ended up taking a nap and then playing some Zelda on the GBA. It really sucks that Mike has to work all day. I’m also the only one home all day, or at least that’s how it’s been for the past few days. Grandma is in the hospital because she had a mini stroke, so Valerie has been there all day long since Monday. So now I get to sleep in Grandma’s nice big double bed, which is a nice break from the futon, until she returns from the skilled nursing facility.

I sent off my last batch of Spanish assignments yesterday! So in about a week and a half, I’ll be able to write my exam and be done with it, then register for the next part. Whoopee, huh? At least that’s ONE of them over and done with. It looks like I may have to do another semester ANYWAYS which really pisses me off, but hey at least it’s just one semester, right? I’m going to try and take the extra courses distance or something, because I really can’t afford to pay for rent and food for another semester. Really, I’d probably have to take a res room or something. Which is not appealing, but hey. I just want to finish this stupid degree and be done with it. I found out yesterday that I needed another 3 hours of science credit, so I took the “chips for dips” computer course. I still need another 6 hours of history. So it’s either two distance courses from Athabasca next summer or another semester. It really all depends if I can handle the course load that I have going already. A job is out of the question really. I have no time to work, so I have no idea how I’m going to get any money. I guess I should try and apply for that bursary asap.

I’m getting braver with my driving these days. I’m going to meet Mike for lunch somewheres. Don’t know when yet, he said to call him whenever I got hungry. I just ate breakfast a couple hours ago, so I’m not all that hungry yet. I think I might just take it easy this morning, and study only a little bit. I need a break every now and again. If I could just finish this history course soon, I would be pleased as punch. Then I just have the next half of the history course and the Spanish, and wee! I can be all done and relax. Until September. I’m so not looking forward to this school year.

Anyways, I think I’m going to play a bit more Zelda and then go meet Mike. Maybe I’ll even do some shopping or something! :D Wee!

Big school-related update here.

First off, I am thisclose to finishing my Spanish course. Literally, I should be ending it within the next couple of days, that is — the course material that I have. I have to finish up my lab manual for leccion 5, then do the entirety to leccion 6, and then I’m all done. There’s not a lot of course material for this course. I’ve also got two histories on the go. I’m falling behind due to the weekend.

Anyways, I’m waiting to hear back from the distance education rep that I’ve been talking to, she’s supposed to give me more information on the final exam for the course. So until I get that email, I don’t really know. I need to find someone to proctor it for sure, but that shouldn’t be too difficult. Both Mike and Jamie went to school down here, so they must know somebody. I’m also waiting to hear back from the History dept’s secretary. Apparently the 3rd year courses that I need: I may not get into. The waiting lists aren’t moving, and yeah. The head of the dept said he could get me into any class that I wanted, so if my schedule isn’t full then I guess I’ll have to contact him. But they have added too new classes to the schedule, so I’m trying to get into those. One for each semester, but it’s something. I just want to graduate and I don’t care how.

I’m trucking along in my Maritime History course just fine, I’ve got my second book review coming up and those take time, but I’ve gotta wait for the book to come in before I can do anything. I ordered it from Amazon and it’s due to be shipped in sometimes before the 13th of next month. I’ve got a couple more chapters to go on Lesson 5 (out of 8! almost done!), but this particular lesson has five chapters worth of reading to do, which is more than usual.

My OTHER History course, man I’ve barely touched it. I think have until December to complete it, so it’s not first on the priority list, but it also needs to be completed someday! So while I’m waiting for my Spanish exam and my book from Amazon, I’ll probably get some headway going on that. Sigh. It never ends!

Between all that schoolwork I still have to have some sort of life and then put hours in for money on top of all that. I wish I could just focus on one thing and not have to worry so much about everything. But that’s life I guess, a billion things happening at once. I can only take it one day at a time.

I love the movie Phenomenon, with John Travolta. I swear, I can’t watch that movie without tearing up a little, even though I must have seen it a dozen times by now. In it, he wins over the woman he likes by buying her uncomfortable wicker chairs, just so that he can see her every day when she drops off more at the gas station where he works. Robert Duvall sums up how he won the girl’s affections in the end by saying “he bought her chairs.”

This morning, Mike did the cutest thing for me. The entire loaf of bread that I had bought the other day was eaten by Bailey, as the destructive dog will do anything to eat human food. I wanted toast for breakfast today because that’s what I usually have, but Mike didn’t feel like going out last night and I didn’t want to drive in the dark alone. I was a little bit disappointed, but I forgot about it.

This morning when I woke up, there was a note saying “Happy Breakfast-Day” on top of my bathrobe, and on the desk next to it was a loaf of bread and some strawberries! I can’t believe how sweet my fiance is!

So I guess you could say he buys my “bread”! :P

I’ve been using a loofah (or puff, as I prefer to call it) for quite a long time. I think my mom must have bought one when I was just starting high school, and I took to it like a duck in water! I love how they foam up with soap, and you don’t have to mess with a slippery bar of soap — just buy some body wash and squeeze some onto the puff and voila! Insta-sudsy magic. Every 4 months or so I buy a new one, even though I’ve heard that you can wash them in the washer, but they fall apart so easily I don’t feel like spending time tying back together a mesh into a ball! Right now I have a very big sized pink one, one of the more expensive puffs that I’ve ever purchased. I got it at The Body Shop because I needed one in a pinch and all they had was $5 ones. I’ve had it since December, but I only started using it when I got here, since I had one at my parent’s house and one at my apartment already (I even have a baby sized purple one in my travel kit).

So why all the background history to a rather insignificant item? Well, loofah/puffs are generally girl territory, along with frilly clothes and large shoe collections. Some girls live without them but the majority of girls are fond of them. Mention loofah to a guy and he’ll scoff and say that he doesn’t need something “poofy” to cleanse himself with and a washcloth or bar of soap will do the job just fine.

My fiance, a self-named “manly man”, is one of those guys. He refused to use the puff, saying that he was doing just fine all of his life without it, and why should he change now. I didn’t really push the issue, in fact, I had put it out of my mind completely. Until yesterday.

I took my morning shower as usual, 3 hours after Mike had taken his. I picked up my puff to pour my yummy Vanilla Brown Sugar body wash on it, and something unexpected hit my nose. The scent of Mike’s Mountain Surge body wash. Amused, I entertained the thought in my head of my “manly man” using a bright pink loofah in his early morning shower, but quickly forgot about it after I got out of the shower. Then this morning, I spotted 3 Mike hairs in my puff. After I picked myself up from the shower floor laughing, I came out here to write this blog. Now I can’t prove anything, and there is just as much of a possibility that it was a completely coincidence (or those hairs were actually cat or dog hairs, in which case I’ll be thoroughly disgusted that I used it to scrub myself), but I thought it was amusing anyways.

So, sorry honey if I let out your big secret, but all of two people read this blog anyways. I just find it amusing that there may be men out there that secretly use their significant other’s loofahs in the shower. If Mike finds his own puff in his Christmas stocking this year, he shouldn’t be too surprised, even if it’s just for the laugh.

(And after reading this blog, he might think apt to only put coal in mine!)

I can’t believe I forgot to mention that I will be seeing Michael Buble in concert on July 30th! Yay!! I’m also going to see Phantom of the Opera sooner, on July 17th. What fun! I miss so many cool things by living in Nowheresville, Canada. But not for much longer — less than a year until I make the big move! :D I can’t wait.

Also, last Saturday my dad came home from the hospital. I talked to him over the phone a couple times and he is sounding much better! Yay!

I’m continually impressed with how much work I’ve taken on this summer and yet managed to survive somehow. I’m about ready to finish off my Spanish course, only one new chapter left! I’m done my book review for Maritime History and although I haven’t really started my women’s history course, I have a lot more time to finish it in than the other ones. I need to finish Martime History next priority after I finish up with Spanish, which should be next week. I can’t believe that it’s already nearing the end of June. I’ve been here two months almost! It doesn’t seem nearly that long. I’m not looking forward to returning home in the fall. Back to the ol’ grind, and back to spending 90% of my time alone. At least I’ll have Alley again, I bet she misses me. I miss her!

All that I have left on my plate for school work today is round two of the Spanish oral junk. I’ve definitely gotten my 30$ (or Mike’s 30$… love you sweetie!) worth out of the little cassette recorder that I purchased at Fry’s. Tonight I need to revisit the office supply store for mailing envelopes and an eraser. You can never have too many things from Office Depot. I was going to go work out today but I just haven’t felt like it lately. So much school! I haven’t even been taking the weekends off like I had planned. I need to finish these courses pronto!

So much to do, so little time, I guess. I have been taking the time to relax a little, I just finished watching one of my Netflix movies, “First Daughter”. I was a little disappointed with both of my recent Netflix movies. “White Oleander” was crap compared to the book. I have Gumby (!) coming up next, so hopefully that won’t be a disappointment!!

Anyways, time to resume the battle with los ejercicios de español.

Honestly, how hard is it to answer a gosh darn email! It’s been about a week, and my Spanish teacher hasn’t responded to my email. I hope that there is a course evaluation because I need to finish this course and soon and she is not making it any easier!! First, there’s the 1 month absence that I wasn’t aware of, and if you’re in the middle of teaching a class you should not be running all over the continent. Second, it’s really difficult to mail tapes to the states with return postage if you’re sending it to a different country. A thirdly, I’d like a response to my gosh darn email!!!! Is that SO much to ask for?? It makes me so angry. Time after time, I run into these professors that are about as responsible as a drunk teenager. My history professor is right on, always replies to my emails within a day and corrects my assignments within a week. That’s plenty for me. How am I supposed to complete both of these Spanish courses within the remaining 2 1/2 months of summer if she can’t reply to a single email without it taking her 3 weeks!!! I am under too much stress here to be pushed around like this.

And if the whole teacher thing isn’t bad enough, there is a dog here that is out to make my life miserable. I swear, that’s its sole purpose in life. Last night when we got home from the movie, my Spanish work book was wet and scratched. It’s still usable I hope (because I don’t want to buy another one for just a few pages) and just now, the same dog went and did a number two in the upstairs bathtub (yes, the one that I use… boy, am I glad I already took my shower). I chucked all three dogs outside. I thought they were being too quiet this morning. Of course, the other two dogs are fine. But this one, it’s a hellion. If it were my dog, I’d have given it away long ago. Or else had it go through doggy boot camp. My Alley has never been that bad.

I definitely need a break from house-sitting.

This morning, Mike kissed me goodbye somewhere in the vicinity of 7am. 2 hours later, here I am, waking up, and realizing that I’ve got the entire house to myself all day. I didn’t schedule anything for me to do on my iPaq so I don’t have any real goals to accomplish today, although I wanted to finish reading “The Siege of Fort Cumberland” by Wednesday and I’m just about halfway through it, so that’s definitely on the agenda. I might even be brave enough to drive to the Post Office and mail out the Father’s Day card that I made last night. If I get that brave, I’ll be stopping by to the 24 hour Fitness place and working out. Man, I haven’t been there in ages. So little time! I was hoping that me and Mike would go at night, but geez, we just never think of it.

I hear movement in the house, so maybe Jaime is around today. She usually works at the horse barn close by, but maybe this week she doesn’t.

I got sick and tired of my face breaking out so I bought some Neutrogena stuff to make my face clear up. I’m hoping that it works because every two days or so I get a new zit and they hurt! Right now I’ve got a painful one of my chin that popped up yesterday. I should have invested in “on the spot acne remover” as well. Maybe I will if I get brave today, and run some errands. Darn zits! Argh!

Anyways, I should get a move on, get showered and eat something and all that jazz. I need to find out if Jaime is here and if she will be needing the white vehicle. :P Since that’s the only one I’m brave enough to drive!

Not much new to say, but I’ll give it a go. Been really busy running errands and doing schoolwork lately. I sent out my first Spanish assignment package yesterday, what a pain in the arse that was! I had to send it with return postage, but doing that outside of the country makes things a little tricky since it all has to go back to Canada. Getting it over here was a lot easier! We ended up sending gift coupons for international postage with it, which is the USPS’ way of return postage from other countries. Which isn’t a bad policy, I’m glad someone had the insight to think of it. I sent a long email to my prof after we got back detailing what we did and that we could send money if the coupons didn’t do the trick, and I recommended that we do it over the net the next time to save time and money. The whole reason I had to mail it in the first place was because there was a cassette tape. Otherwise I would have faxed out the assgniments and everything would have been awesome. I had emailed her asking if I could just do the oral part by mp3, but she said no. That part screws me over. Darn mail! It takes like a week/week and a half to send those things TO Canada, then who knows how long to correct it, then the same amount of time back. Electronic submission is the way to go!

As for my history course, I’m just waiting to get my third assignment back, and I’ve been reading “The Siege of Fort Cumberland” for my book review that I have to do along with unit 3. It’s pretty interesting so far, apparently some early Nova Scotians (who were essentially New England Planters, any of you who don’t know who those are should check out a museum or something) decided they wanted to “add another stripe to the American flag” and asked George Washington to invade Nova Scotia! At the place I stopped reading last night, they’re about to invade with an army of a whopping 72 (!) men, and I guess we can all figure out what happened from there. I just think it’s funny that the whole attack was brought on by Nova Scotian rebels. It’s the Yankee influence, I tells ya!

Then I have another history course that I’ve not even started yet. I read through the student manual and the introduction, but I’ve alloted today in my planner to actually start the course work. My tutor from that class called a week ago Thursday, I sent her an email in reply but she hasn’t gotten back to me yet. I figure that I’ll call during her office hours next week, once I’ve begun the material and will actually have something to say about it.

Once I get organized, I begin to panic a lot less (makes sense, doesn’t it?). Last week I was really worried that I wasn’t going to finish these courses, but as long as I keep up the work that I’ve been doing this week (and don’t take another two-week vacation from life), I think that I’ll be ok. I’m already half done Spanish! Only two more new units to go, after I finish up the middle two. The turn around for assignments and getting that exam done is what worries me. I believe that I have quite a while before my second history course is due to be completed, so I’m relaxing a bit on that one. The others are all due in October, not to mention student loans needs those marks before they’ll give me funds for next year. It’s all up in the air!

Tonight I think that we’re going out to a nice seafood place with some relatives of Mike’s to “celebrate” his new job. More of an excuse to get more exposure to the family, I think. I talked to one cousin on the phone and she seemed incredibly excited to know that I was back in town. His family is so nice and different than mine! On a familial note, my dad is back in the hospital. I don’t think it’s a long stay, Mom says that he might be able to return home as early as Tuesday, but he’s been up there a little over a week. The pills they were giving him weren’t working I guess, so they are trying a few different things, getting him to lose the fluid weight that he’s collected in his feet and stomach. In other words, they are taking precautions to make sure that he stays with us a little bit longer. Mom says that he has stopped going to work and will probably retire really soon. My dad is pretty young to be retiring, he’s only 56 years old! But there, I guess you never know how things are going to be. Life is definitely full of surprises! Who knew that I’d end up in Texas? Or getting married at age 22? Actually, I guess getting married at 22 isn’t really a stretch for those that know me well. :D

On that note, I think I’ll go shower or something. I’ve been awake since 7:45 thanks to someone playing with the dog very loudly outside the bedroom door. I tried to go back to sleep for 30 minutes after that, but gave up. Darn dogs. I definitely will be glad about having Alley back. Nice, sorta quiet, cuddly Alley! Anyways, toodles! Feel free to drop me an email anytime, I check my google mail daily! (meags.spinney@gmail etc etc)

What a crazy week it’s been! Even after the beaching is done I’ve only spent a couple nights here in Friendswood (which is where we’re supposed to be most of the time.) We spent a good chunk of the week in Nacogdoches last week (which is where the last entry was from!), and we really only got back yesterday. I’m not sure if we need to go back anytime soon, we haven’t unpacked hardly at all, but everything is in the new apartment and that is the most important thing. Mike’s dresser bit the dust, so we threw it out on the curb and are planning to pick one out together at Ikea that’s big enough for the two of us, since we’re going to need one next year and plus I’m leaving some of my summery clothes behind because I won’t need them until I get back here next year. Heck, I’ll probably leave all my summery clothes behind. So we measured what wallspace that we have to play with, and some Saturday we’re going to drive up to the nearest Ikea in Katy, TX and buy one.

Our one year anniversary was this week also. I sneakily sent Mike’s mom out to buy a keyboard that lights up for after dark use and while he was out filling paperwork for his new job, I set up his computer with the new keyboard, and tested it to make sure that it was in working order. He hasn’t gotten much use out of it yet, but hopefully he’ll soon get the fan fixed or whatever is wrong with the tower, and then we can see it in use a lot more. He bought me some beautiful pearls, a necklace and earrings to match. The necklace is real freshwater pearls, and they’re so pretty. I love them. I don’t dare wear them too often because I’m afraid to lose them or something, but they’re supposed to be to wear at our wedding, and they’ll match perfectly with my dress, which is cool considering that he hasn’t even seen the dress yet!

No new wedding news to report, I’m still making my way through that book, hoping for ideas and clues on how to save money! Mom wants me to have a catered reception, so I’m going to call the Rodd Grand Hotel and get a quote from them. More news on that once I actually call them.