A day off = a day for blogging!

Well I feel like a slacker now because I think I have not posted in the longest. I guess some things have happened that I can tel you all about. :)

First and worst: School. Actually, not that bad this semester. I am taking a course about integrating technology into the classroom and a literacy course. The tech one is sweet because as I think I've mentioned before, a lot of the people in my program are a lot older than me, and therefore I am probably the most tech-savvy person in my class. Which is good for the ol' ego. ;) It's also a lot of fun because we are learning a lot of resources that will be really useful and fun for teaching. I also signed up early for one of the only projects we have to do and presented last week so the rest of the class should be pretty low-stress.

The literacy course is also very interesting although a lot more (surprise) reading and writing-heavy. At least the stuff we are assigned is usually interesting, and I am learning a lot of useful techniques since I'll be teaching Language Arts hopefully. Also, I am just super happy because this is my last semester of classes before student teaching! I'll be full-time at Essex Middle school in January and I can't wait. After that I have about 6 more classes required for the master's but I am going to really spread those out over the next two years because a) they are expensive and b) hopefully I'll have a real job once I am licensed so I don't want to take too many classes when i am actually teaching and c) which is kind of the same as a, Greg and I are hoping to move next spring around when we get married to a place where we can get (a) dog(s) and having a dog will be an additional expense as well as a huge additional time commitment but I am seriously DYING for a puppy.

Speaking of pets, Rorschach is doing well. :) We bought some more wire panels (like the ones I built his cage out of) to block off our computers and under the bed so now we have to worry about him a lot less when he's running about free. We also discovered that putting a sheet of tinfoil on the couch keeps him off of it which has been really helpful because the couch is the one place he thinks is exempt from the litter box rule. Or maybe it is so comfy he wants to take it over and thinks if he pees on it enough we'll let him have it. Either way, he has been outwitted and thanks to out strategies, he's been a very good bunny lately. :)

He also gotten a lot friendlier. It is hard to believe that when we first got him he was scared half to death of us. Now we play games where he chases us around, and he always hops about the bathroom when I am brushing my teeth, and if Greg and I hug each other he always hops right between us so we'll pet him. He's really really cute. :)

Now for more exciting things! I also joined meetup.com and it has been really great. I think I mentioned I joined a women's only group and it has been really active and fun. I am very excited because we are going to see David Sedaris next week--he is coming to Burlington and I love him. Also, one of the girls in that group mentioned to me that there is a game night downtown.

Downtown there is a gaming store called Quarterstaff that sells lots of role-playing books, dice, miniatures and card and board games. They have a separate room upstairs where they have Magic card tournaments and stuff like that, but every Tuesday night they use that room for people to play board games. I'm so happy that my classes are not on Tuesday nights this year! I've been a few times now and really love it. Last night I played Agricola with four other people and it took FOUR HOURS. We played from 6:30 to 10:30. It was insane. Last week I played with the same people and we played Le Havre and Pandemic, both were also really fun. This is probably what I look forward to most every week. The people there are so welcoming and friendly and the games are so fun! I am really bad at remembering people's names though. I know the names of the people I played with last night but that is all. However, one of the guys I play with a lot, Matt, and his girlfriend are friends with the girl Bridgette and they and Matt's girlfriend Becky and some of their other friends apparently all get together on most Wednesdays at a place downtown. It is called Drink and if you guys ever come visit me (hint hint ;) I will take you there. It is a lot quieter than most of the other bars around and they have a lot of board games there and I believe Wednesdays they have cheap Mojitos. Anyway, I will find out tonight. :) They go most Wednesdays like I said, to play Apples to Apples and they invited me to come with them tonight! Yay! I am excited to make new friends, and I really like Matt, although I am a little hesitant because I get the feeling that the girls in that group are a little dramatic. We'll see though. I am hoping I can get Greg to come too tonight but since he hates meeting new people, and loves playing video games when he gets out of work, the chances are probably not high.

That's about all I can think of for exciting things, but because I can, I'll also add in some silly wedding stuff which can be skipped over if it is boring haha. :) Not that you couldn't have skipped earlier stuff too I suppose. :) ANYWAY, I got my dress a bit ago, but I don't think all of you have seen it. I am so excited about it. My sister and I went and tried on a bunch of dresses at a few bridal places in town and we saw some pretty ones (like the ones I posted before) but they were all really expensive. I was looking on ebay a lot and then I started reading the Craigslist wedding forums page. This is where people were posting stuff about what they were doing for their weddings to get ideas, and a few people mentioned some websites they had bought their dresses from. So I checked them out and found a couple dresses I really liked. I was really scared because the sites looked kind of sketchy and the comments/reviews were pretty poorly written which made me doubt their authenticity. BUT they were so much cheaper than ones in stores here! So I was a little torn.

However, one of my cousins got married last year. She bought a dress for the wedding soon after getting engaged, but she ended up getting pregnant and had to buy a different dress for the wedding because she couldn't fit into the first one. She offered to let me borrow the one she didn't get to wear for my wedding. I hadn't seen the dress before, but it sounded pretty when she described it to me. So, I figured, I'd take a chance on this website and order the dress I found there that I really really loved, and if it came and was really crappy, then I would just wear my cousin's. I'm sure it would be fine.

So I ordered my dress--they custom-make them so my sister had to take all my measurements--and waited. The site said I should get it in about three weeks. I got it--it cost less than $150 including shipping. It does not fit exactly, but I do not know if that is their fault or ours since we aren't like professional measurers. It is pretty close, but I will need to get it taken in about an inch. But other than that, it is so perfect! I don't think it looks any different than one I would have bought here, and it seems like it was sown really well too (which was important because the priest I was talking to about officiating was telling me horror stories about brides he's seen whose dresses have ripped off during the ceremony!)

Here is a picture! My sash is blue though, not red. I honestly didn't think the dress would be a big deal to me, but it seriously makes me so excited every time I look at it haha.

My sister and I have started making favors, too because there are so many of them to make and they are kind of involved. But they are going to be so cute! I don't think I want to say what exactly they are here though, it might be nice if there were some surprises left by next year, haha.

Also, if any of you have any input for fun things to do over the weekend (I hope most of you can make it for the whole weekend!) let me know. I am really hoping the weather is nice because there is a lake on the resort and I am hoping my grandparents will bring up their jetski so we can play on that, and I am praying my grandfather's boat works for once when we want it to so we can go water skiing/tubing also. Also, do people prefer a game of volleyball or softball? Greg's mom wants there to be like a contest for towel decorating because the resort does not provide towels. So like whoever brings the most creative towel or something, haha.




Okay done with the obligatory wedding gushing. =P I feel like such a girl when I talk about it. Anyway, I miss you all and I hope we can get together again soon!

Oh hai again . . .

Sorry, I dropped almost completely off of the blogging world. I have been busy, but the real reason is lack of attention span. I have been unable to sit still and read or write during any of the little free time I have had lately so blogging was not an option. This week however, starting tonight, I am spending on a required course where I have to live in a dorm, eat college food and attend classes from 8am to 9pm every day. I still have homework left to do tonight, but the old college procrastination has set in and I am ready to blog. =D

Following are a briefing on recent events in no particular order.

1. Last night I tried to smoke a cigar. Greg and I went to a baby shower for his new-born twin cousins last weekend in NJ and they gave them out. We watched some youtube videos to learn how it is done and tried it on our porch. First off, they are surprisingly spicy. At least this one was. Unsurprisingly, they also taste like ass. Also, I was so afraid I was going to inhale and destroy my lungs that it was almost impossible for me to get any smoke in my mouth at all. Greg got pretty good at it and was almost able to blow smoke rings. Neither of us vomited or are addicted to the vile things, thank God.

2. A couple weekends ago I went to a friend's bachelorette party. There, I experienced my very first pedicure. I had no idea what to expect. I will never have one again. I enjoyed having my feet in hot soapy water. I did not enjoy someone touching them. Or scraping all my hard-earned summer-feet callouses off. Or massaging them way too hard. Or doing whatever it was they did to my cuticles. I was gripping the arms of my chair so my knuckles were white and sweating the entire time while trying to be polite and smile at the girl torturing* me. She was nice, after all. But . . .

3. I told Greg about it and he was inspired to buy little tubs for us to have foot baths, haha. So we did that one night (of course it has been way to hot lately to do that again) while we played Magic cards. You heard that right. I have descended to a whole new (and shameful) level of geekdom.

4. A bit ago my sister came to visit me in VT and we went looking for wedding dresses. I didn't get one yet (it feels way too soon still since we don't even have a location or a more specific date than "maybe next May . . .?") but it was surprisingly fun. Here are a couple pics:


I really liked this one. The next two are both of my very favorite ever, although neither really looks nearly as pretty in these pictures as they did in real life. Both are about twice my budget though so we have to keep looking, haha. :)





In other news, my family is apparently settled in Kansas. I've seen some pictures of the house and it is nicer than I expected. Also, my parents mentioned that I am engaged to my grandparents which I see as a good sign--they are not completely ignoring it and hoping it goes away . . . even though they haven't talked to me about it at all or mentioned it to Greg, not a single word, the one time they came to visit us in VT before they moved. Sometime soon I need to make them talk to me about it though, I would like to at least talk a little before we set a date, etc. We'll see.

This weekend Greg and I are going to NJ to hang out with some of his friends from high school whom I am also friends with now. We are going to a water park. I am SO excited.

Anyway, that is long enough for now and I really need to start my homework. Miss you all!







*Note to self: Never, ever again google image search the word torture. :'( I had to do an extensive search on puppies after that.

IMPORTANT UPDATE:

I'm engaged!



<3<3<3 =D

Because I have homework I should be doing, I thought it would be a good time to update. ;)


So, I guess the most important thing that has happened is that my dad wrote back to me. I got his letter last Friday. It was very long and made me cry a lot, but I am not disowned. He apologized for failing in his most important duty (setting me up to be a saint) and told me he will continue to pray for my reconversion, which he will have plenty of opportunities for in Kansas. Anyway, I feel really sad because I know I am causing my family a lot of pain, but I am glad that they will still talk to me. I am going home this weekend for my last visit although my dad will not be there. He is in Kansas already, remodeling the house in the two weeks he has before they all move down. He'll fly home right before they all drive down together though and they plan to meet Angela and me in Vermont on their way down.

Anyway, I am looking forward to this weekend for visiting home as well as visiting Colby. It will be nice to stop in again even briefly.

Other interesting things . . . Also on Friday I got my hair cut with my sister. I also got highlights which I have never done before, but I am not a huge fan of them. I like that my hair is short again though; I have decided that I don't like it long anymore. I am ever grateful for relay for life last year for showing me the light. ;)

Another interesting thing that I am doing is participating in a brain imaging study for women that UVM is doing. I am excited because it means I get to have two MRI's! I have never had one before. I went in for my preliminary meeting this morning (at 6:45 ugh) where they made me give them a bunch of definitions for really random words. The first word they asked me to define was bird. I was like, "Umm, it has wings? And a beak? Oh also feathers. And it lays eggs!" Real scholarly like. =P It was hard to make up definitions for all those random words, especially so early in the morning with no time for breakfast!

They also had a really hard time drawing my blood which was annoying. My arm is starting to feel less sore now though, which is good. Now I have to do some tests in a while to see when I am ovulating haha. Once I am it's MRI TIME! Yay!

Also, next weekend (after this one) I am going to Rhode Island to visit Tom Hulse and see the new Star Trek movie, haha. Also Joel will probably come, too. I am also really looking forward to that.

And sometime in the more distant future, Greg is planning a role-playing reunion which I am invited to which will *hopefully* include Adrian, KT, Mike and Claire!!!! as well as Claire's boyfriend and potentially some other random people. We don't know where it will be yet, but everyone seems determined to make it happen and I am soooo excited! Also, Greg already has a story planned out and he is really excited about it so it should be good. Now I have to think up a character . . .

Anyway, today I was looking through old pictures on facebook (since facebook is all I do all day at work . . . I really need to start bringing some books in to read) and I was really missing you people again. (Also, really really really wishing we could do steps again =P) Once our semesters are all over we need another reunion! And there needs to be a Heather involved! And a Melanie if possible! Remember, we have plenty of room up here in VT hint hint hint. But I am totally willing to travel again as well. =D I just miss you! Good luck with the rest of your semesters those of you who are in that boat! I guess I better get back to writing lessons . . . blegh . . .

So it has been a while and that is mostly because I have been rather too stressed to focus on anything as long as a typical blog post. (Which has made homework a lot more challenging, too.)

Basically, I think about two weeks ago my dad wrote me a letter. This, you may be able to guess, could never be a good thing--he could have called if it was. In this letter, he made himself feel better by letting me know his opinions on things I already know his opinion on: my bad choices re: dating a guy who is not Catholic mostly. Also there is one time that he knows of that I spent the night at Greg's and this made him very upset. So there was a lot about how I have ruined my reputation but it can be fixed if I work very hard etc. etc. Then at the end he's like, call me after you read this. Blegh. Anyway, this letter would have been bad enough on its own, but it isn't the first of its nature . . . but somehow compounded with them moving to Kansas in order to protect the other kids from growing up and turning out like me . . . I don't know I was seriously freaking out. I just did not know what to do and I could not call my dad--I didn't see much point and I didn't want to talk to him. And yet I am so so so scared of losing contact with them, I am so afraid that once they move to Kansas they'll just start pretending I don't exist and I just won't have a family anymore. This was also exacerbated by finally watching the Royal Tenenbaums for the first time which was . . . bad timing. And I came to the decision that I needed to let my dad know once and for all how I feel.

So I write him a letter back in which I explained that although I love him very much, I think he is wrong and making a huge mistake. I have never dared to even hint at my parents that I do not believe in this religion and now I was just like, "this is wrong and stupid and you need to stop." Also I begged them to not move, although it is really already too late--our house is completely sold and they are leaving in May. And I actually sent this letter. I think I sent it Tuesday night. I don't know if they have gotten it yet or not. I do not know what will happen when they do. My sister is honestly pretty sure this will ruin the chances of our family ever being all in one place ever again and is really mad at me. I am really scared too, but at the same time, I really do want them to read it. I am sick of pretending. But it kills me to think I may never be allowed to see my little brothers and sisters again. I miss them all so much and I am always to scared to call home because the conversations so often turn bad. I am not going home for Easter. I hope I will still be able to go home one last time before they leave.

Ugh now I am getting all upset again. But I am in a good mood today because I did another thing I probably shouldn't have: I ordered a new laptop! My old computer is really pretty beat. It makes horrible sounds whenever I turn it on and it really has a hard time playing WoW, I haven't even tried to put the latest expansion on it. I've been looking on Craigslist for a used one, I probably could have gotten something that would have been an improvement for not too much money, but I also decided I would really like a laptop. I really want to be able to go outside in the sun and work/play. And it is really hard to find a laptop that can play WoW. It needs to have non-integrated graphics card. I emailed a few laptop sellers I found on craigslist but none of them could play WoW even though they were better computers than mine.

So today I started a chat with a guy from Dell just to get more info on finding a laptop that had a good enough graphics card. Annnnd he basically talked me into buying one. I really should have saved the money, but this is seriously such a sweet computer and it was less than $700 so it was still less than my tax refund. I am saying that is how I paid for it. =P I am soooo excited to get it! I won't be until the first week of May though, what a long wait!

Anyways, I miss you guys! I guess I should get back to work, I have a couple charts that have been requested since starting this post . . .

Bunny!

So here is my update on my new bunny! I already posted this picture on facebook, but I am putting it here as well because he is so cute. :)

So Saturday Greg and I went to go look at some bunnies for sale. The place we found was about an hour drive. When we got there we met the woman who raises them and she was very talkative. She said she has about 60-70 rabbits. There were a couple rows of cages in the yard. Some of the rabbits had very new babies that we saw; she showed us one that had died when it was a couple days old. (I am not sure why she showed it to us. It was pretty sad.) Anyway, she didn't have anything between a few days old and about 10 weeks old which was too bad. I was sort of hoping for something around 6-8 weeks old. But she showed us a couple that she was willing to sell--she had only a few specific ones she was willing to part with--some of the nicer and prettier ones were not available. But she showed us this little guy. He was really skittish and hard to catch because he ran back and forth in his cage so quickly to get away. This made me nervous because I wanted a friendly one. However, when I held him he didn't seem too scared and didn't try to escape. The only other place we knew of at the time was about an hour and a half away and I didn't really want to keep driving (or to make Greg keep driving as he was not terribly enthusiastic about the trip.) So I decided to give him a try.

He has bright blue eyes which is rare for a rabbit. Greg actually thinks this makes him look creepy, but I think he looks like a husky. :) I named his Rorschach because of his ink-splotchy back. Also, because it amuses me to imagine him using a really creepy voice.

We brought him home and he was very unhappy the entire drive. When we got home he just stayed crouched in a corner of the cardboard box we brought him in and would not come out or move at all. It was a really long time before he would even eat or drink anything and I was afraid he would die from being too stressed out. But eventually he did decide to take a drink and try some hay and he cheered up after that. He still wasn't very happy to be picked up or petted, Greg and I are pretty terrifying. He slept in the bedroom the first night but woke us up at 6am chewing his wooden blocks. Sunday I set his box up in the kitchen and introduced him to his litter box. Most of Sunday he went to the bathroom all over the place. Also, he still didn't want anything to do with us, if possible. He staked out a post on the Wii fit under one of Greg's chairs and watched us from there.

It is too bad he lived in a cage all his life, he is taking some time to adjust. He wasn't curious at all at first, he just wanted to sit on one place, I guess like he did in his cage. It was really funny watching him on the hardwood florrs though, he was slipping all around at first. A couple times I saw him lay on his belly and push himself backwards with his front feet. It was pretty adorable. =D

By Sunday night though he was finally getting a little bolder. Greg and I were watching a movie and he came up and sniffed Greg's feet. Later, he snuck over to the tv which has built in shelves. Greg keeps his video games there. One of them had a "used" sticker on it that was kind of sticking out. Rory crept over and grabbed the game by its sticker and tried to run off with it. Greg had to chase him and take it away. It was really funny. =D

Monday morning I got up for work and went to check on Rorschach. He had jumped over the plywood walls I used as a gate for him and was in the living room. I was afraid he would have left us stinky presents all over. But I was very surprised not to find any. Also, although there were some accidents on the newspaper near his food and water bowl, he had also used his litterbox for the first time. So I cleaned up the newspaper and Rory watched me. Then he came over and used his litter box again! What a good boy! I cleaned that out but left a couple poos in it so he would get the idea and went to work. Greg got up later for work and he didn't find any accidents.

When Greg got home for work in the early afternoon he said Rory had used his litter box a few times and still no accidents. When I got home Greg said he dropped two little poos under his favorite chair but then ran and finished in the litter box. That is the only accident he had all day.

We have had this bunny 3 days and he is already litter trained. He is the smartest bunny ever!

Now if only he would get used to us and learn to enjoy cuddling . . . we got some alfalfa sprouts so maybe we can bribe him into loving us soon haha.

Update

Hmm, been a while since I've updated. I guess some things have happened.

First the bad parts:

-My great-grandmother died. She was my last living great-grandparent. It seemed pretty sudden, too. It was around Thanksgiving that we found out she had cancer, and then she died a couple weeks ago. So that was kind of a shock. I couldn't make it to the funeral or anything either as it was in Maine during the week.

-My parents have officially sold their house. Unless something really unexpected and crazy happens, they will be moving to Kansas in May. I cannot begin to express how unhappy this makes me. Also, it is possible that my mom might be pregnant again. That makes the fact that they are moving even worse as I would pretty much never see this new person. Probably I would meet it at Christmas or something and that is it. But we don't know yet.

Anyway, there are some good things too:

-I met my mentee last night. I have been waiting for TWO MONTHS for this to happen--there was so much waiting and training etc. But I finally met her last night and she is really cute. Also, she has a dog, two cats and a rabbit. I am super jealous. :) We are going out for the first time on Sunday. I don't know what we are going to do yet, I will have to think of something fun.

-My job at the hospital has been going really well. Everyone pretty much likes me here, and I have been enjoying it, especially the security part. It has been really, really hard to pay for school. I feel awful because I keep having to borrow money from Greg to pay my bills. (They are always really short term, like a week long until the next pay check, but I was *always* a week or two behind.) I have only very recently caught up and been able to start saving a little money. (Which is important since when I start student teaching I won't be able to work at all and I will still have to pay tuition. I really can't even think about that.) Anyway, I was starting to get nervous because it was only going to be full-time until the end of this month. However, today I found out that it got extended! I am now full-time until the end of May! Two more months with a steady pay check. I am extremely releived. And finally . . .

-I am getting a bunny! I have been too long without a pet. =P Technically, no pets are allowing in our apartment. However, Greg saw that someone else in the same unit has a cat. (It was peeking out the window.) He finally decided we can just get a bunny and hope the landlady doesn't find out. I don't see why she would, it isn't like they make any noise, and the landlady pretty much never comes unless something needs to be fixed, and then they give us plenty of warning. At some point they will have to come fix the shower, but even then we can probably just leave the bunny in the bedroom and lock the door. We'll have to wait and see after we get him how much noise he makes in his cage.

Also this weekend I am going to build his cage! I am very excited, I think it will be a fun project. (Even though I still haven't finished building my shelf . . .) It is hard to find a baby bunny in Vermont though. I keep reading the online Uncle Henry's (this is a periodical that comes out every Thursday in Maine and is filled with nothing but classifieds) and being sad that I don't live there anymore. There are *so* many bunnies for sale in Maine. I don't know how people sell and trade things in Vermont, I honestly don't. I've been looking primarily on Criagslist--the local paper has next to no classifieds at all. There are two people I have found in Vermont with litters of bunnies, but both are over an hour away and one of them only has medium sized rabbits, not dwarf ones, which would be better. The other place hasn't gotten back to me yet, I just left a message.

Anyway, those are the big developments of my recent life. Other than that there's been plenty of school which is going only sort of well. (I really hope this is my worst semester. I can really only imagine it getting better after this.)

Anyway, soon I will post pictures of the awesome bunny palace I build and then of my awesome bunny baby once I actually get him. :)