Bring it on.

I'm taking on the president of my HOA. 

She's finally pushed me over the limit.  

I've had run in's with her in the past, mostly about our mailbox (there is absolutely NOTHING wrong with it, but she's determined to force us to get a new one because it doesn't match) and other silly things like a stray dog in our yard, and our grass being 1/4 of an inch too tall. Yeah, seriously. We had been on vacation for a week, and a citation was waiting in our box. Ridiculous. 

But today, i got one of her monthly emails.

She has been on a serious crime-watch kick, and has lined up self defense classes for the neighborhood for free. All fine.

But, she then added a list of "crime watch information" as she called it that was 10 pages long. 

This document listed every police call for the year of 2011, including what the call was for (domestic disturbance, rape, mental health issues, and attempted suicide were all included) and the ADDRESS where these things happened. Also, she included whether an arrest was made or not.

She also says she is going to start forwarding these documents to us monthly.

I can't even begin to tell you how much this bothers and disgusts me.  

It is an unbelievably blatant violation of all respect and privacy for everyone in our edition.  

I am furious.

I called the property manager, and they seemed pretty shocked as well.

I forwarded the email to them, and they are going to investigate and get back to me.

I can't undo the 10 pages she sent out already, but I'm going to try my darnedest to get future ones STOPPED.

Bring it on, lady, I'm done.

Loving these new tunes...

Been listening to both of these a lot lately. 

They have a very soothing groove, and I need that right now.

Things have been insane, and it's been a hard week.  

I have one last assignment to alter, and then I'm done for the semester. I'll catch everyone up on my life then. 

For now, I'm just going to keep jamming to these songs. 

And staying positive and happy, because things are finally looking up. =)

♥

Oops...

Let's face it, people.

I'm sure you were all taking bets on how long it would be before I missed a day. 

3 days.

I intended to blog, but crashed on the couch during the 11 PM news and woke up when my husband got home at 1AM.

Oh well. 

A double posting today, then.

Yesterday, I was thankful for...

Misty.

I got to chat with my good friend last night after way to long.

Our lives are pretty hectic, so it was really nice.  

We have been friends for several years, 

and even though she lives in Chicago now, 

I still consider her very close.

We share many interests, and always have awesome and interesting conversations.

I am looking forward to seeing her again (whenever that may be)

and I am so excited for her little man to get here in February! =D

And today, I'm thankful for...

Music.

The Civil Wars concert is finally here!

I'm so pumped, I've had my tickets since August.  

Music is a very important part of my life, and I'm thankful for that.

It's truly been a summer of music for us. 

We saw Amos Lee, 

Ray Lamontagne, 

and now the Civil Wars.

Three of my all-time favorites.

Man, i love Music.

♥

Mini-rant and what I'm thankful for today.

I'm going to climb up on my soapbox for a minute.

If you see something tragic from afar, 

i.e. someone get hit by a car or someone falling to their death,

don't

go home and facebook about it.

Really? A tragedy has hit that person and their whole families, and you are going to go put it up on your facebook to attract "Oh poor you" comments, and get attention from it?

It's totally cold hearted and selfish.

Okay, enough ranting for the day.

I have a ton of homework, and I am very sleep deprived, which makes me cranky. 

I almost never remember my dreams, but last night I had an extremely vivid nightmare that kept me up half the night.

So I definitely need a reminder of what I'm thankful for today, which is...

My mom.

She's coming over to take me out to dinner tonight for a much needed break.
She's also listened and been supportive of me for all of my emotional breakdowns in the last 6 months, and most of the ones before that, as well.
She has turned out to be one of the most important people in my life, and I don't know what I would do without her.

How cute are we in our Christmas Sweaters? =)

I'm so very thankful for her.
♥

It's finally November!

Well friends, I know it's been a while.

A lots been going on.

Here's the basic rundown.

As of Saturday, I no longer work at Family Video.

I am in a last chance, can't screw up, remediation class, with lots and lots of extra work, and I MUST succeed.

Or no degree.

Yep.

So, it came down to my job or the mountains of work I'm now taking on.

It's a very scary feeling, not having a job.

We'll be okay, as long as nothing super major happens that requires tons of money.

And the worst part is, I'm still not guaranteed a passing grade.

It's a whole world of unknowns right now, and that is very, very scary for me.

But,

because it is November,

and November contains Thanksgiving (which is my birthday this year, just saying),

I'm going to focus on the positives in my life.

for the next 25 days, I'm going to post one thing I'm thankful for every day.

Mostly for me.

I need to remember all of the things I'm thankful for.

So today, I'm thankful for...

Flowers.

Last week was my last week of work (which was of course hectic) and my first serious week of school (equally hectic.) To top it all off, I was sick.

Seriously sick. Like, barely functioning sick.

So, one night, husband brought these home to me.

I love them.

They've been on our table since, and 

they are so wonderful.

They are a nice little picture of brightness in my recently bleak little world.

I love flowers, especially in winter, and am especially thankful for them today.

More things I'm thankful for in the days following.

♥

Here we go again...

Well friends....

More bad things coming my way.

Over that same assignment as last time, from the same woman as last time.

Who is not my teacher.

So I'm not really sure why I'm being called to a meeting my her and my professor,

over my lack of quantity in my work.

I could go into the long, drawn out story of how I had 3 weeks less to work on it then everyone else, due to my prof changing my focus student halfway though, which was completely out of my control, and she totally knew it, but what's the point.

I'm getting screwed over here. 

End of story.

I'm kind of numb at this point.

How much worse can I feel, I was so depressed at the end of last semester that I could barely get off the couch.

I'm not going there again.

I've created a rebuttal for all of the things they said I did wrong, and I'm going to go in and present them with my head held high, because I haven't done anything wrong.

I'm also going to the dean of education, and presenting the same information.

I hope I can get through to someone.

How can one person be so determined to derail someone else's life?

If I can't continue at my school now, 

I WILL get my degree.

I am a good teacher.

It's all I've ever wanted to do.

I'll probably transfer back to BSU, and commute for a semester, which is all i should need.

This is where my strength is coming from.

Every day, I've been writing 

Romans 8:31 

on my arm.

What then shall we say to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us?

I'm pretty lucky to have an awesome husband who believes in me, too.

Because here we go again...

♥

Things of late...

It's been a while.

Sorry friends!

I've been uber busy. 

Here are some new events...

I (mostly) finished the class I was retaking.

What a relief.

I got (and still am) super stressed about work.

I work really hard.

A lot.

I love painting class.

And just painting in general.

It's been incredibly soothing.

I love my husband, 

and get to see him at least a little more since my class ended.

Which has been awesome.

And things are all around, average, normal, and decent.

I promise a more in-depth post soon.

I'm just enjoying life right now.

♥

I love painting class...

Some finished products...

Wine Bottles on a Tablecloth...

The same still life in monochromatic and color (don't judge my lemon, they are HARD)...

A quickly done still life (a bit rough, but I only had about an hour)...

And some works in progress...

the start of a still life, just colors blocked in and super basic shading...

And after day two, The bowl, apple in front of the bowl, front right apple in the bowl, and the back right apple in the bowl, all enhanced and shaded. (The front apple is my favorite.)

And our first potential house decor, a painting of the lighthouse we visited in St. Augustine, FL. 

If I like it enough, we will hang it in the guest bathroom, next to the blueprint Jamie bought of the same lighthouse.

Still needs some clouds, and detail work in the trees, windows, and railings, but I'm really happy with it so far. 

Taking this class=best idea ever.  

I'm so excited to discover a skill leading to something that I really enjoy, and that is relaxing and productive. It's great.

♥

Lessons learned...

Well folks, it's that time. The harvesting is done, I'm in the process of tilling the garden, and making it winter ready.  That being said, I have learned many things from having a garden this year. Some have come easily, others not so much. But here they are folks...

Top Ten things I've learned from being a first time gardener:

10. Mosquitoes like me. A lot.  This is important. I have received more bug bites this year than the last 3 years combined. And I'm pretty sensitive to them, and have bad reactions. So, bugspray has been my best friend. Seriously. I should start buying it in gallons.

9. Have a good fence. Rabbits are smart.  Learned this one the hard way. After several of my plants magically disappeared due to little bunnies. Check it continually, too, they are pretty crafty. A baby bunny got in there the other day (I have no idea how, current theory is that he grew wings and flew in) and husband spent 30 minutes trying to catch him and help him out.

8. It's okay to get dirty. In fact, expect it. I don't know why at the beginning of the summer that I could garden without getting hot, sweaty, dirty, and gross. I figured out pretty quickly that was totally dumb. It washes off anyway, so just dig in.

7. I need to get tough. And learn to build things. Take the compost bin, for example.  Every time I tried to build it, I'd work for 10 minutes, give up, and go whine to my husband. Then when I tried to finish the fence, I did the same thing.  Only then did I realize I was going to have to suck it up, and get a bit tougher.  So I stuck the fence out, and was able to finish it, and then I felt pretty good. I need to remember that.

6. Plant extras! This was a tough lesson learned when I had no green beens, hardly any lettuce, and no strawberries. I didn't plant a lot, because I was so afraid I would have a ridiculous amount of veggies, and then wouldn't know what to do with them.  So, when plants didn't come up (or where eaten by rabbits) I was out of luck.  So, it really is important to plan for the worst and plant extras, and that leads me into my next point...

5. Have a plan for your produce.  Whether it's recipes, canning, selling them or giving them away, make a plan for your stuff so that it doesn't go bad. It's a waste of your time and effort if that happens. And then you feel crummy about letting your hard work go to waste. Just ask me.

4. Crabgrass is of the devil. No explanation needed. Just look at my pictures. It's everywhere.


3. Hard Work does pay off.  It really does feel good to get to the end, and see your hard work pay off with produce.  And even before the end, when you set out to do something, and you accomplish it, the positive feelings are worth all of the effort.

2. There is always next year.  When things haven't gone my way, this is what I've told myself.  It's okay that everything didn't always work out perfectly, (only having one tiny green bean plant, for example.) It's okay.  You can just try again next year.  Next year, however, requires my number one fact about having a garden...

1. Patience is key.  This is a very difficult one for me.  I get really annoyed sometimes that the whole process isn't so much faster.  I just need to suck it up and realize that time can be my friend.  Really. It can.

So there you have it, folks! 

I'm ready for round 2 next year. 

♥

Mail that makes me happy...

Civil Wars Tickets and Mother Earth News Magazine.

Heck. Yes.

♥

These past two weeks...

Sorry friends, it's been a while.  

These past few weeks, I've started re-taking E341. 

That's right, folks, I lost my appeal. 

It's been incredibly stressful.

I feel like everything that should be easy comes with some massive complication that causes it to be 10x harder. 

I would just like to go one day without being super stressed and having a meltdown.

Just. One. Day.

But I'm not going to focus on the negatives, It's my night off, I want to enjoy it.

The few positives in my life lately:

I have been completely vegetarian for almost a month.

I'm pretty proud of myself, It's not been easy.  

Indiana isn't very accommodating to people with different eating needs.

I don't know yet if this is a lifelong transformation, but I just wanted to try it for a while.

I've been trying many different tofu recipes. 

Today's recipe:

Fried tofu. 

Pretty good, it could add some texture to steamed veggies, and would be good dipped in some sauce.

Also, my cousin got married this past weekend, so I got to get all dressed up and see a lot of my family, which was very nice, 

and spend the evening afterwards with the lovely Amanda and Joe. 

She has been a huge support to me, and even drove her book 40 minutes one way from her house to mine, because I couldn't find mine and was freaking out.

So thankful to have her as a friend.

And my last bit of good news, I love, love, love the painting class I'm taking to have enough credit hours to keep my financial aid.

Here is my first official still life, done in monochromatic form.

I'm not quite done, but I'm pretty happy with it. 

So that's life lately.

One giant ball of stressed out mess, with a little happy here and there.

I just have to get through 4 more weeks, and then it's painting for the rest of the semester.

Pray for me.

♥

Fall garden...

I waited on these seeds for my fall garden for 2 weeks,

and have been patiently and carefully getting them started in pots in my kitchen windowsill.

Yesterday, they looked like this.

See all the little sprouts with the little leaves on them? I was very excited.

Emma got on the window sill today.

10 minutes later, they looked like this.

The ones that aren't ripped completely out of the dirt are missing their leaves.

There are even little kitty teeth marks in some of the leaves!!

Anyone want a stinking cat??

This is her "what are you going to do about it, mom?" face.

Grrr.

(Okay, I don't really want to get rid of her, but the thought did cross my mind for about 10 minutes after I found them.)

I. was. furious.

So, I guess it's back to square one for a fall garden.

Dang it. 

♥

This weekend...

What a weekend it has been.

It started Saturday morning, with the arrival of our awesome new fridge...

That definitely didn't fit into our fridge space...

So Jamie had to scoot the counter over 1/4 of an inch.

He's so great. =)

It's basically the best. fridge. ever.

Then, as Jamie sat down to work on his new computer (that I waited for all day Tuesday) It died. 

Completely.

So, while he was completely freaking, I made an emergency appointment at the apple store.

Which looked like this.

And husband looked like this.

They told us his computer was DOA. Dead on arrival.

They said it only happens in 1 out of every million sales.

So, Jamie is waiting on a new one. 

He's adjusting to the idea, although he's not thrilled. 

I didn't mind the trip too much, because I got in a long overdue trip to Teavana. 

I now own a large jar of rock sugar, 2 oz. of "Spice of Life" White and 2 oz. of "Anjou Pear-adise" Oolong.

So very yummy.

Then I only had 1/2 an hour to get ready for work.

While at work, this happened.

Crazy.

The power went out, so I spent most of the evening re-booting the computers, and running around like a crazy person.

What a day.

Then today was the Mossman family picnic, 

which was fun.

We went hiking, and had a good time.

Husband then put the wine cooler under the counter on brackets, clearing some counter space,

While I started some seeds for a fall harvest (hoping it works!), 

And made a pretty flower arrangement.

And we are pretty much exhausted.

But, it's been a good weekend, and I'm hoping this week will be equally as good.

♥

Working on my grade appeal argument. 

All I want to do is quit. 

And give up.

And just be done.

It's hard, having to put one of the worst times of my life down in writing. I have to describe everything in detail, and it just makes me frustrated and upset. 

This is what's getting me through:

My husband, family, and friends, who love me no matter what, and these two scriptures:

Therefore, do not throw away your confidence, which has a great reward.  For you have need of endurance, so that when you have done the will of God you may receive what is promised. 

Hebrews 10:35-36

What then shall we say to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us?

Romans 8:31

Even if I lose, I will know that I went into it strong, confident, and giving my best. 

For the first time, I think I can do this.

♥

Sitting, waiting, wishing...

I had plans to maybe go hang with my friend Amanda today. 

But, instead, I am sitting at my house, waiting for Jamie's computer to come from Fed-ex. 

It didn't come while he was here, so he's panicked that it won't come. 

So, here I am.

Waiting for his macbook.

Oh well, at least I've gotten stuff done around the house and yard!

Gotta look on the bright side, right?

♥

World War III and Fridge art.

I've been waging war.

In my own home.

Fleas.

They are the ultimate enemy.

What started this was that Emma laid at the foot of my side of the bed on Sunday.

Sunday night, I went to sleep about 1AM, and kept dreaming that my feet were being eaten.

Finally, at 5AM, I got up, and went and looked at them in the bathroom under the light, and my feet and ankles looked like this:

 I had 12 of these bites. Ridiculous. And this was taken about 36 hours later, after most of the swelling had gone down.

I spent the rest of the night on the couch, and since then I've washed everything fabric in my whole house, and they've both had flea meds.

I will win.

Take that, fleas.

In more happy news, I got a new kitchen compost container!

 It holds 2.4 gallons, fits perfectly under my sink freeing up counter space,

 and has a great carbon filter to keep odor down, and came with 3 replacement filters!

I'm really excited about it, and the fact that I got it for about 60% off! It's also not clear, so you can't see all the yuckiness, which is kind of nice.

We had a cookout at our house this past weekend, for all of the people who play or sing in our church worship band with us, and their families.  We had a really good time, and I was left with some lovely refrigerator art.

The left side was done by Wyatt, and the right side was Jacqueline.
I love them, they make me smile.

I will leave you with a video of my crazy, funny dog.
She has been extraordinarily needy lately! She just wants attention all the time.
Turn your volume all the way up, and listen to how stinking needy she's been!

She did this for 30 minutes.
She's actually doing it right now.
 As I type this.
Crazy, crazy dog.
♥

Adventures in drying Basil!

I have two decent sized plants of Basil.  There's no way I will be able to use it all in my cooking before it goes bad.  So, I decided to dry a portion of it, to save for this winter! I picked the plant that isn't flowering yet, as it is supposed to have the best taste when dried.

First I cut a majority of the stalks off.

I then made sure to rinse all of the dirt and bugs and grossness off of the leaves by soaking them in the sink for a few minutes.

Then I got them out, checked each leaf for any brown spots, or bad leaves, and then laid the stalks in a bundle.

Using some pink yarn, I got from my lovely student teaching mentor, I tied the bundles together very tightly, because the basil tends to shrink, and you don't want them to fall.

Then I attached them to paperclips, and hung them in the storage closet in our office.

And voila!

In about 4 weeks I should have dried basil to use for the entire winter!

♥