& Me

I forgot to post my picture.

She was trying to escape, lol.

Bathroom Updates

Over the weekend I put on a coat of Kilz, it's a primer, but I used it because of it's mildew protection abilities. Thankfully, because it didn't do a very good job of covering up the bright yellow:

I think it looks way better already! This morning after yoga I went to Home Depot to buy the stuff to patch up the holes, and the paint! We decided on a beige color, because it would look best with the tile, and it's neutral so we can put a fun shower curtain in! I bought these patch thingys that cover the holes, and then you just put this plaster stuff over them, wait til it's try and sand it smooth to the wall, and paint! The plaster stuff isn't covering super well so tomorrow I'm going to sand them down and probably put another layer on. That will probably take the day to dry which means by Wednesday I'll be able to paint on my second layer of Kilz, Thursday I'll spray on the texture [that's right, I didn't know there was spray-on texture either! I hope it's as easy as it sounds], and Friday I'll put on the paint! Saturday morning we'll be making a trip out to do some shopping around for a new vanity/mirror/medicine cabinet/light fixture, and everything will be done just in time for Super Bowl Sunday [if we're having people over, idk yet]. I can't waaaaaait til it's done!

In other news, I'm doing my first observation for my education class tomorrow morning. It's an ethnic specific observation, and I'm going to a school my prof. recommended. I'm going to be observing a Vietnamese class, taught in Vietnamese. Hmm...I'm just as curious as you are to know how that's going to be! We'll see!

Also, I have a cold. Blah, I know. Hopefully it won't last too long! I kind of feel bad for going to the observation tomorrow with a cold, but my stupid prof. is confusing! She posts a new module each week of what she expects us to turn in by midnight on Friday, and one of the things is our portfolio for our ethnic specific observation...but on our grading sheet, where our due dates are also listed, the portfolio for that isn't due until February 25th. I don't know when it's actually due, but I emailed my prof. today, and hopefully she'll get back with me soon. If I feel worse when I wake up tomorrow, I'm probably going to call and reschedule my observation, because I don't want to get all the little Vietnamese kids sick!

Sunday!

Smelly Bell

Sister, Sister

And sister's dog, Millie :]

Case of the Fridays...?

This morning I'm not very motivated. Uh oh. I slept in until like 9:20. I'm trying to convince myself to change and get started on cleaning off the walls so I can go to Home Depot (again, for the 3rd time this week) and buy some Kilz. I decided I want to put it on the walls before I do my patch work so it's underneath everything. I'm excited to see what a difference just the paint color is going to make in there!

Time to try and get motivated!

Bathroom Overhaul Days 3&4

Well, today I got everything off the walls. Finally. All the wallpaper, all the paper under the wallpaper, all the plaster that was covering up holes, and most of the wallpaper glue. My dad stopped by this morning to assess my progress and the severity of the walls, and thankfully, he said it wasn't going to be too bad to repair. Hooray! I'm going to have to fill in the big holes with some newspaper and plaster over them, let the plaster dry and sand them down to be flush with the rest of the walls...which might take a couple of days, which is fine; I've got time! After I get the holes patched, I'm going to paint on some Kilz to get rid of any mold/mildew residue that might be left over, and prevent it from coming back. Then he said I can buy some kind of texture stuff to put on the walls so all the imperfections [cracks, bumps, unevenness, etc. ] won't be noticeable! Once all that is complete, which I'm expecting to take at least a week, I'll be ready to paint! I was discussing the walls with V last night and how there's still wallpaper behind the terlit and the vanity, and I asked him what we were going to do about it. He said he would get the vanity out sometime soon and that we were going to be getting a new one after I finish painting! YAY! I was browsing around the bathroom department while I was at Home Depot this morning, and I found a nice vanity, that comes with a sink to set on top, for $128 which isn't bad at all! Then I was looking at the mirrors, because I'd like to get a newer, nicer looking one, and they're only like $50. We'll also have to find a matching medicine cabinet to put above the terlit, and definitely get a new light fixture. In like a month, our bathroom is going to look awesome and I'm so excited! Anyways, here's pictures from yesterday's work, to today's progress:

I have to do some homework now. I'll leave you with this:

My dad told me I should wear a mask while I was scraping off the plaster because back in the good ol' days, asbestos was used in like everything, and he wanted me to protect my lungs as best as I could. Thanks, dad <3

Wednesday

Getting ready to do some math homework with Mother Nature

I'll Miss You, Rudy

My beta fish died last night. I'm pretty sure she spent the day yesterday dying, which was awful. I changed her water for her first thing yesterday morning so she would have a nice clean bowl to remember. I flushed her this morning and I'm going to miss her! She was definitely the coolest beta fish I've ever had, and I'm happy I got to have her in my life for as long as I did. Rest in peace, my little fishy <3

Wallpaper Warrior

Day 2 on my battle to get the wallpaper down in the bathroom. Worked on it for 4 hours yesterday, and 5 today. Still have a good amount of work to do with the removal, and after all of it is down, I'm going to have to figure out how to patch holes and make the walls even before I can start painting. Here's pictures!

The orange spots are paint V put there, because we wanted to see how it looked. Hated it!

So I started just peeling off the printed paper yesterday, I think it's like vinyl or something? IDK! But under it, are literally 3 layers, of what reminds me of construction paper. Then under the paper layers, there's the glue, which comes off easily when it's wet, but it's really sticky! After it re-drys, wherever it might be (ON MY HANDS), it gets hard again, and it's not easy to get off! So here's my progress after about 9 hours, in two days:

Yeah, those are 2 holes under the window. They were covered with like this plaster shit, that was REALLY hard to get off. There used to be a towel rack hanging there, and apparently the lady that lived here before we bought it, didn't want it anymore! So I'm going to try and figure [out on my own] how to fix it. I want to try and do this whole bathroom by myself, aside from taking out the vanity, because I don't have the slightest clue how to, and I don't want to ruin anything plumbing-wise. And I'm afraid to take the mirror off because it's tricky, and I don't want to break it and have bad luck for like ever! I did the part above the window last and it kicked my ass. Standing with one leg on the terlit, and one on the side of the tub and having to look up and keep my arms up to scrape was tiring! I'm not really looking forward to doing the rest because it's all up and I haven't quite figured out how I'm going to get to the stuff in the shower because there's nothing to stand on! We'll seeeeeeee!

I'm so looking forward to yoga tonight, you have no idea! 

And here's my picture for the day. Hah :]

Happy Monday!

I finally got a reply from my professor in my education class, and she said everything is fine, and I won't be dropped from the course! Hooray!!! These 2 online classes I'm taking are so easy! Our math class on campus, on the other hand, is kind of hard. Mostly because we missed class last week, but we're still expected to do the homework. So tonight, before class, we'll be taking advantage of the SPA in the testing center and getting homework help! I think from now on though, I'm going to take the rest of my math classes online. I prefer it.

Aside from school talk, this week I want to try and finish taking down all the wallpaper in the bathroom, and get the walls prepped for painting! I also decided over the weekend that I want to get rid of my bedroom set. My headboard/footboard, 2 night stands, and my dresser. Instead, I want to make a headboard, similar to this:

But probably with a printed fabric. I want to get an antique looking (and smaller) night table, because we already have one for V's side of the bed, and we're going to get a dresser that is taller, rather than longer. I think all of these changes will give us oodles of more space in our room. It's not very big as it is, so I think just getting rid of all my bulky furniture will make a huge difference! First I have to pay my mom off for it all though, and to do that, I need my tax returns! Then with whatever money I make from selling my set, I'll be limiting myself to spending that much on the new stuff. I'm thinking of making a run to Home Depot soon to look at stuff for the bathroom project, and then stopping at Goodwill on my way home to see if they have any cool furniture!

So now I'm going to go get dressed and head out...maybe I'll be back home before it rains (because it looks like it's going to!).

And me :]

OH NO!

I just realized I missed my picture post from yesterday! :[ I should post a picture from yesterday to make up for it, but wouldn't you know, I didn't take a single picture yesterday! So here's one from about 2 minutes ago of me sporting my legwarmers!

And one of me and my sister from breakfast this morning at my parents house to make up for missing yesterdays!

Ready To Go Home

Yes, yes I am...ready to sleep in our comfy bed. I miss the smell of our house, and my girls!

I miss this little girl...

my big stinky girl

and my little bittle kitty <3

I never really missed being home until we moved to our house. I freaking love that place! I am going to miss the mountains and super cold weather here though. It's like in the high 60's, low 70's at home...not bad, though. Tomorrow's high is like 62 so it's not like the complete opposite. I'll just be happy to sit on my comfy couch, with my stinky pups, lol.

Waterfall in the Middle of Downtown!

That's right, this place is so pretty! There's this place, called Falls Park that is like right in the middle of their downtown. I think it was probably my favorite thing about this place. From all the places we've ever visited, I think this place falls very close to #1 on my list of where I'd want to move. It's a close runner-up to Providence and Providence only tops the list I think, because of the snow! And probably because my sister lives there. But this place, I think if we didn't have family anywhere but Florida, this place would be #1 on my list! It's so cozy and mountainous, but at the same time, it's alive! The downtown is busy, but super beautiful and full of nature and hills and I LOVE it. Anyways, here's some pictures of the waterfall!

These stairs took us from our parking lot, down to the bottom of the waterfall, so full of character!

He was always walking ahead of me because I stopped so much to take pictures! <3 him

This little guy was quacking SO loud! It was adorable!

I freakin love him. And my Vera Bradley purse :D

Taking pictures of each other by the waterfall :]

It was such a pretty waterfall! Their downtown was basically built around it; so beautiful!

I asked this guy to take a picture of us while we were standing on the bridge, he seemed really strange, but I wanted a picture of us together! He was all shaky and I forgot to put the flash on, so it's all blurry :[ I was about to ask him to take another, even if I was, it wouldn't have happened because as soon as the picture took, he was like running away! Lol. After we walked around for a while, we headed to dinner! I did some research to see where there was to eat and picked this place. It was very good! I think it won me over because of their gelato!

Our server convinced me to get a bowl of their tomato soup, and I'm SO glad he did because it was literally the best tomato soup I've ever had. The croutons and cheese on top just made it that much better.

I got this tomato panini and had tomatoes, pesto and mozzarella cheese. YUM! The side salad on the other hand, was not so good. V seemed to like his pretty well, but light leaf lettuce is not one of my favorites, I would have eaten if it was spinach! They had other salads though, that sounded scrumptious! 

 

After we had our paninis, we had to get some gelato! I was looking at their FaceBook before we left, and they had soooo many flavors to choose from, and I liked at least 4, but when we got there, I realized that they don't have all the flavors all the time, which was a lifesaver, TBH! I would have never been able to choose! I ended up getting a strawberry shortcake gelato and it was YUUUUM-O! V got white chocolate and it was so grood! I like gelato a lot because it's soooooooo smooth!

Even though we had a really good time last night, we're both so ready to go home. This bed in the hotel is SO BAD! I like to sleep on my left side, and I'm not even joking when I tell you this, the springs in the bed have bruised my left hip bone! So uncomfortable! I miss our bed, our house, and our girls!

What An Idiot I Am!

O.M.G. I don't know if I posted about my education class at VCC, but I'll recap: Last Monday school started and I'm enrolled in this "Introduction to the Diversity for Educators" course online and the program we use, WebCT, posts like the link for each online course I'm enrolled in and they all show up on my course manager or whatever it's called. Well, I kept checking all last week, and my education class was never there! So last Wednesday I emailed the professor and was like "WTF" and asked what was going on and I never got a reply! Well, I decided yesterday to call the school and ask them what was going on and while I was on the phone, I realized that my course was on a different online program thingy. You see, the link you have for logging into online course looks like this:

And the box on the left, WebCT, is where all my courses are. Well my education class is on the other one, that I've never used before, BlackBoard. W.T.F. Why isn't that specified anywhere on my schedule?!?! So I figured that out a damn week and a half late, and missed all the assignments for the first week. There were only 2, both only worth 10 points, but it was like our introduction (which are my favorite!) and a quiz on our syllabus. I emailed the professor and told her that I understand that this was totally my fault and basically that I'm a huge idiot, but I wanted to know if there was any way I could make up the two assignments from last week. :[ I was SO mad at myself yesterday. I never miss assignments! N.E.V.E.R. I'm the one in the course who posts their assignments first, 5 days before they're due, and 3 days before anyone else even realizes they're there. I don't miss assignments!

STRESS!

So I started on the "Week 2" module yesterday, what's cool about this course is that everything is just due by midnight on Friday, so I don't have to worry about missing due dates. I took our first quiz yesterday, on Chapter 1, and got a 10/10, without even reading the chapter. Hah :] Now I have to "read" Chapter 2 and watch this 12 minute YouTube video and write a discussion about it. Easy peasy. I also have to do our algebra homework from last week, and teach myself what we missed in class last night, and do that homework! Good thing I have NOTHING to do today.

Last night we went for a drive as soon as V was done with his school. It's really pretty here. All the mountains and such. It kind of sucked though because he doesn't get off until 5, and he got here at about 5:20, and it starts to get dark at like 6, so we didn't have much daylight, but it was good while it lasted! We drove all the way to North Carolina, which was cool! Here are a few pictures from the drive.

After our drive, we went to dinner in downtown Greenville. It was really cool! Kind of similar to downtown Orlando, but bigger in a way. The street everything was on, which is like our Orange Avenue, was Main Street, and it was super long! They had white lights strung above the road the whole way, which was beautiful:

We ate at this delicious BBQ joint

We got an appetizer of fried green tomatoes and they were SO YUMMO! Then I got a BBQ chicken sandwich with sauteed onions, mushrooms, monterey and jack cheese, with a side of mac n' cheese, and V got some coleslaw that I had too and it was soooo grood! The mac was delicious, suuuuper cheesy but really homemade. MMMMM!

V got this huge plate of meat. I didn't take a picture of it, unfortunately, but it was like half a damn chicken, brisket, and like a half rack of ribs. A LOT OF MEAT. He got mac n' cheese too, and spinach casserole that I tried, and it was really grood! I would highly recommend this place if you're in Greenville and looking for some good BBQ.

Tonight we're going to eat our leftovers for dinner and chill in the hotel. We'll probably do some math homework and then hit the hay. We're both pretty ready to go home, so I'm pretty sure we'll be leaving like early Saturday morning so we'll be home mid afternoon.

Here's my picture for today. From last night but whatevs