My car... *sniff, sniff*

My car is trying to die. And I don't even have Sean's new one yet.  I'm just going to cry.

Attempting to be happy, I bought the fabric for my Jane Austen Dress tonight.It's going to be the one on the left. Mine shall be sky blue and white. I'm very excited, it is for the Jane Austen Society of North America: Greater Louisville Region festival they hold every year in July. I already have white lace gloves! I also have jewerly. I do need another parasol as mine is purple and will not match. I would have bought purple for the dress but the only color they had was not very pretty. There actually was not the selection I was expecting and the girl was kinda rude.  Now I need another opinion: Which shoe do I want? They are only three dollars different in price so that doesn't matter and they are from the same site. They both have great reviews: PICK!!!!

Cha cha cha!

Okay, so the below was my list of goals for this summer. I've decided I'm scratching 1,3,6 and 14.  On a happy note, I have already started for next semester (15), and organized my house (4). The bathroom is going to take much longer because of all the difficulties so far. I've been working on 7, along with 8, 10, 11 and 12. I'm actually getting pretty good at 12. In the face of the 100 degree weather we are facing, it will probably be fall before 13 sees any progress. It's stifling up in the storage area over the garage with only one window. 14 was attempted and all my cats are scared of the toilet for whatever reason, plus me carrying them into the bathroom generally means a bath so it didn't work anyways. No biggies.

1. Learn French

2. Get ahead on Latin

3. Bake/Cook new Recipes

4. Organize my house

5. Redo my bathroom

6. Have a yard sale

7. Read. A LOT

8. Exercise

9. Lose at least 10 pounds

         (My overall goal is 15-20. Mostly I want to be healthy)

10. Set habits for exercising and other routines

11. Go through everything and get rid of what I don't need!!!

12. Habit of eating healthier

13. Clean and organize the storage room/garage

14. Potty train the cats (or at least attempt)

15. Get ready for next semester

My favorite professor uploaded Ghost Stories in Late Renaissance France for me. I'm excited and shall start reading it tomorrow. It's part of my work for next semester in my History Seminar, but also something I am interested in pursuing when I get my history masters.  There is so much I am thinking about for my future right now that it all gets confusing, but it's exciting. One thing that wasn't on my goal list for this summer was to make a huge life decision, and boom I did :P I might even make a few more.

On a random note, Arwen was crazy excited to play today. We walked on the leash and she does fine until she desperately wants to be near Moe, which is adorable. He let her knock him over and started playing with her. So. Darn. Cute.  I think she also tries to herd him and Sean which is hilarious. She's doing great with learning to come when called, except when Moe distracts her. Ah, puppy love! She does much better inside because there are way less distractions and the fact that I had been running around with her already and some of her withdrawal/excitement went away. She's sitting great but I haven't really started any other tricks yet. Thinking of which to do. Or maybe I'll just do all of them. Posing, rolling over, playing dead, whatever else there is. I've decided I have to get a Frisbee because apparently her breed is supposed to be great at it and it'll be another way to exercise her.

Well, off I got to read some more. I can't believe it is already 9:30!!!!

Singing in the ... Sun?

Well, things are finally starting to look up. Yesterday I saw Brave, which is a wonderful movie. I cried twice. It has a great twist in it that I hadn't been expecting and I just really overall loved the message of the movie. I even got the soundtrack! If you are able to go see a movie - see Brave!!

Other than that, I have decided on something new for my future. My studying of the language French has not been going so well, which is only my fault. However, my job possibilities with a History masters is ... pretty much invisible it's so small. My dream and future is still to be an historian and a professor but I'm going to take a much more practical road to it. After I graduate in the Spring, which I will do by god!, I am going to pursue a Student Affairs Master. This will allow me to get a job at WKU in many different areas, as well continuing what I am currently doing tutoring and working with students. I love my job now, and I wouldn't mind it seeing progressing even further. Once I have a job at WKU, I can take two free classes a semester, which means that I can pursue my History masters as well as an English masters for free! While making good money!!!! So, I am currently very excited about this and I shall begin the planning and networking needed to be successful at it.

Wish me luck! I am trying to gather the strength to shower which I know will hurt because I am so sunburnt. -sighs- I am not looking forward to this. Even my scalp itches. Next Sunday, knitting lessons begin with my sister and Heather! It shall be fun. I do not know if it is something I can manage because of my carpal tunnel but I think I may try. We shall seeeee. My sister and I found a Jane Austen Knitting Magazine and I told her Heather needed to see it. She found Heather knitted by hand and it went from there. It should be fun. I saw Heather and her sister Amanda when they came out of the theater from watching Brave. She also loved it :)

Well, I'm off. Going to try to figure out what to wear today that won't hurt like the dickens. Happy Days!

Hell was My New Favorite Word

This week (since the rant of the car) has just been utterly insane and depressing. Friday of course was the terrible day of the car, and Saturday was eh. Sunday wasn't much better. Watched TV, read Sacre Bleu. Yep.

I did manage to arrange for the hubby to sleep at a friend's house in town while I am at work and they are taking him over to Walmart for me since they live about three seconds away which is cool. Monday I was going to hang out at B&N after Sean and I ate, and while there found an email from the financial aid office. The amount we will be receiving was in for the fall. I have lost money in my pell grant and am no longer receiving the CAP grant. Basically this means that I have to pay 1900 a semester to finish. I only have one year but it was just so depressing and on top of everything else, I left and went to my friend's apartment so I could cry for a good forty-five minutes. Then, as the strange person I am, I realized it would be incredibly awesome to take a bath. The tub in our house sucks as it is very low and barely holds any water - it's not meant for bathing but I thought I could be okay with that. Not so much, so I texted my friend and she said I could bathe there anytime I wanted. :) I took like an hour and a half long soak while reading. Twas lovely and helped relieve some of my stress.

Monday and Tuesday I was in BG until 10 pm. Tuesday I fell asleep for like two hours at a friends house, then went to sleep and slept the whole night. I was apparently exhausted.  Yesterday my father called me interrogating about all kinds of crap and so later that night I blew up on him again, and he me. Yeah, I was right when I stopped talking to him (which is all my fault and apparently he was doing absolutely nothing wrong.). So that's over. Again.

On a happy note, I combed out Moe's fur yesterday. Lord is he shedding. I walked both of them and then ran around like an idiot with Arwen. Hopefully I really burned some calories.  I also did laundry since I managed to somehow not to dry my towels and they were sour. Towels are now clean. More laundry will be done tonight, as well as doing the dishes and generally cleaning the house as I have some people coming to see it this weekend. Oh! And my two dead trees as well as the giant pile of limbs are going to be cut down and carried off next Mon/Tues for only $450. Hales fell through as they wanted to charge me $1400. No way! This is Sullivan's Tree Service and I loveis them :)

Hopefully this week will begin to start being more upturned then a rollercoaster mostly focusing on plunges deep into the dark pits of despair with just a few brief moments of sunlight to fool you into hoping for a happy day.

Oh today today :)

So, today has been better.  Spent some time this morning with the hubby and watched a couple of episodes of Doctor Who. Ate pizza for lunch. And supper. Stupid pizza. I also cleaned the man cave while completely reorganizing it. My husband my have shock when he comes home but you can see the WHOLE FLOOR! It's just beautiful. Now if I could just get the energy to take out all the trash... or not :P

Amazing thing that I can't even believe - I just watched The Yellow Handkerchief. Kristen Stewart is in it, and I must say for part of it she could actually act. It helps that once again she was an award teenager, but she managed to smile quite a bit. Mainly the movie was pretty good because of the overall storyline of the ex-con. They are always good for stories :P

I'm thinking that I shall shower and change into uber comfy pj's and read for the rest of the night! It sounds like a plan to me.  And - the idea of what I'm doing to my cabinets: basically you lay lace over what ever you are painting and paint over it. The pattern will be left when you pull the lace up. I'm totally doing this to my cabinet doors which means I'll have to take them all off and outside but I think it will be beautiful and match my French theme :)  Probably with yellow since that is what my walls are.

So much fun!

Rant. Major Rant.

Soo, I was hanging out with Heather today after work waiting for my father-in-law to get off work. He was going to meet me at Lowes to special order a door for my bathroom and to look about getting the stuff to fix the wall and tile the floors. It was finally going to be put in motion.  While waiting I scored some awesome wall decals at Target on sale. I saved like thirty dollars so I am super excited. Pictures will be posted as soon as they are applied. One will be put up tomorrow because I only had to wait ten days for the paint to dry for it. The other has to wait for my new heaPldboard. More on that later.

Heather and I go to Panera to eat supper (which reminds me, I need to update my food diary), and I get a call from my husband. His car has broke down on the side of the road. Literally just dead.  Quite a while back instead of buying a new car, his father and him decided they could rebuild the engine in his aspire because he loooves that car. Which would be cool if his father wasn't pulled in ninety thousand directions and more importantly any time he has in our direction really needs to be spent on the house. -sighs- I lose this fight of just buying a car then and rebuilding his engine on the side. So what happens? He doesn't keep oil it and BAM! Dead. So now we are buying a car. And guess what that means? MY BATHROOM IS PUT ON HOLD! AGAIN! ARRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRG!

Ahem. I felt really bad because I was so very pissed I could barely talk about anything else in a happy manner. Heather was still with me. So Heather, I greatly apologize.  We continue eating, and the husband calls back that that said father is wanting to attempt to at least drive it to our house and I need to go pick him up. I tell him he has to wait for me to buy my book at Barnes and Noble. He gives up and says fine. Luckily a friend saw him on the side of the road and took him home so I continued to hang out and complain at Barnes and Noble. It's probably a good thing I didn't see him immediately.

Then I realize that he will have to drive my car this weekend to go to work. GRR! Then I realize that he has to go with me next week because it will probably take at least a couple weeks to find a car. Which means he has to leave with me at 6:30 in the morning then sit around at work till he leaves. And I get to wait on him till he leaves at 10:00 pm that night. Really really pissed. I mean, I have my new puppy to play with darn it! And I seriously need to EXERCISE!  I'm also trying to figure out just how exactly he will get to walmart as he has to be there at three, and I don't get off at four. Which mean he'll probably take my car and I'll have to beg a ride to walmart. -sighs- I continued to stay pissed off all afternoon, as it cost fifty dollars to tow his car since it cannot be driven whatsoever. On a good note, it is now my father-in-law's project and we allowed to pay for nothing to finish it so one day Sean will get his car. On a bad note - oh wait I already ranted all of that. Said Father-in-law then made a joke about the weight I've gained because I was talking about it yesterday. Which pissed me off but the man does SO much for us I didn't say anything just went in my room, closed the door and screwed screws in the wall for my scarf holders. Yep.

Hales called and finally scheduled to give me an estimation tomorrow to cut down the two dead trees. Thank goodness because I had so much anger built up already after waiting a freaking week to hear from them when I've called twice that after this day they probably wouldn't like me much if I had had to call again. Which this is mostly steam and I say things like this and I would have just been as nice as you please anyways. Father in law bought us pizza. Dang it. It's impossible to stay annoyed with him for anything.

On a better note, when talking to my brother-in-law about getting pallets to make my headboard, he already has the stuff and was planning on building it all himself. I did not know this as I was planning on attempting it, but that is much better and very sweet of him. Now hopefully no injuries will occur.  As of now, I've done laundry and cleaned a bit. Going to wake up in the morning, do the dishes, clean some more, do more laundry and go from there. That is the plan. Also planning on finishing Sacre Bleu tonight. I'm officially in a competition with Heather for the amount of reading we do :P She'll probably win.

I talked to my friend Nikki who was in Africa doing an Animal Management class. She has amazing pictures and bought me a 100% silk scarf. I'm incredibly envious, and can't wait to see her when she gets back next week to hear all about it and secretly plot on how to get her back or go to another country. Or do something. Just geez.  Plus, of course my goals are sadly not being accomplished and I'm going to cry over my lack of french and any attempt to take the GRE (I forgot it was 160 dollars... and now all this... GRR).

End Rant.

Again, thanks Heather for putting up with me :) You rock. Also thanks to my brother in law who will probably never read this but is also awesome. In general, thanks to all such cool people who be related to me or are my friends and love me! I love you too!

What was I going to talk about?

Huh, well I decided to write a post on theory that I knew what I was going to talk about. That theory just went poof. Hmmm well what to ramble about.  My body is attempting to get sick and I'm trying very hard not to let it. Went to the doctor this morning and weighed... I've gained four pounds since January and overall 10 since November. It's got to stop! So I'm going to really put in an effort to exercise and also to to watch what I eat. I've started a journal with everything I eat and when as well as if I develop any migraines or anything of the like.

Watching the third episode of Buffy.  Need to start on another book. I really have nothing to talk about and I know I had something before.... Ah well. Brought my puppy in for a little bit, and I think she is addicted to the squeaky toy. She kept whining and jumped off the couch and kept sniffing around. Found the toy and was very happy - then I took it away and the whining came back. It was kind of hilarious!

Yeah well - that's it. I'm out of anything interesting. Peace!

Pretty Good Day :)

So, today Heather and I painted my utility room. Isn't it a beautiful blue? We always use our back door, so now instead of walking into this: <--
I get to see that -->
All three of those paintings were picked up at yard sales. Total of $10.
Awesome deals huh? I love my utility room now!!!

I spent time with my puppy.  She's so cute!  I also cleaned up the yard some more.  Gotta love making progress.  Finished another Rachel Morgan book and accidentally bought the wrong one. I have to go back and get the third, but I already have the fourth at least!!  It has been a pretty awOnesome weekend. This is first time I've been on my laptop since non on Friday. Have to say that's interesting. Saw my brother yesterday which was awesome, ate at the Cheesecake Factory which was AMAZING, and shopped in a mall that puts ours to shame.  Overall yesterday was just perfect.  Today was too besides the hacking/coughing fest I had for a while. Took some pills so hopefully I will be all right.

On a random note, after painting and cleaning, Heather and I chilled and watched the first episode of Buffy of the Vampire Slayer.  While she was sitting in a class, the teacher says that the plague - Black Death - was the first of biological germ warfare. I was like... .... what? Heather said "Wasn't that spread by fleas" "Well. Yeah. From Asia. On Rats. Seriously? I don't know if I can even watch this show now!!" Yet, then appeared Angel and the deal was sealed :P

I have a doctors appointment tomorrow, so I get to sleep in a little later.  My breathing just started slowly becoming wheezing again... darn it.  I figured out that I have to wait for my paint to dry for three weeks before I can apply wall decals. But in two weeks, my walls in my room will look even better! Well, I'm tired so I'm off to bed soon. Night folks!

LOOK

 

That is all.

Two Days of Hell

Indeed the past two days have been just awful. There were bright random happy moments, but for the most part it was hell.  As I've mentioned in several posts :P  I finally woke up this morning without a migraine!!! I was so very excited. It almost came back when I was sitting at work and realized my vision was incredibly blurry. I took pills and then ate lunch (even though I wasn't hungry) and Ta da! It went away.  For the moment.

So, Miley Cyrus is engaged with a 3.5K Diamond Ring. And all I could think was geez... that could probably pay for my house.  I need to be famous. Or win the lottery.  Or have some great relative I barely know leave me money. :( It's just depressing, when I think of having to go in debt to earn my degrees or pay for my house.  Maybe I could start one of those website were random people give me money. And yes, I saw one for a couple who wished to buy their dream home but needed money for a down payment. You could donate through paypal. Really? I would feel terrible asking for it.  Yet, the world sometimes just feels so very unfair when you work your butt off, manage your money, and try so hard to do what's right, and others get money though such simple things or lucky breaks.  Or just being a terrible actress *ahem Kristen Stewart*

That's my depressing rant for the day.  On the plus side, I loved that yesterday I finished my Mary Boleyn book.  I also started and made it about halfway through, The Good, The Bad and The Undead which is second in the Rachel Morgan Series.  I love reading, and it was so crazy today when I saw an article on financial mistakes young people make today. One of those was buying books when most you can get at the library or download for free.  I'm sorry, but I LOVE books. I often buy them secondhand through libraries or on sale, and it is something I will never stop doing.  On the better side it was the only mistake I was apparently making :P   -- http://www.momseveryday.com/home/money/headlines/money-mistakes_156337625.html

Not an Infamous Whore

So, I have just finished my fifth book of the summer: Mary Boleyn: The Mistress of Kings. This is the first full biography of Alison Weir, and I must say it emphasizes my belief that the little people of the world need to have more importance in history. Mary has been given a complete false representation in many historical fiction writings as well as in historical writings.  Alison Weir effectively goes through the primary documents and tries to understand where certain comments came from. Most of the comments so many have taken as truth were rumors spread across whole countries, and therefore unreliable. In many instances claims are made without anything whatsoever to base them on, or writers from the 18th century who did not cite their sources.

It is understood that many things are lost to us. There are plenty of documents that might be floating around in the universe lost in a drawer or in a box in an attic.  Of course, many have been destroyed by accident or entirely on purpose.  We cannot account for this lost knowledge.  Historians have to take what facts they can find and make logical conclusions.  These conclusions often vary but Alison Weir does a very good job of presenting the facts and then giving her conclusion based on that evidence. Sadly we don't even have an identified portrait of Mary Boleyn, just a few that have been credited to portray her.

The picture on the cover is often said to be of Mary Boleyn.  There are several others.  All in all, I love Alison Weir's writing and have read many things by her, including Henry VIII and his Six Wives. I think that it proposes many things that historians need to take a step back and think about.  Where do your facts come from and did you double check them?  I think much of the myths surrounding Mary Boleyn have come from unreliable sources that were just taken at face value.  It is sad that though she managed a much better life than her sister, Anne, she has such a horrible reputation and Anne is given pity.

Mary Boleyn married for love and lived into middle age, learning what her siblings did not.  She did not strive to be famous, royal, or to even benefit from her affair with Henry.  She simply lived, and did so with a much happier ending.  Perhaps Anne's motto of "The Most Happy" was applied to the wrong sister.

Overall, this book reaffirmed something I was thinking about.  We often become obsessed with the well known figures of history.  Henry VIII, Anne Boleyn, The Borgias, and others.  Yet, the characters who were behind them, who knew them best, are left in shadow or given a completely inadequate often false representation. In my Civil War class last semester we discussed the fact that though there are counts of how many soldiers died (over 700k) there are no overall counts for civilians.  A project could be put together, and it could be figured out, but no one has done it. Why not? Why do we not care for the normal people who were affected by the war? The mothers, sisters, fathers and brothers of soldiers whose homes were raided, orchards chopped down, and who may have even been beaten, raped or murdered.  These people deserve their own historical importance.

Perhaps I am slowly finding my own road that I want to follow as a historian.  I wonder what could be accomplished.  It is amazing to find out smaller details of the lives of those we want to know more about, and by understanding the people, we can better understand the time period. Of course, there is always the trouble that documents most often detail only those who are the most famous, but it is always worth a shot.

Oh. My. Lord.

So, what I'm trying to not do is just to crawl into bed and sleep until tomorrow. Though it's really really really tempting. Sadly instead of a blog about how GREAT yesterday was, I first have to rant about today.  It's what I do.  Good anger management and all that. 

So I barely slept last night even though I was exhausted because I accidentally fell asleep at 8 pm yesterday for about an hour and a half because my head hurt sooo very bad.  So, I woke up, arranged my AWESOME room, talked to Sean for a bit when he got home and attempted to sleep. HA! I remember 1 am and 2 am and then 4 am and then dozed off to wake up late.  Managed to get to work on time - was happy about that.  Then spent hours fixing my iTunes - or so I thought - so that there was not too many songs to fit on my iPod. Instead it tells me there's  about 4.68 gb of OTHER on my iPod and the music can't fit. I only have about 5.8 gb of music... iPod has 7.67 gb of room total.... not syncing anything else... WHAT THE HELL?  Well, I can't start all over again because my laptop has to be on the net for that and I could NOT get the internet to work on my ancient eight year old 19 in laptop... -sighs-  So, we shall see how that lovely little thing goes.  OH! And (my boss is going to shoot me for ranting about this yet again, but it angers me!) I went to McDonald's to pick up our lunch today.  Get in my car, turn it on, look behind me and a stupid GO bus is there.  Wait for it to move.  Women gets out and shuts the door with her purse in her hand. SHE WAS GOING TO PARK THERE! IN THE LANE WHERE IT GOES THE OPPOSITE DIRECTION!!!!  I have to get out, and say nicely (I'm proud of that) "Ma'am? I need to leave!"  "Oh I'm sorry."  Five minutes later, she finally manages to get back in and move it. Further down the lane. Behind three other cars. She almost hit mine and the car on the other side trying to move it. Really?  And she blocks in three other cars! I almost called and complained.

Then, excited I go to my sister's and watch the Finale of Game of Thrones - that was great. Proceed to eat homemade burritos, which while delicious my body has decided to hate.  Head home, find the dogs flipped over both their water bowls.  So, back story, yesterday Heather and I painted my bedroom (ITS BEAUTIFUL!!!!) .... and I am SO SORE! I also managed to somehow screw up my knee, and since this afternoon it has only gotten worse.  Well, since I'm hoping for a letter from my brother, I stumbled across the road to check my mail. Nothing.  Wait for about ten cars to pass and finally stumble back.  Take my stuff inside, grab some treats, and go to open the door to the dog pen. HA!  So, Moe who wasn't near the door, barreled me over. Big time.  The stupid female collie who visits the neighbors and used to steal Moe's food was in said neighbor's yard and he went after her. Scared me to death because first he went for the road. Ran after Moe, screamed at him, he flopped over.  Well! That's great at least.  So here I am in my neighbor's yard trying to convince this dog to please come back with me.  I wound up having to carry him back to the pen. Attempted to put him in the pen... puppy got out. Managed to grab puppy. Now holding two dogs.  Gave up. Fell down. Couldn't manage to get both in the dog pen and get the door shut... -sighs- Called father-in-law. He was on his way. Finally managed to get the leash I had on the puppy. Spend the entire time holding onto Moe's collar because he kept trying to bolt. Managed to get the chain attached to him.  Then I couldn't get both dogs in the pen and get it shut. Finally my savior arrives and we get them both in because Moe knows not to mess with him. So I walk out and discover I've hurt the ankle on the leg that didn't hurt before.  My wrist is killing me and I just want to crawl into bed.  Sad aren't I? I'm usually so much happier than this. -sighs-

So... got inside the house and finally flop on the couch in pj's, and my cat jumps up and claws my neck. NOoo clue why.  Yelled, and he jumped down. He never does that. Except every once in a great while he tries to grab my hair. -sighs-  Now I'm ranting on here.  But, on a great note, my room is beautiful.  Heather came over yesterday morning, and we moved all the furniture out. We then proceeded from 9:30 to 12:00 to paint my room and only had a coat left.  We cleaned all the brushes we used for trim, and headed to Bowling Green to pick up my absolutely adorable puppy.  Ate Sonic (surprisingly good, we had planned on Chic-fil-a... :( It was Sunday...), picked up said puppy, Arwen, who loooves me, and then went to DQ for ice cream and water for said puppy. Made it home, Arwen loved Moe, played with them some, then went inside and finished the walls. We even painted the trim and my closet door. It looks absolutely fantastic, and Heather seriously rocks. So does her dad for letting her borrow all his amazing painting gear.  I'm incredibly happy to wake up to a beautiful green room.  Or sleep in....
Heather and I bonded quite a bit yesterday.  We have plans next Sunday to paint my utility room, eat Mexican, and hike in Mammoth Cave (have to work off the Mexican :P ).  We had planned on taking Arwen, but my husband instructed me that puppies are extra susceptible to worms and infections when tiny and that would be a bad idea :( So no puppy on hike.

Ahem - So I apologize for my crazy rant but I feel a little bit better :P

Just... Bleh

So, I waited around this morning (while feeling horrible due to allergies acting insane) for my husband to wake up cause he said he would go yard saleing with me.  That didn't happen, and I wish I had known so I could have gone out at like 8 this morning and went to BG to hit up much better yard sales. Most of the ones I stopped at in town are the yard sales they have continuously with the exact same crap they couldn't sell to begin with (one yard sale literally had containers with stuff they just didn't feel like pulling out - I recognized it.  All the dishes were utterly filthy as well.) So yard saleing was mostly a bust.  I got a cute Halloween decoration, a tractor for a friend, and a pretty painting. Yep.

Waiting around to figure out what to do. I need a shovel to effectively clean out the shed. I need help to paint. I guess I could clean more. Or read.

I've been reading Mary Boleyn by Alison Weir and it is amazing. I'm about halfway through it, and it's crazy the assumptions people make based on the barest writings of others which were usually based on rumor.  It's inspiring to see Alison going through documents and setting out exactly what we know, what we have, the likelihood of that document being truth, and coming up with whole new conclusions. Poor Mary Boleyn wasn't an infamous whore.