Food, fun, and games

Sunday breakfast: bacon, citrus salad, berry-walnut-oatmeal pancakes and maple syrup. CF's had applesauce on the pancakes because he's German like that.

I went into Marshall's to check to see if they had shoes. I returned the ones I bought before because I wore them a couple of times at home and it was clear that 10 minutes washing dishes was all the balls of my feet could handle in them. I am hoping these end up in the Target stores and not just online. So I didn't find any shoes at Marshall's, but I walked around and tested my will power not buying fun stuff and walked out with this German coffee...

 

...and this notebook. I love this notebook, actually. If I had a color scheme, this would probably be closer than the one I mentioned previously. I would decorate a house based on this.

 

Guess these sparrows!

  

I think they are chipping sparrows. I submitted a bird list on ebird though, and they flagged it because 6 chipping sparrows was more than they would predict. I sent the picture and the volunteer hasn't emailed me back. I also saw cowbirds, Eastern towhee, Cooper's hawk, and lots of various little ones among others. Clearly I can only leave the windows cracked when I am at work or I will come home to an outdoor cat.

One last game? Spot the pheasant.

My mother was right

Don't tell my Mom I said so, but maybe she was right? She would often say that I should have been a lawyer with my arguing skills. We never fought, per se, but I will argue. Especially if I know I am right about something. ;-) Plus I try to make clear arguments for/against something.

I have been pushing CF pretty hard (when I see him, which happens to be on weekends primarily at the moment...have you SEEN the freakin' gas prices?!). Anyway. I had a couple of valid points this weekend, I think:

• He should stop waiting for something to happen to/for him, live life, and if something changes then he can deal with it. Background: In November when his roommates moved out and he refused to move in with me, he claimed it was because he did not know when he would finish and get a job. I told him it bothered me that his desire to NOT move was stronger than his desire to live with me and that asking me to move in with him and then spend 3 hours in the car everyday commuting was unrealistic. That was seven months ago (if you tack on the one-month notice they gave him). This weekend, he argued* that at the time he did not think he would still have so much to do to finish grad school. I argued that was exactly my point. He will probably finish in July, at which point we could have been living together, paying one set of bills, cooking meals for each other, falling asleep next to each other every night for 9 months.
• He needs to be realistic with his expectations of life and stop waiting around until he can get everything he wants all at once. He keeps saying he wants to "settle down and have a hobby farm". I do not hear "with you" in that anywhere. This weekend I pointed out that neither of us has any money, so realistically, even when he gets a job, the math does not work out for him to settle down and get a hobby farm right away. Wanting to pay of his credit cards? That seems like a more realistic goal for after he gets a real job.
• Telling me I can have a baby if that is what I want is not a solution to any of my concerns. Period.

The way he works, he needs to think about these things before talking about them, which I am fine with and understand. I spend a fair amount of time figuring out how to articulate these things when he and I are not talking about them, which helps me give him concise arguments from my perspective. However, this is not the first time I have made the first point, maybe the first time I stated the second point in more tangible terms. The third point? I made sure that he is aware that we are not getting any younger, what with our birthdays both in the next month and a half.

I also made sure to tell him that: I DO understand the stress of grad school and wanting to finish and start a job. When I was writing my dissertation, it was  a little more exciting because I had a job lined up and knew I was moving here. I want to help him with whatever I can and made sure he will ask if he wants help with the writing. etc.....

*By argue, I do mean 'discuss'.

Around the house

I should start a tag - "brilliant ideas". Huh. I will count that as the first one of the post.

This was delicious.

I had a crust left from a bridesmaid gift. I added some cinnamon to it, so that was delicious. Then I used up some fresh frozen rhubarb and strawberries from last summer and added some corn starch and maple syrup, so that was delicious. Then I ground some oatmeal and mixed it with whole oatmeal, brown sugar, and butter for the top. Delicious all around.

We will find out in a couple of days how brilliant this idea was.

I came home and planted some lettuce and spinach outside. I wanted to start some marigolds inside and was trying to figure out if I had anything flat that could substitute for a flat. I tore a side off a rice krispies box and used that! I am hoping that the waxish coating will make the cardboard hold up for a couple of weeks. We will see. I wish I had kept the last empty egg carton I had.

This picture? Well, I just liked it. I took it a couple weekends ago when CF and I spent the day doing work at my place. If I am home all day on the weekend, it is kinda funny to watch the cat find sunny spots in which to nap throughout the day.

Catch up

UPDATE: Gazing out the window during the work day is good for your eyes!! Apparently eye strain can make you physically exhausted too.

Luckily, I started working on my grant application resubmission a few weeks ago. It is due this week and I did not have to use every waking moment this weekend working on it. I still have a bunch to do today, but really, I have been trying to catch up on sleep and rest my eyes.

This past week left me completely exhausted (and fueled the lackluster post the other day). I was at work probably 10 - 12 hours a day and then had the commute in either direction. Most of this time I was staring at my computer at a very ergonomically-unfriendly desk. My eyes literally hurt at the end of each day, and I noticed it was taking longer for them to refocus if I switched between my glasses or taking off my glasses. I definitely am suffering from serious eye strain and that makes me feel even more tired because I do not want to keep my eyes open. Thursday evening, I talked to CF and he mentioned how his finger was still infected; based on a friend's staph infection in a finger in grad school, I gave CF advice (also explaining why I was making the suggestions). He said that because he got puss out of his finger and put neosporin on it, it was fine. We had another similar exchange after which I told him I had just got home (7:15-ish), was hungry, wast tired, and was getting off the phone because I did not feel like bickering about stupid stuff. Good times.

Friday night, we were out and did not get to bed until 12:30 a.m. because he is all chatty with other people and likes to stay places until the party/fun is long over. So I slept late and took a two-hour nap after being awake for maybe 2 hours. :-) Seriously though, I had to take that nap. My eyes hurt and I could not keep them open. Last night, I got almost 10 hours of sleep too. CF apparently has not been sleeping well (and claims he does not know why when I have asked, but I think he is lying) and often wakes up before me on the weekend. He has learned not to wake me up or I will be cranky. Sadly, I have been cranky even though he let me sleep this weekend. Then I cried in front of him too. Poor guy does not know whether to be worried about me or angry at me for being ridiculous.

I still think he should have soaked that finger in warm salty water though.

100 things: 71 - 80, Every day things I love to do.

Lest anyone think my expectations for life are too great, a list of what may seem like boring domestic things that I like to do*.

71. Making new recipes that end up being delicious.
72. Weeding. I even helped with weeding in the garden growing up. Maybe liking this has to do with #73.
73. Cleaning. Seriously.
74. Running errands and getting good deals on things I needed anyway.
75. Seeing plants I planted grow, flower, and/or produce something edible..
76. Hanging my clothes to dry instead of using the dryer.
77. Getting a hair cut.
78. Washing my car by hand, inside and out.
79. Going for a walk. Bonus if it is in the woods.
80. Watching a movie on the couch with popcorn.

*Not an April Fool's Joke either!

Unimpressed

I realized a few weeks ago that I am generally unimpressed with my life as it currently is. Not in a horrible way, just in a I-don't-know-where-I-thought-I-would-be-now-but-this-doesn't-seem-like-IT. In other words, another post title I considered was, "Meh".

If I think of the things I have done, things I have seen,  they are interesting, worthwhile, and some impressive in themselves I suppose.

Then I think about how the sum of them got me to this point eating left-over (Annie's) mac n' cheese (with bacon, basil, and spinach) on my couch with my cat, only to try to get up the motivation to pay my bills and read the paper for lab meeting and work on my grant revisions and probably go to bed later than I should only to get up tomorrow and listen to NPR and/or country music on my way to another 11 hour day inside where my eyes get really dry because my desk is under a vent and complain about what the undergrads do (and mostly don't) do and...Yeah. Unimpressed.