This and That

I'm sitting in the recliner with my feet up as I type this. When I mowed a couple of weeks ago, I took great pains not to run over a bush in the backyard, thinking Gram would kill me if I did. Little did I know that it was actually a thistle weed, trying to spread its seeds all over the neighborhood. Gram said the neighbors would kill us if it spread so she wanted me to dig it up. It was supposed to be in the mid-90's yesterday and I didn't want to work outside but it wasn't horribly hot in the morning. Thistle weeds have an extraordinary amount of defense: thorns growing up and down the branches, ready to prick anything that comes close. Even my gardening gloves were no match. I had to saw off the main "trunks" to get to the roots. The roots were easier to get out than I had imagined and they were huge!

The root on the left in the picture was just from a small patch of weeds next to the bush. The root on the right in the picture was from the actual bush. I certainly don't want these weeds to spread. It's bad enough having to keep pulling weeds out of the driveway. This might upset some of my friends, but I'm ready just to pour large quantities of weed killer all over the driveway. The natural weed killer my stepdad gave us isn't doing a whole lot to help me. After getting the bush and roots dug up, I cleared another patch of weeds out of the driveway until my hands became useless. At that point my back wasn't feeling bad yet but I also had other things to do like dishes, homework, and laundry. I checked out some movies from the library and halfway through the first one, it got too painful to sit in the chair. Then I tried laying flat on the floor and that didn't work either. Since Gram is at her sister's for a couple of days, I thought it would help if I slept in her uber-soft, massaging bed last night. Unfortunately, it didn't help and I slept horribly. Now my back hurts more than ever and I'm running on little sleep. Usually it's nice to sit around the living room watching movies since I can't do it very often but I'll have to force myself to do more laundry. What fun!

I turned in the first essay for my lit. class. Now I'm waiting to get some of my classmates' essays to peer edit. But I don't think I've written about my new courses in previous blogs. There is a company called Coursera that offers free online courses through different colleges and universities. I have signed up for four courses so far: the lit class which began last week, statistics, organic chemistry and human physiology. I love my first class so far and it's exciting to actually have something to do. Coursera even sends you a certificate when you finish some of their courses. Plus, I can put it on my resume to show potential employers that I'm willing to learn. I read somewhere that Coursera is even willing to provide third-parties with actual grades for some courses that don't offer certificates.

My birthday haircut. That's all natural curl :-) 

Until next time,

~Staci~

A Birthday, New Job, Company and More

It's been a hectic couple of weeks for me. I have had a lot to write about with little time to write. I celebrated my 27th birthday about a week and a half ago. I drove to Peoria to run errands and take myself out for lunch to one of my favorite restaurants (Flat-Top Grill anyone?). Gram bought me a delicious pie instead of cake and ice cream. Whenever cake mix is on sale, Gram tends to stock up on a few boxes and makes one cake right after another. Apparently pie can be super expensive so I felt bad for her buying it for me. I also went to get my haircut because my shoulder-length hair was getting on my nerves. My goal was to wait a few more months and grow it longer, but that wasn't working out for me.

A few days after my birthday, I was called to scheduled interviews for two different positions: waitressing and insurance sales. The interview for the waitressing job was the easiest interview in the world. I was hired almost the moment I walked through the door. The had me fill out the paperwork, they gave me my apron and t-shirt and I was no longer unemployed. As exciting as that was/is, those who know me well know that I'm not cut out for waitressing. I don't mind the hours, or being on my feet all day; it's more of the social interaction that I fear. You CAN'T force social actions on people with social anxiety and expect things to get better. I've have multiple jobs where I've had to interact with many people and it hasn't gotten any better for me. In fact, it's probably worse these days. My first day was the day after my interview. The gave me a tour of the building and showed me where everything was and sent me home after 90 minutes. I went back the next day and began hostessing. That kept me quite busy during the two hours I was there. Tonight will me my first full shift of waitressing, I believe, and tomorrow will be my first full shift of hosting. Lord, have mercy!

My second interview turned out not to be an interview after all. They brought in about nine people for a presentation about the company. Yesterday, I went in for what was supposed to be a Q & A session but I was the only person who showed up. Honestly, I was bowled over by the compensation packages and the bonuses; it would have been possible to pay off my student loans within a few years with this job, instead of several decades. However, I've thought about and there's no way I can afford the up-front costs of the licensing classes and exam fees. Plus, without having my car here, it would have been too difficult to manage. I'm scheduled for the final interview Monday morning but, with a heavy heart, I'm going to call and cancel. It wouldn't be fair to waste their time. It would have been a hard job for me to do but I could have worked as many hours as I wanted to get the money that I needed. This probably sounds incredibly greedy but I want to work and earn as much as I can to become financially stable and independent. I've been living with my student debt hanging over my head for almost fours years now and it's slowly sucking the life out of me. A few more years of this will kill me.

The one bright spot of my week was having my friend Matt over for a visit. He came over Wednesday morning and I made him my special zucchini pancakes with some zucchini from my garden. I meant to get a picture of him eating them but I completely forgot to take any pictures that day. We went on a mini road trip to the town where I grew up and I showed him all of the sights. We watched a movie after getting back home and then he had to leave. I was quite sad watching him go since I don't have many visitors here; everyone is so far away! (There's much more I could say about his visit but I'm giving everybody the shortened version.) Gram took pity on me and volunteered to play Settlers of Catan with me, which is my favorite board game. She probably won't play it again for a long time since I won by a wide margin. Gram also doesn't play Scrabble with me anymore since I win every time we play, even when I try to lose.

A few weeks ago, I mentioned to others that I envied the muscles that tennis players have in their legs and thighs. A friend of mine called me out on it and said I should do something about it instead of envying others. And then I read an article about a woman who joined the Couch to 5K program. This walking/jogging/running program is designed to get people off their bums and able to run a 5K in as little as eight weeks. I know that it will probably take me longer than that but I'm ready to become healthier and in better shape. Also, I know I need to do something active to balance the serotonin in my brain. I'm always at risk for falling into a non-seasonal depression because of the loneliness and on-going stress of my loans. I envy people who have that "pick yourself up by your bootstraps" mentality. I don't have it and probably never will.

 Until next time,

 ~Staci~

First "Fruits" of My Labor In Pictures

Once again, I've gone without posting longer than meaning to. There are a couple of projects that have been keeping me busy, and when there happens to be free time, the last thing my fingers and hands want to do is type. With that in mind, I'll try to keep this post short.

OUR GARDEN
Gram didn't have much of a garden when I lived here four years ago, and I've had some gardening experience in the past, but this was my first major gardening experience. Naturally, Gram told me what to plant (with one or two suggestions from me), when to plant it, and how to plant it. But all of the weeding, pruning, (most of the) watering, feeding, and harvesting was left to me.

Ignore the dying tomato plants on the left!

We're lucky to get any beans with all the plants in there

The first handful of beans

Zucchini pancakes anyone?

Green Bell Peppers

We have jalapenos growing on all three plants!  (I need recipes!)

It's taken a lot to keep this garden growing and I've wanted to give up on it many times. Of course, I have Gram around to make sure I stay at it. This week has been extremely satisfying and for the first time in a long time, I've done something I can be proud of. 

WEEDING THE DRIVEWAY

Our driveway has turned into a jungle of weeds almost since spring came to Illinois in February. My stepdad gave us a "recipe" for a weedkiller without all of the chemicals (one cup of salt for every gallon of vinegar). this managed to kill the weeds but being the lazy person that I am, the weeds didn't get pulled until after they started growing again. So a couple of weeks ago, I decided it was time to get it done. However, I did not take into account how sore my wrists and hands would be after weeding consecutive days in a row; and nor how bad my allergies would be afterwards. I hunkered down inside with the windows closed and several doses of medicine that claimed to be "non-drowsy". Liars. Then we had the week-long heat wave during which Gram wouldn't let me work outside. Then my parents were here for a couple of days. All that to say, I had no willpower to return to weeding after things went back to normal. It wasn't until my dad made a comment about how bad it was. It was actually quite a humbling moment for me and I vowed to get back to work on it a little bit each day until it was done. I didn't do a job at getting "before" and after" pictures taken until now.

This section was much worse before the "before" picture was taken.

The "after" picture. The section in the top left corner still needs to be done.

Against my better judgment, I have also been crocheting this week which hasn't helped my wrists and hands recover. I've banned myself from doing either of those things this weekend. Monday is my birthday and it's supposed to be in the mid 90's so I probably won't weed again until at least Tuesday. But it's also satisfying to see our driveway looking better and better!

Until next time,

~Staci~