March 12

Today is my step-grandmother's birthday. Yay! Happy birthday! (I'm not sure that she sees my blog, but I stalk her on Facebook and, of course, I am thinking about her today.)

And then I remembered that it was also the second anniversary of my grandfather's death (as well as the day I took the GRE). First off, what a horrible birthday for my step-grandma. I can't imagine how heartbreaking that would be. She's a strong lady, though, and she somehow manages to handle everything. Tough as nails.

I was remembering the day I took the GRE. I was a horrible, nervous wreck. My mom met me for a bit so I could grab a chai before the test (to avoid the caffeine headache). She knew that Grandpa had passed away earlier that morning, but didn't tell me because she didn't want to stress me out more or distract me from the GRE. And even though she must have been heartbroken, she actually hid it from me pretty well and tried to keep me positive.

So I was remembering and feeling a little sad, but grateful for my incredible and amazing mom and my wonderful and tough grandma. I feel that I have been a pretty lucky girl with my family. I guess I just wanted to share.

The Plaster Queen

That's what I call myself now. We had several, smallish repairs to make on the walls of our condo and I headed this project.

I learned how to patch drywall and plaster! Here are a couple of handy videos and such for you:

Drywall patching: How to patch a hole in your wall.
Plaster repair: How To Plaster A Hole In The Wall.
An article on the differences between plaster and drywall from How Stuff Works: What is the difference between drywall and plaster?
Another article to help with drywall patches: Hole in the Wall Help.

And here is some of my excellent work! Or decent work.

Drywall patching:

Before

After! But before sanding and painting.

Plaster patching:

This corner was particularly nasty to fix. Luckily the trim will cover most of it.

More plastering:

A mostly finished patch. It needed one more layer.

After that was finished, we primed the walls and repainted:

The lighting makes it tough to see, but the new, light green is on the right and the old, olive-y green is on the left. Looks brown here...

After that was underway, Isaac and I went to Ikea and bought curtains and panels. Our balcony door has not been covered for months! It's nice to have the privacy back.

I know it is difficult to see, but the walls are light green and the hangings are grey and white. The curtains are brown.

Recently, we went and got a brand new bed, too! That was very exciting! Got a nice bed frame, a new mattress (which we desperately needed) and a box spring. Thanks Ikea!

So there are some of the most recent home repairs! Our living room is really coming together. Just a little more painting to do, the trim, and to hem the curtain! Then we get to move on to the dining area and kitchen! So exciting! And thanks to my love, Isaac, who did almost all of the tiling and he put the hangings and curtains up! Though I did hem them. Badly, because Ikea's curtains are not straight and even. Oh well.

That New Year's Resolution Thing...

I'm a horrible blogger. I am already failing at my New Year's resolution to blog more often.

In my defense, school this semester is absolutely insane. It is my last semester of grad school and my class load is, oddly, more work than last semester, even though I had 17 credits last semester and only needed 13 this one. Part of that is due to the fact that I am taking an extra class that isn't required, which brings me up to 16 credits. Oops. I will get to that. Plus, I have to write my scholarly paper to actually qualify for my degree. I finally picked my topic, and have done nearly nothing since then! It's a pretty big deal and a fair amount of work that I'm sure I will get to eventually.

The extra class I am taking is actually a Philosophy class. I have never taken Philosophy before (not even "Intro to"). This class is called Science and Ethics and is taught by a well-renowned ethicist who made his way in the field working for good animal treatment in laboratories. Animal research is important in my field, and something that I have strong negative feelings towards. In that light, I think I am getting something important out of this class. Though it is a lot more work than I was originally planning on. That's life, I guess.

I don't have a life. Even on Friday nights and Saturdays I do homework, reading, and studying. And in between, I am trying to update my resume to prepare for job searching. As much as I love coffee, I am feeling very ready to leave Starbucks.

In other news, I am going to be an aunt again! I am very excited about this. Other good news: our condo repairs are coming along, slowly, but surely. I will post about that (it's mostly written, it just needs some modifying).

Unfortunately, my New Year's resolution may have to wait until school is out. I will try to keep updating though! Thanks for being patient with me!