Stuck Inside on a Beautiful Day

I've gotten my most important schoolwork completed. That certainly doesn't mean all of it but enough where if I could I would be outside enjoying this gorgeous sunny day. But alas, that is apparently not to be.

The painters showed up just before noon and are planning to finish the job today. My car is blocked in and the doors must be left open to dry so I won't be going anywhere anytime soon. I am sad to miss such a lovely day of course, but I am also anxious for them to finish. When they are done, the whole project will be complete. I look forward to having my house all to myself again.

Contractor has not returned the key yet because of a cat-related situation that I've asked for his help with. The hateful beasts have pulled the brand new carpet loose from around the brand new tile floor. If I can't get it fixed and prevent it from occurring again, they could unravel pieces that run the full length of the room. Have I mentioned recently how much I hate cats? If I didn't have so many other things to worry about this would probably be causing me to freak out.

Does anyone want a very loving, litter boxed trained black and white cow kitty?

Spots

No, I am not referring to the paint job. That actually looks pretty good.

The spots I'm talking about are on my throat. I drank three cups of Throat Coat tea at work today as I talked my way through six interviews. Don't you wish you were shaking my hand? Ha! All that talking did nothing to help ease the discomfort.

And tomorrow... three more interviews and an exam on child health and safety. I think I'd better go lie down.

Evil Darkness

The painter started spraying the aluminum siding on my house today. I hate picking paint colors with a passion, so I picked the one that seemed to me to be the closest to the current color. (I know, you are wondering why I'm bothering to spend all this money to have it painted. Well, I'm wondering the same damn thing.)

As I was driving home from class, FF called and said "I see you decided to go with a lighter color." Uh oh. I specifically told the painter that I wanted it to be essentially the same color. Perhaps he misunderstood? English is, after all, not his first language and I have difficulties with his heavy accent. Perhaps he doesn't care for mine either.

What's really killing me is that it's dark by the time I get home from class, so I can't see the damn siding. I have to wait until morning!

I'm already so super stressed with school and work that I had the most elaborate and looong chase dream last night. It was scary and awful and kept going and going even when I would wake up and go back to sleep. Now I have the added anxiety of a paint color that I may hate and will have to live with for decades to come.

Little Things

I was supposed to have written about the environment yesterday, but between work, classroom observations, class, and schoolwork I wasn't able to find the time. That doesn't mean that it isn't a topic that I think about on a daily basis.

One of the goals I have with becoming a high school biology teacher is that hopefully I will have the chance to help kids learn to enjoy science. I think that is sometimes the beginning of learning to care for the environment. In my ninth grade biology class we did "Seton Spots," where each student had to pick a location in nature to spend a series of visits sitting and observing their surrondings. I loved and still love the opportunity to do just that. I hope that my enthusiasm and dedication will be contagious.

As for the little things I referred to in the post title, I thought I'd mention some of the things I do (both consciously and subconsciously) to keep my carbon footprint down. Sometimes all it takes is hearing someone say what they do and why for the lightbulb to go off in your own head. It's easy to overlook the obvious. There are lots more things I could be doing or could be doing better, so I'm always on the look-out for inspiration. Got ideas? By all means share them!

• I am passionate about recycling. The county I live in does well with recycling. It kills me that in this day and age recycling isn't mandatory. When I lived in Florida, no one recylced. But even here many people still don't understand what is and what is not recyclable. Toilet seat? NO!
• I try to avoid buying things that are bottled in containers that are not recyclable (numbers other than 1 or 2).
• I only run the dishwasher and washing machine when I have full loads.
• I wash most of my clothes with cold water.
• I often have only one bulb lit in the whole house (living room).
• I use as many of the energy saving light bulbs as possible.
• I wear many of my clothes more than once (especially pants and sweatshirts) between washes.
• I donate my old clothes, shoes, and what-have-yous instead of just throwing them in the trash.
• I love the Farmer's Market and support the idea of buying local (this I could improve on!).
• I return all of my bottles and cans and support the idea of an expanded bottle bill for non-carbonated beverage containers.

I'm sure I've forgotten many of things that I meant to mention, but perhaps they will come to me and I can add them later.

One of the many things that I do that bothers me is the length of my commute. Due to the nature of my job and my schooling, carpooling is not an option, nor is mass transit. I can only hope and pray that after graduation I can find a job that is closer to where I live.

I would also like to start composting at some point once I get settled into my new house and figure out the best way to do it for my yard and my neighborhood.

I believe that protecting our environment is not just something good to do, it is the right thing to do. And I feel very strongly about right versus wrong.

Blog Action Day

Bullets of Procrastination

• I spent all day yesterday on the couch watching TV. I still feel slightly stuffed up and very sniffley. I hope it doesn't develop into something much worse.
• Obviously, I didn't do any schoolwork yesterday. That leaves today. Oy.
• The sub-contractor my contractor lined up to do the exterior work has bailed on him, so he is here today trying to get the work done himself. He'd already moved on to another job in another town because he'd finished his end of the work. Or so he thought. Needless to say, the banging is a little distracting.
• Even though it's mostly cloudy, the solar has been running occasionally, helping to bring the internal temperature up a few degrees from the rather chilly start of 61.
• I took a break earlier and vacuumed the entire house. It's a little odd when vacuuming becomes a form of procrastination and not something that you procrastinate to avoid doing.
• I've gotten it in my head that I may need reading glasses. I'm thinking a run to a store might be in order to try on some of those over-the-counter glasses. That doesn't sound like procrastination, does it?
• Fine, I'll go back to reading that fascinating article on reform in undergraduate science classrooms.
• Right after I eat some Nutella.

Chicken Soup Please

I'm afraid I may be coming down with something. My eyeballs are hot and dry. My chest aches. There seems to be some extra phlegm.

I don't care if it's just an old wives' tale; I can't help but think that getting soaked to the skin twice in one week hasn't helped.