My Pinterest Obsession

What did I do with my free time before Pinterest? Yesterday was a Pinterest day.

First I washed all my makeup brushes in a vinegar/water solution.

 I made this sugar/coffee/peppermint scented scrub. I really like having soft skin.

 I tried to glitterize some votive holders. Pinterest made it look super easy. I did a bigger one with dark blue glitter and a smaller one with light blue glitter. They both need at least a second coat of Modge Podge and glitter. I hope after a couple layers it all sticks! If they turn out, they are going to go in the bathroom for a cute place to stick bobby pins and earrings and other miscellaneous little things that end up everywhere.

 I made my own 'Pam'. Yes, that is my flask funnel. It actually comes in very handy quite often.

 I've been printing a lot of recipes from Pinterest (and other sites around the internet...but mainly Pinterest). There's also a few recipes ripped out from magazines or the Penzey's Spice catalog.  I sorted them all into categories and as soon as I find a three hole punch, they are going into a binder. It will be like a cookbook, but full of recipes I picked out. I've either made the recipes in this stack and liked them, or I plan on making them because they sound like something I'd like. I made this mac & cheese recipe out of this stack and it was just okay. It wasn't the greatest, but it wasn't too bad. I'm guessing it was because of the low-fat milk and low-fat cheese. I've been on a quest to find a delicious 'healthier' homemade mac & cheese, but I'm starting to think this will be impossible.

 My mom always says that spraying mouthwash around a campsite keeps the mosquitoes away. I followed this homemade bug spray recipe and added in a couple drops of patchouli essential oil. I poured it all into an old spray bottle and stuck it out on the back porch. It has yet to be tested, but I bet it will work better than nothing. Otherwise, I just made a large bottle of minty-patchouli perfume.

I finished up the day with a 15 minute workout so that I am prepared to go to the gym today (we are working out with Rachael's personal trainer friend today and it is going to be deadly).

Am I the only one this obsessed with Pinterest? I love cooking, I love making crafty things, and I love pictures of really cute babies. Pinterest has it all.

It's sunburn season

It really bothers me when people type or say 'za' instead of 'pizza'. Really, 'pizza' is not a hard word to say or spell. There is no need to shorten it.

I ate lunch on the patio at Fratello's yesterday. This resulted in me getting a 3/4 sleeve-cardigan-sweater-farmer-burn. It looks as ridiculous as it sounds. I forgot it is summer now and I should be carrying sunscreen with me at all times. But lunch was delicious. Nothing beats eating lunch on a patio on the lake.

I'm bringing blogging back (yeah!)

I have decided to bring back my blog. Why? I work nights and have very little contact with the outside world (by outside world I mean my friends). Basically, anything I would ramble on about in an email/Facebook message to Jenny will now be put here. Now you can read all about my boring life!

Here's a conversation I overheard last week at the library:

"I always liked Tony."

"Yeah, but he didn't like to shower. He always walked around barefoot."

"So what? I did that when I was younger."

"But he always had huge calluses that had dirt stuck in them. And when his feet got really dirty, he stuck them in the toilet to clean them."

Now, when you hear something like this, you just want to bust out laughing. But since I was working by myself at a computer and eavesdropping is rather rude, I tried to avoid laughing. And the more I thought about Tony washing his feet in toilets, the harder it was not to laugh. I kept scrunching up my face, which caused my eyes to water, which made my need to laugh grow even more.

As if that wasn't enough for one day, an hour or so later I overheard this:

"Have you heard anything from her?"

"She moved out of state with a boy. They are getting married."

"I heard he is a potato farmer."

"I hope they are some kind of healthy potato, she has a wedding dress to fit into."

If I hadn't already spent the morning trying to hold it together, I don't think I would have found this as funny as I did. But by this point, I came close to laughing and crying in public like a complete maniac.

Since then, I've been eavesdropping on as many conversations as possible. However, I haven't heard anything noteworthy. When I am bored, I wonder about poor Tony. Are his feet still dirty? Does he wash them in public toilets or his toilet at home? Why would he share this information with anyone?

Would it have been weird if I would have interrupted their conversation to get the facts straight?

Wisconsin residency

I've been diligently working on my grad school app and I'm caught up on pretty much the lamest question on there. I have to prove my Wisconsin residency by putting in my tax information (which I have but I hate flipping through those forms), my parent's tax information and the last time and place I voted. I remember exactly the last time I voted: it was a tiny local election, it was either late fall or early spring, it was cold enough out that I remember wearing my thin purple fleece and the wind was biting me through that but I was too stubborn to wear a real jacket, it was a Tuesday because I was on my way to watch volleyball at the Flag, and after I got my little 'I voted' sticker I stuck it to the dashboard of the Cavalier because I didn't feel like getting into any discussions on politics while I was at happy hour. I couldn't tell you what the election was actually for or who I voted for, but the whole reason I did go vote was so that when I did my grad school application this year, I could put that date in the box. I never wrote down the date. I flipped through my journal and there is no mention of voting, no date circled that says 'last time I voted in Wisconsin!' in all caps. I don't know how I expected to remember the date a year later. And it's not like I need the exact day, I just need the month and year. And I don't have that.

I have only ever lived, worked, or attended school in the state of Wisconsin. Yet I went out of my way to frustrate myself because I thought I was making my life easier. I'd have my application completed and turned in if it wasn't for this one question.

I have two months to narrow down the month I voted in. I have found two elections last fall that it could possibly be. I think I'm just going to guess which one it was and hope I'm close enough.

FOCOL and the library basement

I started as the assistant to Fox Cities Online through the Appleton Public Library. I sit in one of the fancy basement offices in the library and manage the database of FOCOL with Microsoft Access. I get a login to the APL computers and everything. Pretty exciting, right? I get to read the newspaper, surf the internet, chill out on Facebook, check out whatever I want to find new businesses, clubs, services and, well, basically anything in the Fox Valley. I also have to find ones that went out of business and remove them from the list.

The most difficult part is the part that sounds easy - assigning categories and keywords. It is hard to put each place into one main category when some places easily fit into more than one. Also, coming up with keywords takes some thought. I've been putting in a lot of keywords for each place I add and it seems like I put in more keywords than the last guy. But, if you were looking for somewhere in the Valley that does haircuts for men, you could search for men haircuts, barbershops, salon for men, etc.

The boring part is clicking on EVERY single link to make sure it is still active. Since no one has gone through the database in awhile, I am finding a lot of dead links to remove. It takes time though.

Today was my first day. This is my new Wednesday side project. I already like it better than my actual job.

And, if you are looking for any businesses, clubs, services, etc in the Fox Valley, try searching on FOCOL to find what you are looking for.

Job searching has become my only hobby

Four years after college graduation and I’m still wondering what made me choose the major I did. At the time, a liberal art major didn’t seem like a bad idea. First of all, it was a degree. A degree should be able to help me find a solid job. Second, it got me out of school. Getting out of school is something I thought involved more free time and sleeping in, but this is not true. And lastly, I really enjoy literature and grammar. Earning a Bachelors in English was the perfect degree for my interests (however, it is not so friendly in the real world job market). Working seven days a week at less than desirable jobs is the opposite of where I expected my life to be when I finished my degree.

Not only can I not find a job that uses my degree, I can’t find anything other than foodservice or retail. At the moment I’m just looking for a nice little office job, nothing too big and flashy. I’m overqualified for certain positions, I don’t have the necessary experience (earning a degree doesn’t count as work experience), I don’t have the right skills for the position, etc. Since I only worked retail and foodservice while earning my degree, I (according to job postings) have no other job skills.

Frustrating isn’t even the word for it.