Today's To Done List

Today was a great day.  Not for any big event, or any major accomplishment, but just because overall, I'm happy with what I'm doing and where I am right now!

First, an update on Mark...he's taken 2 of his 3 final exams and feels fine with them.  The third one is the one that just has a lot of material and he doesn't know what to expect, so hopefully he'll feel good after his test so he can enjoy his weekend since grades won't be posted until Monday, I believe. He come up a few more times in my list!

This morning, I checked my email and worked on my classes.  I was offered a job at the montessori teaching a computer class, though I'm probably not going to take it because I feel there are people who better fit what they are looking for.  I found out that I got an A on my two assignments this week (which is great because my quizzes weren't as good as normal).  I then started on an assignment that is due on Monday that I've been "working" on for the last couple of weeks.  It's a two page paper (but really longer if you're going to actually cover the material), and I had already drawn my artwork that I had to discuss.  I wrote the entire thing this morning!  I'm a slow paper writer because I never now how to start...I literally look at the flashing cursor for far too long.  But I was motivated to finish because Mark will be done with classes tomorrow around 11 and I don't want him to then have to be the one saying, "when will you have some free time so we can go ____?"  I then emailed it to our class writing helper for some feedback.

I had to meet someone at options that I was buying a duvet cover and storage container from...so we decided we'd go early and get lunch.  Options is a group of huts that sell food right off campus--the only one we've tried and absolutely love is Mr. Chipotle.  It takes them 25-30 minutes to make nachos and a burrito, so we find a ton of bottle caps that I collect for some fun crafty things!  We've been really good about eating out (avg twice a month...but that will be skewed as Mark and I decided today that we want to stop off at Taco Bell, Jack-in-the-box, and Arby's on the way home from the airport on the 17th...).  I took Mark so that he could carry my goodies home while I caught the bus to Mont Toute where I had a dress rehearsal with the kids for tomorrow's program!  That was fun--it's not my level of program, but it's what we can do given the resources we have!  I'm running sound and conducting a song, though I taught several of the songs being performed.  There is also a special tribute to a teach that just passed away there... very sad and I'll probably cry even though I don't know who it was.  I'm also helping hand out the instruments, I made the program handouts and the no-talking-signs that Ruth can hold up so the kids know when it is their turn to speak or what song is next.

After leaving the montessori school, I caught the bus back to campus where I came in and had more school productivity until 4, when I had plans to pick up some more stuff from people.  Mark went with me because he was itching to get outside and we chatted with two different 5th termers, who were wonderful and peppy! I love the people here!  One of the girls said she'll probably just give us most of her left over stuff she doesn't sell and hopes that we can find some good use for it.

Then we had to play our daily dose of frisbee.  Mark has been bargaining me for his 15 minutes outside where he doesn't have to think about school.  It is his best break and my best way out of dishes!  Though this week, there isn't much relief because he is busy every second that he isn't doing one of the above listed things.  After frisbee, I did the few edits that the writing helper suggested, added about a page of other info that may or may not help, and now I'm writing a blog!  It's only 7pm!  I still have to do dishes, I plan on completing my last school module for the week and starting the assignment, and then I will be picking up a car tonight!  Mark and I are renting a car for the last week we are here to give us freedom to get around since we have the time.  That means I will be driving home, on the left side of the road.  Oh goodness, I'm scared.  I may not be updating for awhile since I'll have my husband back (not because I crashed...), but we'll take pictures and share later!  :)
Yep, good day when you have all of this new stuff!  (I cannot wait to use those cake pans!)  Tomorrow we will pick up two transformers, including one that is powerful enough to power our nuwave oven!  

I'm a Crock Pot Cook!

So, yes, I got a new crock pot!  And we are currently getting along quite well!  It cost me $20ec (less than $8) and it only uses 90w, so even though it is a US plug, it doesn't feel like we are risking out lives to plug it in!  The couple we bought it from (great people!) are letting me use the cook book that goes along with it and I'm trying to find some good recipes and scan them while I can!

The first thing I made (because I was going through withdraws) is a yellow cake made from a cake mix.  I found the recipe online and had to split it in half and make two cakes because it is geared towards a regular crock pot.  Still, the cake is a success (very moist, even after storing it in the fridge and reheating it), and since we didn't have any frosting, the melted chocolate chips and sprinkles give it the cake appearance!

 The second thing I made was some meatloaf!  I've never made meatloaf before, but I've always enjoyed eating it at home!  While I was preparing this, Mark said something along the lines of "You know, we've never eaten meatloaf together before."  And then we shared how excited we both get over meatloaf!  Though I would love for my mom to make some stuffed bell peppers over the Christmas break!
 The third thing I've made in that magical, tiny white contraption is Banana Bread Pudding with Chocolate.  I really didn't recall ever having bread pudding before, so I didn't know quite what to expect when I had to cut slices of bread into tiny cubes and mix with raw egg and mashed bananas...
 But the result is quite fantastic!  I'm very excited to get to have some more of this!  Hopefully it will reheat just as well as the cake!
And speaking of reheat...today for lunch, we had left over tuna salad, left over sloppy joes, (on fresh bread) and left over meatloaf (which we didn't even get to with the other options so dinner is already taken care of!).  This is an exciting time because I am getting more excited to cook, making it less of a chore.  We usually don't have options when it comes to left overs...if there are left overs, we're eating them!  But not this time, not this lunch!  And now we have options for dessert!  Speaking of which: slow cooker functions: dinner: 1, dessert: 2.5 (I had to cook two cakes!).  Priorities!

Our reading list!

We like humor.  Some of this is quite raunchy, but it is funny!  Here is our reading/have read list relative to the iPhone.

http://damnyouautocorrect.com/13603/the-25-funniest-autocorrects-of-dyacs-first-year/
http://damnyouautocorrect.com/13608/top-50-funniest-autocorrects-of-dyacs-first-year-part-1/
http://shitthatsirisays.tumblr.com/


Don't get us wrong.  We like the news articles and depressing stuff, too!  But sometimes you just need a little artificial [intelligence] humor!

http://www.vidaddict.com/wall-street-activist-owns-fox-news/

Also, I have been reading The Help.  Once I finish, I am going to need to get my thoughts out about it...

Our Christmas Wishlist

Based on some requests, here is a list of things we wouldn't mind having.  Not all of them are reasonable gifts, but they are on the list anyway!  Keep in mind, Mark and I are very fortunate to be in a place where we can afford everything we need.  This is purely a want list and should be treated as such!  You can want things and never have them and still be happy (we are!), but sometimes it is nice to fantasize about the other things, and so here are some of those!  It is fun writing a list like this, especially for people like us who never really know what we want when we're asked the question, so you should try it out and post it, too!


  • iPad!  Mark and I would both love to have one of these.  And the cool roll up case that covers it or helps it stand up!  He might have to buy one for term 3 when they go paperless anyway!
  • New shoes for hiking (for me).  Apparently Tennis Shoes aren't as great as these: Adidas Kanadian Trail Shoes
  • New Tennis Shoes for both Mark and I--it's just that time of every other year when we actually go out and get ourselves new tennis shoes that will last us for another two years or so!
  • I'm sure we'd both also take some nice flip flops.  The ground here wears them down so quickly!
  • Recipe books geared towards a mini crockpot or a NuWave oven!  
  • A pocket trumpet--this seems really silly, but it'd be so cool to have a trumpet here of some sort and I wouldn't really trust bringing mine!  I would take it to the montessori school and show it off at music club!
  • An SLR Camera.  sigh.  SO out of price range.  But maybe one day!  
  • Tickets to see a musical or a concert while we are at home over Christmas break (or the TCU bowl game, depending on when it is)!
  • Lasik surgery (for Mark)-again out of price range.  But this may be coming out of our loan money before he starts clinicals for his third year.  
  • Craps table cloth like this one (mainly for me now, but this is geared towards both of us!)
  • Several dice to bring back with us for yatzee, Craps, etc. 
  • Other board games and puzzles (particularly those good for travel or that can be emptied into a zip lock baggie)!  
  • We'd both take a good pedicure (yes, Mark really enjoys pedicures!) or massage!  
  • I could use some good jean shorts.  He could use a couple more Old Navy size M men's plain polos.  And maybe another TCU one, too. 
  • Mark has said he won't look at the blog (since he has finals this week and better things to take his focus), so I'm going to post a few other ideas!  
    • All-in-one golf club!  For his couple of breaks he may have, or his trips to Top Golf over Christmas break, this thing would be so neat and portable.  
    • A set of disc golf frisbees, yet again, probably only to be used at home...  
    • A new iPhone.   His has a crack. :(
    • A good quality stethoscope; possibly one with his name or a TCU logo. 
  • Adjustable shelves for the pantry/cabinets for our spices, etc. 
  • Any top secret bug-repellent technology would be great!  We're starting to get bug bites indoors and find ants in our microwave and near our computers.  
  • Any storage or useful item that has a suction cup!  Remarkably, that is the solution to everything!  (see picture below)
  • I will continue to update this if we think of more things!
    • A Scentsy or similar fragrance maker
Seriously, though!  Making your own list is fun and it makes life easier for everyone else at least to get ideas about what you want, even if they are way out there like some of ours!

Blogging!

I have discovered that I want to blog!  I don't know what is with this new revelation, but it probably has something to do with my need to keep my memories!  As the end of the term is fast approaching many SOs are getting sappy as they are the ones about to leave Grenada and move on...their two years (or three in some cases) have past and they are going to rotations.  They are making me ever so conscious of how precious and fast my time here is!  

Yesterday, Michelle Nanney, a great SO, gave a talk on her "Retrospective View of Grenada."  She had a slightly different focus than my own, but it was insightful and inspiring none-the-less.  She did not give us a to do list, but instead talked about her "to-done" list as I called something similar a few posts back.  She has kept great records of her time in Grenada, made great relationships, and amounted to what she believes is the best (though she crazily thinks she could have done more!) time well spent in Grenada.  The reason she keeps a list of everything she does is both for memory purposes, but also for future jobs.  If someone looks at her résumé  and says, "why do you have a gap of three years of unemployment here?"  She can respond with the story about her husband went to medical school, or she can respond with the opportunity of how she ended up without the ability to work on a tropical island and instead logged __ many volunteer hours, coordinated with ___ many non-profit organization on ___ many projects.  She watched ___ webinars covering the topics of ___.  She pursued her second or third masters online.  She attended ___ many talks, presenting ___ many of her own.  And what's great about Michelle, the motivation wasn't to fill in the blanks.  The motivation was her own self (and selfless) interests.  The result is an impressive résumé

So back to my blog subject: blogging.  I have a purpose with this blog and it is a little so that those back at home who may not get the chance to talk to us regularly can know that Mark is still studying and I'm keeping busy.  But the main point is so that when Mark and I want to reflect on our time in Grenada, Mark can know he didn't "bring me down" (as a lot of students with SOs feel), but he gave me an excuse to quit my job and live my life.  And I'm going to make sure I remember it!  The ups, the downs, the silly details, and all the moments that count.  

What's new?

Crock Pot!  New discovery and I'm loving it!  I've only made two things so far--half of a cake mix, and the other half of a cake mix with added ingredients!  Last night, we made one (we will say in honor of Mark's mom's birthday, though she will not get to reap any of the tasteful rewards!) with chocolate chips, which sank to the bottom and then became my frosting!  I put some sprinkles on top and called it intentional!

Cake 1: we didn't have any frosting, but it still tastes great with ice cream or just by itself!

Cake 2: Melted chocolate chips=WAY better than frosting!  Happy birthday, Janis!
Someone's used crock pot = our new dinner maker that hasn't made any dinners yet, but it makes a great spoon rest while it's baking a cake!

What else is new??  Well, most people partake in Black Friday or Cyber Monday, or "crowds have died down, hopefully it's safe to venture out" rest of the week.  We had something close!  The end of term sale which is mostly put on for those leaving the island is like a big garage sale!  Some people want far too much money for things, others just want it gone!  Mark and I were holding off to get some things until the end of the term where we knew they'd be better gentle used than paying way too much buying them from a store here!  Here are some of our Goodbye Tuesday sale finds!  



2 dresses for $5, bottle of sunscreen (always need that) for $5 ec, Hair dryer for $20, Pyrex pan with lid for $10, goggles and almost empty bottle of nail polish remover for free; Ultimate Frisbee for free; 1000 piece cat puzzle for $10 (ALL prices in ec; EC is approx 2.67*US, so for estimating purposes, multiply ec times 2 and divide by 5.  Ex. $10ec * 2 / 5 = $4USD)

The basket, which had 3 staplers, several highlighters, a nice pen cup, a new pair of scissors (my main motivation), an a few other things, plus the basket, was $5.  I have already donated two of the staplers to the library.  Who needs three staplers??
An end table on wheels from the Vet sale!  After I bought this for $10, several people asked me if I was selling it...
We already had four of these drawers that I bought at the beginning of the term because Mark needed something to make his closet more usable.  Well, I was left with one and stole one from Mark's closet because I needed my desk to be more usable!  We found an additional drawer at the sale for $20ec and the girl said that she was willing to give us the other two in her dorm closer her departure day!  For now, I kept the new one and the one I stole from Mark's closet!  But soon we should have enough that we are just super organized!  
 Other new things that were bought before the sale when things were going cheap on the Post (students' craigslist):
The printer above was $120ec (included 2 $20us cartridges and most of a ream of paper)
NuWave oven for $200ec with a carrying case and all the little accessories!
A 2000va transformer (which we think means 1200w and won't support our 1500w nuwave, so we haven't used it yet; and we already resold the transformer since we have committed to buying a 2000W transformer on the 9th)
The mini crock pot for $20ec (less than $8us)
A couple of locks for storing our stuff in our room over break
A new medium sized pot with lid for $15 (Mark haggled that at the sale for me!)
A poker set (so that we can play during game days next term!)
A portable beach/pool raft that easily inflates and deflates so I can take it on the bus!
10 packs of notecards and 5 packs of post-its
A yoga mat (for $35ec, some were going for 100, but now I've seen a couple for 20...oh well)
I have also committed to buying: another printer that isn't as good of a deal that I will have to resale at the beginning of next term, a toaster (we are excited for this!) with a Grenadian plug (no transformer necessary!), and a toaster oven, which we won't need with out NuWave and will also need to be resold, a comforter for $25, the transformer mentioned above as well as another one (so we can resale our smaller watt ones at the beginning of next term to people like us that needed them!).

I'm relatively happy with my purchases and the good deals I've found.  I'm really excited to be packing it all up soon to come home though!  And then I'll get to enjoy it as if it's all new at the start of next term!

What else is new?!  We found out that we are for sure staying in our same room next term!  I think this is exciting because we don't have to move all of our stuff into questionable storage facilities, and we don't have to show up at the airport not-knowing!  We keep our balcony, convenience, and....our new dryer!  Yes, they finally gave us a new dryer!  We haven't tried it yet, but the last few weeks have been so awful (it sounded like there were screaming puppies in the dryer and you could definitely hear it through our room and half of campus; then some weeks it just wouldn't start and we had to carry our wet laundry to other buildings until we found an open and working dryer).  Well, that's enough of the Price is Right!



We will be home on the 17th!  We are both getting excited!  I have arranged for us to rent a car from somebody who isn't on the island during our last week on the island!  Soon I will be adding to our list of new stuff a Grenadian Driver's License!  Oh Joy!