Finally, my summer vacay from school...

... In August, after the 7th.

Hahaha, so sad that I only get three weeks of summer vacation, really. But, such is the life of a student. I also say only knowing that I only get three real weeks of vacation because I am currently unemployed.
Earlier this week I went to the park with a friend and her mostly-new baby, that was fun. The baby mostly just slept outside once she got used to the outside (Squee- so squishy cute, but bah, so... boring. Man, I can't wait till the baby is a little bit older and she can respond to things better).

Yesterday I made bannock,

 to test it out before I go camping with my sisters in August, since I don't want a meal to be gross because I didn't try it out-- it's going to be a side to both chili and stew, on different days. I'm pretty pleased with it, but I feel that adding salt is silly since the baking powder already tastes like salt. Adding jam is really nice though.
I'm pretty stoked about this trip. It'll be me and my three little sisters, who are all young enough and inexperienced enough that I feel like the whole trip will be like teaching central for things like: how to start a fire, how to make chili on a campfire, what to do when you are dirty, how to paddle a canoe (we're totes canoeing), and why the turtle sits in the sun (courtesy of my herpetology class earlier in the summer).
I've been fishing this summer a few times, off the banks of the river here in town. It's no good, all I get are three-and-a-half-inch red eyed rock bass. They're lame. I can't even eat them.
Hopefully we'll catch some fish on the Grand River when we go camping. It will be awesome.

July... 18, 2013?!

Holy crud, this summer is flying by. Maybe because I have to keep ripping parts of my car off and putting new ones on, maybe because I have no job and therefore am enjoying all of my time too much.

Went to the zoo with the hubs and the MIL. Wooh! Zoo Zoo Zoo. Fun word.

I started keeping my account on calorie counter up to date this week. I have a lot of extra time on my hands, aside from naming and collecting bugs, fixing my car and going to dance, which is now over for the summer. I did a bunch of homework. I seem to be suffering from either really bad eye strain, or really weak conjunctivitis. I can't tell. Either way, I took my contacts out and have been in glasses all day for three days (ugh). I'm considering going back to contacts because the glasses are so irritating and my eyes haven't gotten any better overall (though they do get betterish when I'm not on the computer or playing video games.
While writing this, I decided to call telehealth ontario and they told me it was going to be a 40 minute wait to speak to a nurse! Holy crap, not a good service. I can walk into a walk in clinic in that time. Thanks, I know it's one of two things, I'll just keep waiting until I get eye goo to be sure.
Which is why I'm not sure: my eyes are red and itchy, but they haven't got eye goo, and they get worse when I stare at a computer screen.
So here I am. I made awesome soft pretzels last night from Tammy's Recipes (here) and they are the best soft pretzels that I have had in a long time. I think that they need a kick or something maybe, but they were awesome otherwise.
I identified a species that I caught yesterday, this morning: The Punctured Tiger Beetle (link is to bugguide.net, I highly recommend this site for those bug enthusiasts. Some of the pictures are awesome and a great number of species are up on the site. You can also submit good pictures of species that you cannot identify yourself for others who are pros to ID. I actually ended up using this site to ID it: Tiger Beetles of Ontario since I had been looking at pictures of beetles all morning and the metallic green one looked the closest to my specimen, except that mine wasn't green. I assumed it was a tiger beetle, then searched brown tiger beetle, et voila!  

Cicindela punctulata! (I hope).
Hmm.. I came on here to write something specific, but I can no longer seem to recall what that was. Oh well. More for tomorrow, I guess.

Cheap make your own paper holder/ July 3, 2013

I decided that it was about time to stop piling all of my paper up by my door in my computer room. I am too lazy/cheap to buy special shelves, and my "bookshelf" is so full that I am stacking two layers high and three layers deep, but they're all books that are important to me (like, series and favorites, plus a few textbooks from school).
Anyway, after deliberating what to do with the smaller paper I have for scrapbooking, I finally came across a box from a grocery store box-bin that I thought would fit the 8x11.5 papers perfectly. Sure enough, I cut the box flaps off and put them through slits I made in the side with a boxcutter, and the fit was perfect. It is by no means measured, so there is a slant to the box. Maybe, eventually, I'll paint it or something, but for now I'm looking for utility over aesthetic.

It was so easy, I'm just going to show you pictures of the semi-final stage (not including painting/design on the outside):

I imagine that with a 12x12 top, or a 12x12+ box you could also make one for 12x12 papers.