150/365: Gluttons for Punishment

Well, we did it. The apartment was emptied. Mostly.

147/365: More Moving

The only picture I snapped today. This rug is yet another item that has been in storage since we got married. Now, we finally have a bathroom that is big enough for this rug to be out on the bathroom floor.

144/365: A Sign of Moving

The bare walls are just one of the signs we are moving. Today I took down pretty much anything that was hanging on the wall. The only things that remain are a clock and a Cars poster. The various piles of stuff are another sign that we are moving. Or that I have been too busy to clean.

141/365: Fine China

After almost a year, I finally get to open these boxes. The boxes that hold my "casual" china.

I actually have fine china that my mom and grandma bought for me when I was a small child. I have only even seen the fine china two times in my life. Once, when I begged my mom to show me and then again, a couple years ago when my parents were moving to a different house. My brothers got fiestaware, which is MUCH more practical but I am pretty sure neither one of them have gotten any use out of their dishes either. For now, all of our dishes live in a basement; probably not what my mom and grandma had in mind when they bought them.

Not only do I have fine china, I also have fine silverware (what do you call really nice silverware?) that has been sitting in that same basement for years and years. Unlike the china, I have actually seen the silverware several times and I think I even got to pick it out. I know that I still like the design, which just goes to show my taste is consistent from when I was a small child to now that I am a "grown" woman -- whatever that means.

Anyway, back to the casual china at hand! This was a wedding present from my step mom's entire family -- 8 place settings!!! Although a rather boring gift, it was probably my favorite. It was the gift I never would have bought for myself, ever. Since this was such an expensive gift I never unpacked the dishes to use because I thought I was going to be moving somewhere later that summer. I didn't realize it would be almost a year before I moved.

137/365: Paint Chip

Last night I went to the mart and picked out every yellow paint chip they had. This isn't even all of them!

You see, I took a hideous shelf down in the kitchen only to discover it had been painted around. Not wanting to repaint the whole kitchen I decided it would be easier to try to match the current color.

I think I found a match...but only time will tell...

135/365: Laundry

This quite possibly could be the last time I have to leave my apartment building to do laundry.

Woot.

133/365: Key to my Heart

This is the key to our apartment. Literally. I almost died (in a good way)  when I saw it. It is like a childhood dream come true to actually have a functioning skeleton key. So cute and quaint, just like the apartment.

132/365: Love at First Sight

I saw this dresser and I wanted it. How can you not love it?

130/365: I Love it When a Plan Comes Together

Well after the crazy apartment hunting experience I had to go to a doctor's appointment. On the bright side, it was near a Target so I took the chance to indulge myself. While I was there I pretty much convinced myself that we needed to rent apartment #1. I discovered the solution to the lack of kitchen storage:

Apartment Hunting

We looked at apartments today. In smalltown, USA. Seriously.

Apartment #1 was above a car dealership. 

Pros: hardwood floor, 2 big closets, hardwood floor, heated floors in the winter (it's above the showroom), we can paint if we want, awesome landlord, and last but certainly not least--shared washer/dryer with the other 2 tenants (!!!!) 

Cons: smallest kitchen ever, very little cabinet/counter space

Apartment #2 is when things got weird.

Pros: good layout and lots of space

Cons: smells like old people, nasty carpet, probably weird landlord, creepy barbershop downstairs

Now, for the back story about the weirdness. I talked to the landlord on the phone and he said the apartment was a barbershop where his dad was the barber and if we stopped by his dad would give us the keys and let us have a look around. Sounds legit, right? Wrong.

We walk into the barbershop to see, literally, piles of stuff everywhere: on the floors, the counters, in the sinks. Everywhere. There were also hats everywhere. Hanging from the ceiling, hanging on the wall. Everywhere. The only things that indicated we were in a barbershop were the barber chairs (is that what they're called?) and a can of barbasol. There was also an old woman and an old man sitting at a folding table staring at us incredulously. Unfortunately, this was only the beginning.

The "barber" offered us some coffee, to which we said, "heck no" and got to work looking for the key to the apartment, which was quite the chore given the amount of crap in this place. He had to have had at least 20 keys he looked at, but none of them were the key to the apartment (side note: once we actually got to the apartment, we found that it was unlocked). He said he had to get the key from his son and would be right back. He also offered us a soda, which we accepted. 

There we were with the strange old people staring at us. With the "barber" gone, the woman took her cue and began talking incessantly. First, she informed us of the price of coffee at every single place in town that served coffee. (I learned that Pizza Hut serves coffee--$1.29 in case you are wondering). She concluded that "She comes here because the coffee is free." She then carried on about baking a chocolate cake that "was going to be richer than the devil." At this point the old man got up and started showing us his collection of military flags and his presentation concluded with him trying to sell some poppies (you know, the ones that veterans stand in the street to sell around memorial day?) to us. 

About this time another man came in without saying a word, but took his seat next to the other two and started staring at us like the others. At this point the woman started talking about all the farmland she and her husband used to own and how she raised her own chickens. Thankfully, another man came in and distracted her for a minute. However, he was carrying a plate of hamburgers and hotdogs so the weirdness continued.

About thirty seconds later the "barber" came back and had the key with him thank goodness. We practically ran out of there. We had a quick look at the apartment. Well, after we recovered from being knocked over by the smell of old people the moment we walked in. We took the key back to the "barbershop" and were invited to stay for some hotdogs and potato salad.

Needless to say, we declined and got the heck out of there! Apartment #1 suddenly seemed like heaven on earth.

112/365: Felix the Cat

My neighbors have a cat, whom they named Felix. I fed Felix today.

109/365: Live & Learn

Unfortunately, these did not taste as good as they look. 

They were burnt on the bottom. Such a cruel world we live in.

Stupid oven with the numbers worn off of the temperature dial.

Live and learn, live and learn.

105/365: FIRE!

This morning started out with a bang. Well, to be more correct it started out with surges of electricity.


Seth got up and I was still laying in bed. This is what I hear: really, really strong gusts of wind, random "grinding" noises, and people outside talking. I was tuning most of it out until I heard these two words: electrical fire. The first thing I saw when I looked out my window was my landlord running away from the building and talking about sparks. Then everyone who was there (except for the firefighters, of course) kept saying someone needs to call the fire department. Funny thing is- none of them were calling.

Well, I guess since the fire department is two blocks away, they must have heard the commotion and decided to come on over. Actually, I knew the second that the call had been made because I immediately heard the siren. There wasn't the typical siren wailing though because it took them all of ten seconds to get here.

The most humorous thing was after four firefighters went into the basement, our landlord follows them in. Seriously? If four firefighters can't handle it, I'm not going to follow behind. What was alarming was that the building could go up in flames at any minute and our landlord wasn't doing a darn thing to notify us.

Turns out there was a lot of electricity coming into the basement of the building we live in and the power had nowhere to go, hence the sparks and smoke. Apparently an electrician came by later to rectify the matter, but I still won't be surprised if when the building goes up in flames.

46/365: You've Got Mail

This isn't what you probably think it is. This is what I found in my mailbox this morning.

My best guess is that some drunk from any one of several bars down the street stumbled down and once his beer was gone he decided my mailbox was an appropriate place to dispose of it.

Lovely.

42/365: Sunset

There are few times that I actually think, "I like my apartment." Tonight as I watched the sun sink below the horizon I actually liked my apartment, if for nothing other than the view. It's a rare occasion that I am actually thankful for anything about this apartment and when I am it should be documented.

34/365: Peace Of Mind

Last winter the pipes in my apartment froze. 

Correction: the pipes in a mysterious unknown basement below my apartment froze. 

The leak wasn't found until a week later and I was without water the whole time. With subzero temperatures this week I am taking no chance of the pipes freezing again. The kitchen faucet is at a steady drip, giving me peace of mind, knowing that my pipes aren't going to freeze this year.

11/365: Lost & Found

No, I am not trying to make a spiritual statement today. Yes, I think it is a good thing to seek God with all of your heart, but that's not exactly the point I am trying to make. I actually found this coloring sheet all folded up on the floor of my apartment. Where it came from, I have no idea. It appears to be fairly old and is definitely not a freshly colored page. There is no crayola to be smelled here. What is more, the name 'Doreen' is written at the top of the page. Anybody know a Doreen? Not I.

3/365: Productivity

I moved my desk to the opposite side of the living room today. so far, so good. My desk chair will no longer be directly in front of the tv, so perhaps I will be more productive. Productivity would be a good theme for this year.

Also, it took me a good thirty minutes to figure out how to move the picture to the left rather than the center. Yes, I am in grad school.

Reflections On 2010

This probably isn't the greatest day for me to reflect on this year. I'm sick for the first time all year--how's that for irony?

2010 was not my favorite year. I got engaged Christmas Eve of '09, which was great but it brought the stress of wedding planning. I really did not enjoy that season of my life. There was so much drama surrounding the planning of the wedding that I still don't know if it was worth it. I was really disenchanted with all of it and realized how much emphasis our culture puts on one single day rather than the marriage that is to come. Nevertheless, I am very happy to be married and being married has been one of the greatest blessings and challenges in my life.

I remember waking up New Year's Day to frozen pipes. That was not my idea of fun. I believe they were frozen for about a week and then froze again a week later. The only good thing was that my landlord paid for the new pipes instead of me. That, and many other things have made me thankful to be a renter.

Last January I took statistics as an intensive course as a prerequisite to a masters program that I had not yet been accepted to. I took the class in faith that this masters program was where God was leading me and that I should pay for this class anyway. I really enjoyed the class and it was one of the best classes I have ever taken. No joke. I loved statistics. I even found a mistake on one of the homework assignments and corrected the professor. I took all this as a sign that this was indeed what God wanted to do.

I was accepted into that masters program and it has been challenging and not what I thought it would be in so many ways. I have made some of the greatest friends, which I did not expect at all. I am so thankful for those friends, though. I could not have made it through the last six months without their friendship. By the grace of God I somehow have a 4.0, and I am so thankful for that, although I feel so undeserving.

Overall, 2010 has been very bittersweet. Which I think is a hot word right now because of Shauna Niequist's book that was released this year. I haven't read it yet, so this is all me. The wedding planning was bitter, the marriage is sweet. Grad school is bitter, the friendships are sweet. Frozen pipes was bitter, not having to pay for new pipes is sweet.

Life In A Small Town

Yesterday we went to get renter's insurance. Now that we actually own things that are worth insuring.

We walked over to the office because it's a small town and we can do that. All of the important places that I need to go are all close to each other. The bank. The post office. Insurance agent's office.

And...an hour and a half later we leave. Please don't let that scare you from getting renter's insurance because the process doesn't take that long. That part took about ten minutes.

The rest of the time was filled with conversations you can only have in small town and you actually get to know people. We talked about lasik, the history of the insurance company, the fact that their office is moving to the space right below us, sports (multiple times), and pretty much anything else you can imagine.

Sometimes I really like living in this black hole.