Thursday, May 13, 2010

Update

I thought I would write a short blog to give a couple updates:

1. I talked to the manager at our current apartment, and A) She is not in a wheelchair (shocking), and B) We can move out the 15th of June rather than the 30th. Yay! The best part of that is only having to pay rent through the 15th. Whew!

2. My rum cake turned out REALLY GOOD! It was just as delicious as I remembered it, so my on-the-fly elevation compensation tricks must have worked. Everyone seemed to really enjoy it, so it was definitely a success!

I made a chocolate cake with my usual chocolate frosting for two friends' birthdays yesterday, and that turned out really good too! I didn't realize how much I miss baking! It's so nice to be able to bake yummy things and share them with people.

While at a friends' house yesterday, I got to see all of their herbs, plants, and other gardeny-type things, and it motivated me to start my own "garden"! Once I get something in my head it's hard to get it out, so Joey and I went to Lowe's today and got a strawberry plant, rosemary, and sweet basil. I'll pick up a few more things at the farmer's market this weekend, but I thought that was a good start. I got a couple of plastic pots to put them in, so I guess I know what I'll be doing tomorrow! I'm so excited! If I remember, I'll have to post some pictures.

Friday, May 7, 2010

Moving sucks

Joey and I spent most of the day trying to get our living situation figured out. We've decided to move out of our huge 3-bed 2-bath apartment ($610/month), and into a smaller 2-bed 1.5-bath townhome ($475/month). We just aren't making enough money to get bills paid with his current job (that's a can of worms for an entirely seperate blog, btw), and as much as we HATE to pack and move...we're gonna do it.

It's been extra frustrating because our current apartment's management is terrible. They're rarely in the office (the posted hours are 9-6, and she is in there about 30% of the time that I stop by. Between 9-6.), and when we're able to catch them they just don't seem competent. Everything is always a huge ordeal and so incredibly confusing to them. There's an easy way and a hard way for everything, and they seem to love choosing the hard way.

At any rate, there's been a note on the office door for the last two days that says "due to an emergency, this office will be closed until further notice. If you have a maintanence emergency, please call Tim at xxx-xxxx. Uh, we're trying to move out, we need paperwork signed and questions answered. I decided to try calling the company that manages our complex, and was told that Margaret would be back on Monday, as she has a broken back. Huh? A broken back? How does any non-athlete, non-thrill-seeking middle aged adult break their back? A car accident, maybe. And she's coming back Monday? With a broken back? Like, in a wheelchair? Wtf? Obviously she didn't break her back in the common-sense understanding of that term if she'll be back on Monday. So quit being dramatic. I don't care if she's been decapitated, there are residents here that have things that need to be taken care of, so send someone else. I know I don't sound compassionate right now, but the fact that she's rarely in her office and is rarely helpful when she IS in her office makes it hard for me to see the connection between her personal problems and their company not running their business efficiently. She's always out for something, so as far as I'm concerned, a "broken back" isn't my problem, nor does it have anything to do with their company not taking care of their residents.

Okay, I'm off that soapbox (for now). I made a rum cake for poker tonight and it looks delicious. I hope it turned out alright, with the altitude weirdness and all. I added a few tablespoons of flour, since that seems to be the protocol for cake mixes up here. I'll have to let you all know how it tastes...

Thursday, May 6, 2010

Beginnings

I've been wanting to start a blog for awhile now, but had no idea what to call it. I finally came up with something fairly unique, and now I have no idea what to write. So I find myself wondering why I wanted to write a blog in the first place....

All I do is go to school and work, so I suppose that most of my blogs will revolve around that. Maybe I can start baking/cooking more often, so I'll have something other than Cache County Memory Study and Bronfenbrenner's Ecological Theory to write about.

Speaking of school, words cannot describe how excited I am that I finished my last final yesterday! It was my only final, and it was the hardest test I've taken in awhile. Like Trevor said, I think it was written in Latin. I hate when I leave a class feeling dumber than I did before the class! After a full hour of sweaty palms, a racing heart, and difficulty catching my breath (I swear this was a stats test and not a half marathon), I think I ended up doing fairly well. I guess I'll have to wait for grades to come out to know for sure.

Well, I guess that's it for now. Joey's making tuna salad for dinner...mmmmm!! Speaking of food, does anyone have any suggestions for things to bake while I'm on summer break (all 10 days of it)? I think I'm making a rum cake for poker on Friday night, but I would like to make lots of stuff on my ridiculously long break (sarcasm).

So...any suggestions?