Cakes!

So, today I was bad and skipped church. But, in my defense, I had two things that I absolutely had to get done before 1:00. They were:


and


Today was my friend Bonnie's bridal shower, and I was in charge of making the cakes. So, when I got up this morning I needed to figure out if you can write with cream cheese frosting, how to make lime green frosting, what to do for a cake board, and so on. I finally did figure everything out. I think it helps that I watched my mom make cakes for the first 17 years of my life, and then I've watched her make a few more since then. So, I knew how to improvise. You can do a lot with cardboard, wrapping paper, and masking tape, for example. I used those to make my frosting bags and the cake board. I looked online when my frosting was looking rather Christmas-y instead of lime-y. Charity gave me some leftover flowers and ribbon, so the cakes had decorations and weren't so boring. The first cake was a carrot cake and the second was chocolate with white frosting. Did I worry that I didn't have a frosting recipe? Nope...my mom has taught me: a little milk, powdered sugar, butter, vanilla, and a touch of salt is all you need. Mix it until it tastes good! So I did! I was pleased...what do you think?


The bride with her maid-of-honor, shower-planner, and flower-arranger (Charity).

Finally...pictures of the new place!

But first some pictures of the old place:




And here's our new home! You can click on pics to enlarge them.


The living room, before and after


The kitchen, before and after:


Our bedroom:


The "hallway" before and after:


The bathroom, before and after:


So, can you tell that we downsized? I think that the new place is about half the size of the old one. It's ok though...it feels cozy. And it helped us to weed out some of the stuff that we didn't really need and wouldn't be taking overseas with us, so we lightened up early. For example, we got rid of our tv, dvd player, vcr, and stereo and are just using computers for cd's and movies. And we have pretty big closets...all of our luggage, trunks, filing cabinets, games, linens, shoes, and a chest of drawers and most of our clothes fit into the three closets that we have. Wow!

I actually really like our new apartment. It has high ceilings, so it makes feel bigger. We have 6 windows, so we get lots of light. There's an overhang, so I have a bird feeder hanging outside the kitchen window. Our kitchen sink is so deep that I have to bend over to pick up silverware out of the bottom of it. And we have a place next door that gives free bread to students twice a week, so I won't have to buy bread (or bagels, hot dog buns, English muffins, etc) again as long as we're in school. Awesome.

I think that most of our apartment problems are fixed. We got mail today...yay! Our old mailbox (which had a beehive in it) has been replaced. The cabinet door in the kitchen now closes so we don't have paint chipping off onto the counter (or into our food). The molding in the laundry closet (it's too small to be called a "room") has been repaired and now isn't dropping dust and paint chips onto everything. Our closet door has been sanded down so it now fits the frame and closes. The toilet doesn't run. Our back door will unlock and lock. Our air conditioner works. And hopefully the leak will not leak again. It's been a busy two weeks, but with only one more small miscellaneous box to unpack, I think it finally feels like home.

Now I just need Shannon back!

Settled In

Well, it's been awhile coming...about 12 days, I think. You would think that when I'm on vacation I'd have more time to blog, but it just didn't work out that way. I've spent the last 12 days packing, moving, unpacking, organizing, cleaning, shopping (for things to help with organizing), cooking, selling stuff, changing our address, finishing up my summer class, getting things in our apartment fixed, and correcting other peoples' errors.

It has been a busy, busy week and a half. We had a yard sale because since we moved into a place half the size of our old one, we obviously needed to get rid of some stuff. When we moved in, our air conditioner didn't work. Today our electricity got turned off (and turned back on) because they didn't transfer the utilities here into our names, even though we had asked them to. Organizing is expensive. I think that between last Wednesday and Friday I had been to Target, Walmart, Lowe's, and Home Depot between 2 and 5 times each. Buy, bring home, try it out, it doesn't fit/isn't big enough, return it, buy a new insert item here, repeat the process over again. I'm sick of the store. And apparently, since nobody has lived in this apartment for 10 years, the post office does not recognize it as an address. So hopefully by next week our mail will be delivered to our mailbox.

Today I may have to go back to work. Not sure on that yet...I know that the Waltzes are getting back today, I'm just not sure what time. So my hope is to get the windows cleaned...they have cobwebs in between them and the screens. Shannon and I usually turn the air conditioner off at night and open the windows, but we haven't been doing that because quite frankly, I'm afraid of what might crawl in.

Shannon leaves for Ukraine on Friday. I don't think we've been apart for more than a night since we got married, so this will be interesting! I'm excited for him though, albeit jealous.

The cobwebs are calling. Pictures to come.

Freedom!

As of 5:05 pm today, I have been free! I have 12 days off of school and work, and blessedly little to do during that time. Granted, we are going to move one of those days so we need to pack. And I am going to babysit one of those days, but those boys are easy and just like to play with their friends, so I'll probably read a book that day. And my dad and stepmom are coming down for the 4th of July, so we'll hang with them a bit. And I do still have to work on a project for my class. But no work and no class. I'm so excited.

Tomorrow I'm going to the Raleigh Farmer's Market with my friend Diana. Neither of us has ever been, so I'm excited to see what kinds of things they have there and if there are better or worse deals than in the grocery stores. We're also going to a store called Aldi, which supposedly has shopping carts which you have to pay to use but then get your quarter back when you return the cart...just like in Poland! I'm very excited and will definitely post pictures for you all, since most people have never been to a store like that!

Shannon is working his second-to-last shift at Pizza Hut as I write. He's enjoying his new job and very excited to be done working with pizza after 3 1/2 years. I'm excited too...no more of my husband crawling into bed at night smelling like food! We are both quite excited to both have "normal" jobs for the first time since we've known each other. Maybe we'll even have social lives again! At least until school starts in 7 weeks...

Summer Solstice

Today while reading the paper I noticed that today, one day after summer solstice, the longest day of the year, the sunrise was at 5:59 am and the sunset will be at something like 8:39 pm. This cracks me up, that the longest day of the year only has 14.5 hours of daylight. Maybe it's because I grew up in Alaska. Actually, it's got to be because I grew up in Alaska. Today in Kenai the sunrise was at 4:34 am and the sunset is at 11:40 pm. Sigh. I miss it.

As far as other news goes, I took my midterm for my class and have completed two of the papers I needed to write. I'm going to read another chapter or two tonight and then tomorrow the craziness begins again. Only 5 more days of class/work craziness and then I get a couple of days off and then we get to move, which will be another form of craziness! We did start packing last night...we now have most of our books in boxes and the spare bedroom is emptied of everything we want to keep. Now it's the holding place for all the stuff we want to sell if we can get our act together to have a yard sale on Saturday. We'll see though...we may end up either a) taking it with us in hopes of selling it 2 weekends from now or b) taking it all to the Tri-Cities Ministry place. I'm hoping for the yard sale.

Not much else is going on here. Just work, school, and preparing for the move. Oh, and Shannon starts his new job tomorrow, so that's exciting. And we're both keeping up with running, although I only ran two days this last week because my stomach was a wee bit squinky at the end of the week. I'll try again tomorrow. If you haven't checked out the recipe link to the right, check it out...I'm making apple pie today, and it's been raved as the best by more than one person! Perhaps more interesting recipes will come after the move and when class is out, but for now it's just time-tested ones holding us through!

Buried

For everyone out there who's wondering where I've been for the last week or so, the answer is:

I'm taking a summer class and I finished day 3 of a 10-day class this afternoon. So, I've been buried under the schoolwork for the last week and a half. Actually, I guess I've just had my nose in a book since we have to read 3 of them. But the good news is that I finished the second book earlier today, so only one more book to go! Plus a midterm, a final, a presentation, and 2 1-page papers to go! Oh, and 31 hours of class.

Seriously, other than going to class, work, cooking dinner, and reading, I'm not doing much, and Shannon's doing even less since he's not in class. He is making the bed for us every day though and refusing to let me do dishes. :-)

After my class is over we'll be moving, so that will be pure craziness as well. But I'll hope to put up some pictures of the new apartment once we get all moved in. Plus, we're thinking of sanding and painting a dresser we have, so...summer project! But until that fun-ness happens, I need to study for my midterm!

Moving On Up (The Street, That Is)

Shannon and I got the wonderful news yesterday that we will be able to move into a new apartment on July 1st. We've been praying and thinking about this decision for probably 4 months now, and things have just fallen into place perfectly. We'll be downsizing, from our current 2-bedroom to a much smaller 1-bedroom, but we feel that the move is prudent. We'll be so close to campus that we will never drive to class, because the walk from the parking lot to class would be longer than that from our building. We'll save on rent and utilities as well. And since we're planning on moving overseas in 1 1/2 years, we might as well start parting with things (like furniture we don't need or even like (ahem, Shannon's older-than-dirt recliner. :-))). And even though July 1st is on a Tuesday, it just happens to be during the week that I have off from work since the Waltzes will be in Hawaii.

Other great news is that Shannon got a new job! He'll be able to walk to work, and they'll be flexible with his class schedule. He'll continue to work at the Hut through the summer and possibly into the fall as well, depending on what happens with gas prices. We're grateful for something steady and dependable that will not rely on oil!

My summer class begins in 10 days. Sigh. I'll go to class for 4 1/2 hours a day and then go to work for 4 hours and then come home and do homework or study until time for bed. But, after 2 weeks of that craziness I'll have a semester's worth of classwork done and have an entire week to do nothing but finish anything for the class and move and unpack. God is good.

I've also officially started my training for another half marathon. I've been running 3 times this week, only 2ish miles each time, but I'm more proud of the "3 times in one week" bit than the distance. I can increase the distance I go. Habitually getting my lazy butt out of bed is harder.

Shannon has tomorrow off, his first Saturday off when I have a Saturday off in...I don't know how long. We're excited...date night!