Mommy is going to help me clean the apartment today. Hopefully it won't take as long with 2 people. And then I'll be able to focus on the townhouse after the apartment is all ready for the carpet cleaners on Tuesday.

A good thing is that I'm sitting on the couch with my laptop. This is an advancement! Still haven't gotten the wireless set up. For some reason, my laptop won't connect. Thank goodness for network cables. :-P

I just found a pill case (one of those SMTWTFS ones) with a full week of medication in it... from 2 years ago. Brilliant. :-P

My neighbors across the hall moved out last weekend, and new ones are moving in now! I just went out and introduced myself (Their names are Chris(girl) and Dan(guy) - REMEMBER THIS DUMMY HEAD) and they seem nice enough. :-) I've got other stuff to post about, but I wanted this to be a separate post, so I can find it when I forget their names. :-P

- first I got stood up at Wal*Mart waiting for someone from Craigslist
- Shopped at Walmart and used lots of coupons
- Finally sold my entertainment unit!
- My parents came over and brought my TV over. :-D :-D :-D
- Mom and I went to the gathering of the guilds sponsored by the Keystone Lacemaker's Guild. Lots of needlework, felting, spinning, lacemaking, and other awesome things. It was fun I might join one of the needlework guilds (there's 2 (or 3?) in the area).
- Came back home and cleaned up a bit
- Mike came over and we put together my new TV Stand (had to make a quick dash to home depot for a screw that was not included) and then we moved all the furniture around and set up the tv.
- We had pizza (made with a Pillsbury crust) in the middle of the whole process.
- Then we watched Zuthura on my TV. :-D I need to get a cable box with an HDMI connector and I'll be all set (other than still needing an upconverting-DVD/Bluray player. :P)
- I managed to get some stupid malware that surfaced this morning and I'm still having internet problems even though I removed it (completely?). Annoying.

I got a dirt devil featherlite today and it's all assembled and I already vacuumed the carpet by the front door, the hallway, and most of the kitchen. It might take a bit of doing to get the whole living room vacuumed, but at least I can have a clean place to put my new tv stand and tv when it arrives. :-) As much as I liked my roomba, it's not very good at tough jobs (as is evidence by the circular mark in the carpet by the front door where she sat for like 10 minutes at one point trying desperately to get it clean. Yeah. Anyway, YAY clean! I might finally get to use my swiffer wetjet in the kitchen woo! :-D


Also, I found a mixed CD that I made in college and I'm listening to it. Ahhh.. random a cappella stuff. :-)

the guy that said he was coming to buy and pick up my entertainment unit was supposed to be here at 6. And I removed everything and my TV is on a rubbermaid tub. We originally said 12:30, so I'm hoping he mixed up the times and is going to be here at 6:30. My fingers are crossed.

edit: ten til seven and still not here. left a message on his phone. sigh.

edit2: I heard from him and he had a good excuse and he's going to probably pick up tomorrow night. :-) And I think I have a lead on a job for Mike now. :-)

I moved the couch.

I need a vacuum.

I think you can figure out how those statements go together. :-P The dustbuster did a pretty good job, though. :-)

Today was a long day. I was woken up at about 5:30 this morning by the sound of my bedroom wall creaking. It was amazingly disconcerting, but once I figured out the sound was being caused by the 50+ mph (low highway speed for those non-miles people) wind we were having, it made a little more sense. But I had a ridiculously hard time getting back to sleep - I don't know why I bothered. Anyway, I got up early again and I made a serious dent in the living room mess today. Serious. Like, there is this HUGE area of floor that I can SEE and it not covered with STUFF. It's amazing. Really. I wish I could vacuum it, but my roomba is not charging properly. It sits on the docking station ALL THE TIME, but when I go to use it, it only runs for about 15 minutes tops and dies. Also, after un-docking, the light is already at "medium" power. Hm. I really don't want to pay 60 for a new battery or whatever price it is. I might as well just get a real vacuum. It has lost its appeal and the set up of my apartment makes it impossible to schedule cleaning since I have to set up the virtual walls to do anything.

I'm setting up the crockpot tonight to make a breakfast apple crisp. Hopefully I'll get the rest of the tidying done tomorrow morning and afternoon. YAY. I've got 1 book to ship tomorrow, but also 2 packages and a bunch of bills/taxes stuff, so I'll be going to the post office in the morning. Let's hope I can manage to leave the apartment at 9am or earlier.

Bedtime! Hope everyone had a happy darwin/lincoln day.

My internet was out for about 2 hours and of course that was the time when I wanted to DO STUFF!!! STUPID COMCAST. When I called them, they said someone come to look at it on WEDNESDAY. I think they do not know that they deal in addictive substances that can not just be taken away and not given back. Thankfully Mike was here to distract me. Hopefully it will stay working.

Yesterday, for the first time since March, the temperature didn't go above 40 for the whole day. Wow. No wonder I had been craving cold weather!! That seems like a long time to be above 40 to me. So, this morning, I got up and it was a little chilly in my apartment and when I finally got around to looking at the thermostat at about 8:45, it was 61 degrees in the living room (probably the draftiest coldest room in the apartment). So, here's a little poll for you:

Poll #1300141 Thermostat time
Open to: All, detailed results viewable to: All, participants: 18

Should I turn the heat on?

Last night's peach jam making was FUN and AWESOME and the jars sealed perfectly and I am happy. I made a HUGE mess in the kitchen and it was fun. YAY for messes and YAY for fun. I only netted 4 jars and about 4oz that I put in a ziplock container. I've got enough peaches to make another batch (Sunday afternoon, probably) and if the peaches stay on sale, I might make even more. I've got plenty of Certo, and I bought an extra large bag of sugar, so I'm set. Wooooo jam!

Also, the chili turned out pretty well. The crock pot did not burn down the apartment (woo) and seems to be in very well working condition. It has a high and a low setting, and the high setting had the chili at a high simmer when I got home. The navy beans were a little mushy, but the kidney beans were perfect. I didn't put anything in to thicken and it was obvious (corn starch next time!), but the flavor was surprisingly good since I did my crazy ADD RANDOM SPICES UNTIL I FEEL LIKE STOPPING thing. I also added a can of green chilies and about 2 tablespoons of onion powder. Woah. YAY. Final can count: 7. (3 diced tomatoes, 2 kidney beans, 1 navy beans, and 1 can of chilies) Not bad. I managed to make rice while making jam which was amazingly impressive. Rice got majorly sticky, though. Oh well. Will probably bring the leftover chili and rice over to Mike's for dinner tonight.

Mike came over for chili and we watched Muppets Take Manhattan and Burn Notice (the season finale will be on after the US Open). I had 2 peaches left over that I had de-skinned and hadn't needed for the jam, so I decided to make us a little dessert with them. I did a quick search for peach cobbler online and I couldn't find anything that didn't use 3 pounds of peaches, so I made something up. Too bad it was very good, because I will never be able to make the same thing again. :-P Basically, mashed up the peaches, mixed in some cinnamon and nutmeg and cornstarch (who knows why) and then made a crumb topping with butter, flour, brown sugar, and chopped walnuts. 30 minutes in the oven at 350. It was yummy. As I like to say, measurement-shmeasurement. :-P

Tonight will be Monk & Psych and more chili, probably. Also, I have to get ready for going to the Ren Faire tomorrow! I am putting together a wacky pirate-y "costume". The first step of which was for Mike to get me a pirate-costume kit from KB that was $5 and for a 5 year old. I'm sure there will be pictures and much hilarity. I'm going with a bunch of Rochester, NY peeps that are coming down for the weekend. WOOO! I is excited 'cuz I haven't seen them forever & we get to be pirates together (but they will be better pirates).

So far my "costume" includes:
- Black Bandana to go on my head
- big gold hoop earrings
- hair in low pigtails
- eye patch somehow attached to my glasses (for extra hilarity)
- My most piratey shirt
- Black gauchos
- A scarf fashioned as a sash that completely clashes with pirate-y shirt
- Plastic knife in plastic sheath hanging from said sash
- Plastic cutlass to branish around at people

Can anyone else think of pirate-y additions to the outfit that I might have laying around the house or that I can pick up at the grocery store or a drug store? Arrrr, mateys! Prepare to walk the plank!

	Bad, bad, bad This is the BRAND NEW AS OF TODAY traffic signal that they are putting at the end of the road. My worst fears confirmed.
	Mysterious thingies Anyone have any idea what these things are? They are on top of an apartment building in Hershey. If it helps, the building is around here.
	Cool bumper magnet I saw this 2 weeks ago and thought it was cool. Can anyone identify all the symbols? :-) (edit: They are here if anyone is interested.

(vacation pictures to come as soon as I have access to my yahoo ID again. Seriously, it should not take 2 years to get into an account. sheesh.)

Inspired by sajego.

9/2001 - Moved into Nathaniel Rochester Hall @ RIT.
5/2002 - Moved back home to PA
8/2002 - Moved into UC 158 @ RIT (early - and on one else was there save evidences of an Elga)
5/2003 - Moved back home to PA
6/2003 - Moved to 39 Maple Drive, North Caldwell, NJ with my grandparents
8/2003 - Moved back home to PA
9/2003 - Moved back to UC 158 @ RIT
5/2004 - Moved back home to PA
6/2004 - Moved to Rochester, MN
11/2004 - Moved back home to PA
12/2004 - Moved back to UC158 @ RIT (after paying for my room since 9/2004)
2/2005 - Moved back home to PA (finished classes early)
7/2007 - Moved into 8059 Somerset, Apt K

13 moves. You can't stop me now. :-P

My downstairs neighbors (yes, the one with the screamer) came up earlier to borrow my liquid measuring cup (haha, one of my 4). They returned it (clean and everything) and they just brought me a piece of cake as a thanks! WOO! :-D It looks pretty good, too. This, however, will be my 3rd piece of cake today. Hmmm. Oh well. :-)

So, Cindi said how comfortable the futon mattress was, so I left it out and slept on it last night. It was pretty comfortable, but it is also very firm. I like firm, but this is very firm. Not a huge fan of very firm, apparently. It was definitely comfortable for one night, though, which is really what it is meant for. :-) I also got to put off putting it away, which was a plus. It looks like it is going to be difficult to put away, but I'm sure it won't be as bad as I think it is going to be.

Anyway, I set an alarm for 8:30, but here it is 7:40 and I am wide awake. Good way to start the last workday of the week. :-) I probably still won't get in 'til 9:30. :-P

I just got back from the store and got my groceries in before it started raining. Barely. And I was almost blown away.

Anyway, I hit up Karn's (local grocery store chain) before the week's sales were over. Crackers (Wheatables, Wheat Thins, and Triscuits) were all $2 a box. SWEET! And there were coupons in the aisle for $1 off 2 Wheat Thins - which made them $1.50 each. I totally stocked up (around 20 boxes)! Also, got cool whip for $1 each, Esskay hotdogs for $1 a pound, cereal for $2 a box, pickles for $2 a jar (stackers), Nutella for $2 a jar, and some other stuff. I also got 12 packs of coke at Wal*Mart the other day for $2 each. Pretty sweet. I spent a lot, but I certainly won't have to buy crackers for about a year (by which time the price will probably be $4 a box).

I'm set for meals for a while, but I'll be sticking to finishing the frozen chicken in the freezer before I buy more meat. Maybe chop meat prices will go down by then.

I ran the dishwasher this morning as I was leaving for work. I just emptied it. Of the silverware that was in the dishwasher, THERE WAS ONLY ONE FORK! And I had to run the dishwasher because I was out of butter knives and spoons. I think it would be really cool if sets of silverware were sold by the percentage that people use each type. Or even custom made sets that are put together after analyzing your silverware habits.

But seriously, I need more spoons. Too bad this silverware is like 40 years old and I will probably never find anything that matches it.

My internet is down at my apartment. 23 or so modems are out on the circuit near my place. SUCK SUCK SUCK.


I made $11.25 at the yard sale this morning. I also got some good exercise carrying everything down (and then mostly everything back up!).

I actually came to work to check e-mail and post this. That is just how lame I am. Going to a party soon, though, so hopefully that will make up for it.

My family just left. Wow. After church this morning, I brought Liz and Albert back to my apartment to start cooking. We made (in served order):

Carrot Humus (because we ended up with WAAYY too many chickpeas)
Brushetta & crackers
cheese & crackers
carrots & dip

Cheddar Bay Biscuits
White Chili (which was pretty awesome)

Dark Chocolate Fondue (with TONS of strawberries, and other fruits)
Easy Lemon Pudding Cake (which Albert made and was extra lemony this time)

And now I am STUFFED. We invited everyone (Mom, Dad, and Aunt Karin) for 3pm, but they didn't show 'til 3:20 (fashionably late for your own party?!?!? ANNOYING! :-P). We served the appetizers and then had dinner around 4:30. The Biscuits (which are pretty damn close to the ones they serve at red lobster) were throughly enjoyed as was the chili (which was pretty damn good if I do say so myself).

Mom was glad that I (finally) invited them over for dinner and a lot of fun was had by all. I just got off the phone with Mike and invited him over for leftovers. :-) Less for me to put away! :-P

I miss winter. I really don't want to turn the A/C on already, but the temp in here is not going down at night, even with the windows open. Hopefully this storm system that is coming through will cool things off.