Study, Study, Study
Posted: May 28, 2013 Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: album, job search, moving, squirrels 1 Comment »I’m sorry it’s been a while since I posted, but I’ve been a bit busy. I’d say that I’m going to be better about it, but I don’t think I’m going to have a whole lot of time this summer. I’ve started studying for the bar, which they really aren’t kidding when they say it’s basically a full-time job. I’m trying to stay a bit ahead of the syllabus since we’re moving mid-July to…somewhere. I’ve also been busying applying for jobs. However, I have an interview in Virginia tomorrow for a position I’m really excited about. At this point, I’d be happy with a job, period, but I honestly think that this one would be something I’d really enjoy. It wouldn’t be too far away from our families either, which is a bonus. So keep your fingers crossed for me!
In other news, we currently have three bird feeders, which have provided many hours of kitty entertainment. However, we now have a problem – meet our nemesis.
Our Nemesis
Actually, he’s one of three squirrels who are attempting to take over our porch and destroy our feeders. My dad would, of course, be thrilled to have them around. We really wouldn’t mind them if they weren’t so destructive to the feeders. I’ve tried putting extra food on the porch for them, but they inevitably end up flinging themselves onto the feeders. We recently got some Critter Ridder, which is supposed to repel squirrels, among other things. It’s basically just a mixture of potent peppers, so it’s harmless to them, but it’s supposed to be very unpleasant. We paid $16 for the stuff, so we thought it would be at least somewhat effective. Nope. In fact, we’ve seen the squirrels actually sitting in piles of the stuff. Of course, the whole problem could have been avoided if our apartment complex would have just trimmed the bushes next to our porch to a reasonable level. Anyway, I guess we’ll just deal with them for the moment. After all, they are pretty cute.
John is still working on his album. We’re hoping to rent a house the next place we live so that he can actually record vocals (vocals in apartments with paper thin walls don’t work very well). Also, if we have a house, I’ll have more space to work as well and hopefully won’t end up turning the porch into a work station again.
Send good thoughts my way tomorrow, so that hopefully the next post will be about my awesome job in VA 
We Survived the Move…
Posted: April 17, 2012 Filed under: Updates | Tags: apartments, moving, new apartment, updates 1 Comment »…barely. My lovely fiance, John, and I started moving into our new apartment on Saturday. My advice for anyone considering moving is: don’t. Really, just don’t do it. However, if you really have to move, hire someone to do it for you.
When we decided to move, I told John that I was going to just put an ad on Craigslist for someone to help us move at least the heavy stuff, since I had a few items that I knew I couldn’t even pick up half of (I managed it once when my dad helped me move in, but I think it must have been mostly adrenaline that time). He said that it wasn’t necessary, because he could have some of his friends help. Last week, I asked if he had people to help, and he said that someone had volunteered to help us. On moving day, the person backed out though. I know that moving sucks, and I totally understand why people aren’t too keen on helping out. If you don’t want to do it though, don’t volunteer!
So it was the two of us with a moving van. I had trouble moving the ridiculously heavy piece of glass on the awesome vintage table and chairs his brother’s girlfriend, Susan, had given us, so I knew we were in trouble. I ended up finding someone on Craigslist at the last moment and we paid a guy $15 to help John move my 400 or so pound vintage desk (I’m not entirely exaggerating – it’s made of steel with a really thick Formica top), the mattress, and the new sofa. It may have been the best $15 I’ve ever spent. John still nearly killed himself with that desk, but at least he had someone else with him who was a bit more help than I would have been.
On Sunday we moved the boxes and cleaned, which was supposed to be a fairly easy and quick job, but took forever. We started at 11 am on Sunday morning and finally got the cats to the new apartment at 1:40 am Monday night. Thankfully Susan came out to help us for a while or it would have been even longer. To make matters worse, John had to go back to his old apartment after everything to feed his other cat (Dave hasn’t been neutered yet, so he can’t come over to the new place right now) and do laundry for work.
I will spare you the details of the move other than to say that we have now started a fund with our spare change that we’re calling the “Next Time We’re Hiring Professionals Fund.” Also, I am marrying the most amazing, thoughtful, caring man in the world. Did I mention that we didn’t even move any of his stuff? It was all from my apartment, which he also cleaned like a maniac once it was cleared out. And once we got the cats settled in the new place, he insisted on at least putting up the shower curtain so that I could enjoy a nice shower before I went to bed.
I know you are all dying to see our new place (well the two parental units who read this are at least) so here you go. Please excuse all of the boxes and forgive the bad photography.
Our lovely new living room with a fireplace
The other side of the living room with our new couch
The studio/office/crafting nexus
The dining area with our awesome vintage table and chairs
We have a walk-in closet!
Double sinks!
Unfortunately, the toilet/tub area is rather small
The kitchen's a bit small, but it has a dishwasher
- We have a balcony too!
Mr. Darcy is fond of the bathroom
- Lily likes the view from the new sofa
Jude is taking turns sleeping on all of the new chairs
Tomorrow is Moving Day! And Where Can We Get Cheap Glasses?
Posted: April 13, 2012 Filed under: DIY, Our Adventures | Tags: diy bouquet, diy paper flowers, eye doctor, eye prescription, glasses, kreativ blooger award, moving 7 Comments »We are on the brink of a new era – we’re moving into our new apartment tomorrow! I’m really excited, but unfortunately I left most of the packing to the last minute. In my defense, I thought that we would have all week to get out of this apartment. We were originally scheduled to move into the new place on Sunday, but we moved the date to Saturday since we won’t actually be going to Hendersonville this weekend after all. Then I got a call from my current apartment manager. He asked if there was any way I could move before my lease ended on April 25th, because someone else wants the apartment and he wants the painters to be able to start on Monday. Since I was planning on moving this weekend anyway, I told him I could be out by then. On the upside, I’ll get 10 days rent back. Of course, it also means I have to have everything out and the place cleaned by Monday morning.
Mr. Darcy is helping
Why am I taking the time to write a blog post, you might ask. Because I’ve been up since 6:00am packing and now I’m tired, hungry, and just want to take a break. I feel like I’ve been packing like a maniac, yet I hardly seem to have made a dent in my stuff. How did I accumulate so much crap? Why do I have three bookshelves full of books? Why are crafting supplies strewn about my apartment? These are the great mysteries I am forced to ponder now.
Another great mystery – why are glasses so expensive? I found a Groupon for an eye exam plus $100 credit towards prescription eye wear. I took John yesterday, because he hasn’t gotten new glasses in eight years. Yes, eight years. He has an eye phobia – he is terrified of things touching his eyes (which is why he will undoubtedly never wear contacts). He doesn’t even like things near his eyes, so he views a trip to the eye doctor the same way most of us would view a root canal sans anesthesia.
He made it through the experience though and luckily discovered that his eyes hadn’t gotten that much worse. His prescription for his left eye is -4.25, which is bad, but not terrible. It’s not that much worse than my right eye. His right eye is another story entirely though: -10.00. No, that’s not a typo. -10.00, which is pretty epically bad.
After the actual exam, he started looking at glasses. He found a pair he liked for $69, which seemed pretty reasonable. Then we started talking about the prices of the lenses. The most basic type of lens cost about $60 and the cheapest upgrade was an additional $53. The only lenses they could make his right lens with cost $90 or $100 plus the base cost of $60. Then adding anti-glare coating cost another $70-120 depending on the quality of the coating! Even with the $100 credit from the Groupon it was still really expensive.
He decided to look online instead. I got my glasses for less than $20 including a lens upgrade from Zenni Optical, but they seem to charge a lot for the high index lenses that he would need. Does anyone know of any other good places to order cheap glasses online?
Before I sign off and go back to my packing, I wanted to thank Shannon Kennedy from Eurolinguiste for nominating me for a Kreativ Blogger Award! I’ll get around to nominating some other bloggers once the hell of moving is over. Shannon is a musician who is also planning a wedding at the moment. She made her own bouquet with sheet music flowers too! Her flowers are different from mine; check out her video tutorial on her blog. I hope my bouquets turn out half as beautiful as hers.
Beautiful! I love the different textures and the Scrabble tiles are great!
