A square table has 4 legs

I absolutely love the smell of sawdust. I can smell it from far away and am drawn to it. I feel a sense of wonder and excitement when it hits me. I'm magically transported back to standing on the other side of the table saw ready to grab the ends as my dad pushed them through while sawdust fills my nose.

Woodworking is a skill all of my siblings and myself have. My sister has the patience to carefully remove and sand every inch of a piece to refinish it. My oldest brother has the perfectionist who will make sure everything is square and fits perfectly before saying it's done. My other brother knows how to make the sturdy structures. And I am the designer. I see a problem and figure out what would be perfect to fix or help it. That and my pieces look delicate and beautiful.

My end tables are no exception. They will fit custom measurements, the drawers already have a purpose, and the legs will detach so that when i move in the future, it will make life easier.

Except for the fact that i can't seem to get my hands on the brackets for detachable legs! I found them. In two local stores none the less. However, both stores have quantities that don't work for me.

Store #1 has them sold individually. They have a total of three brackets. And since these brackets are designed for 90 degree corners.....what would be the point of having three brackets when square/rectangular tables have four legs!?

Store # 2 thankfully made a bit more sense. They had them packaged in groups of four. But they only had one in stock and no plans to order more in the near future. Is it a sin to build matching tables?

Finally I've located them, they have the right quantity and they'll hold them until i get there.

45 minutes away....and it's rush hour. And they close at 6........crud.

Warm season hair removal - Results Take 1

In my previous post, I promised that i would try out a form of hair removal called Body Sugaring and test it out then report the results back for you. I did this test on my leg only. I have no data for underarm, lip, chin, arm or bikini areas.

Here's my results:

Not impressed

Ease of making at home batch:

• Recipe said about a half hour, It took me over 45 mins.
• Mixture became the consistency of  thick honey when cooled to room temperature (this, i found out later was not thick enough)
• It became the "right" consistency when put in the fridge for an hour. 
• Most likely, the problems with this area were due to errors in the cooking time because of ME, not because this technique is flawed. 

Ease of application/removal technique:

Mixed feelings

• Corn starch was helpful
• Initially, it just smeared and didn't remove anything
• After cooled, it did apply properly but warmed up in my hand absurdly quickly. I got a couple "good" flicks before it was useless
• Running my leg under cold water and using gloves did not increase pliability time and it became a sticky gooey mess after just a couple minutes
• Trim nails down before, I bent a couple backwards trying to get the stuff out of the bowl. Ow!
• Flicking worked, sort of. It's a technique that definitely needs practice. 
• I was only able to do a part of my right leg, not the whole leg before I gave up. This became horribly time consuming. 

Pain level equivalence:

It's Pretty Good

• Inner and outer calf - like pulling off a strong band-aid
• Shin and ankle area - like pulling off duct tape (i know cause i tried it to get a pain control point)
• I said "Ahhh!" and "Ooooh!" rather than "OMG OW OW OW"s
• It's not unbearable, but i'm not sure i would want to do this as a regular thing.

It's Pretty Good

Percentage of hair removed in area where applied:

• First time:
• Approximatively 85%
• Second time
• Approximatively 95%

"Wrap Around" method for (single or stubborn hairs):

• Verdict: Effective 95% of time

Awesome!

Residual Cleanup/ After Care:

• I loved that it was able to be cleaned up with a shower
• I put Aloe Vera on my leg afterward as recommended.
• The rest of the afternoon, my leg felt warm like i had a mild sunburn on it. The next day, i didn't feel any discomfort. 
• No irritated hair follicles, no bloody follicles, no scabs on the skin, no tenderness, no red bumps.
• One amusing effect: my leg became SHINY. I was able to see the light from the TV reflecting off my shin and i could tell where i had sugared and where i hadn't. 

OVERALL:

Would I recommend Body Sugaring?

• Yes, I would. However:
• Probably not as an at home method initially. I am planning on visiting a salon that specializes in this technique in May to see how they do it, and how they cope with some of the problems i ran into. 
• I will also re-try to make a DIY batch and cook it more and see if that makes a difference. But that's gonna have to wait for a couple weeks, cause i couldn't stand my legs being that hairy anymore and shaved the un-sugared areas. 

Will I be giving up my razor?

• Unless i can get the DIY method to work as it shows in the videos, i will NOT be giving up my razor for general maintenance. 
• But i'm not giving up on this technique. I was impressed at the amount of hairs that disappeared (when the mixture was working as it should have) and i liked the after results. Also, the pain was not unbearable. 
• I'll keep you informed of how well it grows back in and how soon.
• This is a very viable option for short term upkeep. 
• like just for summer when leg showing off is at its peak
• or vacations to warm places so i don't have to carry a razor or other maintenance items. 

All in all, this was an interesting experiment. The ladies at work are all abuzz about this new method and several of them are going to try it in a spa and see if that works better. Also, i'd like to see if underarms works well too. 

Honorable mention goes to Boyfriend Jon for his willingness to hold my hand for the first rip, withhold his laughter to a reasonable level, and run back and forth between me and the kitchen to get me things because my hands were sticky.

He also approves the results, but he thinks this is just a little too crazy for him to use personally. 

Warm season hair removal - Preview

Here's another once upon a time story. But it's not for the faint of heart. 

Once upon a time, when i was somewhere near sixteen years old, i got the idea in my head to try waxing my legs.

Most likely this idea came from some of the more girly-girls in my choir class claiming it didn't really hurt. I figured that i had a pretty high pain threshold and could tolerate it. I was totally taken in by the fact that it lasted for at least a month since i was shaving my legs twice a week. It seemed like a perfect solution to me.

I knew my dad would be very unsympathetic to my desire to show my legs off, since he was completely entrenched in the "lock her in a tower and cut off her hair" stage of fatherhood. So, i went to my mother and begged her to let me try it. I detailed out how some of the girls i knew said it didn't really hurt and they'd been doing it for years! When she stopped laughing and realized i was completely serious she said "Ok, i'll do it with you, I've never tried it before."

So for a while, we didn't shave our legs to get the hairs long enough. We then purchased an at home hair removal kit and went downstairs into the big guest bathroom. Bravely, I opted to go first and my mother carefully smeared on the green wax. She firmly pressed the sheet on and then looked me square in the eye. "Are you ready?" she asked.

"Yup." I replied nonchalantly.

I was utterly unprepared for the searing pain that shot through my leg, up my hip, through my stomach, and straight to my head. I'm still surprised that i didn't pass out, but i did fall off the counter and proceeded to dance around the bathroom going "OH MY GOD, WHAT THE HELL, OW OW OW, HOLLY COW, WHO THE HELL THOUGHT THIS UP, THEY NEED TO DIE!"

I wouldn't look at my leg, convinced that i would see muscle and blood, not skin when i looked down. This went on for a few minutes while my mother was caught halfway between laughing hysterically and reprimanding me for cussing.

Finally, my brain decided blocking the pain would be a good solution and was able to check the results. About 90% of the hairs were indeed gone and several of the hair folicles were bleeding mildly. I'm not sure exactly what prompted me to do this, but i allowed my mother to do another strip. Perhaps for some bizarre reason, i thought the first one would be the worst. And as she ripped the sheet off on 2 instead of on 3, i began to dance and jump around again.

After that, i was D.O.N.E. My mother laughed at me and then told me something to the effect of:  "I gave birth to four babies. This can't be that bad. I'll do it!" I knew before this that everyone in my family was a little bit crazy, but this solidified my mother at the top. So i returned the favor.

She didn't cuss nearly as much, but she did do the dancing "Owwowowowow!" routine. And she lasted through about four strips before she said "You were right, the person who invented this is nuts. I'm done."

That was the end of the attempts to find a better solution to shaving our legs for spring and summer.

UNTIL NOW!

Perhaps i didn't fully learn my lesson, or i'm just a sucker for punishment, or perhaps like millions of other women, i absolutely HATE shaving my legs. Whatever the reason, i'm going to try something new. This one at least, i have very little to loose.

In the process of planning a trip with Lindsey, somehow we got on the topic of spas. This led to the conversation about bikini waxes and the "I'll do it if you do it" routine. Somewhere in my research, i came across another form of hair removal called "Body Sugaring".

Here's the schpeel: It's an 'ancient' form of hair removal originating in Egypt. It's made from plain sugar, lemon juice, and water boiled down into a thick taffy like substance. It's then smeared on and jerked off your skin to remove hair.

Pros:

• More like ripping off a bandage than a chunk of your skin
• Can be made at home for pennies
• hypoallergenic because it's all natural ingredients
• it also is edible and reusable for multiple areas 
• lasts as long as a wax job - 4-6 weeks
• I have a couple testimonials from REAL people that i know saying that it's wonderful. 

Cons:

• it still hurts
• i question it's effectiveness at removing all the hair
• can be a difficult technique to master
• sticky residue

So today after work, this will be my project. I will blog as to it's effectiveness soon.

Renewal

     I got a callback from a different leasing manager on Monday and they confirmed $75 raise was the lowest they could go. Sigh.  

     

     Kind of handy i found out what my annual raise will be, isn't it?  

     

     I CAN STAY! I CAN STAY! I CAN STAY!  

     

     I'm not moving! For absolutely sure! For the first time since I moved out, this is 100% my choice. I don't have to pack everything up and move it because my roommate made other plans. I don't have to tiptoe around a snarky person who is fed up with me for reasons i can't understand. I don't have to keep an eye on my stuff and i don't have to patch up holes or paint over scrapes in the wall that were not of my making.  

     

     This will also be the first time I've stayed in one place for more than a year since moving out of my parent's house. I can already feel the tension that has been building in my shoulders starting to drain. I didn't end up getting a better rate, but i feel better for trying since i didn't have anything to lose. And, with my renewal, i get a free accent wall painted by the company as way of thanking me for staying on. Which now that i think about it, kind of sucks for the maintenance crew.  

     

     Now it is definitely a good time to start doing some easter eggs.....and bothering my dad to bring back the nail guns so i can get back to work on my end tables which have been sitting for almost a month. Gotta add that to my to-do list.  

     

     I stole some mason jars from my parent's place and made up the dyes for the eggs. 

 This is the last step i needed to get started, everything else, is just letting the Kistka decide what my pattern will be. I always start out with these designs, and then something will happen: A drop of wax will fall on the wrong place on the egg. Or the Kistka will build up too much beeswax on the outside and it will smear when i touch it to the egg. All sorts of things have gone wrong in the past. Secretly, its one of my favorite things when something goes wrong with the design, and i have to go with it and come out with something entirely different. This is ideal when it happens near the beginning. However a few eggs have been trashed by such an accident near the end.  

     

     I have a design in my head that has been bouncing around and changing as i try to find better ways to do it and new methods that might work.  

     

     If Boyfriend Jon works late tonight, I might just get started with a couple eggs. 

It's Ukrainian Easter Egg Time!

I may have forgotten to mention that I'm at least 1/4 Ukrainian. And one of the ways we've been keeping some traditions alive is by making Ukrainian Easter Eggs or "Pysanky" (PUH san keh). 

These beautiful, detailed, and vibrant eggs are one of the few traditions that i look forward to every single year. Not because i believe that they have one lick to do with Easter, but because they are a very fun tedious craft project and have been a bonding time for me and my mother.

Click here for some fun history about Pysanky.

As with many non-Christian cultures, the eggs were originally a part of a spring festival and meant to symbolize new life (much more appropriate than the Easter bunny IMO). They are packed full with symbolism, meanings, and patterns and typically given as gifts. Later, it joined with the Christian holiday of Easter and thus became more commonly known as the Ukrainian Easter Egg. That's the short version. 


In my family, this skill was ironically passed down to me from my mother (who is not the source of my Ukrainian heritage). But she is the artsy one in my family besides me and she loves cultural history. It became a week long ordeal with me sitting there obsessing over a design for hours, as she worked on her own. 


These eggs cannot be re-created with those egg dying kits you get at the grocery store. In those, you draw on them with the wax crayon in order to prevent the dye from sticking to certain parts. Also the dye tablets are by FAR too weak for these designs. 


Pysanky is similar in this concept but much more complicated. 
With a Kistka (stylis) you melt beeswax and then draw part of your design on the egg. Anywhere that the wax covers will be white when you're done. You then dip the egg in the first dye, which is usually yellow. Once the dye is set, you take it out and draw in other areas with the Kistka. When done, these parts will be yellow. You continue this process, gradually filling in the egg with beeswax and using darker and darker dyes until the final color: Black. 


At this point, you use a strong pin to break in a small hole at the top and the bottom of the egg and blow the yoke out of the egg so it becomes hollow. This is somewhat gross, but the results are worth the effort and tired cheeks. 

It's also interesting to see how the design turns out since you're working your color scheme backwards. Because the beeswax comes out of the Kistka black it takes a little adjusting in your brain to remember that that part will be white (or another color) in the end. It's also very difficult drawing on a non flat surface.


I gotta go through the dye packets we have and then make a trip to the store to buy whatever we don't have, but probably starting this weekend, i'll begin the process for this year. 

Weekend Rewind

     This weekend was jam packed with all sorts of fun activities. And it doesn't look like i'm going to be slowing down any time soon.  

     

     The weekend chaos started on Friday when i finally managed to get my mother to teach me her meatballs recipe. If you thought i was kidding about the "only cooking for a lot of people" in my previous post, here's a prime example. The meatball recipe called for over 6 pounds of meat. i made at least five dozen meatballs out of that. Thankfully they freeze really well, and my sister who's kitchen is still being remodeled, is very thankful for the re-heatable meatballs to have on hand.  

     

     STILL! I turned, and cooked meatballs from just before 7pm till practically midnight. That was way way way too much. I will be actively working on cutting down the recipe to a much more manageable portion.


     Next time i make them though, I'm going to tweak some of the ingredients and how they're prepared. For instance, i don't like getting a huge chunk of onion when biting into the meatballs. So i'm going to mince them up instead of just dicing. Celery will all be food processed. My sister suggested i mix in sausage meat with the ground meat. And the meat definitely needs more garlic and more spices. They're good, but they're more bland than i would prefer.   

     

     This also reminded me that i really need a better way to store my spices. The few that i have are currently sitting on a turn table that they fall off of every time i turn it. So, in other words not ideal.  

     

     I'm already short on counter space, so a while ago, i put my microwave up on a riser so when i opened the door to the microwave, it wouldn't knock over any food i had waiting to go in. This worked great except it became a catch all for random things like my bike water bottle and my cake icing technique book.  

     

     But, armed with a 20% off coupon i snagged from my parent's place, i went and purchased a spice rack from Bed Bath and Beyond. I then placed new spice rack underneath the my microwave and it FIT....just barely. Check out how awesomely close this fit is!!!

     How's that for eyeballing? Note: This rack is designed to stand upright but the hook on the top just looked like a drawer pull to me which gave me the idea. It's also pulled forward to show how small of a gap there is so i'm not loosing any of my food prep area. It pushes back about six inches.  

     

     I'll just be replacing some of the more off-beat ones like Curry and Cumin, and Celery seed (not getting rid of them, just replacing the contents of the jars) for things like Lemon Pepper, Garlic Salt, Onion Powder, and Hungarian Paprika which i use on a much more regular basis.  
     
     Also this weekend was a slew of video game playing, cleaning, helping Lindsey move and playing cat and mouse with the property manager at my complex.  

     

     One thing: Am i crazy for expecting a manager to reply to an email within a day or two? Not a WEEK without a word in response to three emails and then i get a call saying "we haven't heard from you...are you staying or moving out?". I wonder if the girl in the office wrote his email down wrong, cause i checked it several times. And then, once i talk to him, and he says "I'll call you back within a couple hours" and not hear from him until I CALL HIM five hours later.  

     

     This company's office staff is painfully bad at keeping their promises. After a year, i'm not surprised. But it still grates on my nerves to no end.   

     

     Right now, I've turned in my notice to vacate with his promise that he'll see if he can do better than raising my rent 75$. Theoretically, i should be hearing from him before the end of today. *eye roll* 


We'll see what happens. 

Unwritten Recipes

Oh my goodness, i actually have kept a promise to myself. I bought cookbooks for small portions. I truly love to cook, but i feel like it's not cost effective (and i'm also very tired after working 10 hours) most of the time. But that's about to change. With the rent increase, i have promised to start eating at home a LOT more. And that called for some new cookbooks. These are the three i got. They had the highest recommendations (and they were cheap via Amazon). 


I'm excited to go through them with Boyfriend Jon and mark the ones we want to try. 

My family had six people in it. Not to mention the neighbor from behind us, the multitude of young boys in the neighborhood, my brother's friend Tommy who practically lived with us, and all the other people who frequented our dining room table. Dad was the cook in the family, and we were blessed to never be short on delicious, filling, food. 


Eggplant Parmesan, Spaghetti and my mother's meatballs (she can't cook most meat cuts very well, but she does incredible, divine things with ground meat), Pirogies, Halupcha (cabbage meat-wraps cooked in tomato juice), stir fry, Jeager Schnitzel, Paprika Chicken, Egg flour vegetable soup....the list goes on. 


But not a single dish has a recipe that's written down. We all learned how to cook by practice....and by feeding a full table. So it's very little of a wonder to me that all of us kids have trouble cooking for just a small table. 6-10 person dinner party = no problem. Cooking a real meal for just ourselves, or a dinner for two = lots of leftovers.


It should be easy, just use less ingredients right? So how do you do that when you don't use measuring utensils? I mean, how do you half an egg? Not to mention, dad still has kept some of his recipes secret. It took me over a decade to get his icing recipe out of him. And some of his recipes were created out of necessity. 


One of his most famous recipes is called "Mussgo". And it's easy to make. You open your fridge and say "this Muss-go, and this muss-go..." (Muss go = "must go"...as in it's been in there for a week already). You put it in a wok, stir fry it all together, and serve. 


Sometimes it was good, sometimes it wasn't. Whenever we'd ask dad what's for dinner, if we'd been unruly he'd grunt and say "Mussgo" to stem off any more questions. And we'd spend the rest of the day trying to get out of the house to have an excuse to eat at a friend's place. 


Someday...i'll use these tricks on my own children i'm sure. 

Last night, I had a major craving. Olive Garden's Chicken and Gnocchi soup. So trying to cook at home more, i looked up a copycat recipe. Oh internet, where would i be without you? 


Looking back on the math now, it would have been more cost effective to go to Olive Garden and get it for take out. But $80 later and many staple groceries heavier, i got back to my place and got to chopping, slicing, dicing, mincing and cooking. 


Finally by 7:30 it was ready. It was worth the wait. ABSOLUTELY DELICIOUS, even without the Gnocchi/dumplings which i couldn't find. 

Someday...

We all have dreams about our future life, things we want to own or do...


There's most often no real "plan" to get there, but there are small highlights that are incredibly impractical, but you'd love to have anyway. For some, it's a boat, or a house with a pool, or as silly as a entire room filled with play pen balls (minus unpleasant surprises). 


For me, I've always wanted a fiber optic star ceiling that twinkles. I'm not talking a random pattern...no, i'm talking a near-perfect replica of the nigh sky. Milky way and all. I don't care if it's in a home theater, a children's room, or above my own bed. I want one. 


So what's stopping me? Oh yeah, i'm a 20 something with a limited income and a rented apartment. So no customizing the ceiling allowed. 


That, and i'm not very good at small electrical. Give me a 220 cable, a drill and a pair of pliers (amongst other things of course) and i can wire up a kitchen. Wiring a new light fixture in a house...no problem. But building a small light source....is not my forte. I've lit a couple things on fire from light sources before. 


I find these DIY walkthroughs (through Boyfriend Jon's favorite: Lifehacker) and think to myself "I could totally take the time to poke through that many fibers", or "I would use this other material for that part to make it easier". But then i get to the part where you have to wire up the light source and i have to stop. I avoid projects like these. It just doesn't come naturally to me. 


Doesn't mean it curbs my yearning. I look at this and dream of what will someday be if i have my druthers:

Friday company

My only company on Friday afternoons when i'm off of work has been Molly the wallet thief dog. So when i found out a long time friend of mine was also free, I invited him over to help me watch her. (and to play some video games/board games and otherwise be a more talkative house guest than Molly)


This means, all of the sorting, garage sale tossing, organizing, do i really need this-ing must be picked up. The floor must be scoured for things Molly might think are treats for her. Last week, she found a roll of rollaids with one left in the bottom. She was carrying it around in her mouth i guess hoping that her drool would melt the paper wrapper.


Anyway, long time buddy Josh will be joining me today so hopefully he'll be able to help me keep an eye on her and her antics.


Josh is one of those people who puts you at ease. He's got a simple kind of charisma that makes you feel comfortable to be yourself. Laughs are never in short supply. He's also my "oh my god what did my computer do? JOSH HELP!" guru. 


On the agenda today: Speed cleaning, sushi, dog walking, video games, more walking, Dominion, dinner, and then who knows what.


Possible guest appearances of Kenny and Boyfriend Jon.

I think I'm done with Winter

Kaylee from Firefly

I'm craving fresh summer strawberries from my mother's garden. Reading a book on a blanket surrounded by bright grass which i can stick my bare feet in. Warm sunlight filtering down through cherry trees. 


That's the fantasy that's been going through my mind for four days straight. It's the little oasis that i drift off to while looking at my computer screen while my hands mechanically move without my thoughts behind them. 


I put on a pale yellow t-shirt today in hopes the weather would take the hint and show some sunshine. There's just a few problems with this. It's winter. Still. And i'm getting the feeling it will never end. Outside it's dreary, wet, windy and cold. The cherry blossoms are only beginning to bud and the sky is a murky grey. That may be why i keep escaping mentally. 

Sunflowers and Daisies

It's pretty much official at this point that I've killed my house plant. I think that might be the first living thing I've managed to kill despite trying to keep it alive. It's not from over or under watering. It's from the lack of light in my apartment. There's only a few hours worth of sunlight (when there is any) and i tend to keep my blinds closed to keep people or the swamp monster from looking in. It's so frustrating to have a green thumb and no way to plant anything. Maybe that's why i'm craving warmer temperatures; so i can plant outside! Till then, I might have to resort to fake plants just so i can have some life in my apartment.


I have so many plans this year but most of them have the inherent requirement of sunshine. Common sunshine! My tank tops are calling. Let's have and El Nino summer!.....sooner rather than later would be good. 

The end tables are at a standstill since dad decided that it required all five air nailer guns to put in molding at my sister's place. Never mind that putting the molding in is at a standstill because she has to order a new bay window so the granite will fit. It's frustrating to say the least. 

Odds and Ends

Three things are on my mind today; One funny, one that inspires, and one that i can't put an emotion to yet.

Starting on the lighter end of things, Boyfriend Jon and I had a rather amusing conversation that took way longer than it should have. Jon was at Target and I asked him to pick me up some toothpaste. He said "sure" and very thoughtfully asked me what i wanted. I should have known better than to not give him exact instructions. He carefully compares features, price, quantity, value, and about a billion other synonyms. But i didn't have my toothpaste anywhere near me and i was looking for a better one anyway. So i said "Something that whitens and is spearmint."

Jon: "Brand?"

Me: "I like Crest but just no peppermint"

Jon: "They don't have anything that's explicitly peppermint or spearmint. you have cool, clean, fresh, long lasting, extreme herbal mint"

Me: "Um...fresh i guess."

Jon: "Oops, forgot smooth, vibrant, and crystal mints"

Me: "Oh for the love of! I guess you're just gonna have to sample them"

Jon: "Oh Oh just saw radiant mint ;-)"

(by this point, i'm sorry i asked but still amazed at the ridiculousness of in-exact labeling of toothpaste)

Me: "don't worry about it, just get something and i'll just use it"

Six minutes later, i get a picture message. To stem of any more of the Great Toothpaste Ingredient Debate, i said "Sounds good, thank you."

To which i find out he thankfully already bought it.

Jon: "And looks like there's a law against saying which freaking plant they use!"

LoL

The good news is, that fresh actually did turn out to be spearmint.

****

Yesterday was my parent's 40th Wedding Anniversary. It is amazing to me. When i called to wish them a happy anniversary, dad felt like chatting. It turns out they went for a drive with Mom behind the wheel. Which means they were going to end up on the opposite corner of the state. He told me "You know, some people think 40 years is amazing, but for us it's just every day life."

Personally, i think that it's just amazing that they've lasted this long. Not because there's any real problems, but that they've done it in a world full of divorce and an average of 7 year marriages. How they decided to stick it out, is beyond me. I can only hope that I'm as lucky when i decide to settle down to have a partner with similar resolve.

****

I've messed around with my budget and I'm fairly certain that with some simple trimming of excess spending that I'll be able to afford staying for another year.

I was pleased that the cut didn't seem to be so bad as i had originally thought once i started using actual numbers and a calculator. I'm still going to negotiate the increase down as much as possible, but assuming that number will be the official increase, i think i reasonably can afford to stay.

To that end, Boyfriend Jon and I rearranged my room. Surprisingly, when i started going through the stuff that had accumulated, i found i didn't want to keep very much of it. Thankfully my family is putting on a garage sale soon so i can hopefully make some money off of the excess crap that's just been laying around.

Something like relief is coming over me. I'm at peace again. There's no uncertainty this year as there has been the last three. No dread, or fear of the unknown. I don't have to tip-toe around passive aggressive roommates who 'accidentally' take things that are mind when they're packing up. And best of all, i don't have to beg family and friends to help me move.

Instead, i can sit on my couch and watch Chickadees and Juncos peck at the breadcrumbs I've spread out for them. And even seeing the swamp monster (hissing cat) again after what must have been a long hibernation, makes me smile and feel a sense of belonging and calm. It reminds me that I'm in my home.

Trying classic games again

I forgot to mention how Kings Quest 6 is going.

I've noticed some interesting story arcs that when you think about them with a more mature, worldly, literal mind...are a little disturbing.

Early in the game, you see a woman who get's yelled at by her mistress for lolly gagging. she has a distinct Cinderella feel about her.

On the Isle of the Beast, there is a man with a curse on him so that he has the face of a beast until a maiden decides to stay with him of his own free will. Since Prince Alexander is not a maiden (let's hope) he also gets cursed. You only have a short time to break the spell before Alexander becomes a beast as well.

So to put an end to this, get more items to complete your quest and complete the game, you are tasked with going back to the maiden and asking her to go live with the beast of her own free will with NO guarantee that he's not just a beast who will eat her, and just his word that there is a curse. For all you know of this land, he could be lying!

Thankfully the story ends with him turning into a handsome prince (SNORT!)

She then decides that a good way to thank Prince Alexander would be to give him her servants clothes. Aha! she knows his secret that he's a cross dresser! wait.....

Then Alexander has to got the the Isle of Wonder where he's taken by the druids and roasted over the fire. Thankfully, his kettle with a magic rain spell saves him, but not before he thought he was really in trouble. Look at his eyes:

Anyway, i'm in the final stages of rescuing Princess Cassima. At least she's not as helpless as i thought she was, she has plans to rescue herself with a small knife....if only she could get a hand on one.

It's still bringing back happy waves of nostalgia.

To Renew or to Move

That's a very good question.

Before trying all the begging, negotiating, crying, arguing, and back to begging them to not raise my rent, my renewal offer is asking for $75 more a month.

That's about $150 more than i want to be paying. Well, no, it's several hundred more than i want to be paying. I now understand why it's said that real estate is one of the safest investments to get into. People are always going to want space to live in. And I very much want to stay in mine.

I mean, i just started making furniture which will work great in other places, but PERFECTLY where i'm at now. I love living alone and having things stay where i put them down. No one to care if i forget to wash my dishes one night, or if i decide to run through my house just wearing socks. I have complete control of the tv, and no one to negotiate with if one of my friends crashes for the night. These are the things i've craved my entire life. I don't want to go back to walking on egg shells.

That, coupled with the fact that moving is a pain in the arse no matter who you are or what circumstances you're in. I'll already be helping one friend move within a month of my end of lease.

I never got around to painting, I still haven't re-arranged my kitchen cabinets, I want to try my room in a different layout now that my desk is no longer in the way. My mind is not ready to move!

Still i have to review my budget and see if i can make enough cuts to afford to stay. That coupled with negotiating with the complex to raise it less than $75 given that i'm a great tenant. No late or bounced rent checks, no complaints of rowdy parties, I promptly pick up packages and i know the office staff by name. I should be the kind of tenant they want to keep!

But I won't know until i go talk to them when the property manager is around on Monday. Most likely, given the low rates of this place, i'm on the loosing end of that battle. But i'll try to work things in my favor anyway.

No, Boyfriend Jon and I will not be combining our living situation right now. Neither one of us is ready to give up the independence of living alone and we like the way things are in our relationship right now. We'll reconsider things when the time feels more right. All i know is that right now, it's looking like my...our dream vacation to Hawaii might be put off until after summer instead of before summer. Ex-Nay on the summer because of too many kids on summer vacation means less bliss for us.

Time to get out the calculator, bills, and start a stricter budget.

Changes in the apartment are coming!

This last week I decided to make some major changes to my tiny little apartment. Perhaps this is kind of silly because my renewal is next month and i just heard a horror story from my friend Lindsey who just had her renewal rent jacked up a full $100! I hope it won't be as bad for me, but the renewal should be out tomorrow and we'll see what the damage is. But there are some things that i can't stand anymore. And with major internal changes, comes the need to change my environment. My list of things to change included:

How i store my tupperware. I started out this year with only one kind of tuperware. The kind with interchangeable lids. However, now i have some from my parents, some from my last roommate, some from a friend, some from my sister. I love that i know so many people who don't know how to cook in small portions, but really, when i offer your tupperware back, don't say "oh you can just keep it". I honestly have half a mind to bake a super batch of really bad cookies and then gift the tupperware back to whence it came.

How i store my cleaning supplies. Really, Anne? what were you thinking putting your tub of cleaning solutions in the big cabinet next to your sink! That's major apartment cabinet real estate! You could be putting things like mixing bowels, in there instead of trapped behind your recycling bin.

Replacing the Coffee and End tables...which survived my sister's entire college experience, and over a decade since with her, plus 2 years with me. Yes, they're durable, sturdy, functional, and they double as seating. But they are scratched, scuffed, and a weird yellowish brown laminate which totally clashes with my pretty mahogany pieces. So I've started pestering dad into moving the end tables and coffee table up on the calendar. And i'm enlisting the neighbor across the street to help with cutting down the huge 4x8 foot boards in his gigantic workshop.

Bedroom linens. I bought a bed in a bag, which is very bright, swirly, and pretty in an effort to lighten up my bedroom for spring and summer. The only problem is is that it's a bed in a bag, not a bedroom in a bag. There's no curtains and so far my efforts to match the color have been fruitless. The current brown curtains do not match the black accent color of the new linens. That's something they don't tell you in the online description.

Bedroom layout. I'm kind of done with the current layout which is having the bed right next to the door and my night stand on the far side. I miss not having a night stand on on my dominant side to plug my phone in at night. So hopefully i can sweet talk Boyfriend Jon into helping me mirror it to the other wall.

*although, given the prospect of a jump in rent, moving, roommate searches again, and other stuff....this one might be put on the back burner for a while until i'm sure of what's going to happen next year. I really wanted to stay at this apartment for two years minimum, roommate free, barring any unforeseen (snicker) circumstances.

One year down, please please let this work for another year. I'm happy for a change and i don't want things to change! What do you sacrifice to a rent god to let keep it happy so it stops shitting on you?