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| Tuesday, February 28, 2006 |
| Home Sweet Home |
 Yes, I am moved. All of my stuff is in the house, but so far I only have a clue where about 1/3rd of any of it is. Meaning, I've unpacked some boxes and started to put some stuff away, but it's a lot of stuff and it's gonna take a couple days just to get it mostly sorted out. And, I'm dealing with an overabundance of stuff having lived on my own for the last 10 years and having had my own apartment for the last 5. So, I'm getting creative with how to squeeze in the things I just can't bear to part with along side the necessaries. But I feel great about not living in my old place and not dealing with the crappy neighbors and not coming home to a place I dreaded and not wishing aloud for a hallway that didn't smell like a bowling alley someone puked in and most of all I am excited to have roommates again. It's been a long time.
The kitties aren't getting along the best yet. Mine is rather docile and just wants to chill. Theirs is very active and wants to play. There is much hissing and growling, but luckily neither bites. And I've spiked my kitty's water with Rescue Remedy (a natural stress relief formula safe for people and pets) which will hopefully put an end to some of the irritability.
 Today, I enjoyed biking to the store to get ingredients for chili (for the chili cookoff, photos to come). Yes, that's my bike in front of the house, laden with groceries. It's just a few short blocks to the local co-op. Really, it's just a few short blocks to miles to nearly anything I need. So, I will be putting some good utilitarian miles on my bike this year. I'm hoping for a transfer to one of the closer stores so I can ride my bike to work as well. It'd be great to save on gas and not have to worry so much about when I can get my car repaired.
So perhaps this summer I will finally get to host a Porch dinner where people show up. My last attempt was pretty much a bust with the first one being not a whole lot better. I now live on the "correct" side of the river. Wow, this is the first time in my life I've lived west of the river. I gotta get out more.
Time for beddy bye. I will be up early tomorrow when the sun gets to bright for me to stand it any longer. I need to put up the curtains. Minneapolis over and out. |
posted by Jen @ 11:11 PM   |
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| Tuesday, February 21, 2006 |
| Moving Day |
 Sunday is moving day. If any of you, my friends and blog-readers, can help at 1pm on Sunday there will a quick loading of a small moving truck and any other available vehicles, a short drive to Minneapolis, and an equally quick unloading of boxes and furniture. I will provide some sort of snacks and refreshments :) |
| posted by Jen @ 12:05 PM |
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| Monday, February 20, 2006 |
| Goodbye crappy living |
I think I'm moving Sunday! EEEEeeeeeeeeeeeeeee! I've gotten to the point of being totally fed up here. Really sick and tired of the complacency and wishing for friends to go home to. I was thinking of doing it by April 1, but looks like it may be this weekend. And this is not a joke. It is possible, very possible, that my friend (and new roommate) Steph will be over here shucking my crap into boxes tomorrow afternoon and that on Sunday before the gathering that I will be piling boxes into what will be my new room on Aldrich Ave.
I know, it totally sounds crazy, but I can just pick up and leave here. And I think I'm ready to. And I have Tuesday off in which to clean my current place. And Steph said she'd rent a truck and Alyssa's parents will be in town with their truck.
So, the list of to do's (not counting things I already knew I needed to do tomorrow):
-Call grandparents to work out plan for repaying money lent to me to get into current place which I will be forfeiting.
-Inform office that I will be out as of the 1st.
-Call Steph to let her know to come over for sure to pack
-Take a load of junk to the thrift store (cause I sure as heck ain't moving the junk)
-Fill out change of address form at post office
-Set cut-off date for phone service and dial up internet service
-Plan to take desk and little tv to mom and dad's |
| posted by Jen @ 9:33 PM |
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| Sunday, February 19, 2006 |
| A wedding, a gathering and drinking from a cup |
| As part of tonight's gathering, there was a rather non-traditional looking wedding. It was a beautiful moment. Two people, very much in love, sharing the most special day of their life with the entire community. There were some traditional looking elements: the flowers, the attendants (2 of them canine and a 3 of them under the age of 10), personally written vows and sharing of communion. All of this with a very non-traditional flair very befitting the personalities of the couple. I have added a few photos from that portion of the gathering here.
And then of course, the regular gathering type things and people photos. A family album of sorts. Family both new and old. The ever growing population of youngsters.
Big girl Amelie had her first drink from a cup tonight. Nearly 6 months old, she wasn't quite sure what the heck water was, but it was fun to try to drink it like a grown up. Mostly she just spit it back into the cup or all over Kati. Amelie has been itching to try food (rather than just milk) for a while, making super duper cute baby bird and chewing faces when adults eat holding her.
A couple other random photos I couldn't leave out. The first a rather artsy shot I got accidentally while trying to photograph myself holding a just woken from a nap Amelie. The other a nice one taken by Chris while Amelie snuggled me for her nap.
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| posted by Jen @ 11:22 PM |
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| Friday, February 17, 2006 |
| So very cold |
 And I can feel one coming on. I haven't been sick yet this winter and I may have been exposed to some nasty germs at choir this week. I really hope I don't get sick, cause I can't afford to be sick or miss work. So, I'm loaded up on homeopathics and echinacea and will be going to bed early. The current outdoor temp: -12 degrees! and you don't even want to talk wind chill factor. My car had quite a difficult time starting this evening after work. It's one of those nights I'm glad my heat bill is included. I've got it cranked just to make it comfortable in here. Tomorrow doesn't look much better in the temps, but at least it might top out a couple degrees above zero! |
| posted by Jen @ 8:50 PM |
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| Thursday, February 16, 2006 |
| I want snow! |
Anyone watching the Olympics? It's about all the TV I'm watching these days (since I've been trying to watch less and less). And I've really gotten into the ski and snowboard events (especially snowboard since it's new this year to the Olympics and cause I learned so so much about snowboards at work this winter). By far one of the coolest events is Snowboard-cross. It's like moto-cross or Nascar with snowboards. 4 boarders race down a course navigating turns and speed checks (which are like little jumps) seeing who can get to the bottom first. The most simple scoring, just don't hit someone else or fall off the track and get to the bottom first. I love it. Super fun to watch.
So, no surprise, the BIG ONE, the snowstorm that was predicted to totally mess up today's commute, etc, didn't show here. Again, it tracked south and missed us. Arg. I really want it to snow. I'm jealous of the 27 inches in New York (even if it did melt the next day). And I was hoping for one last snow to help us get some of the remaining snowboard product out the door at work (since the lack of snow has hampered that and the lack of warm isn't doing much for bike sales). I did sell a bike to a guy today. It's the second one in a week, of the exact same model even. With the quantity of customers being low, I have had time to reorganize and reinvent parts of the store. And if I'm lucky, the boys will remember how it looks now and be able to keep it somewhat pretty through the summer. (oooo,oooo....and I get to work a shift at the pretty new Roseville store this weekend).
My dinner tonight (after I starved myself at work in order to not eat two meals of peanut butter and banana or spend money on fast food) is something called "dirty rice" and steamed broccoli. Dirty rice I had heard of, but never eaten. I made it "wrong" (using pork breakfast sausage instead of ground beef cause that's what I had...it was either that or venison.), but seems to have worked out okay. Dirty rice is a bit spicy with a hint of peppers. I highly recommend it. |
| posted by Jen @ 11:18 PM |
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| Wednesday, February 15, 2006 |
| Crap-tastic |
I began figuring my income tax tonight. I need to find one more document before I have all the numbers, but I already know that I owe money. I've never ever owed money for taxes before. And I know why it is. My seasonal job didn't take out any taxes (though I indicated on my paperwork they should) and now I will likely owe about $300 federal and $20 state. Arg. Like I don't have enough money woes.
I also need to figure out what I'm doing apartment wise in the next month. If I can't get someone to purchase my share, I may just forfeit $1500 (I'll likely not get that much for it even if it does sell) and move anyways. I'm so sick of it here and I've been trying to move for almost 6 months now. I do have one guy interested whom I am sending an application to, but the market is scarce and the tenants who are looking are awfully picky. (if you want to see some of that, check out the housing wanted portion of Craigslist for some really picky examples of whiners saying they can't find housing anywhere, though there are plenty of listings to house them all 100 times over on the housing available listings. Picky picky picky. Here, I've got housing available, now quit your belly-achin').
Anyways, so in prep for moving I'm gonna get moving on selling more of my extra stuff. I've got some smaller furniture and stuff I need to get rid of and here's the list:
- One blonde presswood microwave cart/tv stand with cabinet on the bottom
- One gray metal side cart with fold down wings
- One set of white covertible wire square shelves (can be configured many ways, great for college)
- One big microwave (display works intermittently, but otherwise works perfectly)
- One PC compatible flatbed scanner
- One external CD writer/rewriter
Make offers please. |
| posted by Jen @ 10:30 PM |
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