Tired Muscles

This is Bunk Beds Deconstructed, Part II.

Today, my Dad and I moved the entire bunk bed set - which was in four pieces - downstairs. This entailed getting the pieces out of the room, down the Z-shaped hallway, down the stairs, out the front door, and into the garage. It was a very long, very complicated process that left the father and I quite exhausted.

Tired as I was, though, I was impressed. I don't think I've ever moved any "real" furniture before (plastic storage drawers don't count), especially furniture that weighed in at around 100 lbs.

The most impressive part?

We didn't mess up the floors or walls.

WIN.

Bunk Beds Deconstructed

I think I did more physical work today than I've done in a very, very long time. Not only did I finish switching rooms with Maggie (which involved an ENORMOUSLY HUGE amount of cleaning), I helped my Dad break down the bunk beds so we can move them out of the room tomorrow.

Here are the bunk beds:

I helped take those apart! Now it's in four parts (five if you count the ladder, which I don't, because it's detachable anyway), ready to move into whatever room we decide tomorrow.

Also, see these mattresses?

They weigh a TON and I took them both off the beds, by myself. This isn't as impressive for the lower bunk, but I wrangled the front mattress off the top bunk ALL BY MY ONESIES. I am Wonder Woman!

Hooray for Target!

Today, Mum and I flexed our DIY muscles and built this cabinet ALL BY OURSELVES. I'd love to spin an extravagant tale of master carpentry and craftsmanship, but in reality we just bought one of those easy-assembly shelves from Target. It's going in our kitchen, underneath the island, for some extra storage.

See? We bought two of those foldable fabric drawers to stick in the cabinet. Now we have a place for all our saved plastic bags!

We didn't just go to Target - we went to Bed, Bath & Beyond first, where I noticed a bed set that I might end up getting for my new bed. I'm torn between that one, and this one that I found online a few weeks ago. We also went to Kohl's, where I got an adorable pair of wedge-heel sandals for 50% off. Yay!

Bis morgen!

Schadenfreude and Crab Dip

Like it? It's a Graduation card I made for my cousin. Yup, everyone I know graduated. My sister, my cousin, my OTHER cousin...well, that's it, really, but...still. You get the point.

Anyway, we drove out for her party today, battling our way through three hours of relentless traffic (I say "we", but I just sat in the back and listened to the Beatles while my mom drove and dealt with all the fools who populate the highways) to get to her house. That was the only sour point in an otherwise lovely day. My aunt served up a ton of really yummy food (including an aMAZing crab dip that I had fourths of) and the company was excellent.

I enjoy get-togethers like this - everyone's relaxed, the food is endless, and the stories and laughter flow freely. As a [I was about to say teenager, but I'm no longer one of those. I have no other term for what I am anymore - young whippersnapper?] youth-who-is-technically-an-adult-but-has-no-actual-adult-responsibilities-like-mortgages-or-taxes, I found my relatives' anecdotes about home improvement disasters to be the most amusing. Since I have never actually experienced a ceiling caving in because of water damage, or a paint job that turns rooms bubble-gum pink, I can laugh innocently at these stories, fully aware that in ten years or so I will have my own "hilarious" home improvement stories to tell to people.

You see, I have recently become prone to DIY urges. I do not expect these urges to stop anytime soon, either. Rather, I expect they will increase over time. This means that one day, when I have a house, I will be extremely tempted to undertake many home improvement projects, by myself, with no guidance except for whatever I find on the internet. THIS CAN ONLY LEAD TO DISASTER. Hilarious, anecdote-worthy disaster.

I may even have to blog about it.

Om nom nom

Today's picture is of a bunch of very hungry fishies. See the one in the middle? His mouth is open, all ready for noms! And the white one - he's shaped like a football! So fat!

Sorry...I got carried away with the cuteness.

The fish live in an artificial pond in a Bob's Discount Furniture store. Apparently they're well-trained, because every time I walked up to the pond, all the fish swam over and started doing the "nom nom nom" thing. It was strangely adorable (who knew fish could be cute?)

Also at Bob's Discount Furniture was a bed, dresser, and mirror that my extremely awesome parents bought tonight. The furniture is being delivered THIS WEDNESDAY, which is very very exciting. I'm in love with the dresser - it's a really pretty shade of off-white and it has a cabinet in between the drawers with two shelves. I'm really excited for the cabinet. :-) And now I know I'll have a picture for Wednesday!

Portkeys and Rocket ships

These are crack cookies.

Not really.

But they COULD be. They have chocolate chips, butterscotch chips, and chopped walnuts. They are melt-in-your-mouth delicious and I made them at my friend's house today while watching "A Very Potter Musical". I had to leave before it was over, but I saw most of it and it was hilarious.

Personal Favorites: "Floo powder powder powder! Floo powder powder powder!"

"I WANT HERMIONE and a rocket ship."

"What the hell is a Hufflepuff?"

Also, on a less happy, non-Potterific note, my internet is being supremely slow. I am slightly worried that today's picture won't actually load before midnight. This is also disappointing, because I've spent a large portion of tonight looking up pictures for design inspiration (I'm redoing my room!) and now the dozen or so links I opened won't load. Sadness.

Happy thoughts for the end of this post: I had an asiago bagel with cream cheese for breakfast! Hooray!

Bis morgen!

We're all gettin' older

It is official: my sister, my baby sister, is a high school graduate.

*"Pomp and Circumstance" plays in background*

High Tea on the Veranda

Ok, it was in the kitchen, not on the veranda. We don't have a veranda. At least I think we don't. I'm not really sure what a veranda is, so we could actually have one for all I know. But I'm pretty sure we don't.

High tea came about after I developed a craving for scones. I was trolling about the internet, happily looking up places to eat for cheaps in London, when I came across a list of places that served tea (not for cheaps), complete with pictures of scones and all the other delicious accoutrements that accompany English high tea . Impressionable being that I am, my stomach decided that it would not be satisfied until it had some scones of its own, and so I once again headed over to allrecipes.com for a quick and easy scone recipe.

They were actually quick and easy; I was pleasantly surprised. The only downside to the recipe I used was that I had to hand-grate an entire stick of butter. This was messy and, quite frankly, pointless.

ANYwho. Mum came home and we (her, myself, and sister) had our scones with tea (Scottish Breakfast and Earl Grey), blueberries, and cherries. Mum put lemon curd on her scones and put blueberries on top of the curd, a combination that she pronounced delicious. I still decline to eat anything called "curd".

Here is a picture with a teapot, just to prove that we did have tea and not just scones and that I didn't make any of this up.

Bis morgen!

Farewell, sweet memories of...who are you, again?

Several things happened today. My sister presented her senior project in the high school cafeteria, which is significant because 1) as her ride, I had to get up at 7:45, something which has only happened twice since returning home from college, and 2) it means she is this much closer to graduating! Which is fantastic! She's incredibly excited [edit: as I was typing the final paragraph, she called over from the family room, "44 hours!!!"]. The rest of the day was devoted to organizing items for my upcoming garage sale, which is where today's picture comes from. I forget what this horse's name is, but rest assured, he was one of my dearest childhood companions. Him and the other twenty-something toy horses my sister and I owned.

The rest of the day was pretty standard - sat in front of the computer until my eyelids seized up in protest, ate popcorn and followed it up with bread (that's healthy, right?), drank four cups of tea, etc. Dinner was delicious - mom made a fantastic salad with hard-boiled eggs and chicken and walnuts and homegrown lettuce (yuppp, homegrown lettuce. We have a garden and we grow lettuce, among other things).

So yes, today's picture is my tribute to the prostitution of my childhood memories, the selling of treasured stuffed animals and toys in exchange for mere pennies - pennies, it should be mentioned, that will be dumped into a coin-counting machine the second this garage sale is over and exchanged for monies for me to spend. Memories are sweet, but feeding myself next semester is much sweeter.

Bis morgen!

Father's Day

Happy Father’s Day to all fathers!!

Since my father is somewhat of a military history buff, we ventured this Father’s Day to the USS New Jersey, a retired battleship down in south Jersey. This venturing took about two and a half hours, during which time the Mets gave up a grand slam to the Yankees (uuuuurg…), leading to their eventual defeat, 4-0 (more uuuuuuurg).

It was worth the drive, though. The ship isn’t exactly the prettiest thing in existence, but it is interesting, historically speaking. Of course, the thing my dad and I liked best were the giant 16-inch guns that the USS New Jersey is famous for. Some other highlights included a tour of the oh-so-spacious seamen's [insert immature snicker here] berths, a brief visit to the fancy entertaining rooms used by the officers (with rank comes privilege, and in the case of the New Jersey, privilege includes a full service silver set and, inexplicably, a mounted deer's head), and a spin past the control room which was blessedly air conditioned. I opted out of the visit to the brig, choosing instead to sit in the galley and contemplate my ever-growing hunger. Gum, I learned yesterday, is not a very good substitute for food.

Despite the heat and lack of foodstuffs (what's the ship word for it? Provisions?), an enjoyable time was had by all, especially the father. If you ever find yourself in south Jersey (for whatever reason), I recommend taking a few hours to go see the USS New Jersey. Just be prepared to walk up dozens (literally: dozens) of very, VERY steep ladders with low headroom (ask me how I know).

Bis morgen!

Day One, Picture One

Today’s picture is of the blueberry muffins I baked earlier this morning. I found the recipe on allrecipes.com, and they are quite scrumptious, if I do say so myself. Which I do, because I just heard myself. They’re deliciously cake-y without being too dense, and the extra blueberries I threw in help qualify one of these babies as an FDA-approved serving of fruit. This helps to justify the consumption of multiple muffins in a row.

(Can you see the sugar topping? It’s mixed with butter for extra unhealthy deliciousness.)

Bis morgen!

365 - The Project

Taking one picture every day for a year isn’t exactly a new idea, but I’m doing it anyway. For 365 days (starting tomorrow) I will take and post one picture on this blog, along with fascinatingly witty comments for my own amusement.

Also appearing in this blog: essay-length rants about various topics, frequent mentions of a caffeine “addiction” (it’s only an addiction if you admit it is), healthy doses of sarcasm, and random historical and/or scientific facts that you may or may not care about.

Twelve Facts About Me

1. I attend a college somewhere in the United States. I am a History and German double major, although I started off as a Biology major. One semester of Chemistry was enough to convince me that this was not the best idea in the world, so I switched.
2. I will be studying abroad in London this fall. I am very excited for this, because I LOVE all things British-y
3. I have an unhealthy obsession with all things Harry Potter and Lord of the Rings related. My sister and I watch Lord of the Rings together when I come home from school, only when Frodo comes on screen we lower the volume and make up our own (much cruder) dialogue.
4. I scrapbook. This, plus my chronic heart burn, plus my knees that go “Crack!” whenever I squat down, prove that I am approximately 40 years older than I really am.
5. I have one dog, Missy. She’s nine years old and in the process of going blind and deaf. However, she still retains full use of her vocal cords. She likes proving this by making a small ruckus every night, somewhere around 4 in the morning. She also likes to redecorate the house with shredded tissues she steals from bathroom garbage cans.
6. I have been in the process of writing a book since the 6th grade. It has gone through multiple plot and character revisions, to the point that the current story no longer resembles the older versions. I have only now just started actually WRITING this story.
7. As I type, there is a butter and sugar crepe sitting on the table next to me. It is steamy and delicious and I can’t wait to eat it.
8. I watch South Park, Burn Notice, Chuck, The Office, NCIS, and Criminal Minds.
9. As I am moving into an apartment off-campus next year, I figure this summer is a good time to learn to cook. I was put off of cooking many years ago, when an attempt to make popcorn on the stove went terribly wrong and the pot caught on fire.
10. I am many versions of geek, but I do prefer “band geek” as a general name. However, I am also a book worm, a science nerd (yes, despite freshman year Chem, I do still love science), and a general, all-around dork when it comes to my academics (as my boyfriend has noted with varying degrees of exasperation, I actually enjoy studying).
11. On my college application to UVA, I wrote that “loo” was my favorite word. I am still baffled that I wasn’t accepted. (See? Told you there’d be sarcasm!)
12. I typed up most of this while sitting in “Rock’n Joe’s Cafe”, surrounded by a bunch of women who are knitting and talking about knitting. I do not knit. I’m not really sure how I ended up here.

Tomorrow begins The Project!