Help (Take Two)

I have landlord issues.

From the very beginning, these people have been bullying me around. And since this is my first time living on my own, I have absolutely no idea how to obtain any sort of upper hand. The first altercation that I had with them concerned moving in. They said I could move in on Friday, I got there, they came late, started walking toward the wrong house, and discovered that they had me confused with someone else. That the person in my apartment wouldn't move out until Wednesday. So I paid someone else's utilities for five days. And moved back in to my old apartment.

Then came the stove. My stove hasn't worked since I moved in. I called them to come look at it, they said it was broken. I kept calling and they said there was some special part needed, and it was hard to order, and would take awhile to get there. Three weeks later, the new part was installed. I get home to check my stove, and it still doesn't work. I call them back, and it turns out they didn't even check it. They just saw the light turn on and assumed it worked. Then I call them to come look again, and they do, but don't tell me anything. So I call them, and they finally admit that I'm getting a new one, it'll be there on Friday. I get home from work last Friday and there's a note saying that Home Depot brought the wrong stove. I call this week, since I had no news, and they say they'll bring it this Friday. I get a call today saying that Home Depot delivered a damaged stove, that looked like someone took a sledge hammer to the top of it.

Seriously?

So now I wait another week.

I have no idea what is actually going on. Could Home Depot really be this inept? Do I have any rights here? Can I get any sort of financial retribution for not being able to cook for three months? Help!

And yesterday I worked for 13 hours. And then had to go in early today. And I have to work tomorrow. This week, adulthood is lame.

Help!

My plants keep dying. If the ends of the leaves are turning brown and yellow, does that mean that I'm over watering or under watering?

I cannot figure out these dang plants. They come to me all pretty and full of leaves and life and green things, and then one month in my house and they look like they've been dying for years. I am so glad I don't have any pets.

In brighter news, I just got a DVR and it's the best toy ever. I tape Jeopardy! all week, and then Steven and I watch them all back to back. So far, I'm on a 10 game winning streak. There's no greater joy than discovering that you know more about state nicknames than your significant other.

27 months and 1 day later

Rita Alsop: September 23, 1951 - June 18, 2008

"Darkling I listen; and, for many a time
I have been half in love with easeful Death,
Call'd him soft names in many a mused rhyme,
To take into the air my quiet breath;
Now more than ever seems it rich to die,
To cease upon the midnight with no pain."
--John Keats, "Ode to a Nightingale," 51-56.

Funeral info and article links here.

Accentuate the positive

Reasons to be thankful:

1. Trauma tans
2. Sno cones
3. Card time
4. Surprise pizza
5. Not having to be involved in Orientation or Wildcat Warm-Up during the tornado aftermath
6. My wonderful and extremely understanding new work family at the ELP
7. Anna duty
8. Sister sing-a-longs
9. Skype
10. Water slides

This has not been my favorite week of all time, but because of the previous ten things, and my family's willingness to find laughter wherever possible, we are getting through. I am staying in Garden City another week, and will now start my job on the 23rd.


Oh- and quick Steven update- he arrived in Turkey safely, is happy, and besides a minor mishap with a snapping turtle, is adjusting well to international life. He starts teaching on Monday, and I am eternally jealous. Oh, and his blog is here: steven26.blogspot.com, if you feel like following his journey more closely.

Happy Father's Day to all.

Gainfully employed

I got a job! I actually got offered two jobs, and then got offered three more interviews, all today. Life is so mysterious. But I took the job as Administrative Assistant in the English Language Program, working with International Students and faculty and programs and doing all sorts of things. I fill out all my paperwork tomorrow and then start on June 16th.

I'm so relieved. It's a job. Full-time. With benefits. And because I don't start until the 16th, I can drive Steven to the airport on Tuesday, and then spend the rest of the week back at home before I settle down to this new part of life.

It's been three long weeks of job searching, but somehow, magically, it all worked out better than I could've imagined.

And now, Steven and I are setting up my Skype so we can talk while he's in Turkey, and then the rest of the day is full of reading, iced chai, darts, caribbean food and Gilmore Girls. (I got him hooked. That show can take down anyone.)

Today, adulthood feels all right.

Falafel

Steven and I both had the day off on Saturday so we decided to cook something complicated. And so began the great falafel adventure.

Here's our recipe:

• 1 (15 ounce) can chickpeas (garbanzo beans), drained
• 1 onion, chopped
• 1/2 cup fresh parsley
• 2 cloves garlic, chopped
• 1 egg
• 2 teaspoons ground cumin
• 1 teaspoon ground coriander
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 dash pepper
• 1 pinch cayenne pepper
• 1 teaspoon lemon juice
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 1 tablespoon olive oil
• 1 cup dry bread crumbs
• oil for frying

There's also instructions for the cucumber sauce, but we just went to Pita Pit and grabbed a couple of containers of their tzatziki sauce in the interest of saving time. Also in the interest of being lazy and not owning a blender, we decided to chop all of the vegetables. Bad news. Especially when we discovered, 24 hours too late, that a clove of garlic is that little thing that comes out of the bulb of garlic that you buy at the store. So really we ended up making garlic and onion balls, with a splash of garbanzo beans. And it took three hours and 45 minutes.


I got to mash up the garbanzo beans and then mix all the vegetables together. So much onion. So much garlic.

Happy little Steven, spending a wasted hour chopping garlic. If only we had known!

I was also in charge of making bread crumbs. Somehow, when you're forced to do this for a meal, it's much more complicated. It was also complicated by my frustration and hunger and the fact that I didn't have any sandwich bread, old bread, a hammer, or any plastic baggies. After toasting and baking and mashing this new sourdough bread to no avail, we finally found an old box of croutons and beat them with a pair of pliers until we had bread crumbs aplenty.

The after dinner entertainment. Dan in Real Life is excellent- by the way. So sweet and funny and Steve Carrell-y.

And the after after dinner entertainment. Steven won. Again. Then he tried to teach me Monopoly strategy and I went bankrupt after two times around the board. How does that happen?

Back to dinner. Still going. We made the actual falafel balls wayyyy too big. They fell apart immediately. Also, they stay together and are much healthier if you bake them instead of frying them. But that takes longer, and we were finally resorting to shortcuts.

The fixings! Our pita bread was too small. I would recommend the actual pita pockets.

And finally on the plate, ready for eating. It doesn't look incredibly appetizing here, but that's just because of the orange plate and pink fork. They were really yummy, even with the excessive amount of onion and garlic. I promise.

On Memorial Day we watched a bunch of Food Network specials on barbequing. So tonight we're going to experiment with spices and create our own rub. I think we'll leave out the garlic.

Moving fun?

The guy who runs the flower shop downtown is also named Steven Miller. So Steven supported his business with these flowers for me. They did not survive the move, and are therefore memorialized here.


My bed in my old room. I've noticed that my bed feels different in each apartment. On Ratone it felt tiny. On Pierre it was always massive. And now it feels extra small. Why is that? The only similarity between the two apartments is a ceiling fan. Hmmm....


I really really miss the big windowsill/bookshelf. But it is nice to be above ground again. My cell phone works much better.


My new apartment does not have two enormous closets.


Or adventure laundry. Though you do have to walk across the yard to a separate garage thing. And I got a key to it. So that's spiffy, I suppose.


My moving buddy.


First night in the new house. There's so much space in my bedroom! It's crazy. I have no idea what to do with all of it.


The new kitchen. It does not have a lot of space, but some really high cabinets that I put a bunch of extra dishes in. I had no idea that I had so many real dishes. I was finally ready to get rid of my plastic silverware and orange plates. Sad day.


To honor the apartment's first night, we played Monopoly. And I finally ended Steven's 7 game winning streak. The secret is the railroads. It's all about the railroads.



Game face.