The Joys of Renting an Apartment

Last week Brian had an interview with Bridgestone and was given an offer...apparently one he couldn't refuse! So, we are moving to McMinnville! (Or Manchester or Morrison, but regardless, we're moving!) We plan on buying about five acres of land and building our dream home, complete with as Brian says, "wrap around porch and floppy ear'd dog." I have been planning and scheming and dreaming for our new home. While doing so I thought of a rather extensive list of things I'm definitely not going to miss about renting. Enjoy.

What I'm Not Going To Miss About Tech Village/Renting:

• mold that never seems to stop growing from the bathroom ceiling
• the annoying bathroom fan that is wired to the light switch (meaning I canNOT turn it off)
• the equally annoyingly loud refrigerator
• the broken door handle on the refrigerator
• the pool of water that constantly builds up in the refrigerator
• the refrigerator
• cinder. block. walls. ... seriously.
• ridiculous electric bill in the summer due to said cinder block walls
• no insulation
• tile floors
• the super janky laundry room with its less-than-satisfactory washers
• laundry room idiots
• the sketchiest and most unreliable Internet access ever
• no overhead lights in the living room
• poor lighting everywhere else
• one electric outlet per room
• the front door that never wants to close 
• unlocking the front door is more difficult than Frodo destroying the Ring
• the only TV channels are the major networks, G4, MTVU, VH1, and an obscure sports channel
• four square feet of counter space (technically not even that much-the space is 23x22 inches)
• the baby stove
• and many more random little "perks"

However, there are a few good things about our first year of marriage here, but we'll get into those at another time. :)

October

The first week of October, I had "associate on-boarding" at Bath and Body Works. I am a seasonal temp worker at the Cookeville BBW! Including my training days I have worked four days total and I don't think I've done too much damage. I'm doing fairly well at my first EVER job. It only took me twenty-two years on God's beautiful earth for me to land my first job, but here we are.  I think I will like it pretty well. I am getting faster at ringing people up at the cash wrap and I'm gaining more confidence to approach customers and provide them with assistance. I found out this morning that I did make a pretty big boo-boo yesterday but I won't find out how mad they are at me until my next work day (I was off today!) I'm glad I'm gaining some experience so that whenever Brian graduates and we move, I will have something besides education on my resume. It's all about making yourself look better, right? Haha! Even though I've only technically worked two days, I think this will be a fun job. It's not something I'd want to do forever but it's definitely okay for now. I wouldn't mind working there until May, but they aren't looking to hire people after Christmas. Bummer.

This past weekend the whole Gunter family trekked up the mountains to a cabin above Pigeon Forge.  There is no possible way Brian or I could have driven one of our cars! The drive was so steep and gravelly! The view was pretty awesome. I wish more of the trees in my line of sight were in their full fall spectacular, but it was still amazing. The only downfall of the weekend was the cockroach invasion! My sister-in-law was ready to leave the place Saturday morning, so Jordan, Rhonda, Jaren, Brian and I went down the mountain (less scary in the daylight) to Pigeon Forge proper and had some fun on the go-carts. Go-carts are fun if you get a fast one, but not so much when your car is the absolute slowest one on the planet. I am not kidding. Brian and I rode together and Jordan and Jaren rode together and they nearly lapped us our car was so slow. I guess that was karma for Brian having the fastest when we drove singles ;)

Here are a few more pictures from the photo challenge. Since I haven't updated, I did several to catch up.

2. Pure White--my work shirts

3. Smile--a favorite photo on nightstand

4. Hat--from a raffle at UTM

 

5. Love--Our marriage certificate

6. Indulgence--pizza gone

7. Diva

8. Flowers

9. Postcard

Photo Challenge

Long time, no post... I remember sitting down at the computer the first of August to write, but I had nothing new to say. Each day is a blessing, but if it weren't for church service and Brian going to school, I'd have nothing to break up the monotony. I've been somewhat busy planning my parents' not-such-a-surprise 25th anniversary party. It's next Sunday and I'm pretty excited for my first real experience as a hostess. Next weekend is Jon and Jessi's wedding in which I'm honored to be a bridesmaid. They have been together forever it seems and I'm so happy for them that they are finally tying the knot! After their wedding, I should be off bridesmaid duty for quite a while, so that's a relief, haha! 
In other news, today marks 37 days until fall break, when the Gunter family is going to Pigeon Forge!

With all that out of the way, I'll get to the meat of the post. Since I don't have any knowledge or hilarity to share, I'm going to do a photography challenge. I've been doing photo-a-day challenges on Instagram with my iPod Touch, but I'd like to also get some practice in with my Canon. The challenge I'm going to try first comes from  divasanddreamsblog.com. I found it on *drum roll please* Pinterest! I won't do a daily post, but I'll try to do at least 1-2 per week. As pictured below, #1 is "high heels." Enjoy!

 

 

#1: High Heels

Hey, Good Lookin'

"Whatchya got cookin'?"

For as long as I can remember, I have always felt the need to be in the kitchen creating things.  When I was younger I would beg my mother and grandmother to let me watch them as they cooked and baked.  In high school I got to do a little bit of the cooking to help Momma with the household duties.  This came in handy in college at the COCSC where several of my comrades told me I was a good cook. Didn't hurt in snagging my man, either, ;)

I follow the idea of great chef Gusteau from the Disney movie Ratatouille, "Anyone can cook." The elaborate, exquiste dishes that can be tasted at high class restaurants may challenging to create for a less talented person, but other than that, I believe that given a recipe and the proper ingredients, tools, and patience, a delicious meal will result.  --Aside on the recipe statement: I don't always measure everything precisely with a spoon, cup, etc. I like to "eye ball it" as Rachael Ray says. Some people I know, ahem husband and old roomie, are so meticulous with measurements it almost drives me crazy, haha! Back to the point... So, if you tell me, 'Oh, this is great! You're a good cook!' I'll most likely reply with, 'Thanks, but it's not hard. You just follow the recipe.'

However, I do enjoy cooking quite a bit, and more than that, EATING. Hence the previous post of the diet. It's been so hard to not eat everything in the cabinets. Pinterest doesn't help either. I've pinned so many scrumptious-looking goodies that I plan on making for family get-togethers and church potlucks. The problem is I want to make them now. So I have. Fortunately, though, I decided to experiment with some recipes that look healthier than most.  The wonderfully talented Chocolate Covered Katie has a blue million recipes but I chose to make one of her baked oatmeal recipes, Cookie Dough Baked Oatmeal Bars! (found here) I mulitplied the recipe by 4 in hopes that I'd like it and to eat them this week for breakfast. Verdict? They're very yummy and only about 200 calories! I hadn't eaten yet today when I tried one, but when I did I wasn't hungry anymore. I see these becoming a regular on the breakfast menu. I plan on widening my tastes and trying the other varieties, as well.

I also decided to go ahead and cook my supper for this week and I found some ways to spruce up chicken. Garlic-brown sugar, BBQ with a little extra flavor, and lemon pepper. I think I'll pair a piece of chicken with rice and veggies or a salad. I'm excited!

Aren't they beautiful? And so good!

Finding Opened Windows

Last night, I finally heard back from the company with which I interviewed.  Apparently it was a "hard decision" but they chose the person they wanted to hire, and it's not me. Bummer. Once again I have found a path that God didn't want me to travel down.  I guess the endeavor of working every weekend for the next who-knows-how-long isn't right for me or my marriage right now. I had planned out all sorts of scenarios in my mind to settle my unease about being away from Brian on his only days off, but it still did not feel right. I would not be able to visit with any of my friends, my family, or go on a trip if I were to be hired in that job position.  On top of all those missed opportunities, I would not be able to attend Sunday morning worship and I guess that's not the best plan for us, either.  Even though this is yet another closed door on my journey to finding my career, there will be a window, somewhere, somehow. I've just got to trust that God will shine some light through that window, even if it's just slightly cracked open, and I'll be able to find it and jump through it. 

"Hast thou not known? hast thou not heard, that the everlasting God, the Lord, the Creator of the ends of the earth, fainteth not, neither is weary? there is no searching of his understanding. He giveth power to the faint; and to them that have no might he increaseth strength. Even the youths shall faint and be weary, and the young men shall utterly fall: But they that wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings as eagles; they shall run, and not be weary; and they shall walk, and not faint." Isaiah 40:28-31, KJV

The Gunters Go on a Diet

Hoorah. Right? Okay, so it's not really a diet diet just us deciding to eat better. We've been married a month (tomorrow) and the whole newlywed-whateverpounds isn't going to get the better of us.  The plan is to enjoy a wonderfully monotonous diet. For Brian a little more monotonous than me, but it goes a little something like this: Breakfast, oats. Lunch, fish and rice (yum!). Supper, meat slop.
WHAT??!? SLOP? What are we, pigs? No, but this stuff is actually okay. The first batch's spices aren't my favorite so I'll let Brian enjoy it all to himself, but I think we'll have to experiment with next week's batch so I can get on this. What is "meat slop" you say? It's a recipe that a friend of ours found on the interwebz. If you want to go to the actual post, I'll provide the link here but if you are offended by some crude language, I'd just keep reading my post :)

What we put in our first batch of meat slop: (and I really need to come up with another name for this!)
2 pounds of lean ground beef (the 93/7 from Wal*Mart)
1 head of red cabbage
1 red onion
2-12 ounce cans of tomato paste
1 can of mushroom pieces (yucky!)
approx. 1 cup water (enough so that it doesn't burn while cooking)
tumeric
red curry
black pepper
Cayenne pepper
garlic
chili seasoning

Finely chop all the veggies, break up the beef, and throw it in a big ole pot.

It looked like this:

Let that cook on low-medium heat for about 30 minutes. It smells really awesome, but I don't like the taste of tumeric or mushrooms. I think it would be awesome with tomatoes and some Italian type seasoning, maybe even get a Mexican vibe with some Ro-tel. This big pot we divided into 7 1-2/3 cups servings that look like this:

The best part about this slop is that it will fill you up due to the bulky cabbage and that it is super cheap! Burger: $5 + Onion: $2 +  Cabbage: $2 + Tomato Paste: $2 + Mushrooms: $1 + Random spices: on hand = $12, or $1.71 per supper meal for the week! This is awesome news! Additional bonus: I don't have to cook! This is SO easy: throw some veggies in a food processor, simmer in a pot for 30 minutes, and BOOM: seven meals. Hoorah!

All of this manly man food made me want something sweet, so I got out my handy dandy strawberries and had a snack. They're even better dipped in melted almond bark :)

Happy eating! :)

Waiting...

...is the hardest part.