Little Farm Update

Garden Update

Attempt #1: I think I may have mentioned--my garden died. All of it. (Well. All of it except the basil and chives, which were in a separate thing.) Even after it was totally thriving in my post about how I'd started a garden. I don't know what happened to it, but I think it may have to do with the greenhouse lid for my inside starter thing. I think that my plants get a lot of sun as it is, and with the greenhouse lid on, my plants were being steamed and that's why they died.

Attempt #2: But I hadn't really figured that out, so I just replanted the whole thing and the same thing happened: a bunch of stuff grew, and then almost everything died. At this point, I guessed that it may be the greenhouse lid and I removed that. A few plants survived. From my second planting, I have: one bean plant, one cantaloupe plant, five onions, two peppers, and either a broccoli or cauliflower plant (I forget). Also, for extra fun: I thought a whole bunch of stuff was growing, because a ton of these teeny tiny sprouts came up. But it was kind of weird because all of the sprouts looked the same, and

they never got any bigger. Soooo...I think something in the soil sprouted, which wasn't something I planted.

Attempt #3: I got some of those little planter things that you just add water to, like I did last year. In a couple plastic containers I planted just a few of each of the things I was excited about/still had seeds for. I planted: arugula, peppers, broccoli, cauliflower, celery, a few carrots, and lettuce. I put no special greenhouse lid on them, and just set them in the window with everything else. And! They're growing!!! Third time's the charm! These plants are also kind of a surprise, though, because Paley

knocked the bigger container over and all of the little plants fell out, so now I don't know which ones are which anymore. It's kind of like those grab bags at Claire's. Who knows what I'll get?! They're doing well though, whatever they are.

Attempt #4: About the same time that my second garden died this season, J suggested that we plant a garden at his house. He has a bunch of containers because he's done container gardens before. He's actually even grown stuff indoors with grow lights. He's actually kind of a much better gardener than I am, I think. Probably, since all I got from my square foot garden last year was like 2 strawberries and one tomato in October. (This was actually mostly because our balcony got like, no light. And because I didn't use a starter tomato plant.)

SO! We bought little plants. We got 6 strawberry plants, 2 tomato plants (J is learning , an artichoke plant (!!), and two blueberry plants, plus seeds to grow spinach (two varieties), and carrots. And we've planted them. They're doing great! The strawberries don't really like that we separated them, but they'll get over it.

Also, yesterday I bought a fancy green pot to transplant my kitchen herbs into, because get this--they've grown so well that they don't have much soil left! I will also re-re-plant the kitchen herbs that didn't re-grow when I re-planted them. Plus, fun discovery: the girl before me planted stuff in our front yard and a bunch of strawberries(!!) have come back along with some lemon herb and...sage? or something. Her tomatoes did not come back. Too bad.

So that's what's growing at our houses.

Chicks Update

For a while, every morning when J and I would text, I would ask him if the chicks were still alive. I remember us getting chicks when I was little, a couple times. And I think all of them always died. None of them ever really grew up. I think this was because we were little kids and we loved them too much. I'm sure we dropped some, and held them too tight, and were so excited to hold them that we didn't always remember to wash our already-clean hands. Also, they were in the garage, I think, which was probably cold. J and I don't drop them, or squish them, and we wash our already-clean hands before we pick them up. So they haven't died. Also, baby-chick food is medicated, so that probably helps with all of the baby-chick diseases.

The chicks are about a week old now. They're really strong and healthy, so we think they'll probably all make it, because the first week is probably the roughest for them. (Wahoo! Only five more months until they're big enough to start laying!)

They're still mostly fluff, but their wings have feathers now. Sometimes they try to get a little air, but they don't really fly much.

They eat a ton! We at first had a mason jar lid in there for their food, but they were eating [spilling] so much that J put a shallow tupperware thing in there instead. That seems to last them a bit longer.

They're starting to develop tiny personalities. Evelyn CHIRPS and CHIRPS and CHIRPS VERY LOUDLY! when we pick her up. Gertrude is the sweetest of our little ladies. She likes to be held. She is also really cute these days because she has a poofy, fluffy head. Maude and Gladys tolerate being held, but act like they have more important things to be doing. Silly birds.

I took them outside for the first time yesterday. They loved it. At first they weren't really too sure what to think of the grass and they stayed close to me, in the shade. Then they started to explore a bit and pecked at the grass and the ground. The flock stays together. It's pretty cute.

We think that we want to make a [very!] simple coop from a doghouse, which, if we found the right one, could work really well. And then after J moves to a house with more space, it would be nice to build/adapt something much bigger so that we can have 10-12 hens instead (and plenty of eggs to share with neighbors and friends).

Cat update:

Paley is doing fine. She likes to sit on the top of my ladder to get a great view of everything going on in the house and out the window. She likes attention! Whenever I'm home, Pay thinks I'm here to entertain her. When J comes over, she likes to cuddle with us. She's a sweet cat. (ALSO: She is almost a cat. In July, supposedly, she will be a year old, which is when kittens magically become cats.)

We play fetch. Paley brings me one of her toy mice, and drops it by my feet. I throw the mouse across my apartment. She runs for it, snatches it up, brings it back to me and drops it by my feet. We repeat this several times, until I decide I want to do something else.

Other, unrelated updates:

This weekend we are hiking across the Grand Canyon, rim-to-rim, in one day. It will be fun for me to see my family, and it will be fun for J to meet my family. (We see his family pretty regularly since they mostly live up here, but he's only met Jess from my family.) Our hike will be 24 miles, and I kind of want to die already, just thinking about it. I remember hiking Timp last year and hating my life. There should be fun parts, too, though. We have some geocaches we'll be finding in the Grand Canyon. And after we're finished, we will have Done it. I'm sure I'll have lots of pictures and interesting stories to blog about when I can't move on Monday.

Also, my grades posted and I got an A- in Children's Lit, an A- in Modernism, an A in my Darwin literature class, and a B- in my Diversity in American Lit class (which, I totally deserved a B at the lowest, but whatever). That means I made the Dean's list for this past semester. Cool. I'm looking forward to my Fall schedule, except now I'll probably drop the class by my Diversity teacher.

35 Suggestions for a Healthy Home

I'm pretty sure I've shared things from the Apartment Therapy book before. Although the fixing-up-my-apartment project continues [forever], after four months of borrowing the book from my library it's finally due. I have one more section that I've been meaning to share, and it's from the appendix. I've tried a bunch of this stuff, and it just seems good, so here it is:

35 Suggestions for a Healthy Home

When you wake up in the morning, make your bed. [I usually do now. I like it.]

Make sure the seat is down after you use the toilet. [I always do this. One time I actually left it open and Paley accidentally jumped into the toilet, because she usually jumps from the toilet seat to the sink, and didn't know to be careful. It was pretty funny and she got a bath right after I pulled her out. Poor cat.]

Always leave the shower curtain pulled across, so that it can dry and not mildew. [I try to remember this. It also makes my bathroom more colorful.]

Use your kitchen in the morning, even if it is only to have a glass of orange juice.

Take out the recycling when you leave home each morning. [I hate the environment so this doesn't apply to me.*]

Always include a thank you note with your rent. [I started doing this. I like it and will continue to do it. Now that I think about it, I bet it could just be a card that says "Thank You" with the check in it. What I've been doing is giving him an update on the apartment and telling him a little of what I'm up to. For example, this month I will update him on my painting project. Maybe I'll start doing just a blank thank you card for months that I don't have things to tell him about?]

Have your paper delivered. It is cheaper and more efficient.

Always go out of your way to say good morning to your neighbors on the street.

Pick up garbage in front of your building even if it's not yours. [Dilemma: I have a neighbor who is a collector. Of everything. I've heard his apartment is packed with stuff. He has two cars next to the house that are full of stuff too. I want to get rid of the junk on the side of our house, but I think he may be "saving" some of it. What to do?]

Before you leave the office, take five minutes to clean up your desk. [More relevant if you have a desk at work.]

On Fridays, take fifteen minutes and clear your desk, throwing out or filing all Post-Its, cards, or papers that are old.

Buy flowers for your apartment at least once a week on your way home from work. [I did this for a few weeks, but it gets kind of spendy on a student budget. Still, it brought life to my old little house. I wonder if the kitchen herbs will have the same effect? Eh. Probably not.]

Take off your street shoes when you come home. Use house shoes inside your home. [I started wearing house sandals. I like this and will continue to wear them.]

Hang your coat up right away when you come home.

Sort your mail right away when you come home.

Keep all coats, bags, and shoes by the front door. [Works better if you have an entryway, I would guess.]

Use the time just after you get home to run any local errands, such as dry cleaning, pharmacy, or laundry.

Check your messages right away and then erase the tape. [Huh. Do people still have answering machines?]

Return all your calls before dinner.

Use a cordless headset to make calls while you cook or straighten up your house. [ = Bluetooth?]

Don't let your refrigerator fill up with old food.

Always eat on a real plate with a real napkin.

Light a candle when you eat, even if you are alone.

Drink water.

When you are done, clean up and take this opportunity to clean your counters and table. If any counters or tables need oiling, do it right away.

Do all dishes before you go to bed.

Floss each night.

Don't make calls after 9 p.m.

Put all clothes away or in the laundry before going to bed each night.

Take a bath before bed if you have trouble sleeping.

Plan on at least 7 1/2 hours of sleep a night.

Buy good bedding. Invest in a good bed. [Someday.]

Get in bed early and read for 30 minutes.

Only have one book at your bedside at a time. Finish the books you start.

Give four parties a year.

Anyway, those are the 35. I almost felt like I should bold all of the ones that I'm doing and post it on Facebook. Doesn't it seem like one of those?

*Just kidding. Mostly. I did switch to earth-friendly dish soap and laundry detergent because of this book.

Garden 2.0.09

Even though a week ago it was still snowing here, when I went grocery shopping at Smithy's last Saturday they totally indulged my desire to pretend it's spring by having a Start Your Garden Indoors! display.

They had seeds for everything, and those little peat moss things (or fake peat moss since using real peat moss is Bad for the environment) that expand so that you can start seeds indoors. In all sizes! I could start a few seeds, or a lot of seeds, or a ton of seeds. Of anything.

And even though I do know it's not really spring yet, I totally bit. I bought it ALL! Well. A lot of it, anyway. I won't need more seeds for a long, long time.

I knew I wanted to start growing fresh herbs for my kitchen (I think this was even on my 101 list), so I got the Kitchen Herbs kit, which came with six little pots and seeds for Basil (mmmm), Chives, and Parsley.

And then I chose the seed growing kit that had 72 cells (instead of one with 50 something or 30 something.) And I chose seeds. I'm growing: cilantro (which is also coriander. Who knew?), rosemary, mint, oregano, thyme, onions, cauliflower, broccoli, cantaloupe, arugula, celery, peppers, and mixed lettuces.

Here are some of the lessons that I learned from my garden last year:

- Buy little plants instead of using seeds, especially for tomatoes and strawberries. Otherwise, it takes all season for them to grow to be big enough to give fruit and then there isn't enough time for them to grow things before fall.

- Don't plant anything outside until after it's done snowing.

- The little pods that are not just dirt (so that you can plant them in the tiny pot they grow in) are cool, but they make me feel concern for the roots that aren't strong enough to break through.

- Even though seeds are tiny, you don't have to plant a whole lot for them to grow.*

- Thinning a garden is not fun, because you have to take little plants (!) that worked so hard to grow from being teeny tiny seeds (!) that are totally viable (!) and just throw them away (!)

- Science has a lot figured out, but God has even more figured out.

- Plants need sufficient light to grow. If the package says it needs direct sunlight, partial sunlight for a few hours isn't going to cut it.**

Anyhow, I got the stuff, and I planted it. I planted the little kitchen garden first, and then I planted the other stuff. I came up with a plan so that things would stay organized:

I used my label machine to make little labels for some of the things on the sides so that I would remember what was where on the actual thing.

And then I put it up on the plant shelf in my kitchen window and left it.

AND THEY GREW!

I planted this stuff one week ago, and here are pictures from today:

I still need to figure out who had the garden in front of our house last year. We have a triangular space about 1o' x 15?' that someone used for gardening last summer. If it was the girl who used to live where I am now*** then it's my garden now. If not, I may have to fight someone for it, I mean share nicely. In either case, I plan to get a bunch of pots for outside since Krista's garden thrived last year, and hers was in pots, and mine didn't and wasn't.

* But that didn't keep me from planting several lettuce seeds in each cell. Because they're just so tiny. Annnnd, now they're all growing. Of course.

** Hooray! I have great sunlight at this house.

*** Likely, since she had a ton of plants in this apartment--hanging, on shelves, in pots outside.

101 in 1001

One of Jessica's friends started doing this thing where you come up with 101 things you want to accomplish, and you try to do them in 1001 days.

Jess told us about it, and now all of the girls in our family are doing it together. We have a Google Docs document for it, and we've spent the past couple weeks coming up with our lists together so that we would be ready for 1 March, which was the day that we decided we wanted to start.

For more info about the project, you can visit this site, Day Zero, which gives some guidelines for setting goals (you know, specific, measurable, etc.), and links to a bunch of other people's lists.

Since we started on 1 March, we're working to complete our lists by 27 November 2011.

We divided our lists into categories, so that it would be easier for us to compare and do goals together, and to make it easier to balance our goals.

Everyone else chose 25 of their goals to work on in the next 250 days, but I didn't. Usually people edit their lists as they go; my sisters are changing the color of their items when they're in progress, and crossing them out when they're completed. On my blog I'll probably just blog about the things that I do complete, and maybe post updated lists a couple times.

Some people online put a lot of crazy stuff on their lists; visiting Africa, buying lots of expensive things, etc. I know that for about half of my 1001 days I'm going to be finishing my undergrad, and then for another year of it I'll most likely be doing my first year of law school. So I tried to be realistic about the things that I chose as goals. I think it will be a good 1001 days.

Here is my list:

Creativity & Projects

1. Finish quilt started with Grandma.

2. Make mission albums (3?)

3. Make NYC/DC/Boston album

4. Make pepper jack cheese.

5. Make mozzarella.

6. Learn to dye yarn.

7. Knit 12 pairs of socks. (0/12)

8. Spin enough yarn to knit a blanket, or make progress towards knitting a blanket from yarn I've spun.

9. Build a nice personal website.

10. Choose music I like, and sync my computer and phone.

11. Make my blog into books.

12. Can fresh fruit at least once.

13. Sew two Amy Butler Weekender bags. (0/2)

14. Sew an Amy Butler Sophia bag

15. Make an Amy Butler puzzle quilt

16. Blog at least twice a week for three months. (0/24)

17. Order moo cards.

Education & Learning

18. Review my Italian grammar book, completing all assignments.

19. Read Harry Potter in Italian.

20. Read Postmortem in Italian.

21. Graduate from college.

22. Take the LSAT. (?/180)

23. Apply for law school. (?/?)

24. Read 25 books outside of school reading. (0/25)

25. Take the Photoshop, etc, workshops on campus.

26. Take a carpentry class and make something.

27. Watch the AFI top 100 movies. (0/100)

28. Check into the Honors program at the U, and see how many more classes I would need. If possible to graduate on time, include these classes in my schedule.

29. Take a painting class for at least a month.

Environment & Outdoors

30. Find 100 caches. (0/100)

31. Place 15 caches. (0/15)

32. Sew 250 morsbags. (0/250)

33. Go camping at least once per year.

34. Go on 10 bike rides. (0/10)

35. Learn to cook 3 things in my Dutch oven. (0/3)

36. Switch to earth friendly cleaning products.

37. Pre-measure laundry detergent into snack bags or little containers so that I don't have to take the whole thing.

Family & Friends

38. Write to G&G 1x/month

39. Send real birthday cards/personal messages.

40. Send at least fun 3 letters to the boys. (0/3)

41. Read a satisfactory number of Mom's recommended reading.

Health, Fitness, & Appearance

42. Lose 25 lbs. (0/25)

43. Run 10 5Ks. (0/10)

44. Run a 1/2 marathon (April 2009!)

45. Run a full marathon (October 2009!)

46. Keep a running diary or training log for one month (0/31)

47. Do a sprint triathlon.

48. Learn to walk comfortably in heels. If such a thing is possible.

49. Buy five pairs of shoes. (0/5)

50. Donate an old item of clothing from my closet every time I get a new one until my closet only contains things that I actually wear.

51. Spend a weekend preparing at least 4 meals to freeze- at least 6 times. (0/6)

52. Learn to do eye makeup. (MAC class? book? Lots of practice?)

53. Wear eye makeup every day for 1 month. (0/31)

54. Take a swimming class.

55. Have my eyebrows done professionally.

56. Laser surgery.

57. Buy a hat.

58. Do a beginner's snowboarding class.

59. Plan meals for one month. (0/31)

60. Try all of the meals from the Nordstrom Friends & Family Cookbook that I've been meaning to try and haven't. (0/78)

61. Attend 10 yoga classes. (0/10)

62. Start an herb garden for my kitchen.

63. Make an exercise playlist and put it on my little iPod.

64. Buy a pasta roller and make pasta from scratch.

House & Home

65. Paint my bedroom.

66. Paint my bathroom.

67. Paint my kitchen.

68. Acquire and learn 10 new games. (Including Rook.) (0/10)

69. Buy a wii.

70. Buy wii fit.

71. Buy Rockband.

72. Organize my papers into files.

73. Destroy papers that I don't need.

74. Cross stitch or embroider either a Jesus picture or a picture of a temple.

75. Build a bookshelf.

76. Learn to cook Chicken Tikka Masala and Naan

77. Organize my kitchen cupboards with plastic containers.

78. Paint my living room.

Money, Finances, & Work

79. Make a budget.

80. Save change.

Responsibility & Good Things

81. Buy a harness, leash, and stake so that Paley can do homework outside with me.

82. Make a sincere effort to not gossip for one month. (0/31)

83. Volunteer 100 hours. (0/100)

84. Oh, also, Red Cross certification class thing.

85. Upgrade my ham license to general class.

86. Find my place in Salt Lake to donate platelets and go at least 5 times. (0/5)

87. Organize and reduce e-mail so that there are 50 e-mails or fewer in my inbox and keep it that way for at least 4 months. (progress)

88. Finish Paley's shots.

89. File 2008 taxes by March 15.

Spirituality

90. Read every Ensign cover to cover for 12 months. (0/12)

91. Attend the temple 30 times. (0/30)

91b. Get married one of those times. (HA. Just kidding.)

92. Read my church books that I have and have not finished. (0/4?)

93. Read the Liahona cover to cover for one year. (0/12)

94. Determine genealogy goal and accomplish it.

95. Finish reading the Old Testament. (I'm to Proverbs.)

96. Graduate from Institute.

Travel & Places to Go

97. Do iFly.

98. Renew passport when it expires (June 2010.)

99. Attend the Rome temple dedication, if I can. If not, visit Italy.

100. See 5 plays. (0/5)

101. Take a trip with friends.

Grocery Confusion

I have groceries delivered with Winder Farms.

It's been a good thing:

I get milk in glass bottles, and it is amazing.

I get fresh orange juice, and it tastes

 like

 someone went into the kitchen and squeezed oranges for me.  It's really good.

I usually get a loaf of Paradise bakery bread.

I sometimes get bagels, fresh fruit, or cheese.

And despite having no car, I carry nothing!

It's more expensive than the grocery store (unless I were buying deluxe brands of everything, which I don't), so I don't usually get eggs with them, or vegetables, or most other things.  But by getting the basic stuff through them, I go to the grocery store far less often, and make fewer impulse purchases.

So it works out great.

WELL.

I started getting Winder Farms delivered back in November.  And every Sunday night I put my silver cooler on my porch, and every Monday morning I would bring my cooler (full of food) back inside.  And then one fine January morning, my cooler cloned itself.  I went outside, and instead of my cooler sitting by itself, there was another identical cooler right next to it.  I quickly realized that one of my neighbors must have started getting Winder Farms.

I checked the contents of the coolers so that I took mine and left the other person's. I wondered if the cooler belonged to my next door neighbor, or just someone in our house.  (Our house is divided into four apartments, which are not connected.  If you open the front door, you are in an entryway, one door is on the left, and one door is on the right.  The other two apartments have separate entries on the side of the house (still facing the street) and in the back of the house.)  

I skipped deliveries for a couple weeks, I forget why.

And then last week, I put my cooler out on the porch again.  I was up writing a paper, so I heard when they came to deliver it at about 2am.  They opened the box and closed it.  A couple minutes later it shifted.  I was excited because last week I ordered bagels, and I thought a bagel would be nice for a break during my paper-writing.

I went outside about ten minutes later and my cooler was gone.  Huh?  I didn't think they usually took coolers with them.  

Next to the house, there were two keep-things-cold aluminum bags, which they provide if you forget to leave your cooler out.  The bags had a lot more stuff than I had ordered.  When I looked closer, I realized that there was an invoice with them.  Aha.  The Emily who lives next door to me was getting the other deliveries.  And this was her stuff.

I decided that I would check later in the morning, in case they had taken my cooler and were bringing it back.

Later, the other Emily's stuff was still there, and my cooler was still gone.

Disappointing!

I called Winder Farms to ask about my missing cooler and groceries.  I told them what had happened, and that I had gone out ten minutes after the delivery and it was gone.  

"We never take your cooler after it has been delivered," she said.  "It must have been stolen."

In ten minutes!  I explained that my neighbor and I both get deliveries, and told her I was a little concerned that there might be some confusion.  She checked and discovered that yes, my neighbor had recently started receiving deliveries.

She told me that they would re-deliver my order at no additional cost to me, and that they would pay half the cost of the replacement cooler and I would be responsible for the other half of that cost.  Sigh.  I didn't want to buy another cooler.  Oh well.  I know it wasn't their fault, so whatever.  It was nice of them to deliver again and not charge for the food, and pay half of the cooler.  I asked if I should write my name on my cooler so that the delivery person knows which cooler belongs to which Emily.  They said that would be a good idea.

They would deliver it that night, instead of making me wait for my delivery the next week

.  Great.  They asked if there was somewhere else they could put the delivery so that it would be less likely to be stolen.  I suggested they come inside the entryway.  This would be good for two reasons:

1. Passing my house, random people would not see groceries on my porch.

2. I can have my cooler in front of my door and the other Emily can have hers in front of her door, so there won't be confusion about what belongs to whom.

They redelivered.  (I put a label on my new cooler, which Paley quickly removed.  Hm.  I don't want to write with Sharpie, though...)

AND NOW! 

A week later!

I skipped my delivery.  (I don't always use that much milk or orange juice or bread.)

There is a delivery not in a cooler or aluminum bag, in the entryway, just in the middle of the entryway.  (But closer to my door than hers.)  It's got to be the other Emily's, because it's not stuff that I order.

There are two coolers outside.  The bottom cooler has a bunch of plastic milk containers (the Winder Farms kind; you're supposed to rinse them out and return them; I do the same thing with glass ones) and the top cooler has the cooler bags in them.  

I'm 99.99% positive that this is what happened:

My neighbor stole my groceries last week!

She is also up during the night (always coming and going), so she must have seen my delivery and known she was getting one too, and taken my cooler even though she did not put a cooler out last week.  This also explains why she left out the cooler bags, and eventually took them in.

I don't understand though, if she just doesn't realize we're both getting deliveries, or what.

Then this week, she took both coolers out and put them on the porch (hers that belongs to her, and mine).  But she took them out too late.  Her stuff had already been delivered.  But her stuff was delivered inside, because I had asked WF to deliver mine inside.  So she didn't know

 anything about that.  When she took the coolers out, she probably didn't realize that she saw her own delivery in the hallway.  

But I don't understand that.

Because every week you select what you want to have delivered.  So if the six or seven things sitting in your entryway are the precise six or seven things you selected online...either it's yours, or someone else is getting stuff delivered too.  And it's probably yours.  (Just like if you take a cooler when you didn't put yours out, and it has stuff that you did not order, it is probably not yours.)

And if you think those six or seven things are not yours, then that means someone else is having things delivered, in which case, wouldn't you think twice about taking stuff that doesn't look like stuff you ordered??

It's all very confusing.

So I moved her aluminum bags into the bottom cooler (I don't think they'll take them back anyway, but whatever) and took one of "her" coolers back into my house.  Because she never had two delivered to begin with (and I saw her invoice last week so I know).  She stole mine!  And I had to pay for the new one!

Really, we should just talk about this.  Wouldn't that make things so much easier?  But we don't talk.  I moved here in September, and I've only actually seen her once.  I do hear her come and go all the time, though, and she smokes on the porch in front of my apartment.  I knocked on her door one time (when our landlord called me and wanted me to see if I could get her phone number for him), and she didn't answer the door.  She was home.

Should I write her a note?  Maybe.  I wonder what she is going to think when she goes out later today and her groceries are still in our entryway (and I just realized, they're probably her standing order!  She may not even realize she ordered them this week...) and her cooler is still on the porch but one of them is gone, and her stuff is all in one cooler.  I hope she calls WF and says that one of her coolers is gone and they tell her she only had one to begin with.  Ha!

So.  That's my random morning.  

(Also, I'm not expecting that you will, but if anyone decides that they want Winder Farms in the future, tell me.  If you say I referred you, we both get free stuff better than what you would get if you just sign up on your own.  Despite the confusion with my neighbor, they really are a great company and their stuff is amazing.)

Funny cat story

Last night I ran a bath* but I didn't have time to take my bath right away, so I turned the water off when the tub was full, and kept doing other things.

I finished making dinner, and I ate.

I needed a pedicure, so I was painting my nails in the bathroom, and of course the door was open because I don't need privacy to paint my nails (and because I like ventilation). Paley came and found me. She always finds me when I'm home. And I gave her a little bit of attention, but I was painting my nails, so I put her down. She sat by me for a couple minutes and then went over to the tub.

Paley loves water. Sort of. When she eats, she'll play with her water. She puts a paw in her little water dish, and splashes the water. Intentionally. When we were at Jessica's house, Jess and Mitch saw her do it too, so they know.

She perched on the edge of the tub, and started to play with my bath water. I thought that was pretty funny, so I grabbed my phone to snap a picture. Silly cat.

Excceeeeppppt, Paley has a cold. She sneezes. A lot. So every time she sneezed, she'd have to kind of brace herself to keep her balance. I was taking pictures of her dipping into my bath water when she one time sneezed and FELL IN.

POOR KITTY! She swam to the edge, pulled herself out, and ran off. I caught her, and dried her off with a towel, and then put her on the heater to dry. She was all wet except for her tail, her head, and the top of her back.

It reminded me of this one time Jess and I were at the mall and we saw a kid playing on the fountain (like you're not supposed to, but kids do anyway), and he fell in. AWESOME.


*This is one of the things that I've taken from the Apartment Therapy book I'm reading/have been reading. The guy recommends taking baths. It's relaxing. He mentioned some CEO who takes a bath every morning, and reviews his notes in the tub. He often comes to his board meetings with papers that have water spots on them.

No more cats.

Well, I just took the cats back.

This time, I tried calling ahead (nobody answered), I found a way to put a luggage strap on the Pet Taxi, and I got off at the correct train stop, so that made things a little easier. Okay, a lot.

But when I told them the kitties hadn't had their second shots or been spayed/neutered yet, they got mad at me. "We never take foster kittens back before they've been spayed." WELL. And I kind of mumbled something about the Humane Society being far, and I have to carry the cats, and they're destroying my house, and it sounded like a lame excuse.

And I don't think the lady understood that when I bought a pumpkin yesterday, I couldn't carry it because my forearms are still bruised, and so are my hips. And she obviously didn't understand that last night I had to put sweats on top of my pajamas and then sleep with a heating pad, because I was out of clean blankets and even my comforter needs to be washed, and so does my couch. And she couldn't have understood that I can't put my bathmat in the bathroom, my shoes on the floor, or my books on the couch. And she definitely didn't understand that my new-to-me couch which had zero snag marks when I got it is now covered in snag marks. Even though I say "no" whenever kitties start to bother it.

Obviously she didn't understand that kitties bite me awake, or just mew and mew, or run around and I haven't slept well since I got back from Boston. And I don't think she understood that I've tried and tried to make my house smell livable, but that I can't open my windows really, because they have no screens and I can't let the cats out. She didn't understand that I gave each of the kitties individual attention at least a couple times every day so that they would feel loved, and grow up to be nice cats, for other people. She didn't understand that I was trying to help and did my best.

She didn't thank me for keeping six cats in my apartment for six weeks.

She was annoyed. She said, "They're not spayed. What am I supposed to do with them?" and I thought maybe it was a rhetorical question, because she's in charge of foster animals with the Humane Society. And like, all week long doesn't she get not-spayed cats that she's not expecting? (That's the whole idea of having a Humane Society, right?) And these ones weren't even mine. But she just looked at me, because it wasn't a rhetorical question, so I said, "Spay them?" And she said they'd have to find someone else to foster them. It was an extremely awkward conversation.

And I know I read on the fostering agreement that if I didn't take them for their shots, or if I refused to give them back, I wouldn't be allowed to foster animals and maybe not even adopt from the Humane Society ever again. So I think I may be blacklisted from the Humane Society.

Which is awful. That's like being blacklisted from volunteering at the library or at an elementary school.

So now I'm home in my catless house. And feeling awful about my best not being enough.

OOh, glimmer of hope! Just now, as I was typing this, another lady from the fostering at the Humane Society called to find out what happened. And I explained that I couldn't take them back for shots, etc, during the week because I have a new job, and the Humane Society is way far without a car, etc, and she was like, "Ohh." And she told me the kitties were "nice and fat"! And we talked about some of the mom's issues (like wishing she were an outside cat and not using the litter box), and some of the personality traits of the kitties (one of them was hissy when they tried to give it shots), etc, and it was the conversation that I had expected to have when I dropped them off.

Sigh.

Cat update

The kitties are getting bigger.

The two orange ones look less alike. The darker orange one has started sometimes purring when I pick him up. He's also more active than most of the other kittens. And he sometimes will sit still with me for a little bit. The lighter one is less interested in me [note: he slept in my lap while I uploaded pictures for this post, though] and playing and has a sore eye, poor kitty. Both of the orange kitties like playing with plastic bags. Actually, I think all of the kitties do.

The white cat doesn't cry nearly as much as he used to. He's really pretty now; he has orange like...tips. His ears are orange, and his tail, and his nose, and they fade to white. As of a couple days ago, he thinks I taste good. Or something. When I pick him up, he starts licking my shirt or my arm. He especially likes to do this after I go running, because I'm salty. Randomly, the white kitty developed a fear of heights. When I hold him, or go to put him down, he clings and starts meowing, totally freaked out.

The gray cat has become fascinated with cords. She likes to bother my computer, the telephone cord, my hair straightener cord, my phone charger, etc. I have to pick her up and find new things for her to do. The gray cat looks less mangy, and doesn't crouch when she's walking now (usually). She'll be a pretty cat when she grows out of her ugly kitten phase.

The calico little girl is about the same. She's still sweet. She still purrs when I pick her up. She's very curious. She likes yarn. Her fur is very soft. She likes to pick on her brothers.

Most of the kitties are doing much better with knowing when to use claws, and when not to. They're all doing a great job of using the litter box.

Their mom isn't. Kiki is the same as before, except more annoying. She still doesn't use her litter box all the time. She has started rummaging through my kitchen trash when I leave the house. She keeps trying to run outside. A couple times she's gotten out without me realizing it, just as I'm coming home. Except! There's an entryway to my apartment and my neighbor's apartment; so even if Keek makes it out of my door, she would have to conquer another door to actually get outside. Which obviously, she can't. So she starts crying and wants back in, and I let her in. Stupid cat. So I think whoever adopts Kiki should want an outside cat. Because she sucks at being an inside cat, but she would probably be pretty nice as an outside one. And she wants to go out anyway.

Apartment Fun!

This morning, it was still dark when I woke up to the cat peeing on my bed. On the right of my head. Near my hand. Getting my cellphone wet.

"KEEEEEEEEEK," I groaned. "Youstuuuuuuuupidcat." The words slurred because I was still mostly asleep. She's pooped on my kitchen floor. She's pooped on and wet my couch and a blanket. And now my bed? UGHH. I hate this dumb cat.

But then she moved to the other side, and my phone kept getting wet. Huh?

So I sat up. And I realized that water was coming through my ceiling. A little bit right by me, and a lotta bit across the room.

I got up and turned the lights on, and put bowls out (THANK YOU, SMITHY'S for only selling sets of bowls when I needed one bowl to make Muddy Buddys last week!). I mopped. And mopped. And I moved my backpacking-backpack which had gotten wet. And I moved my free-from-school planner which I don't use anymore (and now couldn't if I wanted to because it was destroyed). And I mopped.

Apparently, the big crack across my ceiling is not just decorative--it's functional. Who knew?!

I looked outside to see if it was raining. It wasn't. But, I could tell when I went by the window, our boiler had been turned on. My house is finally warm. Huh. Must have had something to do with that.

The thing that really puzzled me was, I have hardwood floors everywhere in my house except my kitchen and bathroom. One thing I remember from California about hardwood floors is, if they get wet (even a little bit, repeatedly), they buckle. And the floors beneath the huge crack were very old and still very flat. Makes no sense.

I was still tired, so after the bowls were out, I went back to bed. The water wasn't gushing, or anything. Just dripping pretty quickly in like four places. Also, the big part of the crack is right by a wall that I share with a neighbor, so I'm sure it must affect him, too.

As I was falling back asleep, the dripping slowed. And then it seemed to stop. When I woke up for real-morning, it was almost like it had never happened. The floor was pretty dry. My stuff wasn't really too wet either. It came and went just like someone's turn in a game of Jumanji. The bowls were still out, though. The ceiling has water stains. The floor isn't quite as flat as it was.

The heat is still on, though, so hopefully it's just a starting-the-boiler thing. Or something.

(PS, the blue bucket was my mop bucket, so it already had some water in it when this started.)

Mustache Party?!

Today I bought some Body Shop oils to help me survive the awful cat stench. [NB: I clean the litter box multiple times per day, so I'm not a gross cat person, they just stink.]

I needed at least one tea-light to warm the stuff.

Smithy's didn't really have any except fancy expensive ones with pictures of spiders and Halloweeny things.

So I went to the Halloween store in search of just regular 'ole tea-light candle thingies. I expected I'd have to buy a big pack, but I was wrong--they didn't even have them. They just had the votive ones. So I got one of those instead.

But what I also found, which I'd never dreamed of before, was a MUSTACHE PARTY.

Whaaaattt? I had to have it. Because that would be a super fun party! So now I'm deciding whether I have 12 friends that would come, or 24. I'm planning to throw the party sometime after my house is clean and pretty (and cat-free).

This is an actual picture which I nabbed from an online store. Mine look the same. And below that is someone else's invitation. Doesn't it already make you wish you could come to this most excellent party?

Moving again. Part 8. Guy With Gold Foot Gets Evicted.

We stopped at the house and got out.

There was a VACANT sign on the mailbox.

The barbecue was gone.

The swing on the lawn was gone.

The fruit trees were gone.

There were mattresses on the side of the house.

The note on the front door was gone, but there was one on the side entrance (which I hadn't noticed on Thursday). It read: "Jeff S[last name] This home is under survailence. If you enter it or are seen on this property the police will be called. Reynold Cell [cell number]" Bizarre.

Of the covered garages, one was open and empty. The other one was closed. When I lifted the door, I saw the couch and chairs in the back of the garage and a little pile of firewood, and that was pretty much it.

I called Carlos. He and I were preparing to take Jeff to small claims court. What do we do now? I left him a message.

Then I called Reynold. I told him I saw the sign and I had been renting from Jeff when Jeff owned the house, and I lived there for two days and he kicked me out. I told him I'm trying to get my deposit back, and I wanted to know what the situation was with Jeff. I told him I wondered if they knew where he was, and I asked what the situation was.


Reynold said Jeff had never owned the house, that Jeff was renting from him. He said that Jeff hadn't paid his rent. He owed Reynold a lot of money. He had done a lot of damage to the property. He had misrepresented the situation with who was living in the house. He said they had evicted Jeff on 1 October.


I asked if Jeff even really had an excavation business.

Reynold said he thinks so. He said Jeff brought a Bobcat to the house and destroyed the property next door. He said they should have evicted him when he first started doing that stuff. He said Jeff has a minor handicap, and they were more patient with him than they should have been. He said Jeff is slow and with attitude.

The reason the sign was up, is, Jeff has threatened to cause damage to the property. (Poor Reynold!)

Reynold had heard that Jeff was moving to 27th South 13th East, but he said he'd been by the area a few times and not seen any of Jeff's vehicles.

I asked if he had Jeff's Drivers License number, or any identifying information that I could have to help with getting my deposit back. He said he would check with Will and see if they got that and he said he would call me back. [He hasn't called back in the past day.]

I called Carlos, and we talked about it. He said he had just just gotten Danielle's number. Danielle is a girl that Courtney had known, who was planning to sue Jeff for her money back. We hadn't really heard anything about it since Carlos and I got kicked out, though. He gave me the number and I said I'd call and find out how her stuff was going.


I called Danielle, and she was excited to hear from me. She didn't know about Carlos and I.

She was going to sue Jeff, but when the people tried to serve him papers, they couldn't ever find him. She says she's sure he's spent her money anyway, so she's suing Will and Reynold or whatever instead. They knew that he was doing bad stuff and didn't do anything about it, so it was their fault too. They have a court date in November.

There's a girl who is helping Danielle, who has been through it all before, or something, and just really wants to help. She really knows her stuff, Danielle said. She gave me her number and suggested I call her. She's helping some other girls who got kicked out before Danielle.

Danielle's story was, she and another girl were moving in. They thought it was a house of only girls. They had the basement room, downstairs, next door to Jeff. Danielle's friend moved her stuff in one night. The next morning? (I forget when) she was showering. Jeff opened the door and looked in for like 20 seconds. It totally freaked out her friend, because she didn't even know anyone else lived there. Let alone a man. Jeff called Danielle all mad because I guess her friend had moved in late the night before, and was loud. But they had thought the house was empty, so who cares. And I guess they talked.

When Danielle found out Jeff was living there too, she moved out the next day. She had paid like $850 and lived there for two days. Jeff at first said he wouldn't give her money back. Then he said he would. Then he said he wouldn't again.

Also, when the girl who is helping Danielle with the legal stuff looked Jeff up, I guess he's been arrested four times. For like domestic violence or disturbing the peace or something, and possession of illegal substances. (!)

So I finished talking to Danielle and let Carlos know about that.

AND THEN! Today Carlos texted me saying he has Jeff's personal number, and maybe we can use that to somehow find him? (Not sure how, but cool.)

He said he has it because Jeff was texting Courtney a couple nights ago!!! He was sending scary, weird stuff. Courtney replied because she didn't know who it was, and after a bit she called her dad to check the number. That was when she realized it was him.

I asked what Jeff had texted to Courtney. (Like, why is he even texting her when he kicked her out like 5 or 6 weeks ago?) Carlos said:

"Oh. Freaky stuff. I was there. Things like, 'a woman should learn loyalty' and 'this is the guy with the gold foot'. I don't know, he's scary."

This is the guy with the gold foot? What does that even mean?

Anyway. I will, of course, continue to update this story as more happens.

Moving again. Part 7. New House.

When we last left my moving story, I had moved out of the house that was in an excellent location but had a really weird landlord.

I was supposed to have a man call on the 15th to get my deposit back.

I was back in Draper with Jessica's in-laws again.

WELL, I kept not finding anything close to school, and I kept not finding anything available before October, until finally! I got a call about the house I had checked out right before I saw the one that I moved into. And I could move in!

So I had my phone line transferred again. I had the Internet set up. And I moved again!

This time, my house is really excellent. It was remodeled during I think World War II, if I remember correctly. They took a house and turned it into four totally separate apartments for officers, who were stationed at Ft. Douglas (?), which is up the street.

My Very Favorite Thing about this apartment is, since it was remodeled during the war, there wasn't exactly iron to go around. It was being used to make ammo and other war related goodies. And see, usually, bathtubs are porcelain-coated iron. So my bathtub is tiled instead. It's a box which has tile on the bottom and tile on the sides. It really is amazing.

Also, I'm pretty sure my house has not actually been cleaned since then either. It's kind of disgusting. Everything is caked in gross. Everything needs cleaning. Everything needs scrubbing. I started by cleaning the front door and my shower and antique bathtub. I've cleaned the kitchen cupboards, and part of my fridge and part of my stove. I'm looking forward to using my fall break to clean. I really, honestly, cannot understand how the girl before me lived like this. I really don't get it.

Anyway, it's mine now, and I love it. (I've been here for a few weeks.)

Another thing I would love is, my deposit back, from the stupid house with stupid Jeff. Well, Jessica's father-in-law has been calling Jeff since the middle of September, and he of course does not answer his phone.

On Thursday I was passing by, because I was headed up to campus for the farmer's market, and it looked kind of like Jeff didn't live there anymore. No way. There was carpet that had obviously been removed from the house, and a curious note on the front door that referred to another note which I expected to find on the back door, but nothing was there. I left.

And then this weekend, my little sister Tracy and her husband were in town. And on a double date with Tracy and her husband and his friend, somehow I mentioned something about this ridiculous ordeal, and Tracy didn't know what I was talking about. WHAT. Do you read my blog? She said she does sometimes, but she feels kind of like maybe she's reading private stuff, like it's my journal. I assured her that I really don't post anything private. And then everyone wanted to hear the story.

So I told them.

I told them about my desperate search for housing, and about finding the cute little house that was in such a perfect location. I told them about how Jeff was a little weird and turned out to be insane. I told them about moving in and about moving out, and about my roommates that I knew for just a couple days and became good friends with. I told them about the police and about the 15th of September and they were amazed. My date finally went home at almost 2 am, because the story was so long. That's a little late.

And then, when Tracy and Freddy brought me back up to Salt Lake yesterday, Tracy wanted to see the house from the story. So we went past...