"Rules for the New Couch"

Man....I am on fire this week with my blogging!

Woo-hoo!!!

Anyways...now that i got that out of my system. I have a slight irritation that has been building for weeks.

My sweet loving grandparents. I know i shouldn't repeatedly bitch and moan about how weird they are getting in their old age. I really love them. I swear. It's just that the older i get, the older they get and the more I realize my values and beliefs, their ways of doing things just completely DON'T MAKE SENSE!

This one has been brewing for awhile....

My grandparents recently purchased this:

It's the new sofa called "Haley" by La-Z-Boy. We are currently awaiting it since they special ordered it in this really odd teal-ish/forest green color. The color is besides the point...its their sofa, so I really don't care how it looks.
However, since my grandparents already have their La-Z-boy recliners, they will not be the ones occupying the sofa with their bums. Their bums already have homes. Lar's and Mine however, do not. So the only seating available in the house for us will be on this new couch and it's friend (the matching ottoman). Cool that we get the fun, new stuff, right?
WRONG!
Nope....ever since the stupid thing was ordered, at every opportunity she gets, my Grammy seems to be telling what things Lar and I will not be allowed to do on the new couch. Now before you start thinking dirty things, get it out of your head! She hasn't even gone there, and neither will we....no worries. Now, I understand it's their first piece of new furniture in probably 15-20 years, but that doesn't mean they should be treating me like an irresponsible 10 year old child. Or even like I have the intention of "ruining" their precious couch.
My mom has always raised me that people are more important than things. So below is a list, things that Grammy has verbally been giving me since we ordered the damn thing that Lar and I are not allowed to do (along with my side notes)....

1. No eating or drinking on the new couch and ottoman
Now this would be fine if the kitchen table wasn't constantly littered with cats. Also...everyone has eaten in the living room for years since my grandparents really don't have the space like they used to, to accommodate meals in the kitchen(if we were brave enough with all those damn cats....ew) or even in the dining room.(my Grampy has since put a huge organ that he plays daily in the dining room and there isn't space now. And lastly, we don't spill like they do. We are a lot cleaner and more coordinated....so what's the big hairy deal?

2. No wrestling or rough housing on the new couch
What, are we 5? Besides the small occasional ticklefest which doesn't result in mass destruction of anything, why would we thrash about and jump like monkeys? For the last time, we aren't going to break the couch!!!! Honestly we really don't even feel like sitting on the damn thing now!

3.Proper sitting on the couch only! There will be no relaxing, laying down and putting our feet up on anything.
And yes, before you ask, she means even with no shoes (we don't even do that with the crappy old couches) And really...what the crap are couches for? Sitting with our knees bent at a 90 degree angle with our back straight up and down? Apparently.

4. There will be no nap taking on the new furniture!
No, I'm not joking. I was actually told that. Lar and I have enjoyed some naps on the old couch. In fact, I used to come over for lunch a lot when I was in college, when I wasn't living with them. I'd eat and usually end up taking a 30 min siesta. It was always a nice jump start to the rest of my day. Lar has enjoyed coming home from work, taking his shoes off, kicking back and "resting his eyes" after a long day at school and work. Guess those days are gone.

5. The couch will not be used as a temporary storage facility for shoes.
so yes, we are guilty of kicking off our shoes when we get in the living room and kicking back. But seriously? There isn't a shoe rack or mat on the inside of the door to place our shoes. Old people trip a lot cuz they don't have the mobility to raise their feet high enough to get around things or move side to side around them. Plus as i mentioned in another previous blog just a couple days ago, Grampy rides a scooter around. Lar had his shoe eaten by it once when Grampy ran it over. It snapped his lace in half. So we always make sure our shoes are out of the way. What better place out of the way than either underneath (if they fit) or beside the couch between it and the wall? I always thought i was being helpful by keeping them out of the way. Apparently "helpful" now will require that I take my shoes off up in my room and then come sit down for comfort. If I should need my shoes again soon, too bad. I will have to go up to my room to put them on again. I guess part of that is me being lazy. I think it's also a bit ridiculous to actually not allow me to store my shoes downstairs even temporarily. And to actually have the nerve to say that to us! AGH!

I'm sure there are more "rules" we have been given than those above but I'm really wound up thinking about all of this and can't seem to think of anymore. I think more than anything it's the constant side notes Grammy says to me on "I hope you don't think you're going to do that on the NEW couch."
Yes, Grammy. I have every intention of spilling grape juice and spaghetti sauce and all other things that leave bad stains. I have no plan on trying to be careful of the new couch. I plan on ruining the whole brand new set the first week.
Come on. Who plans on that? And furthermore, I respect their stuff, I will treat it as my own. Me saying that should be enough to reassure her. Its not. And it would be different if they sat us down with their concerns one time and explained things in a nice manor . BUT every single day she has to say something, snotty, like I have every intention. If they want to sit on it, fine, but they have their chairs we arent supposed to sit in. So what are we supposed to do?
Lar makes jokes that we will just go buy some blow up furniture and not use theirs. I'm sure the stupid cats would find a way to poke holes in that though a lot faster than Lar and I would ever ruin their stupid couch. If anything they should be concerned about the cats ruining their new couch first. One of the cats has torn the end off the old one. And EVIL sammy has his crappy long fur all over the other furniture, making it hard to clean it off and make it look nice. How do they not even care about that with their new furniture and instead don't mind making Lar and I feel unwelcome and risk hurting our feelings?
AM I the the only one who thinks this is completely selfish and illogical?
I WANT A JOB. MY OWN APARTMENT. MY OWN LIFE.

Lost shoes anyone???

I went and worked out this morning. I brought my laptop along so that after I was done I could sit in the parking lot of Lamson Hall at Andrews and use their internet, since I dont have access to it at home (which is why I dont blog as much as I'd like to--and yes I realize how truely budget it is...)

Anyways, as I pulled out of the parking lot to go home and grab some grub I saw this:

Now if you're thinking.."Whaaaaaaaaaaat???? Is that a random glove and a pair of shoes?!?!" You would be correct.

What I don't understand is...
Where is the poor barefoot girl running around in 30 degree weather? (yes, its already THAT freezing here! brrrrrrrrrrr!)

But seriously...

A randomly lost glove...i can understand that...I've had that happen to me before. But....a lost complete pair of shoes? I would never abandon or forsake my shoes in a freezing cold parking lot outside a girls dorm.
Knowing Andrews University, whoever those shoes belong to will be lucky to get them back, if she hasnt realized they are MIA at this point.

Grammy's Crap Day

It's Friday.

Ugh.

Most people say, "YAY!"

I say, "Ugh!"

Why you say? Oh well...as my Bestie used to call Thursday's--"Tammy's Crap day!" I lovingly refer to Friday's now as "Grammy's crap day!"

It's due to the my unfortunate loathing of cleaning.

I guess I don't really mind cleaning most of the time, especially if someone is there to keep me company. Cleaning my grandparents' house is a different story.

Old people are messy. And it's different when it's not your mess your cleaning up. Grampy has a scooter that he rides around outside, then rides it inside when he's done. In doing this, he always finds a way to bring in little bits of nature. Usually just grass, dirt or the occasional leaf. There was the incident where we had a whole herd of raccoons come and take a big berry dump up against the back storm door. Hilarious unless you happen to have to be the one that has to clean it up after Grampy has driven through it several times and left poopy berry tracks all through the house. gross.

Crumbs also seem to be a problem in our house.

As you get older, eye hand coordination just isn't what it seems to be. Eating is always a funny thing in our house. Jokes on the maid: Miss Myrna.

Crap.

I think my very least favorite cleaning thing happens to have to do with cats. They have cats. Stupid cats at that. I like my parents cats...they are sweet, playful and fun. My grandparents cats are reclusive, and well, assholes. Sammy, a loooooooooooooooong haired asshole cat is my arch enemy. He really is the nastiest one of them all. Only problem is, he is my grandparents favorite, and most precious. In their eyes he can do no wrong.

Thankfully he is de-clawed.

Sucker.

He is definitely the main reason i hate cleaning though. Somehow this cat manages to get litter ALLLLLL over the house. And his blasted stupid friggen hair. It is so long! It collects itself into little dust bunnies, but it's so fine it makes it hard to clean up...it likes to just float away when you come at it with a broom, vacuum cleaner, whatever! I have yet to find something that is efficient in cleaning it!

Grrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr.

So this is me, off to Grammy's Crap Day.

Cleaning.

I'm sure it will give me a plethora of blog material.

Especially if I have to deal with this one....

THURSDAY THIRTEEN #3

Thirteen STORES I love to shop in! 1. Nordstrom-- A store that I was VERY spoiled in having within 20 minutes of my house while growing up. I have come to miss it so much....if you have a nordstroms, you better count your blessings because shopping online just isnt the same! 2. Wild Oats-- I love health food stores, and this one has one of the bestest deli selections. I love getting ingredients from their olive/marinated bar. Mmmmm...makes great and healthy pizza toppings or salad accessories (especially since you dont have to add dressing once you have some of them in there!) 3. Urban Outfitters-- They have the funniest and best graphic tees and all other kinds of weird and off the wall accessories. I'm still waiting for the day when i can finally go buy my fisheye camera! 4. Aldo-- I love shoes. Need I say more??? 5. DSW--When I have the patience to actually sort through bajillions of designer shoes, this is true heaven! 6. TJ MAXX-- My bestie and I love hanging out, sorting through all the fun things they have in there. Especially their house and kitchen sections! Its like a treasure hunt...but in a fun way...and something i really dont like to do all on my own. 7. Hobby Lobby-- I absolutely love scrapbooking and crafting...If I could I would so be the next but way hotter Crafter extrodinaire...Move over Martha, Myrna Snicklefickle is taking over! 8. World Market-- I love international stuff...I literally can spend hours in here looking at all the fun foods imported, I love their poster section and of course, all the fun kitchen accessories! 9. Williams Sonoma-- I can never get enough of this store...between all the fun cooking things they have good dips and all kinds of gadgets! 10. Crate and Barrel-- Every trip to Chicago can only be complete if I wander through here picking out my future glasses and silverware along with other fun glasses! I recieved the most Adorable martini glass set that i had eyed for years from a bartender friend of mine for my birthday a couple years ago...its one of my most prized possessions! 11. Dick's Sporting Goods-- I love kayaking and just about anything outdoors-y so shopping here is always fun...and it's also a store that my boyfriend doesnt mind being dragged through or complain when purchases are made! 12. Mango-- One of my favorite store's from Europe....i've seen them slowly coming here to the states...chicagoland area just got two that I know of...I can't wait to go and see! They have the hottest clothes! 13. Zara-- My favorite of all favorite clothing stores! I loved shopping til I dropped, especially during their seasonal sales while I was living overseas! They have them here...but no where close to me. So Sad:( Links to other Thursday Thirteens! 1.Amandastales 2. Tales of a Former Michigander (leave your link in comments, I’ll add you here!)

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Pauly Shore I'm not....

As I added my blog last night, I got a call from my mom. She was calling with some rather irriating news. Just what I needed with the mood I was in last night.
Not.
Apparently I had recieved a letter in the mail from the Federal courts of Michigan stating that I had been pre-selected to be considered for jury duty.
EWWWWWWWWWWWW.
What made it worse was the fact that my mother actually read the whole ding blat letter to me. Can you believe they actually try to pull on your heart strings? "It's an honor and your civic duty to appear in court as a juror, helping set our judicial system apart..." or some crap like that....
EFF that!
It's a waste of my damn time.
I don't care if it is a good civic duty to uphold.
I didn't even vote this year.
Luckily my parent's house isn't my residence.
So my mom stuffed it back in the envelope and wrote, "not at this address, return to sender"
BAHA!
Take that MICHIGAN!
Hopefully they dont track me down in time....

Geriatric Anger Management

I'm Grampy's little girl.
Always have been, since i was a teeny bitty little thing.
That was, however, until this morning. I was ready to renounce my title, pack my bags and move out. (oh yah, for those that don't know, i live with my grandparents, and have quite peacefully for the past 3 years).
I woke up this morning around 8. I don't wake up very quickly. My eyes were barely open, and i hadn't even bothered to put my contacts in yet when i stumbled downstairs and into the kitchen. Normally, I enjoy a large glass of water when I first wake up. I feel it really helps to get me going. It also somewhat replaces my most favorite pastime of drinking a lot of caffeine, mainly coffee, that I have since given up now for about a year. (*tear* --i do so miss it!)
Not this morning.
Hell. I didn't even make it two steps into the kitchen before i got barked at.
This did not make me a happy camper, not in the least.
I mean, come on! I don't drink caffeine anymore. My eyes were barely open. And I didn't even get a "Good-Morning."
Nope. Nothing. Nada. Jack-crap. Rien de tout.
Bugger.
What pray tell was i getting yelled at about?
A stupid effin' window my grampy had special ordered through Lowes with the help of my boyfriend (who is close with my grandparents). Oh yes I guess it would help to know that my boyfriend works at Lowes.
Yes, I know, a window, Stupid.
Apparently the window came in and was not the desired dimensions to what my Grampy thought he had ordered. Lar (my boyfriend) had taken it back to talk to the guy in charge of the special order. This guy, Josh, unfourtunatly had taken some time off and the problem could not be dealt with right away. A few days passed, Lar and I forgot all about it and when Josh returned I had Lar's truck and of course, the window. whoops. So yesterday Lar finally talked to Josh about the window, they measured it and found out there was nothing wrong with the specifications. The windows are made larger to account for installation. Makes sense. To me, to everyone else. Everyone apparently, but my grandfather. Lar had told me this information about the window, i passed along a portion of the message to my Grammy last night. Grampy apparently heard about it this morning from Grammy. Great. Yippie.
So I'm standing there in the kitchen, squinting, because i'm blind as a bat without my contacts and feeling very irritated that this is how my morning has started out.
What does this have to do with me you ask? Well, those were my exact thoughts this morning. In fact, the only real correlation is that it's MY boyfriend who got my grandparents the discount at Lowes. And it was MY boyfriend that was taking care of the communication on what went wrong.
After digesting some of the anger-fueled words my Grampy had to say, decided i had had enough. Just before I could say anything though, my Grampy stated how he was going to Lowes this afternoon and was going to raise holy hell down there. This made me mad. It's Lar's place of employment and how could anyone want to go down representing someone, practically family and "raise holy hell."So I yipped back, nothing mean, but definatly making my point on how this was not my problem and not Lar's and left to go take a shower.
The problem however was now the festering going on inside me.
I was mad. I was irritated. No, I was furious. Who does he think he is? My mom raised me with some serious core values that I always try to abide by:
1. It is better to be kind than right
2. People are more important than "things"
3. Respect your elders
I was trying to respect my Grampy as my elder, but it was proving to be more difficult than normal. Also, I didn't understand how my mother's father, could just be SO RUDE!
AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH
Lar stopped by between his classes and work. His talk with Grampy went fine. As he put it, "Grampy was just a big Teddy Bear to me."
So what, I get blasted in the morning and thats that???
Apparently.
Well....me and the poor Lowes crew.
He did go to Lowes, and he did cause a ruckus with Josh. The problem with the window seems to have been nothing more than a miscommunication and miscomprehension of what the window he was ordering was. Things like this happen.
Me, personally. Sure I'd be irritated at possibly waiting another 3 weeks for a new window, but i wouldn't be mad. I wouldn't raise "holy hell", and I certainly hope I'd act more respectful of other peoples' feelings, no matter who's to blame.
I had tutoring to go to. I also helped a friend out at the university who is conducting a study. So I managed to avoid them for the rest of the day. Not without ruining my whole day though with the dark cloud of all the anger billowing down on top of me and my attitude for the day. It was hard to just get past all of this. I guess a big irritation that follows this is why elderly people, seem to think that because they are old, they can treat people like crap. When I was younger, I never understood why people were so mean to old people. Now im beginning to think it's just the younger people giving crap back to the old people who are dishing it out first! I have a friend in a doctors office that is always having bad days because old people come in and think they can throw their weight around because they are old and frail. They feel they deserve special treatment because they are 85. God bless them for having such a long life...but gees, that is no reason to treat other people like they don't matter, or like they don't have feelings too. Just because they are old doesnt mean they can treat people however they want to. Just as a person any age shouldnt.
This was definatly not a way to start out the day!
So, now as I write this, I'm still irritated. I feel better though. Mostly that today is almost over. Its almost 10pm and I will certainly welcome the end of today.
Hopefully tomorrow will be a good day.
I feel like scrooge.
bugger.

Simone and applesauce!

So I've been meaning to write about what I spent part of last week doing....

I got to babysit my aunt's adorable little miniature dachshund named Simone. She is the greatest and definitely a big reason why i want a little mini dog just like her!

(CAN YOU BELIEVE SHE WEIGHS ONLY 8LBS????!!!!!)

Also...I was reaching out to my inner Martha Stewart and went to Chicago where my friend's mom Carolyn and her Grandma taught me how to make applesauce!!!!!!!!!!!! We cut and cooked 2 bushels and a peck of apples. I used 5 varieties of apples that I bought from various farms around here in the fruit belt of Michigan: Northern spy, empire, melrose, idared and golden delicious. It was most definitely a fun experience, but EXHAUSTING!!!!

So the steps I went through were:

number 1, cutting alllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllll those apples up, which unfortunately i didn't get a picture of! Let me tell you, it was quite a site seeing bowls and bowls of cut up apples all over the kitchen!!!!!

Step number 2 was putting them in 3 pots on the stove, 2 slow cookers set on high, and one gynormous electric skillet all to cook down.

Step number 3 involved taking all the cooked apples and putting them through the sieve attachment on the Kitchen Aid --you can see they already look just about like applesauce in this bowl, except there are still seeds and the skins by this point have the consistancy of construction paper and are just plain nasty to eat (i tried!).

Step number 4 went onto the stove in a pot again, to warm it up to temperature so it could be put in steralized canning jars.

Step number 5 is the cans going into the canner (the biggest pot on the stove), depending on the size--for 15-20mins

Step number 6 is in place of step 4 if I am putting them in freezer containers. which is just letting the applesauce cool down enough to put in those containers, mostly to prevent melting the containers and also to prevent freezerburn later.

The finished product after about 10 hours in the kitchen non-stop was 12 pints and 11 quarts canned and 10 pints and 10 quarts frozen!!!

I AM sooooooooooooooo Martha!!!

Next year I plan to make my own tomato sauce!!! yippie!!!!!!!!!!!

Amazing Race Season Premier!

So one of my favoritist shows ever has come back again for their 13th season!!! I absolutely love this show and am jealous of everyone who has been on this show! This week they went to Ireland...somewhere unfourtunatly ive never been able to go in my travels.
So for this weeks episode...there are the typical odd couples and some outrageous ones, along with the typical bitchy whiny couple that you wonder how they ended up dating anyways (Nate and Jennifer) She got on my nerves so bad, crying cuz she just couldnt run anymore. And then she felt that yelling at the donkey they had to pull wood with would be effect. Apparently she missed out on how animals react according to your emotion level. What a retard. There are also some blonde beauties determined to use their womanly assets and whatever else it takes to win the million dollars...I just hope they have brains and the ability to drive a manual car to go along with that....otherwise they might not get that far.
If you've never seen the show, check it out...it truely is amazing seeing the places they get to go and the funny antics...
check it out next sunday at 8pm!