Happy New Year

I hope everyone has a safe, healthy, fun new year's celebration tonight! Bring on 2011!

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Happy New Years!!!!

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See you next year with some bloggy posts of Christmas and more fun!

There's a man in my ceiling...

So for about 2.5 months, my shower was basically being the devil. Every time I set the water at a reasonable temperature... it would scream at me.

Yes, I mean SCREAM. If I had to type it out... it would be like this.

Sqaaaaa-WEEEEEEEEEE- EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE- AHHHHHHHHH - EEEEEEEEEE

For the ENTIRETY of the time I had it set at the temperature that wouldn't freeze my leg hair or scorch off a layer of skin, it would sound like this. Needless to say, it was starting to drive me NUTS.

I decided I finally had enough (why I got thru 2.5 months, I have no idea...) and I put in a work order. Since I live in the halls, I can put in requests for maintenance things and the building mechanic will come and fix them for me - for free! I put the request in with the hopes that he could fix it. I am busy on Thursdays, so I never saw him (his name is Steve). Usually when he does maintenance in my apartment, he'll stop by my office and give me updates. Well, that wasn't the case sadly this time.

After a long day, I finally got home around 5pm. I went into my bathroom to, well... you know. And I noticed it smelled funny. Huh? I moved the door and saw what the source was...

Ahhh! That would be because my shower is in pieces and someone left their tools behind!

I kid you not... I stared at this for a good minute or two in awe. Usually Steve NEVER leaves a project undone, and certainly without telling me first. I sighed but figured I could get through one night until he could come back to fix it.

I changed into some comfy clothes and collapsed on the couch. Yay, I could finally just SIT down! Not even 5 minutes later, a got a knock on the door. Huh? No one knocks on my door... and if they do, it's usually in the middle of the night cuz they are drunk...

I checked the peep hole. Hmm, looks like a scruff man with tools. Interesting. I opened the door to be greeted by Jeff, the plumber as he introduced himself. He walked right over to my bathroom and inspected it. He apologized for leaving the job half undone... but it turns out my shower is so old he didn't have pieces with him to fix it! Lol, of course...

I maintained my position on the couch while he worked from about 5:30pm until 9:30pm. Yes... me and Jeff the Plumber hung out for FOUR HOURS. He was determined to fix the problem! At once point he went into my ceiling...

Yes, I am aware of how creepy this is!

He went into various parts of my ceiling, since almost all of it is drop down. My kitchen... my bedroom... my living room... he couldn't find the switches to turn off the water. He ended up leaving to find a taller ladder. I knew exactly where the water shut off was... I looked once! So while he was gone, I went into the backroom, turned the light on and moved everything out of the way... I thought maybe he would get the hint.

Haha, luckily he did... but he also brought another man with him. This guy was about 6 foot 5 inches. And DAMN was he tall. This was the guy that went into the ceiling the second time around. Haha, I could hear him crawling around and it was call I could do to pray that he didn't fall through. He was a big guy!

Well, by the end of this, they ended up fixing my shower. I got brand new pieces and it works like a dream. The pressure is fixed, the temperature is perfect, and it doesn't scream. Lol, I always tell people how "special" my apartment is... and this sure does put the icing on the cake! I wonder what else I will come across this year.....

Oh yeah, I'm a supervisior

Part of my job that I really wasn't sure how well I'd do is being a supervisor. Let's face it - it makes me cry when people are mad at me. And this job basically makes people hate me all day long. Needless to say, I've gotten a little thicker skin since I've been on the job!

Yes, I discipline my employees when they do things wrong. I also call them into my office to lay down the business when they disappoint me. And yes, I also have sent a few of my very own scathing emails. I currently have 10 on probation.

Come on! I've got 50 of these people to look after 7 days of the week, 18 hours a day. There are 31 of them working the front desks, 4 of them in the mail room, 14 in the fitness center, and 1 as my office assistant. I can only be their friend for so long....

Yes, there are about 5 of them that are older than me. Awkward, yes. Especially when I hold 1:1 meetings and one of them tells me about her kids. *gulp* Excuse me while I go back and watch reruns of the Nanny tonight like an adult. haha.

Regardless, something I do try my hardest to do is to understand them and give them the benefit of the doubt. I'm proud to say that I have not needed to fire anyone. Development is a HUGE thing for me... and while some days I want to wring necks for not signing out packages or verifying key deliveries... I'd get fired for that. hahaha, jk jk jk.

But really, I spend EACH day having a conversation with whomever is working. How are classes going? How's your day? Busy week? Many of them have opened up to me and I learn ALLLLL sorts of things. (Oh, you and your bf are fighting because he leaves the bathroom door open, huh? Interesting...) Deep down, even though they drive me nuts, I know that while I teach them, they are teaching me, too. And I do appreciate how hard they work. So for the holidays this year, I decided to do something for them.

While I was shopping, I decided on picking up little bags and filling them! In theory, this seemed adorable! I bought a bag of EACH kind of Hershey's kisses, a bag of variety chocolates, sparkly ornaments, and candy canes. Before long, I realized that 50 bags was a tid bit insane! Luckily, with all of the goods, they weren't too empty! I stapled them shut to avoid snoops going in and stealing chocolate from other people. It made me REALLY happy to deliver them on the first day of finals week. I sent an email out for everyone to grab a bag.

It didn't take long for me to get "thank you" texts, emails, and hugs that day. It was amazing! It made me feel even better. They said things like, "we've never gotten anything like this before" or "you did this for US?" I hope they know while sometimes I have to be the bad guy, I do appreciate them!

Also... the plastic bag next to the box of bags has candy canes for each of the 38 RAs in south. I attached a little tag that said, "Thanks for a great semester. I "cane" done it without you!" Bahaha, I crack myself up. But really, many of them thanked me for the thought! I've learned a ton from them, too.

So, I was feeling pretty good for making people smile, but then something caught MY attention on Thursday of finals...

I was working late in my office when I received a call from the desk... they needed me to come out for something. Grrr... I am technically off for the day! I went out there and 3 of them were holding this plant!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I almost cried! They did some sneaky work and figured out what plants I like and surprised me with it! How perfect.. an orange plant!!! I was seriously speechless... but then they also gave me this...

An adorable card!!! It's funny, I saw one of the desk managers making it that day, but didn't think anything of it... she is always doing something crafty!


And how CUTE is the inside? They signed their names and added little messages. I was floored.

I guess deep down, they don't all despise my being! :P I know I'm not well liked overall because of the policies I force them to follow, but it's good to know there are a good bunch who appreciate ME and think I'm a cool boss. :) I hung the card up in my office to remind me that even though I push them, bug them, and sometimes discipline them.... there are that bunch that know why I do it. :) What a great holiday surprise!!! :D

Christmas in my apartment

Hmm. Sorta seems like my blog has been a lot of posts consisting of what my apartment looks like for the holidays. That's sort of sad. But you know what, this post is going to be the same way. Why? Well, I'm at a loss for things to talk about... and I really LOVE my decorations, so I want to share them!

Stephanie and Aunt Kathy sent me this orange Christmas tree right before Thanksgiving. I LOVE it!! I dug around in my mom's ornaments to find some that wouldn't overwhelm it haha.

Throughout the years, I have acquired many deocrations that other people just don't want. Haha.. luckily the two heritage Santas are some of my favorite!

I decorated my 3.5 foot tree again this year, and it was pretty sweet that I didn't have to worry about either Shannon or me tripping over it! By the middle of the week, I had presents to put under it. :)

When we were in Ohio for Thanksgiving, my grandma wanted to try to throw this out... so I took it. :D I love it!

If you're keeping track, this is the third Christmas tree in my apartment. Haha... I just LOVE Christmas!

Can't forget my holiday pig! He's Santa now!

It's crazy to look at these pictures and think that just last year, I was cramming most of this stuff in my residence hall room! While I was decorating, I was a little sad... there was no Shannon around to ignore my awful carol singing and laughing at my "reject" ornaments. Talk about change! I loved our traditions as just the two of us in college. Somehow for 4 years, she put up with my INSANE decorating of the room, over usage of lights, and constant Christmas songs playing on the iPod. While I LOVED my apartment this year, there was a part of me that really wished I wasn't alone in it - and that Shannon could be there trying to ignore it! It was definitely good times and I miss them! But I look forward to creating more traditions as I go where life takes me.

Last year, small residence hall room. This year, 2 bedroom apartment (still in a res hall lol). Next year? Lord only knows....

Merry Christmas! I'm excited to share how the rest of our holidays go!

Thanksgiving in Ohio

Incase you didn't know, my mom's parents live in Ohio. When Doug and I were younger, we used to go to visit pretty often. But as we have gotten older and have gone to college, it's been harder and harder to travel out there. Luckily, we were able to get it together and go during Doug and my Thanksgiving breaks!!! We went for the first half of the week, came home, and celebrated the second half of the week with my dad's side. Talk about a sweet deal!

It was nice to hang out with my grandparents, catch up, and eat veryyyy tasty food. :) One of the most fun things we did was right at the end of the weekend. Grandma wanted to document some of the beautiful heirlooms that she has in her house. It's funny, Doug and I have definitely taken them for granted - they have always been on those shelves for our hour whole life! But this week, we got to actually learn where they came from!

The first item my grandma wanted documented was this beautiful pocket watch. Of course Doug was instantly attracted to it, he has a thing for them. It's my great-great grandfathers! (Sorry! I dont know why it uploaded sideways!)

Another one of my favorite items was this coffee pot and cup set. It has always sat on my grandma's kitchen shelf and I have admired the colors and beauty of it. It was my great-great grandmother's set!

This hot chocolate pot and sugar and creamer set were sitting on a kitchen shelf for years too! I love how beautiful they are! Both were my great grandmother's.

Doug found these in a box that both my grandparents forgot about. They are German lighters my grandpa brought home from the war! He LOVES them and has basically a new addiction haha.

Obviously I am very partial to the vases and such!! But I loved how beautiful this one is too! My grandparents bought it in Texas.

Doug and I sleep in the basement when we visit... and I guess for YEARS he has been eyeing these pipes my grandpa kept by our beds. He brought them up and learned that my grandpa bought them during the war and sent them to his father.

Finally, a picture of us hanging out in the living room, going through more lighters my grandpa collected over the years. It was a really fun night of learning about family, hearing about the war, and treasuring the items we have taken for granted for 22 years!

My Awesome Weekend & Thanksgiving In My Apartment

Well, as you recall, I had a super awesome weekend planned - Shannon and her mom visiting on one day, and then my mom the next day. It was gonna be awesome... and it was! I am a little bummed because I didn't take ONE picture the whole time!

Shannon and her mom came by and it was so fun. We stayed up, chatted, watched the Nanny, and played Yahtzee. Sounds like a bunch of old lady business, honestly, but it was a blast. Even though I was on-call for the night and got about 1,000 calls, Shannon and her mom were super patient. We even had our favorite take out - D.P. Dough. :) Shannon and I stayed up talking until almost 2am... just like the good times!

The next day, Saturday, they left and about an hour later my mom arrived. I was thrilled! We sat and chatted, I answered about another 1,000 calls about how Haynie didn't have hot water, and we started working on our Christmas cards. Thank goodness for my mom because she is good at designing... I'm typically just there for opinions, lol. We started mass producing and got a good portion done! I am so excited about how they look! When my on-call was over, we went to dinner at a Chinese place I like. It was so fun - no one eats Chinese with my mom!!! She spent the night and I promptly PASSED OUT when my head hit the pillow. With staying up late with Shannon and being on-call, it was rough.

The next morning we hung out some more, worked on the cards, got lunch, and my mom was off. As she was pulling away, I burst into tears. I didn't see it coming!! But I sobbed and sobbed for the rest of the day. I was feeling incredibly lonely and I just wanted to go home and be with my family! It was a verryyyy long week until Thanksgiving Break....

But my oh-so classy decorations helped me get through it! :)! Haha, they make me so happy and I have fun doing it. :) So for your viewing pleasure... more of my apartment!

My mom sent this adorable little group and I sent them up on my kitchen table

I also decked out my walls with these guys all over my living room!

Of course my piggie got his new outfit. Shannon's mom thought he was dressed as a German person. Haha it cracked me up - he's supposed to be a pilgrim!

And finally, my FAVORITE decoration, my super cute turkey on an end table. I just love him!!!

Things I'm Currently Obsessed With...

I know my last post was just about a month ago... and I really don't have too much to say about that besides I'm sorry. :\ Just about the time that my fun weekend came... so did a lot of other things.

That's a post for another time.

Anywho, here are a few things I'm obsessed with...

Drink: Now that the weather has changed and I've been sicker than a dog, my absolute obsession is the Spiced Carmel Apple Cider drink from Starbucks. I was craving it a few weeks ago as it got chillier, and if I ever have an extra few minutes during lunch or I'm in the area, I'm all over it. Yum!

Thing: Puffs Plus Lotion. Somehow, in my office I snagged a box of Puffs with lotion. And in less than 1 week, I finished the entire thing. I was very sad as my cold has been very nasty. Lucky for me, my mommy sent me another box of them in a package today. I can't get enough of the soothing lotion!!!

Holiday: Christmas. Seriously... I LOVE Christmas! And I picked lights as the picture because honestly, you should see my apartment. It's loaded with them! I love how they are cheery and light up the place and are jolly.

Hopefully now that I can breathe a little better and I feel like I've got a hold on stuff, I will get more posting in. I am a bad blogger!! How have you been, bloggy world?

Exciting Weekend!

A few weeks ago I posted the following on my facebook status:

"I am getting jealous of all my coworkers who have guests and visitors. Hey you! Come visit ME!"

And I am being blessed with just that!!! Shannon and her mom are coming down on Friday for the night to hang out and then head to Eastern. THEN, after they leave on Saturday, my mommy is coming down for the night til Sunday!!

I AM SO EXCITED I CANT SLEEP!!!!

3 people I miss more than crazy are my mom, dad, and Shannon. And I get to see 2 of them this weekend. :D

PS. Stephanie, you are in 4th... hint hint ;-)

Anywho... I am even on call from 5pm Friday to 5pm on Saturday, but my guests say they are cool with that. And so am I if that means I get to see them for a bit!

YAY!!!! I should get back to bed... I woke up because I was so excited and vacuumed my apartment. Haha, bet my neighbors appreciated that. See you later, I'll let you know how the weekend goes!!!!

Happy Halloween!

One thing about me that has not changed since I was 5, and probably wont change until I'm 95, is I LOVE to decorate. I'm not sure what started it, but I think many of my childhood memories included our house being decorated for the holiday season. (So, let's go ahead and give my mom credit for my decorating obsession! Haha)

Once I moved down school, my mom would send us a bunch of cute decorations for the holidays: Halloween, Thanksgiving, Easter, Mardi Gras, Chinese New Year... it was something I looked forward to each month! Once Christmas rolled around, she probably thought there was no point in sending us stuff because we were only in the halls for a week or so, but I took care of that one... I snagged a bunch myself and took it back with me. ;-)

Nonetheless, something that I love about October is the beginning of the holiday season. Oh, and I just LOVE Halloween. When I was in high school, my parent's house would be totally DECKED out in orange and silly decorations. With my own apartment right now, I tried to make it tacky to remind me of home. :)

I decided I wanted everything to be in my living room, so every picture takes place there. I'm not sure these pictures are very good, but rest assured, I have LOVED every minute of my tacky Halloween decorated apartment!

Above my kitchen table, I have pictures of areas I want to travel to... and some cute little Halloween signs

Above those signs, I have a light up strand of pumpkin lights. :) I love them!!!

In my kitchen, I just loaded up my fridge with some goofy little stuff! Hehe

Here's a close up of one of the ghosts I have flying around. You'll probably notice them in the pictures :)

Against the wall splitting the kitchen and living room, I added some more tacky decorations. Haha, I'm a fan of the witch!

Here's the cat head in the dark! I love my light up decorations!

On the wall with the windows (again, with the light ups!)

My light-up skull heads and holiday piggie!

A fake gourd with hilarious body parts. This is probably one of my most favorite decorations!

I have a bunch more pictures, but they didn't come out so great with the dark/light up factor. So Mom- don't worry, I'll have more pictures to show you at Thanksgiving! :)

I hope your Halloween has been spooky and fun, too!!!

My Mom's 30th Birthday!

Psych!!!

It was actually her 31st birthday.

Bahaha. Anyway.

On the 8th, I traveled back north to spend the weekend with my mom for her birthday. I hadn't been back up there since Labor Day, and it was safe to say I was missing everyone a lot. I was SO excited, I stayed up til 1am cleaning my apartment, packing, and preparing for the drive home. I just couldn't wait!

Of course Friday dragged onnnnn and onnnn but finally 4pm hit and Megan and I hit the road. Once I finally got up to my parent's house, they had a nice home cooked meal waiting for me! How exciting and spoiled I felt. :)

Saturday started off verryyy early, which at first I was worried about, but then I realized it was totally worth it. We met up with Aunt Kathy and Stephanie for a mommy-daughter stamp class. It was... interesting!

This is us at the class during a brief break!

It was a little nuts! The teacher for the class was a little intense and rushed. At first we were all a little irritated and annoyed by it, but it didn't take long to just be amused by it. It was hilarious as Stephanie and I started to laugh and repeat some of the snippy comments the instructor had. Ok, I admit, it wasn't incredibly mature, but hey! We had to do something to make it a little more enjoyable! In the end, we walked away with a bunch of cute Christmas tags and a fun story!

We then went to lunch and had some delicious Noodles and Co. and then went over to Aunt Kathy's brother's house to check out some trees he had some questions about. It was a little funny, they asked me to check it out and said they'd understand if I didn't want to. Hehe, when do I not want to look at trees? :P

This is what we found in their tree!! Some nasty mushroom fungus! Sadly the diagnosis is to remove the tree before it removes itself from high winds or severe weather. :(

After that little side trip, we were all a little tired and ready to head home. During the drive, my dad and I were scheming via text message....

Well, as we arrived back at my house, we all went inside and surprised my mom with a few gifts from Aunt Kathy and her family. They had gotten her some fun things to help organize her craft room... after I cleaned it over the summer, we are hoping she can use it more for some stress relief! But that wasn't all! As we went upstairs to look at her craft room, there was another surprise for Mom.... Uncle Ed and my dad had installed lifts for the washer and dryer!!!

Ok, I know when you read that, it seems sort of random... and it also sounds like we are encouraging mom to do laundry! But really, we had been talking about them for a LONG time... so for a few weeks, my dad, Aunt Kathy, Uncle Ed, and I were emailing, calling, and texting each other to find a way to surprise my mom with it. It was fun to see her reaction and I hope they help!!!

After our dear friends left, the three of us hung out and my mom called her mom. I accidently fell asleep on the couch watching TV, because let's face it... I'm not a morning person and we were up early and were busy! I was woken up in time for dinner.

We met my dad's parents at an AMAZINGLY yummy restaurant, Ted's, and had a great dinner. To top it off, EVERYONE enjoyed it... even my some times picky Grandpa enjoyed it!

I HIGHLY recommend this place! Very yummy!

Once we got home, Dad and I pulled out a few last gifts for my mom. She isn't a fan of pictures, so I just took a picture of the pile! haha.

This was probably one of the best weekends I've had for awhile!! It was something I exactly needed and I hope my mom had a happy birthday!!! :)

Welcome to My Blog

My goodness. Finding time (and interesting things to blog about) has been nuts lately!! This post is a little overdue, since I promised pictures like a month ago!

Things at work sure have been going... really fast. The students just went through midterms. Which means.... the semester is half over! WHAT? I barely feel like I am in a routine with everything, but I guess I am! My office sure has evolved since my first few weeks here....

July


October

Whew! Check out that change. I look at this picture and laugh because of how busy and disorganized it is.... but this is how I work the best! My room is like that in my apartment. And really, it is quite organized!!!

Here are a few other views of my busy body office:

This is the area next to my desk. Right now its a holding place for supplies and materials to be delivered to my service areas

Next to that holding area for supplies is my "point board." And no, it's not done yet (I KNOW, it's October), but it will eventually have who has how many points. BTW, points are bad.

Across from my desk is my jam packed file cabinet and extra crap that I took out of the front desks/fitness center. I'm holding onto it just incase I find a need for it later.

Shot from the file cabinet to my desk! :)

My door with a bunch of door decs from RAs. :)

Even though sometimes being in my office is overwhelming, it is definitely my place. Just a little bit into my life here at ISU! :)

Apple Pickin'

Last weekend, some friends wanted to go to an apple orchard near town. I was excited because I love apple picking and it was a gorgeous day! We set off in 2 cars to travel to Tanner's for a fun day away from campus.

Me with a bunch of trees? Yay!

As soon as we walked over to the paths to the orchard, we saw this adorable school bus. Because we are all basically children, we posed with it and threw in some silly faces! :)

After hanging out, we got onto the covered wagon and drove out to the apple tree rows. Here are my good friends Maria and Adam! AKA goofballs :)

I love this pic for a few reasons... the cute little apple trees and the wind turbine in the background. How cute! Thanks for the pic Nicole!

It's a tradition for the group to take a pic eating an apple. So I (very unattractively) took a bite out of one. It was delicious!! I had like 5 different apples on this day... :P

The girls at the orchard! It was a beautiful day!

I was bonding with this llama at the petting zoo. We are mocking each other! Hahah

There were a ton of these cute(ish) scare crows. I tried hitting on Mickey, but he wasn't interested :(

Us posing with the cute Wizard of Oz characters!

It was a really fun day to get off campus and enjoy being outside! I can't wait to go back and look for some pumpkins! :)