Sunset and Camera Features

Sunset
Originally uploaded by Tenth Muse

I was taking some pictures of the sunset and thought I'd play around with some of my camera features. I also thought I'd try out Flickr's "Blog This" feature...

Reunion

Last night and this morning I said good-bye to the family that was here for our family reunion. Although we were really missing some members of the family who couldn't come, we still had a lot of fun. The best part was just getting together and talking about the "good old days" and all of the memories that we've made over the year. It was a great time.

I'll probably post more about the whole reunion later, but here is a short video clip. Yesterday was my Pa's 76th birthday, and we got the whole group together for a dinner at P. F. Chang's in Flatirons Mall. During the summer they have concerts every Thursday, and last night they had a really great band called Chase 'n the Dream. My Ma and sister got out on the floor and did a little dancing.

Family Reunion

I haven't posted that much recently because I have most of the family and extended family here in Colorado for a family reunion. Who knew there was so many of us?! Things are great and we're having a fun time! And I'll be taking the week off of work, so this will be my first time off since Christmas. Yay for me!

More to come later...

The Check Is in the Mail...

It has recently occurred to me that I haven't received my "economic stimulus" rebate check from the government. It was supposed to be sent in the mail this month, and I'm still waiting for it. Maybe the IRS is sending it via pony express because the cost of gas is too high to put gasoline in the mail trucks because this sorry excuse for a government ran our economy into the sewer... But I'm not bitter. And, sorry, George W., I'm not going to stimulate the economy you ruined by buying a new car or TV. I'm going to try to pay off some bills and maybe buy some overpriced food, because a girl has to eat...

Just thought I would write about something other than moving...

Current mood: bitter and annoyed
Current music: iTunes on shuffle - Dave Matthews "Crash Into Me"

Moving (cont.)...

With the exception of all of my dictionaries and grammar books, all of my other books are moved into my new apartment. And I'm so tired! However, I'm pretty impressed and proud of myself for moving it all by myself without any help from anyone.

Now I have to figure out what is next...

Moving (cont.)

I had grand plans to wake up early so that I could get a lot done with my move. But then I decided to sleep in this morning. However, I was still able to move a reasonable amount of stuff today. I've only made a few trips to my new place, but most of my books are moved in. I have only about 100 more to go. Yay! I think those can wait for tomorrow. I'm a little tired and I'm hungry. More later...

Moving

Since we have Summer Hours today, I have a chance to write a quick post. Actually, I'll probably be writing a lot of little posts over the next few days, because I've been slacking on my blogging this week.

So far the move is going okay. As I mentioned before, I got the keys to my new place last weekend, and I've been moving a little bit each day. For the most part, I'm moving things that I'm not going to be using anytime soon--winter clothes, extra blankets, books. Damn, I have a lot of books. And books are such a pain to move, too. Since they get heavy really quickly, I've been putting them in small boxes so I don't break my back carrying them. They are light enough, but that also means that I have to make more trips up and down the stairs to get them from my car. It definitely gives my legs a workout! And if my legs and butt don't look good when this is all finished, then I'm going to be really angry! Although, considering I have stick legs, I'm probably going to be disappointed anyway...

So, I've made a little dent in the things that I have to move. Moving the books is really going to take the longest time, because I have so many. I've already moved a respectable amount of books from my "library" but I still have about 200 or 300 more to go. Then it also occurred to me a few nights ago that eventually I'll need to move the contents of my liquor cabinet. That alone could take a week or two!

I still have a lot to do and this will probably be a really busy weekend, but all I can do is keep chipping away at this in stages. Eventually it will all get done!

Current mood: busy
Current music: iTunes shuffle - The Killers "Mr. Brightside"
Current drink: Barq's Root Beer

Baking Adventures

I like to think of myself as a pretty decent cook, but I've never been much of a baker. I can't say that I'm a bad baker, because I've never really baked anything before. I mostly don't bake because the "easy-bake oven" in my current apartment sometimes scares me. The few times that I have baked meals--mac and cheese, other pasta dishes, pizza, a potato that always gives me problems--I've had mixed results of things being either slightly overcooked or slightly undercooked. So baking real baked goods scared me a little because it's supposed to be so precise. Anyway, this week is my week (with a partner) to bring in something for our office food group. I decided to test out something new, so I had a little baking adventure today. (I always like to test new recipes on myself first, before bringing it into the office. If it is a disaster, then I can come up with a plan B. And if I don't kill myself, then I know it's safe for everyone else...)

I found a recipe on the Betty Crocker Web site for Baklava Bars that sounded really good. Traditional baklava is really difficult to make, and it is a long, tedious process. But the recipe I found is much easier, even for me! It makes use of some handy shortcuts like sugar cookie mix and crushed phyllo shells. I just used regular phyllo dough and tore it and scattered it over the baklava. Next time I'll probably use more nuts, but, other than that, it turned out great!

This is really loaded with butter and sugar and honey, so it's not exactly healthy. But what do I care? I'm not watching my weight!!

Stray Cow

After signing all of the paperwork on my new apartment, I came back to my current apartment for a quick lunch and the previous, quick blog post. I then went back to my new apartment because I wanted to do some cleaning. Everything in the apartment is fresh and clean, but it's always nice to give an extra scrub to the bathroom and kitchen, because then I know that I'm cleaning it my way. And, naturally, it will be perfect. On my way back from my new place to my current place, I was driving along the "country" road. Really, I'm not living in the middle of nowhere. It's just a road where there is a lot of open space and where people have a lot of land. It was probably old farming land at one point, but some people still have horses and cows and such. Earlier in the afternoon, when I was on my way to the new place, there was a cow standing by the fence near the road. It is pretty much just a wire-type of fence, and the cow was scratching her chin along the wires. A few hours later, when I was leaving and driving back to my current place, the cow was now on the other side of the fence and standing on the shoulder eating the grass along the side of the road. Fortunately the cow wasn't walking in the road, but what in the world are you supposed to do when a cow gets out of her pen??

I wonder how often this happens? I wonder if it will ever happen when I'm trying to commute to work? Yeah, sorry I'm late, boss, but there was a cow in the road and I couldn't get around her...

Current mood: relaxed...and excited
Current music: iTunes on shuffle - Beth Waters "Sweaters"
Current drink: Barq's Root Beer

More on My New Apartment

Today I went to my new apartment complex to sign all of the paperwork and to pick up the keys for my new place. So everything is all settled.

The place looks great. There is brand new carpeting and a fresh coat of paint. It's amazing. Right now I don't quite know what to do with so much more space, and I'm trying to visualize where I'm going to put everything. I'll have a little dining area, which will be nice, because in my current place I don't have any real dining area. I have a "dining" table, but I currently use it as my desk/office space, so now I probably need to buy a real desk (or another table) for my computer and stuff. And since I have more room, I could probably buy another bookcase. I certainly could use one! My balcony is huge and has a nice view. The trees in front are pretty tall and full, so you can't quite see the mountains, but it's still nice. There is plenty of light in the apartment, and it's very bright, and I really like that. I have lots of closet space, and there are lots of cabinets and drawers in the kitchen. And the cabinets in the kitchen are nice because I'll be able to reach the top shelves without standing on a chair or crawling on the counters. (And I don't want to hear any of my friends or family tease me about how short I am!!) The kitchen has a big sink and a dishwasher. The refrigerator/freezer are bigger than what I have right now. And the stove and oven are bigger.

There are only two things that I don't like about the new place. In the bathroom there isn't a shower rod but, instead, there are some strange shower doors. I don't like shower doors as much. Plus, without a shower rod, I won't be able to use my cool Greek-inspired shower curtain, and that makes me sad because that shower curtain is so awesome! It's so me...and, yes, I mean that I'm awesome! I also wish there were some more overhead lights in the place. There are some in the dining room, the kitchen, the bathroom, and my closet area off the bedroom, but there aren't overhead lights in the living room or bedroom. That means that I'll need to buy some lamps. But, other than that, everything else is great.