Post-Painting Party Pictures. Alliteration, what?

Hey all.   I have just about finished painting.  Last Saturday, several awesome friends came to my new place to help me paint.  On Monday I did some more painting on my own and Tuesday I bought white paint to do trimming touchups.  I must say, I am loving it.  I have also had 4 new pieces of furniture delivered, which I have assembled: 2 new bookcases (the ones I have will not survive another move), a baker's rack for the kitchen, and a dinette set with a table and 2 stools. :)
So, once again, in better colors:
My foyer.

 Detail on my painted shelves.

 Looking through from the front to the back.

 The flash makes this look brighter than it is.  It's a bittersweet color.  And you can see my table and stools.

 I painted the inside of both arches blue. :)

 Tiny, but cute kitchen.

 And back the other way.  That's also my baker's rack.

 Bedroom and bookcase.

 That tiny door hides a standard-sized ironing board.  So cute!!!

 From the back to the front of the house.

 And of course, nothing would be right in my life without green. :)

There it is, folks.  I am super happy.  I'm going away this weekend, and so won't be moving my stuff in until next week - Thursday night or Saturday morning, depending on some things.

ALSO: my mom is coming to visit!  Yay!!!!

Paint Party.

This coming Saturday, I am organizing a Painting Party at my new place in order to rid it of the neon colors that currently adorn the walls.  I'm excited.  I've washed all the baseboards, swept the ceilings and taped off one room.  I spent a good portion of yesterday cleaning, as the most recent inhabitants were a young couple who have clearly not yet learned how to scrub.  Or sweep.  Let's just say that my house was gross.  And now it's not.  Except for the bathroom.  I'm not looking forward to tackling that.  All the other rooms, though, now smell like chemical cleaning product.  It's a wonderful thing.

Anyway, for my local friends who read this blog, if you have a bit of time on Saturday and could lend a hand in exchange for free lunch and a definite invite to my housewarming party, which will feature baked goods prepared by yours truly, let me know and I'll get you my new address. :)

I have my own home!

Yesterday I signed a 12-month lease on my very own apartment.  This will be the first place that is all my own; no sharing!  SO, I have to share pictures. :)
1. My very own front door!

 2. The foyer.

 3. Peeking in to the living room from the foyer.

 4. Looking though the living room, kitchen, and the back is the bedroom.

 5. Living room.

 6. Bedroom.

 7. In the bedroom, looking back the other way.

 8. Teeny, tiny kitchen.  But it's all mine!

That's it, folks.  If you have some time and are willing to help me paint, I will give thanks in the form of food and endless appreciation. :)  Let me know.  I'll be tackling it this week!

In memoriam.

Yesterday, July 26, was the anniversary of the loss of my friend, Ajeet Singh Matharu.  As many will remember, he was a classmate of mine in India and was killed in a traffic accident on the way to school one morning.  It was a devastating loss to the whole group and, as these things unfortunately do, brought us all much closer together.

Yesterday, July 26, there was another loss.  Marvin.  Many of you know I worked as an aide for a severely autistic teenager when I lived in Pennsylvania.  I lived with the family, including Marvin, the grandfather, who had Alzheimer's.  When I first got there, Marvin and I would go on dates.  We'd go to dinner, to the movies, and I'd drive (of course).  After about 1 1/2 years, the outings became too stressful for him - he knew I was familiar, but didn't really know who I was or where we were.  I would hold his hand to help him stay calm when he was stressed.  I would help him order in restaurants, pointing him towards things that I knew he liked, before he forgot what he liked.  He would always tell me stories.  About living abroad, painting in the great cities of Europe, etc.  Towards the end of our dating, he started telling me stories about myself - about this nice girl who took him out for nights on the town and how much he thought I'd like her.  It was funny and sad.  In the months before I left, his language degenerated - he lost many of his content words to the disease, leaving mostly function words.  Getting him coffee became an exercise in pantomime.  I already missed him.  I had more of a relationship with him than I had with my own grandfathers.  I've thought of him often, and today I miss him.

I think the moral of this story is that it's not safe to be my friend on July 26th.  Be ye warned.

Oh geez.

I really think my school is trying to give me ulcers.  As it happens, I already have some.  I've had them for years.  BYU just loves to aggravate them.

Here's the skinny: Apartment people are ready for me to sign.  Like, today.  Well, I can't.  And I can't because BYU is killing me slowly.  On Thursday, I approved my loan amount.  On Friday, I signed my new MPN.  They said it would take 24 hours to alert the school.  Due to totally pointless state holidays, BYU then had a 3-day weekend.  As of this morning, my account still shows that they are awaiting my MPN (Master Promissory Note).  So I called, after 8, as that's when they open.  I got the closed office message until 8:45.  Seriously.  When I finally got someone on the phone, they were totally stupid.  I was told that they had the MPN, but it would take 2-3 weeks to process.  AND that the $ wouldn't be dispersed until the term started.  Stop speaking, you imbecile.  These loans are for the term that started in May.


Oh, well... there's nothing we can do to make the computers process it faster, but I can schedule a meeting for you with the person responsible for this mess.  How is that???

So, I spoke too soon.  I will likely loose that lovely apartment with the hardwood floors.  Why did I fight so hard to stay at this school?  I have hated it since Day1.  So many semesters have involved battling stupidity like this, but never this bad.

It begs the question - how do you know when God is testing your resolve and when he's sending you a million signs to cut and run?  Really, how do you know?  My church talks a lot about the refiner's fire, but aren't you suppose to be pulled out before you get scorched/melted?  I feel like I've spent the last year and a half at the end of my rope.  My bishop was talking to me about clinging on to the end of the rope and I made a joke about using it to tie a noose.  He wasn't amused.

New beginnings. :)

For 2 of my 4 years as an undergrad, I lived alone.  The other two years (1 and 3), I had roommates.  One was a total nightmare.  Afterwards, when I lived in PA, I had a basement bed/bath in the home of my employers.  Very nice, but right below the family room, and so often loud as well.

I have been in Utah for 4 years.  I have lived in 4 houses and had over 10 roommates, more than half of which have also been total nightmares.  Two have been good.  This whole time, I have longed to live alone.  In truth, I don't do well with people.  I don't like noises or smells or comings and goings at odd hours.  I really think that God just made me naturally misanthropic.

I am so blond sometimes.

This year, I have three lovely tomato plants.  I'm starting to get green fruit on them and they are so cute!  Anyways, they've been in containers that are entirely too small for them, and I haven't been able to track down cages yet, so they've been leaning and sad.

This morning I called Lowe's to see if they had any in stock.  After 10 minutes of total confusion, it came back that yes, they did have 23 in the size I wanted.  Yippee!  I'm on my way!  But when I got there, I was told that they had been out since yesterday!