Thursday, January 17, 2013

I'm locked up ... they won't let me out

So, last Sunday, Rob and I got locked out of our apartment ... and we both had our keys.

Our plan was to get out of the house and go to the grocery store while it was still light out (you gotta have goals). The night before we got all this ice so we went out to defrost our cars. Rob had some De-Icer in his car, but used it up. He suggested I run upstairs to our apartment to get another can he had in the coat closet. No problem.

At first, I can't get my key in the door. It seems like the most bizarre thing. So, I go back down and get Rob's key ... maybe mine had bent or something. I finally get it to go in, but then I can't turn it! So, I call down to Rob to come up. He can't turn it either. I'm like, well, my phone is almost dead, can we use yours to call the landlords? Rob left his phone in the apartment!

So, we don't really want to call because that's like the last resort because I thought my phone was going to turn off any second. So, we try to use pliers to get more leverage to turn it -- which was working until it broke off in the lock.



Finally we decide to call our landlords. They were pretty unhelpful during the entire ordeal and were most concerned with our "destruction of property" of breaking the key off than anything else. She offers to give me the number of a locksmith. She was not going to call for us! The guy that owns the lock place that's 2 doors down from our house doesn't live in West Bend so he wasn't going to get there for another hour and said he could cost us $200. He flat out said, I really don't want to do it. So, I ended up calling around to other places (note: unhelpfulness of landlords). (Luckily our neighbor across the hall has phone books in these cabinets out in the hallway so we were able to use this. Because the landlord gave me the one number of the one locksmith "she knew of in town." Like didn't even offer to look up others). One of the guys I talked to said he could do it and didn't think it'd be $200, but suggested trying to spray some WD40 to loosen it up. So, we went to Walmart and got a phone charger and WD40. We get back home, spray it in the lock, and are able to get the broken-off key out and somehow the door then opened. It was probably about 2 hours that we couldn't get in. 

Obviously it wasn't good that we broke the key, but honestly if we hadn't tried to get in, their solution was going to be to drive here and put their key in the lock -- which wouldn't have turned it because something was obviously wrong with the lock -- we tried both of our keys so why theirs would magically work is a crock. So in speculation hindsight, it would have probably taken just as long, if not longer, if we hadn't basically figured it out ourselves. 

Man, after this, we are both definitely done with West Bend.

Friday, December 21, 2012

Snow!!

I know I grew up in Wisconsin. I live in Wisconsin by choice. I got my temps and learned to drive starting in January. But, I don't know what it is -- ever since I moved from DC and especially since moving to West Bend, I am terrified of driving in the snow. An entire day of work can be almost shot because I'll be nervous about my commute later on that day (or in a few days). Last year Rob and I slid off a back road in West Bend and ended up in the ditch. We were fine, but it was nerve racking! It wasn't snowing, Rob is a safe driver, and yet, it still happened.

So, here is my rant/PSA. SLOW DOWN OUT THERE. The posted speed limits are for ideal driving conditions. I go the 7 mph over the speed limit on a normal basis. But it's just not worth it to me when it's snowing or it's been snowing or it's winter or it's windy. I turn into seriously the worst granny driver. I know, in normal conditions, again -- I get angry at the slow driver just as much (if not more so) than the next guy. But, it's just different when it's not completely clear out.

Oh, and also, don't tailgate. Breaking distance decreases too. And it makes the granny driver (aka me), even more nervous which makes me go even slower. And this year I'm determined not to let your tailgating pressure me. I believe in keeping up with traffic -- I'm a huge proponent. But, not necessarily in bad conditions when you don't feel safe. Last year I had a small skid out and slid into a curb on a ramp to get on Capitol. I dented my tire rim and had to get it repaired, and it seriously deflated my tire. And you know why that happened? I was taking the turn too quickly because I didn't want to upset the people behind me by going slower and breaking sooner. This year -- too damn bad. You can hold your horses. 

Now, maybe you feel safe in your big truck/SUV, but I don't. And you know what -- you probably aren't as safe as you think either. You can probably get through higher snow than I can, but if you can't get traction ... I don't know, the size of your vehicle isn't going to do much I don't think.  I could take the time to find some statistics on car accidents and deaths or amount of money spent on damage ... but just take a second and think about it. Is getting some place 5 minutes faster really worth either of those things? I don't think so.

So, please, please be careful out there this winter and be courteous to the granny drivers out there like me.


Thursday, December 20, 2012

Pretending to work from home for a day

So today in lovely West Bend, WI in Washington County we had a Winter Storm Warning from midnight last night to noon today and now we've switched over to a Blizzard Warning from noon until 3am tomorrow. When I woke-up early today at 5:30am to check to see how the weather was, how the roads were -- because if I was going to make it on time, I knew I'd have to leave early ... it was apparent to me I was not going to risk driving. So, today I got to work from home and I just can't help thinking, and re-living and re-hashing how awesome it would be to not have a 45-60 minute commute!



Loaded up and ready before 8:00 AM!


The weather got worse this afternoon -- this was about an hour ago and it's worse now! The only problem with working from home is that it's a little after 2:30 PM right now and I've kind of lost motivation to do work. (Don't worry -- if I don't work 8 hours today I will take it as vacation).

But, let's just do this little comparison.



Current
Working from Home/Less than 30 min. commute
6:00am
Wake-up (well, around this time)
Wake-up
6:00am-7:00am
Get ready
Exercise
7:00am-8:00am
Drive to work
Get ready
8:00am-4:30pm
Work
Work
4:30pm-5:30pm
Drive from work
Make Dinner
5:30pm-6:00pm
Get the mail, change clothes, etc.

6:00pm-7:00pm
Gym
Eat Dinner
7:00pm-7:30pm
Shower
All of this time at night to do whatever! Scrapbooking, working on my recipe book, I could even go to Grad School classes! The possibilities are endless!
7:30-8:30pm
Make Dinner

8:30pm-9:30pm
Eat Dinner, Watch TV

9:30pm-10:00pm/11:00pm
Make lunch for the next day, have a few minutes to myself, etc.

10:00pm/11:00pm
Bed Time



Look at that! I feel like a broken record, but it just helps me keep perspective on A) What I can practically expect to get done (and not feel bad when thinking about what other people do with their time). and B) How much we need to change our situation one way or another. New Year's Resolution/Plan anyone?

Monday, November 19, 2012

Fish Tacos

We made fish tacos for dinner on Friday. They were great! We kind of just made up the recipe. I even cut and breaded the fish!!

I started with 2 pretty large filets -- we used tilapia. (The cod was from Russia and we both agreed we'd rather go with the tilapia from Costa Rica).

I cut the tilapia into chunks and then breaded them. I put some Italian breadcrumbs in a bowl and then added Old Bay, cayenne, chili powder, and cumin.

Then I cooked the tilapia in olive oil. 


For fixings, we used romaine lettuce, black olives, tomatoes, cucumber, and green peppers. (Rob has a thing about cucumber on his tacos -- it's not something I grew up with, but it's okay). We also had taco sauce, shredded cheese, and guacamole.


I did put more Old Bay on one side of the fishes once they were in the pan. (You can never have too much Old Bay, amiright?)


 Then we put it all together!

And served with some coleslaw.


They had a bit of a kick and were mighty tasty, if I do say so myself!

Sunday, November 18, 2012

Just Load the Dishwasher

Rob and I both have Yahoo email accounts, so we often see the stories they have on the Yahoo! homepage. Frequently, the headlines of these stories are intriguing -- "how to get your dream job," etc. But then when you read the article it's filled with common sense things -- dress professionally at your interview. So, we sometimes joke about these stories. I got sucked into one of these stories and it really stuck with me. It was about how to keep on top of household chores with a busy schedule. One of their golden nuggets of advice? Take care of the dishes everyday -- just load the dishwasher and do the few pots.

That really made Rob and I peeved because we don't have a dishwasher. We frequently lament how much more we could do if we didn't have to spend hours every week washing dishes. We both agreed that we'd definitely be able to stay on top of the dishes if all it meant was loading the dishwasher. As it stands now, we get often get behind and our kitchen quickly becomes a disaster.

This week we were able to catch up on the dishes! Rob thought I was joking when I said, take a picture. I was not.




This was the first time in probably a month that this happened. (Well, except for the couple days after Rob got out of the hospital and my Mom came to our apartment and did the dishes like 3 days in a row. <3)

Sometimes you have the celebrate the mini coups.


Wednesday, November 14, 2012

Pumpkin Soup with Shrimp

Last year for some reason Rob got really into Jambalaya. Now that the weather has gotten colder we decided to make it the other day. Right next to the recipe for Jambalaya was a recipe for Pumpkin Soup with Shrimp.


Spiced Pumpkin and Shrimp Soup
(Better Homes and Gardens New Cook Book – 12th Edition, )

Start to Finish: 30 minutes
Makes: 4 servings (about 5 ¾ cups)

Ingredients
2 medium onions, sliced
2 medium carrots, sliced (1 cup)
1 tablespoon snipped fresh cilantro
2 teaspoons grated fresh ginger
½ teaspoon ground allspice
2 cloves garlic, minced
2 tablespoons butter or margarine
1 14-ounce can chicken broth
1 15-ounce can pumpkin
1 cup milk
1 8-ounce package frozen peeled and deveined cooked shrimp, thawed
Plain yogurt or dairy sour cream (optional)
Snipped fresh chives (optional)

Instructions
1.    In a large saucepan cook onion, carrots, cilantro, ginger, allspice, and garlic in hot butter, covered for 10 to 12 minutes or until vegetables are tender, stirring once or twice.
2.    Transfer vegetable mixture to a blender container or food processor bowl. Add ½ cup of the chicken broth. Cover and blend or process until nearly smooth.
3.    In the same saucepan combine the remaining 1 ¼ cups broth, the pumpkin, and milk. Stir in blended vegetable mixture and shrimp; heat through. If desired, serve topped with plain yogurt and chives.

247 calories per serving.



It was definitely different, but pretty good.

I will say this -- it takes more than 30 minutes to prepare. One of my pet peeves is recipes that put in the ingredients "peeled shrimp" or "sliced carrots" like then they don't have to account for that work of getting those things together like when I get home from work I just magically have sliced carrots ready to sautee to put in a soup. Oh, we also bought raw shrimp on accident, so that was another thing that took awhile.

But, it was hardy, great for a cold November evening with some fresh baked Pillsbury french bread. 


Tuesday, November 13, 2012

Getting Back to Normalcy

So, once again, it's been awhile since I've posted. But, we've been busy.

Rob's lung collapsed spontaneously. Seriously.

So, for two weeks I was shuttling back and forth from the hospital, work, and briefly being at home. Rob's been home for over a week and actually went back to work today! So, things are starting to get back to normal.

We actually went to the gym yesterday!

So, slowly but surely life is getting back to normal and I hope to be able to post more often again!

Oh, and I'm so glad that Rob is okay.