Surprise Care Package

I have been trying to just stick to one blog a day, but we received the nicest care package in the mail today and I felt the need to include another blog to show our appreciation.

Among many things in this package was the recipe and most ingredients for Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Cookies. So what did we do with these? We made Cookies!! 

I thought it was also time to include some pictures on this blog, and cookies are a perfect way to start. So here they are!

So here is the beginning, we didn't quite have a big enough bowl... so we used a wok...

Shlyn getting some eggs, also preview of the new apartment...

Dry + Wet = Awesome Dough

Finished Product..... So so good.

Hope everyone has a good day! Thanks Mom Ostraff! 

End of Job Hunt

As my readers have probably gathered from my Facebook I now have a job. It's like a dream job too. I'm really excited for this. At least for it on paper, I have yet to work so I'm not sure but it is really opening the doors for my career. 

The job is working as a graveyard mentor for a girls residential substance abuse facility. They also have a campus for girls with behavioral issues, so I might be placed there. She didn't have her mind made up last night on which one. Although she was leaning toward the substance abuse one.  

I will work two nights a week from 10pm-6am. Which is sad for Landon and I but good for working around school. All they have really told me I do is check on the girls every 15 minutes to make sure they are there and sleeping. So I'm hoping I can bring something to keep myself entertained like school work. If not no big deal. But I dunno what else I will do for 15 minutes. 

Hopefully I will enjoy this job and the night shifts work well with my sleep. I'm starting paperwork today so job will probably start in the next two weeks. 

Wish me luck!!

Despicable Me & Rock Band 3

Last night was a night of patience. Why? Because we have been waiting a long time for both of these to come out. I know Despicable me came out a while ago, but the dollar theater just got it last week. 

So we went and saw that last might on $.75 monday's with James and Ashlyn. I loved it. The little girl, Agnes I think, was adorable. There's a part with a fluffy unicorn that made me laugh so hard. The little minions were very cute as well. Overall a very good movie. I could probably see it again on video. Maybe one time when I can watch the kids I will get that for them. 

After our show we dropped James off and went to Wal-mart to get Rock Band 3. We were a little early so we looked at baby clothes, just happens to be on the was to electronics. They had adorable footy pajamas. Someday I will own some. 

So as the time get closer to midnight we check to make sure they had the bundle of the Keyboard and the Game. Unfortunately, they didn't have the bundle or the keyboard separately. We called around to another store and they didn't have it either. So we just decided to get the game and look for the Keyboard today. So far I enjoy the game, I feel like the calibration is still a little off but no biggie. 

I think Landon got the keyboard on his lunch break. Super excited to play it when we gets home.

Oh also wish me luck on a job interview this evening. It's for a Graveyard position at a girls residential facility. I really hope I get it. It would be a perfect door into my career. Also they might do it as a paid internship... that would be nice. 

Coupon Clipping and Food Freezing

Lately I have been searching for different way for Landon and I to save money around the house with little things here and there. So far I have come across two things I really enjoy doing. They are Freezing Food and Coupon Clipping.  

When I first started these two things I was like okay this will be fun for a little while, plus I'm bored so I might as well do something to fill in my time. Well I have become addicted to coupons and I'm freezing food when ever we have a surplus or a good sale.  

For coupons I go to Smith's because I feel like overall they have more of what I'm looking for and the quality I want. Wal-mart might be a little cheaper but I'm wiling to pay a dollar more for things to last longer. I have so far been saving close to a third of the bill each week between sales and coupons. Landon went with me one time and we walked out with 4 or 5 boxes of cereal. He was like see you spend more money with coupons, but in reality I spent about $.90 after sales and coupons. Haven't bought any more cereal this month and it isn't going bad. I think it's a good way to shop.

Now for my freezing I go to Buy-Low, you have to search for the better quality produce sometimes but the prices are unbeatable. I try and go on Wednesday's right when they open so I get the best pick of things. I get a good amount with a few extras. When I get home and realize I've bought to much. Chopping, blanching, bagging, and freezing begins. I will use green beans for an example. I love them. So I bought them on a $.79/lb sale, about three lbs. worth. Then I froze most of them. Now I do about a cup of cut green beans per bag and got at least 10 bags out of these. That's about $.24 a bag. A bag of frozen beans will run for about at much as 6 of my frozen bags and not give me that much. 

In the end I have seen my spending in different areas go down and see our food supply remain steady because of the sales, coupons, and freezing. 

Hopefully some day we can have land and I can learn to garden.

D.C.D.

Well we have lived in our new apartment for almost a month now. Which means it was time for our first....

Deep Cleaning Day!

Yay!

I have a love/hate relationship with this day. I hate it because it take a long time to do and I usually get super hot from working hard. But I get so much love from this day because I can sit down afterward and just feel clean and happy about my surroundings. 

So counters, tables, light switches, doors, windows, window sills, microwave, and floors are all clean now. This was the first time I have done a deep clean in this apartment and let me tell you I wish I would have done it sooner. I have mopped the floor every week since moving in but while really scrubbing it today I was shocked by the mess. 

I have always had doubts that cleaning happened in this apartment before we moved in. We had a dispute with the complex and I think they just decided to not clean anything but the carpets. It was bad, like counters were still sticky, the floor was immediately mopped and my sink was pitch black, everything was greasy and dirty. It was bad. But I cleaned it and thought oh well at least its to my standard now. (If this was clean to the complex then I have no doubts we will pass the cleaning inspections.)  

In the end, I think with the exception to wiping every wall down I have now successfully deep cleaned my apartment like it should have been when I moved in. Oh well. Next time we won't buy our contract off of people so they don't change policies on us.

Tonight we are going to another bonfire and I'm going to surprise Landon with a dinner he really likes! It's broccoli quiche with a potato crust. Yum!

I think I'm sick.

My head hurts, my nose hurts, my throat hurts, and my whole body is achy.

I don't like being sick. So far I have missed two days of class because of this. I didn't have anything do in these two days but I did miss a physical science lecture that I needed to attend.  Hopefully a weekend of relaxation will help with my cold.

On a better note, we had Jenny over last night for dinner. We have spaghetti and garlic bread. That's my multiple person meal. If I invite people over we are most likely having spaghetti for dinner. I think it's the easiest to make for a lot of people, plus it's not that expensive for a large group of people which is always a big concern.

After dinner we played a game called 5 Kings (I think?) anyways it was like railroad rummy if you have ever played that, except there are 5 suits in this deck and added jokers. I did really well on the first two rounds and then we discovered some new rules. So we started over and Landon knocked the socks off of everyone else. I think he won the game by like 100 points between him and second who was Jenny. (Followed by Ashlyn and then Me.)

We had a good night. We went and saw Paranormal Activity 2 at 10:00 with some friends from Landon's work. It wasn't to bad except for like 3 parts which scared me so bad. Landon decided after the second big scare that we could no longer lace fingers because I was going to end up breaking them. 

Overall yesterday was yucky in the morning and good in the evening. I'm hoping today is the same. Although we have nothing planned for tonight. A nice night alone and in might be good though. 

And the scores are in...

I'm not very happy with them. 

I studied so hard for these two tests and I can't get better than a C. I wish I was better at Science. I felt really good leaving these tests, I guess I just have to work even harder. 

I just hope my scholarship chances don't get ruined from this semester. But I guess I will have the Spring semester to get them back up. 

Not so happy tonight. Maybe I will take it out on all the bubbles I will be dreaming about. 

My Brain hurts Today

Tests, tests, and more tests. 

I have spent four hours of my day in a quiet some-what secluded room, staring at a scantron or a computer screen. I think I will be dreaming of bubbles tonight. 

I started my day with physical science which went pretty well I thought. But we will see in about a week if I did better than I have been doing. Then I came home and recharged for a l o n g afternoon. Eventually I set off for three more hours of testing. Biology then Math and English placement. So only one of them I actually needed to study for. 

I was so bummed after taking Biology. I got the exact same score that I received on the previous test even though I tripled my studying efforts. Oh well, better luck next time I guess.

Placement test was not to hard, just long. Super-LONG. I have to take intermediate algebra now before I can take my Statistics class. I guess that's not to bad it's just one class below. Plus I needed more elective credits and I was struggling to find some, so now I have three credit hours less to worry about.  At least my english placement is not a problem. I like that I'm decent at English even after some time off. 

Now I am exhausted. This post might be a bit loopy but so am I right now so I guess its a pretty good indication of my mood right now. 

Maybe I'll have some fun news about a job tomorrow...

Student loans are poopy.

So when you take out a student loan it's usually through one company and you pay them back. At least that's what I thought. In the past two years I have gone through three companies on one loan, while another loan is just sitting back quietly enjoying it's original company. ( I bet the two loans look at each other and the one that has been passed around is all beat up while the one at Sallie Mae is loving it's big comfy couch and blanket sitting in front of the TV eating Twinkies. Yes, loans eat Twinkies.)

This is very frustrating. Seeing as my mother took this loan out for me, (and I love her very much for this) and I make payments on it. So every time it gets transferred I don't know it. Until I notice money is no longer being taken out of my account. (Usually a day or two after it should have been taken out.) Which I can't do anything about because they don't tell me anything unless I'm authorized, which I never am right when it's transferred. 

This most recent time company B that sold my loan didn't tell the new company C that I was in school. So now they are charging me like 4 months of non-payment because I'm in school and it was deferred with company B but company C didn't get that information. So now once again I'm fighting a company which happens to be company C to take away charges that shouldn't be there in the first place. I will happily make payments, but I'm not paying late fees when there should have never been a bill in the first place. 

I wish companies would communicate better with me and with one another. Makes life much easier.

On a better note. I have two tests on Wednesday, Biology and Physical Science. Yes that is the good news. Tells you how great my fight with loan people is going...

Crossword Challenge

We LOVE Crossword Challenge! Seriously, I think I look forward to this 20-40 minutes that we spend with Ashlyn and James most day. Some might be wondering what crossword challenge is, well let me explain...

Crossword challenge is a challenge made by the 4 of us in attempt to compete with one another in Crosswords. (I say attempt because Landon and I have a pretty good record going. We have quite a few wins and only one loss. Pretty successful season if you ask me.) So we go to www.webcrosswords.com  where they have daily crosswords available and they are a little challenging. Not like New York Times challenging but more than user created crosswords. We really enjoy them. 

Anyways, we pair off into our couples and start at the same time. We recently started not allowing any internet look ups so the game is running 4 minutes on average longer, bringing us to 24 minutes per puzzle. But in the end first couple to finish with all the right answers WINS! 

Now this may not sound super challenging but we do this in the same room so whispering is very essential and having a split knowledge on things is required too. Ashlyn was explaining yesterday and her and James have a system, she knows all the cultural references and James knows the geography and science stuff. With Landon and I it tends to be he gets a little of everything and I get the tricky ones that require thinking out of the box. 

We never beat them by much but we love the adrenaline rush that comes from Crossword Challenge. We have free entertainment and brain exercises all in one. Perfect combination. 

Bonfires+Large wood=So Much Smoke!

So Landon and I went into Provo Canyon last night with a few friends and had a bonfire and BBQ. It was nice to be out of the house hanging out with married couples and enjoying the lack of drama that comes with that. People don't usually feel left out in this situation because in the end we all pair off and leave for the night leaving companionship for everyone. (I really, really like my companion. He's pretty awesome and looks really cute making a fire. But on with the story.)

Unfortunately, our night did not go as expected. First, we got there and it had just start to get dark so we knew our time to set-up was going to be limited. Second, we could not find a fire pit that was available. So we ran around the park looking and finally found one like ten minutes later. But our biggest problem was we didn't have small enough wood to get anything going from the little twigs and grass to the big logs. 

We tried and tried and tried to get this thing going. And there were 6 of us there fanning and getting more twigs and more grass. With 2 boy scouts among our group you would think our efforts would be successful. But they were only successful enough to cook the food. Well try and cook. I think my hot dog was fine but the hamburgers were a little sketchy. I'm surprised I didn't get sick from it. 

Sadly, after 3 and one half hours we admitted defeat and departed from our sad little bonfire, so only watch a new group rescue it when we left. We talked on the way home about what we needed for a more successful fire next time and about Crossword challenge. 

Crossword challenge deserves it's own post though, maybe next time.