As all of you Purdue folks may know, summer classes ended last week. Even though my group had issues with one particular member, we still managed to rock our presentation and only miss three points on the final presentation of our game which we designed in GUI in order to teach 8th graders a specific state standard. With that class under my belt, it was time to travel to KC, MO in order to see the family.
My sister drove from Bloomington to West Lafayette in order to pick me up for the 9 hour drive to see the family. Within an hour the two of us were screaming at each other in the car just like old times. You just have to smile at sisterly love right? I felt badly for my sister's boyfriend. The poor guy had to listen to our arguing for awhile, and our arguing is never pretty. Once my sister pushed me off her bed and knocked out my tooth. Of course back in the old days when we were young, lived in Green County, and shared a room the classic fighting tactics of pinching, biting, and hair pulling would ensue. Since then we have simply graduated to threats of dropping off the other one on the side of road and leaving them to fend for themselves. Some Veronicas and Augustana later, the two of us slowly began conversing civilly. I mean it was a 9 hour drive; the two of us were bound to make up at some point.
We arrived at the new house around 2am. Mom and the snakes were awake to briefly greet us. My dad wouldn't be home until the next morning; he had been in Brazil all week for his job (I know...what a lucky duck!). Once we all chatted for a baby bit, we all retired to our rooms to get some shut eye --except for me. I had to feed my addiction before I drifted to sleep meaning I stayed up for probably three solid hours watching Desperate Housewives (Update: I have officially finished all of the season!!! Go me! WhootWhoot! I can't WAIT for September 26th! Get ready everyone =)...I know, I know I have a problem...you don't have to tell me...but it's just sooo good!).
It was great to wake up at noon and not worry about being late for engineering. It was so good to see my dad! The last time we had seen each other we parted on not so great terms. Yelling and money was involved to obviously there is no way that could have ended pretty. Hugging him put all that water under the bridge. Spread across the chicken table was an array of candy from Brazil. In all honesty, most of it wasn't that great. Out of the large bag, I only like two different types--one had coconut and the other had a chocolate truffle center. I'm all about trying candy new foods and candies, but so far I've found myself partial to American candy though I suppose eating it my whole life makes me completely biased. Next to the candy lay a clear bag. The contents appeared similar to onion rings or funions except they were thicker and a light white/cream color. A powdery flavor substance of the same color coated the outside. The bag displayed the head of a freakishly happy looking chicken and a Portuguese game printed in red which I can neither spell nor pronounce correctly. Curious about these foreign snacks, I promptly picked one up, smelled it, and took a bite. I was utterly repulsed. It was sort of the experience I have when I dare to eat a pork grind except this snack was chicken flavored. Surprised by mine, my sister's, and my mother's similar reaction, my father went on to praise these Brazilian chicken snacks, stating how much he liked him. After a few retorts from my sister and I saying how disgusting they were, the subject was dropped.
Fast forward a few days. My sister and her boyfriend have gone home at this point, and my mother and I began the arduous task of sorting through my belongings. The time consuming task of deciding what clothes stay, what clothes go to college, and what clothes get thrown out or donated is not one which I ever under any circumstances look forward to. I'm what one refers to as a 'pack rat.' No matter what the item, I just can never seem to part with it! You want proof? Under my bed I have a roughly ten boxes all filled with notes and letters to from my friends and I. How old are these notes? Well, some date back to the fourth grade, but most of them are from my middle school days. Crazy, I know. I just hate parting with things! I love looking back at old pictures or fliers because so many great (and occasionally not so great, but the great out weigh the not so great)memories come flooding back. The smallest bead fallen off a bracelet can sometimes contain the most powerful of memories. That day, however, my mother and I went in there with determined attitudes to cut down my wardrobe and my amount of junk. Besides, I leave to return to Purdue in a week and two days, so it was time I started rounding my stuff together!
Surprisingly, through the whole process I was rather bold and got rid of many items which I probably wouldn't have if the day had been different. I said goodbye to t-shirts and sweatshirts from old clubs and activities which I had participated back in high school. Papers and cards (and by cards I mean from all random occasions, such as birthday cards for example) were tossed into the recycling without more than a third or fourth thought because let's face it--I'm indecisive to the point where it can be a problem, so everything was going to at least get a second look before it left my life forever. Dresses were set aside for repair and shoes were set aside for cleaning. I stumbled upon a TON of CDs which I had almost forgotten that I had! Let me just tell you for a second how much I absolutely LOVE Avril Lavigne. I've never been disappointed by one of her albums though I do favor her second one; I believe Under My Skin contains her best work. I took all of the outcasted CDs upstairs with the goal to go through them and see which ones were worth keeping and which were scratched to the point of uselessness. As I sat at the kitchen table examining the backs of all the CDs, my mother brought in a large box from UPS and sat it on the table. Immediately we began to open the package; turns out, the package was a house warming gift from my aunt (my father's sister). Surrounding the basket of cheeses, crackers, and sausage, were hundreds and hundreds of packing peanuts.
"You know what these packing peanuts remind me of?" rhetorically asked my mother, "those weird chicken flavored things your dad brought home from Brazil."
"Oh my gosh. They totally do! They even sort of have the same feel and consistency," I responded as my gears were turning and concocting a plan, "You know what would be hysterical? We should totally put a couple of the packing peanuts in the actual bag! Haha it would be hilarious if he actually ate one or bit into one!"
My mother's response? She laughed and immediately ran to the cabinet to grab the bag of chicken snacks. We strategically place several packing peanuts throughout the bag of chicken snacks and closed the bag. "I bet by the time he eats any again, the peanuts will smell just like the chicken things since they will have been sitting in that bag," observed mother.
Unfortunately, my father has yet to feel an inkling for a chicken snack, so our great prank has yet to officially occur. I checked on the chicken snacks today to shake the bag around in hopes that the extra powder lying at the bottom would stick to the peanuts. In all honesty, I had trouble telling the difference between the peanut and the actual chicken snacks meaning our plan is seemingly full proof at this point. You might be thinking since I'm preblogging about the prank before it has fully taken place that I have officially ruined everything. Not to worry though! My dad isn't aware that I have a blog, and he's not all entirely sure what a blog is. Shoot even if he did know he would certainly not have time to read it, so no worries = ) I'll let you know as soon as my dad informs me of how packing peanuts taste.
All my Love,
Koya = )
Me!
In the van after seeing Wicked! It was such an AMAZING show!!!
Monday, August 9, 2010
Tuesday, August 3, 2010
Smoothie Queens
When I drove Cherry to Green County so she could work at the beach, the two of us stayed with our good friend Nora Charles. I had been great friends with Nora before I moved to Indianapolis. Nora has the ability to make anyone laugh regardless of the situation. She is literally the funniest girl I have ever met. She is one of the easiest people to talk to as well. No matter how long it is until the next time I see her, I'm always immediately at ease and never worried if things will be awkward. Most of the havoc my friends and I wreaked upon Green County started at her house. She lived way out in the boondocks roughly ten minutes from town. I once got lost in the mint fields surrounding her house (It was dark, and it's a lot easier to do than you would think especially when ditches are involved.).
Cherry was exhausted from work that Saturday, so while she retired to the living room couches to sleep, Nora and I stayed up until the wee hours of the morning catching up on each others lives and reminiscing about the old days and the crazy stunts we pulled while our posse concocted conniving, stupid, yet hilarious and fun plans.
"So, I went to the store the other day," started Nora, "and all when I got home I realized that the only thing I had bought was fruit! I love fruit, but I just didn't realize that that's all I bought! I just got a new smoothie maker, but I've never made a smoothie before."
"Well your shopping spree was perfect then! Let's make some now!"
Nora immediately fetched her brand spanking new smoothie maker while I dragged all the different fruits and yogurt from the fridge. After slight deliberation, we settled on making raspberry strawberry smoothies. I had already begun washing and cutting strawberries when a distressed Nora exclaimed, "Sequoia! You have got to be freaking kidding me! We don't have any ice."
"Are you serious?! Dang, that sucks."
"I know...all we have are these frozen bottles of water."
(Don't try this part of the recipe at home...it would not be a wise decision...)
It only took one look exchange between the two of us before we realized what needed to happen. The water bottles would have to be destroyed. Nora placed the two frozen Ice Mountain water bottles in the microwave for thirty seconds. This way, the ice would melt away from the plastic, giving us room to hack at the bottle. I simply continued cutting the tops off the bundle of strawberries. Nora took a large chefs knife and wacked the top of the bottle off. She continued to pry the end of the knife between the ice and the plastic in an effort to peel the plastic away from the ice. If Nora hadn't been so skilled with a knife and done this similar task before, I'm not sure it would have been accomplished. After a good laugh from both of us, Nora plopped the water bottle shaped ice chunk directly into the smoothie maker. Strawberry yogurt, strawberries, and raspberries soon followed. "There is no way this is going to blend," I stated with absolutely no confidence in the smoothie makers ability to do it's job. Turns out, I was right.
What were a pair of very thirsty girls to do in this situation? Well the answer was simple. We had to chop the block of ice. Once again, Nora fetched the chef's knife except this time, I took the lead. I began stabbing the side of the ice cube in hopes some would chunk off making the smoothies job easier. Our ultimate goal was to completely remove the obnoxiously large chunk of ice, but the bottom was caught in the blade. Nora and I continually laughed at the spectacle while wondering out loud how in the world Cherry hadn't stormed in yelling at us to be quiet. Eventually we were able to wiggle the ice chunk out of the blade, but not without covering our hands in half blended smoothie. From here, the ice chunk was placed in a a large yellow plastic bowl (upon retrospect, plastic was probably not the wisest of decisions) where I continued to stab the ice chunk into smaller ice shards. It sounds a lot easier than it actually was; the ice chunk kept slipping and sliding along the bottom of the bowl, and though I haven't double checked with Nora, I'm fairly certain I stabbed a hole in that yellow plastic bowl. Oh well I suppose; every battle has it's causalities, and the yellow plastic bowl was a small price to pay for the greatly anticipated deliciousness which we were about to experience.
Once adding the ice shards, Nora successfully blended the smoothies. A baby bit of raw sugar crystals were blended into the smoothies before their completions. I am not ashamed one bit to say that those smoothies Nora and I created made my top two list of greatest smoothies I have ever tasted. The flavors of the strawberries and raspberries really complemented the texture of the crushed ice and raspberry seeds. It was simply delicious.
Nora and Sequoia's Ridiculous Smoothie Recipe
1 frozen bottle of water (The plastic must be peeled and the ice must be crushed before
immediate usage-- feel free to substitute with actual ice cubes.)
3-5 large glops of strawberry yogurt (use the brand of your choice = ) )
wash all fruit before using it!
subtract five raspberries from the carton and add the rest to the smoothie
8 or so strawberries with their green tops cut off
1 small spoonful of sugar (to help the medicine go down...haha lame joke, I know.)
Blend in a smoothie maker until it is of your desired drinking texture. It's simple and simply delicious = )
After Nora and I made our delicious smoothies, we continued chatting and yelling ridiculous phrases in an effort to wake Cherry from her slumber in case she would want to sample our delicious blend. "Cherry," Nora would begin in one of her little voices that she does, "Cherry there is a fire! Wake up Wake up!" Another common exclamation went something like this, "Cherry, we made smoothies, and you don't even get a taste even if you want one! Wake up Cherry!" Basically the two of us were the equivalent to annoying five-year-olds; we were both just in one of those hyper moods.
Later the next day, I discovered Cherry hadn't heard a word of our racket from the night before. She had slept soundly through the whole ordeal. "You know Sequoia, before I went to bed last night I was soooooo hungry!" divulged Cherry. Slightly confused by my response of laughter after that statement, she continued to ask why it was so funny that she was hungry before bed.
"Why didn't you come in the kitchen and drink any of the smoothie we made?"
"What?"
"Are you serious right now? There is no freaking way you didn't hear us. Nora and I were so obnoxiously loud and annoying. Nora even started yelling ridiculous things to you in that one voice she does. You have got to be kidding. There is absolutely no way you didn't hear us."
"Smoothies?! Dang it! I seriously didn't hear a thing. I slept right through all of that; I was so incredibly tired Sequoi (No, I didn't forget the 'a' on my name. She calls me that sometimes.) you have no idea."
"Haha I still can't believe it, but that makes me feel way less badly about making all of that noise."
With that, I was able to look back on the Green County weekend trip very satisfied. There is no better way to reconnect with an old friend then by chatting over an icy smoothie -- especially if it was a little bit of an adventure to create your drink.
All My Love,
Koya = )
Nora Charles -- The Thin Man
Cherry was exhausted from work that Saturday, so while she retired to the living room couches to sleep, Nora and I stayed up until the wee hours of the morning catching up on each others lives and reminiscing about the old days and the crazy stunts we pulled while our posse concocted conniving, stupid, yet hilarious and fun plans.
"So, I went to the store the other day," started Nora, "and all when I got home I realized that the only thing I had bought was fruit! I love fruit, but I just didn't realize that that's all I bought! I just got a new smoothie maker, but I've never made a smoothie before."
"Well your shopping spree was perfect then! Let's make some now!"
Nora immediately fetched her brand spanking new smoothie maker while I dragged all the different fruits and yogurt from the fridge. After slight deliberation, we settled on making raspberry strawberry smoothies. I had already begun washing and cutting strawberries when a distressed Nora exclaimed, "Sequoia! You have got to be freaking kidding me! We don't have any ice."
"Are you serious?! Dang, that sucks."
"I know...all we have are these frozen bottles of water."
(Don't try this part of the recipe at home...it would not be a wise decision...)
It only took one look exchange between the two of us before we realized what needed to happen. The water bottles would have to be destroyed. Nora placed the two frozen Ice Mountain water bottles in the microwave for thirty seconds. This way, the ice would melt away from the plastic, giving us room to hack at the bottle. I simply continued cutting the tops off the bundle of strawberries. Nora took a large chefs knife and wacked the top of the bottle off. She continued to pry the end of the knife between the ice and the plastic in an effort to peel the plastic away from the ice. If Nora hadn't been so skilled with a knife and done this similar task before, I'm not sure it would have been accomplished. After a good laugh from both of us, Nora plopped the water bottle shaped ice chunk directly into the smoothie maker. Strawberry yogurt, strawberries, and raspberries soon followed. "There is no way this is going to blend," I stated with absolutely no confidence in the smoothie makers ability to do it's job. Turns out, I was right.
What were a pair of very thirsty girls to do in this situation? Well the answer was simple. We had to chop the block of ice. Once again, Nora fetched the chef's knife except this time, I took the lead. I began stabbing the side of the ice cube in hopes some would chunk off making the smoothies job easier. Our ultimate goal was to completely remove the obnoxiously large chunk of ice, but the bottom was caught in the blade. Nora and I continually laughed at the spectacle while wondering out loud how in the world Cherry hadn't stormed in yelling at us to be quiet. Eventually we were able to wiggle the ice chunk out of the blade, but not without covering our hands in half blended smoothie. From here, the ice chunk was placed in a a large yellow plastic bowl (upon retrospect, plastic was probably not the wisest of decisions) where I continued to stab the ice chunk into smaller ice shards. It sounds a lot easier than it actually was; the ice chunk kept slipping and sliding along the bottom of the bowl, and though I haven't double checked with Nora, I'm fairly certain I stabbed a hole in that yellow plastic bowl. Oh well I suppose; every battle has it's causalities, and the yellow plastic bowl was a small price to pay for the greatly anticipated deliciousness which we were about to experience.
Once adding the ice shards, Nora successfully blended the smoothies. A baby bit of raw sugar crystals were blended into the smoothies before their completions. I am not ashamed one bit to say that those smoothies Nora and I created made my top two list of greatest smoothies I have ever tasted. The flavors of the strawberries and raspberries really complemented the texture of the crushed ice and raspberry seeds. It was simply delicious.
Nora and Sequoia's Ridiculous Smoothie Recipe
1 frozen bottle of water (The plastic must be peeled and the ice must be crushed before
immediate usage-- feel free to substitute with actual ice cubes.)
3-5 large glops of strawberry yogurt (use the brand of your choice = ) )
wash all fruit before using it!
subtract five raspberries from the carton and add the rest to the smoothie
8 or so strawberries with their green tops cut off
1 small spoonful of sugar (to help the medicine go down...haha lame joke, I know.)
Blend in a smoothie maker until it is of your desired drinking texture. It's simple and simply delicious = )
After Nora and I made our delicious smoothies, we continued chatting and yelling ridiculous phrases in an effort to wake Cherry from her slumber in case she would want to sample our delicious blend. "Cherry," Nora would begin in one of her little voices that she does, "Cherry there is a fire! Wake up Wake up!" Another common exclamation went something like this, "Cherry, we made smoothies, and you don't even get a taste even if you want one! Wake up Cherry!" Basically the two of us were the equivalent to annoying five-year-olds; we were both just in one of those hyper moods.
Later the next day, I discovered Cherry hadn't heard a word of our racket from the night before. She had slept soundly through the whole ordeal. "You know Sequoia, before I went to bed last night I was soooooo hungry!" divulged Cherry. Slightly confused by my response of laughter after that statement, she continued to ask why it was so funny that she was hungry before bed.
"Why didn't you come in the kitchen and drink any of the smoothie we made?"
"What?"
"Are you serious right now? There is no freaking way you didn't hear us. Nora and I were so obnoxiously loud and annoying. Nora even started yelling ridiculous things to you in that one voice she does. You have got to be kidding. There is absolutely no way you didn't hear us."
"Smoothies?! Dang it! I seriously didn't hear a thing. I slept right through all of that; I was so incredibly tired Sequoi (No, I didn't forget the 'a' on my name. She calls me that sometimes.) you have no idea."
"Haha I still can't believe it, but that makes me feel way less badly about making all of that noise."
With that, I was able to look back on the Green County weekend trip very satisfied. There is no better way to reconnect with an old friend then by chatting over an icy smoothie -- especially if it was a little bit of an adventure to create your drink.
All My Love,
Koya = )
Nora Charles -- The Thin Man
Monday, August 2, 2010
All For One and One For All
When one of your close friends has a terrible off day, why is it that yours seems to go so great also? (Sarcasm? Yes!) It's kind of like when girls start staying together all the time.. they start hitting that certain time of the month at the same time. It's the craziest thing.
Koy likes to go all out in her blogs, give you every dirty detail, then give you details about those details. I'm the opposite. I live life in the fast lane, I'd rather go straight to the point. Like this, Today has been hell for the 3 of us because:
A. Elizabeth has had an eventful day: She broke her bed, cut her leg on her broken bed, broke her laptop, broke her glasses, felt sick, & stayed up extra late to eat a pie that is still non-existent at 12:34 am.
B. Sequoia Elite Murray (feel free to stalk her) (ps, she leaves the apt between 12:30-2:50 Monday-Thursday, just in case you want to rob her.) Anyways, Koy's day wasn't as hazardous.. She has accompanied me in all my ups & downs.. Together we have went to two different Walmarts, Walgreens, and a storage place, practically all over the universe, and accomplished a little bit of nothing. My car window won't go down now, my RCs sprayed all over Sekoy, & when we finally tried making the pie, I forgot to turn the oven on. Dang it :( So anyways, Sequoia is rushing me to let her do her own blog (blah blah blah) & I've got some pie to attend to!
Love CHERRY :)
She just thinks she sooo freaking cute doesn't she? Haha well anyway, like I was saying before a certain someone took over my blog, when one of your close friends has a terrible off day, why is it that yours seems to go so great too? Good friends have that whole telepathy connection thing and can literally feel each others' pain. In this case, it all started with Elizabeth.
I was jamming to The Veronica's and Sugarland on my way home from an extremely successful engineering class when I saw Elizabeth's white Jeep Liberty in the parking lot. I was extremely confused to see her because for one she ALWAYS comes back on Tuesdays and NEVER on Mondays. For two, it's shark week! The apartment's cable has been on the fritz all summer, so Elizabeth's obsession and favorite week of the year cannot be enjoyed from the comfort of the apartment futon. As I made Ramen, the two of us chatted and caught one another up on the goings on in our lives. When Sandy arrived, the three of us began packing all of my things. This is my last week living in Apartment 22, so everything is definitely a little bitter sweet. All of my things were packed in roughly an hour and piled by the door so Cherry and I could drop them off into storage later that day.
Things didn't start to go down hill until Sandy left for work. It was then that Elizabeth realized the extent of the damage Jo caused when she crashed (and by crashed, I mean Jo thought it would be a brilliant idea to pile drive Elizabeth into her bed) atop her huge princess bed. Before the crash, Elizabeth's bed stood no less than two and half feet off the ground. One of her risers had completely broken, and her box spring had been torn. The frame work of the bed had popped out of it's socket slots, so the whole ordeal was really quite a mess. The two of us unsuccessfully tried to fix the situation and gave up after Elizabeth gashed her leg open on her bed. . Elizabeth's bed is fairly ancient so of course she starts shouting about how she probably has tetanus. As we tried to move frames and drawers out of the way in order to simply lie her box spring and mattress flat on the ground, Elizabeth's computer charger cord snapped leaving a metal object (computer illiterate remember?) stuck in the charger hole. Elizabeth was finally able to wrestle the metal object out of the hole, but now the thought of buying an expensive charger weighed on her mind. When we finally got around to attempting to clean her wound, of course no one in the apartment had the proper supplies to clean and bandage the gash so off to Walgreens we went all the while Elizabeth's leg is bleeding. At Walgreens, I purchased some Oreos and milk in hopes that they would ease her pain, but the second Elizabeth approached me, my phone fell from my hands causing the battery to fall out and my screen to crack. "See you shouldn't even come near me today! I'm a walking accident and now it's rubbing off on you!" exclaimed a disheartened and frustrated Elizabeth.
When we returned, Cherry came to the apartment in order to hull most of my belongings to the storage unit. Elizabeth at this point was scared to leave the house again, so Cherry and I played a little tetris and squeezed all of my things into her tiny little Spyder Elicipse. While I drove us to the storage unit, two cars almost hit us forcing me to honk the horn several times throughout the trip. It's called a turn signal people. And another thing, when someone is driving roughly fifty miles an hour it is NOT EVER wise to try and cut them off. Use your heads you crazy, dangerous drivers! I had to turn around twice, because I had missed the turns to the storage unit since I had never been there before and Cherry had only been there once before.
Still crabby about her total misunderstanding of my pie comments from the Chicago trip, Cherry was determined to make a cherry pie (haha Cherry wanted cherry pie. Fun fact: Cherry doesn't actually like cherries. The only time she even likes cherries is when they are in cherry pie.) After the storage unit we went to Walmart to pick up ingredients. We weren't looking to win a pie contest, so we simply purchased a can of cherry pie filling and boxed pie crust (it can be found next to the cookie dough and whatnot). Cherry also purchased peas and a roasted chicken and ate dinner across the street with Rhett. We walked into the apartment to find Elizabeth lighting a candle on the kitchen table. "What are you thinking?! It is not wise to light a candle in this apartment while I'm here! You know my history with candles in this apartment, crazy lady, and at the rate today's been going who knows what will happen!" (Last semester I knocked over a lit candle in the apartment spilling wax all into the carpet. Earlier this summer, I knocked Sandy's tea candle off the kitchen table and shattered it to pieces. Candles and I just don't get along in Apartment 22.)
While Cherry and Rhett ate dinner, Elizabeth and I watched the season finale of The Bachelorette . Let me just tell you how upset I am with Miss Ali. HOW IN THE HECK COULD SHE PICK ROBERTO?! I mean sure he's super hot and looks good in baseball pants, but I mean really?! Chris was OBVIOUSLY the perfect pick! I mean she could really have had her wonderful fairy tale marriage with him! He was such a sweetheart, and I'm just beyond upset that Ali didn't pick him! Ugh! What could she possibly have been thinking? I hate her. Team Chris all the way! Whoot! Whoot! Cherry came back to make pie right as I was screaming at the TV about how much I hated this Ali lady. About this time, Elizabeth started getting ready to go out with friends from work while Cherry and I realized we did not have a pie pan and needed to get one.
Of course like an idiot I suggest we go to Walgreens. On our way there something started spraying my leg. A can in the 12 pack of RC Sam had bought earlier at Walmart had busted and started soaking my leg, the floor, and the passengers seat of Cherry's car. It took a few minutes, but I finally found the busted can and threw it out. Not even three minutes later I started to feel the same spraying. ANOTHER can had busted and started spraying EVERYWHERE. We pulled over to inspect all of the other cans/throw them in the backseat. I was beyond sticky with RC; it was ridiculous. Let's just say RC will not be receiving purchases from me anytime soon. After searching Walgreens high and low no pie pans were discovered. Cherry and I then drove all the way out to the Walmart on State Road 26 -- a solid ten minutes off campus. We figured since we were at Walgreens we were practically half way there (turns out we weren't, but hey, you live and you learn right?) We quickly found and purchased a pie pan.
Once at the apartment, I discovered Elizabeth in her pjs attempting to fix her glasses. I was confused as to why she wasn't going out. She simply responded by saying she just in the mood, everything had gone wrong today, she broke her glasses, and she didn't feel well either. As Cherry and I continued to make the pie we realized something -- one can of pie filling was not enough. Unable to turn back now from our pie making plans since the ingredients were already out and open, Cherry and I made, yet again, ANOTHER Walmart trip. I swear Walmart would go out of business if it weren't for my friends and I. Setting the record for the shortest Walmart trip in history, Cherry and I were in and out before anyone even knew we were there.
Back at the apartment, the final can of pie filling was added to the crust. Cherry had been preheating the oven, so everything was ready to go. After about forty-five minutes, Cherry poked her head into the oven to check the pie. "Does this oven even work? Do you have to press a special button or something? The pie isn't even cooked!" (mind you, she said all of this and it's about midnight which is her bedtime since she gets up so early for work.) Cherry, being the Betty Crocker/Paula Deen/Julia Child that she is, didn't even turn on the oven at all. The pie had simply been sitting in a cold oven for over a half an hour.
As Elizabeth, Cherry, and I waited for the pie to cook (Elizabeth and I both triple checked that the oven was actually on this time) Elizabeth started playing with the wax from the lit candle. Of course she ended up burning her hand completely. Not learning her lesson and continuing to play in the candle wax, Elizabeth ended up spilling the wax all on the table, chair, her leg, and her shorts (For once I wasn't the one to cause a total candle disaster...which is very surprising considering I'm a huge klutz when it comes to stuff like that, but anyway...) . There really weren't many words to exchange in response to that occurrence; it was just one of those days, and these three musketeers were feeling each others' pain. While discussing plans and ideas which would finish our summer with a bang (including setting up Cherry with Elizabeth's cousin ; ) haha ) the pie was finally (sort of, the top was still slightly doughy in some parts) done. Elizabeth scooped us all out a slice of pie, and the three of us gobbled them up quickly while Cherry looked up lyrics to 'Sweet Cherry Pie' because everyone knows our cherry pie tastes so good it'd make a grown man cry.
After this, Elizabeth finally retired to her not so tall anymore princess bed to fall asleep (I'm convinced that at some point tonight she will come screaming into the living room because her frame and head board fell on her or something awful.). Cherry and I proceeded to pull out the futon into bed form. For some reason, however, this normally simple task became complicated. We could not figure out why the futon frame would not pull out. After looking at the back of the frame and discovering a crooked alignment, Cherry and I removed the futon mattress and discovered two screws had fallen out of the frame. Being the handy girls we are, I immediately searched the tool box for a Phillips head screwdriver, while Cherry aligned the screws in the holes. Even though it wasn't perfect, Cherry and I managed to get the screws in the futon frame and fold it out into a bed. While I retrieved pillows from Elizabeth's room, I retold her the futon fiasco. Her immediate response was to throw a pillow on top of her head and speak into it. She then warned me to check the stove and all the locks again because with our luck a fire would ensue and engulf the entire apartment tonight.
I have checked the locks and the stove several times;for now everything seems to be in working order and safely shut off. Hopefully tomorrow our little trio will experience a day free from Murphy's Law.
All My Love,
Koya = )
Rhett Butler - Gone With the Wind
Driving Miss Cherry
Back in March, Cherry watched her baby aka her Sunfire get towed away. A man in a truck rear ended her, consequently, totaling her car. Unfortunately for Cherry, that day she was driving without insurance on her vehicle. This accident caused a huge bump in the road for our wonderful friend. Not only did she not have a car or a way to work, her license was suspended until September, and it would be a long time before she saw a dime of insurance money from the man who totaled her car.
For months Cherry had made plans to get a new car. She discussed going to a car auction with her boss at the beach (who is actually more like her father than a boss), and she checked Craig's List religiously (Cherry really is the master of Craig's List...I swear she is always on there looking to buy or sell something!). It wasn't until last Monday that Miss Cherry had anything to show for all her looking and researching. Her insurance check had finally arrived roughly two weeks before, and she was about to purchase the biggest bang for her buck: a grayish blue '97 Spyder Eclipse. I mean sure it sounds old right? Let me just tell you that this car only has 75,000 miles on it which is pretty good if you ask me. I mean I really don't know anything about cars, but I know that 75,000 miles is pretty low for a car that has been vrooming since 1997. That was thirteen years ago! Can you believe that?! Shoot time sure does fly...but anyway back to Cherry and her Spyder...
Rhett (Cherry's ex-boyfriend, they are still on good terms), Cherry, and I drove to look at the Spyder last Monday. We had to drive over an hour and twenty minutes to reach Greencastle in order to look at the car. I studied most of the way there and part of the way back since I had an exam the next day (which I got a 99% on I might add = ) ). When we arrived at the local Walmart, the three of us started checking out the car. It was beautiful! There is some body damage on the passenger's side, and the two back tires need to be changed before winter. The convertible doesn't have AC, but the top goes down manually since the motor to operate the top needs a new belt. Overall the car was kept in decent shape and with some money put into it, the car will make a sweet, sweet ride. Since we didn't have cash, we were unable to take the car until the check went through. Disappointed but still excited for later in the week, the three of us drove back to West Lafayette empty handed, but with the promise that the seller would meet us in Crawfordsville (half way point).
Now as you may have read in the 'Road Trip! Road Trip! Road Trip!' blog entry, Cherry, Elizabeth, Jo, and I all took an impromptu trip to Chicago, and we left Thursday night. Well right after Cherry left work Thursday, Rhett;Cherry; and I made the long drive down to Greencastle in order to retrieve her car since the seller who promised to meet us in Crawfordsville discovered everyone was "busy" (I'm still bitter about this if you can't tell...). The seller instructed us to come to their house in order to pick up the car; however, the seller completely failed to mention that they lived in literally the middle of no where. I mean I grew up in Green County, so I know what the middle of no where is, and even I was surprised by how out in the middle of no where this house was. With that said, Cherry who had been in a depressive funk the night before was all smiley and giggly once we got the car. Since the car didn't have plate yet, Rhett drove the Spyder back to West Lafayette while I drove Rhett's Mustang. Cherry and I thought the man was going to have a heart attack since someone else was driving his baby.
Now we fast forward to Saturday--the day we returned from Chicago and put plates on Cherry's car. Neither Cherry nor I knew where/how to get to the BMV in Lafayette, so again we were forced to use Cherry's confusing GPS on her IPhone. Jo let us borrow her car and off we went. Unfortunately, Mother Nature decided it would be hilarious if it started completely pouring down rain while Cherry and I struggled to find our way to license branch. An hour, four wrong turns, and two soaked outfits later, Cherry and I returned successfully with her new plates. When we went to her car with a flat head screw driver and the new plates, we discovered an unfortunate occurrence. Cherry's back left rim was almost touching the ground it was so low on air. The seller had mentioned that the car needed two back tires, but I suppose we were unaware that they needed to be replaced within the week.
Worried about how we were going to fix everything before we needed to leave for Green County to get Cherry to work on time at the beach, Cherry called her boss. Daddy Warbucks, Cherry's boss, told us to purchase Fix-A-Flat. Cherry and I walked to the nearest gas station located on the corner of Stadium and Northwestern (unfortunately, it's a BP gas station = / ). Let me just tell you something: Fix-A-Flat ROCKS! I'm a total and complete supporter of this product. Not only does it fill up your tire for a compact car completely, but also releases a sealant. Immediately after filling your tire with air, drive it two to four miles in order to allow the sealant to cover the inside edges of the tire completely hopefully stopping the leak. This Fix-A-Flat stuff has saved this back tire for now --at least until winter.
We left for Green County around 3:30 Lafayette time, and so the adventures of driving Miss Cherry officially began. Our first goal? Figuring out exactly how to change the radio station was our first task. The seller ranted and raved about how wonderful the stereo and sound system were in the car. Our discover? We have for sure seen better, and we would for sure NOT classify it as wonderful. I mean we couldn't even figure out how to change the radio station or even work the CD player. It doesn't take a genius to figure out those things, and together we make a pretty fairly intelligent pair. Seriously, it's the dumbest and most confusing radio/CD player set up ever. I mean come on! It doesn't even have a seek button to traverse through the different radio stations! I don't think Cherry and I could have had worse luck. We pressed every button and every combination of the buttons yet still, NOTHING! Yet, for some reason, though Cherry and I could not figure it out ourselves, Rhett, being a car crazy male like he is, was immediately able to figure out how to operate each! Dumbfounded and slightly annoyed, Cherry politely thanked Rhett for his insight into the workings of her new, mysterious car.
When Cherry and I arrived at the beach, Daddy Warbucks and Joe were sitting at the gate taking five dollars a person as an entry fee to the popular summer hang out. I went inside the cafe in order to finish some engineering homework while Daddy Warbucks and Joe checked out Cherry's new ride. They all immediately started detailing the Spyder and giving Cherry advice on how to fix the little odds and ends that are wrong with the vehicle.
"Now Sunshine," explains Joe with his classic Chicago accent. 'Sunshine' is what Joe calls Cherry. Joe has a house on the lake and spends all of his summer weekends on the beach with Daddy Warbucks. "You see that side button on the gear shift? That there is the over drive. It's sort of like a fourth gear. It'll drop your rpms by about half if you use it when you are going about 45mph over the speed limit."
When Cherry got off work, the two of us went to Joe's lake side house. Joe began oiling the hinges on the convertible top and doors. He taught us how to check the pressure in the tires, check the oil (both motor and transmission), and how to check the antifreeze. Since both Cherry and I aren't exactly geniuses when it comes to cars, Joe's lessons were really helpful. I think it's important for everyone to have at least a simple basic knowledge on how to care for your car when it comes to things like checking the oil and changing a flat. It will help extend the life of your vehicle as well as get you out of some sticky situations. No one likes to be that person stuck on the side of the road because they have no idea how to change a flat. Don't let that person be you!
From there I drove Cherry and I to a friend's house for an extremely lame get together. Both of us were exhausted, so we left fairly early. I believe it's safe to say that I have driven Cherry's car more than she has. Until September 4th rolls around I'm sure I'll be driving it a lot more. I've driven Cherry to and from work both in West Lafayette and Green County. Occasionally it's a pain and physically exhausting to get up at 7:45am to get her to work by 8am, but I would never not do it. Cherry is my best friend and will always be my best friend. I'd take a bullet for that girl so waking up to drive a few miles is really nbd, no big deal! Every mile I drive her is an adventure for both of us. We are constantly talking and singing way too loud (well...at least I'm always singing WAY too loud lol ) to the radio or cd all the while continually getting to know one another as our friendship continually grows down the winding roads. There is still a lot of road left for Cherry to travel in her life, and I'll be there for her whether the road is full of pot holes or freshly paved. Most of the time, I'll be in the passenger or back seat, but for now I'll be driving Miss Cherry and enjoying our time together as always.
All My Love,
Koya = )
Daddy Warbucks -- Annie
Joe Boyd -- Damn Yankees
For months Cherry had made plans to get a new car. She discussed going to a car auction with her boss at the beach (who is actually more like her father than a boss), and she checked Craig's List religiously (Cherry really is the master of Craig's List...I swear she is always on there looking to buy or sell something!). It wasn't until last Monday that Miss Cherry had anything to show for all her looking and researching. Her insurance check had finally arrived roughly two weeks before, and she was about to purchase the biggest bang for her buck: a grayish blue '97 Spyder Eclipse. I mean sure it sounds old right? Let me just tell you that this car only has 75,000 miles on it which is pretty good if you ask me. I mean I really don't know anything about cars, but I know that 75,000 miles is pretty low for a car that has been vrooming since 1997. That was thirteen years ago! Can you believe that?! Shoot time sure does fly...but anyway back to Cherry and her Spyder...
Rhett (Cherry's ex-boyfriend, they are still on good terms), Cherry, and I drove to look at the Spyder last Monday. We had to drive over an hour and twenty minutes to reach Greencastle in order to look at the car. I studied most of the way there and part of the way back since I had an exam the next day (which I got a 99% on I might add = ) ). When we arrived at the local Walmart, the three of us started checking out the car. It was beautiful! There is some body damage on the passenger's side, and the two back tires need to be changed before winter. The convertible doesn't have AC, but the top goes down manually since the motor to operate the top needs a new belt. Overall the car was kept in decent shape and with some money put into it, the car will make a sweet, sweet ride. Since we didn't have cash, we were unable to take the car until the check went through. Disappointed but still excited for later in the week, the three of us drove back to West Lafayette empty handed, but with the promise that the seller would meet us in Crawfordsville (half way point).
Now as you may have read in the 'Road Trip! Road Trip! Road Trip!' blog entry, Cherry, Elizabeth, Jo, and I all took an impromptu trip to Chicago, and we left Thursday night. Well right after Cherry left work Thursday, Rhett;Cherry; and I made the long drive down to Greencastle in order to retrieve her car since the seller who promised to meet us in Crawfordsville discovered everyone was "busy" (I'm still bitter about this if you can't tell...). The seller instructed us to come to their house in order to pick up the car; however, the seller completely failed to mention that they lived in literally the middle of no where. I mean I grew up in Green County, so I know what the middle of no where is, and even I was surprised by how out in the middle of no where this house was. With that said, Cherry who had been in a depressive funk the night before was all smiley and giggly once we got the car. Since the car didn't have plate yet, Rhett drove the Spyder back to West Lafayette while I drove Rhett's Mustang. Cherry and I thought the man was going to have a heart attack since someone else was driving his baby.
Now we fast forward to Saturday--the day we returned from Chicago and put plates on Cherry's car. Neither Cherry nor I knew where/how to get to the BMV in Lafayette, so again we were forced to use Cherry's confusing GPS on her IPhone. Jo let us borrow her car and off we went. Unfortunately, Mother Nature decided it would be hilarious if it started completely pouring down rain while Cherry and I struggled to find our way to license branch. An hour, four wrong turns, and two soaked outfits later, Cherry and I returned successfully with her new plates. When we went to her car with a flat head screw driver and the new plates, we discovered an unfortunate occurrence. Cherry's back left rim was almost touching the ground it was so low on air. The seller had mentioned that the car needed two back tires, but I suppose we were unaware that they needed to be replaced within the week.
Worried about how we were going to fix everything before we needed to leave for Green County to get Cherry to work on time at the beach, Cherry called her boss. Daddy Warbucks, Cherry's boss, told us to purchase Fix-A-Flat. Cherry and I walked to the nearest gas station located on the corner of Stadium and Northwestern (unfortunately, it's a BP gas station = / ). Let me just tell you something: Fix-A-Flat ROCKS! I'm a total and complete supporter of this product. Not only does it fill up your tire for a compact car completely, but also releases a sealant. Immediately after filling your tire with air, drive it two to four miles in order to allow the sealant to cover the inside edges of the tire completely hopefully stopping the leak. This Fix-A-Flat stuff has saved this back tire for now --at least until winter.
We left for Green County around 3:30 Lafayette time, and so the adventures of driving Miss Cherry officially began. Our first goal? Figuring out exactly how to change the radio station was our first task. The seller ranted and raved about how wonderful the stereo and sound system were in the car. Our discover? We have for sure seen better, and we would for sure NOT classify it as wonderful. I mean we couldn't even figure out how to change the radio station or even work the CD player. It doesn't take a genius to figure out those things, and together we make a pretty fairly intelligent pair. Seriously, it's the dumbest and most confusing radio/CD player set up ever. I mean come on! It doesn't even have a seek button to traverse through the different radio stations! I don't think Cherry and I could have had worse luck. We pressed every button and every combination of the buttons yet still, NOTHING! Yet, for some reason, though Cherry and I could not figure it out ourselves, Rhett, being a car crazy male like he is, was immediately able to figure out how to operate each! Dumbfounded and slightly annoyed, Cherry politely thanked Rhett for his insight into the workings of her new, mysterious car.
When Cherry and I arrived at the beach, Daddy Warbucks and Joe were sitting at the gate taking five dollars a person as an entry fee to the popular summer hang out. I went inside the cafe in order to finish some engineering homework while Daddy Warbucks and Joe checked out Cherry's new ride. They all immediately started detailing the Spyder and giving Cherry advice on how to fix the little odds and ends that are wrong with the vehicle.
"Now Sunshine," explains Joe with his classic Chicago accent. 'Sunshine' is what Joe calls Cherry. Joe has a house on the lake and spends all of his summer weekends on the beach with Daddy Warbucks. "You see that side button on the gear shift? That there is the over drive. It's sort of like a fourth gear. It'll drop your rpms by about half if you use it when you are going about 45mph over the speed limit."
When Cherry got off work, the two of us went to Joe's lake side house. Joe began oiling the hinges on the convertible top and doors. He taught us how to check the pressure in the tires, check the oil (both motor and transmission), and how to check the antifreeze. Since both Cherry and I aren't exactly geniuses when it comes to cars, Joe's lessons were really helpful. I think it's important for everyone to have at least a simple basic knowledge on how to care for your car when it comes to things like checking the oil and changing a flat. It will help extend the life of your vehicle as well as get you out of some sticky situations. No one likes to be that person stuck on the side of the road because they have no idea how to change a flat. Don't let that person be you!
From there I drove Cherry and I to a friend's house for an extremely lame get together. Both of us were exhausted, so we left fairly early. I believe it's safe to say that I have driven Cherry's car more than she has. Until September 4th rolls around I'm sure I'll be driving it a lot more. I've driven Cherry to and from work both in West Lafayette and Green County. Occasionally it's a pain and physically exhausting to get up at 7:45am to get her to work by 8am, but I would never not do it. Cherry is my best friend and will always be my best friend. I'd take a bullet for that girl so waking up to drive a few miles is really nbd, no big deal! Every mile I drive her is an adventure for both of us. We are constantly talking and singing way too loud (well...at least I'm always singing WAY too loud lol ) to the radio or cd all the while continually getting to know one another as our friendship continually grows down the winding roads. There is still a lot of road left for Cherry to travel in her life, and I'll be there for her whether the road is full of pot holes or freshly paved. Most of the time, I'll be in the passenger or back seat, but for now I'll be driving Miss Cherry and enjoying our time together as always.
All My Love,
Koya = )
Daddy Warbucks -- Annie
Joe Boyd -- Damn Yankees
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