Also...

I like making fun of things with Megan. It makes my heart happy.

We Got It!

We got the apartment! I think we can move in whenever we want, which is fantastic, because our contract ends on August 15. And because now my family can see it when they come up to drop Daniel off at the MTC. Which, by the way, is less than a week from today! Crazy! I can't believe they'll be here that soon, and I also can't believe Daniel's going to be leaving so soon! Anyway, so we have an apartment, my family will be here on Tuesday, oh and we have no furniture! That's the other fun thing. We own one couch, one entertainment center, and one tv. No bed, no mattress, no dresser (which will be interesting because our new apartment has no closet in the bedroom), no kitchen table... none of it. We are pretty much going to be the Swiss Family Robinson. :)

pictures

These are the pictures we took of the apartment we're hoping to get. They called my work last night while I was there, so I'm hoping that means we get it! We're hoping they'll call today. Anyway here are the pictures... keep your fingers crossed for us!

apartment woes

I am tired of looking for apartments in the valley. Most things are super expensive or super dumpy, and we can't afford the former and don't want the latter. And I'm a little tired of being here, in a college town particularly. I want to start looking for apartments in Texas. I think I will.

I feel like posting all of my random comments separately today...

Something else that must go:

Orem apartment for rent

Pleasant Grove, UT 84062

2 Bedroom American Fork Apartment

Heber, UT 84032

WELL? Make up your mind, where is it?

Grr.

Remember my Things That Must Go post, with the stupid couples advertising themselves in the section where I'm looking for an apartment?

I'm looking right now. My first page of results: six actual apartments. NINE listings from people looking for apartments. It is really annoying.

Is Barack Obama a Muslim?

I saw this on Megan's blog and it made me giggle.

Is Barack Obama a Muslim? Click here to finally find out!

hee hee

Food... and Other Things

Well I haven't quite figured out yet how to take really good pictures of food, so these don't look quite as appetizing as they really were. In any case, I have to brag a little bit about this sandwich. I hate to say so myself, but I make amazing sandwiches. They're one of my favorite things to eat, so I've experimented a lot with different things and found some really good combinations. The basic ingredients are turkey (two layers, one touching each piece of bread with the other ingredients in between), lettuce, tomatoes, onions, and cheddar cheese. There are lots of variants--this one has cucumbers, salt, pepper, and a Garden Vegetable cream cheese spread. I usually prefer avocado; sometimes I also do a mustard and mayo mix, but I usually only do that for Mike. He's also the one who prefers the cream cheese. I've put pickles on it for him before (I prefer the cucumbers), and sometimes I put ham in addition to the turkey. I'm thinking soon I'll try it with different kinds of cheese; I've only used cheddar before because that's my favorite, but I'm thinking it could be really good with provolone or something. There's also French bread vs. regular bread; Mike loves French bread with a crunchy crust, and I like the kinds that are super soft. This one's on regular bread, which I prefer to crunchy French. Anyway, there you have it. This other one is a Campbell's recipe I've been meaning to try. You just put 3/4 c uncooked rice, a can of cream of chicken soup, 1 1/3 c water, some frozen vegetables, 3/4 tsp onion powder, and 1/4 tsp ground pepper in a casserole dish, put chicken breasts on top, and bake for 50 minutes (or a little longer if you forget to cover it, like I did). Then when you pull it out you put cheese on top, let it sit/melt for ten minutes, and eat it! It's really good and you should try it.

On to the other things. Lindsey texted me earlier and we were talking about her singles ward. My thoughts that ensued: I wish I could sit down with some of the General Authorities and hear them talk about singles wards, because the more I think about them the less I understand them. It seems a little weird to me that where you go to church should have something to do with your age and marital status... I understand single adult activities, of course, because those are meant to be social, but the actual church services... I don't know. Maybe five years of Provo student wards has made me overly cynical, but I think singles wards have a general tendency to cause mostly stress. In my experience, everything from what you wear to who you sit with to the comments you make in class becomes a huge deal, more about how it looks to everyone else than anything. Sure, it can be fun, but... well, that's not really what it's about, is it? I can tell you right now that I spent many a sacrament meeting making fun of the speakers with Curt or Megan, Sunday School flirting with whoever I was sitting by, and Relief Society writing love notes to the girls or writing notes with my friends/roommates. And don't get me wrong, I'm not saying that I'd do anything differently now if I was in singles ward again; I'm just saying that's how it was, and I sure wasn't the only one. Anyway, it's just something I was thinking about. I don't really understand, and I don't suppose I can be sure I ever will.

And now our final Other Thing. Mike and I went to Rock Canyon Park and I took some beautiful pictures. Here they are.

The Disney Channel has an interesting view of adults.

Why are these people always insane, irrational, eccentric, or just generally ridiculous?

In case you don't know, here's who they are: The woman on the top is Ms. Darbus, the drama teacher from High School Musical. Next are the parents from Lizzie McGuire (and look at the dad's face). I'm not sure exactly who the next person is; all I know is that the show is iCarly, and that the guy with the arrow pointing to him is the oldest in their group and is insane. The fourth one is the drama teacher from Confessions of a Teenage Drama Queen. She is also nuts, and incompetent.


Also, on a completely unrelated note, here's something I need help with. I'm trying to identify a movie that I'm 95% sure is a romantic comedy. All I can remember is that there's a scene at the end where the guy is going back to get the girl he thinks he's lost, goes to her house, and there's a wedding there. He thinks it's hers, but it turns out it's her brother's... And either he or the girl runs into a glass door. (Actually, now that I think about it it's possible that it's the other way around, and the girl is going to try and find the guy and his brother's getting married...) Anyway I can't think of what it is, and my mom, Mike, Dan and Candice all think it sounds really familiar but can't remember either. So please help! What is that movie?

People I Love to Watch

Nicole Kidman. Movies I like: the Interpreter, the Stepford Wives, the Invasion, the Golden Compass, Moulin Rouge!, Batman Forever, Far and Away, the Others. Movies I want to see: the Hours, the Portrait of a Lady.


Sandra Bullock. Movies I like: Two Weeks Notice, Miss Congeniality, While You Were Sleeping, the Lake House. Movies I didn't like: Premonition, Divine Secrets of the Ya-Ya Sisterhood. Movies I want to see: Crash and Practical Magic (I've seen Practical Magic but it was years ago).


Julia Roberts. Movies I like: Stepmom, the Oceans movies, Runaway Bride, Notting Hill, My Best Friend's Wedding, Hook, Steel Magnolias, Pretty Woman, America's Sweethearts. (Movies I haven't seen but want to: the Pelican Brief, Sleeping with the Enemy.)


Emma Thompson. Movies I like: Much Ado About Nothing, Love Actually, Sense and Sensibility, Stranger than Fiction, Harry Potter. Want to see Henry V, Howards End and Nanny McPhee.


Alan Rickman. Movies I like: Harry Potter, Love Actually, Sense and Sensibility, Die Hard. Movies I need to see/see again now that I know he's in them: Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves, Galaxy Quest, the Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy.


John Cusack. Movies I like: Runaway Jury, Must Love Dogs, Serendipity, Better Off Dead, Say Anything, High Fidelity, America's Sweethearts (sort of). Movies I want to see: 1408, Martian Child, Sixteen Candles.


Reese Witherspoon. Movies I like: Sweet Home Alabama, Just Like Heaven, Penelope, Legally Blonde, the Importance of Being Earnest. Movies I didn't like: Walk the Line, Fear. Movie I want to see: Vanity Fair.


Rupert Everett. Movies I like: the Importance of Being Earnest, an Ideal Husband, My Best Friend's Wedding, Stardust, a Midsummer Night's Dream, Dunston Checks In. Movie I want to see: Shakespeare in Love.



Others I might do at some point when I feel like looking them up: Michael Caine, Liam Neeson, Hugh Grant, Christian Bale, Johnny Depp, Julie Andrews, Jimmy Stewart, Gene Kelly, Gerard Butler, Peter Sellers.

The Stepford Wives

We found this movie at Walmart tonight for five dollars. I got irrationally excited when we found it, so naturally we had to watch it tonight (especially since Mike had never seen it). I forgot that I actually really like this movie! It's pretty exciting and I love the soundtrack. So now the question is, when am I going to see the original? Megan and I caught the last minute or so of it on TV a few months ago and wanted to watch it, but we never did; and actually Mike and I checked it out from the library a few weeks ago, but we never got around to watching it. Maybe it'll be easier to get him excited for it now that he's seen this version of it. I've heard the original is much scarier, so that should be exciting! I'll let you know what I think when we do watch it. In other news, Secondhand Lions was also on the five dollar shelf. Gotta love it.

Jerkface Alert

If you see this person, please kick his face and tell him it's from me.

Fast Food Review

Taco Bell's Frutista Freeze is not yummy. Perhaps I should have known this (or perhaps I should have paid attention to the part on the sign where it said "product contains no fruit juice") but I was sadly disappointed. Too, too sweet and fake tasting. No bueno and thumbs down.

However. Wendy's has a new coffee cake muffin, which is mucho yummy. Thumbs up for that. However, a word of caution: Their muffins, while delicious, smell really strongly and that smell gets on your other food if you leave them in the bag together, making your burgers/chicken nuggets/whatever taste like muffin. So if you don't want that to happen, take the muffin out as soon as you get it (it comes in a little box like the chicken nuggets).

Teen Girl Squad Quote

The Ugly One: Ow, my the fact that I was alive a second ago! [dies] 
So-and-So: I’ll go notify her next of… fruit cup. [to fruit cup] I’m so sorry to have to tell you this… 
Cheerleader: Stop talking to fruit!

Ok, so... Things.

1. Fruity Cheerios look like Fruit Loops on the box, but are actually very tiny inside the bag. Also they taste kind of like Trix.

2. Hellboy II: The Golden Army is a terrible movie. The thing is, I actually kind of like the story and the Hellboy character; I didn't see the first one, and I haven't read the comic books or anything, so this was my first exposure. But the girl characters are awful; the script for all of them is appalling; and I was so annoyed by the C3P0 character with gills, which is essentially what he was. Also the German robot guy... mucho irritating. Lame, lame, lame movie all around. Don't bother unless you're really a fan already, in which case I'm sure it won't bother you.

3. There are like three thousand different kinds of Cheerios now. It's kind of funny.

4. Mike and I have an apartment! We got a phone call saying we were approved from one while we were at Bear Lake, so we were really excited about that. But then yesterday, we were going through Mike's voicemail messages and discovered another one that was letting us know we were approved for a different apartment! We made a pros and cons list: they're exactly the same price, and the one we want has air conditioning instead of a swamp cooler, it's upstairs, and it's much nicer on the inside than the other, which was kind of ugly. So yay! I'll post pictures and more details as soon as I can.

5. We went to Bear Lake! I shall post some pictures. First we went to the Hill Aerospace Museum on the way up. Those will be the pictures with the planes. :D Then there are the Bear Lake pictures. We stayed in a cabin owned by the same company as the condo we stayed at in St. George (Bob and Brenda set it up with their timeshare). It was quite a squeeze at first, finding a place for everyone, but with five bedrooms, a loft, and a living room, we were able to work it out quite nicely. The first night we went to the pizza place, and then everyone just kind of went to their own rooms to go to sleep. Tuesday we spent a day at the lake, which was fantastic and only Liz actually got sunburned, so that was good. Then we went to a show at the Pickleville Playhouse, which was hilarious. Super, super funny. The next day we went to Minnetonka Cave in Idaho, which ended up taking the entire day because we got there two and a half hours before the next tour started. We went out to eat that night, at just about the only for real restaurant in Garden City, which was really yummy. And then the next day we stopped at the lake again on our way out, just to put our toes in for a little while. We went home a different way than we'd come, so that we could go through Wyoming and see the buffalo at the Bear River State Park, like we did last year. And then we got home around 4 in the afternoon and we were glad to be back! So that's all. The end. Now pictures.










5. We don't really have that apartment. We just called the dumb guy and found out that because we "took so long to get back to him"--we're not sure if this has something to do with our phones being out of range for parts of the trip or not, but we didn't get his message until last night, and we called him back right then--he gave ours to other people, and the only one left is the crappy one on the bottom that is the worst of all four of the ones we saw. So. We're going to try for the Sara Circle one, which was the other we were also approved for; those people knew we were out of town until Thursday, so maybe they didn't just give them all away. We'll see.