Crazies here there and everywhere!

I run across all sorts of people in my line of work. That's probably because I work in the mall. There are a couple instances in which my desire to give superior customer service has faltered to my desire to bludgeon people instead. Unfortunately, I have never acted on the compulsion, but I am becoming increasingly more volatile. We'll see how the day goes.

I work at a little cinnamon roll shop at the mall. Most customers are pretty predictable. We get the geriatric crowd that is ever-present at the mall. They always want the bites, which are our miniature cinnamon rolls about 1" in diameter. They are sold in a pack of four, but usually the old ladies want one or two. That's sort of annoying, but it happens all the time.

On one particular day when I was already agitated because of the shoddy closing job a fellow employee had done the night before, I got one such old lady. She wanted a single bite. Fantastic. I rang her up, she paid the whopping $.69 and she pointed out which bite she wanted. I grabbed it for her and put it on a plate and handed it to her. She looked at it and told me it was too small. Wow. Really, lady? So I assured her that they were all the same size, which is entirely true. We make most things from scratch here, but not the bites. Too much of a pain. They get shipped raw and frozen to us, in all their consistent factory-made glory. However she insisted that her bite, the very one she first demanded that she must have, was much too small. I am not sure what exactly she was expecting, seeing as they are called bites. She handed the plate with the original bite on it to me. I chucked it in the garbage. She was appalled. "I didn't even touch it!" I tried explaining to her that in no way is it okay for me to serve out a food item and then put it back in the case for another customer to buy. That didn't make a lot of sense to her since, after all, she hadn't even touched it. I finally got her bite that was sized to her liking and bid farewell and good riddance to her. I know, she wasn't that bad, but for some reason that has left me seething and rolling my eyes. However, it gets worse.

One evening I was closing up. There is a movie theater in the mall, so people are still around after closing time. I had some things in the case that I was just going to have to throw out since we can't keep them for the next day. I was clearing those out when a man came up to me and offered to buy everything in the case if I would give him a good deal. That's fine with me! So I sold it all to him, and as I was collecting his food he said, "Oh, I'm sorry. I bet you were gonna take all of this home to your mom, huh? You're gonna have to call her and tell her you can't." Every time I tried to reply he would interrupt me with "Call your mom!" I know how one could easily mistake me for being a lot younger than I am. That's fine. But the fact that I am a junior in college, happily married, and unable to reply to his remarks due to his rude interruptions made me really mad. His tone was not as much playful banter as taunting. If I had had a gun I would've shot someone, but I don't know if it would've been him or me.

All well. New crazies every day. Most of the time crazies make me laugh. Sometimes they make me homicidal.

A synopsis of the last three months

Well, it has been a while. To make a long story short, we got married, we went on a honeymoon, and we still love each other. Ha.

Our wedding was beautiful. We only had a couple hangups:
1. my maid of honor got quite sick the night before and couldn't be there. That was hard for me.
2. my whole schedule went to crap. the whole family was anxious to leave the temple because of the drizzle that had started, so they all left after a few pictures and went to the luncheon. Dave and I didn't show up to our luncheon for another hour and a half.
3. This is connected to number 2, but not quite the same. Since there was a drizzle and a bunch of kids, no one wanted to take pictures at the temple. We don't have very many family pictures from the wedding. I should've just told everyone to suck it up because it was the only day we were going to get married and we wanted pictures, dangit. Alas, I didn't. I was feeling serene at that point instead of inflamatory. It actually stopped raining after everyone left. Go figure.
4. Dave and I got hardly any of our darn wedding refreshments! Why didn't we grab an entire cheesecake on the way out the door and to the love nest? I don't know. I will always regret that moment.

All things considered, the wedding day was fantastic. After a long hard day we retired to our pirate themed room at the Anniversary Inn. It was a pretty cool room. Since I had stayed up ALL NIGHT the night before (WHAT was I thinking?!?) I was so beat. I actually just fell asleep and I was so out of it that Dave went to Pizza Hut without me. Romantic, huh? It only took hours of being married to turn me into a big giant party pooper. I'm pretty sure this is an irreversible change.

The honeymoon was fun. We stayed the second night in a great condo in Vegas. They had a great pool, and it was really fun. We avoided the strip, which isn't very fun and just makes my feet hurt. We did decide that it was probably the only time on our honeymoon we'd have a full kitchen, so we went to walmart and got all the fixings for a great breakfast. It did turn out pretty darn great.

Next we headed to California. I thought I might die crossing through death valley. In California we went to Hollywood and walked through beverly hills, we went to the temple, we spent time at the beach, and we hung out. No, we did not go to disneyland or universal studios or sea world. At that moment in our financial lives I thought that going to a venue that was $200 for the two of us wasn't a prudent decision. We decided that it was better spent insuring that we didn't starve when we got home. I think it was a good decision. Dave did get quite sunburned at the beach, though. He was tomato red, and will never forget that I told him we probably wouldn't need sunscreen....I know. I'm a bad wife right from the start.

We eventually had to come back to real life. Now we basically spend most of our time apart. It's really hard. He spends time in Salt Lake for classes, and I spend my time working, and then reading novels for the rest of the day. It's a darn good thing the library is conveniently located near our house. We love our ward though, and we can't wait for callings. Married life is pretty great.

The New Digs

Here I am, keeping up my blog!The only problem is that I am getting married on Saturday and there are a whole lot of things that are more pressing than than throwing my two cents into the blogosphere today. And yet here I am.

Dave and I got the keys to our apartment this week. It is a little studio apartment in a house that was built in 1900. It has quite a lot of character. The layout is not ideal, but for what we're paying it is great. We live just off the main street, which is beautiful, but our neighborhood is a little questionable. Again, we are poor poor newlyweds and this will afford us MANY hilarious stories and wonderful memories, but I just will die if Dave ever leaves me home alone at night. Seriously. I might be killed. The hallway leading to our front door always seems to have an interesting smell. I can't quite put my finger on what it is. Fortunately I got a scentsy warmer for my bridal shower, so our abode smells clean, welcoming, and is quite the relief after walking through the hallway. I think beyond any other issue that may present itself, the largest one is that of the microwave. There is absolutely no room in this place for a microwave. We are thinking of putting up some shelving, so hopefully that will solve the problem. If not, we will have to actually PREPARE our food. Every time! No leftovers, no easy mac, no nachos. What's a college student to do??

The moral of the story is that I love my little apartment, and I am so excited to watch it transform into a little home. As soon as we get settled in you can expect an invitation to dinner at the manor.

Eloping sounds like a pretty good idea!

I am so lame. I am chronically ill. No matter how many times I say it or how many times I newly resolve to keep up a blog, inevitably it dwindles. Quite rapidly, actually. Today is the day I change that! Maybe...

Well, it has been approximately seventeen millions eons since the proposal. We are still very much in love. I would, however, like to have a chat with whoever came up with engagements. Yes, it was very fun to go shopping for my dress with my mom, my sister, and my best friend. Yes, it was fun (albeit wildly embarrassing) to have a bridal shower. Yes, it was also a good idea to have some time to organize the wedding, reception, luncheon, and honeymoon. These are all just small moments of the engagement though. The majority of the time I am grinding my teeth, glaring at happy married couples, and smooching. The smooching is fine. Seriously though, I just want to be married. I am so sick of waiting. I know many people outside of Utah stay engaged for a very long time. That is no bueno for me. It's not the physical aspect and limitations that make me want to be married. It's all the wonderful little things that I can't have now and that I can't wait for.

I want to come home every night to my sweet Dave so we can hold each other and either console or congratulate each other on the events of the day. I want to be a part of something more than myself and have a greater purpose than just my own survival. I want to fall asleep in his arms and see his face first thing in the morning (I do not, however, want him to breathe on me at any point during the night or in the morning. I'll have to take that hurdle as it comes). I want to get together with our married couple friends for game nights and dinners. We'll talk about our boring married things. I can't wait. I want to start saving for our first home. I want to be his mrs. I want to decorate our cheap little apartment. I want to be his wife. It's the marriage that I can't wait for, not the wedding.

Once upon a time...

Once upon a time in a land far away in a forest of Cedar Trees a young princess (me) went to discover a new world of learning (uh, college). Along the way this young princess learned many things, but she also learned many things about herself and grew. She made some friends, but also found out which were her real friends. As this went on she found a young man. That young man was so nice, but the princess could see that he needed some help. She spent many hours with him talking about everything, all of his troubles and worries and cares, and soon came to find that this was no ordinary young man, he was a prince.

This Prince's name was Dave and he had done many things in his life. He had done great things and had done some not so great things and learned those life lessons that each person seems to have to learn. This young princess knew that she had found something special and something wonderful in this prince. She often wondered how Prince Dave could be such a kind and wonderful and generous being, even after all the awful and horrible things he had seen in the cruel world. She loved that about him, and little did she know, she would soon come to love everything about him.

Prince Dave courted the princess for many months. They had so much fun together on quests and in the village that they soon were spending most of their time together. They found that there was nothing they'd rather be doing. The time was never dull, even if it was a small village they lived in, and even if gas prices limited their quests. It didn't matter. They didn't care. They hardly even noticed.

When the winter's chill made it necessary to return to their home kingdoms (christmas break) the prince and princess feared that they would not be able to see each other much because of the employment that the young prince held. However, gas prices went down just in time for the young prince to make many quests up to spend time with his princess.

On the eve of the yearly celebration of renewal (New Year's Eve) the prince and the princess had decided to save what little gold they had and allow the prince's sister and her family to buy them pizza and drinks. Then the prince suddenly came to the princess and said, "Princess, wouldst thou care to attend a small and cozy ball that mine own friend is holding this evening?" The princess replied that she would, but that she was embarrassed for her un-made face and that her clothes were not fit for such an occasion. The prince made her smile when he proclaimed, "One fairer than my love? The all-seeing sun ne'er saw her match since first the world begun." The prince and the princess then mounted his dark steed (his ford mustang) and rode toward the home of his friend.

During the ride the prince stopped. He told the princess to look up and behold the beauty of the valley that lay below them, shimmering in the night. He told the princess that back in the days of his boyhood he would oft come and sit here with his princely friends and dream up the lives they wished to have. Then he turned to again mount the steed. Before doing so he remembered something he "seemed" to have forgotten, and got on one knee to find it. The princess had heard of this ritual before. Many times when a young gentleman had the intent of asking a young lady for her hand in marriage he would do such a thing. The princess immediately began to sob, unable to control her overwhelming emotions. She too knelt down, much to the prince's dismay, so that she could hold him tightly. She had forgotten about the ceremonious ring. The prince had to remind her of it, and two shaking hands met. One to place the ring on, and one to do the placing. They rejoiced. And so far they have lived happily ever after. But it's only been a day, so the story obviously isn't over. It's at the very beginning.

The day my head exploded

I really really do understand that if you want to keep a secret, the best place for that secret is not on your blog on the world wide web. This isn't the best place for gossiping about people. I know this. But What I am doing is not gossiping. It is venting my frustrations to my friends in a very public way. I know that probably someday one of my roommates will stumble upon my blog and there will be heck to pay. All well. This is a necessary evil.

Just a little update. The week after thanksgiving was the worst week of my life. So much to do before the next week of finals! I was ridiculously stressed. I broke down in tears a couple times. I actually can't recall whether or not I ate that week. It was awful. The next week, finals, was sort of stressful, but not nearly as bad as the week before. I felt very relieved. I had done what I could and I could wash my hands of everything else.

On the Sunday after finals I was particularly cheery. Dave and I had gone on a wonderful snowy walk the night before and run into a pretty Episcopalian church tucked in a neighborhood a couple streets over from my apartment. We decided to go because lately Dave and I have been talking a lot about his mission (The Morristown New Jersey Mission) and the other churches he was exposed to there. I think it's really fascinating to go to other churches. Anyway, we attended this great Episcopalian service that was intriguing and then went to OUR church, which was fantastic, as always. At church I invited some friends over to have dinner that night. Like I said, I like to cook. After church Dave and I decided to watch City of Angels. I had never seen it in its entirety, but it sounded sort of Sunday-ish. While Dave and I were sitting on the couch in a very clean apartment my roommate came downstairs and on her way out the door stopped long enough to say, "You know Kaitlin, it's really annoying when you touch my shit." Quote. Exactly. At that point everything heavy in my life crashed down. I was laid off and now I'm out of work. I ended up spending $13 of my own money on apartment improvement products because we had inspection. Then I cleaned the whole apartment by myself. My roommate just told me, in a very rude way, that everything that I've been working hard to keep nice and hold my sanity together was unappreciated. And she didn't even give me a chance to say anything back.

Now for my fair and balanced argument. I can see how what I was doing could be annoying. You always have a new pile of crap on your bed, stuff is inconveniently located in your room, and as my roommate said in a text later it may feel like you "can't live in your own apartment." I can see all this. However, I still just can't agree. This is why. 1. The living room and the kitchen do not exist as private storage space. This is space that belongs to all five of us that pay rent. 2. When people come over they spend their time in the kitchen and the living room. It's so embarrassing to have that small space be so cluttered.

So after a good hour sobbing into Dave's shirt, making, hosting, and cleaning dinner, and going to see the Southern Utah Orchestra's rendition of Handel's Messiah I left my apartment that night and haven't gone back since. I know that it's not the solution, but I know enough about myself to know that I need to cool down or I will make things worse.That is exactly what I am doing. I was so distraught because with a single sentence my roommate threw away the peace that I had tip toed around all semester for in my apartment. And that is the moment that my head exploded.

Thanksgiving Hangover

Over the years I have discovered a few things about myself:
1. I revert back to my child ways whenever I am at my parents' house.
2. I can't think when it's messy (unless, of course, I am at my parents' house).
3. I have problems with authority. I quickly become irate when told what to do.
4. For all my feminist leanings, I really love to cook and clean and ensure that my apartment smells like apple cinnamon.
5. I really DON'T like tuna fish. Odd.
6. I feel the greatest sense of urgency to blog when I am particularly annoyed.

Which is, of course, the case today. I love my parents. I have such a profound sense of gratitude for their generosity, especially now that I am in college and I can't seem to support myself with the job that I have. I can't seem to find a second job either. So, I make approximately $200 a month. I am trying to save up for next semester, but I am also trying not to starve. These are both difficult things.

The issue of money is especially frustrating in my apartmentship. I make the least amount of money. I am positive about that. I only work seven hours a week and make less than eight dollars an hour. However I am always the one in my apartment that cleans and I have even spent my money at Robert's for decorations of our apartment when they have the 75% off sales. I also enjoy cooking, so many a time I have fed more than just myself. At one point in time I also bought a giant package of toilet paper to put in our bathroom. When we were out of handsoap I sacrificed my bath & body works soap for the main bathroom (as opposed to the private sink in my own bedroom) and then when that soap was out, I went and bought refill soap for our ceramic hand soap pump. I just feel that if I don't do it, no one will. This is quite a good setup for my roommates, but not for me.

Hopefully you will understand why exactly I was annoyed when my roommate came to me and told me that I needed to give her a few dollars because we were out of toilet paper. It's really not about the couple dollars (which I gave to her). It's the principle of the matter. I have the least to give, but I honestly feel that I contribute the most. I already contributed a buttload (haha) of toilet paper. I even did an experiment where I cleaned every inch of my apartment and then didn't touch it, just to see if anyone else cleaned. No one does. People sometimes de-clutter, but they don't clean. Especially not anyone else's stuff. This is frustrating, because on many occasions I have created stacks of junk for each roommate and just put their items in their room. I don't understand why everyone is just out for themselves. It seems impossible for them to be concerned about larger things as a whole. They just want to do their own thing and ignore everyone else. I don't understand.

I am in a sticky situation. I need more cleaning supplies, but I refuse to buy them because I am the only one that ever even uses them. How is that fair to me? So my apartment is getting dirty, I can't think, and I am afraid to bring any of this stuff up to my roommates. It seems impossible to keep the peace and a clean house. I need to get married.