Tour.

Okay, here are the photos of my new apartment. Sorry for the quality of some of the photos, I took these as I went along cleaning and unpacking- so some of them were taken at night.

This the the front entry way. I was standing in the kitchen to take this photo. The floor plan is pretty open, which I really like. So, on the left is the main door to the apartment. The next door to the right, is the main bedroom, the next door to the right is the laundry closet. It holds a stackable washer and dryer. The next door to the right is the bathroom, and the door on the far right that is somewhat cut off in the photo is the second bedroom, but I am using it as an office/ craft room. The only thing I really don't like about the entry, is that there is no closet for coats or shoes.  

This the the office/ craft room. I took this photo standing outside on the patio. This room has a large sliding glass door, which lets tons of light in. Perfect for crafting. 

You can't see it, but on the far right there is a full size closet. I have been keeping shoes and jackets in there for now. This room still needs some work. I would like to have a bookcase in here to hold my scrapbooking and crafting supplies, so that they aren't just laying around the floor like they are now. This room also needs some art and photos. The white walls are pretty boring. 

This is looking into the bathroom. 

This is looking out of the bathroom. Pretty self explanatory. 

It was hard to get any good photos of the bedroom, but this is taken from the inside corner of the room. It has two nice windows, but they face the next building over--so I don't usually have them pulled all the way open. 

This is taken from the far corner of the room. On the right you can sort of see the dog's kennel. 

 It has a really big closet. I can fit everything in there, with lots of storage in the top. There are lots of pillows and blankets up there for visitors. *hint, hint* :)
This room also needs some work. I would like to get some large frames for photos above the bed.

This photo was taken standing in the entry way looking into the main living area. The kitchen and living room are open into each other. Everything is white--sort of boring. You can see there is no room for a dining room table. There is a light made for the table you can see it on the top left in the photo. It is supposed to hang down lower, but I have it clipped up. You can't tell in this photo, but there are two windows on the far side of the room. This room also leads out to the patio. 

This is the door to the patio. This door would be on the very far left of the room. Its hard to describe in photos, but the room is sort of a square that opens up into an oblong shape. You can see the edge of the couch in the bottom left of the photo. That might give you a better idea of the shape. 

This is just a close up of the bookcase near the patio door. 

This is a close up of the windows at the far end of the room. The patio door is to the left. This bookcase holds all of my DVD's and Wii games. 

This is the patio. It needs some cleaning--notice the lovely grease spot that the previous renter left. My parents surprised me with those bird feeders and the mini grill. I have yet to see any birds eating there, but the Cardinal is the State bird of West Virginia. The neighbor whose house you can see in the photo, has a GIANT wind chime...and by giant I mean the largest wind chime I have ever seen in my entire life. I sort of think that it scares the birds away. Its really nice on windy nights to listen to it all night long. Perhaps it will turn up missing one of these days. 

You can't really tell, but I have a pretty nice backyard. There are brick townhouses on the backside of the building, which is where my apartment faces--but you get some grass on this side. The other side of the building is all parking lot. 

Back inside. This is the kitchen. It has lots of counter space and a dishwasher. I have two stools on the left side of the island, so that I have somewhere to sit and eat. The door on the far right is the pantry closet. 

This was taken standing at the far side of the living room. I really need some art or something on that wall behind the couch. I am thinking about getting a long rectangle canvas to cover the wall. But you can see there is a little box on the wall, it is the thermostat--what a stupid spot, right? Its like in the middle of no where, and screws up any plans hanging photos or art there. 

Just another overview shot. I took this standing at the patio door. You can see the room isn't really a square shape, on the right you can tell that the room has a corner that leads to the patio. Oh, and if you look close on the left side of the couch you can see Ginger. She is obliviously doing well. :) 

Another photo taken from the patio door. Ginger and the orange chair. The fridge and kitchen on the far right side. 

The television area.

This is a photo taken out the kitchen window. This window is right above the sink. I wanted to take this to give you all an idea of the building. There are 8 units in each building, and the middle is taken out of the building, to create a courtyard type area. This way you only enter your own unit, you don't have to enter the building and then your apartment. Make sense? I am not very good at describing it. 

Since the building is designed like this, I only have two neighbors whose apartments I share walls with. One on the left and one above. Both neighbors are elderly women. The lady on the left is quiet...so quiet that I sometimes wonder if she has died in there. You know those stories you hear, where the neighbor dies, and no one notices until there is a horrible smell. The lady above me, well thats a story for another day...she is not so nice. 

In all, I really do like my apartment. It is spendy, but for what I have seen--I don't mind paying more. The old adage is true, You get what you pay for.  

I hope you all enjoyed the tour. I also hope that for most of you this page loaded pretty quickly. Those of you with ancient computers...You know the one where not all the keys have letters on them anymore--It probably took longer to load.   : ) 

Miss you all like crazy!! Can't wait for you all to get here and see it someday! 

Working Camera.

I have been a little absent for a while, but it was for good reasons. I have spent the last week and a half or so moving and unpacking.  It was a ton of work, but I had some great help. It was great to have my parents here to help, and spend some time with me in my new home.

I had to work everyday that they were here, so they did much of the unpacking and setting up for me. I tried to do some fun things with them while they were here, and show them around. We spent one evening driving around seeing some of the countryside. We drove past my new job, past the Crouch House, and then up a mountain. I took them to the top of the mountain closest to here, as you go up the mountain you enter the Monaghelia National Forest. I really enjoy the drive, because as you approach the top of the mountain, it feels like you are above the clouds and can see for miles. I think my Dad enjoyed the views, but my Mom said she was scared and didn't like it. Driving up in the mountains unlike any other driving I have ever done, and it can be a little bit scary at points. There are some curves where they say, you can see your back license plate as you go around it--if that gives you any sort of visual as to the kind of terrain. I hope to get up there this summer and get some photos, because there is nothing like it.

Anyways... During the unpacking, I found my camera cord! So, without further adieu photos from the crouch house.

 This is a view of the bedroom area. I was standing in the doorway of the bathroom to get this photo. It looks messy, but its really not. It was just so small that I could hardly fit anything in there. On the far right was the "closet." It was just a dowel with a small shelf on top. To the far left is the bed, and the door to the hallway. 

This is the bathroom area. The toilet on the right, and the sink and shower were around the corner on the inside. The room was too small for me to get a good photo of the sink and shower area. 

This was the view out of the sliding door in my room. The door was to the right of the "closet." The house is built on a cutout of the mountain, so all you can really see are the mountain trees. It is hard to tell in the photo, but the back yard was fairly steep. There is also a creek that ran through the yard too.

I guess for a $100 a week it wasn't too bad, but I am sure glad that I have a place of my own.

Check back in the next couple of days for the photos of my apartment. I have been working diligently to get everything put away, so I could take some good photos of the apartment for you all.

Miss you guys! Hope everything is going well back home.

A Beautiful Campfire.

Its snowing here again today. We have gotten about 3 inches of the fresh white stuff in the last two days. Not having a television doesn't help. Both days--I was running behind for work, and as I open the door to the outside, I realize that my car is buried. Great. I really miss the days of summer--as I am sure you all do as well. The sweet smell of fresh cut grass. The beauty of the sun's rays hitting a sparkling blue Minnesota lake. The sounds of neighborhood children playing outside in the warmth of the sun. Most of all, the rustic smells and sounds that accompany a roaring campfire. Summer Favorites.

Now that I have your attention, and have placed visuals in your head...I want to tell you that the beautiful smells of a campfire, can only be enjoyed in the summer.

What do I mean by that--you must be asking yourself.

Well... here at the "Historic" Crouch House, the smells of a campfire are not so pleasant.

And so the story begins...

It all began a few nights ago. I was down in the kitchen making a gourmet meal of microwaved proportions, when the owner of the house came up behind me. He had placed himself in an awkward spot standing behind me, trying to converse. We have a short dialog, in which he asks me what I am making for dinner, and responds to my answer with a long drawn out, "YYYYUUUUMMMMMMMMMYYYYY!!!" (Awkward) I just smile and think bad things about him in my head. He then asks if I have ever been to the Dairy Barn. (The Dairy Barn is a small hole in the wall restaurant. I am pretty sure they have more cockroaches than they do patrons.) I tell him, No--I have never been there. He lets me know they have good desserts, and he wants to take me. He says that, He will come and knock on my door around 7:30 and we will go, "Me and him." I don't say much, just walk away and try to come up with excuses as to why I can't accompany this creeper to the restaurant.

I sit in my room, getting more and more nervous. The guy is way too overly nice. I have a weird feeling, and don't want to go. He will surely try to kill me. However, my Midwest up-bringing forbids me from being mean--so I decide that i can't get out of it. (If only I could have claimed Lactose Intolerance, but I was making Mac & Cheese. --Clearly, not Lactose Intolerant.)

I devise a plan, and practice my self-defense moves on imaginary attackers.

I am going to take an empty binder, fill it with random papers I have laying around. I am going to drive separate and tell him that, I have to stop at a friends house afterword to study policies for work. This plan works perfectly. He seems a little irritated that I am not riding with him, but I don't care--There is no way I am going to let them create a made for TV movie about my death--no way would I give him 15 minutes of fame.

This story might seem like it is going nowhere, but trust me it is.

We arrive at the restaurant, we go in, and he asks for a menu. I am a little perplexed by this--I thought we were only  here for a quick ice cream? How could you possibly need a menu? Pick an ice cream flavor, and eat it out of a cone. Its not Rocket Science.

He ends up ordering a FULL meal, complete with appetizer and dessert. No Joke.
I get an ice cream cone--and have to sit there the entire time he eats his meal--talk about awkward and boring. This guy is so creepy.

During the random dinner conversation--he tells me that he will be adding a wood burning stove to the house in order to "make it look authentic." He raves about how wonderful the house will smell, how great the crackling fire will be. And at first, I admit it sounded great.

Fast forward to last night. He got the stove put in, and started burning wood. However, he failed to properly vent the stove at first. This is awesome. My room is filling with smoke, so much so that my eyes are burning--and I am freaking out over the fact that there is probably carbon dioxide swirling about my orifices. This will surely lead to my death--rather than kill me at the diner, he is going to kill me with the poor ventilation. Carbon Dioxide is the silent killer you know. Around 11pm he finally gets it vented. I can finally sleep, without the threat of death circling in my room.

Remember that wonderful campfire smell? Perhaps you remember what your clothes smell like, after you have been sitting around a campfire?

Well, let me just tell you--that when you use a wood burning stove in your West Virginia home, ALL of your clothes will smell wonderfully of campfire. Yep. Didn't you know that campfire was the new trendy smell? Its always nice to wash your clothes and then have them smell as if you have been at a campfire.

If you can't detect the sarcasm, I will just let you know that-- IT IS HORRIBLE!

No matter how much perfume and deodorant you douse yourself in, you will still smell like a campfire.

The good news is, that i am still alive and kicking.

4 days and counting.

Countdown.

The paper chain is slowly getting shorter and shorter.

5  days and counting.

Wildlife.

The state motto for West Virginia is, "Wild and Wonderful."
They definitely got the wild part right.

When i moved into a historical house, I knew there would be weird noises and creepy things of that nature. But what happened last night in this historical house was completely scary. Ever since I arrived here 3 weeks ago, there have been weird noises in the bathroom area of my room. I can only describe the noises as, similar to that of crinkling tape. The noises are very crunchy and scratch sounding. Well, last night I could hear  screeching noises in addition to the other noises. At first I thought maybe it was a mouse. Then I thought well maybe its that weird noise the toilet has been making. Then I thought some more and realized that mice don't tend to squeak. So, I did the only logical thing--and that was to google it. I went to google, and typed in "what kind of rodent makes a squeaking noise?" Google told me that rats...RATS! make squeaking noises! At this point I am completely freaking out. I can't determine for sure where the noise is coming from, but I think its under my bed...possibly tangled in the blankets. I then can hear a scampering noise in the ceiling above my bed. Ohhh, this is definitely Rats!! I call my parents on Skype to see if they can hear anything. The screeching is SO loud that they can hear it, but tell me its not mice, or rats, but probably bats. Ohhh, even better. Nighttime critters, who can fly! I mean seriously! I finally found where the noise was coming from, and that is in the bathroom behind the shower wall and the up in the ceiling. I made sure there was no area where a bat could enter my room from inside the wall, and tried to sleep. Then today at work, my co-worker who is also living here asked me if I was hearing these noises too. (Sidenote: see i am not crazy!) He thinks that they might be birds. He was so afraid they were going to peck through the wall, that he slept with the light on. (Sidenote: still not as crazy as that guy.) He is probably right--I think that they are birds. Still scary, but not as scary as a rat-- as long as they stay in the walls.

Last night marked the 2 week notice until I move into my new apartment. After the whole wildlife debacle last night, I decided that I needed to make a paper chain to count down the days.

12 more nights.