high on life...or bleach

It's spring cleaning here at school. For the past couple weeks, we've had to deep-clean something every Wednesday night. Two weeks ago: blinds. Last week: stove/oven. Tonight: tub and tiles. By far the worst. (Although thirty minutes of windexing the blinds isn't my idea of a good time, either. And I only had to do half.) So tonight after dinner my roommate and I put on our old gym clothes and pulled out the bleach. One hour later: a thing of beauty, dry hands, and a slightly woozy feeling. At least it went better than last year. After numerous attempts of overnight bleaching the bottom of the tub and many headaches, we discovered the Mr. Clean magic eraser works wonders. It's definitely the only thing that will get the bottom of the tub clean.

Finals week we get to deep-clean the entire apartment. Last year that involved having a vacuum strapped to my back, so there's no way this year will be as rough. Whoever thought of the brilliant idea of making stressed out college students hardcore clean during finals week needs to experience it for themselves. I mean, there's clean, and then there's NWC clean. The two aren't even comparable. Northwestern takes it to a beyond-human level. I'm sure I'll have more stories in two weeks when I actually have to relive the disaster. Until then, I think for the sake of my brain cells I should stay away from the cleaning products.

bungee cords and futons

I took apart my bookshelf tonight. Quite the project. I only ended up injuring myself twice, nothing serious, fortunately. Although I do have a nasty oozing chunk of skin half-attached to my thumb. Slap a bandaid on that and call it good, I guess. I still have to disassemble my futon...that's a project for tomorrow night. Taking this stuff apart is almost more work than putting it together. Especially if I count trying to make it fit in my car. It took some fancy manuevering on my part to get that half-together/half-apart bookshelf in my backseat. Let's just say I hope no one was watching.

Reminds me of the time my sister and I went shopping at Target and we bought our two futons and couldn't fit them in my car. Drove all the way home from Brainerd with the trunk open and a futon bungee-strapped to it. I actually had to go back in the store and buy bungee cords... Actually, I've had several instances of trying to make things fit in my car when they won't, including a bedroom furniture incident where I nearly got killed by the burning eyes of the Target employees. But hey, it did all fit...eventually. Another experience involved a mini-fridge that actually had to be taken out of its box in the Target parking lot. Yeah, those Target employees don't really like it when you try to make things fit in vehicles and they don't stand a chance. But really, I've never had anything that just wouldn't fit. Sure, I've bungee-strapped things to my trunk, taken things out of boxes, and drove two and a half hours with a decorative shelf slapping me in the face every time I took a right turn, but never had I had anything not fit. So there.

They say that men are better at spatial problems (like how to fit a couch through a door) than women. Definitely true in my case. But I have to say, I do feel a certain sense of pride every time those male Target employees tell me something won't fit and I say, "Sure it will." And it does. Of course, while I am full of pride, they are most likely laughing at me. I definitely look ridiculous. Have you ever bungee-strapped a futon to your trunk?

Well, here goes...

So I've never had a blog before, but my (awesome) friend Sarah has one and I love reading hers so much I decided to start my own. Plus it's a great place to vent my feelings when there's no one around to listen. A little about me: I just turned 21 two weeks ago, have been engaged to a wonderful man for a couple of months and am in the crazy midst of planning our wedding, live in a small hick town in northern Minnesota which I love, and am trying to finish an accounting degree. I have a year and a half left. It's a considerable source of stress in my life.

With school winding down for the year I have more free time. Right now I'm typing this while watching You've Got Mail. Definitely a classic in my book. Who doesn't love Tom Hanks? The whole story behind You've Got Mail fascinates me. I've always wondered what it would be like to develop a relationship which a man who's name you don't even know. Strange...but I'm a sucker for chick flicks.

I went home over the weekend and was greeted with a fresh snow shower. It permanently crushed a small piece of my soul. Snow on April 26th? That's more than annoying. At least I didn't get trapped at my fiance's parent's house all weekend, like I did the first weekend in April. I absolutely love spending time with his family, but I really also wanted to take a shower and put on some clean clothes.

Wedding planning takes up quite a bit of my free time. Not so much planning, but more thinking. Not really anything has been planned so far. We have a reception site and an almost-complete guest list, but that's about it. Oh, I did get my dress last week, which was REALLY exciting! :) Other than that, not a whole lot going. The nice thing is the reception site is a casino and they will do the catering as well, so that's one less thing to worry about. But I still have to find a photographer, a baker, invitations, decorations, and a million other things. The wedding isn't until January 24th so I still have a lot of time, but everyone says it will go by so fast. I hope so!