Midway Extravaganza

I love this picture. Poor Ben was trying to help me by getting me a square of tinfoil, but the whole roll just jumped right out of the box! Doesn't he look pathetic? He tried to roll it back up but got so frustrated that he ended up tearing a clean edge and folding the rest up and stuffing it in a drawer.

Ben enjoying his giant otter pop. These can only be found on the rarest of occasions. I don't know why, but they're always in the freezer at the condo...it's a mystery to me as to how they always replenish themselves. Ben can't eat one without smiling contentedly.

Ben standing atop the gigantic snow hill in front of the condo

Ben enjoying his seafood cheeseball. (Melinda did not partake because it makes her a little queasy...but it was that way even before pregnancy messed with her.)

Melinda being pregnant in her little jammies

Melinda keeping a safe distance from the wild turkeys we found

Just some of the many deer that Ben was excited to find

For this Presidents' Day weekend, we decided to take a little trip to my family's condo in Midway. It's just rustic enough that you feel like you're in the mountains...or really close to them. We had a great time just lounging around and going for drives to find wildlife. We spotted a gaggle (?) (gaggle is just fun to say anyway...) of wild turkeys, many mini-herds of deersies (Ben's phrase), and a bald eagle! We were pretty lucky. It seems like ever since I met Ben I've seen more wild animals around than ever before. I thought for awhile that maybe they're just less shy, but have come to the conclusion that I am simply blind. (I really am when I don't have my contacts in or my glasses on.) This inability to spot things, even when they're explicitly pointed out to me by other people, has plagued me since birth. Don't ask me why. I really don't know. It's not all bad though because when I was little my parents got suspicious as to why I could never see anything, so they had my eyes checked and lo and behold I needed glasses. Unfortunately my spotting ability did not get any better. So we've come full circle. Anyway... we had a good time this weekend.

32 Weeks...Only 8 Left to Go!

Here I am at 32 weeks. I seriously can't believe I only have 8 left! We're getting pretty excited/nervous to be parents. It'll be fun though, even if we kind of miss the life we had before the baby came. I have had a great time getting ready for the little guy. My nesting instincts are hitting full force! I feel the overwhelming need to clean and organize everything. Emerson's new trick is kicking mommy in the ribs on the right side over and over again. He likes to stretch my ribs out as far as they can go. It feels really weird. I think it's pretty cute when he gets the hiccups, but it always seems to happen (along with his kicking fits) right when I lay down to go to sleep. I have a feeling that this is a sign of things to come... :)

Sigh...There's More...

Okay, so here's a picture of our "fixed" bathroom. That's right, it's as horrible in real life as it looks in the picture. Notice the lovely gaps and brown glue and remaining water damage. Isn't that nice? They didn't tell us if or when they were coming to fill in the gaps. Knowing the owner, probably not. I have to hand it to the manager though because he had to do it himself without any prior knowledge. It's more than I could do.
It's okay, you can wipe away the tears that have welled up thinking of a poor pregnant girl crouched over the sink and toilet using abrasive chemicals to scrub off the plaster, glue, and who knows what else. (Okay, it wasn't quite that bad...but still annoying.) I was tired of reaching for the toothpaste on the shelf that was no longer there, and I'm pretty sure that the owner won't be filling in the gaps at all, so I moved everything back into the bathroom after I cleaned. On the off chance that they do fill in the gaps, I will humbly post it here. I will give the manager credit though because when he came back to clean the tub, (which I did NOT touch in protest) he did an excellent job. I think it's even whiter than when we moved in! So there's one happy note to end on.

The "Asbestos" Time of Your Life

Our demolished ceiling

The scary view from our shower up into the abyss

A small amount of progress...our plywood box.

Don't you just love renting? Let me give you a timeline of the adventures in this little apartment.

End of July, 2005: An unsuspecting happily engaged Ben and Melinda come to Logan with their families to move most of their things into their first little apartment just days before their wedding. They open the door...they smell something damp...they hear water dripping...they walk into their tiny bathroom, and alas, there is no ceiling. (Okay, slight exaggeration) There was a big gaping hole and a bulging ceiling with water and rubble all over the floor. Sigh...A less optimistic Ben and Melinda traipse over to the manager's office and report said flood. Ben and Melinda keep their cute little engaged fingers crossed that the ceiling will be repaired by the time they actually move in to their love nest. We'll see...(It turns out the ceiling was repaired in a pretty timely manner.)

August 2006: Original leak and repaired portion of ceiling hold fast. A suspicious bulge begins to appear in another part of the ceiling over the shower. Ben and Melinda speedily report the bulge to new set of managers. Managers come and inspect, promise to fix it, and all seems well. Months pass...managers decide not to bother...Ben and Melinda remind managers of the problem...they flounder around while mold begins to grow. Melinda carefully and meticulously keeps mold under control bitterly each time she cleans the bathroom.

July 2007: Bulge appears to be growing, mold not subsiding. Ben and Melinda put in another repair request to yet another new set of managers. Evil owner, owner's evil wife, and unsuspecting managers come to inspect damage. Evil owner suggests drilling screws into bulge to hold it up so it doesn't sag anymore...(Ben and Melinda bitterly laugh to hold back the tears...) Bulging ceiling goes unattended for a few months. Melinda stops cleaning mold in protest.

August 2007: Ben and Melinda return from a beautiful summer night of playing volleyball with a group of friends. They enter their apartment, smell something reminiscent of smoke, and quickly inspect their apartment. They find that nothing was on fire, but the window was left open and all of the shavings and tree poison from the stump the evil owner filed down directly outside their window poured into Ben and Melinda's kitchen. A fine black dust settled over all the dishes, appliances, floor, carpet, blinds, etc. Melinda is banned from the apartment by Ben because they just discovered that they are expecting and want their baby to have all the limbs and body parts it's supposed to. Managers come and help clean up the apartment and bring in some fans to try to blow the smell out. They arrange for Ben and Melinda to stay at an empty apartment for the night so they don't die from the poison.

November 2007: Managers promise to fix bulging ceiling over Christmas break.
January 3 2007: Ceiling still bulged and molding. No work was done over Christmas break. But understandable--it's supposed to be a fun time of year.
January 19, 2007: Manager calls Ben and Melinda asking them to check their utility closet for leaking water. They check, and sure enough the floor is soaked and there is water dripping into their furnace from the apartment above.
January 23, 2007: Sigh...Heater stinks and acts as though there is a short from the water dripping in. Ben and Melinda live through the night despite the electrical danger.
January 20, 2007: Water leak ceases for a short time because managers got a big bucket to catch the water before it drips down to our utility closet. Good thing...
January 21, 2007: Water leakage continues in a steady stream even though the magic bucket is supposed to be catching it all.
January 23, 2007: Water heater is replaced upstairs...should be the end of the problem. Not.
January 24, 2007: Bulging ceiling bulges even more with steady drips going onto the bathroom floor. Manager comes over and drills holes so that evil owner will be forced to replace ceiling.
January 26, 2007: Manager and evil owner come over to inspect. They rip down the bulging ceiling and Ben and Melinda flee to Salt Lake for safety from asbestos, mold, etc.
January 28, 2007: Manager and owner promise to come and fix ceiling. Doesn't happen because upstairs water heater explodes. More water leaking into utility closet...stinky furnace...etc.
January 29-30, 2007: Manager and owner still don't come to fix ceiling (Owner's fault.)
January 31, 2007: Evil owner gives manager plywood pieces and has him fix the ceiling by himself.
Present Day: We are currently awaiting a new ceiling, even though we are thoroughly enjoying the plywood box look and the fine dust and plaster pieces that have settled over everything. Sigh...we really do have good memories in this apartment, but at this point we're really looking forward to moving to a new place in June.