The Zuroevestes

52 Week Home Organizing Challenge: Project 1!

2012-01-07T18:56:00.004-05:00

I decided to start out simple... I knew that we really wanted to have a better place to put mail, other than our table in the entryway. It looked tacky, always got too cluttered, and we continually lost mail that way. SO, I decided to look around Pinterest a little bit to find something that would work well on our little wall. Here's what I came up with! :)

Before:

And after!:

I put up two cheapo baskets (that I got on clearance from BB&B), added some labels and design, and then put up some fun decorations around it. Here's a close-up of the baskets (one labeled "junk mail" and one labeled "bills/immediate"):

I saw this really cute little framed "I love you because..." on Pinterest, so I added one of those in also. :) Use dry-erase markers... they really do rub off completely!

Fun fun!

Bits o Pieces

2012-01-03T01:24:00.003-05:00

I LAST PUBLISHED IN AUGUST OF 2010.

I had to get that out there. That's sad.

Making this blog, I told myself it would be a great way for me to be writing on a normal basis, while getting to share the activities and projects in the Zuroeveste home.

Well.

After this many *failed* attempts... I'm determined. I've become recently inspired by Pinterest. If you're into crafts, hobbies, and the like... this is your new home. I'm addicted! It's terrible, too, because I find myself pinning a whole bunch of really cool projects and ideas, when I know they will probably just sit on my board idle.

THIS WON'T HAPPEN!

I'm utterly panicked at the thought that I will continue in this "ho-hum" approach to crafts. This "wanna-be" list of things. I'm going to do them! My husband always is supporting me, and I have a wonderful house now (that we're renting, don't get too excited ;). I mean, there's zero excuse to be lazy. (Other than the full-time job, desired social life, and the occasional do-nothing days.) I need to live life! Right, Rodney? Just like you keep telling me?

SO.

I'm going to start updating this again. Hopefully with pictures of some projects I'm going to start. I've dedicated this year's resolutions to two things:

1. Keep better in touch with family and friends. (Yes, Traci, Holly, Kathryn, Katie, Eric, Justin, etc. etc... it will happen.) I will respond to phone calls. I will text back. I will be a good person. ;)

2. A 52-week home organizing challenge.

This #2 option is a bit scarier. Especially since I've not been much for knowing how to take advantage of bargains and good deals (like my good friend Kathryn... geez, how do you buy 50 different items from the grocery store for 50 cents? Ridiculous. Teach me.) We don't have the money to spend on cool organizing tools, like shelving units and floating orbs that carry your mail to you, sort it, shred the necessary items, and kiss you goodbye.

BUT.

I will do it. I need to carry out my ideas - DO the things I keep thinking are "so adorable!" And, I'm not a "home organizing" type of person typically. I have the cleaning skills of a 2 year old. No, some two year olds can actually put things away. A 6 month old. This is why I'm going to document my changes! They won't be great, I promise you. But this way, I'm holding myself accountable. It's going to happen!

Do you believe me? I understand...

Rejuvinated! Super excited! Thank you Pinterest!

Update for our fourth week back :]

2010-08-23T23:16:00.002-04:00

Hello everyone!

We, of course, are madly missing people from Boise already. It was sooooo nice to get back and see family and friends again. (The added bonus of me being able to teach my own English class again was a wonderful gift as well!)

We've got some updates: some on trips, some on job-related info, and some on future plans!

Since we've been back, I've been working-- a LOT. I work about 35-40 hours a week, which is exactly what I hoped for. I knew we majorly needed the money, and I've been having a great time getting to know my coworkers even more. It's been a big blessing, considering the fact that I was worried so much about not being worked very often when I got back. Because of the work schedule, it's hard to find times to do anything outside of Amherst, but we've been able to squeeze in a couple trips.

Our first trip was to Andover/Boston last week. We left this past Wednesday afternoon and stayed until Friday. It was great! When we got in town, we delivered Hillary's beautiful hope chest that grandpa made (it was amazing!), and then went to Richardson's for some mini golf and ice cream. When we got there, it was pretty packed in mini-golf, so we took a walk around the dairy farm instead, and had some fun seeing the cuuute animals (pictures soon to come). The next morning, we went into Boston by train for New England Aquarium and seafood chowder (Rodney's craving) at the No Name Restaurant. The New England Aquarium was beautiful, as was expected, and it was a really nice day to be in Boston. It wasn't too busy, and the weather was great. We walked everywhere once we were off the train, so we got some nice exercise with it. :) It was really nice finally getting a chance to spend some more time in Boston. Our next Boston adventure: Freedom Trail! Soon to come, hopefully.

Our second trip was with our current roomie, Mat Schumer (the other saxophone grad assistant). Mat's letting us stay in his house until our lease becomes available for our new apartment September 1st. We took a trip down to Brockton (about 20 minutes south of Boston) on Sunday to see his upcoming roommate (and fellow clarinet player!), Mike. We had a great time there-- went bowling at a great bowling alley (my first time scoring over 100!), had some sushi (which wasn't as bad as I remembered it), played Monopoly, went swimming in his pool, hottubbing, etc. etc. It was great, and another great opportunity to get out of Amherst for a breather.

Now: jobs.

As you all know, I've been searching for a good fit for me this year in the job world. Ideally, I would have an English teaching job, but those are so few and far between (and far-stretched, with a large amount of the current applicants being high-quality teachers waiting to receive jobs back after being let go due to budget cuts). I just interviewed today for a part-time teaching position for 8th grade (and what a great job it would be!), but I know my chances are slim to none. I spoke with the man interviewing after me-- very smart, just got his Master's, has a few years of teaching experience, etc etc. The lady after him was well-known in the office, so probably was a district transfer. You know, heavy competition. So, my new theory is this: I will try my absolute hardest to get a job, and will do everything I can do. That way, if I don't get a job, I won't have any regrets, or feelings of "well, dang, I probably could've applied to more teaching jobs..." False. I've applied to everything that has appeared. Then, I can say that I really did do EVERYTHING that I could to get a job.

So, currently, I will probably be doing substituting again to start the year. Maybe something will come up, like last year, but it's not looking promising at the moment. I would really love to be doing something else; substituting is something I've come to realize is just not my thing. I enjoy the kids, a LOT, but I desperately miss having my own classroom, teaching my own kids, coming up with my own plans. Setting up my own policies, activities, projects... argh. My head aches when I think about it too hard.

I will also be posting another job opportunity that has been presented to me later, once I get more details. Right now, it's a bit under construction, so I will post about it later. :)

We are VERY excited, because we are going to be going on the 29th and 30th to New York City with Mat to see some great concerts (paid for by his wonderful parents!) and to see the city. Once it gets closer, I'll know the names of the artists we're seeing, so I'll update you later on that as well.

That just about wraps up the latest news-- hope everything is going well for everyone! Miss you all.

Ang and Rodney

Back in Amherst!

2010-08-10T11:44:00.002-04:00

Well, we are back in Amherst, MA. :)

We got back in town two Saturdays ago, and have been settling into a routine. Because we can't move into our new apartment until September 1st, we're staying with a friend (and Rodney's fellow grad assistant) Mat Schumer, and his roommate. It's been really fun, definitely a funny experience as I feel totally outnumbered-- the one girl in a house of four people! It's been really great, though, because we get along really well with Mat, he's a great friend, and we've been keeping busy.

Since I got back, I've been working at my part-time job at American Eagle every day. I'm at 40 hours a week, and I've really been liking the job. There's been a ton of drama at the store since I've been gone, though, a lot of drama in the management, but otherwise everything is going really well.

Rodney and I have been doing some fun things since we've been back in town, but nothing really special yet-- we've both been going to the gym together, going on walks in some AMAZING areas (it's soooo beautiful where we've been walking, just totally out in the woods along walking trails, no man-made anything, just gorgeous scenery), went to see a movie, coffee, etc. etc. We're trying to do something new every day, and looking into some fun things coming up. Fall is also coming... soooo excited! :)

Not much to update past that, I'll be better about posting. (I know, I know, you've heard that before, but I really will this time.) :)

Rodney's performance

2010-02-28T12:29:00.001-05:00

Hey everyone!

Rodney recently played a piece for a saxophone masterclass called "Caprice en Forme de Valse" by Paul Bonneau. He sounds great on it! You would just click this link and then type password "rodney1".

Enjoy!

http://files.me.com/rodneyzuroeveste/rntu99.mp3

-Angela

February 24th-- an update!

2010-02-25T21:47:00.005-05:00

Wow, I can't believe it's already been 2 months since we visited Boise! It seems like it was just yesterday!

Rodney and I have been keeping busy lately, which has been great. For a while, I was feeling very... stale-- I'm used to a VERY busy life, and so when I was realizing how much free time I was having (with not much to fill it in), it was getting pretty boring. Substituting was nice, but it only went until 2:20, and then I had the entire rest of the day to do... well, nothing! (haha!) Rodney's gone all the time at school doing classwork, ensembles, practicing, or work for his assistantship so I don't get to see him much. :( We've luckily come up with a bit of a better schedule so that we can see each other more, but it was pretty hard for a while. Now that more things have been happening lately, I can update you all. :)

First of all, I have some updates on my job(s)! When I was substituting one day at the middle school, human resources called me down to talk to me about a position that opened that they would like me to take-- a paraprofessional at an elementary school (Wildwood Elementary). They told me all of the benefits and asked me to think about it, and I really did have to. The $$ was slightly less per day (I was making $85/day substituting and this job is $80/day), but it comes with benefits and a steady schedule. Plus, some of my substituting jobs would be subbing for assistant teachers, where I would only make $60/day, so I did an approximate schedule for the rest of the year, factoring in only substituting and then only the paraprofessional job to see which one would end up being better for Rodney and me financially. What I found out is that they made almost the EXACT same amount at the end of the school year, so I decided to take it! A paraprofessional is basically there as an instructional assistant for the students and the teacher, and usually is "geared" toward one or two kids specifically in a class, depending on the behavioral needs. I'm focusing primarily on one student who is a smart kid, but has focusing and behavior problems in class. I'm also in an advanced class, all-around, so I'm able to provide more support/enrichment to students in the class. It's a fun job-- the kids (3rd graders) are absolutely ADORABLE, and I'm really having a nice time working in a job that is consistent and -- well, in one place (where I was moving around a LOT with substituting).

I ALSO got a second job to keep me busy after school- at American Eagle Outfitters. My "first day" was Tuesday, but it really was more of a 3 hour orientation with paperwork, some training, and showing me around. It seems like it will be a REALLY fun job, with some great people to work with, and GREAT discounts on clothes :) (Although I won't be able to buy anything... for a while at least). :) This job will allow me to have something to do after school, and give us some much-needed help with our financial... struggles.

We've also had a lot more opportunities to get together with friends out here lately. Last week, we did something almost every night with different people, and had a great weekend of game nights, Saratoga Springs NY with a friend, and recitals. I also went to stay with Aunt Robin, Hillary, and Andrew in their condo up at Sugarloaf, Maine and did some skiing last week, which was REALLY great. As many of you know, I've really really missed having people to hang out with (which was brought to my attention MORE when we went back to Boise for Christmas), so this has been much better lately.

Rodney has been doing REALLY well at school. The other saxophone players seem to really like him, and he's doing well with his academics too. He had a performance today for the masterclass (the saxophone studio was the audience), and it went really well. Mr. Klock has been challenging him with lots of difficult pieces and keeping him really busy with quartet things, performances, and other various jobs. He's gone most of the day (usually wakes up at around 6am, gets to school by 7:30, and is there until about 7 or 8, depending on the day). The work seems to be really paying off, he's just doing so well. I couldn't be more proud of him!

Well, there's an update-- finally! I hope everything is going well for everyone in Boise. Love you guys, and miss you!

-Ang and Rodney

Finally an update!

2010-01-16T19:18:00.006-05:00

Wow, it has been a long time! I need to be more consistent.

Since November, quite a bit has happened! Thanksgiving we spent in Boston with my aunt, cousins, and grandparents. It was really fun, and really nice being around family for Thanksgiving (since we weren't originally sure what we were going to do). We also sold our car! My goodness so much drama there-- the transmission went out about 3 months ago (because someone filled our transmission with ENGINE OIL instead of transmission fluid!-- probably at a oil change place), we also had to get the radiator fixed, and then a month later the ENGINE went out. Basically, it was having lots of problems that was costing Rodney and me more and more money. It's a great car, that just had an incredibly unlucky spell that we just decided to sell to trade it in for a newer car with less miles. We love our new car-- it's a 2002 Honda Civic EX, blue. Pictures attached. :) My uncle actually let us borrow his company car, which was really very nice considering how long we had to use it in transition of getting a new one, and it was a SMART car! :) So much fun to drive.

Here's the car we drove while looking for a car:

And here's our new car!!! :)

For Christmas, we went home for the holidays! :) It was truly amazing. Seeing family and friends again, and just being back in Boise was incredible. We love it here in Massachusetts, with how new everything is and exciting new places to see, but we realized when we went to Boise just how much we really miss it. We kind of made a decision that Boise is really where we want to end up. We love the adventure of going places for school and such, but not to live. After Rodney graduates with his master's, we'll be definitely moving back to Idaho (unless Rodney gets an incredible offer somewhere else). I'll get a job when we move back, and Rodney will work on developing a saxophone studio again, substituting in the area for a couple of years, and then going and getting his doctorate. He eventually wants to end up developing an enormous studio in a "saxophone-under-developed" town (like Boise), ranging from college-age to beginners where he can work with all ages, host studio classes, and create studio recitals. He's thinking about also doing a saxophone methods book, one which works for the beginner saxophone player that gets them to learn all of the really essential things he feels are missing from the current method books. Exciting stuff!

Since we've been back, a couple things are new. I was lucky enough to get a lot of new things for Christmas that give me things to do in my spare time, such as scrapbooking supplies and knitting supplies. I've already started knitting a scarf! I also decided to take a second job, so I've applied at various places. I already have an interview set up on the 28th of this month for American Eagle. This will give me more to do during the week and weekends, and Rodney and I could definitely use the money. Subbing has been nice, but it doesn't give me the same motivation and it doesn't keep me busy like having another job would.

Well, there's an update for now. More pictures to come!

Fall Baking (Cider Donuts and Pumpkin Pie)

2009-11-01T11:29:00.008-05:00

Greetings, everyone!

It being the holidays, we've noticed a "rise" in our sadness to not be with family, but we tried to make up for it by doing some fall festivities. :)

One of the fall things we did was hang out with two members of Rodney's saxophone studio at our apartment, making cider donuts. :) Around here, cider donuts are a BIG fall tradition, one that I'd never known about living in Boise. We decided to buy some donut mix and hold a cider donut-making party. Since it was a Sunday night and we informed people a little too late about it, only two showed up. :) But it was still very fun, and they actually turned out much better than expected!

Here's some of the dough we started with: (notice the Blue Moon glass sitting on the cutting board-- that would be our roller, because we don't have one). :)

We also didn't have donut cutters, so you notice from the above picture that we used a biscuit cutter, and then to cut the middle hole out we just used a knife. Much easier said than done. :)

And THEN we had our first ever frying experience! :) Rodney and I have never fried anything before, so heating the oil and everything was a bit... scary, to say the least. Rodney was afraid of explosion. We were amazed at how hot the oil got! Needless to say, we put the donuts in. Here they are frying:

We burned the first batch, because the oil was much hotter than was necessary. We had trouble controlling hot oil temperature. :) But we eventually figured it out. Here's some of us trying to figure it all out: (note the device we are using... yes folks, that is a plastic spatula).

Of course, us being as excited as we were to try out this frying technique, we didn't realize how the extremely hot oil might have affected the spatula. Well, it did.

So the guys had this "brilliant?" plan to make cider donut pancakes. They call this their "million dollar idea." So, we thought it was absolutely hilarious when they whipped out the pancake batter to figure out the measurements / differences between the two batters (the paper on the fridge is the cider donut dough ingredients).

Although the pancakes didn't turn out perfectly, they still tasted pretty good. :)

CIDER DONUTS! :) (You can see up my nose!)

For Halloween, we spent the day watching scary movies, passing out Halloween candy to trick-or-treaters, and making pumpkin pie-- completely from scratch. Using an actual pumpkin, and homemade crust. :) It was fun! Waiting for trick-or-treaters was fun too, the neighborhood was really in a lot of festivities for Halloween. Even Ruby was excited! :)

We had only planned on very few trick-or-treaters, so only bought two bags of M&M's. We found out about 5 minutes into trick-or-treating, when we only had about three individually wrapped M&M bags left, that we would need to get more. We were thrilled to discover this.

Unfortunately when I got to Walmart to buy more candy, I realized that in my hurry to get out the door, I had only grabbed my keys and left my purse sitting at home. Of course it wasn't until after I had driven the car to the store when I realized this. So, I turned around and came back home. When I walked in, Rodney reported that he had to shut off the outdoor light because kids kept coming for treats and we didn't have any. :( So, I grabbed my purse and headed out again. Of course, because this kind of thing only happens to me, I realized I forgot my wallet in my purse, and of course I didn't realize it until I got to Walmart AGAIN. So, I had to turn around again to go home. By this time, I was so frustrated, and knew it was getting later and later and more kids were coming by our apartment, so I walked in the door and asked Rodney to run out because I couldn't handle any more bad luck! haha So he ran out to get candy, six bags in fact, and of course by the time he got home, we only had about 10 more trick-or-treaters all night. Perfect. :) So, we're going to pass out candy to our schools tomorrow and remember this for next year.

After all of this, we had dinner and started making our pumpkin pie. We, of course, recorded this for PROOF to everyone that we actually made it from scratch! :)

The pumpkin was insane to cut into. We desperately need a new set of cutlery anyway, and the fact that the outer shell of a pumpkin is crazy hard to cut into didn't help. I was the worried wife, standing by watching her husband try to saw through the pumpkin, afraid he'd slip and cut off a finger:

Our serrated knife did nothing, so although the bigger straight knife was more "slippery," it worked better.

Yay!! We finally got it cut in half. :)

We then had to scrape all of the stuff out of the pumpkin.

We wanted to roast pumpkin seeds later, so we separated the "gunk" from them.

We microwaved the pumpkin for 15 minutes and pulled the skin off the inside...

...and blended it. :)

Me rolling out the dough for the pie crust...

Pouring the pumpkin filling in (notice the incredibly awesome design on the border of the crust... totally my idea). :)

The disaster zone afterward...

Finished product!!! :)

We were very proud. :)

After we finished making the pumpkin pie and had set the finished product out to cool, we sat down to watch our second scary movie, Quarantine. Good movie, but unfortunately, it was in "Blair Witch Project" style in its shaking and constant swirling. It made both of us so motion sick that by the end of the movie, the pumpkin pie did not at all sound appealing. haha! So, we agreed we'd eat the pumpkin pie the next day so we could fully enjoy our success. :)

Great night! I hope everyone else had a wonderful Halloween too. :)

More Photoshop

2009-10-31T15:57:00.005-04:00

Alright, so I had some fun doing some "morphing", so here's some kind of funny pictures I came up with:

Barack Obama and Rodney:

Conan O'Brien and Rodney:

Gollum and Angela:

Michael Jackson and Angela:

Mona Lisa and Angela:

Brad Pitt and Rodney:

Reese Witherspoon and Angela:

And now.... Rodney and Angela. :)

Noshember

2009-10-31T13:18:00.003-04:00

So, today is Halloween! Happy Halloween everyone! Rodney and I will be having a relaxing Halloween at home, handing out candy and watching scary movies.

With Halloween then comes... November. This year, Rodney has decided to participate with some of the other saxophone players in "Noshember," or "No-Shave-November." Argh... I'm dreading it. I've never been a fan of facial hair on Rodney, and he usually grows quite a bit of facial hair after just a few days. We've decided it will be funny to take some "before/after" pictures, so we'll share them on here (...because it's such a joyous occasion.) December 1st, Rodney will shave off the beard, but keep the mustache. I guess that's part of Noshember. I'm already picturing what I think Rodney will look like. Here's my image of what I see as "before" and "after":

BEFORE:

AFTER:

I think that prediction will be pretty accurate. We'll see.

Swine Flu and 2 1/2 Hour Concert

2009-10-23T11:58:00.005-04:00

Hello everyone!

This whole "Swine Flu" deal is crazy! The school absences are higher than I've ever seen before-- ever! The high school had 21% absent yesterday (which is extremely high, considering there are about 1,200 kids there), and the middle school had 22% absent. They're discussing whether or not they will close school for a day next week to give kids time to "heal" apart from each other. I've had to give about 5 passes a day to students who start to feel really sick to their stomach, and then I'm told they don't come back because they ended up having a fever. There are many kids walking the halls wearing surgeon's masks. They also have been "taught" well about the importance of hand sanitizer, because every room has that sanitizer smell from it being used so much. Scary stuff! Rodney is convinced this is how the world will eventually end... they try so hard to develop vaccines for things such as Swine Flu, and eventually a bad vaccine will get out and start infecting everyone... like an old-fashioned zombie movie. He's such a wonderful optimist.

Last night was a combined concert of the Symphony Band and the University Symphonic Winds at the Fine Arts Center.

Here's a view of the Fine Arts Center from the side (see the piano?):

From the back ^

And the front entrance. ^

Both groups performed full programs, with one intermission between them. It was.... long. I was really happy to see Rodney play, and the band really sounded great, but it definitely was.....long. I also was in a rush to get there from a drama with laundry (long story), but got there just before intermission.

I'm subbing today at the middle school for a science class-- they're watching Bill Nye the Science Guy! Remember that?? Bill! Bill! Bill! Bill! Bill! It's great!

Pictures soon, once I get home. :]

Have a great weekend everyone! Miss you all!

Apartment Pictures

2009-10-18T23:15:00.007-04:00

I realized that we haven't posted pictures of our new apartment on here! It's pretty nice-- the best part about it is the location, we live really close to downtown Amherst, and right off a bus route. We were then able to sell our other car before the move, so we pay less on insurance and gas. :) The management is amazing here-- you tell them a problem and they come fix it within the hour. It's really amazing. The place is pretty small, and we don't know how long we'll be here, so we haven't painted or really done much decorating, but here are some pictures!
Dining Room (with the back door)...

More dining room...

Kitchen

Pantry/Bathroom hallway looking into the living room

Downstairs 1/2 bathroom

Living Room

More living room...with our sweet cats to accompany :)

Front door-- staircase

Going up...

Upstairs bathroom-- not a good view, but oh well. :) It's also the "kitty room"... the litterbox is nicely fit behind the wall (you can BARELY see it), and food dishes set out.

Bedroom

More bedroom

So that's our apartment-- nothing special. :) At least now you can picture where we live! :)

Hope everyone had a great weekend!

Outlining some fun entertainment / things to do in Amherst

2009-10-16T12:44:00.012-04:00

Hello everyone! It's Friday! :D I decided that today I would post a blog that kind of shows you the fun things to do around this area, good places to eat, and just some places you'd see us during the week.

ENTERTAINMENT/PLACES TO GO:

Well, first of all, the area is VERY artsy (or at least, much more so than what I noticed in Boise). There's always something going on at the university, or Amherst College, so it's nice being able to always have something to go do, or an exhibit to see.
Atkins Farms: we have LOVED this place. First of all, it really does have some of the best local produce around (and if there's one better, we just haven't discovered it yet.) They have lots of fall activities going on, such as scarecrow making, festivals for PYO (pick your own) apples and pumpkins, and lots of unique things to see inside the store. It has a homemade ice cream section (with AMAZING ice cream), a Savory Suppers section (which is where you can prepare meals for your family by putting together ingredients laid out by the Savory Suppers staff to then be in your freezer until you're ready to pull one out for dinner that night. It's great! 10 homemade, delicious meals for a great price! Super easy for those days we just don't want to cook. :) Just generally a really nice place to be.

Antonio's: enough can't be said about this place. Literally, the best pizza I've ever had. This is kind of the "big" attraction in the area, the first place people recommend to go. They serve tons of unique toppings on their pizza (such as baked potato, blt, and chicken bacon ranch), and have such an addicting crust, I am speechless. Honestly, amazing. Whoever comes to visit us next, we're going here first.

ABC and Northampton Brewery Company: The ABC stands for Amherst Brewing Company, and the Northampton Brewery Company are fun places to go. They brew their own beer, and the atmosphere is very local and entertaining. This is considered "the hangout" for a lot of people at the University.

Museums: Amherst has quite a few museums, but the ones that I'm the most interested in are the Emily Dickinson museum (in her old home), and the Eric Carle museum (remember The Very Hungry Caterpillar? That author lives in Amherst).

Hiking: the hiking trails here are amazing. We haven't been on one yet, but apparently you have to go hiking at least once while you live here because of the absolutely gorgeous view when you get to the top.

Northampton: Northampton is only about 10 minutes from our house. It's a great downtown area to walk in, with lots of cute shops and mini malls to roam. It's rained 2 out of 4 times we've been there (haha!) but just a truly wonderful place to spend a day.

Yankee Candle Shop: The original Yankee Candle store is located in the area. Rodney and I haven't been there yet, but driven past it a few times--it's gigantic!

Crazy Noodles and Bueno Y Sano: These two restaraunts are our other two favorites-- Crazy Noodles is a small place that makes fantastic pasta dishes. I'm always amazed at the quality of their food. Equally amazing is Bueno Y Sano, which is a mexican food place with AMAZING burritos.

Hamilton Orchards: A fall activity only, obviously, but a really fun place. We went only once (with the saxophone studio), and it was really a fun place to hang out. CIDER DONUTS. That's all I can say. I've had more cider donuts within the last 2 months than I think I ever have. They're a big thing in fall festivals. You have to get yourself a cider donut. Ah-mazing.

Here are just a few other images of Amherst. Enjoy!

(The last one is Town Hall)

So there are some things that we have available to us. :)

2009-10-15T15:49:00.002-04:00

Saxophone Quartet in Performance

Tom Glassey
Kara Nye
Rodney Zuroeveste
Mat Schumer

Taken by professor Klock at the Multibands performance on the morning of 10/15/09

Columbus 3-Day Weekend

2009-10-12T20:35:00.009-04:00

This weekend was a 3-day weekend in Massachusetts-- Monday off for Columbus Day. So, Rodney and I decided for another fun adventure. :) Saturday, we went to Saratoga Springs, NY so Rodney could drop off some instruments for the studio at UMass, so we browsed Saratoga streets (beautiful!) We got home Saturday night and went to a Grad Student Campfire party, which was also really fun. Then, Sunday morning, we got up early and left for Colchester, VT to have an enjoyable weekend with Rod and Glenna Copeland again (family friends on Rodney's side). We stayed there until Monday night, when we returned home. Great weekend! Mini vacation! :)

A wonderful store in Saratoga with fancy racetrack hats-- these cost $100-150 each!

On the streets of Saratoga.

Rodney LOVES antique stores so he can look for records.

Rodney remembered this place from when he went to Saratoga Springs with the other grad assistant last time, and remembered loving it. So, we came here again! :)

THIS place is the birthplace of the potato chip! Turns out, the first time the potato chip was invented was out of spite and anger. It's a restaraunt, and so a customer ordered the "potato fries", which were really thick potato slices that were fried. The customer complained, stating that he wanted it thinner, so the waiter took it back so they could redo the guy's potato slices. When he received the second order, the customer still complained, stating he wanted it even thinner, so at this point the waiter was angry at the customer's pickiness, so took the order back and asked the cook to please cut the potatoes so thin that it wouldn't even really be a potato slice anymore, but instead like a thin piece of grease and crisp. He brought those slices to the customer, the customer LOVED them, and all the other customers around him were crowding around to try this "new fried sensation." Isn't that great?? All this happened at this Potato Chip shop in 1858.

Our drive up to Vermont-- Vermont is called the "Green Mountain State", and I completely understand why. It's COVERED with trees-- a complete smattering of color, and just GORGEOUS. Here are some of the pictures we took from our car window (the first couple were taken in Massachusetts).

A piece Rodney is playing, composed by someone for Amherst.

The beautiful driveway to Rod and Glenna's house off Lake Champlain.

Rod and Glenna's house (the front)-- it's right off the lake (which is behind it).

These two pictures are great-- we're driving on a thin land mass that cuts through Lake Champlain-- the first picture (above) shows New York in the background. The second picture (below) shows Canada in the background. You look left, you see NY. To the right, Canada. It was great!

Some funny plastic "masks." haha!

This picture shows "Camel's Hump", the tallest (and most well-known) mountain in Vermont. It's named Camel's Hump for... well, obvious reasons. :) Some call it "crouching lion," but I don't see that so much.

We HAD to reenact this picture! We came to Vermont to visit Rod and Glenna about 4 years ago, and went to this cheese tasting place (Cabot), and outside there's this cow. We had NO idea it would still be there when we came this weekend, but it was! So, we reenacted the picture. :) The old one (from 4 years ago) is below.

Glass blowing. :) I liked this first picture because the flash makes it look like a lightning bolt is going through the oven to the man! haha

Pretty scenery!

THE VON TRAPP HOUSE!! Remember The Sound of Music? This is the Von Trapp family's house when they moved from Austria after the Nazis chased them out. The liked Vermont because it looked very similar to Austria. The two parents have died, but some of the children still live, and they have quite a few grandkids.

Rodney and me in front of the Von Trapp house.

The REAL Sound of Music crew-- the actual Von Trapps. :) Maria (the main character from the movie) is on the top right (next to Captain Von Trapp). The woman to the left of Captain Von Trapp is his first wife, before she died.

Another great weekend! :)

Feeling Pathetic

2009-10-10T18:30:00.002-04:00

Today, I'm feeling completely pathetic.

We got home from Saratoga Springs, NY (more about that trip in the next post to come), and I had a sudden burst of energy to get in shape! It's been... not exaggerating... 6 years since I've really worked out. I've done some small things here or there, such as coaching the cheerleaders how to do kicks, jumps, and warm-up drills, but that's it. So, after I realized my higher metabolism isn't going to last forever, (and proof of that is starting to peek around the corner), I decided to start getting in shape. Heck, I'm in Massachusetts, with this BEAUTIFUL scenery around me, a nice calming run will help me get in touch with nature, right?

ARGH. I just finished my "run." I got all "suited" up, with my new iTouch armband, workout pants, and tee-shirt, did my stretches, kept playing up in my head that "aw, it really won't be so bad. Like riding a bike, just like riding a bike." I thought back to the days I was in cheerleading and would run a mile at 5:30am every summer morning (CHS cheerleaders, you know what I'm talking about), so really, what could be so hard? All of those out-of-shape ads and statistics, they won't apply. I'm powerful Angela Zuroeveste, and I have all of the running equipment I need... iTouch tunes will SURELY provide a fit heart. No doubt.

So, I stepped off my front steps and proudly started jogging with my head held high. Looking around at all the fall leaves, the squirrels prancing along, the chipmunks scampering, and I am "one" with nature. I wave to the neighbor, feeling proud as I think about how I am role modeling the ways to stay in shape. I've run past about five apartment buildings, and I'm thinking, "Wow, really a cinch." But then, just as Keith Urban's "Only You Can Love Me This Way" comes on the iTouch, I start bogging down. Oh no! It must be the song, it's too slow! I quickly change it to something more lively-- The Used? Sean Kingston? Cobra Starship? Why don't any of these work?? After only about... oh, 6 or 7 apartment buildings (probably close to 100th of a block), the familiar pain in the chest... (only it used to come after a mile or so), the side cramp, and my legs feel like I'm carrying 20 full-grown men on my back. I know that I'm still in sight of my neighbor, and she saw the building I came out of and the short distance I've traveled. So, I push on, beginning to really feel like a trooper. Maybe I can push through this?

I round a corner...after what feels like an eternity, and what would amount to probably only about two blocks, and I HAVE to walk. My mouth is one big cottonball, my throat feels like I just swallowed a bag of sawdust, and my whole body is aching. So, I walk. I tell myself I'll only walk the same amount of time I jogged. Luckily, no one's around to hear me breathing so heavily one would swear I ran a marathon. Finally, I set off again. This time, the aches begin immediately, but I trek forward. I mean really, am I this bad??

After finally making it around the three apartment complexes, I had traded off jogging and walking probably four or five times. And we're talking... 1/4 of a mile. Really. That's it. I jogged up to my apartment, thankful the neighbor wasn't there anymore to see the quick return of the pathetically panting lady, and walked into my apartment. Everything was darker from the blood rushing to my head, and I sank to the coach. The sick feeling came then-- nauseous. I then proceeded to complain to my ever-so-patient husband about how sorry I felt for myself because of how badly out of shape I was. I mean, really-- 1/4 mile, and I return from it feeling this exhausted?

It's because of Keith Urban.

Hobby Needed

2009-10-05T22:14:00.002-04:00

I've realized through many hours of boredom that I just need a good, solid hobby. I already do a LOT of reading at school (subbing tends to be quite a bit of videos and quizzes), and we do really fun things on weekends. What I need... is a weekday hobby. Something that is inexpensive (preferably) and will keep me busy. Any ideas? Please comment. :]

Hamilton Orchards, and a Smelly Festival

2009-10-04T19:22:00.004-04:00

Today, we went to the Hamilton Orchards with the saxophone studio. It was really fun-- we went apple picking, ate cider donuts, went to a petting zoo, and drank LOTS of apple cider. (Rodney would like to go on record that he ate 13 apples from the apple trees.) It was great-- some really funny times and just a wonderful day outside. Yesterday was rainy and cold, and then a BEAUTIFUL day today. We really lucked out!

It was really beautiful outside, and a GORGEOUS view around the orchards. It's hard to see in some pictures, but you get the general idea.

About 1/2 of the saxophone studio went to the orchards (some were at a marching band trip to Connecticut). Great view in the background!

Here's the start of apple-picking!

Some orchards...

ADORABLE pigs!!! Their pen was all muddy because of the rain yesterday-- it made them even cuter! :)

Goats!
This one got stuck in the fence like this-- we eventually helped him out. :)

DONKEYS!

THIS guy was right by the door opening to my side of the car! It's kind of fuzzy, but basically a REALLY big bee. It took me a few praying moments to sneak into the car. With five people in the car we were driving, I didn't want him getting in and go through a stinging frenzy. :)

Some of the view driving up to the Garlic and Arts Festival in Orange, MA. It was a very "on the whim" trip-- we were heading home from the orchards and decided that it sounded fun, so took a 30 minute detour to a cute festival (or-- "smelly" festival as it was advertised). :)

Some of the Garlic and Arts Festival-- a hula-hooping contest going on. :)

THE DREADED GARLIC TEA BOOTH. We were really curious, so we got a sample of "Organic Garlic Tea"-- it left our mouths burning and we were never the same again. Pretty insanely disgusting. It also shot our palates for the next few samples. Yuck! Garlic Tea= never have.

An overview from the food area.

Tom (the senior grad assistant at UMass with Rodney) checking out some pretty funky pumpkins. From Canada? (If I'm remembering right).

Great day!

Pumpkins, Lake Champlain, and Apples

2009-10-02T20:13:00.008-04:00

Hello, friends and family!

Rodney and I have FINALLY settled into a pretty solid schedule and routine. The first few weeks of substituting, I was still getting used to Rodney's school schedule, so we wouldn't see each other very often. Now, Rodney has a better grasp on his weekly schedule, and we're able to have dinner together every night, and he's only gone two to three nights out of the week. On weekends, we usually do something fun outside of the area. Tomorrow (Saturday) we're going to an Art Museum Community Day at the Mead Art Museum at Amherst College (we have to stay indoors Saturday because it's raining all day!) We were originally going to go to Orange, Massachusetts for the Quabbin Garlic and Arts festival, but the rain would definitely put a damper on that trip. :( We're also going apple orchard picking with the saxophone studio on Sunday (no rain-- 70 and sunny!). We'll post pictures when we get back from those places.

Substituting is getting easier... my earlier post talked about the many drastic differences between Amherst High School and the districts I'm used to, but I'm now starting to think I just had a very different mix of classrooms at the beginning. This week I substituted three times at the high school and twice at the middle school, and those three times went great.

The weather's getting colder (as it is I'm sure in Boise), but the trees are starting to change color! I guess the second to third week in October is when it gets really pretty-- we'll take lots of pictures and post them on here. :) New England foliage-- yes!!!

Recently (a couple weekends ago), we went to Vermont to see family friends Rod and Glenna Copeland. It was wonderful to have a relaxing weekend in such a beautiful home right off Lake Champlain.

The view from their back porch. Gorgeous! New York is far off in the background, you can take the lake off to the left to get to Canada. :)

We went to a Balloon Festival, where they launched Hot Air Balloons.

Rodney and-- Rodney! :) This is who Rodney is named after!

Going up!

We also went to Shelbourne Farms, which is a famous farm that's known for teaching other farmers, as well as schools and the community, more about the importance of farming and finding ways of preserving land and using new resources to get the most out of natural resources. Amazing area!

Shelbourne mansion

We also went to visit Aunt Robin, Hillary, and Andrew in Andover, and while we were there visited the Applecrest Farm Orchards in New Hampshire. It was great! We both picked pumpkins and had our first experience in an Apple Orchard!

Petting zoo! :)

We went on a hayride through the apple orchards.

The lovely hay we sat in. It took a minute for us "city folk" to gather the nerve just to sit in hay-- how pathetic are we?! :)

Rodney was pretty excited about eating apples fresh off the tree. :)

Shall we vote? Which bite is bigger? Rodney on the left, me on the right.

Magic! Levitation baby!

Fun country music!

This was adorable-- a pie-eating contest for kids! The winner got to pick out any pumpkin.

Sunflowers! Huge ones!

Picking out our pumpkin...

...and finishing off with ice cream. :)

Posting from school

2009-09-29T09:30:00.008-04:00

Hello all!

This post is actually coming from inside Amherst Regional Middle School.

Amherst Regional Middle School

I'm substituting today in the QLC (Quiet Learning Center), which is a place alongside the Dean of Students. Here in Amherst, they have two different types of "vice principals"-- the Dean of Students, who takes care of disciplinary action and consequences with students, and the Vice Principal, who works a lot with curriculum and teacher development. It's an interesting concept, I haven't decided how I feel about it yet because I haven't really been able to see them in action too much yet. This subbing job specifically, at the QLC, is very... slow. It's for students who have been sent out of the classroom for disciplinary reasons or students coming in for lunch detention. So it's a good thing it's slow, but provides a very slow day for me. :) I actually feel pretty bad for getting paid to sit, but you have to take one for the team once in a while. ;)

I've noticed a LOT of differences lately between Amherst school district and the districts I'm used to back in Idaho (Boise/Meridian). First of all, just so everyone knows, this is one of the most liberal towns in the United States. Northampton specifically, which is about 5 minutes away from where we live, is incredibly democratic, which is very different from Idaho to begin with. Pretty much everywhere you go, you see supporters of Obama and the democratic party (great for Rodney and me-- we've always been leaning that way).

------------------------------------------------------------
Voter Registration and Party Enrollment as of October 18, 2006
Democratic
8,350
49.18%

Republican
1,076
6.34%

------------------------------------------------------------

The whole feel of the town is much more casual because of this, with lots of local things to do and a small-town feel I couldn't really experience in Boise (it being so huge and all)! Amherst is also very literary-conscious... it has many many libraries and bookstores, more compacted into a smaller town than I experienced in most of Boise/Meridian. Included in the mix is the largest library in America, and the largest academic library in the world. Emily Dickenson was born and raised here, Robert Frost lived here for a while, Eric Carle (who wrote The Very Hungry Caterpillar, one of my favorite childhood stories) lives here and has his museum here, even Noah Webster-- the creator of Webster's Dictionary! :) It's a wonderful place for me to feel comfortable, as an English teacher. Students in the schools are constantly with books, but not disruptive about it. When they finish an assignment, they automatically take out a book and silent read. There's no pulling teeth required! :)

The City of Amherst

Anyway, back more to schools-- I think because of this small-town, liberal feel, school systems are created under a completely foreign style. The middle school is VERY similar to Meridian/Boise ironically, but the high school is just so incredibly different. Walking in to the high school, you notice a few things-- students with hats, bandanas, headbands, baggy sweatshirts with what looks like gang symbols, which anyone who has worked in the Boise/Meridian school districts would know is a big culture shock. If a student in Boise/Meridian so much as flips a hood on top of their head, they're told immediately to remove it. You also observe students hugging, holding hands, sometimes kissing in the hallways. Swear words are thrown around very quickly and easily, and around teachers, without any sort of acknowledgement (which again, not necessarily saying that it's good/bad, just very different). The students are kind, saying hello passing by, but have a very casual and easy-going atmosphere about them.

Amherst Regional High School

Entering the high school classroom, it's immediately hard to control. Now I've had a year of teaching experience, so I know how difficult it can sometimes be to control a classroom, but from the moment students begin filing in, it's immediately a different feel-- students are encouraged to have points of view and voices, which is fantastic. It's very hard, however, to get adjusted to how much they express their feelings and the amount of free-reigned talking that goes on in class. It's not even necessarily disrespectful-- just different. When I give out a task or am speaking to them, they listen and respond well. They're still great kids, it's just a hard adjustment trying to communicate with a wall of voices. They swear in class, as well. When I asked them to not use that language, they immediately know I'm from another area. "Teachers swear in front of us all the time." Wow.

Here's the kicker... their test scores are fabulous. Some of the best in the state. And when they actually receive their work, they work dilligently. They are talking with one another, but doing the classwork primarily. This is much different than Boise/Meridian schools I'm used to working with, where you sometimes have to keep kids focused and on-task. Here, they're constantly working, just in a much noisier and casual atmosphere. They're telling stories, sharing their feelings on other teachers, swearing up a storm, all the while a paraprofessional is in the room claiming 'this is how each classroom is... it's the area.' Very interesting.

I really want to stress again how much it's not the students. I think the students are the same kids I've been working with from Day 1 in Boise. I really enjoy them, they're great kids, they just grew up much differently than I did. Everything they're doing here seems to be working, I just wish I felt more comfortable in the classrooms. I actually get a sort of "helpless" feeling a lot, which isn't great. But again, it's normal here. It's the way of life, the general attitude. Outside of the school, I absolutely love it, but in the classroom, it's definitely the biggest kind of culture shock I've experienced. It's now just about adjusting...and hoping for the best.

The town of Amherst's 250th birthday parade!

2009-09-27T17:51:00.007-04:00

Today was Amherst's 250th birthday! It's actually a pretty young town compared to some around it-- Hadley, which is literally RIGHT next to Amherst (the town line is about a block away from our apartment) is 350 years old. To celebrate, their were festivities such as a parade around town. It was great to see, other than the rain! :)

Walking to the parade route (downtown Amherst) -- we had to park about 1/2 mile away.

The first thing showing in the parade -- horses pulling some city officials (as you can see, we were more excited about the horses than the city officials) :)

Very cute little horse!!! We couldn't decide if this was a miniature horse or a mule-- any ideas?

Theo :)

Hadley being represented in Amherst's parade-- you can see the "350th" sign.

We loved this -- a turkey with a cute umbrella over it! :) Only in Amherst...

Rodney's school's marching band -- the UMass Minutemen marching band.

Right in front of our field of vision. :)

This guy was hilarious-- he came around halfway through to pick up horse poo -- he rode the tractor like it was a float! :) Very proud of his important role in the parade. He got huge cheers!

Amherst's birthday cake!

And...the minute man. :)

2009-09-26T21:20:00.007-04:00

Ok this took FOREVER to figure out. This is the top Quartet at Umass Amherst playing for the weekly studio masterclass. Wait about 15 seconds between movements. Sorry that I can't post the whole recording. I'm too cheap to spend $50 on the full version of the file converting software.

Tom Glassey - Soprano
Kara - Alto
Rodney Zuroeveste (me) - Tenor
Mat Schumer - Bari

Love you,
-Rodney

Lately!

2009-09-26T15:07:00.006-04:00

I have to hugely apologize! It's been far too long! Adjusting to life out here has been part of it, but I actually forgot about the blog for a while! So from now on, I will be continually updating it. I made some changes, which I really needed to do. It actually has a nice look! :) I plan on posting at least twice a week, so be sure to come back and look once in a while! I'll also be posting more pictures. Fall is coming around, which means pretty colors EVERYWHERE! I've never seen autumn like this before -- it truly is unreal.

Rodney has been adjusting very well to grad school. UMass has been perfect for him, because he's feeling pressure and has been given many new playing opportunities that he hasn't had before. He's playing in one of the top saxophone quartet groups, and he's already performed 2-3 times this year in performing classes. He's taking an advanced conducting class, managing both wind ensemble groups, and playing in the Symphonic band. It's been a bit of a hard adjustment for him, because the expectations are now so much higher that he's finding himself practicing 5-6 hours a day, minimum! Although this is the first time he's really felt stressed out over being at a high level, it's the best thing for him right now. His professor (Lynn Klock) has given him lots of new things to work on, and is pushing him, which is exactly what he needs.

I have been substituting at the middle school a LOT. It's been wonderful! I've been fortunate enough to get a subbing job everyday! I'm getting to know the teachers really well, and have befriended many of the English teachers as well. The two ladies in the main office let me know that they put me on the top of the preferred list, which means I get to see the substituting jobs early! It's been the best I can ask for-- and it's really been nice being in the classes still, even though it's not my own. :( One nice thing is being able to enjoy life outside of work-- because there's no planning work, I'm able to explore the new area. I love Amherst!

For some reason, I don't have any real pictures of our area yet, because we don't take advantage of the camera when we're walking around town. I have a few from when we visited the campus during Spring Break when we picked out an apartment, and then a couple of the move, so I'll post those here:

This is the front of the Fine Arts Center from the side -- if you can tell, it's shaped like a piano!

University of Massachusetts Amherst's mascot -- The minutemen! (Famous old church in the background)

Mr. Klock (Rodney's teacher) has an entire downstairs area DEVOTED to trains. It's the same place he practices, so he often has trains going as he's practicing as a kind of "calming" agent. Actually very cool, and a HUGE set up.

The morning of the big move --it took about eight tries to get the car EXACTLY on the trailer. The wheels had to fit between two thin red lines.

How our lovely kitties traveled in the Penske truck -- stacked on top of each other between the two front seats. Oh, they loved it. ;)

The Fine Arts Center from the front.

Rodney standing in front of the Fine Arts Center.

The view of the pond and the student union building behind the Fine Arts Center.

Cute ducks that followed people around -- obviously are fed quite often. :)

The pond behind the Fine Arts Center again, but this time with the library in the background -- it's the tall brick building, and it happens to be the tallest library in the United States, and the tallest academic library in the world! :) 26 stories tall!

The inside of our apartment the first day. Lovely. :)

The Waiting Game

2009-08-17T17:22:00.000-04:00

Okay... so my interview for the job was Thursday, and it's Monday at 5:20pm and I still haven't heard anything. What's terrible isn't necessarily the wait, but the "not knowing what to do." Should I apply for other jobs in the meantime? Should I check more into subbing? I made a call to Amherst subbing today, and I'm going to check into Hadley tomorrow.

Our apartment is located right next to the town line of Amherst and Hadley, which has proven to be wonderful. Amherst is full of cute towns, great produce, and a wonderful local feel, while Hadley has the corporate businesses we SO would have missed--Best Buy, Target, restaraunts, etc. The location is perfect, and so it would also be perfect to sub in Hadley as well.

Today was a sit-at-home day, for the most part. Rodney went and practiced around noon, and I went to pick him up at 3:30 to walk downtown Amherst. We went into book shops, gift shops, any and all places that looked unique. It was very fun -- I had no idea just how many possibilities there were for book shops and cute libraries. It's wonderful!

Back home--temperature in the house was cooled down to 74 when I left (with our WONDERFUL air conditioner--thanks M&D), and within about 2 hours it's back up to 82. Oh joy.

Loves to all,

Angela

The Move

2009-08-15T17:16:00.000-04:00

After the big move, arriving July 26th, we have FINALLY settled down enough for me to write a blog. It's been a pretty adventurous few weeks.

First of all, the move was MUCH better than expected (although the cats may disagree). We went the first couple of days without the laptop, because the powercord we were hooking up to the Penske's battery charger was lost. The first day, we went through Idaho, Utah, Wyoming, and a LOT of Nebraska. That state seemed to go on FOREVER. Very unexciting. Second day was Nebraska, Iowa, and Illinois. The third day was Illinois, Indiana, Ohio, and Pennsylvania. The fourth day was Pennsylvania, New York, Connecticut, and Massachusetts. We drove an average of about 11-12 hours a day, which sounds worse than it was. I found it actually enjoyable to just sit and watch the road as we drove. The cats of course were terrible the first few hours, which was not surprising, but would sleep it all off. They got more upset the bumpier the road was, and they didn't like to hear the engine, so going uphill in a Penske towing a Honda was not fun. But otherwise, it was fun. We stayed in hotels that provided a breakfast, we had packed lunch in the car each day, and we stopped somewhere quickly for dinner. It's hard to imagine that we basically made a drive across the United States--it didn't seem like it when it was all said and done. Four days really does go quickly.

When we arrived, we signed our paperwork with our apartment, and drove up to our cute little Townhouse. Walking in, we immediately LOVED the layout. Not the largest place, but a great layout. The downstairs has the living/family room when you first walk in, along with the stairs near the door. The kitchen and dining area are behind the living area. There's a 1/2 bathroom downstairs also. Going upstairs, there's the full bathroom and the bedroom. It's a very nice place--but not such good luck with our neighbors. We have an interesting lady, Barbara-Ann, living right next door to our right, and some people who only speak Cambodian living on our left. Barbara-Ann has already given us some trouble. The apartment management warned us about her when we moved in, that if she is any kind of trouble we let them know. She has completely taken over our front porch area with her flower pots and greenery, which is okay except for its unorganized way of taking up space. We went out and met her the first night, and she came across very nice, with the exception of her "bluntness." She first says "You know, management gave me a letter asking me to move my flowers away from your front porch if you'd like me to. In my mind, this is my only real space to personalize, and you guys have a back porch." So, it seemed, that was that for now. Then, she made several other blunt comments, which I will tell you about if you ask me. Then...the air conditioning.

We didn't have air conditioning provided in the apartments, to begin with. Which is very normal for this part of the United States, since warm/hot months are so short. A.C.'s really only needed during some of July, August, and a small bit of September. The rest of the year is cooler to cold. When we moved in at the end of July, it was steamy, sticky hot in the apartment due to the lack of AC. That, on top of just heavy-duty moving those first few days made for some miserable times. My parents came the second day, and noticed how miserable it was in the apartment, and were nice enough to buy us an AC wall unit for a late 2nd anniversary present. We put it in the wall area downstairs, since we'll spend most of our time downstairs anyway. WELL. This air conditioning spot the apartments had set out just happens to be placed right outside the door to Barbara-Ann. So, wonderfully blunt Barbara-Ann, points out all of the hot air blowing into her front door area from the AC exhaust. I understand the inconvenience, but that's where the apartments have the unit opening! I do feel bad, but it gets so hot in the apartment. Whenever we would turn on the AC, she would come outside, grumble a few words, look in our window, and eventually put in a piece of carpet to the side of the exhaust area, pointing the hot air away from her front door. Well, not good, considering the carpet would be flammable, so wonderful husband of mine was nice enough to replace the carpet with a flame-resistant cutting board of our's. She seemed very thankful. But still, to this day, we see her, and all of her visitors, constantly peeking into our front window. Can you say...creepy?

So, the first week was unpacking. Lots of heavy things. The funny part is, the upstairs getting into the bedroom is very small, so when they were going to take up some of the larger items, like the mattress and the box-spring mattress, it was a little difficult. We were able to bend the mattress to fit through the door, but the box-spring was a different story. So, the third night when we weren't able to get the box-spring up, we went out to Home Depot to buy two large pieces of plywood to put under the mattress instead of the box-spring. It seemed as it it would be uncomfortable, but would work okay. We went to bed that night, and the second I lay down on that bed, I knew it was going to be the most uncomfortable night's sleep ever. First of all, every slight weight on the bed made a HUGE creak from the plywood. The more we went through the night, the more the mattress was bending in the middle. The two pieces of plywood were bending inward to the middle, and so I was so worried for my two kitties, who sometimes like going under the bed. I was sure the bed would collapse. Sure enough, 3:00am that morning, we both awoke to a collapsing bed. The wood had slipped from the guides, and so the plywood collapsed through. So, that next day, my dad and Rodney spent a good five hours or so taking apart the box-spring. We HAD to get it up with the bed. In order to do this, they had to remove the fabric covering from the box, saw the box in half, and take apart all of the springs one-by-one. "Imagine being in a sauna-like room, getting your fingers pinched by crabs with rusty nails and tools all around you, and then five hours later getting it done." <- Quoted by Rodney. BUT we finally got our bed set up, and it's almost perfect.

After the bed drama, it was just about getting everything into the apartment. After days and days of unloading, unpacking, we decided it was time for fun. My dad was leaving in a couple of days for marching band camp back in Idaho, and my mom would be there another week. Rodney's mom got there the last day of unpacking, and she came with some great family friends of Rodneys' side, Rod and Glenna. We went to Northampton Friday, which was a very cutesy town, with lots of fun shops and things to do. Although it was raining so hard we could barely walk outside, it was a fun day. We walked around the Amherst area, getting more and more excited about where we're living. Lots and lots of bookstores and libraries for me, and an enormous amount of musical possibilities in the area for Rodney. Emily Dickenson and Robert Frost were raised in Amherst, along with many other great authors. It also is FULL of fresh produce stands, and some great local restaraunts. There's a Whole Foods (which, for all you Top Chef watchers, is the shop they go to for their food supplies). More to come on Amherst itself.

Sunday, we went to Saratoga Springs, which is a FABULOUS horserace park in New York. We spent the day watching horse races, which is my dad's FAVORITE thing to do. The great part is, these places are only a few hours away from where we live. New York, Vermont, Maine, New Hampshire...all just a driving distance. I love that part of living out here.

Monday, my dad left. :( It was very sad, hard to watch my first family member go back to Idaho. We picked up Aunt Robin, David, Hillary and Andrew, and went to Andover to stay with them for a few days. We went to Boston and Maine for some great shopping and outdoor things to do. Then, we headed to Virginia (via plane) to stay a few days with my 2nd cousins Laureen and George. To try to describe their home would be...impossible. They live on 500 acres of land, including mountains around the home so they can have a very private area. They have about 150 Texas Longhorn cattle, including the #2 bull and #2 cow in the world. Their home...is incredible. They have a mansion of a home, with a kitchen featured in Spaces magazine, a cabin for visitors, a guesthouse they call "The Crib", a chicken home for the goats and chickens, a stablehand home, etc. Three ponds...endless. It was NOTHING like I'd ever seen, even on television shows and movies. I'll post pictures as soon as I can.

After those few days, my mom went home. :( Both parents now back in Idaho, it really hit me about how we were now just us two. It is, however, very exciting to be out here in this big adventure with Rodney. When we flew back to Boston, we drove back to my aunt's house to get the car. The fun part was--when we went to drive it back to our home in Amherst, the engine was revving (sp?) every gear we tried to shift. We slowly drove it back to Andover (since we'd only left about 5 minutes before), and parked it in the driveway. The next morning, we took it to get serviced and found out--the bad news. New transmission and new radiator. Ouch.

After getting the car fixed, we drove back to Amherst. I love it here. So many things to do, such nice people all around us, and I've already gotten a job interview in Springfield Massachusetts for English 6 teaching. What an exciting place! Much much more to come, I promise! Now that I have the time to be able to sit and write, I will update everyone as much as possible.

We miss everyone, and hope you'll all keep in touch!

XOXO
Angela and Rodney

First Blog

2009-05-25T14:46:00.000-04:00

I decided to set up a blog because Myspace and Facebook are hard to just post updates and thoughts. With the coming months, a lot will be changing and new things will be happening, so I thought this would be a perfect way to keep everyone in the loop with what's going on. I'm going to try to update at least a few times a week, so that I can capture each new thing.

Today's Memorial Day -- no school. Only 6 1/2 days of school left, which just seems crazy to me. This year has gone by soooo incredibly fast, and I've loved every minute of it. With this move to Massachusetts, I don't anticipate getting a job right away, probably not even within that first year, so it's reminding me more and more of how much I will miss teaching. I've really developed a great relationship with my students, and feel like this has been a very successful first year. I've been staying very busy these past couple of weeks, because Rodney and I will be moving out of our BELOVED apartment June 8th. We are, actually, pretty sad about moving out of this wonderful place, but excited to be moving on to the next step. After that, we'll be moving in with my parents until we move. The last day of regular school is June 4th, and I start summer school June 8th (the same day as moving out). It will be sheer madness. I will have to move everything out of my school room, everything out of our apartment, AND prepare for a 6-week session of summer school all in one weekend. Arg.