So little to do, so much time... wait, reverse that...

I think this recurring hiatus is why I stopped blogging a while back. I have all sorts of ideas of things that I want to write about, but I don't usually have time to write anything while I am at work (nor should I really be spending my work time updating my blog anyway), and once I get home, I just want to veg and not do anything.

I will try to do better than a once-a-month update, but in my defense, February was a short month!

Since I haven't updated everyone on the status of my 101 things in 1001 days, here it is:

#2: Seeing as how February is the month for at least one date, I can check this one off my list. For Valentine's day, we actually celebrated mostly on the 13th. Jared picked me up from work, we went out to dinner, then got some yummy gelato at Sugarland and then went to see the planetarium show at the Morehead. It was pretty cool. On the actual Valentine's day, Jared worked until the afternoon, so I went out to brunch and a movie with some of my friends from work, and then came home to make Jared and I a tasty dinner.

#10: We got together for dinner with my cousin and her husband who live nearby, and my other cousin and her kids who were down visiting for the week! I really like living close to family. This weekend I am heading to PA for another cousin's wedding and am driving up there with my aunt and uncle who live about an hour from us. It should be some great family fun.

#15: This one maybe shouldn't have even ended up on the list because I talk to my parents fairly often. Oh well, I still like being able to make that check mark!

#16: I didn't call my brother in January or February, but I did give him a call the other day. Since he isn't exactly a wordsmith, our conversation was short, but we at least got to talk a bit.

#17: I sent a birthday card to one of my co-workers from BGSU. (I sent it to her office at work... hopefully she got it!)

#72: Pay off credit card -- partially. Jared officially paid the last on his credit card on February 27! Now we will double the payments that we have been making on my card and hopefully have it done by the end of the year! After watching "Maxed Out" a few weeks ago, I at least feel really good knowing that we are far below the national average of credit card debt for our household.

#96: Get a live plant for my office -- DONE! Thanks to the generosity of one of my co-workers, I inherited a zebra plant that is doing quite well in my window. I probably need to re-pot it and give its long branches some support, but I will get there.

This last one is probably the most exciting:

#79: Find a house to rent -- DONE! We will be moving out of our apartment in July and into a cute 2-story 2 bedroom house. We signed a lease for two years, so we won't have to move again for a while after moving in. After that two years is up, who knows what we will be doing, but at least we have a roof over our heads for a few more years!

"Keep it down up there!"

I will start out by saying that I have been extremely lucky in my housing situations since I started college. I have rarely lived near anyone who causes a lot of disturbances. The 8th floor, the SLH, the senior apartments, my above-garage apartment in the first year of grad school, the house we rented when we first got married... they have all been pretty good living arrangements. Yes, I have complained about all of them at one point or another, but nothing is quite as bad as now.

We are not apartment complex people. Or, if we are, it is certainly not THIS apartment complex.

We live in a building with an 18-family occupancy limit. We are on the second floor of three, so we do have neighbors living above us. Our upstairs neighbors have two little girls who run around a lot. Seeing as how Jared and I are generally fans of little kids, it's not a big deal to hear some thumping every once in a while. What does become a bigger deal is when they blast the bass on their stereo so that our apartment shakes. Or better yet, when they begin arguing at 3:00 a.m. and don't stop until 5:30 a.m., waking us up and keeping us from falling back asleep. I can tolerate some extra noise coming from above when I am awake, but as soon as you keep me from sleeping, then we have some serious issues.

Of course, we can't really complain because our apartment managers don't really respond to any complaints. And we don't really feel comfortable confronting the people upstairs because he often practices boxing outside our building.

Needless to say, we are trying very hard to save up money this year so that we can perhaps buy our own house sooner rather than later. Either way, we're probably not staying here past our lease. The location is convenient and the view from our window is pretty, but it isn't worth losing sleep over.