Road Rage

Turns out it’s Christmas Eve. Hooray!

I just got done working my 24hour weekend so I’m a zombie.

Iowa had a storm this week. Winter storm Draco was his name. Ankeny got 13.5 inches, Des Moines got 12 inches and the Quad Cities got like 8.

Anywho, it was bad. Like shut down all the highways because there were jackknifed semis everywhere kind of bad.

I was supposed to work Friday at 6:30am but the storm hit the Quad Cities where I was Thursday morning and the roads got TERRIBLE so I had to call-in.

Finally on Friday the DOT website said the roads were clearing up and there were no accidents so I decided to head back to Ankeny at 2:40pm.

The backroads getting the highway were rough, as I expected them to be, but I had no trouble.

As soon as I hit got on I80 in Davenport though, I was stuck in traffic.

I checked the DOT website again and they reported no accidents or reasons for the roads to be slow which pissed me off even more.

It took me 90 minutes to go 20 miles to discover a semi was having trouble getting up and off-ramp so everyone was slowing down to 10mph of some freaking reason.

I would get to drive like 40mph for a mile and then have to slam on my brakes because there was an accident from yesterday and everyone decided to slow down and look at it.

This went on for the whole trip.

It should have taken me 2.5 hours to get from Camanche to Des Moines…..it took me 5.5

The most frustrating part is the roads weren’t even bad!

The DOT site Des Moines roads were the best in the state and still covered but drivable so I new once I got past Newton, I would be in the home stretch. Wrong.

As soon as I got to Altoona, it was like driving on roads from a fresh snow storm, not roads from a storm that had happened almost two days ago.

I80 and I35 cross each in Des Moines and one would think with the busy holiday weekend and Des Moines being a busy epicenter of travel for the midwest, they would have the roads plowed but one would be wrong.

I was completely stopped on the interstate and when I was able to drive it was like off-roading. The roads were covered in at least two inches of packed snow/ice mixture but there were big patches missing which made giant potholes. Not optimal.

My car was shaking so violently my back door came unlatched some how and Carver of course decided to look out that particular window. So I’m screaming at him to get down so he doesn't open the door and fall out onto the interstate and trying to get him in the from seat all while driving through the mix-master of I80 and I35 and narrowly missing being hit by a semi. Good times.

I would normally take I35 North to my apartment but the exit was stand still and I could see and accident from I80 so I decided against it and took Ankeny Boulevard instead. Probably an equally bad idea but at least I eliminated semis, dark interstates and fast speed. Once I got to Des Moines it took me about an hour to get 30 miles to my apartment in Ankeny.

Ankeny’s roads were bad but since we got the most snow in the state I’m was as mad. I just wanted to be home. Door to door this trip which normally takes me 3 hours took me 6.5 hours.

I’m pissed at Polk county as a whole for their lack of effort on clearing the roads. I passed 4 plow trucks in Des Moines and not one of them was actually plowing.  You'd think since the Governor works in this county we could get some shit done in a timely manner. He must be on vacation.

Our roads were much better by Sunday but I feel bad for the unsuspecting travelers that had to drive through Des Moines on our shitty roads this weekend. I hope they all made it to their destination, if not might I suggest they send their complaint letter to building with the big gold dome.

Safe travels and enjoy the holiday!

~Marissa

Everything in it’s place…except the rest of the apartment

For those of you that don’t know, I live with my boyfriend Sean and roommate Sophie who is a few years younger than me (although sometimes it feels like decades). S & S do their best to keep up with my crafts and go along with my projects but mostly just stay out of my way. Sean says it’s safer that way. He just makes sure I turn off the glue gun, cap the E6000 and turns off the scentsy because craft night usually involves wine and I go big. He’s a keeper. 

I have been working for quite some time to get my apartment just how I want it and lately I have made some great headway so here’s an update from the move-in post. **I’m showing you the organized portions of my apartment, there are other parts that are decorated but covered in Sean’s clothes, Sohpie’s bathroom things or the beds aren’t made and I didn’t want to mess with it to take a picture**

My Halloween display. I didn’t get too into halloween because we don’t have too much room to store stuff and I’d rather spend money on year-round decorations. I filled my hurricanes with glitter balls and battery candles found at Michael’s and found a free printable online. Plus Sean’s niece makes everything cuter! 

My bathroom display I finished yesterday! I think the tray gives the bathroom a touch of class! Plus something  besides black, everyone keeps telling me I have too much black in the apartment so I’m working on finding some more color for it. 

My new corner bookcase from LTD Commodities. It took forever to build and the instructions were pretty hard to follow (one piece may be backwards) but I really like it. Lots of glass pieces from Hobby Lobby and some cool looking soup cans to bring in some color. Got to love the Clearance section! We still need some artwork from the wall but I think we’re going to make something. 

Our big family wall. It’s mostly Sean’s niece Ari but we have photos of family and friends up there too.  We don’t have a hallway to make a gallery so this was as close as I could get. 

Out little kitchen table display. Yes those are surround sound speakers, we we hook our iPods up to it when we have friend over and are playing games and have something different on the TV. The candy jar is usually empty. Having Reese’s pumpkins is a tradition in Sean’s family that I’m upholding but that jar is the devil. 

My clearance bookshelf from Target. We had been looking for one of these for a while in case we ever want to move to electronics down from the TV nook, so I was excited to find this for $40! I just LOVE the red, black and grey on this bookshelf. I think it all pulled together really well. And of course, more Ari. 

Those are my favorite spaces in the apartment. I’m working on a few other surfaces that have nothing on them but I don’t want to clutter the space of finish the whole space because then I’m sure Sean will tell me we have to move…I guess that’s some hidden fear of being an Army kid. :)

You may now return to your regularly scheduled Thursday!

~Marissa

Nursing was not my first career choice...

If I could choose any career if would be house wife and stay at home mom who coaches cheerleading for fun. Nursing will be amazing but there is 50% chance nursing school will kill me first.

When I’m not studying, I love to decorate my apartment, shop and craft. Mostly shop though. I’m a bargain shopper, I love finding a sale or something on clearance and trying to find some way to alter that item to make it work with my decor.

My apartment is always a work in progress and I’m never really satisfied with it but I thought I would share some for our move-in photos and some of my latest deals I’m really happy with. Then I can have something to post about besides how much my life sucks and how much I hate nursing school.

Move-in 12/28/11: The day from hell
Who decides to move 3 days after Christmas and one day after returning from Colorado? My boyfriend, that’s who. Luckily, there was no snow on the ground. We survived the move but he learned how much shit I owned when we had to move it out of my third floor walk-up apt mostly by ourselves after my friend Kelsey had to go to work. That’s why I suggested hiring someone to do it!

Kitchen/Dining Area

Living/Dining Room Area

Master Bedroom

MY closet that I don’t have to share!

Master bath

Laundry Room

Guest Bath

Old guest room which is now my roommate Sophie’s room

Sophie’s massive walk-in closet

Carver’s patio and yard space

Those are all the move-in photos. A ton has changed since then. I have redecorated the entire place. Luckily it was already painted in a color I like because the ceilings are way too high for me to force Sean to tackle a paint job like this. :)

I finally made some thrifty hurricanes like Katelyn’s at A Wife’s Life, you can see her adorable fall display here or how to make a burlap banner here. We both borrowed Chelsea’s tutorial at Two Twenty One for her Thrifty Hurricanes. I’m a blogaholic.

Before: I purchased my candle sticks from Hobby Lobby because they were 50% off and I happened to be there. Plus I wanted mine to look a little different from Katelyn’s and anyone else who made them, I like to be different! Plus I feel like I do my part to keep Hobby Lobby successful in business. I bought the glass vases from the dollar tree on the east side of Des Moines, the store in West Des Moines didn’t carry them so I had to make the journey to the East side for the the sake of crafts. I got the E6000 from Hobby Lobby as well.

After: I added a few Halloween touches and fake candles because the vases are too narrow for pillar candles and to add decorations around them but haven’t gotten too carried away with them yet. I do love them though! 

My new favorite things: We decided to replace Sean’s useless craigslist dresser with two bookshelves we can actually use in our bedroom. They were on sale at Target and although they still need to be jazzed up, I think they look pretty nice. Much better than his tiny dresser that he just threw stuff on.

While at Target I also found a bookshelf on clearance for $40! I love the look of these leaning bookshelves but didn’t want one that had to actually lean against my wall so this worked out perfectly. Plus Sean wants to move all of his TV components down from the TV nook so we can use the fireplace this winter and not worry about everything melting. I think I am obsessed with displaying things. And colored glass from Hobby Lobby….especially when it is 50% off!

Bookshelves in the bedroom

Living room bookshelf

 See? There is more to me than nursing school. I’m good at spending money too!

~Marissa

3 Hours of Thinking

Today I woke up with a lovely rash on my arms and chest which my genius doctor cannot identify. Awesome. It may be a reaction to something or it maybe a form of shingles so I couldn’t go to work so I decided to head to my mom’s house a day early. Yay for mom! It’s a delightful 3 hour trip and I’ve always been a road trip kind of girl and my dog loves the car, he naps and I get a lot of thinking, singing and planning done.

1. Along the way I saw a caravan of about a dozen awesome old cars in tip-top shape driven by retirees  with grey hair and passengers whose perms where perfectly poofed (it’s my word, don’t hate). What a special day today must have been for them to be on the open road as a group. Did I mention they all had on leather jackets? I want to be old and cool like them someday.

2. I have the BEST car companion. He wakes up when I talk to him and hops in the front seat for a snack and when we're done, he gets in the back on his bed and falls back asleep in like 5 seconds. Plus everyone we pass smiles at his set-up in the back seat.

3. I love living in Ankeny. Driving past tiny towns and towns that wish they were as awesome as Ankeny or Des Moines (cough cough Iowa City and Davenport) makes me realize how much I love it. I enjoy the aspects of a small town and love visiting Camanche where my mom lives and I went to high school, but I’m definitely a big city girl.

4. Some girl talking on her phone in her grey Nissan murano from Illinois forced me into the grass and I’m still pretty heated about it. She tried to switch into my lane before her car was even halfway passed mine and had I not swerved it would’ve been a nasty accident. I had the misfortune of following her for 10miles because of a surplus of slow semis. This forced me to plot my revenge until she pulled off at a rest stop but I chose to be the better person and keep driving.

5. Camanche Days starts tomorrow. I’m excited because it’s my first year in the beer tent everyone looks forward to once they reach the age when they’re too old for the carnival rides. Last year I had to work so as a 22 year old, this be my first year. How exciting. I’ll be sure to post more about this semi-exciting event this weekend.

~Marissa