Wednesday, March 24, 2010

Twenty Two and Good News

Twenty two. That is how old I am! Gross! I suppose it could be, and will be worse in less than 365 days.

I did have a great birthday and I had no problem letting Jacob spoil me. My day started out on the right foot with my first and only class that day canceled. I decided to go to work to let Jacob study and it turned out to be an awesome day at work. My supervisor Kriss bought a beautiful cake for me and everybody sang Happy Birthday. I felt very celebrated and I got to keep the rest of the cake. It was delicious.

Jacob picked me up from work and we went back to our apartment so I could change. He surprised me with a decorated living room with streamers and a balloon. He also wrapped up curtains he bought for our bathroom window and a curtain rod. Sounds like a funny birthday present, but its exactly what I wanted! Then we headed to Idaho Falls to get my free birthday burger from Red Robin. I don't remember eating at Red Robin before so I was hesitant, but I was impressed. The waiters sang to me and gave us a free Sundae. Then we browsed the mall. Jacob bought shorts and I bought pants.

All in all a very good birthday despite feeling too old. Thank you to everyone who called and sent cards. That is what really makes me feel special on my birthday.

In other events, I received the job I applied for! After the interview I felt like a complete idiot. They looked so bored while we were talking and I was depressed the whole night. I just couldn't shake that bad interview off. But the owner called me today and offered the position. They are willing to work around my schooling for the rest of the semester. Horay! So, I, Kate Curtis, am the Office Manager at Western Fence. Not too shabby for a 22 year old. Not the most glamorous job, but definitely a job that suits me.

Tuesday, March 16, 2010

When I'm Right, I'm Right.

Exhibit A:
Our refrigerator died. It had been making horrible noises. Really horrible. It sounded like a drum roll on a cookie sheet. Then the drum roll would stop and a click sound would start. Kind of like flipping a light switch. Those noises would go on for about 5 minutes and our refrigerator would finally start. This had been going on even before we moved into the apartment, so we were aware that our refrigerator was going to die soon. Our managers knew too and said they were working on getting us a new fridge.

I reminded our managers about the fridge two weeks ago and I told them I was nervous that the fridge would finally die on a Sunday night at 11 o'clock and where are you going to get a new fridge on a Sunday night, especially in Rexburg?

Guess when the fridge finally kicked the bucket? Sunday night. I am not exactly sure what time, but the drum roll started and I thought to myself, its not going to start again, but I didn't think much else about it. Jacob realized our fridge was dead around 10:00 p.m. and the food in our freezer was already starting to thaw.

Exhibit B:
I had a victorious pastry class on Monday morning. Someone (a 40 year old guy who doesn't like to take advice from anyone and has 8 kids) was trying to make a syrup to pour over his genoise cake. Those types of cakes are usually pretty dry and tasteless so a syrup for the cake to soak up is a must. Anyways, the particular type of syrup he was trying to make takes a little more than just pouring some water and sugar together and letting it cook to whatever temperature. So I watched him mess up 5 times. 5 times! There were pots filled with rock hard burnt caramelized sugar. (He spent quite a while cleaning those out too.) So as he started his sixth round he was getting pretty upset. I told him how to fix it (which I won't write because it isn't the point of my blog and its boring) but he got all defensive and said none of that mattered while leaning against the table and shaking his head at me in away that made my advice sound totally stupid.

Well exxcccuuuusssee me for trying to help. Try your way again and see how that works out for you. Before I could walk away my teacher came to my defense. I'd like to note that this is a word for word quote. "Everything Kate told you is right. If you do what she says, your syrup will come out how it should." In. Your. Face! I didn't say that, but I had a really hard time keeping it in. Instead I smiled, gave him a pat on the back and walked away.

The moral of the story... and I mean this in the most humble way possible, when I am right, I'm right and people should probably listen to me more often.

For a happy ending, today I am grateful for left overs, whoopers, water, orange juice and the internet!