The last straw!

So I've decided that I'm pretty much fed up with restaurants that use the styrofoam cups. I always seem to have trouble with them. Once we were at Fazoli's and when I inserted my straw, I stabbed a hole right through the cup. It instantly sprang a leak, squirting lemonade all over the table.

Today, we ate at Sonic between classes. You know those tables that they put outside that are a kind of metal mesh? I don't know how else to describe them (see image)...

Anyways... They use the kind of ice that is like a bunch of little pellets. So, I was having a hard time getting my straw to the bottom of the cup so that I could enjoy the last few swallows of Dr. Pepper. I guess I pushed a little too hard, and my straw punctured the bottom of my cup. Thanks to the wonderful meshy design of the table, the last bit of my drink leaked through the table, and right INTO my shoe... So you can imagine how comfortable that was.

So that's it, I've had it! No more styrofoam cups for me. Can't handle it.

In the blink of an eye

It's amazing how your life can change so drastically from one minute to the next...

I got a phone call on Wednesday morning from the wife of one of my life-long friends. She told me that Patrick's dad had suffered a heart attack that morning while at work, and he passed away.

Patrick's mom died the year we graduated high school after having suffered for years with cancer.

I just can't even imagine what it must be like. The past couple of days, every time it comes to my mind, I just feel so sad for my friend. I don't think anyone plans on burying both of their parents before the age of 24. Patrick, if you're reading this, I just want you to know how much you impress me. Heavenly Father must really think you're strong -- He wouldn't give you such trials otherwise.

But I guess this just really has me thinking. We never know how much time we, or any of our loved ones, has left. No one thought Jim would be leaving us this soon. I'm very grateful for the knowledge we have of what is to come. What a tremendous help and comfort it is to us at times like these.

Free Rent!!

So we are now officially managing the Rose Anne Apartments where we live. In exchange for our services we are living rent-free, which is awesome. It's going to help us out in a huge way. We'll be able to get out of debt and build up our savings. We only plan on doing it for a year or so. By then we should be in great shape financially, and ready to move on.

We had our first training meeting on Saturday morning (which took OVER 3 hours). We're both feeling a little bit overwhelmed with our responsibilites, which include :

1. Collecting rent from the other tenants
2. Issuing "3-Days to Pay or Vacate" notices to tenants who's rent is later than the 5th (we'll be issuing three of those tonight... aparently it's kind of a big problem at the R.A. apts.)
3. Taking calls for maintenance requests and scheduling the maintenance man to come fix things.
4. Keeping the property grounds looking nice.
5. Listing and filling vacancies
6. Preparing vacant apartments to be rented
7. Going to the main office at least once a week to pay bills and enter rent checks into their computer system (which happens to be ANCIENT... it's a DOS program if that tells you anything...)

We have other miscellaneous responsibilities as well. I know it sounds like a lot, and truth be told, I had no idea how much would be involved in managing. I just keep telling myself, "It's only 1 year. Free rent! It'll be worth it!!"

We really are counting this as a huge blessing for us. Hopefully we'll be able to handle everything!