Guest Blog: SURPRISE!!!!

I must say, there is nothing that says “welcome to Spring Break” quite like 14 inches of snow….I guess I should have packed my snow boots.

This was just the first of many unexpected surprises my week had in store for me.  During the blizzard, Emily and Justin took me to get tacos (my favorite food) at Viva Taqueria (a nifty Mexican restaurant).  I was shocked to discover that I don’t even like “real” tacos! Only the fake American kind.  However, it was still an interesting and fun experience. 

The next surprise was not so unexpected, but still exciting…getting to see all the work on the house since I’d last been there in July!  The den which I had previously spackled and scrubbed is now painted and completely done! The stairs that I scraped unidentified solids off of are now nicely carpeted! And most importantly, THE ROOM THAT PREVIOUSLY LOOKED LIKE BIRTHPLACE OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN IS NOW MY SUPER AWESOME BEDROOM!!!!!!!!

Surprising to Emily and our mom, but not to me, was the fact that I am actually good at picking out material for curtains!  All along they had thought my “wild” (superb) taste in colors was good for nothing but splatter painting and other random crafts.  Turns out they were wrong.  I am proud that not one, but two of my very own selections will soon be found hanging from the walls!

I was surprised (but probably shouldn’t have been) when a bathroom fan installation went bad.  Given the history of home improvement projects here (think kitchen ceiling, basement sewage), I think I can generalize and make the statement that nothing goes as planned.  We had purchased a fan/light combination for over the bathtub and decided to try to put it in to make the upstairs bathroom functional.  Two hours later as Justin was emerging from the attic looking like he’d lived there for 10 years and Emily and I were bailing nasty chunks of century old insulation from the bathtub, I had a revelation…whoever made the call on printing “EASY INSTALLATION” on the box was a LIAR!

Homework that took a surprisingly long amount of time filled most of my days while Emily and Justin were at work.  The rest of the time I spent doing some painting, reading, and just relaxing.  I got to walk around Cornell a bit and see a concert at the top of the clock tower, which was really cool.

As for the “inside scoop from an outside perspective” I’m sure everyone is eagerly awaiting, here it is!  Life here is pretty unsurprising, in general.  They go to work, come home, eat dinner, wash dishes, etc.  While it gets pretty busy between all of that and trying to do work on the house, the lovely couple still finds time for playing a board game together or sharing a hug as the nice little happy family that they are.  To be honest, I was expecting a little more “welcome home Sugar-baby-muffin-candy-cakes!”, but I cannot say that I’m disappointed.  All in all though, Emily and Justin’s home is a very nice place to be, and their love for each other can be seen in their actions.  

The final, and biggest surprise for my Spring Break in Ithaca would have to be discovering the inch of water that had seeped into the basement overnight…I guess I should have packed my waders.

 Some pictures from the week!

Surprising: Emily trusted me with a paintbrush

 

Non-surprising: What happens when Emily trusts me with a paintbrush

Surprising: Water in the basement (I’m a wet/dry vac expert now)

Non-surprising: My selection of paint samples I collected on a Home Depot trip

Surprising: My new-found material picking skills

Non-surprising: The most “Maura” print didn’t make the curtain-cut

Surprising: Most of the events of Spring Break

Non-surprising: It was AWESOOOOOME!

ABOUT THE AUTHOR:  A freshman nursing student at Bloomsburg University, Maura is an exceptionally fun individual who enjoys fake tacos, colored pens, playing racquetball, and life in general.  She resides in her dorm room with her roommate Rosemary, and their pet fish, Sharpie and Gilligan.