Bells Ringing, Cop Lights Flashing, Marriages Brewing, and A Lot of Really Cool Socks

We've all been through college and seen some pretty wicked theme parties with the most popular theme around the Holidays being Ugly Christmas Sweater parties. I can guarantee there has NEVER been an Ugly Sweater party quite like this one. Ignoring the fact that we invited 400 more people than our little apartment would hold, I would like to enlighten you all with the success that was the 2nd Annual Ugly Christmas Sweater Party, Dec. 11, 2009.

I'll start off with a look into what the night before the party brought. Brian and Stacy came over to help move furniture which helped in two ways, it protected the furniture and gave us "so much more room for activities!" The dining room table was moved to Tim's room and after making a long mark alllll the way down the hallway wall, the loveseat ended up at the foot of Nathan's bed. Nathan and Tim, in a strikingly similar to grinch-like manner, went to Brian's to get an extra futon for seating and steal Christmas decorations. Because Liz is one of those REALLY over-festive people she has an over-abundance of decorations. I received a voicemail from Liz that went something like this, "Tim and Nathan just came to our apartment and took all of my Christmas decorations including the Christmas candles. I feel like I've been robbed."

Moving on to the start of the party:

When you bring together three different groups of friends, classmates, and mere acquaintances it's bound to get wild as Tim does when he does the Stanky Leg dance. You would think that pregaming wouldn't be necessary for a party that started at 7 and offered plenty of "Peppermint Patties" and "Apple Pie" but Neal and Mike found it COMPLETELY necessary. Not only did they hold a mid-afternoon pregame but they also borrowed sweaters from Trueblood's dad's closet.



If you would like to know how the pre-game + party turned out for these two you should ask them personally, on your own time. Just for a head's up, they probably don't remember.

Mike and Neal may have had on ugly sweaters, but Tim and Nathan won the best costume contest. Titled "Midget Santa and His Reindeer"



Evidently Goodwill carries a lot more ugly Christmas sweaters for women than for men because a majority of the males that showed up on Friday were decked out in womens' clothing. Nathan's outfit above was no exception. He came back to my room before the party to have me help him pull on his sweater over the turtleneck. I asked him what in the WORLD was wrong with his turtleneck before realizing that there was nothing wrong with it, it was just way too small for him. He was very proud of his cross-dressing for the night, we even discussed it as Stacy pinned on a "Joy" pin to the neck of his shirt. The convo went a little like this:

Stacy: "Nathan is that a woman's sweater?"
Nathan: "Yes and the turtleneck is too."
Stacy: "Yea I can really tell."
Nathan: "Thank you! And these are my most metro pants."
Me: "What does that mean they are too tight?"
Hoppes: "So those pants show a bulge?"
(And without missing a beat, or looking away from her work with the pin to actually CHECK whether or not they did, Stacy chimed in): "YES they do!"
hmmmm.....



I forced the boys to go through a Christmas card photo shoot before anything got too crazy. If you're lucky enough to get a card from us it may look similar to this:



As is the norm at every major event we attend, Tim enjoys a good upside-down bong.



At this point you are more than likely wanting me to get to the good part of "Cop Lights Flashing and Marriages Brewing." Though like the courteous neighbors they are, the boys had pre-warned our friendly building neighbors that we would, in fact, be having a rather large Christmas party on Friday night. Evidently that didn't do the trick because we got that dreaded knock on the door with the red and blues going outside. The bored cops of the greater Indianapolis area were scheming up a noise violation to lay on the innocent people in the world just trying to bring in the Christmas Holiday in real style. Thankfully the sweet (maybe mildly slurred) speech of Nathan got them to go away, but it was time to turn down the music. Whoever doesn't like "Jingle Bells" playing at top volume is the REAL grinch! (I guess it could have possibly been the 342 times that they put the playlist back to "Shots Shots Shots Shots"...but I'm not sure)

As the night rolled on...(insert random action shots):










(end random action shots)
...there was definitely love in the air. The Hot Toddies could have gone to their heads but when a boy and girl put on a really great sweater and awkward pair of socks you never know what might cause their hearts to skip a beat. Now, I'm not going to give away who it was:




...but most people could figure out who it was.

Along with the topic of love, I would like to send out my deepest apologies to Miss Kara Murphy. The pooooor girl had to put up with every boy trying to make out with her as the suggestively brushed by her. (Or as Nathan put it "Kara trying to make out with me") She was pinned as the target for the night and there was no escaping my roommates and the crazy guys they call friends. She was an excellent sport, even when Tim walked by and straight-up licked her face!! (Face-licking obviously being a sign of true affection)

The night continued on into a blur that probably shouldn't be discussed in a blog, but the important part is that an AFTER party actually happened the next morning. It included a large group of people participating in a good hour of thorough cleaning and a beer bong offering to the painters who were working in our entryway. My roommates have never been stingy with the beer bong.

Currently as I write this Tim is studying at the dining room table in his room and Nathan is probably sitting on the loveseat at the foot of his bed. Last night when we made dinner together the three of us had to decide whether we wanted to sit in Tim's room or on the floor in the living room together. We chose the floor.

The planning for the 3rd Annual Ugly Christmas Sweater party will begin in approximately May, so start collecting sweaters and crazy-cool Holiday socks now!

Baby It's Cold Outside!

Snow. The wonderful thing that means it's time to wear sweaters, scarves, fuzzy hats, and cute boots (or in my case gigantic snowboots suitable for a blizzard). Overnight last night we had our first snowfall of the year. After a friend from home called me pretty early to warn me about the roads, I knew I'd have to get ready quickly and allow some extra time to get to work.

I recently found out something that I really should have known, or realized, for my entire life. A doctor's strategy is to double book their days in order to fill in cancellations, etc. Luckily for everyone who will someday be my dental patient, I overbook my LIFE. This means I have a lot of practice...which in turn means I will be an excellent doctor. :) Anyway, this pertains to our snow day because I have been struggling lately with my car being frosted over in the mornings and I've really been cutting it down to the last minute on getting to work. So I hurried this morning, put on my dress clothes for work, got out my overly rugged boots (a fabulous combination with my outfit), and actually went out to my car early to start it and clean it off. When I walked out my door I was facing about 5 cars covered in snow. But when I looked at mine the entire front windshield was clean. Tim, who has to be at work an hour before me and has a much further drive, had already done this for me. I instantly smiled and thought to myself, "This is going to be a great week." I've been a fairly spoiled person my whole life. Not spoiled to the point that I don't appreciate things, or understand the value of a dollar, or know how to do things myself, but spoiled in the manner that I have a father who has two daughters that he would do ANYTHING for to make their lives easier. When I was in high school my dad always cleaned off our cars and ran them for awhile in the very early morning hours so that they would merely need warmed up to head to school. In college, I walked everywhere. Cleaning off my car to get to class was never a concern. Considering I think of my dad as a great man (actually the best I've ever met), when I saw Tim's act of kindness I couldn't help but think, "Now THAT is a good man."

The DATE

A week after telling my mother that if someone asked me on a date I'd immediately tell him no because the VERY little spare time that I have I just want to spend doing my own thing...a nice young man asked me out. I turned down dinner... but told him I'd go to a movie.

Sunday evening rolled around and I literally had 15 minutes from the time I got home before he was going to pick me up. I had already warned my roommates that I was, in fact, going on a date and that they needed to prepare themselves to be nice (HA!) I flew in the door to run back to my room to get ready. At this point I realized that Nick Hart was visiting for the night (please see post "Hart") and I knew this would be no ordinary encounter with this new guy. As I was back in my room multi-tasking (trying to restraighten my hair at the same time as change my clothes and shoes at the same time as eating dinner at the same time as answer the thousand phone calls I get on Sundays) I heard the boys scheming. Nathan came back and casually says, "Well, it's time to clean my guns." He got out all of his hunting guns, and most likely some others. While Nathan dug out his guns, Tim dug out his wigs. The three boys sat in the living room in mullet wigs (see pictures in previous post) and guns in hand. I was just finishing brushing my teeth (my favorite thing in the world to do) and I heard them answer the door. The next thing I heard was a loud chant of the guy's name until he agreed to bong a beer. My roommates have perfected what I just generally call, "The Chant". They have figured out that along with their strong peer pressure, chanting someone's name will ALWAYS make the person do whatever it is they want. That POOR boy!! I tried to hurry out to the living room to save him, but he was thankfully a very good sport.

As we walked away from the apartment I half-way apologized. I would never apologize for knowing, living with, and loving the two of them...but sometimes I have to apologize for not giving fair enough warnings.

If you want to date me I come with baggage. And that baggage is wrapped up into two excellent, but crazy, roommates.

Would You Like a Little Football With Your Tailgate?

In our pre-determined set of "house rules" that the boys and I made when we decided to live together it is stated that we must attend the Monon Bell and Oaken Bucket games on alternating years when they are at our respective schools. This was the year of the Oaken Bucket in Bloomington, IN.

Typical to our tailgating habits, we hit the fields very early. The boys didn't travel down to Bloomington the night before so they hit the road from Indianapolis around 5:15am. As we watched them approach the tailgate this is what we saw:



If you look closely you will see that they are wearing mullet wigs and carrying in their portion of the tailgate.



Our tailgate, which turned out to most likely be the largest non-frat tailgate in Bloomington that day, was a huge success. We included two of my all-time favorite things in the day: The Cupid Shuffle and making new friends.



After 8 hours of tailgating and 3 hours of football, most of us left to nap before a night out on the town. My roommates...however...chose to go to Panda Express and nearly get into a fight. But that's another story for another time.

Cheers to Football Season. Bring on the basketball!!

You've Gotta Double Bond That Shit!

These are the words I heard ringing out from Nathan's room while Tim was trying to do his homework the other night. The best part about this is that it was actually music to my ears. It made me smile SOOO BIG :D. I miss the days of knowing (or not knowing) that something needed to be double bonded. This saying reminds me of something Lindsay would have said to me in the middle of the library.

Tonight is family night. Again, we're all occupying an extremely small space in Nathan's room and watching YouTube videos together. The result (this is most effective if you watch each video to the full extent in order):

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tj2Z7AydDao

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R248WOajlFE&feature=related

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2URImmLYAsQ&feature=related

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TytJRejBWHU&feature=related

Dr. McHottie

First of all, my apologies for not writing in so long. My devoted readers are missing me, I can tell. To tag on to the last post, I have to say one thing. A few nights ago I got home pretty late from work and running errands to find that the boys were not home. A couple of hours later when I was going to bed they still were not home. I was worried sick...

Unfortunately, we're all three so busy that we haven't spent a ton of time together to have a big event (such as pumpkin carving). Fortunately, we do not need to plan a lot of time together for some good laughs. A couple of weeks ago I walked in the door to find the boys studying together, which is perfectly normal. What was not so normal was how close they were laying on the floor together. The below picture does not do it justice. I probably could have fit only a quarter between them. They moved apart in the time I went to get my camera:

Then I got a good shot of them hard at work. (This may or may not be posed)

It wasn't until a couple days later that I found out why they work so hard on their studies. Tim came to me and said, "I know what I want to do." I asked him what and he told me, "I want to be Dr. McHottie. I want to be THAT doctor that all the women swoon over when he walks out of the room. Just a stud swooping in to save the day."

I actually have no doubt in my mind that that is EXACTLY what he will be. Then, once he has healed the wounded he will send them off to Therapist Mc____ (fill in the blank), aka Nathan, for their physical therapy. Sort of similar to their classroom tactics of meshing their newfound friends...they will bring together their patients. And they'd better damn well send their kids to me for dental work :)

Worried Sick

Sometimes I do things that just worry the boys sick. It all started a few weeks ago when I was spending some time downtown. I had told the boys I would be gone for awhile but didn't tell them how long. I ended up having too much fun illegally going into the Indianapolis Dream Home in the middle of the night (they should really get a security system in that thing) and didn't get home until very late. I was slightly insulted around 10pm that night when I hadn't received a text from either one of them wondering where I was at or when I was coming home. The next day I was talking to them about the night before and they started the conversation with, "Where WERE you we were worried sick about you!" It turns out that they contemplated texting me to find out what I was up to, but decided against it because they thought if I wanted them to know where I was at, I would tell them. I bet there are quite a few teenagers out there right now wishing their parents thought the same way!

Second example: Last week after a hot tub date that I desperately needed (my back had been killing me for days) I got home by 11 which was exactly when I said I would be home. I walked in the door to hear Tim say, "Where WERE you we were worried sick about you!"

Example Today: You see, a couple of weeks ago I got home from work and this thought crossed my mind about how absolutely wonderful it would be if I walked through the door some night to find dinner cooking. This is no joke...the next day I walked in and Tim was making a crock-pot full of Chicago style roast beef. And the next night, he brought home two pizzas. It was unbelievably amazing. How does that tie into tonight?? Tonight I got home to find Nathan making penne with ground turkey, green peppers, onions, and habanero (for added kick). I wanted to go running while it was still light out so Nathan told me I had 20 minutes before dinner was ready. I told him I'd be back in 20 and took off. About 40 minutes later I was walking up to our apt from the neighborhood beside us and I could see Nathan down the street with his arms in the air indicating "where have you been?!!?" When I returned to the apartment I said, "What, were you worried sick about me?" And he said, "No. We're WAITING on you to eat." My bad. I guess they don't worry as much as I thought :)

Hello Country Bumpkin, How's the Frost out on that Pumpkin?

Tonight was pumpkin carving night. My sister decided to spend one more night in Indy and we had to put our time to good use. I've also been begging my roommates to carve pumpkins with me so this was obviously the best way to spend our evening. Kristen and I took a quick trip to get the pumpkins and got three...one for me, one for her, and one for the boys to share (we figured that's all they could handle). After spending wayyy too much time deciding which gourds would be the best choice (add in plenty of "my gourd is bigger than your gourd" jokes), we finally got home and got started. We had no idea what was ahead of us for the night. A majority of this blog post will be a photo story...as pictures can tell a thousand words.

Getting started...


Nathan helped Kristen finish cutting the bottom out while Sonia watched the process...



Everyone was workin up a sweat, and Joe was no exception with pumpkin on his face!



Sonia's new blackberry was in danger with all the knives and pumpkin goop.



Tim was trying to get some homework done while all of this was going on, it wasn't easy...



Especially when Kristen was throwing the pumpkin goop at him...




Kristen was also telling a lot of stories, such as how when I was little I didn't want to put my hands inside the pumpkin and she always had to coax me to clean it out.



Tim finally came out of hiding just to eat some pumpkin seeds...uncooked. It's been said before and I'll say it again. Tim will eat ANYTHING.


Nothing shows sisterly love like gettin your hands dirty.



Nathan was acting as DJ. The choice of music? Loretta Lynn's and Conway Twitty's "Country Bumpkin". Full lyrics can be viewed at: http://www.lyricstime.com/loretta-lynn-and-conway-twitty-country-bumpkin-lyrics.html
Nathan's version can be listened to on the video below:



About now is the time when things get REALLY interesting. Tim became a pumpkin head! Notice his wicked dance moves. He went to visit the neighbor. Our poor neighbors are always getting strange visits from my roommates. (See post "Stomach turnin/Butt burnin" for more neighbor fun!)



Finally we were done with our pumpkins!! After asking the neighbors if they would be offended by the pumpkin that Tim and Nathan created (they thankfully said no) we set them all outside to be adored by all. We're guessing our apartment complex will be destroying our pumpkins soon. We'll blame it on the neighbors, it's fine.

The title of the final product is, "IU HOMECOMING 2009. FML"




And finally we ended the night by making Joe be our photographer for family photos

Hart

Hart came to visit last night. This friend of Tim and Nathan's is one of my worst nightmares...but I also find him extremely entertaining. Literally, the last time he was here, I went to bed early while the guys went out and I was scared for my life that I was going to have to fight him to not get into my bed when they got home. Thankfully I think that night he passed out before he remembered I live here. And, before this summer, he was probably the person most excited about me moving in here. He swore he'd get to sleep in my bed every time he visited. I told him "in your wildest dreams."

So it's Sunday night and I get home from work completely EXHAUSTED. I had to take a short nap before grocery shopping and doing all of the necessary other things to do on a Sunday night. While I was asleep I remember hearing Hart's voice out in the living room and thinking, "Oh God, Nick is here." I went back to sleep just to wake up shortly after that because I sensed someone standing right over me. I opened my eyes and it scared the crap out of me to see Hart hovering over me with a bottle of Seagrams. Tim was at one end of the bed with a video camera going and Nathan was creepily standing at the other end of the bed. Hart said, "Julie, wake up and drink!" And I responded with a stern, "NO, GO AWAY"

They didn't listen.

After persuading me to sit up and take a sip of the Seagrams, Hart then asked if he could get in bed with me. I yelled at him again and all three boys finally went away. Then I realized I really did need to get out of bed and go grocery shopping or I wouldn't be eating lunch all week!

When I got home Nathan had gone back to his studying, Tim was with his girlfriend, and Hart was hanging out watching football on TV. It was exactly 9pm on Sunday night which meant it was time for Desperate Housewives, a show I've watched religiously since it began years ago. So, I used the sweetest voice possible and said, "Hey Niiiiccckkk, do you want to watch Desperate Housewives with me??" Of course he immediately said yes and Nathan came running to the living room to offer to bring us a blanket. My sweet voice was just a convincing way to get him to turn the television from football to ABC...and it worked. But a blanket wasn't necessary, we sat on opposite ends of opposite couches. Thankfully, Hart watched two hours of Desperate and Brothers and Sisters with me, the two shows I live for. However, being the mean person that I am sometimes, I had to shush him a few times when he tried to talk to me while the shows were on and also had raincheck multiple offers being the lucky person to give him a foot massage. I told him when he tries to cash in those rainchecks, he'll probably just get another raincheck. Sometimes I get a little harsh with him, but with good reason because of our history which is too long of a story for right now.

For a fellow blogger out there who is just DYING to know...I did end up buying the dress for the wedding. And even though my two roommates told me I looked like I was wearing a curtain, I wore it anyway and loved it! The guy I went as a date with didn't complain, so I guess all is fine :)

Shopping Extravaganza

Yes, we went shopping together. I'm going to a wedding this weekend and there is a dress that I've been wanting for MONTHS and haven't found an excuse to buy. So I decided this wedding is the perfect reason to buy the dress. The only problem is...it's a little different. I wasn't entirely sure if it was wedding appropriate. And I don't mean "appropriate" in a way that the dress is too revealing or etc., just couldn't decide if it was right to wear to a wedding where I don't know anyone except the guy I'm going with. I thoroughly enjoy walking into events and having people look at me and wonder "wtf is she wearing?" But I'd rather not embarrass the poor guy. Therefore, before buying the dress I needed my roommates to go to the store with me and tell me a guy's opinion. Like, if their date showed up in this dress what would they think?

When the boys walked in from class I immediately asked them to go to the mall with me. After Nathan literally groooooaaaannneeeddd for 30 seconds, he said, "Ok if you'll go to Gander Mountain and if you'll drive." I told him he had a deal. You have to understand that shopping (unless in a hunting or sporting goods store) is Nathan's LEAST favorite thing in the entire world. Luckily for us Tim agreed to come along and...he drove (the only one who didn't need to actually go somewhere). We went to Gander Mountain first. We were there SOOO long that I looked at everything in the store...twice. And I decided which tent I want for camping. AND I found a new turtleneck for IU tailgating this year. (Only IU tailgating veterans with me will understand my passion for the turtleneck) As we were finally leaving Nathan told me that a guy at the back of the store shooting his bow asked him if he was here with his girlfriend. He told him no, I'm just his roommate, and the guy said, "Oh, lucky guy." After hearing this I go "WHAT?!?! Was he cute??" Nathan told me he was not good looking and if he had been, he would have brought the guy over to meet me. I'm glad I can count on my roommates.

Finally it was my turn. Tim took us to Von Maur to check out the dress. The boys followed me through the store to the womens' dresses and sat in two chairs outside of the dressing room. They immediately fought over a random catalog lying there and I had to tell them to behave. It was like taking two children to the mall. I put on the dress and I could instantly see it in Nathan's face that he did not like it. And Tim said, "I think you're going to buy it whether we like it or not." This was a good example of how Tim is better at hiding what he thinks to be more compassionate towards what a girl wants. Through living with them I have learned that this really is the case. They both told me that it didn't look bad, it was just weird. Nathan asked me why I don't just wear a black dress. I don't think he understands that I never "just" do anything.

This post is getting a little on the long side so I'll finish the story quickly. We got back to the apt and Tim had to leave. Nathan wanted to try out his new broadheads on his bow so he had me act as security as he shot rounds at the target. I have to say...the deer don't stand a chance. Besides protecting any unsuspecting neighbors from walking into Nathan's shooting path, I also acted as the weight sitting on the target so that the arrows could be removed from the foam. That makes a girl feel good...

And so the story goes--Nathan and Tim went back to Gander Mountain today and this is what they returned with...


Complete camouflage raingear. Then we lost Nathan in the bushes



And while all this happened Tim ate yogurt


I just received a text that they are out riding four wheelers. It's 11:00pm. Whatever!

The wheels on the bed go round and round

So last weekend my roommates went to Purdue to go to a football game. I hate when they just leave like that for long periods of time (two days being a long period of time) even though I don't think twice when I take off for home or wherever else for a week at a time. Saturday night I left the bars early from being with my friends as I do every Saturday night since I work on Sundays. I walk into the apartment, throw on all the lights, talkin on the phone, and my arms are full of multiple purses and bags. I walked by Tim's room and hear "hi". It scared the shit outta me and I immediately felt HORRIBLE for being so loud. Evidently they decided to drive home on Saturday instead of waiting till Sunday (this mirrors the decision we made after the monon bell game last year...another story, another time) So I proceeded to loudly apologize to Tim for being so loud. Then, after I was positive that my apology had at this point woken Nathan up, I just shut up and shut myself in my room.

It is now Wednesday and I just got home from dinner with Kara, Stac, and Kate. I haven't been in Indy for the past three days so it feels like it's been awhile since I've seen the boys. When I walked in Nathan was vacuuming (he is ALWAYS vacuuming) and Tim was just wandering around. Tim followed me back to my room and was trying to ask me questions about my night/week/whatever. I responded with, "I really have to pee" and shut the door on him. After relieving the two glasses of water and one cherry limeade that I drank at dinner I went back to Tim's room to ask for his manly assistance. The bed in my room hasn't been placed exactly where I wanted it to be. If you know me personally at all...you know that I've been sleeping on an air mattress for the entire summer. I'm finally off of the air mattress but didn't take the time to move the bed appropriately against the wall. Plus, I was getting annoyed that my pillows kept falling off the head of the bed at night. Tim had decided to take a nap and was laying in bed but jumped up because I was in need of him. So, the boys flexed their muscles and followed me back to my room to help me move my bed. I asked them if they thought the best method would be to lift the entire bed and move it. Nathan asked me why I didn't just push it and I told him I didn't want to do that because I didn't want to just move the top mattress and not have the entire bed move...that'd be a pain. While we're discussing this, Tim is bent over peering under the bed to make the discovery that (dum dum da) it's on wheels!! So they barely touch it and roll the bed against the wall. Nathan guestimated a measurement that they moved it 4 inches. My bad :D

After moving the bed I tried to talk them into taking a "family" trip to the recycle bin. Our recycle is overflowing. They didn't think this was such a hot idea and claimed they need to study. I would just like to end this post with the quote that just rang throughout our apartment:

Nathan: "Tim what are you doing?!"
Tim: "I'm going to poop and read a magazine"
Nathan: "Are you going to take a nap?"
Tim: "No, I'm going to take a dump...then maybe a nap."

Boredom

Though I have never been diagnosed with ADD, I've been convinced I have it since I was a freshman at IU and my friend Renee told me that I did. I've been struggling with boredom for the past couple of days. This is the first time all summer that I have had this problem. In fact, the past couple days I have been running for twice as long as I normally do because I figure why not...I have the time. Then, yesterday, when I got home from wandering around finding a birthday present for one of my best friends from home (her birthday isn't until Oct. 1st--and I NEVER do anything like that this early, obviously something is wrong.) I announced to the boys I was going for another run because I was bored. Nathan asked me if all I do is run and sleep. That's what it seems like this week. For awhile now I have been randomly asking him to hang all the framed pictures in my room and he tells me that is something I can do myself. So he told me, "why don't you hang those pictures instead of running." I kind of groaned at him and left.

Today I was SO EXCITED because my dad was coming to town to make a special delivery to me. I had it all planned out in my head how we were going to hang out all day and I would be entertained until well into the evening when he would head home. Part of our day included him hanging all of my pictures in my room...haha. Now, my dad has visited multiple times this summer and for some reason I forgot that he now visits to see my roommates, not his daughter. He discussed everything from the Bears game to religion with the boys before we went out to get some lunch and make a Wal-Mart run. Then my dad broke the news to me that he had to have the Uhaul home by 5:00 so he'd be leaving at 3:00pm. At exactly 3:05pm I became bored again.

I immediately decided I wanted to go swimming and texted the boys to see how soon they would be back from school and if they would go swimming with me. When they got home Tim had to go let a dog out and Nathan wouldn't go swimming because he had already swam laps at the Y this morning. So I said "fine" and went swimming myself. Nathan followed me out with the camera and snapped pictures as I jumped in.

I thought it would be funny to swim to my friend Liz's apartment. This is no small distance so I took a noodle as a flotation device, looked around and realized that if I get too tired I can just swim to the edge of the lake. So, with no potential danger, I took off and told Nathan to check on me in awhile.

To give you a better idea of the distance here is a picture:



Though I had a noodle with me (which horribly got in the way of swimming) I was so worn out by the time I got there that I got out of the lake and walked around the lake to get back. I think that the walk was as tiring as the swim. Plus, there is so much goose/duck poop that it was severely slowing my walk while I tried to avoid it.

I finally got back to the apartment just to jump off the dock right back into the lake because I was hot again. I tried to climb out of the lake but the problem with that is that the lake basically just drops off at the shore from mossy and mud covered rocks. I take a lot of pride in my ability to balance well on pretty much anything. It comes from years and years of ballet barre experience. I stepped my right foot up pretty high onto a giant rock and as I concentrated very hard on balancing myself to bring my left foot up to meet it, my right foot slipped right out from under me and got wedged between a bunch of rocks. Now that I stirred up all of the mud and muck that was on the rocks I looked around to see if anyone was watching and half expected Nathan to be posted outside with the camera. I noticed one neighbor trying not to watch me and I just awkwardly walked up the hill to the apartment.

When I got inside Nathan asked me what I was going to do next and I said, "Well, I dunno...I guess make dinner." Back to boredom. About 20 minutes later Nathan told me he was going back to the Y to go swimming and I got TICKED!!! I had been BEGGING him to swim with me!!! Ugh...they drive me nuts sometimes...

Bits-n-pieces

Nathan had the swine flu last week. Not really...I suppose that isn't funny. But he wasn't feeling well and it made him grouchy, a definite sign. Only I'm allowed to randomly be grouchy, I'm the female.

My sneezes always come in twos. (I get that from my dad) The boys always try to beat each other in who says "Bless you" to me first. And every time they say it it's in a different voice.

Last weekend Nathan decided to show Tim's "box" to a couple of my friends. Later in the night when we were with the much larger group of friends word spread very quickly. Now, none of my friends want to visit me. Thank you my dear roommates.

Whenever I decide to go visit our young, very good looking male neighbor the boys fire questions at me like when I'll be back and whether or not I put perfume on. I always end up standing at the door for about five minutes answering to them just to be able to go talk to/watch some football with a nice neighbor. Geez. They also have a rule set of no boys in the apartment when they're not here and for some reason I abide by it.

Today as they were getting ready to leave for school we were all in the kitchen and I was wearing an orange IU tee, Nathan in an old Bears jersey, and Tim in an orange Abercrombie shirt. I just looked at them both as we stood in the kitchen and go, "Wow, there's a lot of orange in here right now." BEAR DOWN!

Clubs

Just like any other fine student who starts at a new institution, Tim and Nathan decided they needed to be very involved with their new school. And...what better way to be involved than joining clubs?? So, one day as they wandered the IUPUI campus they decided to literally join every club. These include but are not limited to the PT club, the wrestling club (Tim hasn't wrestled since 8th grade), and the Indian club. They told me a couple nights ago not to wait up for them Thursday night because they had....(drumroll)....their first Indian club meeting.

I just found out the results of this meeting. Tim and Nathan are, of course, the two token white guys in the club. They found out that there are two Indian clubs on campus so when the club needed suggestions of things to do to "hang out" my ever-competitive roommates suggested a decathalon between the two rival Indian groups. They want it to be comprised of both academic and athletic events including (again not limited to) dodgeball tournaments, stanky leg dance competitions, and an academic bowl.

Their team obviously has a benefit on the athletic side because of these two token white guys

Horizontal?

Well the boys started their first day of school yesterday. It was cute, but a little crazy. I asked Nathan if I could take his picture for the first day and he told me no. He'll regret that later. Tim didn't have his parking pass yet and both boys realized that the regular school year at IUPUI is not the same as summer classes. As someone who has only taken summer courses at IUPUI, I still have no idea what it is like for the fall semester and can't imagine the place actually being...busy. But at least I get to hear about it when they get home.

We try to keep somewhat of an academic atmosphere here in the apartment. (Try being the key word) Both boys have been working for a couple years and I just graduated. But we're all in the same mindset that we have to continue with our studies. I'm studying for dental, Nathan wants to apply to PT school, and Tim is planning to apply to Med. The boys have to do their science pre-req's for the next year in order to do this. Obviously, we get a little sidetracked from these studies occasionally. But there's the background as to why they are even taking class this fall.

The madness of their first day also involved being late to class because of parking issues and finding out that they both ordered the wrong book. I got a call in the afternoon from them both asking me if I would look up the phone number of a bookstore. This was pretty important because they needed to get the book situation taken care of while they were downtown and evidently the wrong book number was posted online---not their faults. All of the sudden as I was searching for the phone number they hurriedly say to me, "Quick give us Stacy's number! She's walking in front of us." I gave them Stacy's number and...click...they were gone. Clearly playing pranks on Stacy became more important than their book search.

I later found out that while the boys were in the student center bookstore Nathan decided to fart right in the middle of a group of people. And then he carried on like he didn't do anything while Tim observed the facial expressions of the surrounding people. The thing about this is...the past couple days Nathan has been farting a lot. And they aren't normal farts, they actually sound like he should go check his pants afterward. I can only imagine what the people around them thought on that first day of school.

Speaking of farting, the other night Nathan said, "Before you got here Tim and I wondered whether or not we should fart around you. I guess we decided it's ok." I asked him if they actually had that conversation before I moved in and he said, "Well, I know I had it with myself." I again reminded him of how weird he is.

We like to have what we call around here "family dinner". Last night during family dinner I discussed my current employment dilemma with the boys. Here's what I appreciate about them. As crazy and freakin WEIRD as they are, they are two REALLY smart boys. And for a few minutes we had an intellectual conversation where they posed questions to me regarding the job situation that I hadn't even thought of. This helped me so much and I love them for their insight.

After that conversation Tim decided to enlighten me with more of his so-called insight. He asked another excellent question that I'm sure everyone would love to know the answer to. "Why aren't buttcracks horizontal?" This was followed with more questions like, "Would they make toilets differently if buttcracks WERE horizontal?" I just cannot figure out what brings these things to his mind... It cracks me up (no punn intended) nonetheless.

Tonight's excitement: Nathan gave Sophie (his cat) a bath. He now has swollen bite marks on his arm. They also brought me home a gift that they found at Wal-Mart on their way home from the gym. It's a chip and dip tray with an IU symbol in the center of the dip dish. There must have been some sort of misprint (which I think is why they bought it) and around the outer chip part of the tray it says "Carolina Gamecocks". Thank you, boys.

Tim's stomach will be turnin and his butt burnin

Tim got back from New York. Thank goodness. The minute he got home from work this evening Nathan handed him a jalapeno pepper from the garden and told him, "eat this." (It was more of a habanero, not a jalapeno) And because Tim will eat anything, especially if Nathan tells him to, he took it and ate it without hesitating. There was a rule that came along with eating the pepper...Tim wasn't allowed to take a drink until five minutes later. With smoke coming out of his ears, five minutes later Tim gulped down his drink. This was about the time I handed him a jalapeno pickle to eat that I was using for the potato salad. He must have forgotten his recent spicy pain and gladly ate it. I yelled from the kitchen, "Tim your stomach's gonna be turnin" and Nathan finished it with, "And your butthole's gonna be burnin!"

Tim running to the bathroom:








Nathan fried the fish fillets to perfection and as we sat down Tim received a text from a friend. It went like this: A man said to his woman, "Make me something for dinner that reminds you of how good I am in bed." She fixed him cocktail weiners and minute rice. This was only the beginning of the dinner entertainment. Nathan decided to take the last of the fish fillets to the upstairs neighbors as a peace offering for never calling the cops on us for being too loud. Because he'd only been wandering around in his way too short running shorts all day, Nathan thought it'd be funny to put on a shirt that was too long. He did this, which WAS indeed funny, until my sister (who is visiting for the night) asked him why he didn't just put on the dress shirt that was conveniently hanging over the chair. Since this was a better idea Nathan changed shirts, only buttoned the top button, and added his hunting boots into the mix. Tim gave him his tie from that day and both boys decided he needed a hat. I'm thinking, "Oh this will be funny he should wear a backwards baseball cap." But no. Tim (who oddly keeps a box of random hats and wigs in his room) gave him a cop hat and Nathan turned out looking straight up like a mail-order stripper.


Nathan talked Tim into putting clothes on and joining him on the adventure of a peace offering. Tim's outfit turned out equally hilarious and consisted of knee high socks, boxers, a speedo over the boxers, three very heavy winter sweaters all in different colors, and a hot pink santa hat that said "Naughty". Oh yea...and an umbrella. Tim didn't want to go empty handed so he grabbed a cookie from the batch and took it to give to the neighbors as well.


The final event ended with the neighbors, who are probably in their mid 60's, joyfully inviting the boys in and the woman asked them in the most excited voice I've heard in a long time, "Oh, what's the PARTY for?!?!"




Upon the boys' return we found out that the cookie Tim chose to take to the neighbors was actually one that someone had already broken a piece off of. ONLY a guy would not notice that the cookie was not a full circle. After making fun of Tim the boys spent approximately 15 minutes heckling my sister and me with a variety of "I'm so horny..." jokes, pretending like they didn't know we could hear them.

The night ended with us all having "family movie night". Out of the choices of movies we, of course, picked the one starring Jessica Alba and Justin Timberlake "The Love Guru". About an hour into the movie as I was CRACKING UP I asked, "Is anyone still awake??" All three of them had been sound asleep the whole time. When the movie was over and the credits were annoying me I woke Tim up to ask him to turn it off because I (of course being the girl in the apt) didn't know how to work the playstation. His solution was to just turn down the volume. Even I could have managed that!

It is always nonstop entertainment here at the APT...

Over some eggs, toast, hashbrowns, pancakes, and large waters (post birthday bliss) with Stacy and Neal I felt inspired to create a blog about what it is like to be a 23 year old girl living with two 25 year old "boys". I was politely reminded by Stacy today that, judging from my HUNDREDS of facebook threads to our group of friends over the past four years, I tend to talk/write a little too much. Concise is key. I'm sure it will take me awhile to learn that concept.

As my first post I need to give a brief background of how I came to be in this position of living with Tim and Nathan. Last summer I was lucky enough to spend every day of the first half of the summer sitting in front of Sam "CC" in our physics class. (Insert moment of silence for how much we all miss CC since he moved away for PT school) At that time CC was living with Tim and Nathan, so through him I met his roommates. When CC went back to school Josh moved in to continue his law school journey (shoutout to IUPUI law students). Josh got married in June. Tim and Nathan needed a roommate, I needed a place to live. End of story.

It's going to be an interesting year. Exhibit A:
It is currently 24 hours after August 15th, 2009 when the annual Quadruple August Birthday Bash happened.

As we made our way from Chumleys to Wild Beaver we lost Nathan. Considering we were down about 20 people from last year and there were only about 15 of us, it wasn't that difficult to keep everyone together. Even Mike B., who didn't even know his own name, didn't get lost. Yet, Nathan was gone. A dozen phone calls and a couple bars later Stacy and I went back to my apt to find Nathan sound asleep. We found out this morning he decided to walk the 4+ miles from BR to our apt. It took him just under an hour and a half...and he was in flip flops. Now, Nathan isn't a huge guy but he's fairly built and could hold his own in a fight, I'm sure. But if someone wanted to mug him they would have no problem. Scenario:

"Give me all your money or I'll kick your ass." --Big mean mugger guy
"Prove it." --Nathan

I'm sure as a former wrestler he's pretty scrappy, but his mouth gets him in trouble.

This morning as Stacy and I layed on the futon (which we perfectly positioned directly in front of the tv in the early morning hours to watch a movie) Nathan sat down to chat with us. Btw, the movie was HBOLE's Sex and the City in spanish. After discussing the previous night we somehow turned the conversation to having children...very random. Nathan let us know that he doesn't care what his other kids' names are but he is naming one of his sons Boss. Boss?? wtf. Stacy let him know that that may not be such a great idea because that is kind of a badass name, and what if his son isn't a badass? Nathan argued that the boy would be in a win win situation. He would either be a badass with a badass name, or he'd suck and still have a badass name. Sounds to me like that's gonna be one lucky kid.

As for Tim this weekend...he's in New York. But when he gets back we're going to make him wear the IU apron and fry up the fish fillets :)

The boys would like for me to add in how nice it is to get to see them right after they've showered when their rippling muscles are glistening. (I, in fact, have never seen their muscles glisten)

So, here I am sitting in the living room of our apartment with ESPN on the tv as my background noise. I just finished watching some of the worst throws in baseball and am now catching up with scores. And I didn't realize until just now that this is sort of abnormal for a female. I would like to take this moment to express my appreciation to the ex-boyfriend who refused to ever turn the television away from sports news. Seven years later I voluntarily watch ESPN. I believe it was his way of putting me through training to someday be able to live with two guys and not go crazy.