Home Inspection with a Side of Fire, Please!

UPDATE June 1, 2016

I tried to recover the photos that went along with this post but was unsuccessful, so this will be a longer post with only a video towards the end. However it is a rather funny read.

Since our return from Heidelberg, my days have been filled with making this apartment our home. The other day I spent several hours arranging the furniture in our living room. When I first got here I had an idea of how I wanted things set up. I set to work on moving things around to make it just so. I proceeded to sit down and watch Beauty and the Beast (TV series not Disney movie of awesome-ness). That was when I decided I didn’t like the set up, so in a move my mother is very familiar with, I took the furniture on a tour. I tried out several different layouts and about two, maybe three hours later settled on one. Any guesses? That’s right, it is all back to where I originally wanted it to be. As I finish each room I will add photos for y’all to see. As of now the hall/entryway and the bathroom is to my liking.

Among the chaos that is my indecisive nature, James came home one day with a wonderful surprise. NOT!!! Housing forgot to do a damages walk through before he move in here so they would be coming to inspect our home in two days. SURPRISE!!!

 

For two days I did not care about how I wanted things to be. All I wanted was to make it presentable for these intruders and so I did. Mostly… On Sunday, I just kinda gave up and decided they could deal with whatever I have going on.

They came yesterday and turns out it was all pretty much for not. “Do the appliances work?”

“Yes.”

“Any damages?”

“A small chip on the tile and one in the tub.”

“Ok…” Makes notes. “Sign here, here, and here. Two additional house keys for you and always walk your dog on a leash.”

All that cleaning and stress for ten freaking minutes!!!

After James, leaves for work I spend my evenings either watching TV or reading. I just finished up season three of Beauty and the Beast. I am so sad that next summer will be the final season. It had a good run, though short it was. My other show is Person of Interest. I use to watch this on occasion with my dad back home. It was added to Netflix recently and I was sucked in. I also got James hooked on it and I am totally about to let the cat out of the bag: I’ve been watching without him. Sorry James… It’s like chips, you can’t eat just one.

 

As for books I have been reading my travel guides. I am totally obsessed with them. Mostly I have been reading on Germany but I’ve added in Italy and Greece too. Our next adventure will be seeing the tourist spots here in Stuttgart, as well as a day trip to Nuremberg. What I am most excited for in November, besides our one year anniversary (EEK!!!), is that all the Christmas markets will be opening up!!! I am so ready to get my Christmas on. So be on the lookout through November for all those wonderful posts.

Now the kitchen wars…

I decided I would try this Gordan Ramsay video on cooking steak that I had seen several weeks back.

I was so pumped to try this. My steak had spent 20 minutes at room temperature, it was coated in the seasonings, the pan was heating, and I was ready to go with my tongs and butter for basting. Nothing was going to stop me from making this for James. Well my kitchen got the last laugh.

 

So here I am watching my pan waiting for it to smoke, just like Gordan said. After what happened I feel comfortable with us being on a first name bases. Well my pan was smoking and I was all set to wow James with my cooking skills. I wowed him alright. As I poured the oil into the pan it went up in flames. I am not talking little sparks here. HUGE orange flames. I stood there stunned, like a deer in headlights, for a moment as James came around the counter to assist. He’s freaking out about what to do and just like that I snapped back into action and told him to grab the lid and smother the flames.

 

As the fire smothered out I was literally throwing in the towel on cooking. I sat on the floor in despair wondering how I could have been led astray by THE Gordan Ramsay. As I sat there on the verge of tears at my epic fail in the kitchen, my little light bulb went off and a glimmer of hope was on the horizon.

Baking it the oven mostly worked. Had I not sworn off of pans for the time being I would have seared them. However one fire was enough for me.

Some time later I started to see the humor in it all. The kitchen totally kicked my butt with that battle but I will come back to win the war.

That’s what’s been up with us in Germany.

Always an adventure to be had.