Getting to know you, getting to know all about you

We have a very small staff here at Blankenbaker Crossings, but we want you to get to know us a little better.

This is Michelle, she's our leasing specialist here at the office. 

We've had everyone in the office fill out a questionnaire so you can learn a little more about us.

What are your hobbies?

                Cooking, reading

Who is your favorite sports team?

                Pro: Vikings

                College: UofL

What is your dream car?

                A Lotus Elise

If you could only eat one thing for the rest of your life, what would it be?

                Chicken, there are so many things you can do with it

What is the one dish that you will never, ever eat? 

                Sauerkraut

What’s your favorite recipe to cook?

                Asian Short Ribs in the crockpot

If you could paint your office any color, what would it be?

                Tiffany Blue

What’s the oddest place that you’ve ever traveled to? 

                 Masi Mara

What is the one thing you’re most proud of?

                 My sister  

What is your favorite and least favorite fruit and vegetable?

                Favorite: butternut squash & pineapple

                Least favorite: prunes & peas

Have you ever had to serve on jury duty? 

                No

If you could go back to any time period, what would it be? Why? 

               America in the late 1600’s, it would be interesting to see how it looked before all of the buildings came up, and the landscape was fresh.

What is the one movie you wish had a sequel? 

                Pride and Prejudice

What is the longest book you’ve ever read? 

                The Stand by Stephen King

When you were a kid, what did you want to be when you grew up? 

                A farmer’s wife

Do you have any phobias? 

                The unknown

Maintenance Tips

Here are some tips from our maintenance staff:

-Rinse off dishes before placing them into the dishwasher. This will prevent your dishwasher from getting clogged.

-To freshen up your garbage disposal and sharpen the blades, you can use ice and the peels of citrus fruits. Just make sure you're not over doing it so as not to clog the drain.

-Always make sure that you're running water while running your garbage disposal and feed it gradually so as not to clog the drain. Egg shells and potato peels are never a good idea in the disposal, but if they do happen to fall in, make sure that you're running water when you turn on the disposal.

-Change your air filter monthly to keep your air clean and save on your electric bill.

-Instead of turning off the air conditioner while you are away turn it down a few degrees. The air conditioner actually has to work harder to cool down a hot apartment which will increase your bill and decrease the life of the air conditioner. Using the ceiling fans especially in warm weather also aids the air conditioner to cool the apartment.  You can also purchase a programmable thermostat to help regulate the temperature.

-There are several things you can do to help insulate your apartment and help decrease your electric bill. Although blinds are provided for every apartment home unfortunately they are not good insulators. Curtains or some other kind of additional window coverings are recommended.

-If you do not have a washing machine in your apartment or you do not use your washer on a regular basis, you may notice an odor coming from your laundry room. Simply pour water down the washer drain to refill the evaporated water in the drain. This will keep the sewer gases from coming back through the drain. This is also a good idea for any drain in the apartment that is not used on a regular basis.

-Privacy door locks such as bathroom locks and bedroom locks sometimes get locked by accident. Simply straighten the end of a coat hanger or use a bobby pin to push in the whole in the center of the knob and this will unlock the knob.

-It is always a good idea to have a few tools handy. Some commonly used tools are: flat head screwdriver, Philips heads screwdriver, hammer, channel lock pliers, needle nose pliers, flashlight and a utility knife

Restaurant Review

AP Crafters

My husband and I visited AP Crafters on a Friday night, and I expected there to be at least a 30 minute wait. However we were seated right away at the bar, which wasn't overly crowded, you didn't feel like you were right on top of your neighbor. The only issue was I didn't get any time to sample the gummi bears they had right out in front when you walked in, so my husband when back and snagged me a few (what a great guy).

They have a pretty extensive bar menu which was nice. I got a Knob Creek on the rocks and my husband got a Shalafly which he was really excited about (I guess if you're a beer lover you'd understand...however I'm not one, so I don't). We didn't have to wait too long for the drinks which I LOVE, customer service is pretty important to me.

So we ordered an appetizer.

Appetizer just doesn't seem like a good enough word to describe what we had though.

Heaven on a plate, best thing I've ever eaten, O. M. G. These all come to mind when I think of the amazing bacon bruschetta that we had.

I'm not the biggest fan of caramelized onions, or sun dried tomatoes for that matter. So why, you may ask, did I order this appetizer?

Bacon jam.

I mean, really? Who thinks of that?! Bacon. Jam.

I mean, there's also brie, walnuts, and arugula on the grilled crostini as well, but that bacon jam. Seriously.

So how in the heck is anything that we order for dinner going to live up to this? Well it came pretty close, let me tell you.

I got the pulled pork and chorizo tacos and my husband got the fish tacos. My tacos had a definite kick to them which my husband loved (he stole two of the three). You're served three, along with some chips. And once again, these are just so much more than chips. They had just the right amount of salt to them, they were crispy and just delicious. They didn't need any salsa or queso or anything.

My husbands fish tacos were also amazing. The fish was flaky, and tender, well seasoned, and delicious (I stole one).

And for good measure, we ordered brussel sprouts. I know, I know, ewwww. But these are cooked in BACON (do you see a trend?) and chicken stock and red onions. So I had to at least try them. They were pretty good, my least favorite thing of the night (but look at what we had), until my husband dared me to try one on a tortilla chip that came with our tacos. I'm not sure what it was about that combination, but everything just came together and was like the perfect little bite.

I'm for sure looking forward to going back and ordering, pretty much anything off of the menu. My mom said that the reuben egg rolls are delicious, and I kept debating on the salmon or the grilled pork chops before deciding on the tacos.

Please let me know if you've tried either of these, or what else you'd recommend :)

How do you love us? Show us the ways

Ok people, be honest with me. Who works at one of those thankless jobs? You know the kind, your boss doesn't tell you thank you for all of the extra work that you put in, the customers definitely aren't thanking you anytime soon, and you're just sick of it.

Now I want you to think about how you'd feel for that job if you did get a little praise every now and then. A thank you from a customer for the little things that you did for them, a little pat on the back from your manager every now and then could go a long way into keeping you happy at your job.

I'm going to take a second to brag about my job, because I LOVE it. I have a nonexistent commute to work (I live at my apartment complex that I work at), the people that I work with are fabulous and we have a great time at work, and our residents are awesome. I really do wish everyone could work where I work.

Even though I have an awesome job, there is always going to be someone who complains, and sometimes the thank yous that apartments receive aren't enough to outweigh the complaints.

Now, where am I going with all of this? I recently attended a leasing seminar where the speaker was talking about a culture of kindness. We, as a country, have had a lot of tragedy over the years. And the speaker was from Colorado, who unfortunately has had a little more than their fair share. So she thought, if everyone told people when they were happy with them, instead of just when they were upset, it will create a culture of kindness.

So I'm going to bestow a challenge upon you, that person that you get your sub sandwich from who you know is not having fun at his job, or the girl ringing you up at Target who doesn't look excited to be there at all, give them a smile. Buy a thank you card from Target, write a note in it, and then hand it back to the girl who rang you up. Leave a kind note for your waiter at lunch or dinner letting them know how much you appreciate their hard work.

It's called paying it forward people, and hopefully we can all get on board with Haley Joel Osment.

So how can you pay it forward to your apartment complex you may ask? Send them a note about how well their doing, thank them for helping you move in or fixing a maintenance issue you were having. Or just tell them why you love living there. It's always nice to hear from residents on what's good rather than what's wrong with every little thing.

So go forward my readers and give out good praise!

When is an apartment a home?

Spring is just around the corner, and you know what that means...cleaning. Well for some people it does, for me it's time to redecorate. I get antsy when things stay the same for awhile, so I try to update things around my apartment often. But in spring I usually get an itch to rearrange everything.

In an apartment complex you're often limited on what you can do to redecorate, so here are a few things to make your apartment feel more like a home.

Add some interesting pieces around your space - lamps, works of art, anything to add some personality and pops of color.

In our apartment complex you can change the paint on your walls, just as long as you change it back before you leave. You might want to double check with your property manager before just going ahead and painting since there might be some rules and regulations through your complex.

Unfortunately, you probably won't be able to change the carpet unless you want to pay for all new when you move out (which would be rather pricey), but you can spice up your apartment with colorful rugs. You can find super cute rugs like the one below on sale at gilt.com, or you can head to your local thrift shop with Macklemore.

Don't like the shades in your apartment? Go ahead and switch them out! Roman shades, floor length curtains, whatever suites your style and makes you feel at home. Because that's what this is, your home. No matter for how long or short, you're here, might as well like it.

Welcome Home

Welcome to our wonderful new blog. We'll have cleaning and maintenance tips, profiles on residents and the staff, reviews on restaurants around the neighborhood and much more. We hope you'll come check us out weekly, and for other news you can check out our facebook or twitter accounts.