The less I seek my source [entries|friends|calendar]
Rosemary

[ userinfo | livejournal userinfo ]
[ calendar | livejournal calendar ]

Am I a Girl? [05 Aug 2008|11:00pm]
[ mood | chipper ]

This apartment complex is a lot like a neighborhood. I'm sure there are plenty of people who go straight from work to home and back again, but there are also a lot of folks who seem to know one another. There are a lot of families with kids, and the kids play together, and that tends to create community. It's also a pet-friendly complex, so lots of people out walking dogs, lots of cats sitting in windows as you walk by, etc. It's nice.

There's a little playground across the parking lot from our apartment, so there's always lots of kid's playing noises, which warms my heart. And when I walk to and from the main building where the pool and hot tub are located, I run into even more kids.

Apparently, I've become a source of fascination for some of these kids. We're not on the Isthmus anymore*, so I guess chicks with hairy pits and shaved heads and ambiguously gendered clothing are more of a rarity here. Kids stare, which is fine with me. I smile back at them. Then sometimes they'll even come right out and ask me stuff.

The day after I first shaved my head last week, one group of girls asked me why I cut my hair, probably recognizing me from before. I happily said "because I like it this way!" and walked along.

Today I passed by two young girls who stopped and stared and one just popped right out with "Are you a girl?!"
I grinned and said "I AM a girl!"
The other one opened her mouth as if to say something, stopped, and continued staring.
I think it's good to let kids ask questions honestly, so I stopped too and looked at her and said "go ahead" in a friendly voice.
She goes "I thought you were a boy!" I laughed and said no.

Moments later, they must have realized they might have sounded rude (being at about the age where they're starting to realize such things), so they shouted "We like your hair!" I shouted back "Thank you!"

It makes me giggle to think of them huddling up and whispering to themselves about whether I'm a girl or a boy. I imagine they goad one another "ask! ask!" and finally one brave soul does. I think it's good to reward that kind of thing, personally. Kids are curious and they should know that boys and girls, men and women, come in all different kinds of varieties. Some girls look like boys and some boys look like girls. It's a part of life. And hopefully being confronted by me, and seeing I'm a friendly and open person, will help them accept that more quickly.

Now I just hope I don't scare off the parents!! Heh!

*In Madison, the Isthmus is the main part of the city, the downtown and surrounding areas where the capitol, university, and all the hippie and artsy neighborhoods are. Where we just moved from, we were still on the Isthmus - now we're a ways East. Madison is generally a very liberal city, but it's More liberal the more central you get. Out here, there are more regular working class folks than granola crunchy hippie types.
But it's all good. When I go back to my VERY conservative home town of Oshkosh, I get grownups staring at me all slack jawed and open eyed wondering what gender I am.
Actually, I get stared at most places I go. It's just, living in Madison, I get really used to not being stared at. And living on the Isthmus, I got Really used to it.

I don't mind stares and questions from kids. They're still learning about the world. They're supposed to ask. I do rather mind them from adults, but at least I don't tend to get them from adults - even out here off the Isthmus!

5 comments|post comment

Armed robbery, stuff I did yesterday and today, etc. [04 Aug 2008|09:50pm]
[ mood | busy ]

I'm a couple of days behind on posts, and it's almost meds time, so I'll catch up with you all tomorrow, hopefully.

Dave and Angie and I went to see Dark Knight yesterday and all I have to say for right now is:

It *****IS***** that amazing.

I might come back and dissect it more later because I have many thoughts. But to anyone out there debating whether or not go to? GO! But prepared for it being very very dark.

In super creepy news - While we enjoying our dark, violent movie - there was an armed robbery IN the lobby of the movie theater we were at! We had no idea at the time, but figured something was up when we left and saw six or more cops all over the lobby and parking lot questioning people and a fire truck with it's lights on in the parking lot. Dave looked it up and found the story. It all happened about a half hour before our movie let out, so we lucked out I guess. It doesn't sound like anyone was hurt, and they caught the guys, but that's still pretty freaky.
Here is the story. And here is another article with more info. Apparently, cinema employees, some citizens, and two off-duty cops who was there to watch a movie tackled and caught the guys! Brilliant.
I'm a bit fascinated with all these incidents popping up of regular people going after guys with guns. On the one hand, it's great that people are refusing to be victims (or let other people become them in the case of the TN shootings when people stood in the line of fire or tackled the shooter to save other people). On the other hand, if a couple of thugs want to rob the place where you're working for minimum wage and it seems like they just want to take their money and run - is it really heroic, or moronic, to go after them? The off-duty cops, of course. The security guards, sure. But cinema employees and patrons?? Dayum.

Anyway, after the movie, Angie and I watched two more episodes of Alias (two more to go!) and then Dave came in and we watched Big Brother and L&O:CI all together. Sundays seem to be the only time Dave and Angie ever see each other due to work/sleep schedules. The other day when Dave called me from work to check in and I said Angie and I were watching TV he actually got confused for a second. "Oh, right, she lives with us now!" Ha!

Today, Carrie stopped by and she and Angie and I went to the Indian buffet. Then Carrie and I went swimming. I've been nervous to go try out the pool by myself, and Carrie loves to swim, so it wasn't hard convincing her to tag along. The water was chilly today, but it was fun watching all the kids play and now I'll feel more comfortable going on my own sometime (although I think I'll prefer taking someone with me when I can). I also took her along to the hot tub and had a nice soak.

I've been getting more done around the house, but I'll update more on that another time. Time to take my meds, heat up my leftover Indian food, and hang out with the television. I usually get to sleep fairly quick on hot tub days, so I look forward to lots of rest. *knocks on wood*

3 comments|post comment

Still wrapping up move-stuff [01 Aug 2008|02:42pm]
[ mood | sore ]

Waiting on the guy from the moving company to come look at my broken cabinet. I have to say, while I've been incredibly impressed by everything else this company has done, I'm a little miffed at how long this is all taking. It'd be fine if the guy would have kept up communication with me about how busy he's been and when he might be free next, but he let me hang there for a couple of weeks and didn't answer an email query I sent. Today I finally called again and he said he'd call and come by this afternoon. If he doesn't show, I'm going to be upset. I've been waiting for this to be finished before writing a nice thank you note to the company about the guys who did the move to kinda give them a nod of approval or whatever, but if this thing takes any longer or something else gets held up longer than it should, I may make it a two part note - part compliment and part complaint!

Last night, Dave and I did a good job of finishing off the unpacking. There were a few tense grumpy moments, but we made it out without a fight! We need to figure out a few more organizational things - places to put things, etc. And then I still need to reorganize the storage closet to make better space and get everything in there in an orderly way. I was planning to do that today, but my back is pulled out a little and I probably shouldn't strain it too much. I iced it and took a hot shower and did some gentle stretches, but it's still bugging. I'll try a heat patch and some more meds in a bit and see if that helps. I'd like to get going on these projects!

I have this whole complicated list of "once I get that done, I can work on that" and I'm itching to get further down on the list than I am. I'd jump ahead to something less physical, but the items on the list really are dependent on the things ahead of them. Oh well.

Date night tonight! If I get to it in time, I need to return a Michelley call, too, but we'll see. Might have to wait until tomorrow. Need a little lunch now.

post comment

From the president of the UUA (or, why I'm proud to be a UU) [01 Aug 2008|01:30pm]
[ mood | sore ]

“Unitarian Universalism is a faith that is not based on a particular creed. Instead, it is grounded in a few deeply held principles. First among these principles is “the inherent worth and dignity of all people,” a belief that compels us to speak out on important justice issues. This has been part of our mission since the early days of abolitionism, continuing through women’s suffrage, the civil rights movement, and our current advocacy on behalf of gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgender persons. We truly are a church of “all souls,” not just some souls.

“It will take time for Unitarian Universalists to mourn and to heal. But let me assure you that we will not change our beliefs or compromise our demands for social justice. Fear will not prevent us from standing on the side of love, and we will continue to open our doors and our hearts to all people. This Sunday, just like any other, more than one thousand Unitarian Universalist congregations will be open for business, and our business is to welcome the stranger, to love our neighbor, to nurture the spirits of our people, and to help heal our wounded world.”

- Rev. William G. Sinkford

5 comments|post comment

Birthday recap [31 Jul 2008|07:31pm]
[ mood | relaxed ]

Tuesday was Dave and my birthday. For the new folks on my list, yes my partner and I have the same birthday. He's a year younger than me to the day. :)

I got to talk to my twinnie, Jill, and Michelley on the phone and got a message from my mom and email and LJ and snail mail greetings from many people. Always love being remembered on my birthday. :)

We weren't sure what we wanted to do to celebrate, but we wanted to do something nice. So I looked up some restaurants in this area online and found some nice ones that we'd never tried before and let Dave pick from the options. We went to The Cloud 9 Grille and it was a lucky choice. They had a birthday promotion where you got a free entree, cocktail, and dessert if it was your birthday! We decided to get an appetizer, which was the only thing we had to pay for! We got kiddie cocktails just to take advantage of the free cocktail thing, and we each had an entree and dessert. I polished off the appetizer and took most of my entree home - ended up making two more meals out of, too!

All of the food was super yummy. The place itself was really nice, too. They're on a hill and there's a gorgeous view of the city, including the capitol building. The chairs were soft and comfy, which is often an issue for me. Our waitress was adorable. She had this infectious grin that looked like she was always on the verge of giggles and we just had an overall really nice time.

Last night, we went out to run some errands and got cake. Because you have to have cake.

We're wanting to go see The Dark Knight this weekend, but we'll see. I know both Angie and Carrie want to see it, but I found out Carrie's going out of town this weekend, so maybe we'll go without her or maybe we'll wait for a time we can all go. I kinda wanna go now, just to make sure we actually do it - because getting four people's schedules together can be much trickier than three.

Being in a new place and having my birthday, I decided to come up with a whole new daily routine for myself. Angie got to experience my staying-up-all-night OCD mania for the first time when she came home from work and I was all splayed out on the sofa with four notebooks! But I'm happy with my new plan and will get officially started with it tomorrow - appropriate since we're also beginning a new month. :)

Today I sat in the hot tub for awhile and even did some of my stretches in there, which felt good. Tonight, I have to sit down with Dave and finish unpacking the rest of the his boxes in the second bedroom. At that point, we're done with the unpacking it's all just organizing and sorting and putting things in the right spots. You know - the fun parts. ;)

5 comments|post comment

More on the shooting [30 Jul 2008|04:00pm]
More on the shooting at the Tennessee Valley Unitarian Universalist Church in Knoxville:

Several first-hand accounts - two on LJ, one on blogger:
http://salvador-dalai.livejournal.com/4220.html
http://writingjen.livejournal.com/94849.html
http://shakespearessister.blogspot.com/2008/07/tomorrow-therell-be-sun.html#disqus_thread

Vigils and services of remembrance at UU congregations:
http://www.uua.org/news/newssubmissions/117287.shtml

A space online to share your messages of support to the members of the TVUUC:
http://knoxvillesupport.blogspot.com/

This story continues to affect me in deeply emotional ways.

We hear so many awful stories every day, and in order to function, we have to let most of them slide past with maybe a quick prayer or a brief moment of sadness. But when you feel a connection to one of these stories, either because you live in the area or you're a member of the group of people affected or because it's something similar to an experience in your own life or it just happens to strike you on a day when you're feeling susceptible - you let it in and you grieve for the whole world's hurts and tragedies all at once. For me, this is one of those stories. I just can't shake it. I'm not letting it consume me, but I do find myself crying about it very often. I know all I can do is send good thoughts and hope for the best. These are times when being human just feels so inadequate.
3 comments|post comment

slowing down [28 Jul 2008|07:40pm]
[ mood | listless ]

Yep, I'm slowing down. All I've accomplished so far today is writing out bills and doing a few stretches. I'm not crashing, thankfully, but I am back to my usual slowness. Everyone I say this to says "good!". My initial response is "not good! I want to keep getting stuff done!" - but I know they are right. The less I tax my body the better, probably.

Hot tubbed it yesterday and skipped the prunes and everything seems to be functioning normally in that department. I did have a whole group of young girls (ages 5ish - 14ish?) asking to come in the hot tub room yesterday. I've a feeling this is going to happen every time I'm there after hours. Oh well. I'm not about to loose my key privileges by breaking the rules, so I'll just have to keep saying no and telling people they have to get a key from the office themselves. :P

I know it's only been a couple days, but so far I really like living with Angie. :)
We burned through a bunch of Alias episodes yesterday - only four episodes left!

My brain wants to do more unpacking and my body wants to go watch TV. I think we'll compromise and do a few light stretches and then chill for a bit.

6 comments|post comment

Shooting at UU Congregation in TN [28 Jul 2008|01:08pm]
[ mood | sad ]

There was a shooting at the Tennessee Valley Unitarian Universalist Church in Knoxville yesterday morning. The children and youth of the congregation were putting on a play at the time. None of the kids were hurt, but two adults were killed, and several more injured.
The NYT article with a lot of the details.
The president of the Unitarian Universalist Association released a statement. He reports that "members of the Unitarian Universalist Trauma Response Ministry are on their way to Knoxville to offer additional ministry to the congregation as it grieves."
This page with updated news submissions reports that President Sinkford is on his way to Knoxville today himself.

I got this in an email from the CLF, the Church of the Larger Fellowship (which is an online UU congregation for folks who can't or choose not to go to a physical church):
"Sonja Lamicela, Director of Religious Education at First UU Society of
Syracuse, NY, has suggested that sending paper cranes for peace would
be an appropriate way to express support and healing for the staff
and members at TVUUC, especially the children, 25 of whom witnessed
the shooting. Here's how to make them. http://monkey.org/~aidan/origami/crane/

The church address
Brian Griffin, DRE
Tennessee Valley UU Church
2931 Kingston Pike
Knoxville, Tennessee 37919"

Just wanted to pass that on in case anyone wanted to send their support in that way.

This UU blogger has been giving lots of updates, as has my Knoxville friend here on LJ (who I originally heard it from), [info]leiandra.

Another UU blogger has some beautiful things to say about the strengths of UUs and how this particular congregation was strong in how it dealt with the situation (one of the members who died was shielding other members from being shot, and other members tackled the shooter and restrained him until the cops arrived, while others corralled all the kids out of the room as fast as they could). She also brings up the point that is hitting me home strongest right now - this could have been any UU church in America. And while I currently am a member of a non-physical church, there are three UU congregations in my city and two of them are ones I've been to - one I was a member of for several years and helped out with the youth group.

The congregation's website contains this quote:
"Love is the spirit of this church and service it's law. This is our great covenant: to dwell together in peace, to seek the truth in love, and to help one another." James Vila Blake (Blake was a UU minister and poet and in 1800s)

The shooter was specifically attacking UUs for their liberal stance. This was a hate crime against a church known for it's work in areas of social justice, equality, and peace.

I'm filled with sorrow today, for the victims and their loved ones, for all of the people in the church that day who witnessed the violence (especially the children), for all of the members of that and surrounding congregations who must be feeling less safe than usual today, and for anyone who could be so filled with hate that they could do a thing like this. Also for a culture that allows these things to happen.

And now I need to stop reading links and info about this so I don't 9/11 myself into a state of trauma. Yea, I just verbed 9/11.

5 comments|post comment

Ramble ramble ramble [26 Jul 2008|09:09pm]
[ mood | busy ]

Angie is all moved in now. It was a flurry of a day. I mostly helped by entertaining Angie's family members whenever they took breaks from the heavy lifting. ;)

Somehow I pretended to myself that Angie's move-in day was a good enough reason to throw all my eating rules out the window and eat like crap. Tomorrow, we get back to business again. But tonight, we sought out places on this side of town that deliver food and ordered from a new-to-us place. My food was super yummy. Dave got pizza and it was only so-so. But their menu excites me - lots of traditional Italian/Sicilian stuff, and some things I can't find in other places around here. So I plan to order from them more and try out a few things. I'm really picky about marinara sauces because my family has this excellent homemade recipe and not much lives up to that standard. But I actually enjoyed the marinara sauce that came with my apps (fried zucchinis, fried eggplants, and fries), so that's exciting. They have other yummy dipping sauces, too. I tried one that's oil and garlic and red pepper and pepperoncinis and I'm not sure what all else - but it was yummy.

Dave and I ran some errands today: returned the keys to the old place, got some groceries, dropped some stuff off at Vinny's, Walgreens run, etc.
There were a LOT of garage sales all over town and I wanted to stop so bad, but Dave said no. Maybe I can get someone else to take me rummage saling sometime soon. To get the good stuff, you have to get up in the morning hours, though, and that's not my most favorite thing to do.

Other things I got done today: cleaned the bathroom, organized some massive piles of papers (I'm not much of a hoarder in general, but I have trouble throwing out old papers like bills and bank statements and medical stuff) that I packed up with me but which I really need to downsize if I want to fit it into my filing cabinet and the two plastic file totes I have, and cleaned out our microwave to make way for Angie's (hers is bigger, so ours is going in storage).

Last night we started working on training Cleo not to go into Angie's room. She was hilariously stubborn about heading right for it every time we let her out of the bedroom. Every time, we'd stop her and say no firmly and divert her to some other area of the apartment. Eventually, we put up something that blocked her way but was easy enough to move aside so people could go in and out. Her eyesight isn't that good these days, so she wasn't about to attempt jumping over it. Hopefully that continues to divert her until either a) we can train her to stop trying to go in or b) we come up with a better solution.

Also, last night, I managed to get Dave to sit and watch all four Big Brother episodes on the DVR with me! Now we're all caught up, and since we have Showtime back, I can watch After Dark! Yay!

Right now, it feels like the apartment is just bookshelves and chairs all piled on top of one another. Which is kinda true. But I know we'll sort it all out soon and make it work. [Do you hear that OCD?! It will work. Be patient. :P]

Oh! I got rid of all my boxes and bags of packing paper yesterday. Ended up with two different visits, both from LJ people who seemed very nice. I think I sort of pressured the second person into taking all the boxes, even though she only really wanted the small ones. She said she knew other people who were moving who might need them, so hopefully they won't go to waste!

I'm still doing a lot of "this can go there for now - just for now" reassurances to myself in order to at least find temporary homes for things when I don't have the energy to do all the work involved with completing a task all at once. I am slowing down a little more each day, I think. Which is okay. I'm still getting a lot done.

Maybe tomorrow, I'll go sit in the hot tub again. I want to get into a routine of doing that at least 2-3 times a week and since we've moved in, I've only gone the one time so far. I'm finding it generally difficult to get into any kind of routine right now. Life still feels so strange and up in the air - like I'm on vacation or something. But I have to start getting into a normal schedule and such soon. I don't function well without a lot of boundaries and structure. Of course, they also have to be self-imposed boundaries and structure or I rebel against them. Sometimes I rebel against my own rules and regulations, too, but at least I go back to them after a day or so.

I don't know why I keep rambling on. I think I just still feel keyed up from all of the activity all day and everyone else in the house (cat included) have calmed down and settled in for the night and I'm still all hyper and needing to talk. So, hello LJ! Listen to me ramble!
Actually, it's more than just today's activity. I've been crazy active for weeks on end now, and I've finally hit a point where I don't have to be anymore and I think it's freaking me out. There's still a lot left to do, but no more days where I have to get up early and do specific things at specific times or whatever. It's all just a matter of getting things done when and how I'm able to, and it wouldn't kill me to just stop for awhile even. And my whole being is like "WTF?!" But ... we're supercharged and ready to go! I'm still going to keep taking advantage of that as long as I can, but I think I'm just in a little bit of a mental mix-up about what's required of my body now.

Half hour to go before meds time. Maybe I should go make friends with the sofa and try and get situated so the meds can work their magic quicker once it is time to take them and calm down. Okay: message to brain and body - the day is done. Nothing to do until we wake up tomorrow. No, this doesn't mean to stay up all night making lists of things to do tomorrow. We already have the lists. We've rewritten the lists every day for the past few weeks and the most recent list is still valid and nothing new needs to be added. Except to remember to order meds. But we can do that without making a whole new list. Seriously. A whole new list is not necessary for one little thing. Relax. You have lots of TVs to watch and nothing else to do until tomorrow. And you can sleep in tomorrow, even. No rush on anything. You could take tomorrow off if you wanted to. You don't have to, but you could. That's how not-rushed we are right now. So calm down. Okay? Okay. Maybe. Try. Just try. Okay.
Twenty minutes until meds time. Is there some button to turn me off? *spins around trying see back of self* Hmmm. Oh, I know. How about deep breaths?! That works sometimes. Okay, sofa, television, deep breaths. NO PAPER AND PEN ALLOWED. No Lists. Not tonight. I swear to Isis if you start making lists I will ... do something you don't like. Except I'm you, and I wouldn't like it either, and that's not fair.
Seriously, who gave me caffeine today? Maybe I should sort through some more boxes just to get some more energy out of my system. Except that I'm exhausted and this is all just fumes. Hyper, tense, crazy fumes.
Fifteen minutes until meds time. I wonder if I can ramble here until ten? The cat is out! I bet if she joins me on the sofa with the deep breaths, I can calm down for real. Maybe I should try that. A snuggly cat is one thing that always get me to calm down. Hope she's feeling snuggly!

Proofread my post (yes, believe it or not I do that and still end up with all the typos!) and killed some more time. Five minutes until meds time now. And it'll take that long to shut down the computer and get my meds and settle in. So ... I've done it. I've killed time. Now to see if I can my body to relax after taking the meds. Woot.

2 comments|post comment

Moving and Dating [25 Jul 2008|02:57pm]
[ mood | busy ]

Someone came and took some of the boxes and packing papers, but not all of them. So I put up a new post over at [info]madisonwi and posted one on freecycle. Got one response from someone who wants to take it all, but haven't heard back yet on when they want to come by and get it. Hopefully soon. I want it out!! I keep checking my email in the hopes they've responded.

I've smooshed everything around to be as out of the way as possible for Angie's big move-in. I unpacked all the decorations boxes - mostly just stuffed things where they'd fir for now and will redo nicely later. Things that need to be hung up or plugged in are just set aside to be set up later. All that's left to be unpacked is a bunch of Dave's stuff that either he'll have to do or we'll have to do together or I'll just do and he can deal with the results if he waits too long. ;P Then just need to sort and organize and put away and decorate. Need to reorganize the storage closet, figure out where a few bins and carts will go and what will fit best in them, organize my papers into the filing cabinet - that sort of thing.
And then help Angie with whatever she needs/wants help with. I don't want to go all control-freak, but I would like to help get things set up in the main areas as soon we can. So I figure I'll let her set the pace and tell me what she wants done, but I'm totally up for doing whatever. I will try very hard not to pressure her. I just want this place to feel like a home and then be able to relax. But I also know she's got a million other things to do, too.

Speaking of relaxing, it's date night tonight. Dave got all his chores done this week, but still has to exercise tonight before we order out. I think we agreed on the place just across the road that I've only had once before, but really liked. But we may end up with our old standby if Dave forgot about that and started craving his usual all day. We've got a ton of TV to choose from tonight: four Big Brothers, Fear Itself, Last Comic Standing, L&O:CI, and two The Moles. I'm guessing/hoping we'll go for the Big Brothers since we're so behind and they pile up so fast. Plus, out of those shows, I think the BB is the one we both like the best. Not sure if I can convince Dave to stay on the sofa through four whole episodes, but we should be able to get through 2-3 at least.

It'll likely be a strange date night, because Angie's family arrives in town sometime this evening and they'll be starting to move her stuff in. But that's okay. It's not like date night is super fancy or intimate or anything - we order food, watch TV, and snuggle if we're feeling really romantic. ;)

post comment

To Dos what can't yet Be Done [24 Jul 2008|03:48pm]
[ mood | tired ]

The maintenance lady came by today and fixed the drawer and screen door, so that's done. Still need the guy from the moving company to come and fix my cabinet that got broken during the move. He was supposed to call or email yesterday and hasn't yet, so I'm going to have to call him I think.
Put up a post in the madisonwi community about giving away some of the boxes and bags of packing paper and got one response. Hopefully they follow through. I want this stuff out of here ASAP, but I'd rather give it to someone who needs it than just recycle/toss it. If I don't hear from them today and no one else responds, I'm going to freecycle, and then to craigslist. If I don't get any responses in a few days, they're just getting tossed and recycled because we just don't have the space to store stuff like that right now.

Most of my unpacking tasks left are contingent on other things being done. I need Dave to get my filing cabinet and two rolling cart things put together so I can see where they all best fit and unpack/sort the things that will go in them. I started sorting through Dave's boxes today and at least made piles of "I think these will end up in storage" and "this is all electronic and computer stuff I don't know you want to do with" and put everything else I could find away (books and various other odds and ends). But essentially he's going to have to go through those boxes and decide for himself and then we'll likely have to get some other kind of shelving unit or cabinet or something for him to put a lot of it.
Then there's the storage closet, which I want to sort through and re-organize to make more space and to get the things we'll use more often more accessible and generally get similar type things stacked up together, etc. I could start on that right now, but I'd like to get an idea of how much of Dave's stuff will be going in there and also it will be a big project where I'll likely have stuff all over the place for a day or so, so it's probably best not to be doing that right before Angie's moving in because the storage closet is right in that front door/foyer area and any messes there will make getting into the apartment with large heavy items very difficult.
I want to set up some things under the kitchen bar area, but I want to first get a feel for what Angie wants to put there so I know how much space I can take up. Same with reorganizing the kitchen - I think it makes the most amount of sense for us to do that together once all of her stuff is here.
I want to get and set up the coatrack thingie we want to get, but that will take another big trip out to the stores, and also needs to wait until everything else is sorted out and put away due to space considerations.

Decorations kind of have to wait until everything else is situated. And beyond that, it's mostly re-organizing things that I unpacked and stuffed onto shelves and such that I want to have set up in a specific way eventually.

I also need to do some dumpster runs because we've got all these boxes from the new items we've recently bought that are taking up space. But I'm waiting for a phone call right now, so I don't want to leave the apartment, because inevitably that'd be when I'd get the call.

So for now, I think I'll make myself an ice cream sundae and catch up on my television. :)

post comment

Last Time at the Old Place [23 Jul 2008|09:40pm]
[ mood | accomplished ]

Today was a big day.

I got my crafts/office/projects closet all unpacked. Still needs organizing, but at least I know everything fits somewhere!

Angie let me know she didn't need any more of our boxes or the packing paper, so I got all the packing paper into garbage bags and broke down the boxes and got them out of the way of her area.

When Dave got home from work, we went to have dinner with the neighbors, which was really nice. They insisted on paying, and then Karen had the waitress bring out a little piece of cake with trick candles in them for the three of us to blow out (Karen's birthday was this week, and ours is next).
They also came over and helped us get all of the last remaining garbage and recycling out, which was fabulous of them. As they were taking down our old shower curtain without us even asking, I said "you see? you're always doing things to help us!" - because they're always telling us how helpful of neighbors we are, which confounds us because the way we see it, they're the helpful ones and we're just lazy lumps.
Anyway, we got everything out, loaded up the rest of our belongings, and said our goodbyes - promising to stay in touch (and I really hope we do).

It was sad closing the door to the house for the last time. I felt like - you know on the last episode of a long-running TV show when the main character leaves their house or work place or wherever the show was set for the last time and takes a long emotional last look around with maybe a little memory montage of scenes from the previous seasons flashing past, and then they take a deep breath and turn out the light and shrug and walk out the door? That's what it felt like.

This isn't just a move for me. I really feel like I'm ending one chapter of my life and starting on another. Which is a good thing. But also sad and nostalgia-making.

And that's that. We're done with the house now. Just have to call the landlord and see how she wants to get the keys back. And from now on, it's just a matter of settling in here: unpacking, organizing, decorating, getting into a routine, and taking care of a few more pesky details like changing voter registration and stuff like that.

Awwww, Dave and Cleo are snuggling on the sofa right now. So cute! They're nuzzling noses and he's petting her and she's purring and doing the kneading thing. I love my little family. :)

8 comments|post comment

Stuff I did and thought about today [22 Jul 2008|09:08pm]
[ mood | busy ]

The cleaning went well. I was quite impressed that they got things as clean as they did, but it's still certainly not sparkling clean. Good enough, though! The price was higher than the estimate, but I was expecting that. They couldn't have predicted how nasty the place was from a quick look around with all the furniture and clutter still there. I was happy with what they did.

In the meantime, we sat at the coffee place and had a nice time. Overheard some folks doing a crossword and we shouted out a few answers they were stuck on, which was amusing. I helped them with Yertle the Turtle. :)

Since Angie was so good to wait around for me and take me home, I offered to first go back to her place and help her with some packing. Got a few book boxes packed up. Had some lunch. Rested a little.

Then called my mom, because today is her birthday. We had a nice chat.

Then I focused on organizing the closet in the second bedroom/guest room/Dave's computer and game room/my crafts and project room. Not sure what we should end up officially calling this room. In my head it's usually "the second room". Dave keeps calling it his room, which has led to many a silly fight about it being *OUR* room. :P

Anyway, the closet is where I'm trying to cram all of my crafts, projects, office supples, gift wrapping supplies, etc. So I spent a few hours basically just sizing up the closet, the various plastic totes and drawers I have to use, and the stuff that will go in them to figure out all of the best placements. I've got a plan now, and am very proud of my skills (singing "I am the Space Saving Queen of the World!"), but too worn out to actually start putting stuff away. But the plan is set and can be put into motion tomorrow or the next day or whenever I get the gumption up to do it.

Tomorrow night is dinner with the neighbors and taking the last loads of stuff and garbage out of the old place.
Thursday afternoon, the maintenance lady is coming by to fix the broken drawer and screen door.
Beyond that, I have nothing specific planned.Lots to get done, but not on any specific time table.
Although Friday starts the few days of Angie officially moving in, so that will be a lot of stuff going on around me and I'll probably help out if I can.

This is one of my "birthday seasons" where there's a lot of birthdays of people I care about all at once. Yesterday was K, the old neighbor. Today, my mom. Tomorrow, Tony. A week from today is Dave and my twinnie, and obviously also moi. I keep forgetting it's also mine and just keep remembering that it's Dave's and Annie's.

The weather today has been *really* nice. Cool fresh breezes - the windows and balcony door are still open, but it's gotten very dark so I ought to go around closing them now. Sometimes I get distracted.

2 comments|post comment

More moving blahblahs [21 Jul 2008|08:41pm]
[ mood | busy ]

Got some more unpacking done today, but I am slowing down now. Still able to get little bursts of energy out of myself here and there, but I can feel the pain and such settling in. There's not a ton left to do, so I'm not going to worry about it. Hopefully can finish things up before the crash totally hits, and then as I recover, I can do the little bits of things left.

Tomorrow will be a big day. Have to get up early and go to the old place to meet the cleaners. Angie's going to meet me there and we're planning to go the little coffee shop down the street to hang out for the duration, with me going back and forth a few times to check in on the progress and such. That's the plan anyway. I forgot to call to confirm with the cleaners and it's too late now, so I just have to hope it's all situated.

Wednesday evening, Dave and I going to have dinner with the neighbors and then do a last garbage and recycling dumpage. Unless we leave messes to come back for on Saturday, that should be it as far as going back there and as far as big ass days for me for awhile.

Still have some pesky businessey things to take care of move-wise, but we're definitely getting there.

Going back for some more Buffy obsession and then maybe a lil more unpacking before bedtime. Hope you're all well!

6 comments|post comment

bad side of whirlpool, TV geekery [20 Jul 2008|11:36pm]
[ mood | sick ]

One more drawback of the whirlpool that didn't make itself apparent until today.
This used to be a good feature. TMI bowel stuff )

Anyway, Angie came over and we finished off disc one of Alias season five. Then watched the first few episodes of Buffy season five and even though I've a ton to watch on my DVR, I have to keep watching a few more episodes of Buffy now because spoilers for this season )

Also - we watched Dr. Horrible and I loved it. Every single second of it. Nathan Fillion does such a great job as the cheesey hero guy, and NPH is of course amazing as Dr. Horrible. I love that they made me laughlaughlaugh, and then awwwwww. If you haven't caught it yet, you'll likely have to pay for it because today was the last free day. I don't do itunes, but I may pick up the DVD when it comes out. It was that good.

Okay, off to drink some tea that's both calming and settles tummy issues and watch my Buffy and answer my WTFs.

Confidential to Carrie: I saw the episode that Xander does the Snoopy dance and I thought of you. *grin*

post comment

As promised: Pro and Con list [20 Jul 2008|11:49am]
[ mood | sore ]

A real pro and con list of the new place (so far, I'm sure more on both sides will come up as we continue to live here).

Pros:
Window ledges
Also placement of windows means lots of natural light
And we can see the sunset from the balcony!
Foyer area is nice
Private entrance
Storage space and closets
Ceiling fan in bedroom
Shower head with three different settings and flexible to move around at different angles
No mold or mildew - allergies don't act up upon entering bathroom!
Lots of counters and cabinet space in kitchen
Garbage disposal
Dishwasher
Washer and dryer right in apartment and on same floor
Cleo really seems to like it
The pool and whirlpool and fitness center

There's basically three separate areas of the apartment - our two rooms and bathroom are off to one side from the front door/foyer area, Angie's room and bathroom are off to the other side, and then the living room and kitchen are in the main area between the two. It gives the illusion of there being more space than there actually is because it's all nicely set apart. It also gives us more wall space because of the walls separating the different areas. Our old place had the main living area (living room and dining room) all connected with the kitchen and bedrooms just jutting out from that main area, which left much less wall space to deal with.

Good parking lot right out front door, and underground parking for a small fee. (Angie's taking advantage of that now - Dave might decide to come Winter if we decide we can afford it)
One pro about a big complex in comparison to a house owned by one person who only owns a few properties is that there's a good structure in place for how things work and if something breaks, it's a lot easier and quicker to get it handled. I feel like I can trust the maintenance folks here more than the cheap handymen that our previous landlord would dig up to do stuff.

Being only 14 years old, as opposed to over 100, the electrical wiring and plumbing and such work well.
Good driving distance from a lot of places, and easy access to the highways.

Cons:
The AC. I'm going to miss the central air a lot. What we have now is a wall unit like what's in motel rooms. In order to get the bedrooms anywhere near cool, it has to be cranked up so high that it's freezing in the living room. It's really going to be a pain adjusting it to fit everyone's needs and preferences. Also, when it's on full blast, it's a little migraine-inducing.

It's an adjustment living in an apartment again. There's a lot more people around than in a neighborhood of houses, and there are people above us. We hear their footsteps a lot and doors opening and closing. Only heard music once so far and it was really light, and haven't heard any talking or anything, so they're quiet people, which is good. Of course, I worry about our TV and music sounds carrying, but hopefully they don't.

Lots of ceiling lights, which are nice right now, but will be a pain when they burn out and we have to replace the bulbs.
The toilets seem to be low flow or something, so there will still be a lot of plunging. The plumbing itself works fine, so it shouldn't be as messy as at the other place with overflows and such, but it is kinda tricky getting it all down.

The tp holder is in an awkward place.

The way the bathroom door opens, you kinda have to back up into the room a bit before getting out, which will get old. However, we used to have to do that to get in to our front door, and I'll take having to do it in the bathroom over having to do it to get into the house with bags full of groceries and whatnot every day!

Not a lot of places to walk to.
Some of my favorite delivery places don't come out here.
Less greenery and trees and flowers and things to look at. Lots of concrete.


***********

So, it's not perfect. But overall, it's much better than the old place and generally a very nice place.

10 comments|post comment

Whirlpool, Anxieties about being a good roomie, etc. [19 Jul 2008|07:09pm]
[ mood | mellow ]

I just tried out the whirlpool for the first time, and I am SO relaxed. I don't know how long the effects will last, but it's literally like "what pain?" right now. I could fall right asleep sans meds, but it's too early for that. However, if I can go later in the evenings - shortly before bedtime, I will sleep like a bear at hibernation time. I figure the walk there and back is about three blocks each way, which I can manage on decent health days. Bad days I'll need rides, but living with two people - that's entirely possible. I know Dave wants to start using the fitness room, so we were thinking about going over together for me to soak and him to work out.
I didn't test out the pool, but it seems nice. Lots of kids splashing around. One girl, pre-teen - young teen aged, came to the door and wanted to come in. I told her she had to get a key from the office. I have a feeling I'm going to run into that a lot. It's only open to everyone in the complex during office hours. People can get a key overnight or for a weekend ahead of time if they sign out for one, but they gave me a permanent key - I think in large part due to my disability, which was super nice of them. When we were doing lease signing and she told us the rules, I mentioned I'd been planning to use it a lot in the evening hours, and she set me up with the key!
There was a child's birthday party being hosted in the clubhouse area of the building, so there were lots of people around, but the whirlpool room is set off in a corner, so it was still fairly private for me.
I do have to tug the cover of the pool off and on before and after use, which will suck on bad days - but then on bad days, I'll be getting rides and maybe can get the driver to help me with the cover?

The only drawback, and I've experienced this with other whirlpools, so it's a general feature and not of this one specifically, is that the pressure from the jets does contribute to headache issues. It takes all other pains and tensions away, but makes the headache stuff worse. I think I can live with that. Just have to stay away on bad headache or migraine type days.

As I was sitting in the whirlpool, warm jets bubbling water at my sorest spots and feeling all of the day's tensions floating away, I thought to myself "we picked the right place to live for sure."

Which I've been feeling since we moved in anyway. I do really like it here overall.

**********

We got our day's errands done. DMV done, bought some stuff at Office Depot, cleaned some more out of the old place including lugging the exercise bike into Carrie's car (we don't have space for it and she wanted it, amusingly enough to replace one my mom donated to her years ago during some other move), stopped at Walgreens for meds, and came home. At the office place, we bought Dave a new chair and a shelf-ey thing for his small TV and game systems with extra space to put his other stuff in, and me a filing cabinet to keep near my desk. We still have to find places for a few drawers and things, but I *think* it's all going to fit.

I feel kinda bad because we're taking up more room in the living room with our stuff than Angie will have, so I'm trying to think up as many space saving techniques as possible. I'm hoping it all evens out in the end: we have two smaller rooms and she has one bigger one, we have the storage closet and two small closets and she has her walk-in, we have one closet in our bathroom, and she has a linen closet, we share the balcony storage and pantry/utility room area, but we are taking up more space in the living room. We are paying a bit more rent, but I still want to make sure she has enough space for all of her things.
I think I'm developing a small guilt complex about it because we moved in first and I feel like we're hogging everything all up before she can put any of her stuff in and what if I put something somewhere she wants to put something of hers? I must have repeated something along the lines of "if you want to put stuff somewhere else, please feel free to do it" about a million times to her already and will probably keep doing it until I know we're all situated. I've never lived with someone other than family or a romantic partner for more than a temporary situation before, so I guess I'm learning how to do that? And hoping I don't get it all wrong! I lived with my family from birth - 18 - always with my own room. I had roommates in dorm rooms for my first two semesters and then lived in singles after that. I lived with one friend for a few months when I was in need and had a friend live with me for a few months when she was in need, and have camped out with my mom a few times for a few months when in need. In those situations, it's one person coming in and stuffing their things into an already established home for a short time, which is way different than actually sharing space that you both should have equal access to. I lived with one ex for a few months, which was meant to be permanent but obviously wasn't. And then of course I've been living with Dave for 7 years now. That works smoothly for us now, but the first few months were kinda rocky as we got used to each other and eased into our routines. Hopefully things will go smoothly with Angie. I don't see why it won't, but people being people - you never know. I think I'm mostly scared of annoying her and driving her nuts, honestly. But we're both talkers-outers, so if issues come up, I'm sure we'll address them, which does help immensely.

Man, that whirlpool does dry out the skin - I need to lotionize myself and maybe kick back with the TV a bit. Grab a snack, and rest before diving in to the next project.

9 comments|post comment

Still on a rampage [18 Jul 2008|02:15pm]
[ mood | busy ]

Holy crap I'm getting a lot done today!! I got up early today and got started early and I've unpacked, organized, and cleaned more today than I can usually do in a whole week and this is usually the time of day I'm just starting to really get moving. I *really* hope I don't end up paying for this with a major bad flare. But honestly? Even if I do? It's worth it! This place is feeling more and more like home every day and I figure any head start I can get with getting things organized and cleaned will help me out in the long run.

I've made enough of a way through the chaos that I was able to sit down and make a list of what else has to be done and in what order. THAT feels good. There's still a ways to go but it's no longer a matter of randomly grabbing a box and looking to see what's in it and standing around all baffled for awhile trying to figure out where it fits. We're down now to: here's what's left, here's what's in each box, and here's where I think it will fit.

Of course, I am going to need to get some more shelves and/or other organizational storage items before everything can be put away, but I'm confident that everything will have an "away" and that makes me happy. We just didn't have that at the old place. We had one long but narrow closet and a stinky nasty basement and garage for storage and that was it. Not many cupboards or cabinets or counter space or even wall space to put things to act as cabinets or flat spaces. Plus, the floors were uneven and even the shelves and such we did have were always kinda wobbly.
So, a lot of things basically belonged "over in that corner" or "stuffed between those two pieces of furniture" and that was the best we could do. The idea of actually having a place for everything we own and want out amazes me. And then also having enough storage place for everything we own and don't want out as well is doubly amazing. No more strange piles of boxes in the middle of the room with stuff we rarely use poking out! Woohoo!

Tomorrow is going to be a big "out" day. We've been putting off going to the DMV for license/ID renewals and we really need to do it this week, plus stop by the old place to do some cleaning, plus a couple of errands.

Good thing Sunday will be an Angie Day (first one at the new place, and last one before we're all living together!), so I'll be forced to sit and relax for a long stretch at a time.

I want to go check out the whirlpool today, but I'm not entirely sure if it's gonna happen. We're supposed to have a maintenance person come by and I said I'd be home all day, so I need to stick around for awhile. I could go in the evening hours, but it's date night tonight and I don't think Dave wants to go. So I may have to hold off until tomorrow. I'm sure after all those errands I'll be craving the hot bubbly waters even more!

3 comments|post comment

Basic Accounts are coming back - sort of. [17 Jul 2008|04:06pm]
[ mood | hopeful ]

Tell LJ what you think about their proposed options for returning Basic Accounts. You have until the end of July to let them know what you think!!

2 comments|post comment

Random Rabid Ramblings [16 Jul 2008|08:23pm]
[ mood | busy ]

Today I: took care of some pesky phone call/email businessey things, unpacked a little tiny bit in each room, caught up a little more on LJ, went grocery shopping with Dave and stocked the place up with food, and went to the old place with Dave to take garbage out. That last bit was NAS-TY. It's not a recycle week so we have to go back next week to do that, and we didn't have the time/energy/inclination to do any cleaning so we have to go back and do that on Saturday. But we did drag almost all of our leftover belongings home. All that's left that's not garbage or recycling or just plain dirt (seriously dirt bunnies the size of Cleo in there! ew!) is a folding chair, clock, vacuum cleaner, broom, swiffer, towel, roll of paper towels, garbage bags and ziploc bags, box of tissues, and a few cleaning products. Also some stuff that belongs TO the house like the fire extinguisher and such.
Ugh - my allergies are going nutso from all the dust back there! SO glad we're hiring cleaning people here to keep the place nicer. That's going to make such a major difference. Speaking of which - we really need to clean Cleo's litter box out. We moved with it as is so she'd have her usual smells, but it's getting gross. We didn't have fresh litter until tonight. Hopefully we haven't run ourselves out of energy already, because it'd be nice to get that done before bedtime.

There's been a lot of allergy reactions here, too, because we brought a lot of dust with us, so I've been trying to clean things off as I unpack and put things away. We also have to remember to get new filters for the hepa air filter. I think, also, the boxes trigger my allergies because they're musty and whatever.

I'll be back at the house three, possibly four more times, now. Saturday to do a little cleaning, Tuesday to let the professional cleaners in and deal with that whole bit, next Wednesday to do the last garbage and recycling, and then possibly that last Saturday if there is anything left to do then.

I'm sore as a mofo, but somehow still managing to function and stay positive and stuff. I'm kind of amazed that I'm not more crashed out. Not sure if it just still hasn't hit me yet, if I'm extremely lucky, or if the old place really was making me sick and I'm already noticing a difference.

Finally got my shower chair from the old place and since I am covered with sweat and filth, I'm going to take a nice shower in a little bit. Then maybe grab some food and chill out with the sofa and the television.

Cleo's been needing some extra love and attention lately, but she's still doing really well adjusting to the new place.

I'm making a serious dent in the unpacking, but there is still a ton to do!
Got all the change of address stuff done (at least everything I could think of). I think there's not much "move stuff" left besides the cleaning and unpacking now. And once we get all that done, it's back to life as usual.

Possibly tomorrow I can check out the pool and whirlpool depending on a few health factors. Hopefully. May not be for a few more days, but I'm hoping for tomorrow.

post comment

navigation
[ viewing | most recent entries ]
[ go | earlier ]