06.26.09
Posted in Meh, Reno saga at 7:50 pm by jeci
Life is kicking my ass right now. I…I wish that I had some stunning “after” pictures indicating our triumphant completion of the renovations and unpacking, but no. Things don’t look especially different from the last set of pictures. There are still boxes everywhere, only now the boxes have disheartening tufts of cat hair collecting around their bases. In short, everything is a mess.
It’s not for lack of trying, you see. We unpack. Constantly. AND YET. The boxes, with all the boxes, with all the stuff, everywhere. I also make dispirited attempts to quell the cat hair with the vacuum, but it never fails that just as I turn the machine off, a new cat hair tumbleweed will come billowing out of some corner I couldn’t reach. ON ACCOUNT OF ALL THE BOXES.
If there’s one thing that will crush my spirit, it’s actions with no countering measurable outcomes. This is what the unpacking has become. Someone (JG!) very aptly compared moving into an apartment to those tile games that have the one missing tile. You know the ones, where you have to move a bunch of tiles out of the way in order to put one tile in its right place. But this creates a cascade of tile moving and shuffling and you end up having to remove that tile from where you put it in order to move around another two tiles, but then you can’t get that original tile BACK because there’s now FOUR tiles in its way. AND SO ON.
Well, anyway. I won’t keep you. I’m just saying. I’m not enjoying this. I know one day it’ll be done—probably quite soon, actually. (Ever notice how when you get to the point of being all “ZOMG I hate this and I can’t STAND IT ANYMORE and I’m so upset I’m going to COMPLAIN ABOUT IT to the INTERNET” it’s usually when you’re about to crest the hill, only you don’t realize it yet, mostly because you’re just feeling the whole lotta hill behind you.)
So, I’ll be seeing you soon, BBs. With pictures. AFTER PICTURES. Dammit.
**Nothing like whining publicly to light a fire under one’s ass. I…well, I never quite feel comfortable after I post about my frustration with something. Although it certainly helps me to vent (better living through sarcasm!), I’m not entirely sure it makes for the best read. But! Anyway! You wouldn’t believe how much better things are right now. We busted through the log jam of boxes and we’re getting close to living like normal humans again. I’m very excited! And—AND!—we scored a free futon for our spare bedroom! And—AND!—we found out that we were grossly misinformed about the cost of replacing our bathroom counter. Like, the lady we initially talked to must have taken a long, burbling hit off of her Home Depot bong before talking to us, because what we thought would cost, oh, $1000 plus change will ACTUALLY cost us $60. Sixty bucks. That’s it. That? We can afford. On with the renovations!
Anyway, it was a good weekend, a productive weekend, and it was AWESOME. And I’m feeling much better because, hey, I can walk from one end of the spare bedroom to the other. Now, isn’t that something?
Life lessons learned from the last two months: a) Moving is hard. Use sparingly. (Starting…nnnnnnnnnnoooow.) b) Clutter: I can’t. I CAN’T. It makes me want to PEEL MY FACE OFF, but whether that’s before or after my stabbing spree, I can’t decide. In short, I need a clean, peaceful space and I need to STAY THERE.**
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06.02.09
Posted in My Life Is Punctuated by Useless Bouts of Panic, Reno saga at 9:24 pm by jeci
Well, you’ve seen the before shots of the contentious spare bedroom and here we are, a few weeks later, annnnd:
Ta da! Just like in the design shows! (Sigh.)
Anyway, in the spirit of not curling up dispiritedly amidst the rubble of my belongings, let’s focus on the positives of the past week. First, a rather triumphant beginning to the bathroom renovations, with new tiles that look smashing and, even better, that didn’t involve our ripping down or putting up anything. The tiles before in, you guessed it, grimy beige:
And the tiles now, in gleaming white. And also aren’t they cool and funky all big and rectangular like that? Why, yes they are, if I do say so myself thankyouverymuch:
We also got the surround tiled all the way to the ceiling, which makes the room look bigger to a ridiculous degree. When we finally get to the point of putting up curtains*, I’m going to try to see what I can do to achieve something similar with extra long curtains that go to the ceiling or something.
As an aside, eagle-eyed readers will note that our tub is, like, the shallowest tub possible. We’d wanted to replace it with a soaker tub or, at least, a non-stunted tub that doesn’t look like the tub version of a creature missing a few chromosomes. Then we found out what was involved in getting a new tub: first RIPPING OUT THE WALLS (this is where they lost me, to be honest), next shutting off the water for the ENTIRE BUILDING, then cutting off pipes and sautering pipes, etc., etc., THEN putting in the new tub, and finally new walls and new tiles. HAHAHAHA. Not happening. Stunty, shallow tub it is! And that makes me sound more bitter than I actually am, since I’m basically too exhausted to be bitter and am quite simply pleased to be relieved of having to take on another project. I’ve also managed to retain a certain amount of rationality and that whole gong show just for the sake of an entirely unnecessary, (thoroughly and blatant) luxury item? It’s just laughable, really, up there with complaints along the lines of Chandler’s “My diamond shoes are too tight!”
Anyway, where was I? Positive things. The move that I was so dreading was, indeed, dreadful, and we were inevitably up until the wee hours of the morning frantically throwing things in boxes the way you always are the night before you move. All the same, the cats did cute things that warmed our cold heart cockles. For example, Logan took the time to demonstrate how bookshelves are better off sans books, since they make such nice, cozy sleeping nooks that way:
And all three cats made us feel loved by going to great lengths to ensure we wouldn’t leave without them, namely by climbing into our suitcases at every available opportunity (again modeled by Logan):
Finally, our friends and my tireless mother-in-law gave up their Sunday on the first day of perfect beach weather to help us haul furniture and boxes. And somehow our friends ended up with our camera and between the old place and the new place, they took the liberty of snapping pictures so that we would have surprise shots to ponder, successfully cracking my shit up. To wit:
And that’s all I can muster at this point, lambs. I’m off to bed because, weirdly enough, even though my life is upside down and rather squalid and chaotic right now, I still have to go do that whole job thing.
*Our current window treatments are garbage bags artfully tacked up with painter’s tape.
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