the hidden place and the other time

I’ve been taking care of two households for the past week or so; Bryan and Laura are on vacation, and I’m back down in Renton, housesitting and taking care of the animals.  Fortunately, at the moment my place in Issaquah doesn’t take a lot of taking care of.  I have a fishtank, which I’m doing a fishless cycle on and will be ready for inhabitants in another week or two; and I have plants, and the occasional package that shows up that has to be brought inside.

The animals are all asking what they’ve done to deserve their needs being tended by only one human.  This, they feel, is a far less than adequate number.  I had a friend over for movies yesterday, and Pip spent much of the time she was there leaning on her and looking up at her soulfully. 

I did pop up home this morning, to pick up a package that needed to be grabbed from the post office.  We’re having our usual late-May bout of summer weather in the area right now, and so the air was cool but rapidly warming when I stopped at home.  There’s a lingering chill coming off of the mountain, lurking under the tall pines and firs.  Welcome home, it says.  Welcome back.

I’ve joined a local gym and am working out three days a week, trying to convince my cardiovascular system that it is time to once again get with the program.  I’m banging against some writing, trying to get the crust that seems to have formed on me to come loose.  All these systems that have become stuck need to get unstuck, and now.

Patience.  Patience. 

I think I’m going to the coast this coming weekend, take the dogs and go on a mindful walk.  Blow some of the dust off.  

...when you realize that your box spring is, in fact, backwards.  

*facepalm*

It'll have to wait until I have someone over to fix it--it's reasonably trivial to fix with two people and nearly freaking impossible with one.  (It's a storage box spring, and so it really matters which way round it is--as it is, two drawers are inaccessible because my nightstands will block them.)

Anyway, the rest of the apartment is coming together.  I have a living room furniture problem, as my chair and a half isn't going to make it into my office, and the living room is small enough that no matter how I arrange the loveseat and the big chair, something's going to end up all awkward.  For the moment, until I figure out a solution (or possibly figure out how to get the chair into my office), they're sitting side by side.  Awkwardly.  And without leaving room for an end table.  I figure inspiration will strike once I have everything else laid out how I want it, particularly when I solve the problem of how the dining table should be arranged.

I spent last night getting the bathroom together and assembling a big-ass bookcase.  Ended up tearing up my fingers a little, but the bookcase is done and I got to shower in my bathroom this morning!  Which is terribly exciting, because it means I might get to deal with the rest of the boxes and pop down to Ikea this weekend for a last few things.

But first? I have a large pile of cardboard from Ikea boxes to deal with. 

So, when i moved to my new place, i wanted to paint the smaller bedroom (which was pink) and the bathroom (which was a bright mint).  My landlady requested that I use her painting guy.  Which, okay, that's cool, it means I don't have to do it myself, and a pro can paint a lot more quickly than I can.

So I make arrangements with this guy, and on the Saturday morning he's supposed to come paint I move everything out of my bedroom into my office, which is stuffed rather overfull.  I'd been putting off doing some of the unpacking, knowing that I was going to have to move out of those two rooms for a few days anyway.

So as I'm moving my bed, the painter calls. (it's about 20 minutes before he's supposed to be there.)  He's sick, his family's sick, but he can come by tomorrow and paint.  Ah, well, but it's copeable.  I go see the Hunger Games that night and crash at the hotel room I'd gotten because I expected to not have a bed.  When I come back, i set up my mattress on the floor so i can actually sleep at my place, which means that I have to climb over it to get to my office.

So he comes on Sunday, works about 4 hours and gets the painting job a good bit of the way done.  Ceilings are done, a couple coats on the bedroom, cutting in etc still needs to be done as well as the bathroom.  He comes out and says he needs to go pick up some medicine for his daughters, who are still sick, and he'll be back in a half hour to finish.

Six hours later, I figure out he's really not coming back.  He texts me and tells me that he ended up taking his kids to the emergency room, and that he can come by that night to finish...and about 8:45 PM, I call him to reschedule.  He tells me he'll come by Monday afternoon.

Monday about noon, he texts me to tell me he has an appointment he can't miss, can we change to Tuesday?  Well, sure, no problem.  Yesterday, i head home from work early and show up to wait for him...and wait.  And wait.  About 5:30, I text him asking him if he's coming.  No reply.

So this morning, I get a series of texts from him.  Evidently, his girlfriend had an unpaid ticket and got pulled over in his truck...and the truck and his cell phone got impounded.  So we're going to try this again tomorrow night.  At some point, if this isn't finished, I'm going to finish it myself.

So that is the Saga of Painting.  I am really hoping that this gets done, so I can finish moving in finally!

things that have been accomplished:

1. bookshelves placed and earthquake strapped, books unpacked
2. dresser assembled and filled, with help from sagacious_rage
3. office chair accomplished
4. dishes and silverware obtained
5. dishwasher run for the first time
6. kitchen (mostly) unpacked
7. convinced my laptop that it was in fact able to connect to the wireless router
8. put together a dining chair--the other one's still waiting

Yet to do:

1. put together the thing my TV will go on as well as a bookcase and a few other things
2. keep unpacking--I'm getting there!
3. various household-chore stuff
4. arrange to have the bedroom and the bathroom painted
5. ...I'm sure there's other stuff.  but right now, i'm going to go sit some kitties!

...a few of them, at least. i'll be taking more when I get the key on Sunday.



the living room. There's a lot of light in this place, which is one of the reasons I like it. The view out the window is a rock wall and the complex's cabana.  


The fireplace!


Kitchen. That's an island with a bar to the right--it's open to the living room.


The bedroom I'll be using to sleep in, which is significantly less pink in real life. (But i'm going to ask for permission to repaint it anyway.)


Larger bedroom, aka my office and studio.


The bathroom, which will be the first thing to be repainted...probably in a bluer and lighter version of this color.

I have a friend who hasn't been on this coast long, and needs a new gig.  I'm trying to help her out, because there's nothing like networking for finding a new job!  Bridget's taught, has done play and event production, and is interested in getting into the gaming industry as a writer, level designer, or producer.  The industry's not critical, though.  She's not a coder, but she does know her way around a computer and she's done a bunch of online community management.  I can totally vouch for the fact that she's awesome.  

This is her LinkedIn: http://www.linkedin.com/pub/bridget-natale/49/a28/92a  

 THE MOST EPICLY AWESOMEST STORY! EVER!! , an epic flash piece by my good friend Randy Henderson, is now up at Everyday Fiction.  This was written for a panel on bad writing at Norwescon.  It is, if nothing else, a laundry list of What Not To Do.  It is hilarious, and, yes, awesome.  :)

Dropping off most social networking for a couple of weeks to recharge batteries and get a project finished. Have fun, kidlets, and don't break the Internet while I'm gone.