random thoughts - Day 1,969 (Thursday) - pleasant progress

The weather has been most cooperative and pleasant this week. Or maybe it's just that I've been inside most of the time? Whichever, it's been comfortable.

One corner is done.

The house is coming along, just slower than I imagined in my misguided fantasy / hallucination. There is currently one satisfyingly settled corner in the kitchen, and the remaining organizational tasks are on hold pending the receipt of wire shelving units from Amazon, which will undoubtedly make life perfect because that is how it works, no? 

Allegedly, the set of four small shelves is arriving tomorrow, but the same screen with that declaration also shows the order as not even being shipped yet. It won't be the first time (nor the last) that I ordered items based on the delivery date and it's been pushed out by one or two more days. Luckily, only my sanity hangs in the balance and not something major like world peace. 

Side quest!

My scattered brain has taken me down some paths (squirrel!) but the result is that side quests are being accomplished and chipping away at the overall mission. Today saw the placement of a metal rack that used to be in The BungaLowell home office and held a couple plants, an orange vase with fake flowers in the colors of the office rug, and small art pieces. Today, it sits against a small wall outside the future art/craft room, and holds much of the CD collection. 

Emptying a box (hooray!) and arranging CDs (alphabetical by artist, with a special section for soundtracks and classical recordings) was the perfect task to occupy my mind and keep me calm in advance of a phone interview for a job. I had forgotten how much fun music I own, and also how many musicians with whom I was acquainted. There is still a box in hiding somewhere with the 25 or so CDs that lived in the old Honda CRV so more rearranging will occur. I wish the Jeep had a CD player. Maybe I wouldn't hate driving so much if Bif Naked, Juliana Hatfield, The Cure, various belly dance compilations, and more of the CD gang were with me.

Six turkeys and a cat,
hanging out in the yard.

The neighborhood turkeys made the rounds today and the adult with the bad foot and the five young birds were in the back yard, along with a white and tan cat. Neither the birds nor the cat seemed bothered by the presence of the other and they all spent time sharing the shade of a bush.

For several days there have been thoughts of Chinese food, and tonight I finally placed an order for delivery. There are no combination plates with the items I wanted and it ended up being a pretty large order for just me, but I wanted a taste of all of the things. There was hot and sour soup, crab rangoon, scallion pancake, vegetable pak pao lo mien, and a free fried rice for hitting a certain price point. There is going to be Chinese food for days, and that is okay with me. There is finally something besides yogurt, hummus, a block of cheese, blueberries, and cherries in the fridge.

random thoughts - Day 1968 (Wednesday) - frustrations and spices

 Since the job layoff that upended my world, it's been an exhausting stretch of time. More has happened in the last month than in most of the several years preceding it and it's all catching up with me. I'm constantly tired and my patience diminishes daily. It feels like my brain has left the cranium and I can barely answer simple questions half the time. 

This morning I slept later than usual, and I was having a weird dream where, even as I was dreaming it, I was thinking, "this is weird, I should just wake up." Upon awakening, I saw that I'd slept an hour longer than usual.

There was coffee with Mom which included bonus French toast breakfast before heading back to the punishment of setting up the kitchen and pantry. Things hit a roadblock. To maximize the space and be able to put everything away, I need more shelving units, and so far, no stores have what I need. These stupid things used to be available everywhere, but they have gone extinct now that I need more. So far, Ocean State Job Lot, Family Dollar, Dollar Tree, and WalMart have been checked. I got the last one of one type at Ocean State yesterday, WalMart had only one size which is too big for my cabinets, and the Dollar stores had none. So frustrating. It looks like it's going to have to be an Amazon situation. On the bright side, I'm thrilled there so many stores within a mile or so of the house and I didn't have to drive to another city or state.

The spices.

There have been some discoveries in the pantry setting up. One is that I have a lot of spices. A lot, a lot. An entire cabinet is now filled with spices, with some represented multiple times. Three jars of ground ginger? Two big jars of chili? And that's just the cooking spices. The baking flavorings are in the pantry with the sugar, flour, and other staples. Oy. It looks like it's time to get busy cooking with the flavors. Or at least consulting the cabinet before I buy another grain of a spice.

The lack of additional shelving wasn't a total washout and the big box of plastic food storage was emptied and the contents homed. 

Work also shifted back the the main bedroom and the built-in dresser with the nice wood grain which is turning out to be less useful than first thought. One of the drawers is detached from the mechanism that prevents it from succumbing to gravity and falling out of the framing, spilling the contents onto the floor. Another is missing the pull handle thing. When the drawer fell out I had a chance to examine the inside of the structure. The eight drawers are shallow and narrow and don't hold much. They are good for socks, but not much else. 

There used to be floral wallpaper in the room. I'm tempted to rip the whole thing out and slide a dresser with more clothes-friendly drawers into the space. There is a dresser sitting in another room right now that was going to be a charity donation once I got the contents transferred into the built-in unit. If I ever locate the charger for my power drill, I could get busy on that little project. 

random thoughts - Day 1,967 (Tuesday) - progress and mysteries

 It was a breezy morning with the trees swaying in the back yard and I opened the windows of the house to capture the air movement. The house stayed comfortable all day with the back windows and front door opened. The coffee maker, having been located on Monday, was pressed into service and I took my mug of coffee next door to chat with Mom. 

An hour later, labor continued in the kitchen with the pantry and cabinet organization. There are a lot of cabinets, but they are mostly all the same size so when a big serving plate doesn't fit in one, it doesn't fit in any. Sigh. Who designs these things? My guess is someone completely unfamiliar with the workings of a kitchen. Thank goodness for the pantry which has some deep shelves. And I need a plan to either entertain more and use all the cool, vintage serving pieces I have inherited or sell them in a consignment shop.

A trip to Ocean State Job Lot helped with a couple more wire racks to take advantage of the cabinet height. There is now only one more kitchen box labeled "Glass Plates (small)" in the middle of the living room chaos, a box labeled "plastic storage" that I'm afraid to open, plus some stuff still at Mom's. 

The legs to the round, mid-century table are currently missing in action, along with the original rubber mallet, a large glass cutting board, and who knows what else.

One of my friends was in town today shopping for appliances and stopped over for a quick visit in the lingering chaos. We took a walk around the neighborhood and chatted about her job and a buyout offer and my recent layoff and prospects. These are crazy times.

Supper.

Supper ended up being cheese and hummus with crackers after I got so hungry my brain ceased processing input and I couldn't decide between two Chinese restaurants and what to order. Then it was back to the kitchen to wash the nice frying pan found under the drawer under the stove using the new dishcloths bought to coordinate with the kitchen colors. More pantry items were put away and paperwork (or whatever it's called when done on a computer) done in preparation for a job telephone interview later this week. 

The things I'm remembering to do are chugging along, but at the same time, I can't help but wonder how many things I've forgotten to do and how important they might be. The old routine of sitting at the desk in the morning and preparing for the day hasn't resumed, partly because the desk is still in pieces from the move. The screws were at my friends' house on unpack-the-moving-box day, having been removed from my purse before I went to the law office for the closing on Friday. This prevented my friend from setting the desk up that day. Since Sunday, it seemed that getting the kitchen done and being able to feed myself was more important than assembling the desk, although my success is questionable based on tonight's supper. Tomorrow I'll try to do better on all fronts.

random thoughts Day 1,966 (Monday) - working it

 Kiki and I spent the night at the new place on Sunday and it went well. She's currently confined to the main bedroom and attached bathroom, and her little hermit self has taken to staying under the bed. 

Work in the kitchen continued. It's been challenging. There are lots of cabinets, but it turns out they are a bit too shallow for some of the plates and bowls. The four drawers in the entire space are small and a set of oven mitts eats up an entire one. It's time to get creative.

The coffee maker was finally located in a box labeled "Kitchen - Toaster Oven." By then, I had already had coffee with Mom, but it's ready for action Tuesday. The aqua color of the coffee maker that inspired the changeout of curtains, kitchen towels, and various accessories in Lowell looks yucky on the green and tan counter and now I'm glad I never got around to buying the coordinating toaster oven. 

The rubber mallet, originally bought for the purpose of hammering silver jewelry wire and then used on more furniture and household activities than jewelry, has been missing since Saturday. Tonight I cracked and went to Aubuchon Hardware to buy a new one. Oddly, the 16 ounce mallet cost more than the 32 ounce, so I bought the larger, less expensive one. The immediate need was tapping shelves into place on two metal shelving units.

Ice cream beak!

During the assembly of the shelving. a break was taken to enjoy some ice cream in a recently unpacked bowl using a recently unpacked spoon. Ah, yes, actual dishes and utensils. It was necessary, to keep me from boiling over with some of the many petty frustrations.

Then it was back to the grindstone for more disappointment, which isn't as nice a flavor as Tillamook "Marion Berry Pie" ice cream. The rolling cart intended for the kitchen is 1/4 inch too tall to fit under the bottom pantry shelf with the wheels attached. Another narrower cart which never had the optional wheels attached now sits under the shelf as a stationary piece. 

The cabinet above the stove has been set and redone at least three times already. It began holding vases, but the easy accessibility of the space made it seem wasteful for something seldom used. Then it was switched to baking sheets, which was going well until the pizza pan didn't fit, along with the cooling racks. Those all now sit on the top of the wire rack in the pantry. It briefly began to be pots and pans storage, but that was abandoned. Use of the space is being reconsidered again.

That is pretty much how the entire kitchen setup has gone. It's been frustrating. At least the volume of boxes in the space is reduced enough now to make the kitchen semi functional.

random thoughts - Day 1,965 (Sunday) - moving in- part three

There were pancakes for breakfast with my friends, and then I headed to the new homestead. The plan was to organize the main bedroom and adjoining bathroom so it was a restful spot, and then go back to my friends' home where we have been staying and collect Kiki.

There was a knock at the back door which I barely heard over the radio. A woman stood at the door with a bouquet of summer flowers and welcomed me to the neighborhood. She said her name was Marie and she had been a friend of the former owner. So nice! 

The room organization was mostly successful. There are clothes and shoes neatly placed in the closet, but the upper shelves are less tidy and more of a mess of bags of winter clothes. 

The bathroom closet is kind of a hot mess as I try to determine how to organize the daily use items that were in the sink vanity drawers at The BungaLowell. There are no drawers in the bathroom and the medicine cabinet is tiny. 

The rooms were good enough to bring Kiki home and confine her the main bed and bath. We said "ciao for now" to the rooster and chickens and headed home.  

Kiki hates being in the carrier and isn't keen on being in the car either. It's a 25 minute trip between my friends' house and mine, and she yowled all the way and even got sick in the carrier. Poor Keeks. Thank goodness we don't have to do it again any time soon.

The evening was spent trying to organize the kitchen. It's not easy. There are four small drawers, lots of cabinets (but smaller than the ones in Lowell), and a deep pantry. Nothing makes sense for my stuff. I can't figure out where the silverware or the baking sheets will go. After opening four large boxes labeled "kitchen" I still can't find the coffeemaker. It got frustrating. 

Tomorrow I'll try again. For now, it's time to rest.

random thoughts - Day 1964 (Saturday) - moving in - part two

The moving box was scheduled to arrive between 7 and 9 this morning. A text came at 6:30 saying it would arrive around 7:30 and I headed to Gardner from Ashburnham. 

There was a quick stop at Mom's to let her know what was going on and I left with a coffee in a paper cup. In the brief time before the pod arrived I finished lining the kitchen cabinets with shelf paper from Mom because I had run out of what was bought on Friday.

The pod arrived on time and there was a quick chat with the driver about the ideal placement in front of the carport with the opening facing the street so we could have a direct path across the walk and through the front door. By 8:00 it was positioned and the driver was back on the road. 

I continued working inside until my friends arrived so we could carefully open the box and check how the strategic ratchet strap positioning held the load against load shift. It wasn't bad. In about 1.5 hours, we emptied half the pod. 

My sister arrived and we kept going, running boxes and bags into the house and setting things in the appropriate rooms as much as possible. A couple more friends arrived and by around 1:00, the box was empty, and the house was full of chaos. Boxes were labeled by room, but it didn't prevent things from being set in a different room, mostly due to space availability.

The new house has more square footage than The BungaLowell (1,334 vs 1,086) but it doesn't mean there is plenty of room for everything. There is more purging on the horizon. 

After my friends left, I began to organize the chaos. Kitchen cabinets were filled with glasses and vases, but the entire trove of coffee mugs is missing in action despite being carefully labeled. Bathroom closets were set up. Boxes were emptied, flattened, and set into a larger box. They will come in handy for the things that become destined for consignment donation. 

Shortly after 5:00, I headed back to my friends' home for dinner and to check on Kiki. She still isn't delighted with this segment of the upheaval, but it's nearly done. We just need to hang on a little bit longer. 

random thoughts - Day 1963 (Friday) - moving in - part one

The Thursday closing of the sale on The BungaLowell provided the funding for the today's closing transaction in Worcester to complete the purchase of the house in Gardner. From a bungalow back to a ranch. 

After the closing meeting, I headed to the new place with a stop at Ocean State Job Lot for cleaning supplies and the cushiony shelf liner. For some reason, I thought my new credit union had a location in Gardner, but it turned out to be a TD Bank location. Oops. So much for my plan to deposit the checks from the closing. 

Supplies including trash bags, wastebaskets, laundry and dishwasher detergent, and the step stool were fetched from Mom's house. Beds bought from the seller were rotated and set on different walls in the main and guest bedrooms. 

The main bedroom and bathroom were cleaned, which was mostly vacuuming with the dust brush attachment and wiping the walls and closets with diluted vinegar.  

When friends arrived with pizza, the second bathroom the kitchen cabinets were vacuumed, wiped down, and lined with the cushioned shelf liner.

There were surprises. One cabinet near the stove has an angled shape, but the shelves don't extend to the side wall. There was a crazy amount of loose ziplock bags, two entire rolls of plastic wrap and pieces of foil that must have slipped off the open end of the shelves and landed in the gap to the side and under the bottom shelf. 

We were imagining the previous owner's puzzlement over the disappearing bags, rolls of wrap, and what looks like a brand new carving knife found in a gap in another cabinet. Manuals for every appliance and the built in radio and cassette player were found in a bedroom drawer. 

There was a turkey with young birds dining in Mom's yard, which was fun to watch. The mama bird was limping on a seemingly injured foot. Poor thing. We first spotted them in her back yard, then they ate their way around the side of the house to the front.

The moving box arrives Saturday morning, allegedly between 7 and 9. Whew! What a week!