Bullet points from my life

Nov 12, 2008

When planning any major project - such as a wedding or a move - I invariably make list after list after list. This move is no exception. About the only difference is that I am making longer lists, and my lists now include items such as walling up a door or replacing all interior doors and trim or adding windowsills.

1. I have thirteen more nights until my first night sleeping in my new house. (Technically, it's a condo. But it's a detached condo, and I have to pay homeowner's insurance on the structure; whereas with most condos you insure the contents inside, not the structure itself. So...I'm calling it a house. So there.)
2. I am about 60% packed - possibly further along than that; but I'm at the point where it's getting harder to see just how much I have left. So even though I think I'm actually about 80% packed, I'm sticking with 60%. That will keep me from slacking off and having to go into a frenzy the day before the movers arrive.
3. In regards to packing...I've already been to the bookstore twice. I packed up all my books about a week ago, and - of course - I ran out of things to read. (Unfortunately, packing the books is one of the easiest tasks and one of the most visible - so it got done pretty early in the process. Having those empty bookshelves, shelves taken down and brackets packed in the Ziploc, and seeing the neatly-stacked now-filled boxes is a great way to visibly remind myself: it's real, it's happening, you're moving.)
4. In going to the bookstore to find new books to read, I found that I've turned another corner in my reading life: most of the authors who are on the shelves are now unfamiliar to me, and the ones whose work I enjoy seem to have gone into hibernation. They don't have new things coming out. (And if I see another vampire-fiction series, I just may scream. I outgrew that subgenre in the late 90s, after reading Fred Saberhagen's Dracula books. They're interesting, both in terms of story and in terms of building the world of Vlad Drakulya, and there's a minor amount of sex and romance in the books; but being written by a hard SF author, they deal more with historical fiction and mystery and far, far less with the soft porn, young adults adventurously skirting the fringes of the nosferatu community and lifestyle, or the teen-vampire-as-hero schtick.)
5. I have created my "critical" list - those items I will want to have ready to hand after the move - and started the "DO NOT LOSE" box. I'm routinely putting my pocketbook, keys, and checkbook in there now instead of their former "usual" places.
6. My cats are having far, far too much fun with the boxes - full and empty. The filled ones are stacked four and five boxes high, making ideal places for kitties to sit and have a good vantage (well, better than the floor.) The empty ones are, of course, good for sitting *in*. And all the boxes, full and empty, make excellent new stalking-barriers. They've got their own play-maze in the living room. It's funny to watch Ursa stalking Monkey for five minutes...and Monkey sitting completely unaware of this fact until her tail gets pounced upon.
7. I bought some boxes, and picked up several more from local folks who had just finished moves of their own - yay, Craigslist. However, I still need to buy a picture pack (for my great big desert watercolor) and a dish pack (for my tumbler-glasses). Everything else is fitting quite nicely into the boxes I've got. (I managed to score not only boxes, but lots and lots of packing paper, peanuts, and bubble wrap.)
8. It's solidly autumn here, which means that the trees are dropping their foliage at a tremendous rate. The sidewalk and yard in front of my current apartment building are covered with maple leaves. My new place has a large swath of green directly east...which includes a conifer and a maple tree. This will also drop a lovely blanket of red-and-yellow prettiness next fall, and every other fall I own that house. (The downside: my roof gutters will be full of leaf slime and sludge. Maybe I will look into installing gutter guards...?)
9. Last night I woke up to hear the rain falling on the roof. I actually like listening to the sound of rain. In my new place, the bedroom is upstairs...and since it's a detached condo, I'll get to keep enjoying the rain on the rooftop.
10. I've bought cellular shades for every window in the house except the kitchen and bathroom. It was expensive; but they'll give me better (and more attractive) thermal insulation. They'll also help keep the place cooler in summer - especially the light-blocking shade in the south-facing bedroom window.
11. I want to add windowsills; but you can't just buy windowsills. You can buy windows, but not just the sills. We're going to have to use lumber (no pretty edges, rats) and stain it nicely. I'm thinking a cherry stain on the sill, and an ebony stain on a smaller piece just beneath it. (Now I'll have to see what Dad says - it's him who will be doing all the labor for this. If he says it's impossible, then I'm up a creek.)
12. I want to replace all the interior doors with double doors. Some of the doors' placement is just architecturally stupid. In the library, the open door partially blocks the window. In the master bedroom, the open door blocks the hallway through the closet to the bathroom. And in any room, an open door takes up about 10 square feet of "usable space" that you have to leave clear for opening and closing, the open state, et cetera. I'd rather just leave three feet to either side of the door, and have more wall space and have more space in the center of the room. (Plus I'll get to ditch those cheap-looking doors and trim.)
13. Mom and I came up with the idea of temporarily painting a mural on the back of the library door: bookshelves filled with books, and a cat sleeping on one of the shelves. (Possibly with reflective paint or glow-in-the-dark paint for the eyes...? Or maybe that idea would be too 'precious'.)

Other Thirteeners:

• A Gentleman's Domain with classic books...and their previous, rejected titles
• Out on a Limb with overcoming obstacles
• A Life Less Ordinary with her favorite blogs

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