Dammit!

Tomorrow the Salvation Army will arrive between 7:00 am and 7:00 pm to pick up furniture I'm getting rid of from the old apartment. It has to be out of there, because otherwise the landlord will charge me to get rid of it. I can call them after 8:00 am to get a three or four-hour window during which they'll show up. However...

I had earlier said I'd be meeting up with Mel and a mutual friend from out of town that day at 11:00 am. Aieee! So I called Mel and she's on her way to the airport, so she'll call me back later and I can come over this afternoon, so we'll get to meet even if I'm stuck with the Salvation Army all day tomorrow.

Meanwhile, The cable guy woke me up this morning and spent two hours hooking everything up, periodically pausing to demand some piece of equipment I didn't have. ("Yes, I do own an extension cord, but I have no idea which box it's in.")

Now the bed, the supposedly great for your back NASA memory foam mattress, and bed-putter-togethers are here. First thing out their mouths: "Do you have an extension cord?"

Dammit!

Tomorrow the Salvation Army will arrive between 7:00 am and 7:00 pm to pick up furniture I'm getting rid of from the old apartment. It has to be out of there, because otherwise the landlord will charge me to get rid of it. I can call them after 8:00 am to get a three or four-hour window during which they'll show up. However...

I had earlier said I'd be meeting up with Mel and a mutual friend from out of town that day at 11:00 am. Aieee! So I called Mel and she's on her way to the airport, so she'll call me back later and I can come over this afternoon, so we'll get to meet even if I'm stuck with the Salvation Army all day tomorrow.

Meanwhile, The cable guy woke me up this morning and spent two hours hooking everything up, periodically pausing to demand some piece of equipment I didn't have. ("Yes, I do own an extension cord, but I have no idea which box it's in.")

Now the bed, the supposedly great for your back NASA memory foam mattress, and bed-putter-togethers are here. First thing out their mouths: "Do you have an extension cord?"

Cats and furniture

The cats have vanished utterly. I have no idea where they are, nor have I seen them since last night. They have done this before, other times when people have used power tools in their vicinity or when I've moved: disappeared without a trace or mew. I only once managed to find them, when I opened a drawer in the kitchen which proved to be entirely full of tabby and calico fur, with two pairs of horrified and resentful amber eyes staring up at me. (I assume they climbed in through the back, because I can't imagine how they could have shut it behind them.) Anyway, I am going to assume they're OK and did not actually dash out the front door when the cable guy left it open.

I now have a bed and mattress. Yay! Now I need new bed linens-- but more pressingly, I need new bookcases. I took the opportunity of moving and the sale of British, New Zealand, Australian, South African, and Indian rights to Fishes to ditch my old and bought-used and never very nice bookcases, with the idea of buying nice new matching bookcases. (Office Depot seems the best bet: nice-looking natural wood, not too expensive, and they deliver.) But since I haven't done that yet, I now have something like fifty boxes of books scattered about the living room and office. (I kept the low set of bookcases that go under the windows, so I managed to unpack most of the boxes in the bedroom.)

I need to get the books into the bookcases before I can buy a sofa, or there will be nowhere to put the sofa. I'm going to buy a loveseat and matching armchair from a local place that does custom-made sofas for the same prices as Ikea, which I was originally going to shop at until I realized that I prefer comfort to looks, and also that as far as looks go, I don't actually like the modern and/or Scandinavian stuff at Ikea, but prefer "American cozy:" darkish wood, plump pillows, and so forth. I have apparently inherited my Grandpa Artie's tastes in home decorating, along with his views on politics and religion. I am typing this on a laptop on his old desk. Anyway, the living room walls are olive green, pale in the morning and dark in the evening. I'm thinking milk chocolate suede (well, sort of-suede) for the loveseat and armchair.

The walls in the bedroom are charcoal, again light in the day and dark at night. I haven't decided what color linens to get. Burgundy, for contrast? Sea-blue?

I am thirty-one years old and this is the first time in my life I've ever bought new furniture. Have you ever bought new furniture? How old were you when you lost your furniture virginity? Do you still have any of it?

Cats and furniture

The cats have vanished utterly. I have no idea where they are, nor have I seen them since last night. They have done this before, other times when people have used power tools in their vicinity or when I've moved: disappeared without a trace or mew. I only once managed to find them, when I opened a drawer in the kitchen which proved to be entirely full of tabby and calico fur, with two pairs of horrified and resentful amber eyes staring up at me. (I assume they climbed in through the back, because I can't imagine how they could have shut it behind them.) Anyway, I am going to assume they're OK and did not actually dash out the front door when the cable guy left it open.

I now have a bed and mattress. Yay! Now I need new bed linens-- but more pressingly, I need new bookcases. I took the opportunity of moving and the sale of British, New Zealand, Australian, South African, and Indian rights to Fishes to ditch my old and bought-used and never very nice bookcases, with the idea of buying nice new matching bookcases. (Office Depot seems the best bet: nice-looking natural wood, not too expensive, and they deliver.) But since I haven't done that yet, I now have something like fifty boxes of books scattered about the living room and office. (I kept the low set of bookcases that go under the windows, so I managed to unpack most of the boxes in the bedroom.)

I need to get the books into the bookcases before I can buy a sofa, or there will be nowhere to put the sofa. I'm going to buy a loveseat and matching armchair from a local place that does custom-made sofas for the same prices as Ikea, which I was originally going to shop at until I realized that I prefer comfort to looks, and also that as far as looks go, I don't actually like the modern and/or Scandinavian stuff at Ikea, but prefer "American cozy:" darkish wood, plump pillows, and so forth. I have apparently inherited my Grandpa Artie's tastes in home decorating, along with his views on politics and religion. I am typing this on a laptop on his old desk. Anyway, the living room walls are olive green, pale in the morning and dark in the evening. I'm thinking milk chocolate suede (well, sort of-suede) for the loveseat and armchair.

The walls in the bedroom are charcoal, again light in the day and dark at night. I haven't decided what color linens to get. Burgundy, for contrast? Sea-blue?

I am thirty-one years old and this is the first time in my life I've ever bought new furniture. Have you ever bought new furniture? How old were you when you lost your furniture virginity? Do you still have any of it?

Found the cats

When I got back just now from Mel's place and saw that the litter box hadn't been used, I worried enough to embark upon a search. They are in a two-shelf kitchen cabinet thing, Nuala (the gray tabby) on the top shelf and Ripley (the tortoiseshell) on the bottom, which recapitulates their dominant-submissive pattern. I wish I could inform them that no more strange men will be visiting the house any time soon, but still to come are the landlord to open the jammed window in the bathroom, and the bookcase people and loveseat-and-armchair people.

While I was at Mel's place her mother called and, when told that I was there, started saying stuff like, "Tell her I love the back cover! And the little thingies on each page!" Just then my cell phone rang. It was the manager of the Century City Brentano's, to whom I had given an ARC. She wanted to let me know that she had mentioned it to a customer who was a film producer, and the customer had given the manager her contact info to give to me so I could get her an ARC.

I swear I will also tell you guys once the bad reviews and crushing disappointments start coming in.

Found the cats

When I got back just now from Mel's place and saw that the litter box hadn't been used, I worried enough to embark upon a search. They are in a two-shelf kitchen cabinet thing, Nuala (the gray tabby) on the top shelf and Ripley (the tortoiseshell) on the bottom, which recapitulates their dominant-submissive pattern. I wish I could inform them that no more strange men will be visiting the house any time soon, but still to come are the landlord to open the jammed window in the bathroom, and the bookcase people and loveseat-and-armchair people.

While I was at Mel's place her mother called and, when told that I was there, started saying stuff like, "Tell her I love the back cover! And the little thingies on each page!" Just then my cell phone rang. It was the manager of the Century City Brentano's, to whom I had given an ARC. She wanted to let me know that she had mentioned it to a customer who was a film producer, and the customer had given the manager her contact info to give to me so I could get her an ARC.

I swear I will also tell you guys once the bad reviews and crushing disappointments start coming in.