Catchin' up...

Friday

March 27, 2009

Hi,

It's been a month since I've been here.  A busy month. 

I had several tests done after my physical and am happy to report that everything came back great.  No cancer, no heart disease.  I only have my bone density test left next month.  But, didn't I come home today to find a message from Dr. T's office telling me that it had been 5 yrs since my last colonoscopy and to please call the office to book.  Ummm... I thought they were done every 10 yrs? 

I found an apartment!  I bet you're all happy that I won't be bitching about The Loud Family anymore. :)

 It's a second floor apt (with no one over my head) in an old Victorian in the "Uptown" section of the city.  It's kind of a local joke that "you've come a long way if you've made it "Uptown". :)  I've been cleaning and painting and packing and tossing and giving stuff away for 3 weeks.  I'm exhausted and I've barely begun.  But I'm very happy to be leaving here and 6 wks from now, I'll be settled in and enjoying the rest of my life. :)

The downstairs tenant is the owner's 79 yr old mom.  I've known them for several years.  Barbara (the mom) is a spitfire and acts/looks nowhere near approaching 80.   She's very active.  I am already looking forward to sharing the house with her.  I have the cement slab "deck" behind the house and the whole backyard that Joyce said I can do whatever I want with.  Barb has the front porch and right side of the house.

I'm changing my decorating style too.  I've had the rustic "country" thing going on for about a decade now and it's time to switch it up.  I'm not a contemporary/modern type person, so I'm opting for the "cottage" look.  Light and airy...  The kitchen is currently painted poppy red.  I was going to change it, but I'm starting to get used to it.  I'm changing the bathroom from powder blue to moss green, the living room from mustard yellow to caramel and the bedroom from GRAY to pale (butter) yellow.  There is one more room and I think I'm going to use the paint I bought for the kitchen in there.  It's called rustic adobe...a very light shade of terra cotta .  Some of the woodwork needs touching up and the hallway is a disaster.  I'll make that my summer project.  Right now, my priority is to get the new place ready and start bringing boxes over in increments.  My official move in day is 4/25.

Soooo, when I went next door to tell current landlady that I'm moving, she informed me that they were putting the house back on the market anyway.  I guess they were planning to tell me soon.  When this house sells, they are asking their downstairs tenant to move (sucks, huh?) and moving themselves to the first  floor and putting The Loud Family above them.  Karma!

I'm ready to give my cat away.  She and I are not ever going to be happy together.  I'm too anal/OCD and she's the kitten from hell.  I have had a zillion cats in my lifetime and have never had a cat behave the way she does.  Of course, it doesn't help that she has the run of the place for about 9 hrs a day while I'm at work and then I come home and try to lay down the law.  But, I'm tired of her being on the table and counters where I prepare and eat food.  She's clawed the furniture and curtains and bedcovers and rugs (and my body).  She digs in the plants and dirt is everywhere when I get home.  Sometimes, when I try to pet or discipline her, she bites. 

Two nights ago, I woke up to a loud crash.  I wasn't sure if it was in my apt or the Loud Family's, so I listened for a few mintues.  All was quiet, so I thought I'd just go back to sleep, but it started to eat away at me and I decided to get up and investigate.  Good thing I did.  She'd knocked a glass off of the kitchen counter and it shattered.  I don't know how we both managed not to get cut before I got flipflops on and put her in my room while I cleaned.  It took about 20 minutes to sweep up all of the shards, slivers and minute specks of glass.  It was everywhere!  I couldn't vacuum because of the time, so I used a carpet sweeper and did the best I could, then rolled the rug up until I could give it a good vacuuming.  But, I still find pieces of glass here and there and that scares me.  I haven't gone barefoot yet (and I HATE footwear in the house!), but I'm afraid Bella will try to eat it. 

So, needless to say, I am not thrilled about the possibility of Round #2 of destruction of the new curtains (sheers) and sofa slipcover and bedspread and so forth.  The so forth would be a PANTRY (yeah!) but no way to keep her off of the shelves, which will have my food and dishes.  Ugh...

I'd appreciate any tricks you've used that were successful, but I have tried every single "behavorial training" technique found online.  Spray bottles, loud clapping, pennies in cans, aluminum foil, double sided tape!  She is fearless and defiant and very smart! 

Hey, tomorrow is Earth Hour.  I did this last year and looked around my neighborhood to see who else was turning off their lights for an hour.  Not sure if folks were participating or just not home.  Here's the website:  http://wwf.worldwildlife.org/site/MessageViewerem_id=19161.0&dlv_id=20121

I haven't been to the gym in about 3 weeks!  Busy with the move, but I'm nervous that staying away too long will morph into staying away forever!  Another cool thing about the move is that I will be able to walk to work.  I'm really looking forward to that because, even though the gym has helped with toning and strengthening, I haven't done enough aerobic work to get the weight to come off.  I know walking will do the trick.  It's a little over a mile one way, so 2 miles a day. 

Okay, I've blabbed long enough.  Time to pack something and then watch Friday Night Lights.

Peace,

Kay

Comments

[Pat]

Glad the medical stuff is OK.. it's a good thing that you had a mini vacation here before you start the move.. looking forward to seeing the new place when we get to MA. Wish we could be there to help... although I think we would be laughing way too much..what great memories we have...OOOXXX

[Missy]

Congrats Kay!! As usual, Sund moving company is available if needed! :) Hopefully you're not planning a butt crack of dawn moving as we'll have just gotten home from Disney Friday night, but I'm more than willing to come help with a truck if you need it.