Making Changes.

Big things are happening around these parts.

We are moving to a new neighborhood, into a bigger apartment. This is exciting, and a little sad, but mostly exciting. The new landlord forgot to call us to let us know we got the place, so we spend the two weeks wondering and resigning ourselves to the fact that we didn't get it. Which would have been okay, since the new arrangement of our current place is the best it could possibly be, and I somehow managed to put all the vintage stock for etsy away, but wouldn't be okay, because really, I don't like our neighborhood, I am tired of the rowdy teens, and our across the hall neighbor is moving out. We like her, and can only imagine the worst people moving in across from us. Luckily new landlord is just a little spacey. He just plain forgot to tell us.

SO. We are moving. Which means the next month and half will be a whirlwind of cleaning, sorting, packing, painting, etc etc. The idea is that we will have a yard sale before then, and we will also go to the new place and paint it all, since we will have the time and it needs it. How lucky for me that my fella is a carpenter and an expert painter. So expert, that he probably will only let me roll over big spots of wall. First coat only. Second coat will have to be perfect. (I am exaggerating for sure. But only slightly.) The new kitchen has almost no cabinets, which means we will need to put up shelving, and some kind of pot rack, after we paint. The tiles are black & white and everything else is white, so I am leaning towards yellow for the walls. We won't go crazy with color. In fact, I think the living spaces will all be a warm cream color, which is what we have now, and it goes with everything. Just golden enough to make it feel sunny on a grey day. We also need a larger table, since we will no longer have a tiny table for two in the kitchen, and our table will be dwarfed by the size of the dining room. OH YEAH. And a couch. WE CAN GET A COUCH THAT SEATS THREE OR MORE PEOPLE. WE WILL HAVE THE SPACE. HOLY SHIT.

Obviously there isn't money for all of this right away. Lucky for us, it's yard sale season.

The transition for Kiki will be interesting. I don't think she will appreciate the move right away. I think she will miss the back porch and her bird friends. We won't have a proper back porch anymore, rather a screened in one that is attached to a back hall. The nice part is that it has a partial wall, that is waist high, with a swinging gate (to contain a dog, it seems) so we can attach more screening to it, and we will be able to leave our back door open, giving her even more space and allowing her to spend time out there without us having to constantly check on her and making sure she didn't sneak off. We have a plan to bring her over with us while we work on the space, just so she can roam around and hiss at everything. Then she will come back to this place, and all her things, and when we are finally moved in, she will find her smells already there. I think that makes sense. I worry about shaking up her life too much right now, in light of Roo's passing, but she seems healthy and for the most part, happy, so hopefully this won't cause her too much trauma and will actually be therapeutic for her, as it certainly will be for us.

And maybe once we get settled in, after a couple months, we can consider adding a new cat to our family.

I will miss the sunrises from our front window, the birds in the trees out back, the little turquoise house down the street, the man who walks the track every day and waves up to my kitchen window, the man who sells popcorn at the Quincy Adams t-station, and the boy we call Boy, who loves every dog, playing basketball with the tough kids, rapping, and throwing trash when kids are mean to him.

Cat Dad will miss Debbie, his favorite cashier at Shaws, and having a Home Depot right down the street.

I will not miss drunk tween girls who talk about blowjobs, my downstairs neighbor, paying for oil heat, sidewalks that sparkle with broken glass, drug deals, west quincy tags, and never being able to take a bath.

monday night.

missing you, Roo girl.

Does it count as a vacation if you choose to be a shut-in in your own home?

Just wondering, no reason.

We are going to see This American Life at the movies tonight. I am looking forward to it. And the giant popcorn & soda I will no doubt consume. I may dump goobers in the popcorn.

There is a lot of tension around right now. All over. It's manifesting itself in different ways with different people. I never know what to tell people other than everything gets easier eventually. Because it does. Hopefully some of the shit will settle when the warm weather really shows up. I know that I need the Sun. Probably everyone needs a little more Sun. Right? RIGHT?

Ignore the things people say about you. Especially what they say right to your face. But REALLY, ignore it.... don't pretend you're ignoring it, then a spend a day worrying about it, then bring it up in conversation and feel the need to feel about, until you finally figure out that it's not worth getting upset over. Just KNOW that it's not.

I am on vacation.

This means it's 8:28 am on a Tuesday and I am sitting in Cat Dad's robe, drinking coffee and listening to the radio while fucking around the internet. I am NOT at work. I am not going anywhere, or doing anything very exciting. He has the car, so if I want to go anywhere it's a pain in the ass. I am just home. And it's NICE. (I am supposed update my etsy shop this week. I will. I SWEAR.)

Let's see. Friday was my first of ten days off. I spent the day crazy cleaning our whole apartment. Half the living space had become a pile of vintage. A mobile rack, suitcases, bags. I managed to find a place for everything. It's tight. And organized. In the last month we really have figured out this apartment, the best ways to make use of it's tiny space. We could still make the closets better, and we definitely have more we can get rid off, I'm sure. But right now, our place feels really good. Cozy. Light. Airy. There's a lot of good views in it right now. It's really important to me to love where I live, as I am basically a giant homebody, but as a Libra, I need to be surrounded by beauty. SO I CAN'T LIVE IN AN UGLY PLACE. I won't allow it.

I am rambling due to how I started this day and my coffee is only just now kicking in, so let me get to the point.

We had been talking for awhile now about whether or not we would renew our lease. As much as we like our actual apartment, the neighborhood isn't the best. In fact, it kind of sucks. I am not a fan of some of the neighbors. And it's a little unnerving to hear teenagers getting arrested at 1:00 AM for jumping a man who was walking home from the train. Right outside your bedroom window. I wouldn't mind being able to walk down my street and not have to look down for broken glass.

We couldn't do anything until after Roo. It wouldn't have been fair to do that to her. Kiki seems to be enjoying herself now. She is quite the princess. She has taken over the backporch, eats four meals a day. While she would probably be a little pissed at us, I don't think a move for her is out of the question right now. She is still pretty spry. And if we ever do get another cat, we should probably live someplace else.

Which leads me to this. We looked at apartment a couple weeks ago. We applied for it. We are still waiting to hear. It's weird. I could be using this vacation to pack. Or not. And either way, we will accept the decision. I've been looking around here sadly the past few days, thinking I could still enjoy the space I've made for a little bit longer. But then I look in the tiny jam packed closet and remember the FOUR closets that could be ours, and I know we are ready for a change. So whatever happens, we will keep on keeping on and doing what we do.

BUT HEY, CROSS YOUR FINGERS FOR US. Thanks, really.

and now a brief recap of the past four days aka Cat Dad Turns Thirty So We Celebrate

FRIDAY: Cleaned all day. Our friend Jordan came over that night, we drank beer and ate burgers & fries and HUNG OUT, it was great. I decided that it was time for Cat Dad to open his first birthday present, the classic navy blue lace up vans he's wanted since he was thirteen but for some reason has never bought. He put them on right away and was so happy. I rule.

SATURDAY: Woke up kinda fuzzy. Showers, coffee, breakfast sandwiches (homemade, always, glutenfree life) and then into the car, up to NH, where we went on a tour of the Zimmerman House. It was AWESOME. Just really beautiful. I don't think I can go into it all right now. We couldn't take pictures inside but if we could, I would have stayed in the kitchen taking pictures of every single thing. Walked around the museum. Bought stuff at the gift store (Frank Lloyd Stained Glass Windows Coloring Book. YES.) Made our way back to Quincy, where I made him open all of his birthday presents. (Three old FLW books, the LEGO set for Fallingwater, and a pillow from Stitchagram that is all pictures of Kiki & Roo. It made him cry. Which made me cry. So then I sobbed. And then we put the pillow on the bed and Kiki slept on it. Are you kidding me?) We ate frozen burritos & chicken nuggets for dinner, fancy I know. AND THEN.... We had a birthday party! It was small. Ten people? But all awesome people. Karaoke, Cat Dad Cake, snacks, dancing. Good times. I think he felt loved,which is the point of birthday parties.

SUNDAY: Woke up late (9), left the house dirty. Went to the flea market and SCORED. Went out for breakfast with some of the family. Stop by another friend's house on the southshore. Finally made it home, made sandwiches, and relaxed on the couch. I was asleep before 9:00 pm.

MONDAY: HIS ACTUAL BIRTHDAY. Cat Dad is finally thirty! He went to work, I read a book on the back porch in the sunshine. Birthday dinner? A pitcher of Sangria and three dozen oysters. So you can figure out what dessert was.

He never liked birthdays before me.