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.