Preparing for the Sale

New bug lamp is here, and while it’s caught a few bugs I still have new bug bites. I’ve gone back to wearing Off at all hours. Of course I’m leaving the old cat door open until the new one arrives, so I should expect such things.

Very much not cleaning house. I’m doing everything I can to avoid the chore, but it’s getting harder by the minute. I’ve designed a blog for Gemmy, and tomorrow we’re having a meeting to discuss electronic portfolios, so of course I designed a template for that.

There are soooooo many boxes, and sooooooo many odd things I need to pack, but I can’t do much. I just don’t have any room to do anything. I’m about to start half-seriously working by moving junk out of her furniture so we can lug the furniture outside on Friday, if it doesn’t rain. There’s a 40% chance right now, and I think it will only get higher as time passes.

Beds are Bust

The search for the bed, so far, is a bust. I went to Irving Mall to check it out, only to discover Penny’s moved out about five years ago. The next day Mom and I drove to the upscale mall, The Parks, only to discover that Penny’s doesn’t have a furniture department. Turns out the closest mall with a Penny’s is in far North Dallas. I’m not sure I’m willing to go that far.

I haven’t done a thing towards the garage sale since cleaning and pricing the bedroom on Monday. Tonight I have to work doubly hard because I’m going to cheerleader camp graduation tomorrow, which means working tomorrow is out of the question.

Finally bought a new cat door. This one is electromagnetic, and little dangle things on the cats’ collars will open the door. Now I can keep the neighborhood cats AND the mosquitoes out. Also bought a super-expensive indoor mosquito lamp. Now maybe I can get this problem under control, and quit wearing mosquito repellent to bed at night. And maybe, finally, get the Citronella smell out of the air. I don’t see how R tolerated it!

Now I just have to move out the rugs, and hopefully the cat pee smell.

Sleeping In

Back at home, and freaking out about the amount of work to be done before the garage sale can move forward. Also freaking because I’ve realized I must do the majority of the work during daylight hours since R doesn’t have any lights in living room area I’m trying to work with.

Tonight my goals are to price everything in the bedroom and make it all more compact so I can stack other things. Then I want to start moving in things from the living room, and pricing those. I can’t decide how to divide the stuff – by department, like house wares and decorative, or by price with a $1 table and a $3 table.

Didn’t do a single productive thing last night. Of course I was tired out from the trip, so I have an excuse.

Wait a sec, I did find a bed. I decided I hadn’t seriously shopped platform beds, so I crawled into Yahoo! Shopping and Froogle. I found several that would work, including a very inexpensive one from Target. Finally found a bed I love at Penny’s. Problem is that it’s a nice, fun, bed-on-wheels, not exactly what I had envisioned for this room. I guess I can screw vision, though, in favor of fun. I’m going to wash my hair and go have a look at it before class starts.

Austin Garage Sale

The garage sale was wonderful. I found several nice things, but ended up buying a white bench for $52. I really shouldn’t have bought it, as it’s almost rusted through in spots and needs sandblasting and considerable work, but I fell in love with it and couldn’t leave it behind. Very modern, with a scoop-ish seat and rounded back. It looks very much like the Bertoia chairs.

Also bought $40 worth of fabric, mainly table cloths. I did buy one great piece of green chenille, and a quilt top I loved but Mom thought disastrous. I’m extra pleased with it after seeing her expression.

Later went to the outlet mall with the Pottery Barn. Very disappointed. I’ve always known in the back of my mind that Pottery Barn furniture was rather boring. All their magic comes from the accessories and the linens. Most of the furniture is pretty unoriginal, and you can pick up similar styles at a nude furniture store. This visit nailed it all home. The store didn’t have anything I wanted, except for the media console table. I should have bought it, but the store disillusioned me so much I couldn’t see clear enough to buy this one great piece. Plus they didn’t have any drawers for it, so I’d have to go online and buy them.

Very tired and ill at the mall. I didn’t go in many stores at all. We rented a different hotel room, which I’m very pleased with since you could hear all the plumbing from the other rooms in last night’s hotel. Went to Target and bought some green and blue and orange dishes, the same colors I’m doing the kitchen in. After dinner at Red Lobster we rented Love, Actually which was great. I might have to get it on DVD even if it is a love story.

Did I write about the oven? I don’t think so.

After the electricity came back on I started playing with the breakers, trying to figure out which one powered what. Later that evening I tried to use the oven but couldn’t. The power light would light up, but nothing heated. I checked the breakers, and they were all on. So either the oven is broken, or the electric system is damaged, or I’m overlooking something stupidly obvious. Earlier this week I tried turning on some lights in the living room and none of them worked, either. I’m hoping they aren’t plugged in, or that the bulbs are burnt out. I didn’t investigate too fully, but I will soon.

So why am I not worried? I bought a home shield policy to protect me financially from these kinds of disasters. Having a broken oven might actually be nice. The oven is an in-wall unit, and they don’t make that size any more. This means I have a very good excuse to get the drop-in I wanted, and possibly do a little remodeling on someone else’s dime.

Having a major electrical problem will not be all that good, mainly due to the inconvenience. I’d actually have to have rooms cleaned so workmen could get into them. Not fun.

Vacationing in Austin

Currently in Austin, trying to simultaneously buy furniture and pretend I never bought a house.
R. came over on Thursday and cleaned for about an hour and a half before leaving. She identified furniture for the garage sale we’re having over the 4th of July weekend, so now I just have to clear out the furniture and price stuff. She also cleaned out the back bedroom, so at least I have somewhere to place the garage-sale material. R will come back on the 30th and do a pre-sale inspection to make sure we don’t sell anything she can’t live without.

After R left Mom and I went shopping. We hit the Salvation Army, where I bought a picture of Jesus in a bubble frame, complete with a fake flower inside, for an entire $1.21.

Next we went to the La-Z-Boy store. They’re in the process of remodeling, and plan to have the entire Todd Oldham line in by mid-July. They had the Snap sofa in stock, but it looks much cheesier in real life than online. I don’t think it’s anything I would want in my house. I liked the Lena chair, though. We found two similar chairs that are more affordable on the other side of the room. They aren’t Todd Oldham, but they’re about half the price. Plan to go back in July and check out the Dexter and Flyer(?) sofas.

Mom and I picked up my bookcase/desk on Tuesday. On the way home it clouded over something awful so we stopped at an Ace Hardware and bought a tarp and bungee cords. VERY glad we did – we drove through a downpour so bad the rain gutters were overflowing. At least it stopped by the time we reached my house. Bookcase unit is now standing in the hall, awaiting better things.

We needed a vacation, so we kidnapped Dad and drove down to Austin today. We stopped at a neat store called Spice in Waco, which had several beautiful but overpriced things. It gave me lots of ideas, though.

Tomorrow is the Austin Garage Sale, and after that we’ll venture over on Burnett Street, which is supposed to be back-to-back Thrift Stores. On Sunday we’ll drive to an outlet mall in San Marcos, which has a Pottery Barn Outlet! Maybe I can pick up the media console locker table I like, or the CD room divider, or other cool PBTeen items.

Have several cool ideas to add to my Interior Design file. I can’t wait to move R’s stuff out and start slinging paint!!

It’s only 11:00 PM and mom and dad are already snoring away. I can’t believe they’re asleep!!!!!! I should have taken a vacation with someone else. After dinner all they wanted to do was drive back to the hotel room and watch TV. How dull.

I’ve had a productive evening, though – answered student emails and finalized the design for the platform bed I’m going to have built. I’m trying to translate the designs into an actual scaled plan now, but I don’t have a proper desk and my arms are starting to give out.

(addition, 5/14/2007)

Photos from vacation that I never downloaded from my PocketPC. Most were taken in Spice with my PocketPC, which explains the less-than-stellar quality.



This is a gate my Mom fell in love with.






A sofa with a rounded front edge -- I fell in love with it. I don't understand the ottomans-as-coffee-table craze, though. Who wants a coffee table that can't reliably hold a cup of coffee?



Not sure exactly what I was trying to photograph here, but I like the photo anyway.

Spending with Abandon

Good shopping day. While driving to my house we went past a garage sale, and what I saw out of the corner of my eye persuaded me to make the block – the silhouettes of two mid-century chairs. I bought a nice white vinyl mid-century desk chair for $10. It isn’t as truly fab as the Pottery Barn one I want, but $10 beats $400 any day. One wheel keeps falling off, but I have ideas on how to fix it. We also scored a set of chipped china for $3, including a green platter, and some old Esquire magazines and two Analogs from the late 60s. The chair was VERY difficult to fit into the car, but nowhere near as difficult as the ironing board we fit in the Opel GT so many years ago.

We kept shopping after that. We drove to Lewisville and went to the incredible Christians in Action Thrift Store, where I purchased an original artwork of a man treed by a moose in the wilds of Canada, and three new spoons.

Then we went to three consignment stores. In the second one I found a great mid-century desk/bookcase unit for $149. It was a lot of money, but I thought the piece was well worth it, so I shelled out. In the next store we found a rattan dining room set that actually supported my weight without any problems. It was $399 for the table and six chairs, but I really couldn’t talk myself into it. We have to go back for the bookcase next week, so I have a while to reconsider.

I originally wanted a mix of mid-century and modern, but I’m starting to realize I can afford mid-century where I can’t afford modern. I need a way to strike a balance!!! I don’t think modern accessories are enough.

Right now I’m surfing wireless, while sitting pretty in my other bargain chair. I finally got exasperated at the lack of seating at R.’s, and moved my $12.50 Salvation Army chair into the kitchen. It’s right underneath the tip of the ironing board, which makes a handy drink table. The chair is very comfortable – so comfortable that I spent about four hours in it last night reading.

Furniture Frenzy

Spent a good portion of the day looking at furniture in different places. Found some nice mid-century pieces at the Salvation Army, but nothing outstanding enough to make me whip out my debit card.

We also went to the Rooms to Go Outlet, which used to have swathes of chaise lounges, but which no longer has them unless they’re part of a sectional sofa. I’d love to have a chaise, but I don’t want one of those ticky-tacky Victorian highback things. And I also don’t want one that looks like an extended arm chair. I want one with a clear mid-century feel. They were everywhere a year ago, but now I’m having a devil of a time finding one! Even on eBay I could only find a few that meet my needs, but I don’t like the ones I found. Guess I’ll have to keep searching, and be prepared to pay out the nose when I do find one.

Fell in online love with Todd Oldham’s La-Z-Boy line. I love the colors, the lines, the fabrics. Very neat stuff. I’m tempted to shell out big bucks for at least a sofa, except that I’ve decided to go in another direction . . .

I want rattan. Nice, pretty, rattan furniture. Two sets have been sold on eBay in the past month, both for under $400. I can afford that. It will look great in the living room, too. I wish I could buy a mid-century set, but I don’t think I can begin to afford one. So I’m looking for a late 70s early 80s set, in good condition. I’ll probably hit pay dirt sometime next month.

Broadband is the Bomb

I have Internet. Finally, at long last, I have Internet. I talked the guy into running yet another line into the house. There are two already, but nothing we could get to. I gave him a generous tip for spending extra time trying to get everything running.

Boredboredboredboredbored

Bored out of my mind. I slept all day Saturday, waking up about 7:30 PM. I guess the last few days have been more exhausting than I thought. Since it’s so late I can’t get much accomplished. I am stripping the floor, but lots of my other plans will have to wait for daylight tomorrow.

Internet is gone. R and I miscommunicated, and she disconnected the phones when I thought we had a few more weeks. I’ve been sitting here all evening with nothing to do but read. My current book, Neal Stephenson’s Confusion, is wonderful but best taken in small doses. So I read a little, play a little Solitaire, strip the floors, and start over again. Did I mention I’m bored out of my skull?

Comcast comes to install high-speed Internet on Wednesday. I wish they could come more quickly, but with the power outages everywhere I’m lucky to get them so soon.

(later)

bored bored bored bored pored bored bored bored bored bored bored bored bred bored bores npored bored bored bored bored bored bored bored bored bored bored bored boired bored

Power Casualty

R’s fish didn’t make it. I thought they were doing OK, but they were quite obviously dead when I made it home today. I really dreaded telling R , but she took it well, at least over the phone.

I’m spending the evening removing more paint from tile. The stuff is so flammable I have to have all the doors open. As Dad said, I’m stripping with the front and back doors wide open. I hate using the stuff, but it works. I just wish it wasn’t so expensive! I think it’s going to cost me about $300 to recover the floor. The stuff if caustic and poisonous. It’s physically dangerous, too, as the stripping gel and mineral spirits make the floor incredibly slippery; so slippery that I almost fell off a stool today when I wasn’t even trying to stand up. My leg went out from under me, and kept sliding right across the floor. I thought I would pull a muscle for sure, but luck was with me. I managed to stop with a little of my large ass still on the stool.

My house is such a mess. I’m so busy fighting R’s clutter I can’t manage my own. I did ask over the phone if she felt a garage sale was what she really needed, and I was praying she would back out. She didn’t, though – she said she couldn’t possibly take all this stuff to her house. Our next “clean meeting” is next weekend. I’m going to try to get her to finish cleaning out the bedroom so we can start stacking garage sale stuff in there, instead of all over the living room and kitchen.

Goals for tomorrow include more stripping, and also moving some furniture so I can get the last of the oriental rugs out of the house. Those damn things smell like cat piss. Someday soon, when the house is clean, I’m going to rip the carpets out of the bedroom floor and possibly banish the cat piss odor forever.

No Power for the People

My new home has not been very useful to me of late – a storm knocked out the power, and I’ve been without for three days. I’ve actually moved out to the parent’s house until everything is back. There have been unbelievable power outages across the Metroplex. The news said it was as bad as costal outages after a hurricane, and I believe them. Cities as far away as Kansas lost electricity. One news report said ¼ million households were affected. If you estimate an average of four people per household that’s a million people. I’ve moved back to Mom and Dad’s house for the duration.

R’s house came through it without any damage, except for some boxes which were knocked over. Mom, Charlotte and I had to repack everything in 95+ degree heat. Very unpleasant. I’m also worried about R’s fish, which might affixiate if the electricity doesn’t come back on soon to power their pump. I did what I could, and I left. If I moved the fish they’d just go into shock, so I just ran more water into the pool (new water = new air) and left well enough alone. I’m going to check on them tomorrow, and try to figure out a different solution if needed. I’m not sure what else we can do, though – all the generators in town must be rented out by now.

Mom and I went shopping today. We went to Seconds and Surplus, a company that specializes in building materials. I didn’t purchase anything, but it was good to see what they had. We also went to the Habitat for Humanities store, and to the Crate & Barrel outlet (bought ramekins and a cutting board to match my kitchen, looked for but didn’t find a Walden chair) and to what we thought was a consignment store but which was disappointingly filled with new furniture. So now I’m trying to find other consignment stores locally. I’m not sure how many of these are furniture stores, though! I think I’ll put known ones in pink, and research the others.

[list omited due to length!]