Today it is warm, so warm and I believe I am going to live. Moving really sucks. I was sick for a while and crawled around the house putting away clothes, books, food; attempting to pacify the katz and entertain the dog.

I've actually made curtains for one window in the living room (there are 4), well, I haven't hemmed it yet but it's a start. And I've managed to get rid of most of the hideous cabinets in the kitchen by pushing them down the back stairs where they land on concrete with satisfying crashes and breakage. The electrician is coming tomorrow to replace the awful light fixtures in kitchen and bedroom, hoorah and the plumber is coming on Friday to hook up the gas stove, oh joy. For now, I'm using the toaster oven to cook with. Well, heat up toast. And soup.

The neighbors are surprisingly good. Cliff, across the street, has a car collection including an old red Ford truck and a '56 T-Bird that is pristine and creamy. Carol and Richard are next door and she sold me the stove now in my kitchen. His brother is interesting; very loud voice, sings to himself and covers his face with his hands when he talks to you. Other side of me an elderly Filipino man who wrote in the dirt with his finger as we talked, not too much English.

I met the former owner of my house with his twin girls. He's three houses away. Down the block is a young woman whose parents and sister all live in the 'hood.

I walked to the end of the road and discovered a trail through the greenbelt, at least the beginnings of one! The city organizes volunteers to clean out invasive stuff and plant trees once a month. You bet I'll be there. The day I went I found two people who I thought were homeless...but were more neighbors that live around the corner. They reported on the Cooper's hawk who is building a nest above their heads.

Tonight there is a writer's group after many months. I've combed through old poems and scratched away at a few new ones. And I submitted to a journal that asked for more work.

Now I'm going down the hill to the pool. I'm much closer to the pool than I used to be. Tra-la.
Then if there's no babies, I'll have to take the Felix out and work on poems. Maybe another curtain.

Did I say? I am going to love living here. It feels more private and it's all mine. Little by little, I'm remaking it as I want. Getting rid of the ugly, bringing in the beauty. And my old house goes on the market in a few weeks. When it will sell for lots and I can get rid of my rather intimidating debt and begin a remodel that will be a wonder to behold.

When you move, you find old photos

Dear Everyone in my wee universe-

I moved. And promptly got sick. Of course. And the internet guys are butt heads but my lovely and cheerful neighbor lady is letting me use her WiFi, thanks be to the baby jesus and all his angles, as Dina Martina would say.

So I've been living in piles of boxes, whining katz and wads of kleenex. And no computer. Which, when you own a small business with payroll coming up, is a disaster.

And ( never start a sentence with 'and') I woke this morning to the most gawd-awful noise, like a helicopter landed in my back yard. The bottles in the bathroom were rattling. I walked around in my bathrobe, trying to figure out if it was inside or outside. Lo, and an angel of de 'lawd appeared and said, look no further than your sump pump. Having never lived with a, er, sump pump before, I was horrified, but there you have it. It apparently rained gallons last night and there must be a stream under the house so, sump pump action. I'm investigating a noiseless one, dear gawd.

Plus, I tried the bathtub last night, a hot bath for the illness, right? It was tepid. I took my book and my tea and feh! Terrible. So Jim, muy future husband, came over and turned up the dial because I couldn't figure it out. Before you chastise be for not doing it myself-I was feverish and it's a gas powered hot water heater with big red warning signs all over it reminding me I could probably blow myself into the next world if I wasn't careful and didn't do it the RIGHT WAY. KERBLAM!

Jim handily unscrewed a few screws and cranked up the heat. So wish me luck with an actual hot bath.

Rebecca the wonderful has sent two  postcards to my new address :-). Thank you dearest one. Just what I needed.

Does anyone know how to eradicate the smell from those damn air freshener plug-ins? I took out four of them. Ewwwww. I mean, did the last family really smell that bad?? I'm burning incense and opening all the windows.

Now I'm going to the store to buy laundry detergent. I know I have some, somewhere.

For the record. I am an atheist. I don't believe in gawd as some guy sitting in judgment in his bathrobe. Jesus was terribly misunderstood. Saint Francis didn't want anyone to start a church because of him and he didn't want followers and he really didn't want sainthood but he got stuck with all those things. There are lots of fantastic stories about creation and how we got here and what it all means and so forth. Spiderwoman, Kali, Quan Yin, etc. Stories are important because we like to amuse ourselves around the campfire. Without stories, we're left with picking plants and chasing animals and deciding if we can eat them or not. Stories help us calm down a bit. And poems, don't forget poems. Songs too. Beating rocks in time.

Where am I going with all of this? I have no idea. I'm moving in 3 days and the katz need a new kat door at my new house so I'm gonna go over there and see if I can figure out how to put one in. Clark and Andy are coming with their truck to move plants and art. I went to my new house with my new keys last night and took stock. The previous owner seemed to have had a math problem so when measuring frames for o windows and counters, there are, um, gaps.

There were those air fresheners all over the place, the plug-in kind. Yetch. I took them all out and threw them away. Someone actually invented those things. I'd prefer opening a window.

I'm still an atheist, by the way. If I can be a moral and righteous person while I'm here and I can help out a bit, that's why I'm here.

And I'll take good care of Felix and the felines. And do my best with all other sentient life.

I closed on my new house today. Which means I gave the escrow company a large check and the nice lady ran her nice finger down rows of pages where I initialed and signed and she explained taxes and mortgage insurance and homeowner's insurance and earnest money and many more, no doubt, important fees. Gulp.

Then Felix and I went for a walk in the rain. I think I am mostly packed. No, really. The animals are perching on the few remaining perches. They are unperturbed.

Meanwhile I think I'll go dancing in order to get the gremlins out. The inner gremlins. Tomorrow is a clinic day and I'm sure I'll be able to find some suitable clothes to wear.

PS. I washed a pillow and it came apart in the dryer. Uh-huh, I even have feathers in my nose. And you should have seen the basement. General merriment was had by all.

I just came home from Whidbey Island where we played on the beach all day for three days. Felix ran around and in the water and on the sand and he was covered with sand and seaweed. Now he's too tired to eat. At least that's what I think is up with him. He's wiped, seriously wiped. Hw wouldn't even eat a bone, his favorite food.

We're back home in the mess and squalor of moving out. A week from tomorrow. Then I start unpacking. Which is another small mountain to climb.

I'm making granola. I had oatmeal, coconut, vanilla, coconut oil, maple syrup, almonds and pumpkin seeds. And a bit of salt.

Some things I have learned while all my belongings are in boxes and I move in two weeks

If you know where these items are, you will be ok. If you misplace any of them, you will fall into a dark pit of despair and you will run screaming through the house, tearing at your clothes and swearing. The dog will look at you inquiringly and think you want to play. You will feel like killing the dog and then yourself.

In no particular order, the items are:

Wallet
Keys
Cell phone
Night guard
Glasses
Corkscrew (naturally)

I misplaced my phone twice today and had a nervous breakdown. I'm supposed to work tomorrow. We'll see how it goes. I think the car is in the garage. I sure hope it is because otherwise I have no idea where it is.

My local station played Nirvana and the artists who inspired Kurt and then more Nirvana so I cranked up the radio loud so loud o sorrow that he is gone sweet young man his music capturing us and riling  us and shaking us out of our dreams.

I miss him. I miss him.

I don't want to admit any of this but it is unfortunately all true.

Heidi, my intrepid tenant for 4 1/2 years, moved out two days ago. That last night, we opened a bottle of champagne and even though there were no real glasses around, we shared the bottle. Meanwhile Joel, Heidi's BF, moved and packed while we sat on the deck cackling. Um, then we opened another bottle and polished it off. Heidi found some long sparklers and I burned the shit out of my thumb as we waved them around. Then Heidi started weeping as they said goodbye. Bye bye.

After that I fell into the bushes in my yard and went to work the next day with a scratch on my face and twigs in my hair. Oh, and two hours of hiccups.

Moral: Drugs and alcohol are not good for you. Just say no.

The air smells so good with blooms everywhere. I hung out with Gladys, an 89 year old, at my pool. We were in the hot tub of course. We talked flowers.

My house is a mess o' boxes, really scary. I put something down (watch, night guard, checkbook, wallet, keys and then spend time wandering around stubbing my toe on box edges trying to find the lost item. I really am a creature of habit. Rosemary came over and talked me through what to bring, what to leave, what to send to the dump, what to take to Goodwill.

Randall is outside painting. There was a bumblebee in here, staggering around and banging into windows. I love bumblebees. They are so fat and beautiful.

I will miss my garden. I can't post any pictures, don't want to. The trillium are all in their glory. I will be sure to plant more at my new place. The lilacs are budding out and the tulips are about to open.

I'm almost done paying for last year's paint job :-/ while I blithely hire movers, gardeners, cleaners, painters, electricians etc. And I will pay them. With all my $$. Ha!

I found an electrician who is a firefighter and works as an electrician on the side. Apparently cops and firefighters do this for extra cash. She was efficient and sweet. She's agreed to rewire the new (old) house when I get moved in there.

Meanwhile Lola now has the cold Hugo had. I took him to the vet and he got a shot and some chewy lysine.

Sigh. This is my current life. Then my future husband Jim and I will tear apart the new house and build a better kitchen and sun room/bedroom so I can see the mountains. There is a remodel in my future. It will be grand. At least the sewer problem is fixed and it is a wondrous thing,