The Sandia Mountains from my house

This is what the Sandia Mountains looked like from my house tonight. They're called the Sandias because it means "watermelon" in Spanish, and that's the typical color of them at sunset.

I'm all moved in. I have the living, dining, kitchen and my bedroom unpacked and livable. There are two more rooms to unpack (one has trash bags full of clothes and the other has boxes of records/office crap). The guest room is empty - for now - but will soon hold a bed in the hopes that I can entice people to come visit me. This means you!!!

The living/dining area looks really nice, I think. It's as if the furniture I've had all along, which wasn't quite right in the various apartments I've lived in the past few years, is exactly right for this house. I couldn't have planned it better. Even the wall color in the kitchen matches the stuff I have in the living room. It's all so wonderful and the feeling of rightness is intense. Sigh. I'm very glad indeed to be here.

We closed on Friday and my friend Sheri and I came over to the house just to make sure the keys worked. At the precise moment we arrived, a rainbow burst through the clouds and shone brightly for exactly two minutes, then faded away again. It was awesome. I didn't have a camera but it's indelibly etched in my mind as a big "Welcome, Stevie!" from the Universe. Thanks, Universe!

I moved on Saturday. It was an intense day. I cleaned behind the movers, scrubbing and vacuuming as soon as they lifted things out of the way. There was a little moment of panic when we arrived at the house. The city is redoing all of the sidewalks and driveways on my street, and my particular driveway had a canvas cover over it, and three flashing roadblocks. But I jumped out of my Beetle, moved the roadblocks and canvas, and guided the truck into the carport area. It was fine. Whew! I was dragging on Sunday, but I pulled it together enough to invite Ande over for pizza. Very nice. Then the cable guy came and got me online again, which was kewl.

I took Monday off to run errands and unpack. Then today I lined up about a half dozen chores for myself and hosted a couple of people from work for an informal housewarming. Just lovely. It's official now. I'm here, and I'm at home. It's good.

Tomorrow it's back to work and some semblance of normality. But my mind is on the new house and the life I hope to carve out for myself here.

Moving Day!

Well here I go. The movers will be here in an hour and I'm about to pack up my PC. My cat is freaking out a little so I'm gonna try to make him calm by taking a minute to mellow out. Hopefully he will visit me shortly, at which time I can sweep him into his kennel and put him for safe keeping in the car during the hullabaloo.

Movin' on a Sunday Afternoon

Okay, Saturday. But it's coming. I'm moving into the little house next weekend, and am spending Martin Luther King, Jr., weekend packing and cleaning. I'm so ready. Mentally, not actually. My next task is to wipe out the oven cleaner that I sprayed last night (ugh, unpleasant job). Which is why I'm taking a couple of minutes to blog right now. Avoidance behavior. I don't expect to get any deposit back from this apartment, but still I'm making a sincere effort to get it clean for my own sense of satisfaction. Much to do. I bought my dream shower curtain liner yesterday at Bed, Bath & Beyond. Yes, I have a dream shower curtain liner. It's one of those water-resistant fabric ones in motels, not the plastic one that sticks to you in the shower or sticks to itself in mildewy folds. Heaven. I also got a new door mat (sort of tradition with myself when I move) and a lovely pair of pink rubber gloves for the aforementioned stove cleaning.

I just love imagining the possibilities of the new place while sitting in the old place.

People at work keep saying I should have a housewarming party, but I'm hesitating: first, I just don't want to subject my cute, clean little house to the damaging effects of a rambunctious crowd, at least not right away; and secondly, I don't want an avalanche of crappy little crap things. Maybe if I wait until Spring and ask people to bring me garden tools and things I need like plungers and mops and indoor plants. Would that be appropriate? Gift cards from Home Depot would be incredibly welcome. Or cash, frankly. What I really want is for people to drop by in ones and twos, I give them a quick tour, they hand me a rake or a hoe with a bow on it, and then they leave. Sort of like a real estate open house with a gift policy. "Hi, hi, it's great you came, this is the living room, isn't it cute, thanks for the shovel, and do you really have to go so soon?" Two minutes tops per person. A house cooling. Chilly reception, stingy crumb- and drip-free eats (crudite without the dip), bottled water, and a quick departure. Seven to nine AM on a Sunday morning. A pre-church thang. Take your shoes off before entering. Don't touch anything. No number twos. Lower your voice. Reverential, like you're visiting a Tibetan shrine, m'kay? Tiptoe. Then out.

All right, maybe I'll have a real party. The Pergo can take it. Rental tables and chairs in the back yard, and delicious eats from the oven. Beverages of many lands. A nice Saturday afternoon in late February, when it's a little warmer, and possibly a volleyball tournament in the park across the street. But the no-shite policy still goes, damnit!

Two weeks until I move to - gulp - my house!

Here's the inspector checking the dishwasher. The inspection went well, but there's a couple of things the seller needs to fix - among them, the vent over the stove doesn't vent to the outside, no, it vents back into the kitchen! Now what exactly is the purpose of that? According to the inspector, it's a legal way of doing it in New Mexico. Well I asked for it to be vented outside. Shouldn't be too too difficult a job, right? We'll see, I suppose. Also the dryer exhaust pipe wasn't hooked up. So those would've been two surprises I would not have been delighted to discover once I moved in. Thank you, inspector man!

I'm a little freaked out, of course, but mostly terribly excited. The only other thing we're waiting for is the appraisal, but I feel pretty confident that it will be good.

Okay! Deep breath!