Lisa and I went to Ikea, mainly so I could get legs for my desk and so sometime this week (unlikely to be Monday or Tuesday) I could start working in my actual office.

I did get legs. Vika Kaj, if you want to look them up.

I also got all sorts of other crap, including stackable, less-unattractive-than-the-green-ones storage bins for the recyclables in the kitchen, and a hanging rack for utensils, and a toilet paper holder for my bathroom, and two lamps, and other stuff.

Also we ate meatballs and lingonberries.

After dropping it all off at home, I went to Home Depot and got mainly plants and associated detritus. When I got home I repotted the plant Lin bought for the front stoop and the tree thing (tag says Arboricola) I bought for inside. All looks very nice. I did this repotting on the front stoop, so of course the Albanians openly watched me again. I don’t get that at all.

I looked at deck boxes and sheds. I think I’m going to drop $79 on the smallest Rubbermaid deck box. It’s definitely big enough to keep all the gardening stuff in. My trimmer could probably go into the next-largest one ($99), but I’d have to measure.

I’d bought a lampshade at Ikea for the pink lamp (it’s gray with white designs on it, it isn’t bad) and it took me a long time of partial lamp disassembly to get this particular lampshade to go onto that particular lamp. But at least the fact that it isn’t the right kind of lampshade also means it isn’t the same kind of lampshade as the three previous lampshades, all of which Jasper broke in the same way. That can only be good.

I went down to the office and put a half-assed second coat on the parts of the lavender where I thought it needed it. I thought about the ceiling and the trim in there and decided to blow it off. I’m tired of having so few usable rooms in this place. I need that office. And I don’t care about paint nearly as much as most people around here seem to. If it gets to bothering me I’ll drape all the furniture and touch it up. Big deal.

So I put the paint and supplies away and pulled up all the dropcloths and garbage and put the big bundle of that outside in hopes I’ll remember to put it in the trash tomorrow night.

Then I realized there was a small but vital piece missing from the power roller. But my mother let Max pretend to paint with it the other day, and he always disassembles stuff. Meaning it’s really no one’s fault. Oh well. I’m sure I can buy a new part.

Then I dug through boxes looking for the Roomba charger so I could vacuum up all the drywall dust and other crud before moving furniture in (though: side effect of sticky carpet-protector dropcloths: when you peel them up a lot of dust and hair from before you put them down come with them). Of course the Roomba has to charge for hours and hours before it can do it, but I don’t have another vacuum cleaner, so so be it.

In the boxes I found lots of stuff, like my center channel speaker and my computer speakers and an AirPort Express and some small but vital cords and cables and such. Still no sign of the power cord for the Slingbox, though. No idea about that. I’d like to find that.

When I finish writing this I’m going to put one of my new lamps together and use its light to do another crossword puzzle while I watch something off my DVR. I’ll probably go to bed early again, like yesterday. With Lin and Max not here, I don’t quite know what to do with myself.

John did a bunch on the yard, bless him. Got rid of a bunch of trash, too, including pretty much everything gross that was under the deck (except the shovefuls of broken tile and cement at the bottom of the stairs).

I figured out how to repair and refill the string trimmer I found in the shed, and I trimmed the front lawn down a bit. It’s been raked so it’s really just patches of crabgrass here and there, not really a lawn. Hoping to reseed it in the fall, I guess.

Lin bought a pretty purple plant for the front stoop.
I messed around a good deal with the satellite dish today; despite running a different cable into the living room and despite making sure the azimuth, tilt, and elevation were all right (they weren’t), I still get no signal. Baffling.
My parents were here. I’m not sure if the highlight of their brief and unexpected visit was the house, our dinner with David and Lisa at Willow, or the Signal Hill Park six-geocache loop.

My mother painted the office, which was a really nice thing for her to have done. I need to roll a second coat onto most of the largest wall, but that’s okay.

All that’s left to do in there after that is clean up a bit, and I can move stuff in. I need to get legs for the desk, and I’m not sure what to do about that. If only Ikea were closer. I just didn’t have the energy to go today; I made the mistake of doing all my string-trimmer and satellite-dish maintenance in the heat of midday.

Lin and Max are in Woodbridge as of a few hours ago, so I’m alone. I’m not sure how much time I’ve even spent alone in this house. It’s especially strange because the house is so much larger that Jasper routinely disappears. I’ve taken to calling him for no reason, just so I know I haven’t somehow let him outside. When he comes I have to give him treats or something, or else he’ll figure it out and stop coming.

David got up on the roof and replaced the missing shingles. He also sanded and primed the office walls and ceiling, and bought the lavender paint for the office (the Home Depot here has been out of the right base for a week).

Max watered the neighbor’s flowers.

John dug up the front garden, put down a ton of new topsoil, and filled in some holes between the concrete stoop and the grass. He also held the rope while David was on the roof, took a bunch of bulky trash away to take to the dump in the morning, and took Max overnight.

Lin unpacked all sorts of things and got the living room into livable shape. She even put all my CDs into the CD cabinet. And I found the pegs that hold the shelves of the DVD cabinets, so she was able to unpack DVDs and put them on said shelves. Those two things emptied about four boxes and made it look far more like we live here.

A nice man from Freecycle came and fetched all our leftover packing paper and something in the neighborhood of seventeen empty flattened boxes. I do so love Freecycle.

I worked. And made plans to go to Roanoke tomorrow night then come back up here with parents in tow on Wednesday. Because my uncle Russ died, which we all knew was coming, and the memorial service is Wednesday. They’re already on their way up from Florida.

I put the booster seat in my car and tried it out with Max in it. He’s definitely tall enough for it. He found it very odd that the booster wasn’t attached to the seat, but using a “grownup seat belt” seems to be something he likes the sound of.

We had lunch at a place called Tom’s Diner. Da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da.

I replaced the thermostat.

Oh, and I turned in the large checks and simple form and numerous keys that make the following statement true: I no longer have an apartment.

Moved the rest of my stuff. Emptied a room at a time. Spackled all the holes in the walls.

Apartment is now empty. Turning in form and check tomorrow. Took pictures, waved goodbye.

FiOS installation bumped back a week, to the 29th. Pissed, but dealing with it. The neighbor’s wifi is working fine, I guess.

Last night I slept in my own bed in my new room.

Today, with the last load of random things and frozen food, Jasper came over. He was the last thing I moved. He’s been hiding since he got here.

I can’t believe the help from John (Lin’s stepfather). He even came over this morning and cut all the grass with a string trimmer. And this afternoon he finished painting the ceiling in Lin’s room.

He’s taking the news of their moving out very well, to the point that he’s full of plans for my house. Instead of replacing the sliding glass door from the kitchen to the deck, he suggested buying French doors with blinds between the panes, as a housewarming gift. “Okay!” I said. He also wants to replace all the railings on the deck and a lot of the floorboards, and has a friend who just bought a tractor trailer full of closet shelving.

Really.

And I threw out my dollhouse today.

Now all that’s left to be done is unpacking.

Re-hung the hammock chair, with proper securing bits this time. It’s significantly lower than it was, but still comfy.

Arranged to have the electricity turned off at the apartment as of Monday the 21st.

Worked.

Lin and Max went home; they’ll be back Sunday or Monday, seems to be the plan.

David and Lisa (and Neva and Josie) and I will be moving as much as we can tomorrow. I’m going to call Angela and see if she can help too.

(Later.)

Angela probably can’t, but Lin’s going to come back tomorrow after her nephews’ birthday party after all.

I’m going out to dinner tonight with Deborah. It’s Deborah’s birthday today. She’s 25.

(Later.)

Just got an email from Bruce telling me to hold off on the thing I was working on. That’s welcome.

(Moments later.)

Just got a new version of it to start over. Fuck.

These people do not understand how much I have to do, and how lonely my cat is.

Worked.

Lin painted some more white.

Max scammed us and disappeared outside with the other kids for a really long time. When I found him he was covered in an ice cream sandwich someone’s mom had given him. Clearly we live in a hotbed of crime.

GOT RID OF THE COUCH IN THE BACKYARD.

Yay.

Moved the extra refrigerator down to the basement. This required taking the doors off it and taking out the sliding glass door downstairs (as well as dollying the fridge out the front door and around the buildings).

David and Lisa brought over another load of my stuff, including (yay) my television.

Lin and I ate at IHOP and went to Target (bought a booster seat so I can stop driving her tiny car all the time) and went to Sears (I now know about what I’m going to spend on a new TV).

We all had dinner from the Peruvian Mexican Salvadorian place on the corner. Great service and great food. We’ll go back. They do takeout (well) but don’t deliver.

While out back I discovered a bunch of frogs swimming in a bucket of paint-water left from when I cleaned the power roller days ago. Chai Latte paint–tinged frogs.

Bought a new string for the trimmer. Did I mention I found a trimmer in the shed?

A Freecycle guy came and took the old lawnmower.
And, lastly, no other progress was made, because just after dark and for a couple hours after, the entire neighborhood’s electricity went out.

But did I mention the couch is gone?