We now return to My Favorite Topic: The New House.

Posted on by Dawnrigger

Dragon Con is over. I apologize for not doing much post-con networking & communication, but I can’t seem to squeeze in time and brainpower at once. New House Stuff has taken over my life.

Brain inertia issues are partly to blame. Once my mind is set on a project–in this case, “nesting into the new space”– it’s nigh-impossible for me to switch mental gears to work on anything else.

Things have improved immensely since the Early Post-College Years, when I would forget to eat or drink when I was working. But it’s still hard to tear myself away from all things House Related to do anything else (like, say, blog about the house, or write anything else…)

Also, life is just HECTIC.

During the frenzied house–filled weeks between closing-then-GenCon & Dragon Con, my calming litany was, “Things will quiet down once Dragon Con is over.” Yeah…no. NOPE. No sign of quiet.

Every day, I work on things until I am exhausted, eat supper, read until I fall asleep, get up, rinse & repeat.

The day Spouseman & I flew home, we dropped off luggage and went right back out to buy furniture to construct. (IKEA is perfect for those of us who have houses with tiny doorways & steep stairs) Also, grocery shopping. And laundry round 1.

Yesterday, Laundry part 2 got done between shopping for other new home necessities & finishing work on the Old House. Unboxing, furniture placement & bookcase filling took us well into the night.

Today I was all over the place. Felt like nothing got finished, but…
Outdoors: organized the garage & did tons of yard work. Indoors: rolled out rugs, put up paintings, learned to operate a new carpet cleaner & steam-cleaned a BIG room.

Tomorrow I do return/exchanges, oversee the Old House real estate pics, take care of the Old House yard, & back at New House, I ned to move stuff into the room with the cleaned carpets.
And maybe…just MAYbe…get a little quiet time.

I hope.

Until later!

 

More house doings, in list format

Posted on by Dawnrigger

This was the latest in a month’s worth of 14-hour workdays.

Today’s results:

Forgot to take enough pictures of progress (oops)
Built 4 bookcases & a table
Squished loads of plastic wrap into one l’il bag
Remembered follow-up appointment with locksmith
Cut tons of cardboard into recycle-bin-sized pieces
Filled the recycle can past capacity
Hung artwork on the walls where nails were left by previous owners
Showed friends around the new place
Put felt footies on a bunch of bookcases oil & new
Place d& leveled various furniture pieces
Donated another ton of cardboard to a friend’s recycle bin
Emptied book boxes & generated MORE cardboard. (Keeping these boxes, tho)

At the old house:

Packed, moved, & stored much of the Fancy Dishware I’ve inherited over the years
Trimmed back weeds  & fed birds
got the trash, recycles & garden waste bins out, and returned them when empty.

Somewhere in there I worked on my list of native perennials I like so I can share it with a landscaper who will help me with designing & digging in my new yard gardens…it’s getting to be a long list.

And I watched The Incredibles 2. Because we have internet & TV now, and it made great background noise for furniture assembly.

Today’s firsts: first use of microwave (it’s fancy!) and first drink spill. (iced tea, on old carpet that has successfully weathered many a previous spill at the old house.)

Progress pics:

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old carpet, new couches.
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entryway rug
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nesting intensifies

Bonus pic of our moving crew from Monday at the end of their successful campaign. I wholeheartedly recommend Brom’s. Lynn let us know exactly what we needed and provided plenty of excellent prep advice, and on Moving Day, Dennis, Brian, and Kevin did a fantastic job managing a complicated relocation.IMG_6329.JPG

And that’s all until later.

Recharging the brain batteries

Posted on by Dawnrigger

Got home last night LATE after meeting tons of new readers at the incredibly awesome first-ever Michigan Comic Con. I had a blast.

Gratitude shout-outs to Alexi & Erika at Bard’s Tower for inviting me, and additional HUGE thanks to the generous and talented Jody Lynn Nye, who offered me a ride and who always has been everything any writer could ask for in a professional mentor.

And now I am Absolutely Worn Out.

I’m slowly coming to terms with the need to give myself recovery time & space after road trips. The post-exhilaration crash is inevitable. Every time a con ends, I think, “Hey, cool, I’m not so exhausted this time. I’m fine! Yay, growth!”  Then I get home a few hours later with a sore throat, achy eyes, and a bad case of twitchy nerves…

Adrenaline lies, I tell ya. And the rebound is a major PITA. Every single damned time, it happens. After two years of cons, I finally have the self-care down to a single-day recharge. (barring emergencies, crises, or other disruptions.) Today’s edition so far:

  • a round of proper tea, caffeinated and strong. (my favorite loose leaf blend steeped sufficiently in a TEAPOT, Ah, bliss. )
  • a satisfying workaday breakfast (fruit & greek yogurt w/ crunchies & honey)
  • much lounging about the house, spoiling the cat and catching up on reading.
  • a bout of cathartic weed-yanking that delivered immediately gratifying results.
  • harvesting a batch of tomatoes & basil to go w/some aged gouda my wonderful Spouseman picked up for me as a welcome-home gift. Look at this deliciousness:

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So. Good.

Being able to take a recovery day is no small blessing, and I appreciate how lucky I am to be in a position where I can do so. With no plans for the rainy afternoon–NONE–I can physically feel energy returning as the emotional surf settles.

I love travel, but returning to the nest is the best. Just ask the cat. He has opinions.img_3888.jpg

More blog…next week, probably? Or after Dragon Con, which is only 10 days away.

<gulp>

ONLY TEN DAYS ‘TIL DRAGON CON!