Trader Joe’s run! And I bought gasoline for the first time since we moved here. I fully approve of Oregon’s no-self-service policy! I got to sit in my car while a nice man pumped my gas. I gave him a $2 tip… hope that was enough. Must remember to keep small bills handy.
In the afternoon I worked on my vintage (1980)“House on Elm Street” embroidery project. Got the attic and third floor finished. Trying to make it last so I’ll probably wait a few days before working on it again. It’s so much fun though, with its variety of stitches and nice woolen yarns!
Last night I asked the Roomba to clean the living room after I went to bed. This morning I woke up to a message saying he was stuck and it took me forever to find him! I thought I was going crazy. Finally I spotted him, wedged under a flattened cardboard box in an adjacent zone. Silly robot.
I got my sewing machines set up and I sewed a little Valentine gift for Em — a cute little heart-shaped pouch with a zipper. My first sewing project in Portland!
My family came over today! I brought out my ancient Fisher-Price toys for Lulu to play with and she loved them! She got atarted pretending right away and it was wonderful and heartwarming to see. (I’ve managed to keep the house, the school, and lots of little people and their furniture and stuff). After lunch, Jayla and the baby stayed with me and napped while Henry took Lulu to her first drum lesson and then we hung out a bit more. Henry carried heavy things for me and took the bins out. My lovely family <3
This morning I helped Dave pack up for a drive down south for work and to bring home a van-full of his tools and whatnot. After he left, I got the Roomba started on another whole-house round and then I read and listened to audiobooks for the rest of the day :D I’m reading “Last Summer at the Golden Hotel” by Elyssa Friedland and listening to “Truly Madly Guilty” by Liane Moriarty (again)
Oops I missed a day. I have no idea what I did yesterday, but I do remember making mac-n-cheese for dinner.
Today I did a bit of unpacking and tidying and oh I remember something I did yesterday! I decided most of the house is tidy enough for the Roomba! I set him up on the network and had him forget the apartment map, and got him started mapping and cleaning our beautiful house. He got about 3/4 done by bedtime; today I sent him off to clean the whole house again. It took ten hours hahahaha! But only because he needs to keep going back to his base to recharge and be emptied. Our house isn’t THAT big/messy :D
Oh I just remembered! Yesterday I had my first Suzanne appointment since we moved. It was lovely to have a good talk again. I’m going to see if I can drop down to one session per month. Isn’t that brave?
Today I finished the first ep of The Gilded Age on HBO. Very enjoyable. It was a bit stiff and expositiony but not intolerably so; and the costuming is odd but not intolerably so :D I’m really looking forward to the next ep!
I unpacked a few boxes, flattened them, and put my sewing machines on their table. And then I baked a grapefruit bundt cake in our beautiful bright kitchen. Look at this pretty thing!
More errands! Got some little ceramic pots and potting soil so I could plant the little rootlings that Henry brought me: two spider-plants and a pothos.
Spent a few hours on hold this morning trying to figure out if I have Oregon health insurance or not. I think I might; I was able to make a web account and see an image of my insurance card! But I was unable to reach a human for confirmation. Ah well. It’ll sort itself out eventually. I just need to stay out of the emergency room for a while longer.
We’ve been watching the Junion Bake Off at night. All the kids are adorable and omg so talented! I wouldn’t even begin to know how to make a cheesecake that represents my dream holiday. Redheaded Lola melts my heart. I basically scream LOLA whenever she’s on screen. She got Star Baker and we were so proud and happy for her! It was awful saying goodbye to Mia, though. Bake long and prosper, Mia!
Ooo we watched such a good episode of “24 hours in police custody” tonight! I think it was s06e01, the one that starts out with a blackmail victim. No spoilers, but wow! That’s some Line of Duty stuff. Wished it was several hours long.
Beautiful clear cold day. I changed the sheets and washed two quilts, and sat outside for a little sunshine.
Errands this morning — Office Depot for graph paper, envelopes, and ultra-fine Sharpies for me; chair mat and file folders for Dave. Then Ace, which is right next door, for some hardware bits for Dave and just browsing for me, except I bought a suet bird feeder and a block of suet/seeds to put in it :D
Henry and Co. came over because their internet was down and he needed to work. Absolutely lovely to be able to see them so often!
Obsessed with Wordle, like all my friends on the twitter: https://www.powerlanguage.co.uk/wordle/ The first thing I do every morning is solve the new puzzle!
Lovely day! I finally had the nice late sleep and lie-in I’ve been waiting for since we moved. Slept till 10:45am and lounged about for another hour before becoming vertical. Ahhhh.
Dave had errands to run so I built a fire and pulled my great-great-grandmother’s rocking chair up to the woodstove and read the new-to-me Liane Moriarty novel, “The Hypnotist’s Love Story” that I got from our little library.
Gentle drizzle all day. So peaceful.
I made fantastic veggie-barley soup tonight and Henry came over to help Dave shift his desks from upstairs to downstairs, where he will have his home office and his ham radio set-up and his music studio.
Yesterday was rough. Woke up nauseated. None of my usual remedies helped. By evening it was really bad but at bedtime I finally puked and immediately felt much better. Weird. Good ol’ medication side effects, I guess.
My god I love living here in our cozy house in the land of rain. Yesterday I kept a fire burning in the woodstove for extra coziness. We have tons of windows so no matter where I am I can look outside and see misty trees and distant hills and quiet neighbors. We’re on a dead-end street set well back from any high-traffic roads and it’s QUIET. Hope to get my audiobook recording mojo back soon!
This morning was Sit On Hold time. First to the SSA so they know I’ve moved and can adjust my SSI benefits, and then to Alameda County social services so they can terminate my CalFresh food benefits and Medi-Cal. Eventually reached a helpful human in both instances, but after that I gave up on changing my address with my bank after sitting on hold wayyyy too long with them. It’s less urgent. I’ll try first thing in the morning.
Now imma work on my embroidery project and listen to an audiobook.
I went to the library today! It’s a 4-minute drive, and they’re open seven days a week! I took my post office change of address notification to prove I live here and a very friendly librarian signed me up for a card. So happy. And I found a Lianne Moriarty novel that I’ve never read. It’s a small library and very pleasant.
Henry and Co. came over today, in the daytime so they could see our yard and stuff. There was even a bit of sun so they took the baby outside for some bare-bottom time :D
Henry brought ingredients for Chloe Sandwiches (aka capresi sandwiches). So delicious. And he helped me unpack and put away all the rest of the kitchen stuff and he didn’t even need direction. He just DID IT. And he also carried things to the basement.
Lulu ran around the house and in and out of the yard and was very very busy. She is a wonderful child.
Errands today. Ace, Costco, Trader Joe’s. Costco made me VERY cranky but TJ’s cheered me right up again. Now we have a fridge and freezer full of good food. The fridge here is nice: double doors on top, and a freezer beneath, that has a smaller upper drawer and a larger lower drawer. The upper drawer is great for ice cream!
Speaking of ice cream, I discovered a trick! Coffee ice cream is my favorite, but the caffeine keeps me awake if I eat more than a couple spoonfuls. But if I mix those two spoonfuls with some vanilla, i can get more of that coffee flavor!
Spent some hours this morning flattening boxes and folding packing paper for reuse. And then, ugh, more unpacking. Ugh ugh ugh. We can’t find the kitchen trash can! We can’t find the garbage bags! Ah well. Everything will turn up eventually. Got tired and had a lie-down in the afternoon (with the window at the head of my bed cracked open so I could smell the rain), and then Henry and Co. came over in the evening to help and visit! Henry carried heavy things to the basement, and Lulu helped me unpack a few book boxes, sort of. Lol.
Stayed in bed till noon. Dave brought me OJ and a hash browns puck from McDonalds and I absolutely LAZED. First morning without an alarm clock since last Friday. Then i got up and took a shower in our new bathroom, and then spent the rest of the day unpacking kitchen boxes. Good lord. Dave has a huge set of dishes – 12 place settings – and about a million glasses and every utensil ever invented. I got about 3/4 through it. For dinner we tried a hole-in-the-wall taco shop, Rigoberto’s, that’s a four-minute drive away. It’s a proper San Diego-style place, with a salsa bar and, frankly, better burritos than anywhere in the Bay Area! And omg inexpensive. $15 total for two huge burritos and all the salsa and lime wedges I wanted to take (obviously we’re only doing takeout because of THE PLAGUE). They’re open 24/7, even!
We froze last night because a) air mattresses have no insulation from the cold floor and b) the thermostat was set to 64 overnight! But tonight we have our lovely beds and I re-set the thermostat to a more comfy temperature so I’m sure we’ll be warm.
The moving van came today, as expected, and they were only four hours late. A team of polite, burly men schlepped all our stuff in and unwrapped the furniture. Our house looks like a cardboard box bomb went off. I wish we had left everything behind! Ugh! Too much STUFF!
But, as I said before, we have our beds and our wonderful leather sofa so things are beginning to be more civilized.
From time to time throughout the day I stepped outdoors to breathe great lungfuls of cold damp clean tree-smelling air. My god it’s delicious. You can practically taste it!
