Friday, June 2 - Massachusetts

Standard cabinet height is 36.5". Which is OK if you are 5'5" or so. I am 5'7"&3/4". It does not work well for me. Never has. Working on a counter top and having to hunch over it hurts. It especially kills my back now.

That extra 2-1/2 or 3" height would really be most welcome!

Short (ha ha) random post on a Friday night. My very good friend came over this afternoon and assembled a small case for me which now holds my tablecloths & candles. Awesome! Small spaces equals small furniture :) I am actually loving it so far.

Bookcases got delivered today. Yeah, I am at the point where what is left of my furniture & boxes need to be shuffled around again so I can start on the "wall of books" that is currently occupying a great deal of my living room.

I cannot wait! I have been filled with fear and trepidation for the past 6 months - not knowing what survived and what did not. I am steeled for this. Looking at the book boxes, I am filled with dread, anticipation, and anger.

Dread what is missing. Anticipation for those that did :) Anger that likely - judging by the number of boxes - many of my books did not make it intact.

I am still making friends here in the Park, and so many people have given me their numbers! It truly is a good community where people watch out for one another and are friendly and helpful. I love it here :)

Next week is busy, but stay tuned!

May 31 - Massachusetts

My new couch was delivered yesterday, and it is red! I wanted a red couch but the store said it would be an 8-10 week special order. Did not want to wait that long and figured I would just get a red slipcover. When it arrived in red I was so very, very happy! Here is a picture. I love it!!

New couch

I kind of hit the wall yesterday as far as unpacking, and did not do much. I am at the point of needing a few bits of furniture, shuffling things around, and picking away at small boxes. Trash is going out almost as fast as I unpack.

Went through my once massive movie collection (took up 2 cabinets). Ruthlessly - there's that word again! - tossing. There are still a lot I am keeping, but realistically I do not watch a lot of movies. I had accumulated quite a few. To be frank I had kept many of them out of spite for reasons those close to me will understand :)

Weeded through my music CDs as well. I truly have no desire to listen to "Godsmack" or "AC/DC" any more. I did keep "Chili Peppers" though (guilty pleasure)! And of course my beloved Dylan!!

Small boxes stacked on top of bigger ones (obviously). Makes sense to me to empty & consolidate many of these now. Get them out of the way!

I have more furniture arriving at the end of next week and want to be prepared. I want to be settled and  feel "home". I am tired of feeling I MUST unpack 4 or 5 boxes a day!

Here are some web pictures of the coffee and end tables I got. They have slate tops, and are absolutely gorgeous!

Stay tuned my friends :)

Coffee table

End table (ordered 2)

May 30, Postscript - Massachusetts

Fire Dirt

Meant to mention this in tonight's post but it is deserving of its own. One of the reasons it has taken me so long to unpack is that EVERYTHING has fire dirt on it and must be cleaned.

Even the things in the back of the apartment that were in the closet. Nothing came out unscathed. Fire dirt is gritty, it is smelly, and leaves a film on things.

I have had to wash every single dish, every piece of silverware, every glass. All of my clothes.

Much was ruined, but the most important things were saved: lives. Me, my neighbors, and all the pets. I do not think firemen get enough credit for what they do.

And I can still rant about the fire dirt :) It really is awful. It smells months after the fact! When I open a box I automatically step back as I know its contents will make me cough.

So there is that. (And why it is taking me so long to unpack these darn boxes!)

May 30 - Massachusetts

Good evening intrepid followers! Long-ish post tonight. Rather odd week last week. Took my car in for an inspection sticker and a few other things. Spent a day sorting out the bedroom. Opened most of the larger remaining boxes. I have a beautiful large ceramic unicorn and accompanying colt that made it through the fire, and the moves, intact! I am so happy about THAT. Not ready to unpack it and place it yet however!

Unicorn

They were hand-made for me by a very special person, and mean a great deal. I cannot tell you how glad I am they made it in one piece. (Well two, as they are two pieces!)

Started opening some of the smaller boxes, and down to 2 1/2 left in the bedroom. One small bookcase made it through the fire. I cleaned it up and moved it into the bedroom as it fits perfectly in there :)

Weeded through tablecloths and such. Unmarked and mis-marked boxes. Spent over an hour going through my mother's recipe box. Ouch! Not only is her handwriting hard to decipher - she was an RN - but a lot of her recipes were not labeled. Even after all these years of reading her handwriting, I could not figure a lot of them out. Chicken something! Salmon something! So, bye-bye.

I love my Mom to pieces, but honestly she was not the best cook. We dreaded her meatloaf - it resembled sawdust. I could not eat meatloaf for years after. Her foray into kitchen experiments were the worst. Crock pot spaghetti. Need I say more?

She made up for that, however, in desserts! My Mom made the best cookies/brownies/you name it. Her specialty was cakes; she was a decorator par excellence! All of us had the best birthday cakes ever as kids. I especially remember one when I was 7, and she made a chocolate cake (my fave) with a small forest scene on top: a couple of evergreen trees and 2 deer.

For some reason that cake lives large in my memory. It was wonderful, and I recall every moment of that birthday. I got to drink a glass of Moxie soda (which I loved). My Mom did not approve of soda for kids so we only had it on special occasions.

And - alas - last week I could resist no longer and - uh oh - opened a few boxes of books. Next thing I knew - book boxes started exploding. Sigh... Book lust! My own personal Pandora's Box(es)! Moving the bookcase into the bedroom did it. I so want to be over and done with this move, and most of what remains are books.

Books!

Cookbooks

The lure was far too great. I have a lot of Nancy Drew books from the 1940s (which I had as a child, passed down from my Mom) and put those away. I also have some very eclectic (e.g. old) paperbacks by lesser-known authors, which will go there as well.

Bedroom bookcase

More books :)

And yes.... even here I am weeding through (albeit far more judiciously). Aware I cannot keep all the books I had, although I will make as much room as I can for them. Makes me sad, but I have hope someone will read and enjoy. I also know that a lot of my books did not make it through the fire, although I do not know what is missing yet.

Books waiting :)

I am hoping my Frost, Dickinson, Whittier, and other poetry made it unscathed along with my Shakespeare, Dickens, Poe, etc. I will be very seriously upset if they did not.

Where the firemen had to chop down the two walls in my old apartment was where a lot of my books were stacked. In the aftermath when we were let back into the building there was a very large pile of waterlogged and flame retardant soaked books on the floor. It made me quite ill at the time to see them. Many cannot be replaced.

I do not know what is left.


A very good friend came over with a lovely housewarming gift last week - bath salts!! I have not utilized the tub yet as I did not have any bath crystals to add to the water, which one absolutely must have! These are wonderful, and a most welcome gift. There is "green tea", "jasmine", "lemon citrus", and "lavender". I love them! They all smell wonderful and will make for very relaxing soaks.

My back and I are REALLY looking forward to that!!



The weather has been chilly and rainy; went from the high temps back to the lows! Was able to open the windows a couple of days last week, but still needed a warm jacket to go out. Good time for a nice relaxing soak!

So that was my weird week. Much progress has ensued.

And after once again overdoing it on my back the past few days I opted to take it easy today. I need to get out and get some things done this week.

My couch was delivered today (yay!), and I have more replacement furniture coming, which makes me very happy. Will post pix later this week :)

Stay tuned, my friends.