Tuesday, January 14, 2020

Memories


Moving can be difficult.

In the process of packing up all one’s “stuff”, the flood of memories can be overwhelming at times.

Like when you take that painting off the wall and remember that you hung it there in the first place to hide nail scars from a previous piece you had hung there.

Or when you empty out the linen closet and remember that you didn’t finish installing the hardwood flooring into the closet.

Or when you pass by the bathrooms and remember that your next project was going to be laying ceramic tile on the floor, so you left a proper threshold between the previously-mentioned hardwood that remains unfilled.

At both bathroom doors.

Or when you sweep the family room and remember that the blue tape at the corner of transition strips was to protect toes from the pointy metal corners you had every intention of rounding off.

But never did.

Ah, memories…

Dammit! 

Now your Captain has even more work to do.


Sunday, January 12, 2020

This Is 2020!





I apologize, mateys, for the lapse in posting recently.

As the famous Willie Wonka once said, 


As you may have read earlier (the Captain doesn’t presume you read what I post here), we bought a house right before Thanksgiving.


It was “move-in ready”, which the First Mate wanted, but also a “fixer-upper”, which the Captain wanted.

How can that be, you ask?

The house had been “flipped” five years earlier. The most recent owner did very little to the house – to the point that there were still old paint cans in the floor of the hall closet and piles of renovation materials in the garage.

The home inspection revealed a few things that needed to be addressed, but not urgently, and we had a few of our own ideas of things to do before moving in.

First order: paint the master bedroom and redo the closet system, making that most important space our own.


Correcting some electrical issues followed.


Then, with the help of shipmates with trailers and trucks – we moved some key pieces of furniture and began living in our new home less than a month after closing.


Then the Captain pulled up half the carpet in the family room downstairs and installed a nice “fake” hardwood floor, which then enabled us to bring over the saltwater aquarium.


This area will be for our in-home library.


Just kidding!

Actually, it will be our Tiki Bar, complete with a dart board and possibly someday a pool table.

A couple days later we headed to California for the Christmas holiday.

Unfortunately, somewhere along the way we both contracted the Flu!

Captain’s Note: We both had received flu shots, but this was Type A – rare, according to the walk-in clinic doctor, who prescribed Tamiflu even before examining us.


I am still not convinced I had the full-blown flu; perhaps the flu shot I received lessened the symptoms. I had chills a couple nights (similar to what I experienced when I ate a plate of bad shrimp), but during the daytime I felt fine.

But I am still coughing and sneezing – despite seeing my own doctor’s P.A. last week, who prescribed an antibiotic for my self-diagnosed sinus infection.

But the work continues. According to our plan, every trip to our former town (and where I still keep my office) requires bringing back a load of our “stuff”.

And our new home – which seemed so large when it was empty – is now feeling just a touch crowded!

Something’s gotta go!

A lot of things!

Captain’s Note: The rule for this move is, if it doesn’t have a place this time, it’s gotta go!

New carpet was installed last week in the other half of the family room, so now we have no excuse for not moving the rest of our “stuff”.

And it will (hopefully) feel like home.

We have already had some unexpected guests…



Note to PETA: Each was treated with all due respect and courtesy as they were escorted from the house.

And if you will grant me a moment of honesty, the Captain realized recently that the feelings he was feeling were feelings of grief. Although we chose this move, there is still some sense of loss as we clear out the house we called “home” these past four and a half years.

Good times.

But better times are yet to come!