I’m starting out this year in a hotel courtesy of the Red Cross. I have two more nights here, and then?
To my new apartment.
Yeah, nearly all of my stuff is in the old apartment, and since the insurance company still can’t get it together and decide if I am covered (even though I’ve filed a complaint with the WA Insurance Commissioner), I haven’t removed much beyond what I took the first day after the fire.
Since the structure will be unlivable for 3-9 months, landlady let me out of the lease and I found a really nice new place not far from 405 & 90. Getting to work is going to kind of suck, but the place is very airy and clean. Skylights, tons of space and though there’s not much of a kitchen, there is a jacuzzi tub. I’m about 1000x more likely to use a jacuzzi than a stove, so it works for me.
No bed yet, as that’s the one piece of furniture that everyone agrees is totally shot courtesy of water damage, but I am going shopping with my sister tomorrow to find a mattress. I don’t need headboard, etc right now. Mattress and boxsprings are enough.
I’m utterly exhausted – a lot has happened in the ten days since the fire, though not a lot has happened with the aftermath of said blaze. The emotional and physical toll (surprise! I’m so sick.) and the need to do a LOT of stuff on my own here w/out knowing if I have an insurance safety net is incredibly draining. It hasn’t really hit me, even being essentially homeless for over a week.
After securing an apartment, and having done what I could with my things at the old place, I turned my attention this week to making lists of the things I need to actually live in the new digs without most of my things. Bed, bath, food and heat really. Heat’s covered – I am morbidly fascinated by the fact that when there’s an actual thermostat around, 60 degrees feels like the tropics to me. Just how fucking cold WAS it in the old apartment? I think it must have been in the low 50s most of the time for 60 to feel hot. I went to the new place today to drop off some stuff and the heater said 55 and I was nearly too warm at that.
Good heavens.
Anyway, got some towels (I think mine are all toast – most were in the bedroom, which is the most damaged part of my space) at Costco, and will hit up Target or something for basic stuff like, oh, TP and soap. I will probably hit up a thrift store for some baskets (shoes in the entryway, one for countertop stuff perhaps, or things in the closet) and trash cans. I need a coffee machine, microwave and maybe a hot plate, though the last is not terribly high on my list of things that are a Must Have Right Now. I need a kitchen hutch too – there’s no storage for that kind of thing right now in the place.
Something to sit on would be awesome. All the tables/desks need to be cleaned, and I haven’t moved any of them yet. Chairs too. So yes, something to sit on and maybe something for my computer so I don’t have to have it on my lap 100% of the time. A dock/speakers for my iPod would be amazing as well – the laptop speakers just kind of suck, and with the vaulted ceilings at this place having an actual “stereo” for the first time in a decade would be great. Especially since I don’t know when I’ll have a television again.
So, yeah. There’s my update. I think most of the fiber int he studio is going to be a loss, but I’m not sure about the yarn. The only resolutions I have this year are to use up a good portion of whatever stash I have left, try to complete a project a month, walk more and learn to keep house plants alive. I think I am finally ready to commit to house plants, and may ask folks if they want to do a housewarming thing to bring a plant for inside or out. I have a big deck at this place, and it might be lovely to do some herbs this summer.
I ramble. I haven’t slept well since the fire, and last night was especially bad with the coughing. I think I will actually be glad to leave this stuffy, dusty hotel and sleep at the new apartment. It’s dark and close in here, and light and airy there. We’ll see.
I hope you all had a wonderful holiday and a great new year! May 2010 be a better year and the start of an awesome decade for all of us.