checkin in...

still alive. not too much going on here the past couple weeks. job searching in a city with no jobs. even if it took a couple months down south to find a job, at least many jobs are advertised daily & i can get interviews. here there's just no jobs advertised.
kelly temp hasn't been busy either. my last job with them was in September, so i've been trying on my own the past month.

catch up...lots 'o pictures below...

living room before.

computer / cat area. the cats LOVE the mirror on the floor and take turns sitting in front of it. so catty. can you find a tim head?

N waving in TV & book corner. he's standing in front of the chest my gpas family traveled from Italy with ti the US in the early 1900's. he'd put in shelves to hold his liquor & now we're using it for our nice books..the tv is sitting on my gmas cedar chest. (never really met her as she died when i was a baby) it's nice having a couple heirloom things.view of kitchen looking into living room

kitchen hallway to bedroom..there's a hooka cat!view out of kitchen in hallway. patio outsideempty bedroom...ugg
bedroom after :) much better!
bed. closet is right behind the wall...kind of can see the sink area

before of the "hallway" in bedroom. closet is to the right & bathroom to the lefttiny bathroom (off to the left) before
bathroom with stuff
walk-in closet (to the right) before

closet full

i know you're all wondering...

how'd it go.
it went well!

we moved4 giant loads on friday nite in the rain (joy!). cable came on time & hooked up the digital cable & TV in bedroom. they said they installed the internet, but of course it doesn't work. N will call today. we had no desire to call during the chaos this weekend.

N's friend Oscar was a champ! he totally helped N do 4 loads of furniture & bed on saturday morning. he was friggin amazing. i would never have been able to do it all. they made a great team. i'm going to get him a gift cert to a fast food place this week, even though i know N hooked him up too. we used N's work van all weekend which made it do-able in the rain. it was really easy but so tiring.

cats are doing ok. hooka & tim are out & frolicking all over. weezie still stays in bed (like her mom). tim god loud about 4am of course. then hooka got loud too. i know it's cause they were nervous so we just got up early with them. so tired now...

my ankles & fingers are super sore. everything else is sore but i'm used to it. so yes, i've complained to myself a bit today about my poor ankles & muscular man hands.

today just have to get the last of the storage unit stuff & turn in old keys. call cable, ick. go to IKEA, yeah! pictures at some point--still need to figure out where everything goes.

hopefully we'll have internet when i get home..but my bet is 4-7 business days. LOL. not bad for me but N likes to look at sports online in the AM with his coffee & sportscenter.

garbage chute & gas stove....sniff

the past 5 years we've been so spoiled with the garbage chute. granted the tenants here love to clog it & fill the hallway, but when it's clear it is awesome. so i will miss you, blessed chute.

the new place has an electric stove. we'll be ok, we'll survive. i do love gas. there's nothing easier then throwing a tortilla on the burner to get nice & warm. i will miss you gas stove.

the rest can go to hell. haha. we're moving this friday! been packing & sorting for the past couple weeks. i think it's pretty much as done as we can get at this point. there's no where else to put boxes in our place.

new place..

here's a pic of the outside of the new place. it's the second floor. all the apartments are in groups of 4 i think. we face the street which is fine. next is the floor plan. we've got to get renter insurance we found out yesterday when we signed the lease. it must be something new in cali or at least HB. it's cool though, shouldn't be more that $20/month total i think.

i actually took this with my cell since i forgot the camera & emailed it to me. i'm so high tech. LOL

here's the floorplan the same angle as the pic above to help you imagine it. 986 sq ft!! of course the ceilings are faulted so maybe that's included. the little box on the left end of the patio is our storage door.

now for a couple artsy pic's of Tim. he is such a snug-a-ler! he loves to crawl up N's chest and nap.

it's hard to see below...but weezie is on the back of the couch, hooka on it and tim right on the floor below and no hissing or anxiety.

we are outro...

on thursday i got a message from our apartment office that our lease will be up 1/25/10. every other year we've been here, we've gotten a letter with the amount of the new rent. i called back, left a msg asking what the rent would be since we hadn't gotten a letter like usual. next day there was a letter in our mailbox dated 12/1/10 go figure, & no price of rent. anyway, when N went down to get a UPS box she told him the rent would be the same. here's the fun part, on the letter we finally got, we were told everyone is now required to have rental insurance. of course they provide a "low cost" company if you want them. we were pissed. after the year of hell we'd had, the fact that we pay all our utilities (gas/sewer/water/trash are billed by the management to each apartment. it's a rip off-we know it), & it's getting grosser and louder here everyday. [dog poop in the hallway, ok]

last year wasn't the time for a move or big change. this year is!

yesterday we got busy. we called a couple places right down the street that had for rent signs out. 1 we went to check-out. came home & went back, put our $$ down.

we don't move until 1/22/10, so there's plenty of time to pack & plan. we'll be paying $100 less EACH every month. all the utilities except electric are included plus basic cable! how sweet. there's still a pool, gated entry, 2 spots [way better street parking], 1 bedroom w/on suite bathroom [it'll be fun for overnite company...andy], 24/7 key entry to laundry and management onsite. the place is on the 2nd floor [only 2 floors] & they are in sets of 4 so the living room is the corner and the shared walls are the bedroom. the landlady said it was quiet there and no dogs-just indoor cats. we'll have a bigger deck & lots more windows. the kitchen is off the living room so hopefully i won't have to listen to N doing dishes & cook while i try to watch TV.

weirdest thing happened while we where looking at the place. N was talking to her while i was looking in the bedroom/bathroom, then i saw the closet. now i'm not someone with lots of close or who likes to shop much. i don't really consider myself "girlie", more practical.BUT when i saw the closet, i had a visceral reaction. i had a girl reaction! my heart swelled, i got lightheaded & almost fainted. it's walk-in and will have plenty of room for everything we have! no more coats sharing the litter closet.

no pictures until we're moved in. but something to look forward too. then in March we're going to vegas for 2 nites for FREE! N got a coupon from one of the player clubs there for a few casinos offering 2 nites during the week free. we picked Bally's since we love that area, they have comedy shows for cheap & my favorite reason--SBARRO & the deli that made the sammy below in the basement---right next to N's favorite the sportsbook.

a "new" couch...

the past few months i've been half-heatedly looking for a replacement for our chaise. we inherited it from a friend, who had it probably 4 years..in total at least a decade old. there were rips in the fabric on the cushion so we had to sit on a blanket to avoid further tearing, it was getting stinky & not the most comfortable to sleep on those nites.

i look on craigs list. found a nice looking one, but the seller never contacted back. then i saw one this week & emailed. received contact back! i had to wait for N to get home to look at the picture, so i couldn't commit to seeing it that nite. someone else was scheduled to look at it so i figured it would be there if it was. next morning i had an email in my inbox saying she/he never came over and if i wanted to see it, i could. arrangements were made & off we went. turned out to be super close. we sat on it, nodded & paid for it. included in their firm price was delivery, which we needed. N helped the guy load it in his truck & back we home we headed. the seller left, i rearranged the living room, then off we went to dump the old chaise. fortunately there is room at our place for you to do that.

long story short...there are some stains, but that's ok. doesn't smell too bad...just like the previous owners so that will go away & it's comfy to lay on! the total cost.. $75

couch w/cat blanket

close-up sans blanket...some stains but it's cool

another shot of the new seating

yet another angle...we're liking it

tree in corner..one nite i'll get a shot of the lights..tonite it was pissing me off. the lights are orange on top, white & purple around the bottom. found out 3 white strands didn't work this year so we substitute our halloween lights. it reminds me a a tequila sunrise or the mamba candy.

Tim vs camera cord

grabby grab

my breathe will kill it!

weezie observes from above...

quick news update...

the horrid "people that live below us" are moving out!! the office lady left me a message yesterday since i had called about 1am on monday morning. they should be out on the 31st of October. fingers are crossed. they better not take advantage these last couple weeks.

we may be getting a new cat friend. he's on the cat eyes site now. his name is Tim and he had to have a back leg removed. Strayer found & saved him & with the help of AWESOME supporters from all over donations were made to the vet so he could have his surgery. since we've got 2 great indoor cats, a third man would be nice. the girls need a guy too--they loved meeko.

so the hard part? how to get tim to us? we can of course drive up to LA but the grapevine and northwards aren't possible with our cars at this time. overheating or plain old breaking would happen. any ideas on how to get him from Albany OR to LA? i know he needs some time to re-coup after the operation, but we'd love to have him as soon as he's ready.

oh--our fridge...the 3rd one in 3 weeks is still working! progress

a cutie pie!

we got a new fridge today! yeah!! little B came over for a couple hours yesterday.

a half right-hand wave
what a Gerber baby face!
on the prowl
cartoon version of the first pic.
N's cookin something...

she kept pulling herself up on the coffee/game table and playin. she has almost no desire to crawl--just walk. she hadn't been over for a while with all her traveling but remembered our place. hooka came out and observed the situation. weezie was under the bed as usual.

something smells...funky?

we have a garbage chute on our floor. for a few years people were mature about keeping it clean, especially after i put up a sign. the sign was ripped down, by an angry litterbug, about 9 months ago. i haven't bothered creating another one, since the people they are renting to are lower and lower class...as goes the economy. last nite someone started playing their DRUM SET at 11PM!! lucky me they moved into our building.
here's the garbage chute this morning. it's been clogged since saturday am. even though we do have maintenance on site [i saw them driving around].



the smell, as you can probably imagine is fantastic

weekend recap:
friday: J and B came over and we fried a bunch of stuff in our fryer. then J foiled my hair but we were stopped close to being done when B woke up not happy. fortunately N was able to jump in and with J's direction, finish the foil. the back looked good but the front has some, shall we say, brassiness to it. monday i'm going up to her place after work to do her hair with brown so we'll throw a few streaks in my hair too to tone it down i hope.

saturday: N got donuts from across the street. in the afternoon we went to Fatburger. it was N's first time, but i'd gone for lunch one time. it was really good. i love the fat fries. the onion rings were light. then we watched the last dvd of the Sports Night [tv show] i made N watch. i love netflix! i went to target to get some blond dye to try to tone down the orange, but it didn't work.

sunday: laundry & i went back to target to get a brown dye. i found a great new conair brush for 4.99 with a gel handle. came home and put the brown in and...not really any change. weird. so i've had 4 showers in 3 days which isn't good for my water conservation policy.

the upcoming week is going to be busy at work. i'm covering for the exec. assistant to the CEO. plus learning more about the risk management side by getting some new project from them to learn on monday. all this while staying at the front desk most of the day and being a receptionist. sometimes i feel a little taken advantage of. especially since i haven't even been there a month! hopefully their expectations aren't too high. so i may be hiding under the covers come friday. other than that the jobs been good and the people are nice. i don't want to jinx it.

Kydoimos or Cydoimus comes visiting...again

Kydoimos or Cydoimus is the Greek God of the din of battle, confusion, uproar and hubbub.

our apartment has been his target since september when the people under us moved in. they love to play their TV with the bass so loud it reverberates through the floor and our pillows. i'm a light sleeper - especially to fall asleep - and have spent many angry nites stomping on the floor and calling our office. i counted on my cell and it's been over 15 times since 9/08, and i don't call every time--maybe once a week when i start cracking. the twit of an apartment manager we have is utterly useless. i've had messages from her the entire time saying she gives them notices and the next time is the last time..well it's never been. we pay rent on time for over 4 years and get this crap constantly. the latest message from this monday is she's "on it" and this is the final notice. HAHAHAHAH

i'll be sending a letter to their corporate offices soon. i really hoped to avoid that step that the office would deal with it correctly. i never complain about any other neighbors - since they're quiet i don't have to. i even let it go until past 10 pm and stomp on the floor in any attempt for them to "get-it". they love to play games and turn it up and down all nite long. i hate them soo much. to top it off on saturday nite they had some little kids over talking/yelling loudly from midnight until past 2am!!! kids..like under 6 i'm sure. i wish i knew their names and could call cps about that. totally inexcusable and inappropriate for kids to be hyped wide awake and loud that late.

this mornin, to my joy, i hear banging outside the window before 7:30am. i peek out and a guy is on a ladder scraping paint!! before 8 am! NO notice on our doors about this happening! then they proceed to climb on the patio. i don't know these people. they could be scooping out our apartment along with "painting" since things are pretty bad job-wise down here. it was creepy to say the least.

i'm not sure what temple i'm supposed to go to to make offerings to this guy so he can bother someone else. i'm over it!!