Ay, my poor beautiful house!

He left it a pigsty. I don't think the place had been cleaned in months, and while moving his stuff out they just left their trash (soda cans and such) wherever they stood when they tired of it. There are myriads of small things broken that should have been fixed: the pipe going out of the kitchen sink has a hole in it, the flush handle on the upstairs toilet has broken off, several light bulbs were burnt out, the back door deadbolt does not work, the hardwood floor in one room is almost destroyed from cat urine...I've already replaced the ceiling fixture globe that he broke five months ago and wouldn't even spend five bucks to replace.

I spent two hours this morning just surveying the damage and making a list of things to buy at the hardware/home center. Then I went and bought it all, came back, put new light bulbs in, etc.

After that I spent an hour at Cost Plus World Market, and came back and made a creative space in the house. I had originally intended to use the smallest bedroom, but when I saw the state of the floor (see note above: it's horrible) I decided to use the back porch instead. It's fully enclosed, but has no heat, so I put a small space heater in there. I bought a big fluffy flokati rug, some floor cushions, a chenille throw, a vase and some cool fake flowers, and set it all up. I took pictures, I'll post them soon, but I don't want to take the time right now. I'm wiped from working all day.

When I finished the room, I went out to dinner, then came back and cleaned the rest of the upstairs. I just got back to my apartment at midnight: I've been working and rushing around since noon. So pictures of the house and the cool new room will have to wait until tomorrow night.

(no subject)

Rosa has acquired the phrase "Please with sugar on it". It's adorable.

Peeping tom

Someone was looking in my windows at me while I was cooking dinner tonight (jambalaya, yum yum yum--made from scratch, thank you very much (I'm a good cook ;-p )). (This is an example a little more like what I tend to do with parenthetical thoughts, if I don't edit them out.) When I noticed and looked out at him, he ducked betwen the kitchen window and the one in the dining room. I couldn't quite see him anymore but I knew he was still there. So I went out the back door: he took off running and I shouted "Shove off!" at his departing back. (Exact quote. I didn't want to swear at a stranger who might be carrying a weapon or for that matter get ideas from the word "fuck".)

I told Rosa afterwards that if he came back I'd show him a knife--thinking of my dagger--but I don't think I would do that. If he was armed it would probably be with a gun, and if not, and he reported me to the police, I'd be the one who ended up arrested, for brandishing a weapon, nevermind the fact that he had been peeking in my windows.

Someone has been doing that around here quite a lot, actually. I saw him myself one night last summer, and my neighbor came over to warn me a few weeks ago. I'm glad I'm moving back to my house. Nobody peeks in windows there.

Pictures (aka fun with digital cameras)

Me with my new tragus piercing It's kind of fun to try to take a picture of yourself with the camera at arm's length. It took several tries to get one where I didn't cut my face in half. But this one's not half bad.

Exterior view of my house

One of the gorgeous painted glass windows in the living room. The photo doesn't do it justice. It's hard to take good pictures of light.

My new sacred creative space
Ditto, another angle
Ditto
Ditto
Ditto It's a small room, I couldn't get far enough away to get the whole room in fewer pictures.

Rosa's first snowfall...that she got to play in, anyway.

My tattoo No, I don't know what it means, if anything. It just came to me out of the blue one day, and after I had doodled it on my wrist with markers or pens for over six months, I decided I ought to make it permanent.