We have a moving date...sorta.

Song of the day: “Issues” by Julia Michaels, is often tumbling through my mind these days. Very accurate for most folks, I’m guessing, so I don’t feel too weird having this as an earworm.

Well, lots has happened since the last blog, so I might as well get to it right away, right?

So it’s a done deal, big brother and I are moving house again. Yes, I know, we’ve been at the cute little farm for only nine months or so, but that doesn’t change the fact that when an opportunity arises, we shouldn’t jump on it like ticks on a hound…okay, gross analogy, I know, but you know what I mean.

As to the opportunity…well, there was one at our old place of employment. If we were to live in the same area as before once more, big brother could get a full time position at the technical department of the Spa & Wellness, and I could get back to the cleaning, if I want to (not a hundred percent sure yet about that, but we’ll see) on a part time basis at the very least. Since I can’t do more than part time anyway, this is certainly an option.  Gotta have time left to write and edit, so sacrifices have to be made in the job department, naturally. Can’t have two careers, and since writing is definitely the dream, I’ll scrub friggin’ floors if I have to.

Anyways, big brother is rather happy with the opportunity. He always liked working there (duh, doing technical shaite is way more fun than mere cleaning) so it is a great chance for him to also have a “normal career” while I try to get this whole writing thing up and running.

Writing. Well, we’re still in the editing stages. Some details that need to be ironed out, and since the book is so long, it is taking the editor longer than planned to get the bit on her side done. Well, duh. That was my problem, too when I had to do the last changes. Seriously, the 8-10 hours slaving behind  the computer to try to get it all done in time, weren’t easy by any means. Let’s hope that the editor at least has to admit that that was pretty amazing in the few weeks that I had to do the, what turned out to be massive changes. Grrrr. I cried, for crying out loud, especially when the darn thing finally went out and I could breathe a little easier once more.

But anyway, I was pretty happy with how the changes brought it back to the former quality once more, but apparently it wasn’t enough yet. What lies in the future is changing more chapters in regards to their POV, because for some reason the book has to be more from the female perspective.  A pity, that, considering that I wrote the book primarily from the hero’s point of view. Grrr. But what has to be done, has to be done. We’ll get it sorted out…somehow.

What else? Well, spent a long weekend at my father’s place last week. Not just a pleasure trip, I assure you. Big brother and I promised to move the shed from the back yard to the front, which turned out to be a bit more difficult than anticipated. Partly because there were parts of the wood infested with woodworm, *sigh*, and because the poor structure was old and had endured a large amount of patchwork jobs over the years to prevent leakage and what not. Anyways, there was quite a bit of improvising involved in terms of getting the right wood to replace the old…especially since our tools are not as extensive as they used to be…replacing the roof, moving the foundation from the old spot to the new before actually getting the shed there, etc.

The way we went about it was removing the damaged wood and the roof entirely, and then literally lifted the shed from its concrete foundation so we could remove it and place it in the new spot that we still had to dig out on the spot. The darn thing was friggin heavy, I tell you. Big brother and I could barely lift it with the both of us, prior to the removal of the damaged wood, but once that was done, and attachment points were put in place for easy lifting, we carried the thing together with stepmother and littlest brother, who came over during his lunch break for this very purpose.

What we had planned to be two days, turned out to be four in the end, partly because putting the whole thing back together was a tad more complicated by past-time patch jobs, and because hauling everything to the other side of the yard was a friggin heavy job what with near tropical temperatures for the duration of our stay (seriously, it was like being back in Spain! High 90s temps, for crying out loud!)  meaning that I sweated like a race horse as I hauled wheelbarrow after wheelbarrow with roof tiles, shells (they were for underneath the floor because they keep mice from tunneling under there) and of course all the wood and whatnot.

It didn’t help at all that at the beginning of the third day I stepped onto a patch of cut-off bamboo shoots and ended up with a serious hole in the bottom of my foot. Yep. That’s me. Why do things easy and without pain when you can do it with it? Grrrr. Anyway, when I inspected the damage, I first didn’t realize the extent of it and thought that something sticky got stuck under my foot. Grabbed it, and yanked it off. Turned out to be a couple of inches of skin. Aaaaargh. Rather than risk complete immobility if I stopped to really treat it, I decided to go the natural way, and used the soil as a bandage. Yep. The dusty ground worked really well as a bandage. Got a nice patch of mud on the damaged area, and it made for easier walking than on shoes, so that’s what I did for the remainder of the work days—walk around barefoot, because at least it would allow me to balance on my foot in such a way that I wasn’t constantly standing on the hole.

It did mean that I needed to clean it properly that evening prior to going out for dinner, as was the folks’ solution to feeding everyone in the evening. Hah. Nice food, mind you, but after hauling shaite for 9 or 10 hours I would have been just as happy with takeout pizza before passing out for the night. Gawd, it had been too long since I did this kind of work. Seriously, the first night I could barely sleep from all the twinges and aches all over, and the second night I woke every two hours for the same reason, before I finally just passed out on the third night. Hah.

But, as I was saying, the cleaning of the hole in my foot involved soaking my feet in baking soda water, and then spraying it with teatree oil, antiseptic spray. Stung like mad, but it did do the job.

This was the procedure for the next day, too, since barefoot was less painful than shoes, and we did in the end get the whole thing done.

Of course, the moment we left…sometime around 9 PM…the weather turned, and we came home to a nice low eighties summer evening. Yay. A little late, but I am not going to complain about cooler temps after four days of sweltering. It was a good four days, though. I missed the kind of satisfying work, building something is. Nothing quite beats the sensation of standing in front of a structure that you put there with your own blood, sweat and tears. Hah

We were late getting home, meaning I had to rush the cleaning of my foot a little so I’d get to bed on time. Work the next day, after all, despite being friggin’ bone tired. Work went well enough for a couple of hours, but then the foot started hurting like heck (the heat of friction, you know. Can’t stop that when you’re walking around in shoes, despite cloudy weather) so I finished the day by clenching my jaw and just putting one foot in front of the other until it was done.

Did manage to do my qi gong the next day, albeit later in the afternoon. Was really necessary too, considering the four days away where I simply didn’t have the energy for it. Was so nice to go through the familiar motions that I barely even noticed the discomfort in my foot through most of it. Do need to keep that up, even if I do start working more regularly. Especially the shoulder exercises that keep the muscles there supple, because a lot of tension gathers there really fast.

Moving. Yes, it is definitely happening now. Last week we got a tip, and since then we have seen the outside, got a tour of the inside the day after getting home from our father’s place, and everyone is in agreement that we will move in there the moment it is free sometime in the middle of the month.  Same deal as our present residence, and only twenty minutes away from work.

It’s a big place, which was my first requirement. These days I have a lot of problems with small spaces, in particular if I have to spend a lot of time there (like during edits and such) so I don’t much care for primitive stuff, as long as it is big. Thankfully this place is not at all primitive, in fact it looks a little like the place I grew up in prior to Spain. Same sort of design, same sturdy materials, albeit a little less elegant. The nicest part is the big kitchen. It’s huge, with a nice kitchen island which will make cooking there a pleasure.

Also the living room is massive, with nice big windows, so basically I have already decorated the whole place in my mind. Hah. Going to have a little fun with that when I get  to it. I will be allowed to paint walls white, which is probably something that needs doing, because everything is very beige, and thus dark now, something I have a little bit of difficulty with. I don’t like dark at all. There are a total of five bedrooms upstairs in the place, and two extra rooms downstairs, so I’ll also have to think about what to do with those.

But no matter, the nicest part of the place is the double garage, meaning that the cars will be protected and won’t need as much cleaning. Yay!  And there is a massive shed, which has some potential for a fitness area, for as far as I’m concerned.

Now the nicest part would be that we’re allowed to have a dog there, which is sorely tempting for as far as I’m concerned. There were thoughts of maybe getting my Sitabah here when I move, but I don’t want to be selfish in that regard. Poor baby is in the only place she knows as home, with all the dogs she’s known her entire life, and me she hasn’t seen in two years, and has probably forgotten completely, so for her it would be horrible if I did that.

But it is tempting. I mean imagine, having her here, and maybe Tadaika, or Fortune. *sigh* A girl can dream, right?

What else?

Well, packing is in progress, naturally. All the knick knacks are packed already, the books, dvds and basically anything that makes the place look cosy is gone already. It’s getting more spacious by the minute. Hah. Do have to be careful during the whole thing. I notice that familiar sadness. The kind I had in Spain while getting rid of everything, which is ridiculous, considering that this move is entirely voluntary and I won’t have to throw anything, since we’re just planning on renting another van and getting it all there, too…except maybe the couch. Am finding myself thinking of exchanging it for another one at some point, so I am not sure whether I’m going to do it before the move or after. We’ll see.

Have planned a small, casual dinner party sometime next week. A goodbye sort of thing for the neighbors, who have been wonderful for the past nine months. They were very pleasant people to live between, that’s a fact. Am going to do an Italian meal that we can all share around a big table. Two, maybe three courses, involving stuff that I then won’t have to haul along in the move. Yay.

And that about sums up the past few weeks, I guess. Actually some change for a change, pardon the repetition. Hah.  Am writing this while waiting for my job interview at the spa & wellness. Drove in together with big brother, meaning I had to get up at four, since at the moment we still live a good fifty minutes away from work. Would be wasteful for me to drive separately, so now I’m killing time doing some catching up like this one, and maybe some edit planning later on.

Since I will have to fill the remainder of the day as well, I will also do some shopping later, visit with some friends and then hopefully pick up big brother on time…not very likely, since yesterday was his first day here and he didn’t get home until six or so in the evening. Grrr. Lucky for him I had already cooked dinner (even had my meat for a change, good Sammie!) and he could dig right in.

Which is it for now…well, at least it was a decent size blog today, amounting to a whopping three pages, compared to the average 1 I manage these days. I know, bad Sammie, bad Sammie.  I am trying to do better and be here more frequently, but you know how it goes. So much to do and so little time to do it in.