Apt update: pulling our hair out	February 27, 2007

I've gotten a few inquiries from concerned individuals about our apartment situation. Basically, the answer is WE STILL KNOW NOTHING! All three places are still in the running. We're waiting to hear back from the two Shirlington landlords (it's funny how "early in the week" can quickly become "Thursday or Friday"). In the meantime, I find myself in an uber-stressed state, and no quantity of Double Chocolate VitaMuffin Tops can soothe me.

Bonnaroo!!	February 23, 2007

Steve and I did an impulsive thing today – we bought tickets to Bonnaroo! This 4-day outdoor music festival will require us to drive 9 hours to a town outside Nashville, but look at the freaking lineup (I have nerdily bolded the bands I’m excited about):

If there is someone on this list who you think I should’ve bolded, please let me know (there are a lot of people here I haven’t heard of)!

It’s, uh, 4 months away, so I have 4 months worth of anticipating to do. Yay!

Apt update: And then there were three	February 22, 2007

The place we looked at last night was just as awesome as the other two. It’s also in Shirlington, literally across the street from place #2. It’s pricier, because it’s got 3 floors instead of 2, and 2 bathrooms instead of 1. And it has a lovely backyard and deck, central air, a nicer laundry set-up, and other such perks. In every other way, the places are the same (WWII-era wood floors and stuff), and the landlords at both places are nice as can be.

So now, we’ve thrown ourselves on the mercy of three different landlords, pleading for them to make us their tenants, and all of them say they’ll get back to us at the beginning of next week. Which means we have at least 4 days of fretting to do in the meantime. I think we shall go insane – prepping for decision-making time, we’ve created a constant chorus of, “I like the stove in this one better, but I like the deck on this one…” and so on.

House-hunting isn’t for sissies	February 21, 2007

Maybe one or two of you haven’t heard by now that Steve and I are getting a place together in April (about which I am very excited). It’s been a while since I’ve been house-hunting, and I’d forgotten what a stressful state it can leave you in.

Currently, we’re in a position wherein we found one place that we were in love with, so we put in an application. Then our would-be landlords told us that it was going to take them 10 days or so to process our application, because of travel. And in the meantime, we found another place that we’re even more in love with. So we put in another application. And it feels like a skeezy thing to do to turn in an application and then tell the landlord, “Sorry, we changed our minds,” but we’re likely to have to do that to at least one of these very nice people. And we’re checking out another place tonight…

What makes place #2 better than place #1, you ask? Well, place #1 is in Springfield, and is huge and shiny-new, but is far far away, and kinda more space than we need. Place #2 is in Shirlington – much closer in. It’s also smaller, which means it’s a more appropriate amount of space for two people and a cat to occupy, plus it’s a goodly amount cheaper. And, though it’s not shiny-new, it’s got that WWII-era parquet-floored plaster-walled charm (but with updated appliances).

Wish us luck in our quest to find somewhere to squat! I’ll provide updates as available.

Loving the sludge	February 14, 2007

I’m working from home today because of the weather. I love working from home. I’m in my PJ’s, laying on my couch with my laptop on my lap and Netflix on my screen, but I’m working. I really am. Though I only have to put in three hours of legitimate work today to feel like I’m not slacking. For you see, yesterday, I had to work until 5:00 despite the fact that everyone else got dismissed at 2:00 (I started a job that had to get printed and sent out for binding by the end of the day, and it took forever). Which means I am entitled to three hours of slackertude today. Plus the two-hour delay we were granted this morning.

Thank, you, sludge falling from the sky, and thank you, Washington, for your major weather freak-out tendencies. I may mock you for it, but I’ll happily reap the benefits.

Oops	February 5, 2007

I accidentally erased all my blog entries for January. That was very smart of me. I think I have them backed up on my computer at home, but until I have a chance to go there and replace them, you'll have to recall from memory what that jello-ed stapler looks like.