Gettin' the apartment done...

I had no idea it had been a week since my last post. Nothing much has changed. I haven't picked up my eating habits much or at all in the last week. Alas I'm weak...it's so hard for me to get back into habits that I know are good for me.

I've been feeling pangs of loneliness regarding me and J. It's been about a month since I ended things with him and it's beginning to sink in, I guess. We'd go occasionally for periods of time w/o much correspondence, usually when he was in Europe doing business/family stuff. But we've never, as long as I've known him, gone anywhere near this long without something said between us.

Not that this is why I'm having trouble with my eating, of course, but it does sort of take the spring out of my step.

Does he miss me? Does he ever think of me? Something tells me that he doesn't. I'd like to think he does, but I'm not so naive to think it would ever happen. I'm pretty sure he doesn't have a clue why I'm no longer seeing him (although I made it as clear as I could), and he's probably just as happy alone day by day as he ever was. Such is life.

Don't worry, I'm not crying in my beer over him either. But I do notice his absence, sometime acutely. And that's where we differ, I think.

What else...I've been busy coordinating all the work that needs to be done on my rental unit. On Friday the bedroom carpet was removed, and the hardwood sanded or buffed or whatever it is they do. For some reason it's the only room in the place that's hardwood. It looks great though. Better than my room with the mauve carpet does. Then yesterday I had to run home at lunch to let the hardroom guys back in to put a coat of finish on. And I stayed there to let them back in 2 hours later to put the second coat of finish on. Then I drove back to work.

Today I thankfully get a reprieve from contractors. Unfortunately, it starts all over again tomorrow. At 8:00 they're coming to rip out the carpet in the kitchen (yes, the people who built the place carpeted the damn kitchen...in dark brown no less) and the vinyl in the bathroom, and replace it with all new vinyl. So, I'll need to be there to let them in. Then Wednesday they'll be there to rip out the carpet in the living room and lay new stuff down.

But that's not all. Then I have to have the appliances (which I haven't bought yet) delivered, and I have to have the new fixtures (which I also haven't bought yet) put into the bathroom.

See, I thought I'd have November and December to do all this junk. But I was able to find a tenant who wanted in ASAP so now I'm coordinating all this crap in order to have the place completely habitable by November 19 (when he sells his house---he's getting a divorce). He's actually already living there. Or squatting, actually, just a sleeping bag. But it was either there or he'd have to live in the house with his ex and he just isn't up for that. So, he signed a lease starting Nov. 1 and has been slowly moving things in.

Can you believe this? I've been stressed out since I met the guy. No fault of his own, but to plan contractors in such a short amount of time, and pay all that money at once as oppposed to spreading it out over a couple months...well...it's stressing me.

I can't stand hiring contractors. I have a membership to Angie's List which has helped tremendously. I normally take my time and get at least 3 estimates, compare what I see, and go with whom I like. But this time out I had to get these people on the schedule pronto, so I got a recommendation from my friend Therese, checked them on Angie's List, went to the showroom and picked out stuff that evening and got them on my calendar the next day. This has been a real problem with my job too, I'm changing my schedule, taking unplanned vacation days...it's just been one thing after another.

And because of my time restraints I'm being somewhat half assed about some of it. Take the hardwood for example. When they first got there the guy removing carpet wasn't finished yet, so they said they'd have to reschedule (WHA?). I said no way, so they came by 2 hours later (even though the carpet puller outer was done like 20 minutes later), and that was 2 hours that I had to sit at home (not worth going back to work then). Then when they get there for the second time they point out this stain on the wood (that probably came from some illness on the part of my former tenant...frankly I don't really want to know). Then they started asking if I wanted to have it fixed and how that would mean they'd have to reschedule the sanding for another day, etc. And I thought, if this were my place, sure I'd spiff it up and I wouldn't care about the extra time. But I just couldn't. So I had them finish the floor with just buffing the stain out as best they could (which wasn't very good). I mean, of COURSE I wanted it fixed, but my time restraints are such that I couldn't get it fixed.

And the appliances? I plan on picking up the first thing I see that fits my budget.

Then there's all the residual crap my tenant left behind that St. Vincent's is coming to pick up but in the meantime is taking up 1/2 my garage and a 1/3 of the basement.

Sorry, babbling...it's just that I can't even begin to express, no matter how hard I try, just how annoying, how stressful, how all-consuming getting this apartment finished is.

Theoretically, everything should be done by Thursday afternoon. If it is, I'm going to smoke the biggest bong you've ever seen.

Kidding of course, I'm not a weed smoker these days. But if I was, jeez...