Charlene Mattson's Blog - Posts Tagged "moving"
Straitjacket? I meant a padded room....
I'm hopelessly behind on everything. I'm not even sure why I'm writing a blog considering how behind I am!
***
This has been a disastrous week. The major problem (as many of my fans are already aware) is that we are being evicted from our house. There's really no other way of putting it and our landlord can be apologetic as he likes, but there it is: by June 1 (or thereabouts), we have to be out of our little house and into a new one. This has been incredibly stressful on us as this spring we were supposed to be travelling, writing and then I go back to teaching this summer. However, this demand that we move has thrown a complete wrench into all of those plans. As a result, I am constantly distracted, we are all tired and stressed out and we've been scrambling to find a house to fit our rather specialized needs: room for five, three pets and as close to William's school as possible.
If nothing else, this has completely thrown my long term budget plans merrily out the window as no matter what, our monthly rent is about to spike and we'll have to pay utilities. The upswing of all this is that no matter what, we'll have more space. Our current house is fairly small and oddly laid out, but damn it all, we got used to it over the years!
So that's the major distraction and it's been a huge one. I'm now pretty far behind on Camp NaNoWriMo (haven't even cleared 1000 words yet) and I"m not sure if I'm even going to bother or if I"ll postpone to July. Best case scenario, one of the three houses we'll be viewing in the next few days works great and we spend a chunk of April packing. Worst case, none of them work out and we spend the next seven weeks in a panic trying to find a house and move.
At least it IS moving season and that means it should, in theory, be easy-ish to find a place. We have three possibilities to look at already; the main sticking point will be the dog. She may be the laziest, quietest, sweetest animal alive, but people see labX, they think destruction, :p. Hopefully the fact that she's eight years old (or older; we're not sure) will help convince people that she's harmless.
(course our dog is black, but hopefully she can strike a deal!)
If this does work out (er, when; something HAS to work out or we're living under the bridge which would be awfully strange considering the fact that we're not precisely broke), we will get a house with a lot more space (win!), a nicer and larger kitchen (win!) and probably a bigger yard (win!) So in the end, despite higher costs, this will likely work out in our favor.
Still, I would prefer to move under our own terms, not being evicted for doing nothing wrong at all, but rather because the landlord wants his house back!
***
What's on the shelf: Summer Knight by Jim Butcher.
Writing: HA!
At least I have a new commission or two coming.
***
This has been a disastrous week. The major problem (as many of my fans are already aware) is that we are being evicted from our house. There's really no other way of putting it and our landlord can be apologetic as he likes, but there it is: by June 1 (or thereabouts), we have to be out of our little house and into a new one. This has been incredibly stressful on us as this spring we were supposed to be travelling, writing and then I go back to teaching this summer. However, this demand that we move has thrown a complete wrench into all of those plans. As a result, I am constantly distracted, we are all tired and stressed out and we've been scrambling to find a house to fit our rather specialized needs: room for five, three pets and as close to William's school as possible.
If nothing else, this has completely thrown my long term budget plans merrily out the window as no matter what, our monthly rent is about to spike and we'll have to pay utilities. The upswing of all this is that no matter what, we'll have more space. Our current house is fairly small and oddly laid out, but damn it all, we got used to it over the years!
So that's the major distraction and it's been a huge one. I'm now pretty far behind on Camp NaNoWriMo (haven't even cleared 1000 words yet) and I"m not sure if I'm even going to bother or if I"ll postpone to July. Best case scenario, one of the three houses we'll be viewing in the next few days works great and we spend a chunk of April packing. Worst case, none of them work out and we spend the next seven weeks in a panic trying to find a house and move.
At least it IS moving season and that means it should, in theory, be easy-ish to find a place. We have three possibilities to look at already; the main sticking point will be the dog. She may be the laziest, quietest, sweetest animal alive, but people see labX, they think destruction, :p. Hopefully the fact that she's eight years old (or older; we're not sure) will help convince people that she's harmless.
(course our dog is black, but hopefully she can strike a deal!)
If this does work out (er, when; something HAS to work out or we're living under the bridge which would be awfully strange considering the fact that we're not precisely broke), we will get a house with a lot more space (win!), a nicer and larger kitchen (win!) and probably a bigger yard (win!) So in the end, despite higher costs, this will likely work out in our favor.
Still, I would prefer to move under our own terms, not being evicted for doing nothing wrong at all, but rather because the landlord wants his house back!
***
What's on the shelf: Summer Knight by Jim Butcher.
Writing: HA!
At least I have a new commission or two coming.
Hooray! We're not Homeless
What, it was a little touch and go there!
Yes, we found a place. A fairly decent place: four bedroom, finished basement, two bathrooms, larger living room, larger kitchen, larger back yard. My mom is excited for the larger bathroom as she was sick of using our cell bathroom when she visited, lol.
Of course, now I"ll be spending April packing, so I definitely won't be doing a lot of writing. I guess that's what July camp NaNoWriMo is for.
Time to start packing and getting ready to leave our little house behind. Farewell little house; you were amazing.
Yes, we found a place. A fairly decent place: four bedroom, finished basement, two bathrooms, larger living room, larger kitchen, larger back yard. My mom is excited for the larger bathroom as she was sick of using our cell bathroom when she visited, lol.
Of course, now I"ll be spending April packing, so I definitely won't be doing a lot of writing. I guess that's what July camp NaNoWriMo is for.
Time to start packing and getting ready to leave our little house behind. Farewell little house; you were amazing.
The REAL Reason People Avoid Bookworms
In comedies and in stereotypes and in my high school, book worms are treated with some mixture of disdain and admiration. Admiration because anyone who can sit down for hours and stare at a book is some odd marvel of the universe and disdain for... much the same reason.
But as I set to packing my rather modest (by comparison) bookshelf, I realized something:
All that disdain and 'don't date the book geek' is actually an ancient survival mechanism and here's my proof:
"Imma gonna screw up the back of anyone who tries to lift me sooooo badly"
"Guess what? Most of us together, probably weight less than that one box."
Yeah.
The top box is my book box full of hardcovers. Most of the ones I own in fact. It's so heavy that I could barely shove it across the floor, let alone lift it. Pity the fool who tries. I'll likely have to split it all up to make it easier on some poor soul.
But anyway, that's why people think they should deride the bookworm. For many people, it's not that they actually think we're awful, boring or not worth the time. It's actually an ancient survival strategy meant to keep them from having to ever lift that one three ton box full of hardcover books. So don't feel angry or ashamed of yourself! Just... maybe split the books up in many, smaller boxes instead of one, overwhelmingly heavy one.
And I'm a modest bookworm! Imagine having to pack up and lift something like this:
Yeah, I'd love that library, but that's when I'm never moving again, EVER!
Moving, ugh!
But as I set to packing my rather modest (by comparison) bookshelf, I realized something:
All that disdain and 'don't date the book geek' is actually an ancient survival mechanism and here's my proof:
"Imma gonna screw up the back of anyone who tries to lift me sooooo badly"
"Guess what? Most of us together, probably weight less than that one box."
Yeah.
The top box is my book box full of hardcovers. Most of the ones I own in fact. It's so heavy that I could barely shove it across the floor, let alone lift it. Pity the fool who tries. I'll likely have to split it all up to make it easier on some poor soul.
But anyway, that's why people think they should deride the bookworm. For many people, it's not that they actually think we're awful, boring or not worth the time. It's actually an ancient survival strategy meant to keep them from having to ever lift that one three ton box full of hardcover books. So don't feel angry or ashamed of yourself! Just... maybe split the books up in many, smaller boxes instead of one, overwhelmingly heavy one.
And I'm a modest bookworm! Imagine having to pack up and lift something like this:
Yeah, I'd love that library, but that's when I'm never moving again, EVER!
Moving, ugh!
