I'm trying to stave off cramps, and keep my mind going (yes, it's that time of the month again, when I turn into a seeping, bloated, brainless lump of festering womanhood -- well, more than usual). But it's not easy when your brain is attempting a hormonally-induced shut-down -- all I want to do is curl up in bed and gnaw on chocolate. (I did in fact finally finish off the Christmas chocolate, about three palm-sized pieces of dark chocolate with candied orange and cranberry bits that I had bought at Crate and Barrel -- but at least I made myself sit up and drink a cup of tea along with it.) My activities so far: I cleaned out the cat box, sorted the laundry (I'm doing it now -- I shall forego a load-by-load blog account in the interests of your sanity), and moved the desk to the bedroom.
I am having some trouble with fitting my furniture in the new place. I got rid of half my stuff before moving here, and it is clear that I have at least one too many pieces -- yet I can't do without any of the pieces I have. (So I tell myself.) I am also slowly redecorating the bedroom to resemble a picture I saw in a home decorating magazine, those little shiny publications of Satan. I've gotten into the color red -- just when it's apparently gone out of style. The look at the end will be lots of brown wood (provided by the bed, dressers, and desk that I already have), red (confined, however, to one item, a blanket I found on super, we're-getting-rid-of-these sale at J.C. Penney's for fifteen bucks), and touches of black and white in the lamps. I found this hanging lamp at Walmart -- fifteen dollars again -- that is a goth-y flocked black thing with resin "crystals" --- usually not my thing at all, but I can't wait to see it up. I am trying to find someone to hang it, as it's hardwire and I've never done any such thing, and am afraid I'll short out the building or something. Also I don't have a ladder. Perhaps I should buy one. I'm also going to hang curtains over the sliding glass door -- I do have verticals, but they are an ugly putty white, and also my cat keeps moving them about to look outdoors. It's like this -- I'll be lying in bed, and trying to go to sleep, and then:
--- rattle rattle rattle. GLEAM.
"Cat!"
---rattle rattle rattle...glint glint GLARE rattle rattle...
Until I sit up and turn out the light and see her at the foot of the bed, staring innocently, as if to say "What? What'd I do?" Then I turn out the light and it starts over again. So I figure with curtains at least I won't have the outside lights stabbing me through the eyelids. Also I won't get the experience of getting undressed, turning around, and realizing she's chosen the moment that I am bare-assed naked to push the blinds open and survey her kingdom.
Speaking of the outside light -- they keep installing a light bulb in the light outside my apartment windows that must be 4000 watts. Someone keeps knocking it out -- it wasn't shining last night. Still, when it's on it might as well be daylight, and the inadequate blinds (which we aren't allowed to replace with, say, one-piece blackout shades) do nothing to block the rays. So I'm going to have to put curtains in the living room too. I was hoping to be able to put up sheers, since the trees keep the worst of the sun out, but I didn't realize we had our own midnight sun. I can sleep with no trouble despite the light, but if I have one of my headaches I want darkness, thank you.
Home decor continued: while walking home from Walgreen's yesterday I found this cool dead branch, actually it looked like a shrub someone had yanked out of the ground, and brought it home. I call it my "skeleton tree." I've propped it up on the cabinet and grouped some of my thrift store finds around it. I also want to get this pepper plant. I saw them at the farmer's market I went to yesterday but didn't buy one even though they were dirt cheap, because I wasn't sure whether I'd be going somewhere else. (I ended up getting heat exhaustion and going home, so I should have purchased one.) Anyway, I plant to get one and put it on the balcony. I also want some dark purple coleus, and some ferns. I guess I'm going goth just a bit again. Also, in this place I get so much green color from the nature outside that I don't feel the need to put green all over the place like I did in the other apartment.
I didn't move the dsl hookup to the bedroom along with the desk. I am sitting on the couch with the laptop on a tray. I got a little tired of being confined to the desk -- also, I don't have a good chair. Not that the couch is much better -- I have sore tailbone problems and this couch's old cushions aren't helping. I really need to get the couch re-upholstered, and I want to change out the three worn-out foam seat cushions for one thicker cushion, maybe made of memory foam. I have no idea how much all that will cost -- it will probably be cheaper to just buy another couch. But in that case I'll want a good couch, and such things are really beyond my means at the moment. By the way, I've never figured out the reason for the divided cushion scenario for sofas. You have three cushions so you can get the piping jammed up your ass when you sit wrong, and in order to lose change and crumbs and so on in the cracks? I don't get it. Anyway, if I won the lotto, this is the couch I'd buy. Look at those awesome legs. (I love those turned conical legs. My dresser set and cabinet, all thrift store finds, all have those legs.) It's also got one cushion. I love that sort of modern design. Speaking of which -- look, they've revived the studio couch. I was looking all over for one of the frigging things when I was moving, but all I could find were uncomfortable folding sofas and futons. My mother had one of these in a studio apartment she lived in when my parents tried splitting up, only it was covered by a hideous seventies-era old-lady yellow-patterned upholstery. Also it was kind of cheap and crappy, not expensive like this stuff.
Okay, that's enough window shopping for now.
