Zen cat

Every day you can find Eddie in a sunbeam. He prefers the really big puddles of sunshine but he'll take the one in the front hall you see here. I think he likes to be there so we have to step over him.

The same day I took this picture, Eddie spent about 15 minutes trying to catch a sunbeam.

If he's not in a sunbeam, then he's here:

I don't know about you, but looking at either one of those pictures makes me relax. Ah the life of a cat.

Um thanks but

Memorial Day isn't the day to thank veterans for their service. In fact, Memorial Day isn’t about me or any of the other veterans still living. It’s to honor those who died while serving in the military.

Those of us who served have a day already: Veteran's Day. If you still want to thank me, give me a shout on November 11.

You can read more about Memorial Day here, here and here. 

For Veteran's Day information, go here, here and here. 

I just had to get that off my chest. And for those who already thanked me this weekend for my service, you're welcome and really, you don't need to thank me any more. It's all good.

Swing and a miss

Things I miss from the apartment:

• Granite countertops. Oh how I miss these—just plop your hot, right from the oven pan on the countertop, no worries. Conversely, put your frozen, needs to be dethawed whatever right on the countertop—it thaws faster. Miss em.
• Kitchen sink. Kent looked forward to having a more normally sized double sink in the kitchen . . . but . . . it’s the shallowest thing ever. And it was complicated by the
• Kitchen faucet. Truly this thing was a waste of metal. It barely cleared the sink and had no sprayer attachment. Thankfully, we’ve already solved this issue (see below).
• Master bath showerhead. It was one of those stingy, all the water comes out of a small section in the middle and annoys you kind of showerheads. We’ve solved this issue too.

Things I don’t miss (some surprised me):

• The hardwood floors. While I love the look, I don’t love how you hear every footfall from any creature that walks, including (maybe especially) the cats. And I know that carpet gets as dirty as hardwoods, maybe dirtier, but the cat bunnies don’t float and I don’t have to see the dire evidence that the floors need to be cleaned again. This was a surprise.
• The quiet. I didn’t expect that our new apartment would be almost as quiet as the one in Boston (which is sub-level). But it is and so I don’t miss that benefit from the Boston place. This was also a surprise.
• The patio. See also amazing sunny balcony.

What we’ve replaced: kitchen faucet (and Kent’s made threatening noises to replace the sink but I think/hope he’s reconsidered) and the master bath showerhead. Those were fairly inexpensive changes that make living here even better.

Scaredy cats

When we lived in Kansas City previously, we had a dog named Molly, who was mostly German shepherd plus a bit of something else. She was super sweet, had a great bark for deterring evil-doers, and stress-shed like crazy. She was also terrified of dogs bigger than cats (which was hilarious since she herself weighed 75 pounds) and thunderstorms. She was so very scared of thunderstorms that she would first try to hide under the bed (but she couldn't fit) and then behind my legs.

Apparently our native Kansas City cats are now scared of thunderstorms. We've had some typical spring thunderstorms going on here in Kansas that started last night and continued off and on through the night. The cats have been unsettled the entire time. Last night the boys fought and cried while Chloe hid, and this morning Eddie hid under my desk when the thunder and lightening started up again.

This picture isn't from last night; Kent took it during the day when the boys were snoozing in nearly identical poses. Even though they have different colored fur, you can still tell they are litter mates.

The magical lunchbox

I’ve had this lunchbox for about six or seven years—probably closer to seven but I don’t remember exactly when I bought it. I do know I got it from Target and I chose the lime green over brown.

At a previous job, I got lots of comments on the lunchbox, like almost daily. And it’s happening again at my current job. Today was my eighth day there. I’ve brought my lunch on six of those days and gotten comments every time.

As the guy on the elevator said to me this morning, “It’s a great conversation starter.” That it is.

Notice how bright it is in the dining room? Still giggling over that.

Chasing sunbeams

The other kitties like the sunbeams but Eddie absolutely loves them. He follows them around the apartment, snoozing away.

A tour

Here's what the place looks like:

Maintenance

On Wednesday, the apartment complex maintenance guy came by and fixed a window plus the place got its spring bug treatment. Quick aside, you have to love a complex that proactively has pest people come in and spray. Well at least I do.


When the Terminex guy came, Kent put Chloe and Eddie in the closet where the litter boxes are, and Wally hid on top of the fridge. Kent said Wally stayed up there looking terrified for about an hour. You can tell how scared he was even in this blurry picture.

I can see clearly now

I’m sure I’ll get used to it but right now I still marvel at all the light in the apartment. It’s after 7 PM here and we have no lamps or lights switched on—no need. In fact, we’ve closed the wooden blinds to keep out the heat from the sun in the living room and dining room.

I’m also flat exhausted. That’s what happens when you are out of work for a year, live in a flat apartment, do a cross country move to a second floor apartment and then start the new full time job. Or at least that’s what’s happened to me. I can barely keep my eyes open tonight.

We haven’t unpacked anything since Sunday evening—no time, really, plus no energy. That’s OK. I’ll work on the boxes this weekend.

I also failed utterly at the book club assignment this week (sorry gang). The reader in me was willing and the rest of me said I didn’t have time.

I’ll close with a random picture I just now took of Chloe in the window (I think she's trying to find the owl that's hooting outside):

Chloe in the dining room window.

We are alive

What a whirlwind we've been in the last nine days. Yesterday I realized that we packed up our home in four days, spent a day loading the truck and tidying up (why does moving produce so much debris?), spent another two days driving from Boston to Overland Park, and on Saturday, got the apartment, unloaded the truck and started unpacking.

Now it's Monday and frankly, I'm glad I get to go to work because I'm flat out beat. I think I will be mentally tired tonight, but maybe not quite so physically exhausted.

The apartment exceeds my expectations. Since we never actually saw the place, I was prepared to admit I'd made a mistake, stick out the lease and move on. I don't know that we'll stay forever but it's pretty nice. The light is amazing, and we have high ceilings which just adds to the light and airy feel.

The cats approve too.

Window in the hall by the stairs.

Cat perch is in the living room and looks out on the huge balcony.

What a difference a day makes

Actually I should change the title to "what a difference eight hours makes" but that's not a song lyric.

I took the first half of this video Wednesday morning, and the second half around 4:30.




 The furniture you see in the second half of the video are pieces we are leaving to stage the place and to make things bearably for Kent when he returns to Boston. We're also leaving a bed, a dining room table and a couple of chairs.

Random thoughts in the rain

1. Of course it's raining today as we load the truck. And guess what?
2. It's supposed to rain Saturday in Overland Park. Of course!
3. I’ll miss living in a city where pedestrians rule. Pedestrian cross walks aren’t just suggestions here.
4. One of the loaders for our truck is a chatterbox so I’m hiding in our bedroom. Otherwise he keeps stopping to talk to me—nice guy and all but c’mon, time is money and you are costing us both.
5. Cats are sitting on the bed with me. They’re pretty nervous and agitated and I’ll be glad when everything that’s going is loaded and we can let them out of the bedroom.
6. I thought we’d have more visitors in Boston than we did—my best friend and her husband came, my sister and family spent a couple of hours with us, and Ben and Jen and the kids visited. I tend to think of Boston as a great tourist destination but I guess not everyone does.
7. I never did get to go on a Boston Harbor Island tour.
8. I’m glad we saw the Boston Pops the first Christmas we were here.
9. I won’t miss driving in Boston, not one little bit and especially not on Red Sox home game days. Speaking of which . . .
10. I never saw a Red Sox game, which is fine by me. I did tour Fenway when Brad and Kerry were here and that was really cool.
11. I’m also glad I got to Maine, New Hampshire and Rhode Island. I especially liked seeing the house where my mother lived when she was in junior high in Providence.
12. Also, Providence has really tasty grinders.
13. I hope I can get kitty snooze drugs down the cats tomorrow night and Friday night.
14. I keep telling myself by Sunday, things will be much, much better. 

Tired Wally

We call him bi-level cat for a reason. Yes, he's asleep on the box. 

We estimate we are about 80-85% packed. Some things can't be done until later today (take desks apart, pack computers etc). So I'm taking a tiny break right now.

Friends in high places

This is pretty typical for how each cat handles feeling a little stressed.


 

Getting it done

 Today's work:

And today's cats:

The layout

I was trying to describe the new apartment layout to my mom and told her it would just be a lot easier to post a link to the floor plan. So here you go.

The bedroom windows face east, the living and dining room windows face west. We have a fireplace in the living room but not one in the master bedroom. In fact, I wish it were the other way around because I think that angled fireplace complicates the living room floor plan. Oh well.

We are on the second floor; our one car garage is underneath the second bedroom. So the entrance leads to a small, first floor foyer and then directly up the stairs. The balcony is off the living room and has french doors that lead into the living room. It's covered but because it faces west, we should get enough light for our potted herbs and possibly a tomato plant as well. I'd also like to have a couple of pots with flowers, flowers that can take sunlight.

Back to packing, and I'll update more later.

Great balls of fire!

All checks are done (background, drug screen) and I am officially good to go to start my new job May 14. So in order to do that, here's what has to happen:

Don't you love how I've included time to freak out?