More?

Water is coming in the windows again. And some planks are buckling a bit, so we may also be getting water through the bricks below the patio. This is beyond depressing.

Kitty stress

We are moved in, although everything is still a chaotic mess. On Friday, Bostonian (the company who did a lot of the cleaning and restoration) brought the things they'd boxed up back to the apartment, about 60 boxes. It's very odd and random what they packed out and what they tossed because some of the items they brought back are clearly not usable any more. In most cases, those boxes were also wrapped in large plastic bags, probably because the contents were wet when packed. For example, Kent's power tools were in a canvas carry all under the bed which meant they were all under the water line. But the bag and the tools were returned. Of course the tools don't work and the bag is disgusting, but we have it here.

In addition to all that stuff which we haven't begun to put away, we also had three car loads of things to bring over from our temporary apartment, plus the cats in their carriers. We did as much as possible to mitigate the stress for the cats. We did all our packing at the temporary apartment yesterday morning, and didn't leave the kitties alone until we brought them home. While we packed, Eddie cried, Chloe talked and Wally hid under the hood of my coat. Of course you can't explain change to animals and they're pretty unsettled. All three have been running around crying and crying, and of course getting into every box they can reach.

And Wally, the plastic eating freak, ate enough plastic last night to make him throw up spectacularly. So after dinner, we removed plastic from every box and put it all outside, plus made sure he couldn't slither into boxes. He loves to do that and often knocks the box over while he's inside it.

Last night he found a spot on the new couch to be calm for all of about 30 seconds. That's when I got this picture.

A list

This week as I commuted, I came up with a list of what I will and won’t miss when we move out of this apartment on Mass Ave.

What I’ll miss

1. The view.
2. The closets.
3. The ability to wash and dry multiple loads of laundry all at once.
4. The pizza cutter (it works really well).
5. Direct sunlight coming in the windows.
6. Having a concierge who can sign for packages. VERY convenient.

What I won’t miss

1. The crazy shower that either takes about 10 minutes to warm up or starts out with scalding water.
2. The slow drain in the shower.
3. The street noise. Unbelievable.
4. How hot the apartment gets if it’s sunny and above 40F.
5. The toaster—seriously, people, if you aren’t using a toaster oven, you are crazy.
6. The fridge with the freezer on top. Highly inefficient, and the back of the fridge is too cold so things freeze.
7. The door slammer across the wall.

I'd be excited

Except I'm pretty tired.

We have two working sinks, a working shower and a working dishwasher now. Apparently our dishwasher was horrible to install and much cursing was involved.The dresser is from Ikea and Kent spent time today putting together that and our dining room table.

He did other stuff too but my three remaining brain cells have gone on strike and I don't remember everything he did.

Cool boxes, not cool damage

First a little video that shows off our new litter box storage solution.



And second, a couple of pictures of the water damage from our nor'easter I mentioned.

Counters

So it's been two steps forward, and sometimes two steps back. For example, I mentioned the water damage we got last weekend during our nor'easter when we received 9 to 10 inches of rain mostly blown horizontally for about 36 hours. What I didn't say (because I didn't know) was that the dry wall above the windows was pretty severely damaged and repairing them isn't going to be a matter of a little spackle and paint. But as Kent pointed out, we no longer flinch when holes are cut in our dry wall.

Then we had another issue that came to a head today. Our new fridge is a french door fridge and the cabinets needed to be moved about an inch to the left, otherwise we couldn't open the right door. Kent said the contractors were not at all happy about that, and neither were the granite installers since they had to stand around and wait while the contractors moved the cabinets and re-leveled the dishwasher. But the kitchen looks fantastic now, don't you think?

We also had granite put on top of our new cabinet in the bathroom and here's what that looks like:







The plumber had to reschedule (no bathroom sink yet, also the dishwasher and kitchen sink need to be hooked up along with the ice maker in the fridge), and the electrical inspector somehow went to the wrong place and your guess is as good as ours as to when he will return.

The countdown continues. We have to be completely out of here by Thursday, March 31 which means in practical terms we clear out of here next weekend.

Look, look!

We did get water coming in through the drywall at the tops of our living room windows this weekend *shakes fist at the nor'easter* but just look at the progress Kent is making with the painting. I want to echo Pinocchio and say we are almost at the real apartment stage!