stereotypical single woman

Saying that the decision to move was a bit emotional is like saying the ocean is a little damp. So in order to keep myself sane during the long weekend I’ve KEPT BUSY. Because who hasn’t been told that KEEPING BUSY is the best way to deal with any sort of emotional problem? Not that it ever makes you feel any better but it sure as hell makes you tired enough to sleep at night. And thanks to the “Charlie P.” gene I have no problem finding things to KEEP ME BUSY.

(note the “Charlie P” gene - named after my father - is a subset of the DIY gene. It allows you to find a project just about anywhere but makes the process take three times as long, cost twice as much as anticipated, and interest in the project wanes when it is about 3/4 of the way done, sometimes leading to abandonment of the project)

I’ve also been trying very hard not to freak out about money at the moment (trust me, this will get back to KEEPING BUSY very soon), but it’s very hard not to sit here and think about how I’m going to finance the upcoming year. I’ve been trying to come up with as many creative ways to save and make money as possible. So far I have a mountain of stuff to go on eBay and a complete mountain range of stuff for a garage sale sometime in July. And, I don’t like to admit it, but I’m also moving back to my parent’s house for the months of July and August to save rent and utility money. Trust me, I am all too well aware of how this makes me look to the outside world. I’m already ashamed of myself. But my family is amazingly cool at times, it’s only for two months, and I should get some good blogging out of it.

For those two months the boys and I will be living on the second floor of my parent’s house. Right now they only use it to store the 30 years worth of crap 5 packrats have accumulated so I’m really not going to be intruding on their living space (not that it makes me feel any better about moving home, but it’s nice to know I’ll have my own space.) I spent the first part of the weekend cleaning and reorganizing the piles of stuff to make room for the boys and myself. By Sunday afternoon things were going well, the place was looking neat and clean, but then I looked at the hidey-hole of a bathroom. For some reason (the “Charlie P.” gene) I decided that it would be a good idea to rip down the wall paper that was already coming off in a few places and throw some paint on the walls. It would make the place look so much better. I mean, how could it not, that room is so small and ugly anything would be an improvement. And it would be well worth my time since I’m going to be using it every day for two months, and it’s just a quick one day project, right? Sure, for anyone else it would be, but not for me.

I’m now in my second day of the project and have only just put up the primer. When I started ripping the wallpaper came up easily but once it realized what was happening it stopped playing nice and the more I ripped off the more wall I kept ripping up as well. Seriously, it’s like it had a death grip on the drywall. Then I tried sanding the wall to try to even things out which made even more wall come off, not to mention that it made my arms hurt. After eight hours I had inhaled enough dust that I’m pretty sure I’ll be blowing dusty snot boogers until I’m 95. And the walls still looked like crap. Feeling discouraged, I mentioned this to my mom last night and her reaction was “Oh, you can’t make those walls look good, they’re uneven to begin with, that’s why we had wallpaper up.” Great, so now I’m halfway through a project that’s doomed to look like crap. I should have known this when I started, I mean, how good did I think I could make a bathroom look if it was still going to have that avacado green sink? (that was bought and installed the first time appliances that color went out of fashion) But, even though I have the “Charlie P.” gene and I know that it’s going to look bad no matter what I do, I’m sticking with this until the end because I need to KEEP BUSY right now, and nothing KEEPS YOU BUSY like poorly planned DIY projects.