House Kinda Beautiful

(Forewarning: This entry is meandering all over the place, just like my brain has been lately. If you're looking for one coherent theme, you're in the wrong place. This way for random thoughts....)

I don't believe it. My apartment is finally clean.

OK, not really. But it's as close as it's going to get. The floor of my bedroom is, for once, not littered with CD jewel cases and books I've read a hundered times and dirty clothes. (The clothes are still dirty, but I actually managed to get them to the hamper.) With the exceptions of a popcorn bowl and the filter basket from the coffee maker, all of my dishes are done. I still need to do those few dishes, take out some trash, and change the sheets on the bed and I am officially ready for houseguests.

It's a good thing that I did manage to finish early, since Roger Mexico is now planning on getting into town late Wednesday night. And even though he's staying until Monday morning, I'm still not sure if he will manage to get everything on his tentative itinerary done. It's hard to get six months of catching up with several friends done in five days, but he's most certainly going to try.

I'm included in some of the plans; we're planning on seeing a friend's band at Southgate House, Rosencrantz is having a birthday cookout, there's been talk of possibly going to see what's going on at CCM this weekend. A lot of his plans, however, are guy-only things, which will actually give me some time to rest, and have a girls' night out with Zappagirl.

Even though he insisted once again last night that I shouldn't go to any trouble on his account, I've tried to make every effort to ensure that his visit is as stress-free as possible. I went grocery shopping, stocked a few bottles of wine in the cabinet (just in case we actually have a night with no hectic plans), made sure there was enough coffee to maintain the insane schedule he's undertaking. I even called my resident manager in to get some maintenance done on my apartment.

Those who know me and have been to my apartment are muttering "About time," under their breath in reaction to that last line. My kitchen sink had been clogged and the garbage disposal had not been working for some time. And the sealant around the toilet had come loose, meaning that each time you stood up after using it, you were given a score on your dismount by a panel of international judges.

I'd been meaning to call the resident manager about these problems for a while. But, as most of you know, I'm really good with the procrasinating thing. I kept figuring I'd drop a note in with my rent payment, but when the first of the month came around, the house would be a mess or I'd just forget. Oh well, I'd promise myself, I'll get it done later.

And then there was the Kismet factor. According to my lease, I am allowed to keep one spayed/neutered and declawed cat in my apartment. I currently have two spayed/neutered cats with claws firmly intact residing with me. (And I have the little pinprick scratches to prove it.) Not that I figured that I was going to be booted from my residence of 8 years over an extra cat, but there was always that chance.

This weekend, I finally just decided that the maintenance had to be done, regardless of the extra cat. I left a note with my rent check and hoped that one of the cats would hide all day.

As it turned out, I had nothing to fear. Kismet worked her magic on my resident manager and was cute enough to the point that he mentioned her in the progress report that he left on my answering machine. "Hi Myo. it's Manager Guy. You need a new disposal and toilet; I'll be back up tomorrow morning to replace them. And that little white kitten is a hoot."

Yes, he actually used the word "hoot." Kismet got extra kitty treats for that.

So now I have a new disposal and toilet, and I can't get used to it. I still find myself steadying the toilet so it doesn't crash into the wall when I shift my weight. I caught myself taking my coffee mug to the bathroom this morning to rinse it out, even though it had been sitting on the kitchen counter right next to the sink. It's force of habit. I'd gotten used to the weird little quirks of my aparment, and it's going to take some time to get used to the new ones as well.

I also got a new radio installed in my car this weekend, which is another novelty in my life at the moment. After driving for over two years in a car with no speakers, the idea of listening to music is a luxury. I spent nearly thirty minutes on Sunday afternoon selecting driving music. I can go from Prince to Tom Jones to Ben Folds Five in seconds. Cool.

So, things are finally coming together this week, and I'm impatiently counting hours 'til Roger Mexico's scheduled ETA. (30 hours and counting....) I'm not sure if I'll get a chance to post for the rest of the week; with all of the plans he's made for the extended weekend, I may not get a chance to even turn on my computer. As with most things in my life, I'll just play it by ear and see what happens.