Sunday Evening Post

I keep making these posts at a few minutes to midnight. I guess that’s what happens when you’re trying to move into a new apartment, eh?

The place looks totally different than it did Friday night (for better, I should add). I should absolutely show you Jeff with the hammer drill we rented. This is a serious piece of power equipment. It’s a mini jackhammer. Since neither of us is macho – we’re both computer nerds – Jeff doing battle with the concrete walls was really something today. We won. If you had any doubt, you don’t know how stubborn we both are.

We’re also contemplating Mr. McScruffy. We don’t want Yorkie #2. Having a dog just like Audrey would be heartbreaking. Yet we loved certain doggy things about her, and certain terrier traits. We’re still thinking about it, but we will go visit Mr. McScruffy next weekend to see what we think.

Anyway, this is a sample conversation this evening that illustrates just how worn out we are at this point:

Jeff: You have the drill?

Me: No.

Jeff:  Why not?

Me: ‘Cause.

Jeff: You should always have the drill.

Me: Huh?

Jeff: The drill.

Me: What?

Jeff: Are you paying attention to me?

Me:  I don’t know. What are we talking about?

Jeff: The drill. Have you seen it?

Me: Didn’t you have it last?

Jeff: I don’t know. You find it. You’re supposed to have it.

Me: What? The drill?  Okay. But I don’t know where it is….

And on and on it goes … At this point, if you’re a praying person, or a good thoughts person, we probably need a little of both.

The Case of the Kitchenette

I knew when we showed up the kitchen would be difficult. It was obvious, because it was only four feet wide and about 9 feet long. 36 square feet isn’t a lot of space to work with. There is a sink and a narrow four-burner stove, and two cabinets. There is no counter space at all. And three of the walls are poured concrete, making it near impossible to drill into them.*

What is a cooking lady to do with a kitchen like this? Yes, this is the whole thing. This doesn’t show about 2″ to the left.

So I’ve done a number of things to alter and fix this space (the stuff in red).  I planned them all out based on storage needs and traffic patterns (in blue). Explanation of everything below.

1. 4′ rail with S-hooks:  stores 10 pots and pans
2. Wall-mounted shelf for counter space runs the width of the wall and is 8″ deep.  For the spoon rest and ingredients used during cooking.
3. Wall-mounted magnetic knife rack from Ikea.
4. 2 shelves above stove for storage of items used during cooking – made them myself from lumber.
5. Corner shelves above the 8 gallon slimline trashcan.
6. Spice rack – adhesive 30 mil magnet, 3′ x 2′ plus metal canisters – materials purchased wholesale.
7. Pantry – made of a narrow/tall Billy (Ikea) bookshelf with doors – in the next room with the refrigerator.
8. Basket and
9. Folding dish rack hanging on a rail above sink (also Ikea)
10. Shallow, tiny shelf (6″) next to sink counter, extra storage.
11. Shelf in left side of under-sink cabinet for 2 levels of storage – toaster and cleaning supplies, plus door-mounted saran wrap and foil holders and a towel rack.
12. 2 drawers in right side of under-sink cabinet for 2 levels of storage – eating utensils and misc. cooking utensils.
13. Bookshelf storage – there are two bookshelves on one end of the dining room (where the refrigerator and the pantry live) that hold plates, baking implements, pitchers, etc.

So that’s how to deal with a tiny kitchen. I’ll show it to you when it’s all fixed up again, it’s nearly done now, just waiting on the magnet to come in. And still struggling somewhat with that concrete wall situation.

*We discovered to our immense chagrin today that one entire end of our little place has walls of poured concrete. Not concrete blocks, but thick poured concrete. Imagine!  You can’t drill in that without something called a hammer-drill, which we don’t have. I’d been wondering why there were no nail holes etc, and that’s why. The concrete part of the house is an addition to the original garage. I have NO IDEA why someone would want to make a concrete room. Afraid of a war breaking out? In desperate need of 100% sound insulation? Really hates termites?

I don’t know why I’m surprised. The concrete walls are only one of several building anomalies we’ve discovered.

In a cottage

Coming to you from my new apartment! I just spent 2 days moving. I’m pretty exhausted, I rather hope I have clothing to wear to work tomorrow, and I have some pretty astounding bruises. But the Important Part is that it is done.

We wanted to do something more in this move than just trade one cookie-cutter apartment for another. Personally, I needed a change. I’ve been commuting to the same job from the same place for 3.5 years, and it’s gotten to be stale and annoying. I know many people do this same sort of thing for much longer, but I am not someone who can do that. This is, for example, my 20th move in the last 16 years. I am not a stay-a-long-time-do-the-same-thing kind of person.

We picked a converted garage built in 1932 to live in. There is exactly zero standard space in here (no white square box rooms), the walls are entirely plaster and wood (quiet!), and we have downsized from almost 1300 sq feet to 650 sq feet (I can hear the collective gasps now). The most challenging part is the kitchen, which if I didn’t know any better I would say was a Manhattan kitchen. It’s tiny, and there isn’t any counter space at all.

And my new crafting “room?” It’s a closet, about 3 feet wide and 2 feet deep. Woo!

We chose our new place based on a few priorities that we thought would make us both saner, happier people.

• No commute. No buses. We wanted to walk or bike to work, and hopefully bike or walk lots of other places too.
• Less stuff. We have been through a two-month process of getting rid of everything we didn’t want or weren’t using. I sold 150 books, for example. And I know I am not done cleaning out.
• No shared walls. This was hard to find, given we didn’t want an entire house. It meant no apartment complexes.
• Less wasted space – we didn’t want more acres of room we rarely used, and the high energy cost that goes along with it.
• Safer neighborhood. Ours has been gradually declining until we felt like we couldn’t take a walk there. Our building had been robbed 8 times that we knew of in 2 years.
• Keep the washer/dryer. This turned out to be the hardest requirement, but I really don’t do laundromats.

There are always compromises to be made with such a definite list of requirements, but our new place fit the bill. Nothing is all roses, but I’m looking forward to the compromises and the ingenuity required to fit into a small place.

Most of all, I’m really looking forward to walking to work tomorrow.

On a side note: It’s NaBloPoMo month again. Caught me totally off guard. But I’m going to try anyway, even though that’s a totally nuts thing to do. And I should post now, for that reason, because it’s 11:52!