A Place Called Home

Yesterday I went to see how the new house is coming along. My parents' new house that is. I mean, the mortgage will be in my name and I have to sign all the papers. But for all intents and purposes it's Mom & Dad's. I went to their house yesterday at the tail end of the garage sale they were having. So much stuff to get rid of. Stuff I didn't even remember they had. Some stuff I don't think I've ever seen. And some of my stuff. Still! I thought I'd got it all. But no. My old desk was in the garage sale. I've had that desk since High School. And up until I moved a few months ago, I was still using it. I suggested to Mom that if she couldn't sell it, I could find a place for it in my little house here. Then someone called her back saying they wanted it. I felt a little pang.

So last night I headed home; I'd been watching the World Series before I left. Albert Pujols had just hit his first home run of the series. By the time I got here though, Albert had hit two more! A dizzying display of power, fit for the record books.

Speaking of books, the shelves I put up in the spare bedroom fell down on Friday with a loud crash. I was downstairs and when I heard it, the first thing I thought was "Oh God, not the computer!" I don't know why, the computer is on a perfectly stable desk. But it was the shelves where I'd put my baseball card albums and books and memorabilia items. And my sheet music books. All of it fell on my bass amp, bringing with it little bits of dry wall. I guess the anchors I put in the wall weren't strong enough. The only casualty seemed to be the big Dalek. His eye stalk broke off. Everything else was fine. I've decided to be safe; I won't put up another wall shelf there. I'll get another bookcase instead. I spent part of the afternoon patching up the holes with spackle.

Little by little this place is coming together. Last weekend, I pruned the rose bushes out front. I used this pair of heavy-duty utility scissors since I have no gardening implements. It worked pretty well. But boy those flowers sure are serious about the whole thorny thing. Next time I'll have to find some gloves. I was gonna ask Dad if I could borrow his pruning shears this weekend to tackle that tree in front of the kitchen window. Just to trim it so you can actually pass by on the sidewalk without getting smacked in the face. But when I took a look out there Friday, it had been trimmed already. I guess the landlord has someone come round every now and then.

I also put up a new lighting fixture in the kitchen. Since the cover on the old one broke, I'd been living with the bare florescent bulbs. I got a fixture the same size that fit in the same place, but I started installing it before I realized I'd have to cut the power to the house, and work using only the daylight from the windows. Yeah, that didn't go so well. I took too long, it got dark, and I was standing on a ladder holding this fixture up over my head with a flashlight clenched between my chest and my chin. Then I dropped the flashlight.

I managed to get it fastened enough so that I could let it go. And soon after, the lights were back on. I felt pretty handy. Except for the whole getting hit in the face with the wire leads. They actually drew blood. Not enough though that I had to hide from my parents until it healed, rather than explaining what boneheaded accident I'd had this time. I wore long pants so they wouldn't see the very pronounced burn mark from Rory's tailpipe. Though I proudly showed it off to my Club mates at the Motortober event. My own little MINI branding. And I got a free oil change and lunch to boot.

So a little bit of damage done, but some reward too for good intentions. And as much as I can manage, I feel at home.