The use of seat cushions as flotation aids should be a last resort.

But if my living room ever floods, I won't drown.

Yes, I finally got a brand-spanking-new couch!!!
Having only one chair was a little inconvenient. So I caved in :)
I was planning on getting a futon or pull-out couch, but when I went to look at some, none of them were quite up to my standards. I expect that they at least be halfway comfortable in both seating and sleeping positions. They were neither. So I went to Scandinavian Designs, fell in love with this little brown lump, and adopted it right there as my very own. Brought it home in the back of L's truck, sticking out about a foot and a half...




 

"A leopard sprawled in the crook of an acacia tree, rising now and then to bite on the remains of a gazelle he had tucked away in a nearby branch, as one would get up from a couch to find some inviting edible in the refrigerator."

When I'm good, I'm very very good...

And 27% evil. Hehehe.

www.olava.org is 57% evil. Who knew?

But I am now 100% moved out of the old digs, into the new!!!  K and L helped me the first weekend, then I borrowed my grandparents van to finish up. And my grandma and cousin and her new hubby helped on Sunday.  But I'm still only about 30% unpacked.  

I'm still sort of in awe that I found this place.  It's got two bedrooms, which means I finally have my very own studio!!!  And it has wood floors, central heating, a bathtub, closets, and a 'real' kitchen!!!  With dishwasher, cabinets, and room for a table!!  And a garage (with washer/dryer) for my car!  No, the washer/dryer aren't for my car, the garage is!   Well, it's full of boxes and plants at the moment (actually got most of the plants outside yesterday afternoon) but I'll be able to park in it once I'm unpacked.  I have a hall closet!!!  I have a HALL!!!

Way more than I was initially looking for or even thought I could find in my price range.  I almost went for another studio, twice as big as my last place, but still a studio...  But K told me to hold out for what I really wanted, with a separate space for a studio.  She was right (yet again, that girl's invaluable).  I really wasn't counting on them offering me this place, because there were a lot of people at the open house, and one was even a former student of the owner.  
But I guess they must not have behaved themselves in class, cuz now it's MINE!

And there's surprising few places for rent in this area right now.  They're either total dumps or one bedroom apartments/studios (with no yard) for about what I was paying before, or 6 bedroom 'estates' with rent more than my entire income!   I don't have many criteria, but those I do have are non-negotiable. (Has to allow a cat, and have room for a studio and a garden all my own.  And it couldn't be a soul-less box in a huge complex...) 
Since I found this place (second week of April) I've kept an eye on what else is out there, and there's absolutely nothing that I would even be remotely interested in living in!  I was actually even considering the possibility of having to live in an apartment, or moving to Santa Rosa or Rohnert Park.  K tells me that I live a charmed life.  She may be right.

So now comes the monumental task of unpacking.  
I even got everything out of my storage unit, mostly art supplies, tools, books, records... 
I'm setting things aside as I unpack, so I can have a garage sale this summer...

Here's my new living room, from the door to the kitchen:


It's a work in progress.  I finally, finally, finally get to have my records with me again!!!  That's them on the right, in the bottom of the glass shelves under the window.  Which also happens to be the perfect spot for my orchids.  So far.  They're still alive after two days, we'll see if they still like it there in a few months...  

Next on the agenda is finding a sofa.  I need to get a pull-out, or a futon, so people don't have to sleep on an air mattress on the floor when they come visit.  I kind of need more than one chair for people to sit on.  Fights have almost broken out over that chair, because nobody wants to be the only one on a chair when everyone else is on the floor.  Might be kinda funny if it wasn't so sad :P


It is quite a spectacular chair though, don't you think? It's Swedish, and won a design award.  Mine has a different fabric, due for reupholstering soon. And my stool is in pieces at the moment, need to reassemble that too.

Really, the garden is absolute first on the agenda.  
I felt kind of bad leaving my old garden as bare as I did.  But not really.  It's not as bare as it was when I moved in.  I left the grass and less than a dozen plants (not counting what was already there when I moved in)... but since they're selling the place, I figure they can just plant one or two plants, throw some bark on the rest of it and it'll match the rest of the yards 'landscaping'. (see pictures below)







Move-In, July 2006 





June/September 2007





Move-Out, May 2008




It just seems bare now because I had so much planted. I didn't realize just how much until I had everything out in pots. Yikes!!!  I took almost everything I could reasonably expect to live through replanting. I lost the first wave of rosebuds in the move, but the plants are doing ok, and should sprout new buds in a month or so. Everything else is doing great so far.

I just need to get things in the ground now.  There's planter beds along two sides of my new yard, but at the moment they're overrun with ivy! Kind of pretty, but if I want to plant anything else, it all has to come out. But after two weeks of going nonstop, I just don't have the energy or strength to pull it out right now.
I must have mentioned it to my boss when I was telling her about my new place, because yesterday she came to me and asked me if I wanted the empty planter boxes and barrels on the back deck at work.  I guess when they were in this building years ago they'd had a 'garden committee', and had a bunch of flowers planted in them, but now they're just old wooden boxes filled with nice fluffy dried up dirt.  So I took 5 home yesterday, and got my tomatoes and squash replanted in them.  They'll need to be replanted as they grow bigger, but it'll do for now, better than the little plastic pots.  There's a couple more small boxes that need some work before being used again, the metal band holding the bottoms together is gone, and I'll need help getting the two wine barrels from the front porch...  But that can wait a few weeks.
I also got some plants in the ground out in the front yard yesterday, a couple little rose bushes, lavender, a patch of crocosmia, a couple Heuchera (ok, I'll quit being nerdy, 'Coral Bells') a couple other bulbs that might be Amaryllis?  Only a few more still in pots that need to be planted soon.  The rest can wait until I get the beds cleared.
As soon as I get the plants stable (and off those pesky life support machines) I'll get started on the studio.  Can't wait to start painting again! I'll be able to set up a still life and not have to move it to have room to eat dinner! It's been a while since I had an actual studio, I'm still a little giddy about it :)

The downsides (so far):
No free internet.
The ivy in the planter beds.
Afternoon traffic noise:  it's right on the corner next to Bodega Ave.  
My neighbor smokes in her backyard (right up against mine)

But overall, I'd say the plusses far outweight the minuses...