Sing Praise to Stuff

Today David and I made progress on moving into our new home. Not great strides, we are still sleeping in the cottage, but good progress.
It is tough because we are waiting on estimates from contractors and moving in accordingly. There is carpet in three rooms. Yuck. It is dirty and well, carpet. So if the contractor does nothing else we'd like him to install a wood floor in the bedroom and hang a door. We have a birch platform bed with a bookcase headboard made by Pompanoosic Mills.
http://www.pompy.com/furniture/?category=9&product=2438
Lucky for us it fits perfectly into the second floor dormers.
BUT anyway.
We are setting our bedroom up in what will be, at some point, our sitting room with TV and computer.
We need lots of doors hung. The previous owners pooped out and instead of finishing the addition they sold the place. But not before installing lots of dowels and curtains over all the doors. So while we are moving in we are also trying to foil Monk and Arrows future attempts at great adventure. Blocking doors wherever possible.
So we set up the bed...
And just before leaving for the night? Laid down on it. Heaven.
Soon we will be able to lay side by side in the same bed. Bliss. We will be able to spoon.
I unpacked my CD's... My music...
I fondled my cloth. I began constructing the layout of my sewing room... We unearthed some clothing...
We are so rich... So incredibly wealthy.
To think we've been separated from our belongings for just 2.5 months. To unwrap cherished belongings is so phenomenal. To have so much and be so blessed even better.

Today We Move.

We have rented a truck, found some good help and are taking our goods our of storage. Want to know how good it feels?
I can't tell you how excited we are. To have our own pots and pans and have the ease of cooking with known objects? To have more than three pair jeans and five shirts. We are wealthy.
Soon I will unearth my cloth, threads, all the stuff I had begun to collect to make assemblages. When I feel that urge to make something my choice of materials will be broad. Hmm. Contentment.
Within a week or so we will have a landline and internet connection.
We are wealthy.

This is the end...

My only friend the end.
Jim Morrison got to be dark and forboding. So heavy and raw. Poor guy.
No. I only write that because I have no idea if blogger will publish my whole post. And as I start thinking about getting a REAL internet connection, I wonder if I will continue writing on this one or move the whole blog back to my original home at every-single-day.
Next week sometime we will have a connection. I hope anyway.
Today I met a wonderful person. His name is Harry. He must be in his 60's, He gives Canyon tours, lives close to us, studies a huge dictionary. Reads and knows how to laugh at life.
We laughed so hard it lifted my spirit. At the end of our time together he offered to help us move. That is just how folks are here.

I think I have reached the limits of my Palm Treo's ability to work in the manner I hope it will. The last post, Comforts, was originally 6 or 7 paragraphs. It won't go through. This is a test post to see if it cuts me off again...

Comforts

I like keeping an ongoing list of comforts in my mind. I like to go over the list regularly each day. Because our world has changed so much in moving across country it is helpful to remind myself of the things that comfort me

An Unwitting Collaboration

Before moving, while packing up my stuff I gave the J-ster a bunch of stuff Among them the beginnings of a stuffed felt bird, an unfinished project I could not see myself completing.
She took it up with gusto, creating 'Betty the Bird' a hatted, bejeweled creature with surprising personality. But that is just how the J-ster is.
Look over to the right to see a cell phone photo of the little bugger.
David and I are still giddy about the new house. We visit it each day making sure the gas stove is keeping the pipes from bursting and daydreaming about the layout and completion of the projects we will be able to do.
It is a cute little house, big house. It is supposedly 1600+ SqF. The largest house we have ever lived in.
The heating contractor will come on Monday and I have two appointments with carpenters. We need estimates.
I is snowing right now. We probably got 3 or 4 inches over night. Have I mentioned how dry the snow is?

392 Excitement, Quirks and Idiosincracies

Today we own it. The cutest little house in Flagstaff!
This week I went to the Ponderosa Utility Corp. To have the water put in our name. I fell in love.
It is a one room outbuilding type office run by a woman named Jean. It's surrounded by a chain link fence that never gets locked. There is a drop box/mailbox painted blue mounted to the right of the gate. There is a hole cut into the fence and a slit cut into the drop box. That is where you pay your monthly bill.
The water tastes so good that we won't need to buy water from a bottle again. It comes out cold and tasty. Jean says it doesn't need treatment, unlike our Kachina neighbors on the other side of I17.
I picked up the keys around 3 o'clock. After I picked David up we bought a bottle of wine and went over, toasting in the kitchen, near the gas burning stove. We hugged super hard and walked through each room.
There is wall to wall carpet in three rooms, it's a bum deal because there is no hardwood underneath and that can't be a priority for a while.
The electrical needs some help. Some switches are horizontal and counter intuitively installed. Homeowner installed.
I hope to have an archway or if possible, French doors installed between the two rooms I will call my studios. I don't know how or if it will work because it is a load bearing wall.
There is a room upstairs that David has claimed for himself. I can't wait to see what he will do for himself.
We'll live at the corners of two streets named after Indian tribes, under Ponderosa and a few Aspen on a double lot.
We saw the biggest hawk I have ever seen today. I need to identify it.
................oOo.....................
Two nights ago we went to see Children of Men.
http://www.childrenofmen.net/
It was awesome. I loved it, feel haunted and keep thinking about it. I didn't know what to expect.

Immune support

I was diagnosed with walking pneumonia on Saturday. A startling diagnosis to be sure. Walking pneumonia is different than pneumonia in that it will not turn into the bedridden hospitalization that you hear about.
So antibiotics, and inhaler and the continued use of Mucinex are on the schedule.
David went to a local herbalist called Winter Sun Trading Co. and got us an immune booster tincture.
http://www.wintersun.com/
So it is time to slow down and heal. No more eating snow either.
On to other things.
My Sister in Law told my mother about The Other Boleyn Girl, by Philippa Gregory.
http://www.philippagregory.com/
My mother went straight to the bookstore and bought it. I jumped on the bandwagon this weekend. It really is as good as my SIL says. Fun, pageantry, good writing.
I have been finding immense satisfaction and inspiration in the pages of Jennifer New's Book called Drawing from Life, The Journal as Art. Just to give you an idea of one of the artists that interest me, go here:
http://www.artsnashville.org/registry/?scan=az&main=artist&id=3
There are some big names too. David Bryne, Lynda Barry and of course John Copeland, whom I have discussed and admired on my main blog.
I have been really enjoying the respite of delving into my journal over a cup of coffee. I have been sewing small works, and enjoying it. But I draw upon my journals in such a major way that it is important to keep engaged in the process.
I sometimes, secretly think I should expand my site to include my journals.
Three more days and we will own a home. I got a call from the heating contractor saying they could probably come on Monday. Pray.

Keeping on

Today was the day that I'd told myself to go get antibiotics. And 8" of snow fell instead. So I took Debra's advice and asked David to pick up some Musinex on his way home from the office, slept in and stayed warm and safe. He came home early and I have my first dose in me.
It is good he came home early because the sander-the large municipal trucks that plow and sand, and also drive with chains on their tires, had trouble getting up our hill Spun out its tires. Making me want David home and in my fold.
He came around 1, parked the car at the bottom of the hill, walked up and shoveled. He wasn't wearing gloves and was incredibly cold when he arrive safely.
My cold, although beginning to break up is still quite bad. I can't breath deeply. Am wheezy. I itch. I am tired of laying around and am ready to feel better.
Mom, it is a bummer that I got this cold but apparently, whether you gave it to me or not, my body was ready for it. Don't feel badly. It is one of those things.
Jods, I am sorry I didn't call you today, it takes too much energy to breath.
Debra, can you please email me your web address?
Kristine, I can't comment on your blog and it makes me sad.
I forgot to mention that Arrow tried to make a great escape into the great white yonder today. When David was in and out shoveling snow, he'd left a pile of snow on the rug just inside the door. I went to shake it out and Arrow made a run for it. I had my Acorns on (the best slippers in the world with a cork and rubber soul both) and corraled him as I shrieked, "no!". Stopping him in his cold wet (and to him) completely foreign tracks. He made an about face and buried himself under the bed overs for the rest of the afternoon.
He rests happily on my lap as I complete this post.
Tomorrow I will get the antibiotics.

Cough, cough, cough.

We are both sick now. It went straight to the chest. I don't know if I think it is bronchitis, yesterday I heard chest wheezing in the morning but not the rest of the day or today.
So. I feel better today though I just woke up. David is grumpily worse.
I have recently thought I would like to make soap for David and I. I have found the book I would like to learn from but someone has not returned it to the library for two years; http://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d.html/104-5324899-5829544?ie=UTF8&a=0882669656 .
I don't want to purchase it until I know this is something I want to do. First I need to find out how our favorite soap is made. We buy handmade soap, scented with essential oils. I *think* we buy melt and pour soaps, which is the easier way to make your own soap. The other way is called cold press and requires a six week cure time. I need to go back to the library and see if they can do an interlibrary loan.
A few weeks ago David and I cashed in our change at a machine that gave full monetary value if you choose a gift certificate. We chose Amazon. Yesterday our order came from them! Excitement. I got Drawing From Life, The Journal as Art by Jennifer New. http://www.pergl.net/jennifernew/drawing.htm
David got a box set of music, Tortoise: The Lazarus Taxon. check out this review at one of his favorite music resources; http://www.pitchforkmedia.com/article/record_review/37797/Tortoise_A_Lazarus_Taxon. One of the disks was a DVD of short videos put to their music. I love David's interest in this sort of creative expression. I love watching visuals put to music because it is watching art, a visual expression of sound. I am not talking about MTV type videos.
So we haven't fallen off the face of the earth, we are just sorta sick. I bet it was all that snow eating I did with Patty on Friday. Too damn much fun.
Hey did I say our closing date is the 18th? Not the 23rd? It got bumped up. Today we will get a date for the heat installation. You know I am going to want to set up my studio space with or without it! I will layer up, I want to sew! Dye! Make!

Scratchy

Early morning. I have the beginnings of a cold. Am taking Zicam. I have a bad sounding cough.
Last night was a bad nights sleep. Monk decided there was something to be hunted in the air. Only he could see what he was looking at but it entailed sitting on the bed beside me, purring loudly and occassionally standing on me to get closer while meowing strangely.
He has pointy needle paws.
So I brought my covers into the sewing room, because it has a door. A few minutes later, David dragged my mattress into the room. Though he didn't bring his own. We are sleeping on two twin sized beds right now.
Oh well.
It made me start daydreaming about the new house which needs doors hung on several closets and the master bedroom. Then I began thinking about all the different little things that need doing.
I did get to sleep after a while.
David stayed awake.
Monk and Arrow would much prefer that we become nocturnal.
Now I need to go back to sleep.

Does this work?

I figure if I can do live link (not embedded) maybe I can send photos too.

Power< Identity< change

Today I hung out with Patty. I had so much fun! I will post more photos soon.
We took a walk in the urban trails of Flagstaff. She is an ethnobiologist. She showed me some new plants, and had me smell some great plants too. She was fascinated with the snowflakes, about 3 or 4 inches fell overnight and this morning. We began eatting snow by picking it up with our hands. Then we walked up to a fallen tree amidst a large secluded area of the park. I bent over and started eatting directly, no hands involved. She looked at me and said, "I like your technique there." and we both started laughing really hard.
It was a soul soothing morning.
Earlier in the week I came home feeling disjointed and ill at ease. I felt like I needed a job at that very moment and allowed the ambiguity of this time to overwhelm me. David said something that clicked, "We are putting just too much pressure on ourselves. How long have we been here? 6 weeks?" and I allowed myself to calm down.
Angela later said, "you need to foster your inner Erin Brockovich. Walk into the place where you want to work and tell them to hire you. If they don't like you, tell them they can fire you".
I like this advice.
It is time to reinvent myself, ourselves. This is the awesome thing about living in the United States. We have the ability to move. To make things happen for ourselves.
Our closing date on the house is scheduled for January 23. Excitement.
So walking with Patty, talking, being outdoors for so long was good for me. Allowing myself to relax was what I needed. And then all of the sage words of advice I have gotten this week settled in.
Thanks folks.

HummyHo. Snow.

This is the story.
Phoenix is at 1500 feet above sea level. It gets to about 35 at night and 60 during the day right now. It doesn't snow, that I am aware of.
Well, and I have to believe it, the Phoenixians drive up here to play in the snow and build snowmen. On Mountainaire Road there are three snowmen far from any houses.
David says when I was away just after a snowstorm there were people on the side of Highway 17, playing and sledding along side the road. When he started to drive home that night after sun down, there was a traffic jam.
Now if you ask me this sounds a lot like planning a day at the beach when I was a kid, Hammonasset actually, http://dep.state.ct.us/stateparks/parks/hammonasset.htm. It would take a traffic jam on I95 and hiding from the ranger who took the fee at the front gate (even though they charge by axle and not people in each automobile). Hub cap picnics of cold fried chicken and cucumber salad. It is an odd reversal! Mountain snow for ocean warmth and sun.
It is supposed to snow tomorrow, 1 to 4 inches. I hope it does so that I might see some of this goofiness. Maybe it won't happen because it will be a Friday instead of a Saturday. But maybe it will finish snowing for Saturday and folks will gather their children to drive two hours and 5500 feet in elevation to enjoy snow.

Oh the Whoas

The job search continues. Today I went to a florist who is looking for a part time designer. She practically ushered me out when she heard I had no floral design experience. Clearly stating she did not want to train anyone and asking if I was interested in a sales position if one were to open, yeah whatever.
Then I went to a local highend framer only to find out the owner would be away for another week.
I have some cover letters to write on more interesting positions.
We saw The pursuit of happyness yesterday. I was fantastic. It resonated with our current situation. Resilience is key right. Now. Relaxing and allowing life to unfold is the way to go.
After the movie I stumbled on this quote by Martha Graham, "There is a vitality, a life-force, an energy, a quickening that is translated through you into action and because there is only one of you in all of time, this expression is unique. And if you block it, it will never exist through any other medium and be lost."
So we are keeping our eye on the prize.

I sure do look forward to moving into our home. Looks like the heating contractor won't be able to do his thing until mid February.
I borrowed another book in the Edge Chronicles series today. It is a childrens series and is really good. The book is worth the illustrations alone but the storyline is just as good.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Edge_Chronicles

Still Pondering

Deb and Debra left comments to the last post. Maybe it is because I get the comments forwarded to my gmail account that I cannot access who is actually commenting. I am working on this and am checking out Haloscan.
Returning to Flag has been somewhat rocky for me. Being at my folks house was comforting on so many levels. Chief among them the simple familiarity of objects and surroundings,people and place. Living in a furnished rental is challenging. We are grateful to have found it and to live here, no mistaking it. It has provided the opportunity to find a home, explore, and is short term without a contract.
The difficulty is not having our own belongings surrounding us. Not having *our* coffee cups, not being able to look on our bookshelves to find the next good read, not having a studio, the internet. I am jones'in on that account! It's silly, I know.
So. Last night we hung out at Patty's house, for a small New Years gathering. Unfortunately we missed the pinecone drop. We were going to go to the early drop...we like our sleep. ;) But we had fun, met some folks and went home.
When JJ and I went to Manhattan we visited <A HREF="http://www.othermusiccom">Other Music</A>. It was good fun to introduce The J to a music store that had three of her CD choices in stock. I still have not listened to the <A HREF="http://www.dragcity.com/catalog/records/dc303.html">Joanna Newsom</A> CD. Later today.
In the meantime we are going to see The Pursuit of Happyness with Will Smith.