index

June/July

On Hiatus..

Yep, Constant Reader, I am on hiatus. Indefinitely. I have no idea when I'll start back up. I figured I should give you a reason why I am on hiatus. Here it is: This is my new digs (with Mike waving from the front step)! Well, not the entire thing. Just the top. The first floor is rented out by a married couple and I am going to rent out the top apartment, a nice 2 bedroom apartment with a loft master bedroom (which makes it 1 1/2 floors) and a large florida room on the south side. See, my parents own a two-family home is upscale and swanky Upper Montclair. I've always wanted to live in the apartment if I ever lived on the east coast because then my landlord would be my parents (which would be very convenient) and its location is really sweet. The house is the last on a dead end (under three huge trees) by the train tracks (which will take a little getting used to), not too far a drive from New York City. Upper Montclair is a lovely, treelined neighborhood with nice houses close to museums and other cultural centers and close to a decent school (Montclair State University). I had expressed interest to my parents in renting it a year ago when I moved into the area. They informed the previous tenant that I wanted in and she wanted to wait until this year when her children will no longer be in school. My parents and I felt that it was acceptable and left it at that. Well, she started getting behind on her rent. Way behind. At one point, she was almost 6 months behind in rent (almost six thousand dollars behind). My parents decided that they had enough and told her to move out. This month, she did. And she left a disaster. The place was filthy. There was trash everywhere, food still in the fridge. It was like she never left, really. There was newspaper and stuff covering everything. She left lots of furniture: four beds, many desks, three dessers. It was incredible. My Martha Stewart mom nearly had a heart attack. It was disgusting. So, not only do I have to move into the place, I've got to clean up the mess that the previous tenant and her three children left. To make matters worse, not only were they very filthy to begin with (the carpet in the loft bedroom hasn't been vacuumed in the two years that she lived there), but she had a cat that.. well.. let's say she didn't clean after its mess. I can't believe that people can live in these conditions. Granted, I am a bit messy but atleast I'm hygenic. Goodness. So, we've started cleaning. And cleaning. And cleaning. We finally got it in a reasonably managable state. But we've still got a long way to go. We've still got to paint the rooms and move all of my stuff and Mike's stuff into it. Isn't the florida room beautiful? The entire south wall is nothing but windows and wood. So, I'm on hiatus. I'm still answering email. I'm still talking to people online. I just don't have the time I want to pump into here while I'm moving. I promise not to go away for good. I will be back. And in a new home and with new possibilities. I'm happy for the change and I'm looking forward to the future, but I'm also scared and sad that I'm moving on to this new role and new responsibility. Mike and I will be living together, alone, with a joint bank account and a new dedication to each other. I sit in the new place, seeing the boxes of my stuff in the living room and I'm amazed. This will be my new home... my new life... I've thrown away so many things in the move. Many memories. But I know I'll make new ones. New wonderful and sad and happy and glorious ones. I'm looking forward to our first Christmas in the New Digs. Our first dinner party. We'll be such yuppies! Got any advice for Mike and I? I'd love to hear from you. Iko in the florida room, seen through the kitchen. No, I'm not barefoot and I'm not pregnant.

© Copyright 1999, Eileene Coscolluela
[woolgathering]