Hella Stella

We've had some bad luck with our furniture since the big move.

For the first while, it was all buried under boxes. I remember the feeling of being unable to walk a straight line to the double bed, and stepping over saws to make breakfast. I'm glad those days are gone.

When we did get unpacked, I noticed that a lot of what we had didn't work that well in the space. Our couch was a broken loveseat, too small to fit a visitor or two, and too rickety to use properly anyway. Our bed had always been too small for us, but it was especially obvious now. I woke up every morning with half my body off the mattress, hands clinging to the sheets. Falling out of bed is particularly dangerous when you're surrounded by drying paint, nails, and splintered wood.

With some of our savings, we decided to replace a few key pieces, namely the couch and the bed. We bought our glorious king-sized bed and mattress, counting down the weeks until it would be delivered to us. The mattress arrived first, so we set it up on the ground and slept like that for a couple of weeks. When the frame arrived, the factory had made a mistake and sent us faulty legs for the thing. Unwilling to wait another three weeks for the replacement, we propped up our fancy new frame with paving bricks.

Yes. You read correctly. Our stylin' bed frame was held up by bricks. Eventually the legs were installed.

Somewhere in there our fridge died, and we swapped our used stove for another used stove in a better colour. Insert swearing about Craigslist crazies here (kinda makes you hate people, you know?).

Then we ordered the couch, which was cute, on sale, and folded out into a bed. Yes! Score for us! Except that it didn't seem very well made, and we were nervous about how wobbly it was. Sure enough, my darling father-in-law sat on it two days ago and the leg broke right off. Would you like to see how the couch looks now?

After getting a whopping two hours of sleep last night, I called in sick to work and proceeded to go into Nutso Unpack Mode on my house.

In order to lose some weight, aka some boobage, I am eating less and cutting down my sugar intake. I'd like to think it's doing some good, except that I ditched the scale during the move and I have absolutely no clue how much I weigh. Not good planning.

You know what else I threw out during the move? Our TV. It was old and partially chewed up by doggies, but it worked. I reasoned that we were going to buy a newer TV when we were more settled, but I miscalculated one thing.

We went broke.

So now we are without an old TV and also without hope for a new TV. Not good planning, yet again. We've had plenty of offers from friends who have old sets collecting dust in their houses, but I'm starting to notice that we are oddly productive without a television. Go figure. Maybe I should hold out for a bit longer, although I really miss watching Harry Potter.

Tonight promises to be stormy and humid. I'm also quite hungover and moderately grumpy. I think I'll stay home with a very long to-do list, and knock off the chores one by one. My top priorities are painting the recording closet and reorganizing the bedroom closet. I'm also annoyed that our mitre saw is still living on top of the kitchen table, so I'll move that if I can. I wouldn't mind giving the floor a good mop too.

Yes, I know, that's a lot for one evening.... Luckily I'm a night owl!

Last night I got my final invoice for the renovations that we hired out, aka, the renos we didn't know how to do ourselves.

While I was expecting the amount to be high, there's something different about *knowing* and *seeing it on a piece of paper.*

I cried for a while, cancelled a dance lesson I had set up, and moped around the bedroom. My BH very sweetly tried to cheer me up, again and again, to no avail.

Eventually he turned to the internet, hoping to find something funny enough to make me crack a smile. I think we had been watching funny videos for over half an hour before he hit the jackpot.

Folks, this is what brought me out of my debt-induced funk.

I laughed and cried and laughed some more, and although I still feel depressed about money, at least I can watch that video on repeat.

Speaking of money, tomorrow morning we get our new fridge. It can't come soon enough... That tiny leak is now a fucking lake and the dogs keep wandering through it. I can't keep up with the mopping.

Next week we get our shed, and I'm clinging to the knowledge of its arrival like a lifeboat. Part of the reason we're not unpacked yet is that I have several large items sitting in my house that should really be in a shed. This includes a large-ass weight bench, a giant wardrobe, a workshop table, three trunks, all my luggage, all our tools and a variety of doors.

I know. It's dumb, but there you have it. I want that shed, and I want it bad.

So, before I realized how expensive this was all going to be, I set aside enough money for a new computer with recording capabilities. You know... The one that is supposed to go in my recording closet to facilitate actual recording? THAT ONE. The responsible gal in me wants to put those savings towards my debt. The musician in me wants me to buy the damn computer, since I'm probably not going to be buying much else for a while.

I have yet to decide what to do.

At least it's Friday, right? I will crack open a beer and hang the laundry on our new line. I'll snuggle the bulldogs and kiss their drooly faces. Then I'll crack open five more beers. Then I'll pass out in a lawnchair.

That should lift a bit of the stress away.

When our fridge started leaking, I shrugged it off. The fridge is nearly new, and the water coming out of the bottom seemed harmless.

Silly me.

You see, the guy we bought the house from turned out to be the cheapest man on the face of the planet. Perhaps worse than my former landlord, if you can believe it.

A few examples:

He saved every screw he ever had, so when we needed to remove a simple piece of wood from a wall, we changed our drill bit no less than seven times to account for the changing heads. Deck screws, drywall screws, metal screws, support plugs, nails.... You name it.

The "new kitchen" he installed in our unit before we bought the place was actually a collection of cabinets he got for free, and then frankensteined together with his screw collection.

Also, when he bought appliances, he bought them used from the cheapest places in the city. As such, they are all falling apart. Case in point.... Our fridge.

When the fridge repair guy came to the house yesterday, I guess he thought we were making a big deal out of nothing. A little bit of water. Pffft. Then he looked at the back of the fridge and said, "Oh boy."

Anyway, we need to buy a new fridge within the next few days before our compressor completely dies and our fridge runs out of coolant.

The thing is, I'm so deeply in debt that the extra punch in the gut from a new fridge won't feel like much. It's just frustrating because it shouldn't really be happening. The fridge is only a few years old.

Regardless. I'm still happy to have a working washer and dryer. I'm happy about my new banjo. I'm happy I can take a normal shower. And that's enough for me.

Some house updates.... Since people actually seem to be interested in it.

Remember that nonsense with my showerhead? Like, the pipe coming out of the wall was a weird size and therefore nothing would fit on it?

I went to four stores, including one that specializes in PLUMBING for chrissakes, and nobody could help me. The last one I tried, the salesguy shook his head and told me I was screwed. "The piece you need is very hard to find. Even Preston Hardware doesn't carry it, and they carry everything."

Even Preston Hardware doesn't have it? Well, I really AM screwed, I thought.

But two days ago I found myself in Preston Hardware buying Murphy Oil, and I thought I'd take a gander at the plumbing section. Just to see. A nice man asked if I needed help, and I described my problem.

"You have an old clawfoot tub, I imagine?" he said.

"Uh, yes... How did you know that?" I asked.

"This is the part you need," he smiled, holding up a piece of metal that cost a measly $3.99.

"Are you sure?" I asked.

"Oh yes. This will fix your problem. I'm positive."

Sure enough, I went home, installed my new find, and I can now take a normal shower. THANK YOU PRESTON HARDWARE. Everyone else, including YOU, specialty plumbing store... You suck.

In less triumphant news, I just realized that the "blanket" I've been sleeping under for the past week is actually my tablecloth. Ahem. No wonder it was so lightweight.

My BH and I popped into a few antique stores over the weekend to find a teak sideboard. We were wandering around the gigantic antique market in Old Ottawa South when I saw it... A little tenor banjo. Cheap, ancient, and oh so pretty. Did I mention cheap? I love buying instruments from people who don't actually specialize in music. It sometimes translates into affordable banjos for yours truly.

So instead of having a nice sideboard in the living room, we now have a new banjo in the music closet. I'm feeling pretty thrilled about it. Who needs a place to put a TV, anyway? I don't even have a TV right now. But I do have two hands and a WICKED NEW BANJO.

We accomplished a lot this weekend - our laundry area is totally finished, which means clean clothes and some motherfucking shelves (if you thought they were just regular shelves, well, you were wrong). Next up, we have to put together the dining room table and donate eleventy million books. Do you know how many books we have? So many. I can't even believe how many. It's time to thin the herd, so to speak.

Anyway. I can shower now. I think that's all I really wanted to say.

It has been an odd few days. Do I say that a lot? I think I do.

First off, we are now living at the new house. It's a disaster, but it's OUR disaster. We love it.

Although technically we're in the same neighbourhood, we're far enough away from our old street that everything seems brand new. We miss our old neighbours, but it's been nice to get away from our former landlord (aaah, it feels good to type that) and the dog-abusing shithead who lived not far from us. May they both get their own.

Yesterday was a break from unpacking... We went to Montreal for an afternoon and had a brilliant time at the Jean Talon market. After a bit of clothes shopping and wood-fired pizza, we headed back home. Unfortunately, when we arrived back in Ottawa, my grandmother had to go to the emergency room for an unspecified pain. She's doing fine now, but it was a late night. We sat with her and helped her fill out papers. Emerg is such a strange place... To bide the time, you are forced to observe everyone in the room because there are really no books or magazines. Confined space and panicking babies. Delightful!

The renos continue, and continue, and continue..... This is the week of electrical work. Our electrician, a cheerful guy named Dave, will be slaving away in this crazy heat for at least the next four days. Lucky guy. Good thing he has a sense of humour.

Most of the renos are coming together fine, but we've hit a bump in the road. We currently don't have a shower head because the pipe coming out of the wall is too small. It doesn't fit anything in standard size, and you can't buy adapters or heads to match this pipe. Yeah, I know..... It's dumb. We'll either be showering without a proper head forever, or we'll have the plumber come and replace the pipes. I don't like either of those options, but hey. At least we have shower curtains now. No more show for the neighbours!

For those of you wondering about this mysterious EcoLawn product... You can buy it at Home Hardware in the Glebe. It's a mix of seeds that look like grass, but aren't. They only grow to be about six inches high and then they stop. It creates this lovely soft lawn that doesn't need to be watered or cut. It grows in shade or sun, and it's purrty. Our friends planted it when they designed their yard, and we were hooked.

Man, my writing is really sucking ass these days. Apologies. I can't write eloquently when I'm this tired.

I'm considering heading out to Blog Out Loud this Wednesday, but I guess it will all depend on the house madness. Maybe I'll see y'all there?

Progress:

- We are getting a fence in the next few days.

- My recording closet is nearing completion!

- Morty tried to poo in a rose bush yesterday and quickly changed his plan. Wise puppy. Nobody wants to pull thorns out of a bulldog's ass.

- Frida has nightmares and occasionally howls into my ear at night.

- My BH looks especially sexy when he is painting the new house. It's.... Distracting.

- Did I mention that my recording closet is almost done???

WTF.

Hi friends!

I went to Peterborough for my little sister's graduation. It was awesome. I'm so proud of her. Just to make sure I fully enjoyed myself, I drank beer and went to my favourite antique store. You know how it is - without beer and antiquing, Peterborough makes me scream.

At the antique store, I bought a pair of vintage bulldog bookends, and a framed proclamation from Queen Victoria uniting the provinces of Canada. Pictures to come. That antique store impresses me every time I go. They also have an impressive collection of vintage porn.

The renovations are going well, minus a few hiccups. The hiccups relate mostly to the installation of our wood floor, which makes me want to cry every time I open a new box. Considering that the renos have been pretty smooth otherwise, crying over engineered wood flooring isn't so bad. But man, does it ever make me cry.

My demolition permit came through, and that garage is a comin' down next week. I can't wait!! Bulldozers and half naked dudes hauling concrete! It doesn't get any better.

That's all I've got in the tank for now.

I'm alive!

I've done more painting and demolition in the past two weeks than I've ever attempted.... Ever. I also know the layout of Home Depot pretty much by heart, which is not a skill I hoped to master. But there you have it.

The next week will be spent putting down a wood floor. Then we actually start moving in. I honestly can't wait to see it come together.

But enough about the house! Surely other things have been going on... Right? Here's a rundown of my activities as of late:

- I played the Tulip Fest, but because they didn't have a CD tent, I missed out on the chance to actually sell anything. Thank goodness it was a paying gig.

- I don't think I'm going to play any gigs for the rest of the summer. My rationalization is that I want to give my brain some time to enjoy the new house, and maybe even have some quiet writing time. Also.... I'm just burned out.

- It's become clear to me in the past couple of weeks that I'm good at being bossy. Maybe I could make a career out of that...

- My little sister is graduating! I'll head up to Peterborough next week for the ceremony. My enjoyment of Peterborough is always tied to two things: how much I can drink while I'm there, and how many antique stores I can hit up. If I do neither of these things, I tend to dislike my visit. Sorry, town.

- The neighbours on my new street are lovely. This is good, because they have some tough competition from my current beloved street.

- Despite extensive planning, we've been eating like crap since the renos started. I don't really have a good excuse - I just need to make time to cook. No more take out. Say it with me now.

- My dogs? They are adorable. The other day, Frida got into a tube of toothpaste and was covered by the time we got home. Minty fresh puppy. Also.... Terribly mischievous.

Thanks for sticking with me, folks!

EDIT: Ooooh, I almost forgot.... There is a distinct possibility that we will have a swap box at the new house. More soon.

Remember the time I thought I could manage blogging and tearing up a house?

Remember that?

HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA.

More soon.

Hey! Remember when my BH took my inseam while I was brushing my teeth? And then I figured he was getting me pants for my birthday?

Guess what.



He did it to throw me off. He was actually ordering a fancy-pants tool belt.



Dang, it's nice. Morty is scared shitless of it, but Frida's cool with just about everything. I'll bet I could fit her in one of the pockets.

I'm also modeling a birthday gift from Shawna, who sends me excellent things every year. Thanks sugar! I love the shirt!

We get the house in three days. I'll be getting some use out of this belt, especially since we'll be tearing up carpets and installing floors mighty fast. I'm toying with the idea of not removing the baseboards completely, but we'll see if there's enough clearance. More talk about baseboards will pop up here.

I've got one more gig on May 23 at the Tulip Festival (7pm! Major's Hill!), and then I'm going to try and take the next few months off gigging. I'd like to recharge a bit before I book more shows.

I'm off to kiss a newborn. See y'all soon!

Guess what I've got?

An honest to goodness cold. A fairly bad one.

Guess where I'm singing tonight?

At the NAC. With famous people. People I look up to. People I'd like to impress, to the best of my ability.

Today sucks donkey balls.

In other news, I got a quote to build a soundproof closet in the new house, and I can afford it. I wonder if I can record a whole album in there....

Speaking of closets and affordability, can I share some advice with you? If you need someone to build you a bedroom closet, basic doors and shelves along a wall, don't go see a cabinetmaker whose clients are generally quite rich.

Anyone want to guess how much he quoted me?

Anyone?

$12,000.00

HAHAHAHAHAHAHA. Seriously.

I went to Ikea instead, and plan to purchase the exact same closet for $1600.

Anyway Internet, please send your healthy vibes my way, because tonight could be great, or it could be a flaming disaster.

xo

Perhaps the only downside to having two bulldogs is the sheer amount of gas those two emit. We're opening the windows like crazy around here, and our incense supply is dwindling. For real. It's starting to get funny.

Our final visit at the house takes place this afternoon. I'm extremely nervous about it. We're taking a contractor with us for some quotes and I'm scared about how much everything will cost me. Luckily, the contractor is a great guy... So hopefully he won't judge me if I cry after he gives me the amount.

There are repairs I can choose not to do, or choose to do myself, so that's what I'll decide after the visit.

We've also signed the lease with the new tenants, so the race is on!

In non-house news, I have two gigs next week, and then I'm playing at the Tulip Festival! I don't think I've ever had a paying gig there. Should be fun. I'll be covered in paint and drywall dust, but so be it.

To end this post on a cheerful note, we just got work that my workplace is cutting jobs. I'm pretty confident that my position is safe, but it sure put a downer on the day. I think my work qualifies as "essential" there, but I guess you never know. Oh well. Can't think about that now. I've got a house to fix.

The countdown is on: less than four weeks until we take possession of the house. CRAZINESS.

I'll be talking about the house casually on this blog, but if you want more details, I've started a new blog that will focus only on the renos, being a landlord, messing up repairs, etc.

To clarify:

This blog: life, music, food, home stuff, bulldogs.
That blog: HOUSE

Now, onto music. I mentioned that I had a couple of gigs in May, and you kind readers expressed interest in them. Here are the sexy details, if you wish to attend. Consider this an open invite - I love it when bloggy friends come out to shows!

May 4
NAC Fourth Stage, maybe 8pm?
Playing with Ian Tamblyn and Lief Vollebekk. This is part of the Bluebird North tour that I love so much.
Tickets are $15, which might be steep if it wasn't at the fabulous NAC. Lord, I love playing here.
You can get tickets at the NAC box office, and come to think of it, I think you can order them somewhere online too....
This gig will pamper you. Cushy seats and cafe-style setup.


May 8
Cajun Attic, new location at 349 Dalhousie in the Market
9pm... cover.... I don't know the cover. Not a lot.
I'm playing with my buddies East of Gatineau. They are loads of fun. Bluegrassy.
I'll be playing my set with my dearest cousin Brian.
This is a good gig to get drunk at (but aren't they all?).

Anyways, you're all invited. Feel free to e-mail me with any questions.

Update on the girl dog:

We are going to formally adopt her.
We are renaming her Frieda.
She is allergic to a variety of things, possibly including grass.
She snores louder than Morty and my BH combined.

Other than the dogs, gigs and house, my BH is turning 30 this weekend.

30.

I've dated this charming man for ten years now, and I can say that he's only gotten more awesome. More birthday details coming up.... I can't give you too many in case he decides to read this post before the big day.

That's all for now, folks!

Guess what happened, internet? The dogs don't completely detest each other anymore!

Observe:

Thank you for letting me dump my stress on you, internets.

I think it culminated a couple of nights ago when I was tired and feeling bummed about the foster Frenchie. She and Morty were still not getting along, which meant we couldn't really keep her, which made me so very sad. I picked her up and wandered around the kitchen with her and whispered in her ear: "Why can't you just pretend to like my doggie? Please? Just play with him a bit and stop batting him in the face..." and then I cried all over her little head and that was that. She snorted happily into my neck.

She's still at our house... They occasionally show signs that they don't mind each other, so we're just taking it day by day. They snuggle each other at night, which makes me very confused. Why would you spoon at night and snarl during the day? Oh doggies. I don't understand your sweet doggy brains.

Some good news about the hard drive.... Most of our older pictures made it. Chunks of 2009 and 2010 are gone, but our India trip is intact. I'm thrilled. And broke. We'll be backing up the survivors with multiple drives. If any of you out there are relying on one hard drive at the moment, get another one! Avoid the trauma, my dears.

I was looking through my planner earlier, and would you believe, we take possession of the house in five short weeks. I have So. Much. To. Do. Luckily, most of it is fun stuff, like shopping for ceiling fans and buying sledgehammers and staple guns. I'm going to have a painting / flooring party a few days after we take over. Hopefully my friends are willing to trade some labour for beer and food and great music.

I wrote my first post over at the home reno blog. I'll share the link here shortly - it's still not totally done over there.

Since I'm being such a downer lately, allow me to share a funny moment my BH and I shared last night. We were watching Sabrina, and my BH absent-mindedly started stroking my head.

"You have nice hair," he said, staring off into space. "Like a girl's."

And I laughed so hard I think I scared the dogs.

At risk of sounding like a broken record, there's not a lot of juicy bloggable stuff going on at the moment. I am inching closer to starting a home reno blog, though. I think it would complement this one, since I don't think I'm ready to give up on Hella Stella.

Brain dump:

I have a very, very long list of things I'm slowly checking off. This week I booked the movers, the plumber and the electrician. Next I have to book the furnace / hot water heater dudes. We are upgrading those suckers! (The old furnace and the tank, not the dudes) I also need to hammer down some dates to meet with a cabinetmaker and a contractor. (Haha, hammer.... The wit slays you, no?)

I'm showing the house to potential tenants next weekend. They seem lovely, so it would be fun if they liked the upstairs apartment. However, seeing as how it currently has a bad case of UGLY, I don't know if they'll be able to see past the dusty rose walls and the fake panelling. These are things I'll be fixing as soon as I take possession, but still - ugly is ugly. Worst case scenario, I'll find tenants after I finish prettying up the space.

My former landlord from my days in Old Ottawa South has agreed to meet with me to talk about, well, how to be a landlord. I do not plan to learn by making really awful mistakes. Granted, the mistakes will happen, but I'd rather be as informed as possible about the process. It's going to be fun - I always liked her. She was saucy.

My BH and I met with our very gay real estate lawyer last week. He broke down how much money we had to give him in a nice, itemized list. It was very fun, except near the end when I saw the total. Then I cried a bit on the inside.

Hmmm, after reading over this post, I guess I see why I haven't had much to say. My life has been swallowed by this house business. Hopefully y'all don't mind hearing about real estate for a bit, because I think it's consumed my mind.

In other news, Morty kicked me in the ribs while he was dreaming last night, and I have a big ol' bruise now. I'd be annoyed if he wasn't so freaking cute. Dude has wicked vivid dreams (and wicked strong legs, apparently).

I have reason to believe that Morty's charms have cast a spell on my BH's mother.

She took Morty a few days ago to spend some time running him around her backyard. We got several phone calls in the first few hours, all detailing how adorable Morty is, how cute he is when he naps, how cuddly he is.... How he might as well spend the night with them since he was already there. We said okay, but I'm not sure we really had a choice.

The next day was the same. Oh, he's just the cutest, he's so sweet, he's having fun here.... He should stay another night. We said okay, although come to think of it, we weren't really asked this time.

This is the third day I've been without my little dude, and I've communicated as sweetly as I can that Morty HAS to come back now. My house is so quiet! My BH and I sat around stupidly last night, unable to figure out what to do with ourselves. I realize this points to a larger problem of us being a bit attached to our dog, but hey, he's our dog. I like being attached to him.

Jury's out on whether we'll get our guy back this evening, but if he's not there by supper time, I'm going to steal a car and get him myself.

In other news....

My days are filled up with preparations for the house, mostly. It's such a crazy process, no? So many layers of things to keep track of. Thankfully, buying a house has revived my obsession with listmaking and organization. I'm not really sure how I could do it otherwise. I know disorganized people buy houses - I just don't know how they get through it without accidentally blowing something up / forgetting a payment / missing a meeting / skipping an essential repair.

There are lots of big things going on with my BH right now. He's one class away from being finished with his degree. He's celebrating a very special birthday in a month. And of course, he's figuring out the whole home ownership thing. Go BH!

Although we expected it, we're predictably getting lots of questions from relatives over whether or not we're going to get hitched. Maybe we'll do it all backwards - house, babies, wedding. Or maybe we'll marry ourselves to the house. Or maybe.... Well. You get the idea. It's still not our top priority. Besides, ten years ago this spring, we went on our first date. Now THAT'S something to celebrate!

More soon, bunnies.