The Queen of the Arctic

The Queen of the Arctic
3 December 2008

Have you ever seen March of the Penguins? I love that movie. I love watching the penguins brave the elements to protect their eggs and bring back food for their mates. I love the stark landscape and the blinding snow. All that is wonderful on television… much less so when you wake up to an arctic morning. When I emerged from my blankets this morning I felt like an emperor penguin… Or maybe like the egg that got dropped on the ice and froze and cracked… When I moved to Florida I thought I was leaving the cold weather behind forever. In this house, apparently not. It was 65 degrees when I looked at the thermostat. Do we not have any insulation? Additionally, it takes ten full minutes for warm water to reach the master bathroom. Warm. Not hot.

Disaster struck pretty much first thing when I called to check James’ voicemail. PODS called. You know PODS, right? They bring the storage unit and you fill it and they move it? That was our moving solution when we weren’t sure if we would have a house before our lease was up on our apartment. The voicemail was from the PODS delivery guy who was waiting in front of our apartment for us to come down and tell him where we wanted the pod. Why? We’re already moved! We don’t need a pod anymore! Didn’t James call to cancel? No. So I call back the number the delivery man left. It was a Nextel cell phone but it didn’t ring… it went straight to a Nextel automated help line. So here I am, freezing, fuming, dialing 1-800-Free-411 to get the number to PODS, and hoping against all hope that somehow I’ll either wake up from a bad dream, or that somehow I’ll be able to talk them out of the estimated $600 the pod was going to cost us. Fortunately I only had to pay a $35 cancellation fee which was a definite relief! It has to rank as my best ever waste of $35.

I spackled James’ Drywall Disaster ® and the various other holes (mostly on walls behind door knobs.) We moved furniture. We measured our closet. We scraped tile adhesive. James climbed into the attic and I trembled lest he fall through somehow… But he returned unscathed. We do have insulation, by the way. We also have a lot of coax. Spans of it! Miles of it! We could open our own used-coax shop, I promise. This coax is like a hydra. No matter how many we cut and remove… we always find more… and more…

The big excitement of the day proved to be the delivery of our refrigerator and dishwasher. This was very funny to me because we had an “emergency delivery.” One of the managers authorized this delivery as an “emergency” since the delivery schedule was already full. Awesome, huh? It is funny when we are in Lowes now… we’re on a first name basis with so many workers… And the ones we don’t know… generally know us. I would highly recommend Lowes for a project like ours. Anyway, it really seemed like an emergency to me since it was 3:30pm and I hadn’t had anything to eat yet. Sadly, even though the fridge arrived unscathed it didn’t come stocked with Dt. Coke and Cracker Barrel sharp cheddar cheese sticks. No crisis is truly averted unless a Dt. Coke is waiting at the end of it. The dishwasher was slightly less exciting since it is still wrapped up in its cardboard. It won’t be installed until after the kitchen renovation. Seeing the devastation that has unfolded with the guest bathroom renovation makes me shudder at the thought… But hey, we demolished a cabinet PRETTY QUICK when that refrigerator didn’t fit into its designated spot! So maybe we’ll do ok.

I talked to my dad again last night. This renovating is doing WONDERS for our relationship… We normally talk like… every two weeks… for ten or fifteen minutes. I’ve talked to him every day since we moved for AT LEAST half an hour! It’s great! He seems so genuinely thrilled to share his advice and is enjoying this project vicariously FAR more than I’m enjoying it in reality. My parents are visiting in January and I can’t wait! I only wish my brothers could come too.

Leak #3 continues unabated. In fact, it has escalated from a plink plink plink to a steady swish swish. However, my hero, with the help of the book entitled Lowes Complete Home Renovations, and with timely confirmation from Dad, has a plan in place for stopping it once and for all.

So, to sum it up, the guest bathroom renovation progressed infinitesimally. The kitchen light installation progressed until the point we realized we need additional supplies. The refrigerator and dishwasher have arrived. The fridge is plugged up and running but has no ice/water yet and has no food in it. I still haven’t taken a shower in my own house. (Don’t worry though. I’ve taken daily showers at other places.) Goals for tomorrow include cleaning our apartment and turning in the keys, going to Lowes (again,) continuing the guest bathroom renovation, and completing the kitchen light installation. And remembering to wear fluffy socks to bed in the hopes that I won’t feel like a penguin in the morning…