Do you know what lurks inside your walls?
I know what’s inside mine…mostly because there are holes all over the place that let me peek in. And every once in a while the innards become outards and spill out into the room. The stuff that fell from the ceilings when holes were cut to replace the light fixture outlets? Now THAT was some fun. Gray and fluffy and made us itch like crazy. It was not asbestos. If what I just described IS, in fact, asbestos, well…just don’t tell me.
Here’s a shot of a wall in my office.
It looks much better now. They finished roughing in everything upstairs this afternoon. The rest of the week they’ll be working downstairs, and then they’ll tackle the biggest part of the job, which is the service down in the basement. Literally the heart of the electrical system, I guess. That may take a couple of weeks alone, but luckily once they’ve moved down there we can start the plastering and painting in the rest of the house. And you know what that means. When that’s done we can get our stuff out of storage! I’ll have a couch! And the rest of our clothes! And our damn colander!
After that, there’ll be stripping paint off wood for the next ten years, renovating the kitchen, the downstairs bathroom, the upstairs bathroom, repointing the rear facade, etc etc…. But we can take that one step at a time, and we won’t be camping out anymore, surrounded by white walls and dust. Lots and lots of dust. I gave up on cleaning once the electricians went to work. There’s plaster dust on everything.
As for the rest of my life:
I can’t write while the electricians are here during the day–no electricity and I’m not a longhander–so my days are for Proust and knitting. I’m actually without deadlines for the time being; I took the second half of the month off for writing and Prousting so I’d be ready to go when classes start. Tomorrow I’ll finish off Volume I and maybe get a few more inches done on Kyoto. Then five or six good hours of writing in the evening. Life is good. If only I didn’t have to work for a living, hmmm? I am quite grateful to be a freelancer, though, and so have the flexibility to be able to decide to work my ass off for the first half of the month so as not to work at all for the second. I guess that’s about as good as it gets, unless one is independently wealthy.
I think that IS as good as it gets. Cari, you are so happenin’ right now! Fixing up your house, writing, Prousting, knitting — hello, Dream Life! I haven’t even cracked Swann’s Way yet, just finished Middlesex last night. I’m going to be waaaay behind. Arrgh! Be patient with me. 🙂
Posted by: alison
Have I mentioned lately how much you rock? Even whilst sneezing from dust, you are way up there. Hooray for seeing your furniture (and colander) soon, hooray for Proust and your novel, hooray for Rowan Wool Cotton, and hooray for you.
Posted by: Em
This post makes me smile. Things ARE going so well and life IS good. you rock. 🙂
Posted by: Rebecca
“outards”
I don’t know why but that made me laugh like crazy.
and to reassure you: the grey fuzzy stuff that makes you itch is almost certainly fiberglas insulation. Not really harmful, just don’t breathe in the fibers and don’t get it on your skin.
Posted by: fillyjonk
Ew. Fiberglass. I once had a near-naked experience with the stuff (and I will NOT explain more than that), which was fun for a few moments and then an agony of itchyscratchyness.
Eighty-six pages? Girl, you go! So proud of you! And also very impressed with your casual “five or six good hours of writing in the evening.” I have a hard time being disciplined enough to do even an hour at a time. You inspire me.
Posted by: Rachael
and i can hardly wait to see kyoto!
happy scratching!
Posted by: nakachi
I think that IS as good as it gets. Cari, you are so happenin’ right now! Fixing up your house, writing, Prousting, knitting — hello, Dream Life! I haven’t even cracked Swann’s Way yet, just finished Middlesex last night. I’m going to be waaaay behind. Arrgh! Be patient with me. 🙂
Posted by: alison
Have I mentioned lately how much you rock? Even whilst sneezing from dust, you are way up there. Hooray for seeing your furniture (and colander) soon, hooray for Proust and your novel, hooray for Rowan Wool Cotton, and hooray for you.
Posted by: Em
This post makes me smile. Things ARE going so well and life IS good. you rock. 🙂
Posted by: Rebecca
“outards”
I don’t know why but that made me laugh like crazy.
and to reassure you: the grey fuzzy stuff that makes you itch is almost certainly fiberglas insulation. Not really harmful, just don’t breathe in the fibers and don’t get it on your skin.
Posted by: fillyjonk
Ew. Fiberglass. I once had a near-naked experience with the stuff (and I will NOT explain more than that), which was fun for a few moments and then an agony of itchyscratchyness.
Eighty-six pages? Girl, you go! So proud of you! And also very impressed with your casual “five or six good hours of writing in the evening.” I have a hard time being disciplined enough to do even an hour at a time. You inspire me.
Posted by: Rachael
and i can hardly wait to see kyoto!
happy scratching!
Posted by: nakachi