Like your opinion matters

Saturday morning started with me waking up on the couch at 4AM. Sitting up on the couch, huddled in a ball, cold, sleeping. We attended two holiday parties the night before, missed dinner at both, and suffered accordingly. I apparently tried to stay awake with Michael after we came home, only to fall asleep still sitting up. He claims he attempted to wake me. I only ask that the next time he at least tip me over and cover me with a blanket before deserting me.

My initial reaction upon awaking was fear. Fear that I had let Iona outside, gotten cold, came back to sit on the couch and wait for her, and then fell asleep. I was certain that she was alone outside and miserable. (This has NEVER happened, by the way.) In reality she was upstairs in our bed and sleeping on my side, on my pillow. She was a happy warm Puppy Person. I was not.

At 8AM Michael went to the House to meet the electrician. I attempted to feel better. Then I went to the House to meet the strange and annoying man that wanted to buy our sink. He was lost and called me five times trying to find his way. While I attempted to help, our conversations went something like this:

Man: I am lost. My directions took me straight into downtown. Do you know where South street is?

Me: Sort of. What intersection are you on? Do you see a house number? I will use my BB and get you directions.

Man: South street going West. Now I am on Salisbury going North! Where am I?

Me: Can you give me a house number? A building number?

Man: Ma'am I am in front of the Generic, Nondescript building on MLK. Do you know where that is? I will make a U-turn.

Me: What? Stop driving. House number? Building number?

This went on for awhile and no he NEVER gave me a number. He did manage to get to the House eventually. This after a few more wrong turns and the need to put down the phone while he u-turned again, thereby missing my directions. Again. Upon arrival he spent the next 20 minutes walking around and telling me what to do. "You should replace this floorboard", "You should put an outlet here", "You should leave your ceilings high", "You should repair the large gaping hole in your plaster". You sir, should stop talking and get the hell out of my House. I did not ask for your opinion, I am tired and cranky, and I do not value your inane insight. You may be old enough to be my father, but mine raised me well enough to not be a complete moron. The annoying man did not buy the sink, for the record.

Back to the House again, and again, and then again to meet a man that was interested in buying our gas stove. Since uncovering the fireplaces, we don't have a logical place to put the stove any longer. That and we already have two storage containers full of things that will never fit in this House. Turns out that they were a delightful couple that are also transplants and are also renovating a historic home. They were a joy to talk with and I wish us all well in our quests to restore these damn homes. In the meantime, we still have a sink to sell.

Death by cardboard

We have got to move. If we aren't out of this Condo soon, I guarantee you that things will end badly for us. I suspect it will happen innocently enough. We'll be sitting on the couch watching Dexter and suddenly...CRASH. A mountain of freaking cardboard will come tumbling down and smother us. There will be absolutely no place for us to go; no place for us to run.

Our Condo has literally been invaded by cardboard. Don't get me wrong, the boxes are full of great things like a microhood, exhaust fans, curtain rods, lights, plumbing fixtures, hardware, and of course, the kitchen sink. But seriously, there is no escape. I wonder how long it takes to die by cardboard. We haven't started stacking the boxes on the couch yet, but that is simply inevitable.

Things hit the limit when my TV vision was completely blocked by the sink. Granted the sink was stacked on top of the Kitchen Aid microhood, which weighs 97.5 pounds, by the way! Should something that heavy REALLY be hung from a wall. Guess we'll find out soon enough. Anyway, I sat down tonight at my desk/dining table/catch-all/box collector to work on some emails and realized that I COULDN'T SEE THE TV. This is important because I must multi-task at all times and cannot simply do one thing. In addition, our livelihood is centered around our House renovation which leaves little time for anything else. Anything else other than that thing that pays the mortgage. And TV. I think all those years in the Philippines and traveling around the world have made me appreciate the American television experience. Wow, I sound pathetic.

We just need to move.

The Mistress Barks Back

Actually poor Iona hasn't barked once since the surgery. Normally I would appreciate the silence, but now it is just disconcerting. She is obviously in pain and not feeling like herself. But something good came out of her misery... Miss Iona officially has a boyfriend! For several months now Samu has been admiring our girl from afar, and he has finally pledged his adoration. You can check out Samu, his poetry, and his love of wine here. It's just too damn bad he lives in Manila. Well Samu, Miss Iona accepts your advances. Now pour her a bowl of wine and go find a human to pet her.

A couple things got me thinking about Manila today and missing my friends in the Philippines. The first of course is Samu and the people that love him. Every time I read an Alex blog entry I am transported back to his shop and hanging with him and Rain. Oh Rain, I miss you.

Another one of my friends was just married in Boracay over the weekend. I had so hoped to get back there to reunite with all my friends/coworkers and help Chino and Celeste celebrate. Selfishly I also wanted to get back to the beautiful beach and introduce Michael to the pretty parts of the Philippines.

It is so weird to think that I haven't been back to Asia since May. Hard to get my head around all that has changed this year, so I expect that we are still in a state of culture shock. About the only thing that is similar between NC and PHP is their love of pork and the smoking. Now if only we could get the tobacco industry to employ warnings like the one below. Rain was kind enough to leave this pack behind during her visit here. While it hasn't done much to stop the smokers in the Philippines, it does certainly get the point across. So much for subtlety.