end of the beginning

The last rose of the relationship. The Boyf is now ex-boyfriend and perhaps I’ve had better Halloweens. It is weird and maybe a little amusing that our conversation included how we were going to handle changing our relationship status on Facebook. I opted out of posting the change to my News Feed, which saved me…

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some words on lou reed

Last Sunday in San Francisco, having lunch with LL just before I headed home, she received a text from her brother, asking if she heard about Lou Reed yet. Uh oh, both of us thought. “Is this going to turn into The Weekend that Lou Reed Died?” I wondered aloud, before we started typing into…

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house hunty part 3

I think I want to buy a home. I don’t know if I can buy a home, so I’m finding out everything I can about it. I will be post my progress here from time to time. Part one is here. Part two is here. My roommate and I are both trying to make Big…

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how to leave home

We’re done here. House clean and empty, escrow closed, done deal. I am officially living in an adorable apartment with a friend, and actually doing some UNpacking, at least for a while. Here are some tips. DON’T have an emergency the final week of closing. Poor stepdad has a lot of things wrong with him…

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ipad killed the blog

View from the Thousand Oaks Apple Store Not that I was a vigorous blogger last fall and winter, but the December 2012 purchase of my iPad pretty much hastened the end of my will to blog. My night time ritual, for many years, was to take my laptop into bed with me so I could…

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closing up shop

It’s been interesting/happy/sad, packing up the home that is the last place that had my mother’s fingerprints all over it. Undelivered Christmas present from my mom to Judy. Don’t know who Judy is. Yeah, I opened it. Inexpensive little plaster Christmas ornament. She and my stepdad moved into this home in 2000, so mom only…

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i had a party

I’m in the exhausted-tears phase as the final week-or-so of getting this house on the market explodes around me. I’m deeply grateful for the help my brother and sister provided this month, and now am deeply regretful about … well, pretty much everything. I can’t write about this house right now. I’m going to go…

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house hunty part 2

I think I want to buy a home*. I don’t know if I can buy a home, so I’m finding out everything I can about it. I will be post my progress here from time to time. Part one is here.  Elderly Relative has moved to a lovely new home (more on that later), and…

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another bathroom redo, now w/ less excitement

There are three bathrooms in this house. One I already redid, one that’s almost good to go (needs wall paint), and this one that needed major freshening up, if it was going to be attractive to potential buyers. It’s a big bathroom, grander than the other bathrooms even though it’s not the master bath (two…

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the sassification of office chair

Darling Andrew gave me this excellent vintage office chair several years ago. After I moved, it took my Elderly Relative approximately two days to somehow poke a hole in the upholstery. As I was paring down my fabric stash, I came across some vintage heavy-duty material that I bought in 2000 at the amazing Oakland…

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