Thursday, July 03, 2008
Insomnia - dreaming of a Martha Stewart Life
Having an empty apartment for rent should not be a big deal for me, but that is what's keeping me awake tonight / this morning. It has been three days since I thrust the heavy "FOR RENT" sign in the front yard, complete with fliers in an "info-tube" with a list of bulleted highlights ("NEW BERBER CARPETING & PAINT") under a photo and $ info ("Sorry, NO: Smokers, Pets, or Section 8").
I have received no calls.
This is nothing unusual I tell myself. Have I forgotten it once took three months for a place of mine to rent, in the imploding economy right after 9/11? Could things be as bad as that? It's been only three days and not yet a weekend, when most people search...
My mind loops through every recent decision. I have done my online research on comparable rentals: I chose a monthly rent $30 less.
I map for sexual offenders. A man convicted of rape lives around the corner. Great. But zooming out, no neighborhood is clear of the red bullseyes.
Should I have kicked my last tenant out? He was a good guy, paid his rent on time. But I was sick of the mess, the dog's destruction of the yard, the inoperable junker in the drive, the sullen son on his way to alcoholism.
*sigh*
I'm distressed over the inequality the empty rental has created in my relationship. My boyfriend has driven over here from Indianapolis on weekends a far greater number of times recently than I've driven there, AND he's been helping me with projects involving it on weekends. He doesn't mind, he says, and he doesn't seem to mind, but I worry anyway. There is nothing I can offer him in return beyond "the pleasure of my company" - which isn't anything worth bragging about.
I'm distressed over last night's last major project to ready the rental, painting the bathroom. I'd hoped to have it done so that Boyfriend and I could do something else for a change this weekend, maybe even something special I could plan for him. But I fear I have made a mistake on the paint and will have to do it over. Another weekend lost.
Like always, I used a paint return, a "Mis-tint" mined from one of the local paint stores. Unlike the other rooms, I used an oil-based paint. I think it better protects plaster walls from damp, but it smells and is a royal pain to clean up.
I stopped painting about halfway through, as what I saw coming out of the can wasn't matching what I had in mind. I like satin or semi-gloss on bathroom walls and it looks like this is a "flat". In the can, the color looked like a cool light brown, and as I applied it last night it looked lavendar (not bad). But as it dried it became gun-metal. A flat, dark grey.
DRA-MA!
I need to chill. Maybe it will be fine or can be 'staged' with a shower curtain that integrates the bathroom's other colors. What colors or design can bring together a flat dark gun-metal with a brown ("caramel") tub and commode, a tan ("biscuit") tub surround, and matching white/biscuit linoleum?
HAH!
Oh well, no one's calling about it anyway...
I have received no calls.
This is nothing unusual I tell myself. Have I forgotten it once took three months for a place of mine to rent, in the imploding economy right after 9/11? Could things be as bad as that? It's been only three days and not yet a weekend, when most people search...
My mind loops through every recent decision. I have done my online research on comparable rentals: I chose a monthly rent $30 less.
I map for sexual offenders. A man convicted of rape lives around the corner. Great. But zooming out, no neighborhood is clear of the red bullseyes.
Should I have kicked my last tenant out? He was a good guy, paid his rent on time. But I was sick of the mess, the dog's destruction of the yard, the inoperable junker in the drive, the sullen son on his way to alcoholism.
*sigh*
I'm distressed over the inequality the empty rental has created in my relationship. My boyfriend has driven over here from Indianapolis on weekends a far greater number of times recently than I've driven there, AND he's been helping me with projects involving it on weekends. He doesn't mind, he says, and he doesn't seem to mind, but I worry anyway. There is nothing I can offer him in return beyond "the pleasure of my company" - which isn't anything worth bragging about.
I'm distressed over last night's last major project to ready the rental, painting the bathroom. I'd hoped to have it done so that Boyfriend and I could do something else for a change this weekend, maybe even something special I could plan for him. But I fear I have made a mistake on the paint and will have to do it over. Another weekend lost.
Like always, I used a paint return, a "Mis-tint" mined from one of the local paint stores. Unlike the other rooms, I used an oil-based paint. I think it better protects plaster walls from damp, but it smells and is a royal pain to clean up.
I stopped painting about halfway through, as what I saw coming out of the can wasn't matching what I had in mind. I like satin or semi-gloss on bathroom walls and it looks like this is a "flat". In the can, the color looked like a cool light brown, and as I applied it last night it looked lavendar (not bad). But as it dried it became gun-metal. A flat, dark grey.
DRA-MA!
I need to chill. Maybe it will be fine or can be 'staged' with a shower curtain that integrates the bathroom's other colors. What colors or design can bring together a flat dark gun-metal with a brown ("caramel") tub and commode, a tan ("biscuit") tub surround, and matching white/biscuit linoleum?
HAH!
Oh well, no one's calling about it anyway...