I Have a Roommate

I picked her up at the airport last night. So far, she’s nice; we’ll get along fairly well, I think.

Getting ready for her was an ordeal, to say the least. I’ve already told you about the closet issue. That was bad enough, but it pales in comparison to moving the computer – to say nothing of getting the furniture arranged! Talk about an aching back… I may never move again.

Thank God for good friends! Lorna went above and beyond the call of duty, I have to say. I met with her on Wednesday at the Terra Bella Café for some tea and to look at her photographs, and happened to mention that I had no idea how I was going to deal with the computer. She very generously offered to help out.

Little did she know what she was signing up for!

I got most of the small stuff moved ahead of her arrival, so when she did show up all we would have to do was the big stuff. The real bugger turned out to be the desk. I don’t like the desk in the first place but can’t afford a different one at the moment. Taking it apart and putting it back together turned out to be … difficult, to put it mildly.

With some rather impressing body contortions and a few acrobatic moves, we finally did manage to get it put back together. And I must say – it looks rather spiffy in its new corner! She got the computer hooked back up again, and GCI got the internet working again – so I’m up and running.

Then we tackled the furniture.

My sister-in-law had a bed for me to borrow, along with a night stand. The trouble was getting it from Palmer to Anchorage. Both she and my brother are currently down with tonsillitis, and had spent the previous day in the hospital: neither was in any condition to move furniture. My mother had a truck, but it has no top and it was raining pretty heavily (still is, for that matter).

Once again Lorna stepped up to the plate and offered her van.

So, we drove down to my brother’s house to pick up the furniture - only to discover that the bed wouldn’t fit into her van! The four of us did some brainstorming and came up with a plan.

We put the mattress and other smaller stuff into Lorna’s van. We put the frame into my brother’s truck (which also has no top). I drove his truck into Anchorage with Lorna following me in her van, and we put all the furniture into my garage. The following day, Reed drove Heather’s car to work, while Heather hitched a ride with my mother who was coming in to shampoo my carpets. Heather drove their truck home, Mother and I worked on my carpets, and everybody got their cars back.

Whew!

The carpet cleaning went very well, I must say. I had spot cleaned the worst areas with a solution designed specifically for cat urine (poor little Alien didn’t use his potty much) so along with the cleaning solution she had all the stains are now gone. I’m not very happy with the smells, however… I can still smell cat urine. I’m hoping that will dissipate with open windows and a candle.

Moving the furniture was my next battle, and for this I called on my friend Bryan.

That bed frame turned out to be almost more of a hassle that it’s worth! When we picked it up from Heather’s house, she told me “What ever you do, don’t take it a part! The frame is twisted, so getting it put back together again is REALLY difficult.” But when Bryan and I tried to get it up the stairs into the house, it simply wouldn’t fit. We had to take it apart.

That’s when we discovered that not only did we not have the proper tool to get the screws undone (they required an Allen wrench, not a flat or Phillips screw driver) but the screws themselves had been stripped and were darned near impossible to get out. He finally managed somehow, by applying bruit strength I think, and we got it disassembled and up into the room where we found out that it was a BREEZE to get back together! Perhaps having spent all that time as an actual bed got the frame bent back into shape? Regardless, I was very happy about that and was able to get the final touches on her room just in time to go pick her up.

Today, I’m going hiking… and I’m NOT moving ANY furniture!