New Roommate

Well, I’m doing it. I’m getting a roommate.

I have to admit to a bit of apprehension over the issue: I haven’t lived with another human being for over 20 years! I don’t know how this will go…

But financial difficulties call for extreme measures, so I talked to the curator of the zoo and told her that I could house the summer intern this year.

There are several advantages to this:

1. She’s female

2. She works for the zoo, which not only tells me what kind of person she most likely is but also I’m located nearby so she doesn’t need a car – just a bike or a good pair of walking shoes

3. She’ll only be here for 9 weeks – long enough to help out with my bills until I can find a job, yet short enough that I don’t freak out if it turns out we don’t get along.

She arrives from Wisconsin on May 30, so this gives me almost a week to prepare for her. I have a lot of rearranging to do.

First thing is to tackle my clothes. I have all my clothes in the closet that will be hers (it’s bigger than the closet in my own room) which need to be weeded through and moved over. I now have a HUGE pile on the floor in here, ready to be donated to the women’s shelter. While I’m at it, I’m also going to go through the coat closet downstairs and get rid of old coats I never wear anymore, thereby making room for her coats.

Next thing to tackle is the computer. I need to get it set up downstairs now, but have no real idea of where to put it. I need to figure that out because I’ll have to get GCI to come punch yet another hole through my house to provide internet access. I’d also really like to get a different computer desk. I don’t like the one I have, but really can’t afford a new one so will most likely just keep it anyway.

Once that’s all taken care of, I need to deal with the carpet in this room. Alien, God rest his soul, was a dear sweet cat - but he did manage to pee just about everywhere in here. The carpet really needs to be replaced, as does the molding around the base of the wall – but again, I just can’t afford that. What I will do is a deep cleaning with Mother’s carpet shampooer, and then will have to strategically arrange furniture to hide the worst spots.

Speaking of furniture, that leads me to my next problem. I have no furniture! I think I can borrow a bed from either Mother or my sister-in-law, and I’m hoping to find a night stand for her. I have a bookshelf in the garage she can use, and I’m planning on leaving the chair in here (Djuna has claimed it, since it has her heating pad on it).

Somewhere during all of this, I will have to clean out her bathroom. I have towels and all that, so really it’s just a matter of getting a few little nick-nacks out so she can put her own nick-nacks in. And I really should get the fridge arranged so that she can have a couple shelves for her food.

All in all, it’s a doable thing: it just takes a bit of work. OH, and I should probably make sure she has a key!