Body blow

No g'day today! It is NOT a good day.

Nathan's boss told him today that all travel has been suspended due to the US recession. This means that Nathan will still be going to the conference in Brazil (where he will present a paper = very important) but he won't be going to Oz or NZ to develop business relationships.

This means I won't be going home either. I can't leave Nathan by himself for weeks.

I am soooooooooo disappointed. I've been looking forward to the trip for months. Now I feel like I've been jilted and in a big way. Maybe gutted is a better way to describe it, though it isn't my gut that hurts.

Sigh.

At the same time as all I want to do is curl up and whimper in a corner, I have to get the old apartment clean. I am not enjoying the new apartment. It is darker than I expected (three weeping birches and a pine tree contribute to that) and not as airy and light as I hoped. It is also telling me I have Too Much Stuff. The kitchen is roomier but oddly has less room to put stuff - it has old style cupboards that are shallow and just deep enough for a dinner plate, and it is telling me that I have Too Many Bowls, Glasses, Mugs, Oven Trays and Crockery of Various Descriptions. It does have two cavernous cupboards under the corners of the counter but to get to the back of them, you need to go spelunking and might never be seen again. They need a lazy susan thing in them - one of those wheely shelf contraptions so you can access the back of the shelf easily. And the bedroom cupboards don't have shelving in them - obviously I am meant to hang up all the tshirts we have. Who hangs up tshirts? They get folded and put on a shelf. I'd go and get some shelving (with the pushbike and trailer) but I have to get next door clean from stem to stern first, and now my heart is not in it.

So I am surrounded by boxes in one place, boxes which haven't got homes, and mess in the other (I am not very organised and I have Too Much Stuff, even though I am trying to follow the Crazy Aunt Purl school of collecting Stuff - yarn and fleece is my current indulgence).

Knitting? You want pics of the things I've done and made? Wellllll, I've been busy moving and cleaning and sorting and ahem "tidying." I've been making great strides on two items, another shop sample and the bamboo top for me. I might even be finished the bamboo top before summer is out!

I am thinking of going to the sewing machine repair place and also the local quilt place to see if they have any sewing machines for sale. I want to make gauzy curtains for this place (it's koitains for you!) so that the blinds don't block the light so much but we retain some degree of privacy. The front looks out at all the other apartments and the back at the next lot of condos' laundry area. I could go to Jo-ann's but they ripped me off last I was there and I got reaalllly cranky with them. They won't get any more of my (husband's) money than I absolutely have to give them. I'd prefer a local business got my money.

Oh, kudos to AT&T. Yes, they had a terrible rep 10 years ago but they seem to really have pulled their finger out and decided that customer service is a major part of their raison d'etre. We rang them up to get our phone and cable swapped over. Guess what? They actually did it on the day appointed and everything worked! I was quite frankly surprised.

2pm. I'd better pull my finger out and go finish cleaning either the bathroom or the kitchen, and move another load back here. I've only got about six loads to do, I hope. I also hope the piano people can come and get rid of it ASAP - it is going back to the rental place. It has to be out in two days. Nathan is hoping a nicely weighted keyboard will be able to replace it. I guess we will have more money if I don't fly home but jeez I'd prefer to go home. I miss it.

anon!