I have a ceiling and a LOT of Dust.

Well after 3 days filled with Rob, the plaster guy, I once again have a ceiling in my bedroom, bathroom, laundry room/closet, hallway, kitchen and the dinning room. It is never a good thing when the plaster guy tells you that it was one of his hardest jobs, and it took longer than he ever thought and one of the worst looking ones he has seen in the past 4 years. That much damage was done with the water from 3 weeks ago. Now I just get to wait for the painter to come and finish it up and for me to move back into my room and wait for the carpet and the hardwood floors to be refinished and fixed downstairs and installed on the 2^nd floor – all while searching for a new roommate. I am hoping that my current roommate will be going someplace for spring break and we can have the hardwood floors redone then…I guess that means I get to move the den and dinning room into the kitchen while that job is done – and my bedroom into the hallway for the carpet- FUN FUN- I am thinking moving might be easier…other than the fact that I will get to play tetris with furniture… With the kitchen getting wrapped up yesterday – I spent about 3 hours in there washing everything in the room – plaster dust goes everywhere – it does not matter if things are covered or not – and I know that with the sanding that will take place tomorrow that there will be even more to clean. Really I am not sure the last time my kitchen was that clean – I even mopped yesterday – like there was even a choice not to- well I guess there would have been if I thought that my roommates would have risen to the challenge but I did not see that happening yesterday – and with the jobs coming together I am not going to have the extra flexibility in the coming weeks –

Yes the jobs are coming together…I got an email about the swim lessons yesterday, I have been offered the Adult swim classes on Monday and Wednesday nights… And from this I hope that I will get some private lessons too. While the next 3 weekends will be filled with WSI training and time off from gap (not that I was getting after holiday hours in the first place) – you sometimes have to spend money to make money- I keep saying…about 12 private lessons will cover the cost of the class or 4 weeks of the adult class. The security of these classes will give me a starting point. I am in training to be a substitute teacher all day Wednesday – so for me to even get to this point I had to take a trip to the VA health department for a TB test, what an experience…I thought that I was never going to get out of that place, the woman that they had typing/working at the front desk was beyond slow and wondered why so many people where there on a Tuesday – well HELLO the TB shot is only offered once a week, I am not sure she had ever had a computer class and for sure did not know the short cuts to the program (picking up the mouse every time to move to a new form field and not just hitting the tab key) and it took her forever to type a name in – plus she did not know how to multi task at ALL or organize – It could have been so simple -the ones that had to pay enter their info first and the one that did not have to have the shot and could just leave with the pass slip enter those names at the end… I was there for almost 2 hours (30 min of waiting for her o enter my name so I could just pay the $7 and leave) which made me late for the drug test so that I can teach swim lessons, which did not end up being an issue – I was willing and ready to wait for that one but I was in and out of there in about 20 min with little waiting time. So on Thursday when I had to go back and have the TB test read- I was like please I hope this lady will not have to type again or I will be there for ever- lucky for me it was just a piece of paper and I was in and out of there in no time. So that part of the sub paper work was complete next on the list for wed or some other point is finger printing…along with all of the criminal background checks and all sorts of other things… I am glad that I have lived in so few places over the last 7 years because listing those could get tricky…I have to double check and make sure I have all that I need for tomorrow and know how to get there – its been so long since I have had to make a formal public appearance at 8:30 in the morning – oh it could be so much worse- 8:30 is a good time.

Yesterday I could have been inside cleaning in the morning but it was one of those great spring like days in the middle of January and I decided that I was going to wash my car, clean out the inside (ok well I vacuumed and threw out the trash) – it always feels good to have a clean car even when it rains that night.

For the rest of today should be filled with sending the weekly resumes out, checking to make sure I have everything for tomorrow (even my puzzle book if there is downtime and water to drink) cleaning up the bedroom so I can sleep in there tonight for the first time in 3 weeks and going to glass. Tonight I am going to try and make the stainglass women candle holders. I found 4 rings to use – however they are in gold and not silver I might just have to tape them and work around them…and keep my eyes open for more options and try more stores…this run is just for a proto type and to see if they are hard to make or not…and see if maybe Hoopla would want those since they contacted me last week to say that they are no longer going to carry my jewelry this year, but would be interested in looking at other things in the future, I think the candles would sell well there. My glass would have sold more too if they did not need to mark it up 50%. So to another week of many changes and what looks to be the first in the job offers, if only I can land a full time job for the fall by the end of spring…

A Quite Tuesday - I needed one

I could hear the quite room down the hall as I walked in late last night and I thought there might really be a chance that I can fuse tonight and not have to fight for a kiln. It was a small group and only 2 of us wanted to fuse last night, those are the great nights. I was not sure what I was going to work on, other than I needed to be there with my friends after the hell of a week that I had last week with the ceiling. I had the digital camera with me to show all of the pictures of the disaster in the house and the story that went along with the madness. What really happened I guess I will never know since I was not at the house when it all started but I do know that there is still a LOT of work to be done at the house. I have to decide if I want to repaint my room a new color or keep the one I have...what color of neutral carpet to replace the dead carpet with…I am voting for pergo or wood floors in the hall with the washer and dryer out there. But at this point I really just want the ceiling to be fixed so that I can sleep in my own bed. I have been displaced by this all and I guess in away it has me homesick, when I am at the house I just walk in circles not sure what I can do next or what to do next. I know that the ceiling at this point is not going to fall on my bed but I just don’t feel the comfort in the room that I need to sleep – plus if I got up in the middle of the night I would have to find shoes to get to the bathroom. So I stay with friends for a few more nights and wait for that night to come along that I can sleep back in my own bed.

Today I got up and started in on the list of things to do…called the Alexandria City Schools to sign up to be a substitute teacher, I have to take an all day class with them on Feb 1…and if I sub one day I get paid for the class. Oh I do have to find a place to get a TB test done before the class and I am waiting for Converse to send me my transcripts of my hours, this is something that I should have had with me all along. And then on top of that I get to be finger printed… Now I just need to get a few people to do the recommendations for me too and then that will be crossed off the list. I heard from Chinquapin about swim lessons, as of now I am going to be the sub there until I finish my WSI and will be the go to girl for private lessons – which in fact pays much better and I prefer them…Now all I have to do for chinquapin is go and have a drug test. So many new things that I get to do over the next few weeks – glad that I have the extra time for the TB test, finger printing and drug test…all of that just to be a sub…maybe some of these things can be crossed over from school to school if needed.

There is another private school looking for a middle school art teacher for the fall, from the site they seem to be a progressive school and that is something that I am looking for. I still have to work on the list and get my name and resumes out there…and there is a Fairfax county teachers job fair coming up too that I need to sign up for. I just have to keep telling myself that things will come together and it will all work out and in the end I will have a job for the Fall locked in before the summer.

Got to find a new glass pattern for another stainglass window incase we get another influx of fusers.

No ceiling No glass

This is a part of the hole in my bedroom-

I got a call on Monday night about a leak at the house from my roommate – this is not a leak that I come to find out later – it is more like a mini Katrina has hit the inside of the house…So what do you do at 1 am when you come home to a ceiling that has fallen to the floor in the entry way with water all over the place and you can hear it dripping and it just gets worse as you climb the stairs and you go into your bedroom and see that the ceiling has fallen out of your bedroom and onto your bed. I am talking about an 8 foot by 4 foot area of ceiling that had fallen out onto the floor of my bedroom. Could it get worse…yes cause as the night and the next day go on the Hole gets larger, and larger… I left many panicked messages with my landlord at his house and then at his office that we had a major issue and that he needed to call me as soon as he got the message. I grabbed as many towels that I could and garbage bags to fill up and started any where I could to get some control of the room. Then I grab the digital camera and take some pictures of the damage before I start some of the clean up. I filled the garbage bags with the plaster and went outside to find the trash cans filled, Wednesday is trash day and 2 weeks after Christmas people are just now throwing out big boxes. The neighbors who moved out last month their trash can was filled to so too. So I over flow mine – my roommate does the honor of showing up at the house about 30 min after I get there, drunk, saying that she is going to try and help I send her down stairs with a trash bag to get the plaster out of the entry way and clean up there. ( after about an hour and moving the stuff out of the way in the entry way she calls a cab and goes back to her sisters house cause she says she is scared to stay at the house and sleep – I am to tired to fight about it and I don’t want her in my room)… The water is still dripping down the walls and into buckets. The light in the kitchen is filled with water- so is the one in the hallway – I tape the light switches as they are so there is not a short to come. The roommate helps with the kitchen light – as I try and pour it out into the bucket – ok so she gets a good splash of water on her head but at this point I don’t care. We go into the 3^rd floor and turn off the water under the sink because that is the area we think that the water is coming from but not sure. Our other new roommate is in Baltimore for her internship – her room is all intact and looks fine- I put my quilt over her door to dry and my bathroom stuff into her vanity area- since my vanity area is leaking and looks like it is going to fall at any moment. I need a wet dry vac…the towels are soaking up the water and I am wringing them out into the sink, the squishing sound of the water soaking into the towels every time I walk over them is just something else that I need to add to the list. The ipod is on and the music is playing with all of the work…I get to a point of I need to get some sleep and craw into my bed – over to the far side where the ceiling is still all there and dry – and try to fall asleep – but with the hole in the ceiling I am scared that a mouse is now going to come flying into the room so I turn back on a light and try to sleep at 3:30 am. The phone rings at 5:21 it’s my landlord Fred calling to ask what has happened. He shows up at the house by 6 am and I am waiting to call other friends who might have a wet dry vac that I can borrow. I call Rita thinking she would have a wet dry vac and I know that she gets up before 6- I leave a message… its after 6 am now- I call my dad about an insurance question thinking that he is up – no I work him up- he wanted to know what I was doing up at that hour – I am not real sure myself. After I get off the phone with him I call Mona – I think Mona had a we dry vac- I woke her up to and yes she has one – so I get in the car and drive over there to get the vac and take the camera with me to show the pictures. It was a baby one but I needed it…after I got that one – Rita calls me to say that she has a large one too if I needed it …but at that point I have the little one and was going to see how far that would get me. Since I had to drive past Jackie’s office on the way back from Mona’s I take her up on the offer of coffee and she wants to see the pictures. So I start the morning with a sugar free vanilla latte and one of their new breakfast sandwiches ( the turkey bacon one is ok) And head back to my house to play with the wet dry vac and see what else I can do… I need to wash the towels but I am not sure If I should turn on the washer or not… I call missy who lives down the street to see if I can come and take a shower at her house and wash a load of clothes. Yet I never make it to her house cause every time I am about to head over there someone else is calling or heading to the house… I find some more sleep in the blue chair downstairs between phone calls- final get up when Jackie shows up with tippys tacos in hand for lunch and offering her help…Jackie calls in a favor and a plumber comes over to see what is going on. He does not see a busted pipe and the water to the house is still on and there is no water leaking in the house. After the plumber leaves and fred shows up again we are off to Target to get carpet knifes to start pulling up the wet carpet (ok this carpet has need to be replaced for YEARs and I am not sad at all that is has to go – however the moving of my bedroom furniture to get the carpet up is going to be like moving out of the house. At this point it is close to 7 and as much as I would love to go to glass I know that I cant and will not make it there. We are pulling up carpet in the hall at 7, and then start pulling it up in my bed room…the really wet areas and it is looking like it is has already started to mold…Moving the desk – packing the shelf into a big bucket, and putting things on the bed…the first side of the carpet knife has died and I flip it over …We have hauled out bag after bag of wet carpet and padding, lucky that Wednesday morning is trash day…it is another reason I wanted to get up as much as I could by then – after we get most of it up for the night it is almost 8 and fred is back – I so need a shower and a bed…So I leave with Jackie to come to her house for dinner and to shower and sleep thinking that I would ride with her this morning to get my car and be there for more cleaning – but I am worn out and there is little that I can do there other than laundry without the help of someone else. So I stay at jackies house and sleep and get up and take a hot bath to try and help my aching legs and back. I need a nap. For the first time I am glad that I don’t have a job and that I was able to stay at the house and deal with some of the mess…I know that I don’t own the house but I have been there so long and I guess that I take pride in the fact that I live there and would hate to see something happen to it. It is my home…oh and on the other hand well Fred is beyond not being happy or please with the slob who lives on the 3^rd floor – yes the one who had the nerve to move my food out of my cabinet and called me a hoarder and said I had a metal disorder – that did NOT make me a happy person- and up till this flood like event we had not spoken to each other in weeks. So Fred has decided that it is time for her to go – I am all for it – he was appalled with the appearance of her room – 4 empty red wine bottles on the floor – coke cans with cigarette ashes – she is NOT to be smoking in the house- dirty dishes and trash on the floor – along with clothes every where – we had to kick a pathway so that we could get into the room. She is late most months that I am aware of paying her rent, she is late giving me utility bills and I no longer have the extra money to float with the lack of a job…. So it looks like with the request of the landlord that I will be finding a new roommate for the 3^rd floor and you know what I am not upset by that at all. I could use a lot less drama in my life and she can move to her sisters place cause that is where she is most of the time and the only one who will let her in with the bad credit she has…

oh there might be a swim gig coming up at the end of the month but I am waiting to see about that one – and then the next Idea is to sub teach during the mornings while trying to land a gig of full time art teacher for the fall. I was planning to stop by the Field school this week and drop off my resume but that is not happening with all of the mess at the house. Maybe there will be time later in the week for glass – Madeline emailed this morning that they might be up there tonight but I still don’t think that I will make it there with all of the madness – not that I had anything planned to work on…

Why do things keep happening on Tuesdays?

But on the brightside of things in the middle of the madness, with some happy news, Ashley, my sister, called to say that during her first visit to the doctor for an ultrasound and blood work that she had passed out twice as they tried to get the 6 things of blood that they needed. In the end someone asked if they got all that they needed and Ashley response was something along the lines of “I f-ing hope so.” She made me laugh in all of the madness that I was sitting - Congratulations go to Ashley and Ward who are due on Tiffany’s Birthday, August 21. So the beach trip is still ago with a very pregnant Ashley – lets all hope they don’t have to take anymore blood.