all things me

I’ve set the date: May 5th. I’ll gather my things and get out of here!

I should seriously start packing but I haven’t got around to it. I have so much on my mind, so much I should be doing that I can’t manage to start anything. Agh.

Here are some photos Dad took while we were doing a preliminary check. I kept admiring the place and only noticed a few things in the walls but Dad pointed out e.g. the cupboard you see in this picture:

Believe it or not, the trash bins which are on a trolley don’t fit inside the cupboard now that there’s some piping in there, too. I don’t know how on earth they’ll be fixing that but I’ll see on Wednesday…

Here’s a better picture of the balcony:

It’s huge, I tell you.

Dad took pictures of the little flaws so there aren’t other pictures to show off really. But, after May 5th there’ll be some more, I’m sure.

Sauna is an amazing thing: you may go in there worked up about something or worried, and come out calm and — more importantly — in your right mind again.

For instance, yesterday I was feeling furious at my bank because they paid an instalment of my apartment two months early. I thought, of course, that I’m losing money in interests because I’m starting to pay them now instead of two months later.

Then I went to the sauna (today).

Now I’m thinking, what difference does it actually make if I’m paying for this particular instalment + its interest for x number of months starting now instead of x number of months starting a bit later. I’m still feeling a hint of uncertainty, but logically thinking it doesn’t make much of a difference (the interest rate does change annually but it affects the situation only marginally).

This “enlightenment” has happened so many times that I sometimes feel stupid when I realise I’ve been worrying about something for no reason.

Here’s the foyer looking out the door:

There’s a closet for cleaning stuff on the right and mirror doors in the middle hiding the coat rack. Kitchen (oven, more specifically) peeks on the right hand side of the photo.

Here’s the kitchen:

There’s a slot for the microwave oven. Spices go in the cupboard above the stove (it’s a very shallow cupboard). The dishwasher is to the right of the oven.

I love the faucet!

You can see a bit of the fridge-freezer on the right. The drawers hold slots for utensils and also a cutting board.

Here’s the living-room:

The door to the balcony is on the left.

And there’s lots and lots of wall for a biiig bookcase for instance. We’ll see.

The wall stretches uninterruptedly to the foyer.

Now, here’s the shower and sauna door (missing the doorknob):

There’s a glass wall to separate the shower from the toilet/sink side of the bathroom. It didn’t fit in the photo there. The bathroom is surprisingly roomy. I love the grey tiling! It’s in the shower corner and on the floor (both sauna and bathroom).

Pretty lights in the sauna:

And here are the sink and cupboards:

There’s space for the washing machine to the right of the sink. (Toilet is to the left.) There’s also a closet with two laundry baskets and some shelf space.

And here’s the bedroom:

It’s quite small but it’ll be a nice den for reading and computer-ing. Oh, and sleeping.

Here’s a taste of the closet space:

The closet on the right (door closed) is similar to the one you see. There’s also a double-door closet to the right of these doors with a bar for hanging clothes (and a top shelf). I’ll have to put some drawers or storage baskets under the bar because I don’t have anything awfully long to hang in there.

The balcony floor is lovely! It’s not ugly grey concrete like I was afraid of but some sort of “fake gravel”.

I forgot to take another picture of the balcony…

I went to the construction site at 9 am and stayed for about 45 minutes. I probably could’ve stood there for a long time just looking around and enjoying the space, but I had to drag myself to work.

It’s perfect. Absolutely perfect.

On Friday of next week I’ll finally get to see my apartment! I know, I could’ve booked a viewing earlier but I didn’t want to see the under-construction mess it has been in. Now I received an invitation: Each occupant gets a whole hour of walking around the apartment, ooh’ing, aah’ing — and taking photos!

Can’t wait! Stand by for photos.

Yesterday I went to see the construction site with Dad. Nothing much seemed to have happened on the outside but my neighbour (current and future neighbour, as it happens) told me the floors should be done.

We went around back to check the balcony and they’d put up rails now. Dad even peeked in the bedroom window and urged me, too. I did take a look and saw the bedroom closets. Dad saw all the way to the kitchen but I didn’t because the window is high for my height and I couldn’t block out the light well enough to see far into the dark apartment.

But whoa, is the balcony big or what. I seriously have to think how to furnish it. One or two chairs around a small round table are not enough. I could put a hammock in there.

Dad also pointed out that while I’m talking about “a long time to wait” for even the info on move-in day which is mailed to us seven weeks prior, that day is not very far away. It really isn’t!

Days are practically whooshing by. It’s already November, then comes Christmas, then birthday — and then, getting to see my apartment and moving out is going to be just around the corner.

Things I look forward to:

• New furniture! New carpets! New curtains! New colours!
  (My bedroom curtains are blue — and I don’t like blue.)
• I’m itching to test out all the recipes I’ve been collecting in my cookblog. Yum!
• I get to listen to music without headphones and sing along, too.
• Oh oh oh! I can play on the computer without headphones!
• I’ll have proper places — and enough space — to put my things (in storage or on display).
• I don’t necessarily have to close the bedroom door at night. And I don’t have to listen to CLICKety-clack from behind the door, clomp-CLOMP-clomp from upstairs, and claBONK from behind the wall when I’m trying to sleep.
• I won’t have my sister’s hair EVERYWHERE (socks, shoes, clothes, fridge, butter packet, sofa, chair…). (She’s got long hair. Think ‘long’ and multiply it by 1.5.)
• Faucet with a thermostat. (Now I’m turning it hotter – colder – hotter – colder all the time while washing my face.)
• Hassle-free toilet paper holder. (Whoever invented the holder I have in my toilet now is a nut. It’s so difficult to put the roll in that I don’t usually bother and just put it on top of the holder. And remember the orange sink…?)

I have miscellaneous recipes all over the place: saved from the net, cut out from a magazine, written down on a tissue.

So, I had an idea: I should start collecting them in a cookbook. But what is my first thought how to implement this? WordPress on a USB stick!

I didn’t think of a plain old notebook, binder or a card index. Nope, not I. I was already checking out USB sticks when I decided that maybe I’ll just make it a local installation of WordPress for now.

But I think it’s going to be great! WordPress 2.3, which should be released tomorrow, is going to have tags. Categories and tags will make for excellent browsing. Categories for appetisers, main meals (maybe divided into vegetable, meat, fish, soups, special e.g. Christmas), desserts (this might need subcategories, too), and drinks (coffee, fruit drinks… all non-alcoholic of course). Tags for the ingredients. So, whether I need a certain type of food or feel like a certain ingredient, it should be easy to find inspiration. A search box finds the ingredients of course, but sometimes it’s easier to pick from a limited list.

My recipe collection isn’t extensive yet but I think it’ll have to be unless I want to eat spaghetti bolognese (let alone tv dinners!) every single weekend…

I’ve decided I want a splash of colour on my (to-be) brand new white walls. I haven’t yet decided if it’s going to be one wall in one colour or some sort of pattern.

I’d like it to be a pattern but the next hard question is, what pattern? I don’t want any nature themed patterns — flowers, leaves, trees. Boring and, not to mention, in fashion!

I could do something like the pattern in Jafer’s living room which looks really nice, but I suppose if I did something like that I’d have to do the whole foyer + living room+ kitchen area because it’s all one big space. It might not look good if there was a continuous pattern that was restricted to one wall — but my patience might run out if I took on decorating the whole room.

Of course, it would be nice if I had a favourite game, book or movie which could serve as inspiration, but I don’t think I’d like to have Sam Fisher peeking from behind the couch.

I could do something silly in the bedroom, like an alien or something computer-themed. I did think I’d frame some of the alien posters for the bedroom, though. Painting there would lose the purpose.

A coloured wall behind the bookcase could be nice if I bought a bookcase that shows through — and if I put the bookshelf on the short wall in the living-room. Or how would it look if I had flying books on one wall? Or a bookmark peeking from behind the bookcase!

I’ll have to visit a paint store where they have all kinds of stencils. Maybe I’ll get an inspiration there.

Update, October 8
Here are some colour palettes I’ve stumbled across/sampled:
– Black, grey, brown, and bright red at ColorCombos.com
– “Rojo” at ColorHunter.com
– Purples

I signed up for COLOURlovers, because I wanted to save a combo I picked. (Of course, I could’ve just saved the hex codes… But maybe it’s good to have the plans in one place.)

(The image looked better in the theme with a purple background but I’ll leave it be. This is an old post anyway.

While we were sitting on the subway, a colleague of mine said I should throw a house-warming party when I finally get to move into my new apartment. A really good idea, but I have a problem: I’ve never been to a house-warming party!

What do people do at a house-warming party?
What should I serve? (I’m not going to serve alcohol.)
Do I need to have seats for everyone or are people prepared to stand around?

And most importantly: Should I hide my alien collection?

I think I should at least have a sofa and kitchen table + chairs before I invite anyone, but I don’t know how long it’ll take for me to find them! Also, I would hate to see my brand new sofa ruined by food or drink. (Or am I being too obsessive?)

I’m thinking I’d have it on a Thursday or so. Friday nights most people want to go out and get drunk because they don’t have work the next day; and my house-warming party wouldn’t be the best place to spend a Friday night…

Luckily, I have more than 6 months to think this one, too, through.

(What’s up with that misaligned window?)

This morning at 8:15 I went to the seller to sign the contract of sale and I got a wonderful binder full of interesting information about my apartment: the balcony will have window glasses (hurraah!!), the TV system is cable, I will have a dishwasher (yay!), etc. etc. After I got the important documents, I headed for the bank. It opens at 10 am but I called the clerk with whom I’ve been doing business and she let me in before 10 (we’d agreed on this yesterday when I went to sign the loan documents). When I was leaving she handed me a house buyer’s gift — a paper bag with two small orange towels.

A bit funny — I sign away my soul they give me towels. Still, I think it’s a really sweet gesture.

Yesterday after I signed the loan papers I got three tickets to the Housing Fair in Hämeenlinna. Wonderful surprise! I’m going there with Grandma (I don’t know who else is coming) anyway so now I don’t need to buy tickets.

This is it. I’m a home owner now.