It's Tougher Now

Tonight, for the first night since we've been here, I sense a chasm. They are all in one bedroom with the door closed, skyping someone. Who? Eh, it doesn't matter. Me? I've got my own worries. Two blisters that are just killing me. Thank God a friend recommended moleskin. How did I get to be this age and not know what moleskin is? Jeez.

So....after that first grocery store trip, I realized this: The fridge is not working. The FRIDGE is NOT WORKING. I have 400 dollars worth of food in there. Not only that, one of the kids came home the first night and broke the front door lock. How? How did she do this? Fridge guy came, eventually. Back door was broken, that guy came. Bathroom had issues, another guy came. Locksmith came. Then, management company sent THEIR locksmith over, cause it had to be their guy, not the guy listed on the front door. Wish I would have known this before I walked all the way to the East Village Hardware store to get extra keys made for the kids.

So, now, the fridge fixed. The back door fixed. The bathroom fixed. The front door lock - NOT FIXED. You can still just open it right up from the hallway. The lock guy promised to come out. For the first time, a NYC repair guy let me down. Ah, feels like home.

My dinners are being met with...well, polite reviews, not terribly glowing. But I'm doing my best. It's so small this kitchen. It's literally crazy how small it is. I promise to post a picture.

I'm dreading the fourth weekend. I have them all day and night for three days. How will I do this? I'm sort of counting the days already! More grocery shopping today. Endless work, but I knew that going in. My feet are killing me! These repairs are killing me! I just wanted it to be a little easy, not HARDER than my life is in LA, if possible. Yet, unbelievably it is.

There are bright spots - a friend took me to lunch in Chinatown today. I almost wept with gratitude. It was lovely to have someone pick me up, drive me somewhere and treat me to lunch. The little things.

Anyway, I know it'll settle down. The apartment stuff is really working my nerves. Very noisy hallway, lots of comings and goings. What do the upstairs neighbors do all day and night? Sounds like - moving furniture in stiletto heels. Just so bizarre.

I'm still glad I did it. It'll make me kiss the ground I walk on in LA!

Quads

I just gave birth to quads. That's what this feels like. Did I mention that in my old place in Los Angeles, I had what was known as the smallest kitchen in America? Yeah well this one here on the Lower East Side is half that size. HALF! FML, as the saying goes (f**k my life) and it applies here fosho! Went to two grocery stores, a hardware store and two dance stores in Times Square today. Then came home and 1. Baked cookies. 2. Made dinner. 3. Cleaned up dinner. 4. Did laundry. 5. Put everything away. 6. Pretended to fall asleep so the kids would go to bed. 7. Ate earlier cookies like a furtive NYC rat in the dark. 8. Sent an email to the parents asking for more food money. NYC= the city that eats your money!

But you know what? As stressful and financial this whole thing is, I'm happy. Even in the difficult moments, I'm thinking, hey at least you are out of LA and the hell that is unpacking and in a kickass city. The girls here! The guys! The heck with LA, the beautiful people are right outside on my stoop!

Ah, N'Yawk. My only regret is not living here sooner. Feels a little late now. LA has made me soft. The kids already know the subway system. I find myself wishing for a car and better shoes. It's really going to be a lot of work, this, but that's okay. I'm already broke from the move, so what's another coupla…hundred? Bazillion more like it. Off to bed for reals this time!

(pix to come. iphone sez no from phone posting, which this is)

New York Citayyyyy

Holy mother o' Gawd almights, am I really doing this? My boxes are not all unpacked. I have the wrong shelf paper down. There are a ton of things to do in the place. I still don't have a dryer. The ink is barely dry on the lease. Yet incredibly, I'm off to New York City for two weeks to be a chaperone to kids at American Ballet Theatre - one of the kids is the daughter of a dear pal. So off I go. Wish me luck. I'll try and post more while there about what it's like to go from having ZERO children to having suddenly FOUR, one of whom is 22 and technically I'm Not Chaperoning Her, so she can come and go as she pleases. As Lorrie Moore would say, no longer one unworried scrap of happiness. Anyway, we are hitting the ground running as they say, or toe-shoe-ing. As soon as we land tomorrow, the kids want to try and get half price student rush tickets at ABT (where they will be dancing) to see some famous ballerina's last performance of Cinderella. Don't mind me kids, I'll be sleeping during that performance, if I can even get in. Just found out at the parents meeting that one of the children (a boy) is DATING another of the children (a girl). Good Lord. Now I have to play SISTER too, it seems. Keep yer hands to yerself! Both kids, in fact, ALL the kids are lovely. They are ballet driven. Very disciplined. Wish me luck! Signed, Mama Rose, Alice in the Brady Bunch and Barbara Hershey's character in the Black Swan. PS Here's a pic of my patio. Look how the lights from inside reflect on the tree. We hung lanterns, patio lights, chandeliers. It's gonna be amazing!

I'm all in

....moving sucks. More to come. But I'm out of the old place forever. New place, here I come!

I'm not ready

I'm not ready, but tomorrow's the day. I guess I'll get done what I can get done tonight. Last post while living in old digs. It's tough, man! I watered my garden today for the last time and realized that every single plant there, with three exceptions, was planted by me. I knew the origin of everything. My lemon tree has a huge crop! I harvested it. Might as well get some use out of it. My two angel trumpet trees, beautiful! Full bloom! One for Mom and one for Dad. The plant I got from my office 9 years ago. Two plants Dean brought home free from estate sales. Some stuff I planted that used to be houseplants in Chicago. I said goodbye to all of them. Drummer came by last night. He's very unhappy with the turn of events. My neighbor said I could babysit him. That's going to be nice! Tomorrow, we get the truck and start in. Friends are helping. I'm so lucky, I know. It could be so so much worse. When I think of 2000. Buried my Dad, lost my job (had a year's notice, and we got a severance, but still), packed half my stuff and put it into Chicago storage, packed the other half into a U-Haul and off to LA I went. How on earth?? How did I do THAT? I look back and wonder. Of course...that was 10 years ago. How things change in a decade! Don't know if I'd have that in me now. Not only that, I moved out here with no car, no job and no apartment! Not for lack of trying. I'd come out on a recon a few weeks earlier - nothing. I had to store my stuff out here as well while I crashed at a friend's house. Started job/house hunting. The job was easy - but my little house, the one I'm about to leave, was much longer. 6 weeks! In Chicago, you can find an apartment in a weekend. Even this new place-3 months! But back then, all I was doing was apartment hunting. Temping a little, then I found that first job and apartment basically in the same week. Just amazing. It was fall. What will fall be like this year? The sound of the pep rallys at Venice High, the one sound I always associate with moving into my house, will now be a thing of the past. But this was before - before Dean, before my current job, before Late Nite Catechism. It was just Benny and me - now Ben's long gone. Well, life changes. That's about the only thing I know. It'll be a wrench to leave tomorrow but the new place is becoming more and more welcoming. Dean has been working like a dog to make it look beautiful for me. I'm lucky. When things are more settled, I'll post again with pictures. But for now, one last look at Dad's Angel Trumpet tree. Farewell, lovely Tivoli Ave - it's been a great run!