The Bilerico Project | Daily experiments in LGBTQ

Things here are starting to look a little more civilized. Moving is so disconcerting to me - I can't stand to have all of our crap strewn around whether in boxes or piled in corners. The kitchen, bedrooms, bathrooms and office are pretty much finished now, but we're still trying to finish the front room and living room. All of the repairs to the house are done and we've even managed to work in a few loads of laundry. (Which was quite the experience, thank you very much! Ever turn on your washing machine and have your house lights turn into strobe lights? Turns out the electric line from the pole to the house wasn't grounded correctly. Thankfully, it was a free fix from IPL.)

Speaking of unexpected problems, we've encountered one we surely didn't expect. We have a sinkhole in our back yard! As we were walking across the lawn this week, we sank about a foot into the earth. Turns out that there's an old sewer/storm drain buried in our yard and the neighbor's lilac bush has grown roots into it and collapsed it. *sigh* The contractor who was working on our house says that the inspector should have caught that, so he'll be back out next week to look at it so we can turn it in our the home warranty this place came with. Hopefully it'll be covered... Other than that, all of the repairs turned out fine and the contractors even did some extra work we hadn't bid on to make up for taking a little longer than they'd promised.

We've noticed some differences between apartment living and owning a home already. For one, we now know most of our neighbors. While there hasn't been a visit from the Welcome Wagon (What ever happened to the Welcome Wagon? I thought when you bought a house and moved into it the WW came along and gave you a bunch of coupons?), several residents from the block have stopped by to say hello and tell us about the neighborhood. There's an active crime watch - the block captain lives catty-corner from our house. She came over and got our email addresses and phone numbers so she could keep us up-to-date on any goings-on. She also gave us a few pieces of paper with information about the area and answers to questions like "When is trash pick up day?" There are two other gay couples on our end of the block so we know it's a diverse and welcoming little neighborhood.

One of the other surprises is how much company we've had. Granted, our apartment wasn't the fanciest, but neither is our house! Gotta stick with what you can afford... But friends who've never been to our apartment have been over to the house! Is this what happens when you live south of 38th Street? I think yesterday was the only day that we haven't had guests; we actually got some work done on cleaning up the place. Of course, it wasn't the best day for me to try to move things and bend and twist... Why you might ask?

Because, like a big dumbass, I got up yesterday morning and fell down the stairs. *sigh* Yup, down I went - ass over tin cup. In my own defense, our stairs are very narrow and badly carpeted - the carpet sticks out further than the stairs do. I hit one of those top steps just, well, wrong, and ended up sitting on my butt in the middle of all the crap still stacked at the bottom of the stairwell. Thankfully, I didn't break anything but I did wrench my back and shoulders a good one. I hurt my back pretty good a few years ago in a serious car wreck to the point where I had to have physical therapy. And where do I hurt now? Same place, of course.

We still have quite a bit of work to do. But we're having fun most of the time and I know that when we're all settled in it'll start to feel more like home. I can't wait. I've been awake for a little bit now - since my back hurt it was hard to sleep. Jerame's still in bed but I think I'll go get started on organizing the downstairs. Send your best wishes that I don't off myself on a stray knick-knack...