We've said it before but I really think THIS TIME, we've found a place we'll be staying in for a while. Stopped in on Saturday to take measurements and they were almost finished with everything. The master bedroom and living room are bigger than we've ever had, plus the separate dining room is a nice extra. Hardwood floors throughout, lots of closet space, lots of sunlight. Going to paint on Friday, head down to VA to get our stuff out of storage over the weekend and move in on Monday morning. Can't wait!

If there's any store that I should own a piece of by now, it's IKEA. The Elizabeth, NJ one, to be specific. I've furnished some portion of every apartment I've lived in since 1995 with IKEA products. This weekend, we went a little crazy with new bedroom and living room sets, plus a few rugs and other knick-knacks. Got the kids the coolest little picnic table ever. Then, we hit Home Depot and dropped stupid money on paint. Paint is expensive. Custom colors are ridiculously expensive. I'm convinced it's not included in the redesign budgets on Trading Spaces. No way they do what they do with only $1000 AND pay for paint. Definitely not the brushes and stuff!

Only got into one argument over how much everything cost! Go ahead, call me cheap. It's true. I can take it.

Note to the world: I hate Verizon. Shady bastards and their "Freedom Package!" Any coincidence that the voice of Darth Vader is their pitchman? All they did was jack the prices up on individual services, making it cost-prohibitive to get anything other than the full deal. On top of all that, they can't get us service until JULY 17th?!?! If cable internet were available in our building, I'd go with that and not even get a phone, just stick with our cells. At least in Virginia there was an alternative provider (Cavalier) that was pretty good and much cheaper. Of course, there's no alternative to Cablevision, either, so it's not like the cable route is that much better.

In other news, I'm going to 13 tonight, unexpectedly, as I won't be able to make Acentos next week because of the move. Want to catch Bonafide while he's in town and it's the only option. The collective meeting was this weekend (no, I didn't go) and I was a little annoyed to find out that the June 23rd reading - Mara's feature - got turned into a womanNOISE instead of letting me host it like I'd asked when I stepped down. Most annoyed that I found out by checking the schedule instead of being told first. Whatever. Curious to see if they'll pull off the women's organization-collaboration that I'd insisted on if the format continued, or if it's just back to the usual unadorned pseudo-womancentric read. House of Woman was great in the beginning when we were evolving from the male-dominated Nuyorican scene but I think we've come way beyond that as female voices have been one of our strong suits from early on.

Whatever. I need to learn to stop saying "we."

...

Hold the phone! Decided to call Cablevision to confirm our lack of internet options and it turns out that it IS available in our building. Ironically, they just haven't updated THEIR web site. Screw Verizon, then! We'll stick with our cell phones for now. Which happens to be Verizon Wireless... Bastards!