Productive Weekend!

With my siblings' tickets booked, it's do or die time with getting my house really together. Granted, they are my siblings so even if casa mia doesn't look like it belongs on the cover of BH&G I'm pretty sure they will be just fine, ma this is a great reason to kick it into gear. And yes, I'm almost to the 1 year mark so in theory I'll be out of this place in just about 2 years? (Shhh, I don't want to hear one comment about all the empty boxes and Nico's stack of packing paper.)

At any rate, this weekend was spent spending money, cleaning, and decorating. Of course the items I really need, like a guest bed, weren't purchased but I found some awesome kitchen stuff at Ikea because when in doubt, I'll always be found looking at kitchen items even when my kitchen is pretty much at full capacity and dishes are already being stored in my living room?

The bulk of my weekend was spent prepping, painting, and cleaning up my sunroom/office area. This is what is looks like for the time being so we're going to call it Phase II. There are still several pictures needing to be put up on the walls & the desk area needs to also get cleaned up (not pictured for that reason.)

Isn't it great that I started with the room that my guests won't be spending much time in? Oh well, it's my favorite place to hang out so if this room is squared away it's alright that my room still looks like a mess.

The other place I spent a lot of time were my patios. The narrow one on the street side of the house (ie sunset viewing decks) are now clean with the herbs growing in the sun. Short of a small table out there they are done. The main patio...well, that's another story. Most of the planters are now planted with veggies and flowers germinating however it's a big old mess out there. I am never home long enough to see which parts get the most sun, to optimize plant placement. Plus, the furniture needs some serious cleaning. I started on one set but the wind kicking up dust made it nearly impossible to make any progress so I gave up. I'll try again once this rainy weather clears out.

Well, Now I Know...

"Ciao Enzo. Questa Katie. I have a problem- my oven, stove, and dishwasher aren't working. I've flipped all the breakers and still nada. I hear/smell the gas from the stove top but don't hear the clicking to ignite it."

"Did you flip the switch?"

"In the breaker box- yes."

"No, the switch in the kitchen. It needs to be on in order for it work. Maybe you hit it while cleaning."

"Um, I don't think so. I did a fair amount of trouble shooting prior to calling you. When I get home I'll check though. Grazie." (I couldn't admit to him that I haven't actually cleaned my kitchen in a week...or the fact this wasn't a new discovery but I finally remembered to call him and I knew I'd be home before 9pm.)

After hanging up the phone I had the feeling that he honestly believed that I had no idea what I was talking about and I couldn't help but to think that it was because of my gender. Really? I've been without what I figured to be power to my 3 appliances since Saturday, but maybe even Thursday...since that's when I ran my dishwasher. 

You see,  dirty dishes, coated in blue frosting and a light dusting of flour from sugar cookies were very festive transforming my counter into a winter wonderland scene, but they were also daunting.  Very daunting, especially late at night after a long day at work. Finally on Thursday when I realized I needed dishes (those of you who have been my roommate know how long I wait sometimes...) so I started to attack them by hand I remembered that I have a dishwasher! I'd still trade it for a garbage disposal any day of the week but it's a good thing to have when you make a mess with just about every pot, pan, cookie sheet, and utensil coated in food. It wasn't until Saturday afternoon when I really wanted coffee did I realize that my kitchen was not fully functioning. Grr.

That's when my engineer Katie mode started and after exhausting my ideas I called in a few experts for their feedback. They suggested everything I had already tried. Finally today I called Enzo to see if he could relay the message because I still can't talk home repairs in Italian. That's when we had that conversation. That's when my cranky day at work got even worse.

At any rate, as soon as I chased Nico down from when he ran outside when I got home (yeah, that was fun) I went to straight to the kitchen to prove Enzo wrong. Unfortunately I proved myself wrong instead. When I called him to let him know it was fixed he had to ask if it was the switch. I fessed up and told him yes. Then he went on about how it's a safety thing which I disagreed with him...it's clearly a decoy for Americans. Oh well. Like I teased earlier- now that my kitchen is up and running again I better go spend more time in it because clearly this woman doesn't know her way around it well enough!

Seriously though, I know I didn't flip that switch. Maybe one of the cookie sheets hit it? Maybe it was Nico? I mean, I don't mind the fact that it was a such a quick fix (once I finally called) but it would have been nice to see my favorite repair guy...just sayin'.  And yes, I find it hilarious that just today at work we were once again laughing about  although we have "degrees" sometimes the simplest of things gives us the most difficulties.

Another Milestone Reached

As most of you have heard, I've been fighting this cold that's making its way through Naples. I believe one of the soccer kids decided to share with us coaches as my coworker came down with it last weekend and come Monday we were both sad cases. Our entire shop (the whole 4 of us) were sneezing and coughing by the end of the week. To be fair, the other 2 were also exposed to it at their homes and I really do keep my germs to myself.

Well, apart from the Shoe Alley adventure yesterday I told myself I wasn't allowed to leave my house expect for in search of pizza or in case of emergency. There was a point yesterday where I almost restricted my outings to only life threatening emergencies. I even told Nico he was responsible for saving me.

It would be a lie if I said I was super productive today but progress was reached in the unpacking department. I finally opened the last few boxes and all but one is now unpacked. The one with items still in it is from my office and given that I don't even have enough workspace now, these items will need to find a new home eventually.

The office/craft room finally looks like a room rather than a room out of a hoarder's home. Unfortunately the zebra couch remains in there but hopefully that's not for much longer. I did open it up (why yes, it is a sleeper couch). Did you know that it's part of the New York City series? The copy right date? 1982. If this is an original...it's older than me! With this discovery and realizing it was nearly 1pm, I went up to my much newer couch and took a nap. Well, maybe like 3. From time to time I was woken up by Nico sharing Baby Mouse or wads of packing paper with me.

Round two in the office made me laugh because once again I was finding things I forgot I had. Like a set of glasses? Oh well, I still don't regret my new set from Ikea! My creations from high school ceramics? Oh just you wait till they are worth big money. What really triggered my need to unpack was my list of a few missing items. Nothing huge but I was finding it odd that both of my aprons are still MIA. Yeah, still MIA. Guess it's time to look through my clothes again? No lo so.

Who says you can't have it all? I slept in, got a room unpacked, napped for 2+ hours, and even had pizza today. Yeah, I am productive even when sick.

BEWARE THE BOX TROLL!

So Many Boxes

The wait is finally over.

No more talks of "when I can post it."

Those sleepless nights will soon be behind you.

TODAY (yes, today)-  I finally present to you the 2nd video in the Moving-In series.

As before the same motion sickness warning applies, so think twice before viewing it full screen. (Of course I also have makeup on this time around so it's a little better looking and I've got a cute Italian assistant.) You're all adults- you can make the right decisions for yourself before watching.

House Tour

Okay, so pictures never give a real good idea of a place because the size and configuration gets all out of whack. For this reason I decided to do a video tour of the place.

Before you get excited and click the link please read the following warnings:

If you are prone to motion sickness, take something now.
If you have missed my ramblings/confusing statements, you won't after this.

Actually, that's about it. Hopefully it gives you all a better idea of where I'm living- complete with the sounds I hear pretty much nonstop. Well, not when I'm waking up, but I assure you they resume by 0645 as I discovered this morning.

Oh! And if I don't mention it enough for you in the video- BOOK YOUR TICKETS NOW AND COME VISIT ME. The house is sort of creepy and it needs more people.

And now for our featured movie presentation....

Alarming Moments

Well, clearly I’m not unplugged but compared to normal it sure feels like I am! It’s actually been rather nice sitting in my very empty house, windows open, listening to the voices and traffic outside while I watch the sun set. Finding ways to entertain myself has also been fun and although letter writing, napping, and reading seem to be my go to activities I assure you all, adventuring out into the town will soon be my activity of the day. I had actually hoped to get a walk/jog in last night but when I pulled into the parking spot one of the daughters greeted me from their balcony asking if the alarm guy could stop by within the next hour.

Sure, why not?

After eating dinner, writing a few letters, and way too many distracted moments starring at the setting sun, there they were at my door. Totally not what I was imagining the alarm guy would look like. I was expecting an older guy, like the guys I had seen around the house prior to move in. Nope. Fabio was in his 20s and good looking. Still looked Italian but didn’t scream stereotypical Italian male. I got the crash course on the alarm, hot water, and heating system. Although he spoke English I was still glad the daughter was there getting all her questions answered in Italian before relaying the info. I double checked that I knew what I was doing while they were there and there were no problems. Well- I should have questioned more about if the alarms only monitored the doors/windows why in the world do I have blinking green, orange, and blue lights on the sensors in every single room.

Why?

Well, now knowing how this system operates I decided to start getting in the habit of setting it at night (when I’ve finally closed all my windows). So I dead bolted my lock (with keys, from inside…which really can’t be all that safe in the event of fire?) and set the alarm. Sweet- all the lights on it are off so alarm is set. Right? Um yes. I’m in my room for less than a minute and start hearing the beeping alarm. It wasn’t all that loud it so a) I wonder if my neighbors are hearing it? b) is the sound box upstairs somewhere? c) in the event of a real break in would that really scare the person? Luckily the alarm key was in sight and I ended that ruckus. (Thankfully it was 9pm and not 3am.)

No I really don’t have anything of value in my house right now- well, other than my espresso maker, countless letters, and SF Giants ball cap. I’m just trying to get in the habit of being safe! I guess I need to call Fabio up and ask him why the alarm went off and if it is sensor based…what’s going to happen when I have a kitten running around the place while I’m at work? Good thing he left his number.