I'm exhausted, and my schedule as of late seems to indicate I have no concept of self preservation.

• Saturday: spent 7 hours cleaning my house and unpacking random items.  Started to clean bathroom sink and was shocked to discover the brilliant gleam of the bright copper basin (I'd thought it was supposed to be a rustic "tarnished" dark copper, but it's actually a breathtakingly beautiful bright copper.  I'll post a pic once it's finished). Went to Katherine's Casino Night party, stayed there much longer than planned.  I was simply having too much fun to leave, exhaustion be damned!
• Today: spent 5 hours cleaning and moving some more. Holy shit, my sinuses are haywire from all of the dust and dirt and pollen which had built up in the house in the last year or so.  And Maureen was an invaluable help today in the Contact Paper Experiment.  Those pantry shelves didn't stand a chance against us!  Oh, and I'm still really sorry about slamming the one shelf into your abdomen.  That wasn't part of the plan.  Or was it?  Lunch on Wednesday is on me.  ::sheepish grin:: 
• Tomorrow: Go to work.  Leave work early to drive to Chestertown.  Buy Thor's Hammer Vodka from Pip's, buy spirits of Ammonia from Stam's, try not to scream like a fangirl at the Neil Gaiman reading.  Drive back to Allentown (hopefully after getting Sandman Vol. 4 signed, and maybe a picture with the man himself).  I don't know why I didn't just plan to have the whole day off.  It's going to suck getting up at 7 am for work and then getting back home around 3 am.  It's even suckier given the sheer exhaustion and insanity from from the last few days.  Not to mention the Sinuses of Doom. 
• Tuesday: I'm smart to have scheduled this day off from work.  I will sleep in and recover from the journey to and from the Eastern Shore.  And then I will go to my house shortly after noon to let the carpet cleaners in, and to meet with the locksmith.  Go back to my parents' house and start packing things like books and knickknacks and winter clothes.
• Wednesday: Back to work, take a day off from cleaning and packing and unpacking.
• Saturday & Sunday: Paint, clean, move books and clothes and small furniture.
• 14 May: Official moving day.  Yay!

Yesterday, I met the elderly gentleman who lives next door (the very one who examine mine and Diane's handiwork on the holly bush during the gas company/inspection debacle).  He's very sweet, and he's going to be the best kind of neighbor to have-- he seems to be the eagle eye of the neighborhood.  He and his wife have lived there for over 40 years, and he shed some light on the renovations done to my house.  The reason why there's no stained glass window, no original oak front door, no original hardwood inside?  The house was gutted by a fire about 10 years ago.  At the time, it was a HUD rental unit, and the tenant fell asleep in the basement with a lit cigarette still hanging from his mouth.  So that explains how the flipper who bought it at the beginning of the decade was able to get it for sooooo cheap and then sell it for more than 2x as much as he paid.  And it explains WHY there's all new wiring, plumbing, drywall, appliances, etc.  And why the interior doors are the standard stock 6-panel doors found in all houses built in the last 15 years. 

So while I'm still angsty over the fact that my house is the only one on the street without the gorgeous oak front door, stained glass, and hand carved banister, at least I know it's because all of those features were lost in a fire and not scrapped by a house flipper who has no appreciation for the Victorian aesthetic.  Either way, I'm going to keep an eye out for an old oak exterior door at auctions, and I'll see if Restoration Hardware can possibly obtain one for me.  And I'll get some stained glass panels to mount in the front windows.  They won't be originals to the house, obviously, but at least I'll have the best of both worlds: old-fashioned beauty with modern comfort.  And I have dual zone central air, which more than makes up for the crappy generic stock doors.  Hee!

I've also spent the last 2 days geeking out over the perks of city living.  For the first time since moving out of my apartment, I enjoyed the luxury of pizza delivery-- and from Papa John's, nonetheless!  And when Steve ran out today to buy garbage bags for the courtyard cleanup, he walked to CVS and back in about 10 minutes.  [I currently live in the middle of farmland with my parents.  Going out to buy ANYTHING turns out to be a 20 minute drive round trip, not counting the time required to park, go in and shop, and check out.  Steve managed to walk to CVS, shop, and walk back in 10 minutes.  This is majorly exciting to me.]  AND AND AND today, I reverted back to 5-years-old and shrieked with joy when I heard the unmistakable jingles of the Good Humor truck!  I haven't seen an ice cream truck in YEARS, and the moment I saw the thing cruise past, I ran upstairs to where my mom was priming the dressing room and screamed, "There's ice cream trucks!  Did you hear?  DID YOU HEAR THE GOOD HUMOR MAN?!"  I think THAT'S more exciting than anything else!     

Yes, I love my house.  I'm very eager to move in.  

And even though I'm dead on my feet right now and throughly drained, I'm on pins and needles for tomorrow night.  I really can't believe that I'm going to see my idol in the flesh, and that I'm going to see him at WAC.  I just hope my friend Joe doesn't mind taking over driving duties on the way home.  I just know I'm going to be dangerously tired by the end of the night.  But OMGNEILGAIMANYAY!

April looks like it will turn out to be quite the exciting month indeed. I will be visiting my alma mater at the same time as Neil Gaiman, I will (hopefully) close on the house (yes, Neil Gaiman absolutely trumps buying my first house), and I will spend the night at Barnes & Nobel the night of 07 April so I can get my hands on this.

Okay, I lied about the last part.  I'm not even remotely what you call a "morning person," and I'd likely get really pissed at the B&N employees when they showed up to open the store because I'm sure they'll be opening before, oh, 1:30 PM.  Well, that, and I kind of have to be at work on the 8th.  So maybe I'll just preorder from Amazon.  That way I'll still have it the day it comes out, but I won't have to get all bitey so early in the morning.  Ruh.

Recap of why April is awesome:

Neil Gaiman.

Chestertown.

27 April.

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THANK YOU MIKE for mentioning it and bringing it to my attention.

So, who else is going? 

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