house

Longing for a Bungalow

~ Bon Steele ~ 11 Comments
Thanks Eddie, for the title.

“Why does my house always look like this?” She stood with her hand resting on the crumb-covered counter. Kook-Aide dribbles trekked across the tile from the sink to the refrigerator. A stack of syrupy plates leaned precariously against an almost empty Mrs. Butterworth’s bottle. Sighing, she turned her back on the chaos and surveyed the living room. Ecru walls, mocha sofa, beige carpeting. Things were far tidier, but the whirlpool of brown sucked the life out of her.

I can recall my teenage self: resentful and wondering WHY teal paint and pictures of horse skulls with rose eye sockets was a bad idea. It may1 have been hideous. But, it is what I wanted.

And because she is awesome, my mother let me paint my walls a dark teal color and hang pictures of various morbid objects d’art in my room. I am sure she looked in there as little as possible. I loved it. My room was my realm, my bastion, my Fortress of Solitude.

Perhaps not as chilly, though.

As an adult, I crave my house to be a reflection of me; my tastes, personality. In this fantasy, my house is also always sparkling clean.2

Why can’t I have a house that looks like it does in my head?
Well, part of the reason is that I cannot afford it right now. But another part is because I live with other people. It cannot be my Fortress because Solitude means throwing out the other folks that live here. I’m fond of them, so obviously that isn’t the answer.

What we should – and probably will, once we get our finance’s teeth kicked back in – is sit down together and come up with a plan. Paint and furniture and Bon! Put that sledgehammer down RIGHT NOW

…fine. Paint and furniture and no major changes to the structure of the house. New flooring though, please? Yes. Yay! Death to carpeting!

So, we’ll come up with a plan and whirlwind through the house and make it less generic. I can’t wait.  My house will have color and art and lots of technology and maybe a Tardis and dear, gods SO MANY BOOKS and no fucking brown, anywhere.

What would YOUR house have, given your druthers?

1 – Or hell, may not. Maybe my teen self was simply ahead of her time.
2 – Of course, for that last to happen, the people I live with would also put away the things they aren’t using anymore. TV time done? Then the controller should go back into the basket o’remotes. Not stuffed between the couch cushions. 

ISO 2 BDRM 2 BTH w/Z LL & FP

~ Bon Steele ~ Leave a comment

I am driving up to DFW, today. Right after my daughter gets out of school, as a matter of fact. I am both looking forward to this trip and dreading it.

For the next 150+ miles, everything will be flat and boring. Fortunately, I have PLENTY of road construction to keep you occupied. Yay!

 

 

For one, I hate that drive. I-35 may be a convenient straight-shot, but it is an ugly, boring route.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Also, I will be helping Mom pack for her upcoming (surprise!) move. She sold her house – much to her chagrin. I asked her why she had put her house on the market if she didn’t actually want to move. She said that she had done so before really looking at the places she wanted to live. Her original intention was to move closer to my brother and his family. They have new twins to go along with their five-year-old boy. They live out north of Dallas, in the Plano-Carrollton area. Upon looking, she discovered that the For-Sale Housing market is made of $pendy right now, esp. in that area. But her house sold before she made that revelation.
Apparently, you cannot back out of a sale once you’ve signed the contract. I laughed a little when she told me that. She sounded so exasperated.
Poor Mom. She has to be out by end of December. Thank goodness she has a place to go – the house that she had been renting out is between tenants right now. As a bonus, I prefer the neighborhood that it is in.

There are about a million things to pack. Carefully pack. Dishes, paintings and pictures, books and tchotchkes galore. Detritus from her three now-grown children, her recently passed husband and mother.

Even though packing up everything will be depressing, I feel that this is a good move for Mom. This is the house Mom & Dad picked out to live his retirement. It is where Dad suddenly finished his life. It is the house where she had the news that her mother was passing. It will be good for her to be in a place without so many sad memories.

Of course, opinions are like…well, you know the phrase. Mom is more irritated than woebegone. The place she will be living in is farther from where she works; and much farther from her new grandbabies. Plus, she doesn’t really like that house.

Maybe we will go house-hunting while I am there?