beerble bath. march 4th.

kit has been coining phrases left and right lately. and i've been stealing all of them.

it started with hangry. you know hangry... fine one minute, hungry the next, ready to behead people immediately after.

beerble bath is what she has coined my bubble baths with a beer when i get home from the house.

credit where it's due.

moving on.


i did a lot today.

i woke up a little later. i used the neti pot again, it was awesome, despite being a little painful. and shaved in the shower. it was a great start.

then i went to delaware after hanging with kim and pam for a while, and stocked up on everything (beer, cigarettes, lottery tickets). came back, tanned, went to home depot to get things for the house, and went to the house after picking kit up from school to go with me. i took down all the curtains and washed them.

then commenced seven hours of cleaning and house related stuff.

i went to walmart, which i fucking hate, to get supplies. it was fine. i got what i needed. mostly.

i bought mop heads, because the ones at the house were dry rotted from lack of use.

i bought a basket for recycling, because i found out tonight after i bought it, that they have never recycled, because ever didn't say anything about it or provide a recycling bin. this is one of my biggest pet peeves. non-recyclers.

i bought dishwasher stuff and laundry stuff. because i used their detergent when i washed all the curtains. i think it was a good way to banish the filthy smoker smell. and it had never been done. in two years plus.


i bought a new front door lock set. which was a good thing, because i don't want ever coming in. and because i don't want everyone else having keys to the house (all the employees, etc). and because the set on the door now looks like it could be touched and broken into.

it was $50. and i stared it down, before throwing it in the cart and making three extra sets of copies for it. it was what i went there for. i was hoping for a $20 fix.

and when i told mike and shawn about it tonight, mike was super grateful. he had been concerned about the number of people who had keys to the house. i guess ever had given them to anyone who had ever stayed there, not to mention all his employees. so he thanked me for that.


both of them were home, and we talked for a while in the kitchen tonight. it was good, because i needed to find out about rent and to touch base with them about my plans for the house.

i think mike was pretty freaked out by my saying that i was probably going to list in june or july and wanted an empty house. he moved in last june, and has a one year lease with ever. he wanted to be sure that ever wasn't expecting rent from him, that i was supposed to be taking it, and that his lease was still good, which was why he hadn't left it for me. but asked more than once if he should be looking for a place to live soon. i had told ever to address it, but as per his usual, he did not. i texted him about it. of course, i didn't hear back. the fact that it was 1030 is beside the point.

he was also very grateful about my offer to include a few of the utilities in their rent.

they pay over $500 a month for a room. and ever didn't include anything in that. he said he'd been struggling with surprise bills.

i know it's got the potential to be an awesome house, but they shouldn't be paying the water bill. and it's steep for what they've been getting. so i said that i'd look over the bills and see if there was a way to include something in their rent, to bring their expenses down. if they agree to turn off the heat when they go to work, since ever isn't there in the house all day, keeping himself comfortable.

winter is almost over, so soon it won't matter at all. but for now, i told them to do what they can to bring the bills down, and i'd do what i can to help them with what they contribute to.


it went really well. i genuinely like both of them. they're super respectful, and were super skeeved out by the way that ever kept the house. or didn't. and by the mice that live there now, and by the roaches that resided there this summer.

i talked to mike for about an hour while i worked. he's a really nice kid, and i learned entirely too much about ever in the course of the conversation. i asked him if he had any concerns. and besides the mice that live in the house, he said that there was a place where the carpet had come apart from the stair step. i couldn't find the staple gun to fix it, but vowed to on sunday. i noticed it that first day of cleaning. and i've actually slid down the stairs before, because of it.

get this, though... when he told ever about it, at least twice, ever told him to watch his step. and never fixed it.

that the basement flooded when the snow melted, and that he was too afraid of being electricuted to plug the sump pump back in. guess ever didn't care to make sure the basement was dry.

i cannot get over some of the things that he was telling me.

it solidifies my belief that ever is completely is out of his gourd.


i don't know how he could collect rent this whole time, without doing anything for his tenants. without cleaning. without taking care of anything they asked for him to, which wasn't much.

it's funny, because my job has totally prepared me for this. this is exactly what a new manager does, to win over their employees, when they start to manage them.

they seek input. they ask what the existing problems are, and promise to address them. they tell them that they appreciate their work, their input, their support. they try not to set too many ground rules right off the bat, while they get to know each person. they spend their own money on things, supplies specifically. they clean, scrub, top to bottom, their surroundings. they give a raise (same as lowering bill contribution). they make a strong impression. they create new systems to organize the people, and communicate with them. they hold a meeting to introduce themselves, and talk about everything. i did all of that today.

it was funny tonight, i said something to mike about not knowing them, them not knowing me. and how one random day, some chick showed up, and just started cleaning like a crazy person. i told him it makes me feel ocd to mop five times, but that until the water runs clear, i'll keep mopping.

and he made me feel a lot better, and worse about ever, saying that it was filthy, and that it needed it. and that he not only understood why i was doing it, but that it needed it. and had for a long time.

he said he'd taken the original r2 to the stairs a few times, to get all the hair up out of the carpet on the runners. but that it didn't work very well, and that it was spaced far enough apart to not make a difference.


so my six hours today was spent cleaning the disgusting fur and tar funk off of the ceiling fan in the third floor. changing more light bulbs and putting the fixtures back on over the ones i'd already fixed (which hadn't been done in at least three months). vacuuming the entire house, again, before mopping the entire house. and the trip to the store in the middle.


i came home seriously wiped out. with a super sore back again. which means i probably won't be able to walk normally. again, for three more days.

and i got into the bath again. and i didn't get out until i was properly pruney and my hair was deeply conditioned.


and be proud, readers. i messaged victim number two tonight, on dating site when i got home.

he's the captain. he's cute, short, skinny. he drinks and smokes like me. we have a lot in common, as far as what we listed. so i told him that i think we might have a lot in common. then i gave him my yahoo chat name, and said i'd also be willing to meet in person. and that i hoped he had a spectacular weekend.

i needed a new approach, from a different angle, and at a different speed, than crow boy. which is a line i'd written about coffee a long time ago.

this one hasn't been online in a week, but replies often. so i hope to see something from him in the next week. i won't hold my breath. i'll wait patiently, to see if he thinks i'm cool.

i spent a lot of time last night, looking at my competition. to see what these guys see when they look up their matches. a lot of them are cuter than me, wittier than me. and i'm okay with that. it gives me perspective.


in the meantime, the boy that chose me, as far as i can tell, looked at me again. i'm mostly sure he's trying to prompt a message from me.

thing is, he's okay, with an award from a girl that says anyone who comes near him should date him. but he reminds me of chalk. in his words, not the amount of them (chalk's profile would be a fucking novel full of big words that i'd have to look up), but the way he talks about himself. i think he thinks he's a great lover.

and therein lies the problem. chalk's downfall. being good in the sack doesn't guarantee return trips to bed.

in any case, both the chalk guy and the captain are looking for activity partners. so this could be a win.

i might message the chalk guy. because it's not fair to put a bunch of presumptuous exclusions on him because i had a bad experience that started out sweetly.


in any case, at this rate, i might ACTUALLY GET LAID.

holy fucking shit. that would be awesome!

i might be able to squeeze one in before i leave my apartment. because thinking about bringing boys into the house is what i spent a good chunk of time doing today.

i didn't play music, because i wanted to hear the boys if they were home. because i wanted to talk to them. so i cleaned in silence, with only my thoughts.


something about moving the bed around the master. the bed ever and i used to fuck on. gross. i know... but the room i used to have sex with him in.


i kinda can't fathom bringing another guy into that room. having sex with someone else in that room. on that very same bed. in the house i bought and lived in. with my HUSBAND. for a year plus.

all my sex associations with that room on that bed are so fucking horrible. staring at the ceiling, watching headlights make shadows on the ceiling, waiting for ever to finish. staring at the wall, crying, with my back to him, waiting for him to finish. not getting off from sex for a whole year in that room. it started long before that. but i really think i only got off from sex with ever, maybe once in that room. i can't remember a single time, but that seems impossible.

i should also say that i'm really good at faking it. and that i have vowed never to fake it ever again. for as long as i live. ever again.

devastating.


in any case, i thought about how much you can hear in the house. how, if i had sex, the boys would totally know it.

i thought about moving the bed. the problem is that it's the logical place for the bed. and that if i put it on a different wall, it's right by the door, along the wall that the staircase runs up from the kitchen. i could put it on the other wall, but it breaks the room up in a way that makes it seem a lot smaller than it really is.

but all of that made me think about the next guy who sleeps in that bed with me. and it made my head hurt. it made my stomach a little sick.

and i just cleaned and changed my train of thought. but it stayed on my mind.


i love that the pixies follow pinback on itunes. it makes me happy.


i just had the craziest sneezing fit ever.


i wish i was sleepy. or tired. i'm exhausted, but awake. and sufficiently tipsy off my first beer in the bath, and the second one while writing this post. and now need snacks (oh nooooo!).

i haven't done enough to unwind. pinback in the tub with a beer wasn't enough. it's that x number of hours thing i figured out the other night. that, paired with the post workout high from spending hours upon hours physically working out at the house.

this is why the gym works agaist me. six hours at the gym? impossible. six hours of sweaty/stinky lifting and cleaning at the house? merely scratching the surface...


it's almost three, and upstairs just came home, stumbling drunk and sniffling. hopefully there's no loud sex tonight. it's probably time for me to try to sleep now. i'm up early to go to dc with kit. to meet her parents. and new nephew. exciting stuff, surrounded by eight hours of road tripping. chain smoking. chain coffee-ing. and chain peeing.