* g r i n *
Today was a fun day. A lot of work, tons going on, busy busy busy, but very fun day.
It started with me taking Janene in to a class at McCormick and Schmicks. Schmicks, Schmucks. Anyway, that meant I got in to the store quite early, which proved to be very productive. Which was a good thing, and a good sign, too.
The day progressed, and I managed to get several things worked on. I also sold another ad spot in the Patch newsletter, which is very exciting. I got to talk to Kelli Cabuco, one of our employees, about a great many things, and it was fun.
The big thing for today was to go look at a house down in Snohomish that we were thinking about renting. The house was even cooler than we anticipated it might be. Which is to say, it kicked … bum.
A VERY rough estimate (guess) puts the overall square footage at ~2000, plus a full attic, full basement, and two enclosed rooms / porches off the back of the kitchen. It has an entry way, four bedrooms, two full bathrooms (one has a clawfoot tub and a pedestal sink), a sweet kitchen with an insane amount of cupboards / drawers / storage, a wonderful dining room / living room with wood floors and high ceilings and huge windows…. It has an enclosed porch (sunroom) with shelves that used to hold plants (and will again), and off of that another enclosed room that’s wonderful. Upstairs there’s three bedrooms with lots of closet space and a second full bathroom. The master bedroom is huge and light and airy; another bedroom has the working remnants of a kitchen (sink, countertops, etc.) that Janene will use as her art studio; the third bedroom upstairs will house the guest bed, desk / file cabinet / bill stuff, and all of Janene’s art merchandise. There’s a full attic and a full basement (with washer / dryer and TONS of storage). It’s literally a 15 second walk to downtown Snohomish; it overlooks the river, lumber mill, and a ways off the railroad tracks (you can faintly hear the train – far enough away to be romantic and not a problem). There’s a wonderful garden with lots of plants, and a nice yard (that we don’t have to maintain!). High ceilings everywhere, but with great windows and efficient heat. Lots of natural light, and open space.
Anyway, we’ll have the lease in our hot little hands by tomorrow to sign our lives away, and we’re very excited. I took some photos on the XT but don’t know if they turned out (they were taken quickly while walking through the place…) – I’ll post them here or in the gallery once I’ve seen them and had the chance to clean them up.
In other exciting news, I received the following email from Moe (it’s a listing from CraigsList) this evening when I got home.
Free HUGE Inflatable Pickle
Date: 2006-03-15, 6:13AM
Free to good home:
Giant inflatable pickle. It’s made of canvas-like material. Kind of like a rubber raft would be.
By giant I mean really giant. I haven’t inflated it in awhile, but it’s seriously 3 or 4 times as long as my car and at least as big around. I could seriously park my toyota inside if there was a way in.
It says “Heinz” on one side.
A word to the wize: this is not as cool as it sounds. It’s seriously a terrible nuisance. It weighs probably over 100 lbs and takes up tons of space in my garage.
It’s completely Useless. When I got it, I was super stoked, envisioning myself spending all kinds of quality time with the pickle, inflating it at the park, floating it bravely in lake washington, sliding with it down some untamed mountain slope. That is the vision. It won’t happen, because the thing takes about 45mins to inflate and even longer to deflate and fold up. It’s seriously extremely heavy and impossible to move. If there is even the slightest wind, watch out. An unteathered pickle will go on a destructive rampage, rolling over anything in its path and careening down hills and across open spaces. This happened at the beach and was a terrible experience. My wife said that she wished the pickle had blown out to sea.
That was the last time the pickle has been out, and I’m sure it’s not happy. That’s why I am going to give it away to someone who can use the pickle properly. Maybe a school with a pickle as thier mascot? If I don’t get rid of it, it’s going to ruin my marriage.
And with that, I’ll say goodnight!