Day 20 of 40 Side Effects

Do you remember when I wrote that I was so happy about the trailer I’d borrowed? That was the first weekend of this moving project. A trailer has a plug and my car has a socket to connect the lights to each other. Such a socket is underneath the car at the back end and I was happy that a big strong man helped me connecting the trailer. The trailer itself was easy peasy for him but he had some difficulty plugging in the plug. Apparently there was something wrong with the socket. I should have known that from the last time I’ve rented a trailer but I forgot it. Anyhow, he managed to do it at least although with some forcing. When I brought the thing back that Sunday night another man helped me to disconnect it. This man was pretty strong too, although not so Hulk shaped like the first but he had far more trouble to unplug the electrical part and eventually after some sweating and swearing his plug fell apart. But it was disconnected. I felt a little sorry for him and offered to pay for a new one but he didn’t want that.

A week after that the indicator and emergency lights of my car stopped working for a while. A short while later they did it again. Every now and then that happened, on and off, not convenient but neither a big problem I thought. Yesterday however, the car wouldn’t start. I asked the girls to give it a push because sometimes that helps to bring it back to life, with a hand-gear car. Not this time but after trying the ignition a couple more times it worked. Seeing as I don’t want to tempt fate I called the garage this morning and left my car home today. I can bring it in tomorrow. 
So, tonight we’re doing it with a borrowed minivan again. Me and the guy who was giving me advice of how to plaster the walls. It was a bumpy ride, I accidentally ignored a red light and when turning a corner I hit the curb. But we came home safe after we've stopped at the DIY market where he carried the big bags of plaster powder into the van for me. 

Day 19 of 40 Physical Passion

My horoscope for today told me:

“This influence arouses a strong attraction to and desire to be with someone. You will be much more aggressive than usual in going out and finding a partner. This influence is often a sign of physical passion. Under this influence a sexual relationship is very satisfying to both partners. Even without sex, you will be very happy with other people. You feel more vivacious and attractive than usual and may well be the life of the party. You will work hard to gain the approval of others during this time, so strong is your need for affection. Artistic activity is also indicated, for the general significance of this influence is self- expression through creativity and love.”

    Can you imagine me in my old baggy jeans and old boots? Yes, physical passion it is today. I am looking for a partner in the clay of the backyard, under the laminate floorboards in the study and in the trunk of my car. Didn’t find him though. I could do with someone to rub my tired shoulders tonight, definitely. And then curl up against him on my bare mattress  now the framework of the bed has been removed. To sleep for days. 

Day 18 of 40 Just a Perfect Day

We did a lot today and now it is very visible that we are moving houses. There’s still a lot that needs to be done but it’s the progress that counts. In the living room and the kitchen all the wallpaper has been stripped off. Upstairs two rooms are nearly done. Here in the old house the original washing stand needs to be replaced, I had stored that in the attic and my brother carried it down. Then he and my son gently removed the framework, doors and glass between kitchen and living room.  They didn’t even need a crowbar or a sledgehammer. It looks nice and even bigger than before.

At the end of the day when we returned home, my daughter prepared dinner and me and my other daughter removed some sand from the tiny front yard to the backyard  where still is a small crater left. After dinner I worked some more in the backyard until it was too dark to distinguish clay from frogs properly. I was not done yet. Last night in my bed I suddenly realized the appointment I made with the guy for the carpet next Saturday. That means that my wardrobe, bed and bedside tables needs to be out there by then. First I did the laundry to make a little space in the bathroom. Then I made a start with making the study empty. I need that room to store the things from my bedroom but first the laminate flooring there needs to be removed. And before that I need to disassemble the big corner desk there. But that’s something for tomorrow. 

Day 17 of 40 Sledgehammer

In all modesty I can say that I have quite some tools. I love tools. That must be my masculine part. Without good tools it’s impossible to do a DIY job good. However, some tools are not made for women. They are too big to fit in a female hand, are too heavy to lift, or what’s even worse, they are too aggressive. Like a drilling machine for example. Especially those heavy ones which can drill easily in concrete. We’ve had one which could also hammer, that’s useful when there are small pebbles in the concrete. Of course such a tool is extremely powerful and that’s just what scares me when I have to use it. I have nightmares from the idea of being catapulted by the drill when it’ll become stuck somehow. But, when you live in a country where concrete walls, floors and ceilings are very common you can’t avoid needing them for hanging a lamp, a picture or drilling a hole between two floors. Whenever I need one, I use to ask a male friend to operate the drill.

Another thing is demolishing. Removing tiles or plasterboard walls. That’s a job I enjoy very much. Not a job I do very often. So, I don’t own a sledgehammer. Neither do I have a crowbar. And I just realized that we’ll might need that tomorrow to remove the aluminum frame of the kitchen doors. I hope my brother has those tools and brings them with him tomorrow. Otherwise I will have to use my much smaller claw hammer. I realized another thing: the inspector didn’t call back to tell me what to do with the removed doors. That’s the problem with a rental house. Some things need to be brought back in the state you’ve accepted it. Although my brother and my son likely will do the job without needing me to help, I need some small controlled demolishing to satisfy my need to vent a little. The exam was hard today and I’m very doubtful about having passed it. 

Day 16 of 40 Torn

This morning the alarm went off for an hour or so. Thanks to the snooze button I delayed getting up until it was 8:15 AM. Then I finally could drag myself out of my bed put some clothes on and get myself a cup of tea. I had an appointment at 9:00 A.M. in the new house with two different men. One was from the housing agency, for the delayed inspection of the house and the other one was the locksmith to replace the locks. I could barely recognize my face in the rearview mirror of the car with such dark shadows under my eyes although I had slept sound and good. Because I snoozed that long I had no time to put some eyeliner and mascara on my eyes but I didn’t care, my bed was too tempting this morning.

Anyway, I arrived still ten minutes early and that was just enough to eat the sliced melon I brought with me. At 5 minutes past 9 I got a call from the inspector. Asking me if I was in the house. Of course I was, I thought he had been ringing the doorbell and that didn’t work. But no, he said that he was on his way, it would take him another 5 minutes to be there. That’s done it, this cost him some more points, I was in time there. So, I snapped to him that it was okay and hung up on him before he had said goodbye. It was not only because the early hour that I was acting grumpy, it was because I had been trying to talk to him or one of his colleagues for several times since the end of August. The secretary was very apologetic for him, she said that it was normal that he didn’t call me back or answered my e-mail because he was soooo busy. Because I mainly wanted to know about making a stair to the attic I had asked then if I could call him on his cell phone. She said: “Noooo, that is only for intern purposes. We cannot give his number, otherwise he would not have a life at all”. At that time I thought well, don’t make a fuss about it, I’ll wait and see. However, that didn’t leave him with very much credit as turned out when he eventually turned up 15 minutes later than the deal was. Of course I was torn because I had other things to do today, like preparing an exam.

My businesslike manner helped. He agreed to having fixed the dark stains on the ceiling of the bathroom. And the shower. And to remove the big bushes in the backyard. Not to my much wanted staircase. However, he gave me permission to have it done by myself. In the meantime the other guy had arrived. Also too late but he wasn’t blamed by me. That one changed the locks and pointed out that for the lock of the backdoor there needed something more being done because the lock didn’t fit well in the woodwork. It turned out handy that both men were there at the same time because mister-superintendant-with-hardly-a-life-next-to-his-work needed to give permission for that job. Mister locksmith said apologetically that he didn’t have time to fix that this day but I was only thankful for that. No more house matters today. I need to find my way in the brain and I feel pretty lost in that department. 

Day 15 of 40 Room with a View

Since my office is temporarily transformed into a storage room for everything that is already removed from either walls or floor and packed with cardboard boxes, you might think I don’t work at the moment. Well, that is not the case. Most time I don’t work in my office these days. I have also a small desk in my living room where my computer is stationed, pretty crowded now as well but still workable. And when I’m meeting my clients it’s often at other locations than my own place. Only intakes take place in my office anyway and for following sessions we mostly practice outside in elevators that are public or in the Kone building. That is for elevator anxiety.

Today I had a first appointment with someone for driving anxiety. She’d told me that she was in kind of a hurry otherwise I would have postponed it to mid October. Luckily I could use one of the offices in the building of the driving school.

One day I want to have an office like that. With different rooms for me and my colleagues and a virtual lab room with simulators. Of course that building would have its own elevator and a nice receptionist. And preferably a private parking lot because I’m done with paying € 8 to € 10 for parking at the University Hospital each time. But I’ll have to keep doing that for another couple of years I’m afraid. 

Day 14 of 40 Heart over Head

I was pretty much revived after a good night sleep and determined to push at least moving related matters aside until after my first exam on Friday. This morning we’ve had the third practicum about the Central Nervous System and I felt cool again about it. Even the two corpses on which the spine was dissected didn’t make me feel sick.

The chamber of commerce returned my papers today because the information they had from the town hall wasn’t  up to date yet. Now they require I show them the contract of the new rent. I will, after Friday. My two oldest kids promised to come and help again this weekend. There a two friends in Leiden with whom I've settled a date for catching up and a bite. I texted them if they wanted to combine the date next week with stripping some wallpaper. They agreed! My brother texted to ask if I wanted to show him the house tonight. Instead I asked him to come over Saturday to give my son a hand with removing the kitchen doors, which he agreed upon. I briefly wondered if he had read my yesterday’s update or that things just work well when you don’t worry…  

Anyway, these kind of things make me realize that the only thing I actually need to do is prioritize. And after Friday my priorities are again on enjoying the company of great people (and fixing the new house). For the moment my priority is trying to learn sixty-six salient structures of the CNS by heart!