Painting

After two trips to Watsonville and much wringing of hands, escrow closed. I got the key. And now I’m covered in paint.

My move-in date is a couple of weeks from now. (I didn’t end the lease on my apartment until I was sure escrow was closed.) Until then, I’ll be painting the walls and having someone refinish the floors, all of which are best done before there’s a lot of furniture in the house.

To prepare, I read a few articles about environmentally friendly paint. My highest priority was finding a paint with no volatile organic compounds, the stuff that makes new paint smell like new paint. I don’t want that stuff offgassing into my house for months and years to come, filling my lungs and, worse, filling the much smaller lungs of my two cats.

But wow! There are some hippie paints out there. Here are some things I’ve noticed while shopping for environmentally friendly paints:

• There’s a brand that bills itself as the old-fashioned, all-natural paints the pioneers used, and its major selling point is that it contains milk and milk proteins. That’s just weird. The pioneers used asbestos, too, but I’m not jumping up to coat my walls with that, either.
•  For the prices on these paints, the can should perform a “Be Our Guest” style song and dance while it paints itself on the wall.
•  I’ve used Yolo Colorhouse in the past, and their paints are beautiful, but I just feel weird with their hippie names and colors, all named after natural phenomena like grain. Can’t I want to help the environment but also want to paint a wall candy apple red? And can’t I enjoy silly names like “Candy Apple Red?”

Conclusion: I’m using Behr Premium Plus. Behr is the Home Depot in-house brand, and the Premium Plus version has no volatile organic compounds. It’s half or a quarter the cost of the hippier brands and comes in every single color Home Depot can design. And it’s quite convenient: I went to Home Depot three times last weekend. It’s apparently some sort of requirement of being a new homeowner.

  

Kat vs Target. Kat wins.

I went to Target tonight. I needed the trip to finish my project from this weekend, which was to buy everything I'm going to need the moment I get the key to the new place (knock on wood). To blow off some steam from work and from the I-thought-escrow-would-be-closed-by-now-please-please-sell-me-this-house-so-I-can-stop-constantly-knocking-on-wood-all-day anxiety, I gave myself permission to let go, to buy more than was on my list, to not worry about it. Like most Target shoppers, I usually buy more than I came in for anyway - but it's rare for me to give myself permission to do that instead of just doing it against my will and better judgment.

But somehow, I bought only one impulse item: a really useful looking kitchen floor mat in the exact same deep red I want to use on the walls.

And somehow, buying every single item on my list (hand towels, toilet paper, soap, a trash can, trash bags, etc) plus the rug totaled less than $100.

What sort of madness is this?

At first, I thought I had entered a parallel universe. Then I thought I might have a fever (measles is going around). Then I thought I had become some amazingly mature woman who is patient and who only buys consumer goods consistent with her values. Then I realized the truth: I have developed a super power. I can resist the Target impulse buy.

I need a cape. I have plenty of leggings.

A Couple of Things a Homeowner Needs

Today, I bought a ladder on sale at Harbor Freight and a cheap set of light-sensitive nightlights on Amazon. I didn't search around for a humanely raised ladder or cage-free nightlights. I just got the most convenient options, affordable but not low-quality. I felt like I needed them right away to make sure every part of my new home is safe and accessible as soon as I get the keys.

I'm not exactly ashamed of these purchases, but I do hope I can post something I'm truly proud of soon.

I had a fantastic day yesterday. Until.

I made the three-hour drive to my credit union yesterday morning to pick up my cashier’s check. The drive was actually fantastic. I passed through breathtaking landscapes, I smelled eucalyptus, I sang at the top of my lungs, I listened to a great book (The Night Circus by Erin Morgenstern), I touched the ocean. As the sun rose a fiery red, I remembered early morning road trips with my whole family packed in the car, but only my Dad and me awake. It was a fantastic day.

Until.

I got a call at 6:30 pm from the title company. The cashier’s check was made out to me, not to them, and is therefore unusable. I had checked the amount of the cashier’s check before I left the credit union, but hadn’t checked that they’d made it out to the right entity. Apparently, “thoroughness” is not on my list of values.

So I have to go back and do it all again. At first, I cried. Then I raged. Then I decided to stay in the moment, enjoy my weekend, and just go back on Monday. Like you do.

There’s a word for this situation and the feelings it engenders in me, but I don’t know what it is. Is it hubris? Is it irony? Is it just that I’m wrong about everything all the time?

I feel like it’s still worth it, though - and that amazes me. Would I go to this much trouble for a new bike or a new car? No. But for a new house, apparently the answer is yes.

And, after fifteen years, I think it’s finally time to put “find a new credit union” on my to-do list. Well, on the bottom of my to-do list. Items 1 to 400 are all buying a house.

This is How Much I Hate Change

This is how much I hate change. I still use the credit union in my college town, even though I haven’t lived there since 2000. For the past 15 years, I’ve been banking exclusively by internet, phone, and ATM, even when I lived on the opposite coast. It’s been inconvenient at times, but there’s only been one time that I had to go into a branch (to sign an auto loan). 

Until tomorrow.

Tomorrow, I have to get a cashier’s check to close escrow. And since I didn’t order it last week, the only way to get it is to leave at 6 am, drive three hours, go to a branch, and drive three hours back. And I’m going to do it.

Even if I wanted to find a new bank, I couldn’t do it in time. And honestly, I love that credit union so much that I won't be looking for a new bank. I do feel bad about wasting the gas, but this is a one-time, unusual occurrence, not a habit. I’ve got books on tape and I love my own company. It will be a nice drive. And I’ll get to see the ocean, albeit only briefly.

Worth it.