little altars: The First Circle of Hell

One characteristic of being a member of our family is embellishment. Be it on a plate of food, a bow or in the yard, we think a little extra is always nice. This extends to stories, too. We expect it. Why tell a story if it's not interesting? All this to say, the following is not an embellishment of awful. Really.

So to say my first night was bad is not an exaggeration. Having said that, know that there were good things interspersed, it's just that for the first time, the con column won out. Ursula Upper left the building.

My omen should have been the foul odor that was reminiscent of our boxer, Frasier, after he's had some table scraps. I'd like to think it was from the jet fuel, but I'm guessing it was a different kind of gas. Next was the cabbie who wanted to know if I knew how to get where I was going. Excuse me? He needed directions? I had to map it MYSELF on my phone. Then he got irritated because he had some trouble with my accent. Sorry about the Texas twang, Azam. I told him he could pull over and I'd find another ride if driving me was such a problem. He chose to ignore me and talk on his phone while he drove (illegal in NYC, by the way).

Once I got there all was great. As a recap, I was there to help a friend's daughter move into her new apt. She worked in the mornings and had school in the afternoon, so I offered to coordinate the efforts and set the place up. She hadn't even gotten the keys yet so that was the first order of business. No gas, no electricity, paint still wet, not the best start. We arranged movers for the next day, gas for that afternoon and the power couldn't be turned on till 4 the following day. We decided to head to Ikea and pick out beds to be delivered. Ikea was one subway transfer and a shuttle bus away. About 45 mins in all. Then the masses of people, good grief, all surging thru that Swedish rat maze of a store. I will spare you the details of the insane frustration of it all, but I felt like that GPS voice was in my head saying, "recalculating" after every choice we made wouldn't work. Check out took the usual forever and then we got to wait in line again to sign up for home delivery. Of course they can't deliver tomorrow, or any day this week or next, even though we were told upstairs it would be possible. They said if we picked all the stuff out and brought it to the front, they would be able to bring it the next day. Back into the store we went. If you've never been to Ikea, the furniture parts are laid out like a supermarket, with aisles and bins all numbered. Because we thought we were having them deliver, we had none of the numbers for the dozen parts we needed to build the beds. H searched thru a computer and then we commenced gathering. These parts aren't small and we are, so it took some doing to get boxed headboards off shelves over our heads. About half way thru, we discovered they were out of one item. That meant we couldn't put the beds together even if they did deliver the next day. That meant we were going to have to come back when they got it in it pick it up. I walked off and told her I was giving up.

"What do we do with all this stuff?"

"Leave it. Take a look around. It looks like the rapture took place and we are the ones left behind." There were abandoned carts everywhere, as if the clouds sucked up the sanctified and left us. We left and headed to returns. The above picture explains it all.

An hour or so later, we headed back to the apt. H went to her brother's so she could get ready for work and school the next day. I went to an empty (no furniture), dark (no electricity) apt. We did buy some candles, so I "bathed" (no shower curtain and no tub plug so bathe is a very loose term) by candle light. Out of context, a very romantic thought, but splashing myself with water and drying off with paper towels, all alone, made it not so much. I slept with the windows open, the gentle hum of the neighbors airconditioners tricking my mind to think I had one. I couldn't even talk on the phone or surf the web on my iPad because I couldn't charge them if I ran out of juice. Truly desperate times. I slept on 3 pillows, placed in a "T" formation on the hardwood.

I was up bright an early to find a Diet Coke and charge my phone/IPad. I took the train up a few stops to a mall with a McDonald's. I got my DC but it was too full to find an outlet. As I was leaving the mall, I saw an outlet near the exit. I made a nest, charged my phone and enjoyed my breakfast bar and DC. Until security ran me off. There are rules about folks sitting on the floors and eating their breakfast. Who knew? Being run out, though, allowed me to be a part of my first drug deal.

I went around the corner to a Starbucks to finish charging my phone. The guy at the same table started chatting. After about 15 mins., another guy came in. They talked in quiet voices and Jason (that was his name, we were already good friends), asked me if I minded watching his bag. He and the guy walked over to the sugar/milk table and exchanged pills and money. Jason came back, thanked me and we continued our conversation on how to stay safe in the city.

The next day, still no power, so we bought an air mattress that ran on batteries. Another candle lit night, this time with a little furniture but no beds. Hanna had the couch and I had the air mattress. We aired it up and as I was ready to jump in, I heard an awful hissing. Not a snake, but a hole in my $80 deluxe mattress. 3 pillows on the hardwood again.

I never did get a bed. We did figure out that if I took the cushions from the back of the couch and covered them with a sheet, they would stay together, sort of. If I didn't roll around, it was more comfortable than my 3 pillow "T".

We ended up getting a lot done; curtains made, boxes unpacked, chairs painted and furniture set up. I even found some great furniture on the curb next to a school on the day I went to meet the movers and talked them into picking it up for me. I didn't finish everything, but I guess that means I have to go back.

Here are a few pics of what we did.

Kitchen before

Kitchen after.

I made the shelf at home and took my drill with me to mount it in the window. I made the curtain when I got there. You can't tell but the fabric has a really cute, vintage-y design. We got the stainless pot rack on the wall for .50 at a garage sale.

The total cost of this whole set up was less than $15, the most expensive being the $5 stool. The island was free from the curb, the other stuff was picked up at garage sales or dumpster diving.

The entry before.

Rugs were hand me downs from her dad and the spools were from my attic. The table was picked up from the trash at the school and the game boards were $1.50 from garage sales. The basket was a cast off from a farmers market.