Thursday, September 27, 2012

Home Alone

I have a buyer for my condo in Brookline now. I hesitate to say the place is sold because the contract has not been signed just yet. And after the contract (purchase and sale agreement) is signed, there is this  holding period while everybody gets their finances in order and I physically move out of here. Last stop is "closing", and that is when my present home is technically SOLD. I suppose anything can go wrong up to that point and that point is predicted to be around the end of December. For the impatient, this is a very long process!

 

This is a box I found way way back in the very depths of my attic storage. It was loosely stuffed with all the pieces from a very dearly loved metal dollhouse my older sister and I played with way back in the 1950s. It has been in storage so long, I forgot I had it. Obviously it was last seen when I moved to Brookline and that was eighteen years ago! 


It looks like I have all the floors, walls, and roof. Such a perfect house for the typical 50s family. Living room, family room, master bedroom and a child's room, separated by a bathroom. But this must be what would have been called a "starter home" because an American family in the 1950s would have, maybe, three more kids. So, they are going to need more bedrooms! I lived in houses like this with my parents and siblings, however, I've never approached anything like it in my own adult life. And now I'm moving further in the opposite direction!

Which brings me to another unbearably long process: buying an apartment in Brooklyn. I'm trapped in a sort of limbo where there is nothing I can do but wait ....and wait. You see, when one buys an apartment in New York City, it is most likely going to be a coop (as opposed to a condo) which is more like buying into a corporation. In fact, that is exactly how it is set up. I had to send in an application, revealing all of my financial information and opinions on my neighborliness from my neighbors, which they will review and either accept or reject. How fun! It's like applying for a job. We all know how anxiety-provoking that is. 


I am in between homes with half of my belongings already packed. I keep needing to find things and find myself slowly unpacking in the process of looking for them. So there is this feeling of discomfort and of wasted time and effort. I would actually like to put this dollhouse back together but it would be harder to move that way. I would have to take it apart again when moving day comes and, as you can see in the photo above, the little metal tabs that hold the pieces together are rusted, bent, and ready to fall off. Lots of them are already missing. In fact, I'm going to have to create a whole new system to get the second floor to hold up. I keep asking myself if it's worth keeping. I figure it's a good reminder of where I came from and how much has changed. And maybe it will make a nice lamp!

Due to of all the above, my creative work has been limited. In spite of that, new things are coming! I should have some new digital fabric prints by next week. They are in the "one fat quarter, four patterns" format. I would also love to have some new stamp designs ready to send off to the manufacturer. If anyone has suggestions or comments about new stamps, I'd love to read them. And I really miss sewing. I just might have to unpack my fabric box! What a mess.

No comments:

Post a Comment