Liar, liar, pants on fire

I just lied. LIED people. it's eating me up. It doesn't feel at all good.

Scenario:

1 pregnant flatmate. 1 very unpregnant leaseholder flatmate. 2 other flatmates. Only leaseholder flatmate, apparently, knows how to clean, and has been doing so for the past week, to compensate for distinct lack of cleaning activity over past 4 months.

1 pregnant flatmate sends text to newly unemployed leaseholder flatmate (me) at the unholy hour of 7.30am this morning. To say:

um, want to talk to you as i've put my name down for a flat in case baby comes early. I've put your name down as referee. (what??!). Said i can move in a month, but would like to talk to you about it.

ok...have a minor stress and then to think happy problem-resolving thoughts.

I shall talk to my landlord and see if we can get out of the lease 5 weeks early (hopefully they will be understanding, and it will save me some rent).

Right, ok, can deal with that.

I spend the day pleasantly, watching Grey's Anatomy, knitting, walking to Lyall Bay for coffee and then sewing.

Phone rings.

Hello?

Hi this blah blah from blah blah property management. [Pregnant flatmate] said i could call you as she's put her name down for a flat.

mhhmmm.

so, what is she like as a tenant?

oh, she's ok. I don't have any problems with her. (semi-true. she's a nice person most of the time)

So how would you say she is on the clean and tidy front?

oh, she's fine. i don't have any problems with her (She has left hair dye all over the bathroom which has stained the new lino, and i have seen her wipe a bench. once. i just threw out two bags of mouldy mouldy bread so green you couldn't tell it was bread any longer)

And um, how about paying rent?

oh, she's fine, i've never had any problems with her (again! missed her very first rent payment when she moved in, and completely forgot to do it again last week)

is that all?

yep. she's fine.

hmm. i thought blogging about it would make me feel better. Apparently not. I am, though, much too nice for my own good. 

sigh.

Olympics and stuff

Right, so still stressing seriously about the flat situation. A great pair of pommy girls came round last night and they were awesome...both working at the hospital, really super lovely.

But they had another place to look at too, and i really really want them to move in. At the current rate of room interest, i will seriously struggle to find others to fill the rooms. 

I haven't heard from them yet. I text them after they left saying how i'd love for them to move in if they'd like the rooms....now whenever my phone beeps it makes me sweat and gives me butterflies because i'm worried it will be from them saying thanks, but no thanks. 

This flat has been no end of trouble. horrible flatmates, not being able to find flatmates, giant powerbills...when will it end? when will my penance be done? I'm not even sure what i've done wrong...it just saps all my energy and i can't seem to make it better no matter how hard i try. If i hadn't given my strongest assurance to the landlords when i signed the lease that i would certainly stay out the whole 12 months, i would give up. I have no idea where i'd go, but i would. But i can't go back on my word. 

and i don't want to get my hopes up for the pair of poms, because i don't want it to be even harder if they say no.

On the other hand i've been throwing myself into Olympics watching. I love it. I love watching everything, i find it so fascinating. The bodies of the athletes amaze me...and i can't help but be utterly attracted to Michael Phelps...his swimming muscles make me melt, just a little. Too bad he's american. Hey now that i think of it, he's only a year or so younger than me. Maybe i have a chance...haha

Expletives to follow

I am ready to have a big fuck off tanty. Evidently with lots of swearing.

I am so done with flatmates. I am so sick of being the leaseholder and therefore responsible for paying rent if someone leaves. I am so sick of people taking advantage. I am sick of fussy people who have no idea. I am sick of the stupid women who work in my office and talk shit all day and have the productivity levels of sloths. 

Have i mentioned that i asked horrible flatmate to move out? Yay for that! he's gone! And i thought i'd found a lovely lovely new crafty relaxed flatmate. She moved in, put her cute stuff around the house, and then decided to move out because the room gave her asthma. She said it was damp. She has a ventilation duct right into her room, it isn't mouldy, it gets the sun - all things that are hard to find in wellington. 

You'd think she would have considered the fact that all her stuff had been in storage for months and would be all nice and dusty. I think the real story is she found somewhere else. And now she wants her bond back straight away, when i've just paid out someone else's, am already paying rent for two rooms and now have to find someone else to go into that room. Talk about fucked off. And of course i'm too nice to say no, she has to wait until i get paid or get someone else in the room.

I am tired, I know have to clean the flat for people to come round tomorrow night, and i am seriously not in the mood to play nice Tash and hope that someone else wants to move in.

Besides that, i now have two highly irritating women working in my office instead of just one. I have to listen to them talk crap all day (one has an extremely high opinion of herself) and am painfully aware that they aren't remotely productive and aren't actually doing the job very well. It makes it so hard to concentrate and get my own work done, especially when i'm already tired and stressed by other things. 

It's all bad enough that I just want to call my mum and have her make everything better. 

Happy: i went for a run! And i got flowers! from the boy! and i got to hang with the boy! 

Created: hmmm, clean clothes. and endorphins, and as always, stitches.

Treat: burger fuel. more than covers the effort in the run, methinks

No Grump: decided to change the outlook to 'positive' when dealing with flatmates re: giant power bill. we'll see how it goes. The bit that drives me nuts is that no matter how nicely i ask, it's still their decision to be more power conscious. So the bill is in their hands...

I am in two minds about what to do with fave flatmate leaving. I'm not sure i can really be bothered finding a new one, to be honest. I go up the mountain for a whole week on sunday and she leaves as soon as i get back, which isn't really helpful in the time frame situation. So maybe i'll sit on it for a while and make up my mind when i get back. though it will mean paying quite a bit of extra rent. 

I'm at the point where my whole life feels a bit consumed by flat stress. So the focus is going to shift to craft: much, much more craft. I think it's time for the hottie, bed and my knitting. Thermal is on standby, which is a bummer as i hoped it would be finished by the time we went back up the mountain. Instead I seem to be replacing it with lots of little knitted projects...all will be revealed, one day...

Happy day number 2

1. What has made me happy: Eating spag bol for dinner, my carefully planned day going swimmingly (v tiring tho. whew.), and looking forward to knitting this evening with a hot water bottle and then an early night. 
2. Created: so far nothing, except a good dinner. Soon i shall have created some stitches. yay.
3. Done for someone else: ummm...a tad stuck on that one. oh yep, it's in my head - i went out of my way for someone. Was at work so can't be too specific...
4. treat: a decent dinner, and making myself walk out of the office at a reasonable time when i could quite easily have stayed much longer. it will still be there tomorrow.
5. No grump: one of the flatties left their bedroom light on, so i very nicely asked them to turn it off, and then explained, again very nicely, that i was a little concerned about what our next powerbill will look like. He then raved about how nice and toasty warm his room his and that he hasn't needed a heater so far at all. ahhh that makes me feel better. Still curious about the cause of last month's mega bill tho...

for some incredibly irritating reason, photos are taking what seems like hours to upload...so no prettiness today...off to knit!

happiness part 1.0

1. What has made me happy today: I am feeling the effects of three glasses of wine, hoki bites and apple berry pie with low fat icecream for dinner. 
2. What I have created today: a full and well rounded day for my boss tomorrow, oh and a great mix cd for this evening's work drinks
3. One thing i have done for someone else today: i sent a love...pdf. mail wasn't fast enough!
4. One thing i have done to treat myself today: i ate pudding for dinner - which i kind of guessed i would do so treated myself to a kebab with green things in it to make up for the fact i haven't been eating very well lately. One actually cannot operate very well on marmite toast alone (even if it is vogels)
5. One thing i stopped myself from getting grumpy about: tomorrow wasn't working out so well, so i walked away, came back to it and found a solution. yahoo!

I am also very very excited about: TV3 filming stitch and bitch tomorrow. i also now have a free-ish evening...shall i risk venturing out? or shall i stick with relative anonymity for awhile longer? Anyone who is crafty-like should definitely go - it's at Cafe Reka at the NewDowse in the Hutt from 6 (i think).

One of my exciting projects is on the go...ohhh i could stay up all night working on it, for sure!

I am also very pleased that a flatmate appears to have had the sense to turn on the dishwasher. Big star for them. Not so big star for the flatmate who has a penchant for filling the freezer with food before using what they already have in there. Going to my happy place. 

right slightly drunk fuelled happy rant over for today. Hello to my lovely friends who all seem to be going to freaking Paris without me ... even it is only on Conitki. 

Why i love to knit

I fully pinched this idea from Nikki. Thanks Nikki!

How much do i love to knit? Let me count the ways...

1. Thinking time. When a million ideas, thoughts and confusions are whizzing through the brain cells, knitting makes me slow down and place my thoughts in a queue for careful consideration. I solve all the world's problems when I knit. Then promptly forget them.
2. Increased productivity. I drive myself nuts with the fact that I always must be doing something. So tv watching is no longer wasted time. Whew. 
3. Creation. Watching something grow through simply sitting and working at it is so fulfilling. I also love the idea that knitting is creating my own fabric - seeing as i am also fabric obsessed.
4. Touch. I love the feel of fabric...and knitting gives me an excuse to feel more things up.
5. Learning. I am amazed at just how much there is to know about knitting,  it is incredibly technical. Plus there is nothing better than passing that learning on and watching someone else fall heads over heels with their needles, too.
6. Subverting stereotypes. Not only does it give the old ducks a bit of a thrill, but knitting in public is my way of proving that knitting is not just for grannies. It is modern, interesting and timeless. 

Hmm. That's all i can think of for now. I'm a bit bummed as i've just found out my fave flatmate is going on her OE in a month, leaving me with two very un-favourite flatties. What to do? Lame-o. This calls for flannel pjs, a hot water bottle, cookies and knitting.