NYC in 4!!! Gettin' Close!

Guess what I did for my birthday yesterday? I repaired cracks in plaster.

No, it wasn't that bad. First I went to my friend from high school's wedding reception. It was nice to see a lot of my friends before the big move East. Got to say some goodbyes. When I got home I did stay up late to finish putting mud up so I could sand it today.

Dad and Mom came up today and helped with the work again. Dad cut & hung the trim in the North West bedroom, and Mom helped me sand down the walls so we can texture and paint. Here's the stairwell all sanded and textured. Just some primer and paint left! The wall above the fireplace and at the landing of the stairs are still drying, so I'll sand them in a little bit. There's a little sanding left in the hallway upstairs and on the living room ceiling. Then I'm done sanding walls. Hopefully for a very, very long time. Ugh. Hate it. Great tip though for you: If you are sanding joint compound from a textured surface, use one of those spongy sanding blocks. (see photo below) Just apply a little pressure and they sand over the texture. It worked so well that I was kicking myself for using a pole sander for so long in the dining room and bedroom.

This next week is Fargo's spring clean-up when you can dump your junk on the boulevard and the city picks it up. Convenient timing, no? You're allowed two appliances, so Dad and I brought up the disgusting washer and dryer. Not an hour later and some guys came up in a pick-up and asked if they could take them for scrap. Uh, YEAH! I mentioned that we had a working fridge they could have, so they took that too. That's not going to be the end of it; I'm going to give those poor sanitation workers a run for their money. Anything that doesn't fit into my suitcases and doesn't need to be saved & stored at the parents' house is going to find its way to the boulevard. I'm anticipating quite a heap. The city says that construction materials aren't allowed, but I'm going to put everything in black trash bags and hope for the best. Worst case scenario? I throw the stuff they won't pick up into the dumpster behind the apartment across the street! Is that illegal? ...probably. I'll just flee the state!

Speaking of fitting things into luggage, look at what I got myself for my birthday! I'm pretty excited because it's about twice as big as my old suitcase. This, of course, means I can bring twice as much stuff to New York! I'm also bringing this huge duffel bag I have and my computer bag (carry on).

My amazing parents got me the BEST birthday gift: a new digital camera! I borrowed Mom's back when I started this blog oh-so-many months ago and she just got it back today. She borrowed my brother's this whole time, so he gets his back now. The camera is a Nikon Coolpix with 10.0 megapixels, 5X zoom, and a whole list of other stuff that I'm to lazy to list. It's exactly what I need to have to take some great shapshots in New York. Maybe Europe too? Lets hope so.

Lastly, my hair stylist is buying my piano from me and she said she'll be picking it up tomorrow sometime. I'm going to be gone for part of the day for my cousin's confirmation, so Dad and I hauled it out onto the porch so she can pick it up. You really don't see a lot of pianos on porches, but it's kind of fun out there. I serenaded the neighborhood (to the best of my abilities) just because I think it's so ridiculous to see a piano on a porch.