Girl I'll House You (you in my hut now)

either click on the pic, or here!

This is all footage from my first day here at the house in New Orleans. I was very freaked out and very whiny. I'm still freaked out, but far less whiny.

It's just so very overwhelming. Sometimes we laugh about it: simply NOTHING in this place works the way it should. Not the doors (they don't sit right), the windows (they lack glass), the fridge (freezer works, fridge doesn't) the hot water heater, etc. etc. Everything is a ten-step process, even things like fixing a glass of water. The complete inability to have a glass of water is what sent me into full freak-out mode Tuesday. No clean glasses--not hot water to clean the glass--no soap--no ice--no desire to drink New Orleans H20 straight from the tap blah, blah, blah. A lot of my frustration stems from the fact that the last time I was here I knew where everything was, I cleaned everything (EVERYTHING), bought a bunch of new stuff (towels, pots, pans, plates) and made our little construction site into a workable home. When I returned, everything--and I mean everything; all the furniture, all our clothes, all our kitchen stuff--had been piled high into two rooms, left uncovered, and was filthy, covered with mouse turds, moldy, rusted and rotten AND had to be moved into the apartment on the side of the house where we will be living until "our" side of the house is finished. Including major appliances. I'm also covered with mosquito bites (and some other teeny bites which I'm very worried might be fleas--how gross is that?!), particularly around my ankles so my feet are all swollen...physical discomfort ain't helping. I'm slightly ashamed to admit I spent some time in the fetal position weeping. I just didn't know where to start. Now, five days later, the apartment is much better and I am much calmer. We have groceries, hot water, cable internet, and a working refrigerator. What more could a girl want? Of course, the power still goes off sometimes. That pushes my freak button because of all the food in the fridge. And, of course, because then the modem won't work.

And then there's the safety issue. There are current about 34 differently sized entry points into this house. Some are bug-sized, some are bird-sized, some are cat-sized and some are people-sized. A woman was the victim of an armed robbery on her own damn porch a few weeks ago, and the dude next door came out of his house yesterday to find his car missing. Brian has to be in NYC for five days this week, so he's working hard to "secure the perimeter". I expect that to be a highly productive videoblogging period, because it will keep me busy and make me feel in touch with the outside world. I really, really, REALLY need to learn how to drive.

...and have I mentioned the giant, flying roaches??

An important word about the house: most of the "damage" you see is a gut renovation in progress that started before Katrina hit town. The roof went totally kaplooey and has (mostly) been replaced, and there's some water damage to the concrete foundation of the house. Obviously, compared to other areas of town (and actually, even compared to houses across the street, which took on a foot of water) we got off easy. I don't want to give the wrong impression here: we aren't the big victims, here. The house got damaged, yes, but it's standing. That goes a long way round these parts.