Another Saturday, another rain shower. I pulled my plants back under the eaves and noticed they seemed to have overcome last week's soaking. Ignoring the drizzle, we headed out to look at a couple of houses. The first one was a fixer-upper, meaning it had thousands of dollars of dry rot repair ahead, and a roof that needed work, and some other structural problems. But it was in a great neighborhood, and the person who buys it and actually fixes it up to the tune of $50,000 can probably turn around and double that in profit. We, being amazingly unhandy, were not really in the market for it, but I'm awfully glad we saw it. It was nothing less than San Bruno's version of the House of the Future circa 1963.
The decor was fantastic. Lucite-legged tables, metallic branches supporting glass table tops, pea green shag carpet, plush golden velvet swivel chairs, orange brocade sofa, lemon yellow walls, sleek wood furniture that looked more like stereo speakers than buffets and coffee tables. There were large, fake Chinese prince and princess paintings on the wall, and pastel still lives of flowers that resembled early Breck Girl advertisements. The fireplace had a geometric tile display glued on over the brick which gave it a Dean Martin-ish styling. The lamps all looked like they belonged in the Jetson's home. The back yard had a swinging patio with music notes on the wall, an enormous stand-alone barbeque pit, and a home made waterfall. Man, it was a trip through time, and I wanted everything I saw.
We aren't buying the house, but I'm hoping to get in touch with the owner when they sell the furniture. I adore Lucite.
By the time we were done convincing ourselves that we really didn't want a fixer-upper it had begun to rain in earnest. Anne, our agent, said she'd seen something in South San Francisco that could work for us so we headed over to the north side of I-380. The house was painted a startling turquoise, which doesn't bother me any, but even the inside was partially painted turquoise. Still, it was quite a large place, and we liked it a lot. It also needs work, though, so until we see the disclosure packet we're not serious yet. The main drawback, and it will be a considerable one, is the location - aerially. Yes, it's in the path of San Francisco International. Tomorrow we're going to go back and see if we can live with the noise from the airplanes. My feeling is no, but since the house is very large for the money I want to check it out.
Since the weather was miserable, we drove home rather than going into the city, and spent the rest of our day pottering around the house. I took a luxurious nap, made beef stroganoff for dinner, ordered books from Amazon.com, and did my best to completely relax. The last two weeks have been just miserable at work, and I'm getting rebellious again. I know I'm giving attitude every time a manager tells me how to do something I've been doing for the last eight years, and I can't think of any quicker way to get fired, which is not what I want at all. It's annoying as all get-out to be micromanaged. I'm trying to deal with it, though. I did myself a favor and got rid of all personal software and bookmarks on my work computer. I feel I owe my bosses my complete attention all year round, even when work is slow (which is when I put some of those bookmarks in, and downloaded ICQ and so forth). Now I'm back to basics, and staying there.
Look! My mousetail plant is growing!
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