the deer ate my daylilies and other adventures

The deer spray was reapplied but apparently the deer are getting used to it -- or it was washed away by the deluges we have been having in Northern NJ.

Every last beautiful flower - Bambi Food. Grrrrrrrrr.

 So where have I been for the past week?  Let's see...Three days with my daughter, Jessica.

 Last Wednesday I went into Brooklyn to help with the last-minute packing at Jess and Tommy's place.  They were moving on Thursday, but when I arrived on Wed. it was hard to believe it would be possible.  Two people who work full time and can't take time off to pack except nights and weekends have a problem on their hands.  Suffice it to say that I spent the day packing the kitchen and then realized I could not go home because they needed me to help at night and in the morning, before the movers came. Then I remembered that I had parked in the commuter spaces at the mall where there was no overnight parking, so I frantically called NJ Transit and mall security and told them my tale of woe (family emergency) hoping the car would not be towed or ticketed.

I bought a couple of amenities at the local Duane Reade drugstore and slept on the couch in my clothes. We were still packing when the movers came.

Fortunately, the move was only two buildings away, so they didn't need to pack the truck.  I sat on the stairs inside the front door of the building to make sure no random people came in who didn't belong there.  I read an entire book by Adriana Trigiani while I was sitting there.

The apartment has been under renovation for the past 6-8 weeks.  It was a complete disaster with great bones, 1400 sq. ft, 2 bedrooms/2 baths, and lots of closets.  It looked pretty good a couple of weeks ago, while it was being torn up.

Hard to tell with all the boxes, but it looks light and bright and wonderful now.

Friday, I met Jessica at the stone yard in NJ so they could template the countertops for the kitchen. Then we went to the Design Within Reach outlet sale because she is looking for new furniture. She didn't find anything she loved, but I (who was not looking) came home with four new chairs for my kitchen at a 75% discount off the original price. How could I leave them there?? They are fun and soooo comfortable, and they replace the random falling-apart chairs I had. I would have bought four different colors, but they didn't have a selection I liked.

Now I will have to get the kitchen painted and the powder room repapered. I have rolls of wallpaper sitting in the closet for 5 years; I don't even know if I like them any more.  But they are going up as soon as the weather gets cool and I am home long enough.

Saturday and Sunday, home at last (no ticket on the car!) and apart from a walk in the park, sat and read and did nothing else all weekend.  This week, working on lectures and classes -- and spent today at the apartment sorting through books.  I was cataloguing first editions/signed and unsigned; 19th century books, and organizing them for the antiquarian book seller who is coming to look at them on Friday.  A signed book by Eleanor Roosevelt (only 250 copies printed), a signed biography by Theodore Roosevelt, and many other names you will recognize if you have literary interests: Erskine Caldwell, Edmund Wilson, Somerset Maugham...and others. 

I am exhausted. My new purple-framed eyeglasses are ready and I plan to pick them up in the morning.
Meantime, beauty sleep, FWIW.