My newest crazy idea

A coworker was mentioning that every summer LANL (Los Alamos National Labs) hires a bunch of summer students and there’s never anywhere for them to live. This I believe, because when I decided to go back to work last summer, I got an interview up there at LANL, so I looked into housing options. It’s awful. Prices are as bad as the Bay Area and the housing stock is depressing. There’s simply nothing available for any price. When I got the offer from NMED (New Mexico Environment Department), and I hadn’t yet heard back from LANL, I figured, you know what, Santa Fe, here I come! Even though LANL pays a lot more, I just did not want to deal with the Los Alamos housing market. Plus, there’s the whole major difference between working for the government vs. working for industry, which is a different topic, for another post.

Anyway, because the housing is so impossible in Los Alamos, a lot of LANL employees commute from Santa Fe. The students are all looking for somewhere, anywhere, to crash for 3 months. Meanwhile, I’ve got this cute little townhouse in Santa Fe, that during the summer I only use Monday night through Friday morning. In the winter I’m here more, because I don’t like to commute on the freeway in the dark, so I don’t go down to Placitas until Saturday morning and come back up Sunday afternoon. But in the summer the commute is a lot easier, so I’m in Placitas more. Sometimes I even go down to Placitas mid-week.

Anyway, you see where I’m going with this. I’m thinking a summer student would be ideal, because just when they start getting annoying, it will be time for them to leave anyway. John’s being politely supportive, but he probably thinks I’m nuts. Our finances are ok, why would I get a roommate? Mainly because I think it could be fun and interesting (yes, and probably annoying at times).

Or maybe I’m trying to substitute for my kids (see previous post for surreal Japan article). There’s a young woman at work who reminds me very much of my daughter, and I actually think that improves my working experience, to have someone around who is like Laura somehow. (I’m not sure what Laura, or my coworker, think about this substitute arrangement.)

And also – regarding finances – we are fine, but my kids are working dang hard with no help. I believe in “reward-rather-than-rescue” and my kids are really deserving. Laura’s working full time, and taking on additional duties at work, and in graduate school on top of it. Darren is taking on an additional workload because a coworker of his has been out for awhile with some sort of medical issue. Darren’s also looking for a roommate because his rent went up. And Laura just rents a room. Luckily, her roommate is lovely, but her roommate’s dogs are incontinent. The kids are both doing the very best they can, and life is not easy, and I want to try to help them.

But it’s hard for me to justify taking our money, the majority of which John earns, and funneling it elsewhere, when he wants to retire soon. And somehow, in my brain, if I make “extra” on some side venture, then maybe I would feel ok about diverting that amount. Which is also why I’m thinking about taking on another client or two (I currently have only one and my website says I’m not taking new clients). For awhile I was working overtime at work, and did not have time for clients, but I’ve recently been able to cut back to a regular 40-hour week. So I’ve put up an application form on my website, in an attempt to do a better job of screening potential clients, and maybe I’ll take on one or two more.

All of which is the backstory for today’s post about our weekend. We had a long list of stuff to accomplish in Santa Fe. You’re thinking – “I thought you were done with that house?” and yeah, the Santa Fe townhome has less that still needs done than the house in Placitas, but you know me, I’m never done.

Even before this new crazy roommate idea, I wanted a screen door to the backyard. The weather has finally turned nice (I’ve been exceedingly grumpy about the weather for 4 months; during all of January – April, I just did not like New Mexico and wanted to live somewhere else, anywhere else, but that’s a different topic.) Finally the weather is nice again, and there’s nothing better than having the back door open to the patio in the warm weather.

Now you’re wondering if Sam finished the brick patio yet. No, he hasn’t. It’s been months. He provides as many excuses as he lays brick. But it will be lovely when it’s done (if it gets done).

Anyway, back to my story. In addition to installing a screen door, there’s lots of little things (moving furniture, installing towel racks, additional shelving, etc.,) that I wanted done to make it easier for me to consolidate all my stuff into only one of my two bedrooms and only one of my two bathrooms. I had sprawled out and taken up the entire townhome. But seriously, I don’t need a house in Placitas AND an entire townhome to store all my stuff. Some of my stuff from my office will go down to Placitas, some will go into the living room and the master bedroom.

I will mostly miss the beautiful closet that John built me in the office. 

Which I had been using mostly for my shoe collection, LOL. Obviously, I have more shoes than absolutely necessary.

But I can move all my winter shoes to storage in Placitas, and my summer shoes into the small master bedroom closet.

John’s been working hard to help me with the upgrades, but things never go as smoothly as hoped. My backdoor is an odd size and the screen door ended up to be a bitch to install, involving drilling, plaining, sanding, painting – way more than just a drop-and-go installation. Of course.

It turned out great, but now we’re not going to have time to install the shelving I wanted.

John’s currently working on the master shower, which I rarely use. The temperature doesn’t stay consistent, resulting in a more interesting shower experience than desired. The hall bath is larger, and that’s the one I typically use, but that’s the one I’d be handing over to a potential roommate for her “exclusive use”.

Meanwhile, in case you’re wondering, Kai is recovering very well from his surgery, and I’m taking him to get his stitches out today!