Just to wrap up what I realize has been a somewhat dramatic story...

I have moved into a new place, it is terrific, and I am a happy little homebody now. Yahoo! I intend to fight for the return of my damage deposit, but right now that is secondary to the goodness that is the feeling of being settled in a comfortable home. I could putter around all day. It's *fantastic*.

In slightly less good news, there were a few sad casualties among the things I shipped from Toronto on Greyhound. Of course, I managed to wave goodbye to my things just as the temperatures across the centre of Canada dropped insanely. So my boxes of belongings voyaged across this fabulous but frozen country, transferring between trucks 3 times I'm told, in temperatures averaging around -30ºC. (That's -22ºF.) Several of the boxes arrived terribly tattered, and one of the boxes didn't arrive at all – instead I got a bag of my things. "We hope everything is there," they told me. Blessing or curse I am not sure, but the likelihood that I will notice if anything small is missing is slim. They informed me that when boxes get unloaded in the snow, they get wet. Weaker boxes then disintigrate.

Lesson #1: Use new, strong boxes. Some of mine had endured several moves already.

Lesson #2: Don't ship things in plastic when it might be -40 outside. It cracks. (Luckily my only casualty was a plastic binder, which arrived rather shredded.)

Most everything inside the boxes was more or less intact... except for a few sad items. I found my favorite childhood mug in about 15 pieces, and my favorite bowl made by a Santa Cruz potter split in 3. Two other bowls suffered similar fates.

Lesson #3: Pack beloved ceramics very, very carefully. Insurance doesn't really cover these things.  

Well, whatever I have done to deserve the past year of struggles around finding home...

I'm sure awful sorry about it. Can we change the story now??? I'd like a new one.

So I moved into this apartment, which I mentioned yesterday. I was utterly delighted have found a one-bedroom apartment for far less than such a thing generally costs in Vancouver. And while the building is a little rough around the edges (a new carpet in the halls and a fresh coat of paint would do wonders), the suite itself is spacious and entirely functional. Big windows, big closets, etc.

The only thing that needed addressing was the bathroom. I figured that with a little scraping, a coat of paint, and *possibly* new grout and caulk, it would be fine. Last night, I went to Home Depot, and when I got home, I started scraping. It took about five minutes to realize that underneath all that flaking paint... is a whole lot of mold.

So I stopped scraping and did a quick internet search. It didn't take long to fully freak myself out about what I was dealing with. Today, I went out and added a particulate mask and some toxic bleach cleaner to the arsenal. I came home, put on gloves and mask, and began anew. It got worse.