So, cooking is pretty much on hold until I get my kitchen in order and organized. What a mess…I’m not sure how we accumulated this many pots and pans, but they are all over the place. Hand-me-downs, impulse purchases and wedding gifts…have made it impossible to squeeze everything into our teeny new cooking oasis.

It feels good to be “settled” though – straddling two apartments was getting a little bit old (“I think I’ll make some…oh wait.” “Where are my slippers..?”) and it was really time to say goodbye and be done with that chapter of our lives.

As predicted…artsy friends were visibly unimpressed with our IKEA artwork.

Now there’s less time for organizing (and Melrose Place – we plowed through Season 2 in a weekend. AMAZING.) and more time for getting prepped for 2009. Lots of planning, writing, working to be done. It’s a good time for focus.

I deluded myself into thinking a move down the hall would be a-okay, no problem at all. I was wrong. There was one one crucial piece of the equation I missed entirely…the minute enough stuff was in the new place to make it feel like home, all I wanted to do was forget about the stacks of books, piles of paperwork and closet of “stuff” that I don’t use anyway.

Where did all this crap come from?

I’m not really sure, but I’m even less sure about what the hell to do with it all. Our storage locker downstairs (still occupied by three large boxes of crummy magazines owned and neatly packed away, but discarded, by the previous tenant) is smaller, we’ve cut the closet space down in half and my kitchen…oh, the kitchen.

Cabinet space is at a minimum, but the thing we regret overlooking the most in this teeny little cooking oasis are the drawers. There isn’t a cutlery organizer around that will fit in this mini sized drawer – not to worry…that’s what IKEA is for, right?

Maybe not. We came home with a jar that might be useful for storing cutlery on the counter and a giant piece of artwork that my artsy friends would shame me for owning.

Damn you, IKEA. You and your twisty hallways and decorating ideas.

Tomorrow we get the keys to our new apartment down the hall. Yes, that’s right, we’re moving again. Not by choice (who moves down the hall by choice?) but by the simple fact that I would rather not pay rent on a downtown high rise condo…that’s for sale.

You got it – our landlord has somehow gotten it into his head that this would be the PERFECT time to sell. Nine months into the lease, six months after the building was finally finished (our families were less than impressed with the drywall and juvenile graffiti scribbled in our hallways when they came to visit), and…oh lord how many months is it now?…let’s just go with “smack dab” in the middle of a recession……he’s putting the place on the market.

Is it a firesale? Oh no. No, no, no, that would be silly. The condo is going on the market for over $150k more than what units this size typically go for in the building. If our doorman’s reaction was any indication of the resale market in the building right now, this just ain’t going to happen.

So, back to moving down the hall.

I happen to be a big fan of moving, as I’ve mentioned before. But moving down the hall? Well…we’re just going to take it one room at a time and get ‘er done. At the very least…tomorrow should be interesting.

From yesterday’s lament, some of my goals for 2009 might not be so surprising. But here they are.

Take more photos. I miss my camera. A lot. I’m carting a laptop/camera bag around without any camera equipment. I may not be able to stick to a daily photo schedule, but darn it…photos will be taken.

Read more blogs. I’ve been missing out on a ton of conversations. Yep, my blog reader is full of articles, pontifications and predictions I missed.

Figure out what I really want to do with Debanter. Randomness be damned – I’ve got to figure out some sort of editorial structure here or I’ll be wandering off again faster than you can say lazy blogger.

Take a vacation. So many places to go, so little time. Just a little mini break would be oh-so nice and i’m determined to fit it in somewhere (if I put it in writing, it’ll happen…right? Right?).

Here I am, a couple months later and wary of jinxing myself with yet another predictable “Ohmigosh it’s been so long since I blogged!” post. So, let’s quickly step away from that pile o’ hot mess and get straight to business.

I have a camera I love and never use, a stack of books I want to read and never get to, and a track record for picking up a hobby and just as quickly (but more quietly) setting it back down again.

So what did I ask for this Christmas? Clearly the only answer is…

Yet another techie toy!

I’m now the proud owner of a Flip Video Camcorder (yes, I know the Mino HD version is better – but this was available in Canada on boxing day for a good deal and I’m impulsive so sue me). It’s fantastic and fun and oh so delightfully light and interesting. It’s found a home with me and the rest of my side projects that will get picked up every few months with love and dedication…only to be set back down again the minute life gets in the way. I’m not predictable at all.