On A Personal Note -

Ok, so just to let you in on what's been going on in my world lately ---- Way back in early February the condo unit above me had a water heater bust & overflow. I was awakened around 5:30 or 6am by a knock on my door.  I was pretty confused b/c no one EVER knocks on my door in the morning. It was my neighbor down the hall telling me he thinks there is a problem because water is dripping from the ceiling outside my door.  I was still waking up so it took me a minute to process what was going on....

I looked into my bathroom and saw water everywhere with multiple places dripping  from the ceiling. It was not the best way to wake up on a Monday!! I immediately got bowls and buckets to catch what water I could, got towels for the floor, and moved anything I could to the bedroom.  Then I made calls to the building management & the owner above me.

Things got cleaned up for the most part but there was definitely some damage. The owner before me had put these aluminum looking sheets over the entire ceiling so once the contractor pulled that off, I discovered mildew and water stains covering most of my ceiling. Not pretty.

Anyway, I decided that if I was going to have to replace the ceiling that I might as well make some changes in the entire bathroom. (which I had wanted to do for a while now) It made sense to do everything at once - Yet, if I had known what was to come, I might have thought about it twice before doing anything.

What should have taken MAYBE 3 weeks at the most, has now gone into the 9th week!! I kept being told, "one more week & it will be finished"....um, yeah right! I should have known after the first delay that more was to come. It's all a long story which I will spare you from the details but let's just say, it hasn't made my life easy the past few months.

I have a small place and with no bathroom/stuff everywhere/dust/etc - I had to stay with my parents during most of this time. Now, I truly love my parents - they are amazing and have helped me tremendously throughout the entire ordeal BUT for me, I was NOT meant to live with my parents again at this point in my life. They were fine, I just missed my space/privacy/schedule/location and many of the little things we don't consider when living on your own.  Especially when I think it will only be a couple of weeks!

The entire experience made me think of the movie, The Money Pit with Tom Hanks. Have you seen it? If so, you know what I'm talking about. The good thing is that it has taught me lots of patience & made me appreciate my condo way more than I ever thought I would. I'm not saying I didn't shed some tears but I've done my best to stay hopeful and happy.  ;)

Ok, you are probably asking yourself "What does any of this have to do with MUSIC?" Well, yesterday when I went by to check on the progress (since it's actually really close to being finished) I noticed that the shower doors had finally been installed. In my mind, the shower doors represented a milestone b/c that meant all that was left was clean-up. I can't tell you how excited those SHOWER DOORS made me at that moment!! I literally jumped up and down. Yep, I did.

So, I hung out for a lil bit and decided to listen to some music. Then I started making a playlist of how I had felt over the past few weeks and what all it took to get to the end. I also wanted something to listen to when I finally get to move back in....

It's pretty funny & actually a good playlist. I wanted to find songs with themes or words about what I had experienced with the re-model. I surprisingly found quite a few that fit but then got off on a random tangent of the most played song on any given album.

Here is the playlist which may be added to in the coming days:
1. The Mall & Misery - Broken Bells (lots of trips to home depot or in this song "the mall" & it was misery)
2. Over The Edge - The Go Find (many times I said to myself that I'm on "the edge" or have reached my limit of patience)
3. Things Go Wrong - Chris Issak (this is an understatement - everything went wrong)
4. Better Be Home Soon - Crowded House (you get the picture of how I felt)
5. Ode To My Family - The Cranberries (because I might not have made it thru without my parents)
6. Where Will I Be - Emmylou Harris (after a while, I didn't feel like I belonged anywhere & didn't know If I would ever be back in my place)

The rest are where I started to go off on my 'most played' songs tangent even though I still tried to keep with the theme but it's harder to explain the connection so I will just list it....
7. The Limit To Your Love - Feist
8. D******d - Kate Nash
9. Wherever You Are - Madi Diaz
10. Exit Does Not Exist - Sun Kil Moon
11. This Must Be The Place - Talking Heads
12. Harder On Me - Via Audio
13. Like A Tattoo - Sade
14. Poor Leno - Royksopp

I've listened to it while I've been writing this post and I must say that I'm very happy with the way it's turned out. ;)

If your a friend of mine on facebook, stay tuned for some before & after pictures of the re-model in a few days. I will also try to post a few up on here for those who might be interested in home improvement.

I know most of us make playlists for road trips & such but do you ever make one for a random experience that you've gone thru? I say try it and see how it comes out -