I Really Need to Get a New Template That Doesn't Have a Banner in This Space

First, I would like to give a shout out to my friend and fellow blogger, Callie from Through Clouded Glass. She just announced that she's pregnant!! I'm so happy for her and Derek. She went off the pill a little over a year ago, and blogged openly about her struggles with getting her cycle back on track. It took 11 months, but they finally conceived!

She's 10 weeks along, she just posted her first ultrasound picture (just click on the link above to see it!), and she has the tiniest, barely-there bump. It's so cute! I can't wait to "meet" their little one in March. So congratulations Callie!

[For the record, Callie and I have never met in person. I can't even remember how I found her blog, but I started reading and thought, "Wow, we have such parallel lives; we're practically the same person!" Except she's more fashionable than I am. :) But someday, I plan on meeting her. She lives in Colorado, and I've always wanted to go to Colorado. How convenient!]

We've got three weeks left with this house sitting gig. I really shouldn't be complaining at all, because they have a nice house, in a nice area. We're close to the gym, close to our favorite grocery store, and I can still take the same bus to work. But I just want to be in our home, sleeping in our bed at night, using our stuff.

Also? Art's been wanting a dog for the longest time, and I was tempted to finally get one. But after taking care of this dog for a couple of weeks, I'm not sure I'm ready. I think it's just because I'm so used to it just being the two of us. Now I have this animal that I have to feed twice a day, and give medication to (which is supposed to be easy, because she takes it with her food, but sometimes she skips over the pills, and then I have to force them into her mouth). I have take her on walks, and pick up her poop, and pay attention to her.

I sound so spoiled and selfish, don't I?

Okay, let's turn this around. Here is a list of things I'm going to miss when we live in our apartment:

1. The barbecue. It's been a real treat being able to use the one here. It makes cooking so easy; I barely have to do anything! We light it, throw meat and vegetables on there, check it occasionally, and then eat it! We hardly even need to season the food. The bbq does it for us!

2. Grocery stores. There isn't one close to our new place. I've enjoyed living so close to a Haggen, being able to walk there and pick stuff up, or stop there on my way home (there's a bus stop right close to it). I won't be able to do that anymore when we're at the apartment.

3. Speaking of buses: I'm not going to have easy access to public transportation. Right now I take two buses to work: one picks me up near the house, and takes me to the bus station. The other takes me from the bus station and drops me off right in front of where I work. So convenient! Ironically, where we're living is technically closer to where I work, but there is no bus that services those streets that I'm close to. So I'll have to walk to the bus station every morning.

It will take me the same amount of time as riding there, so I won't have to leave the house any earlier. But I'll be walking for half an hour instead of riding. Which will really suck on windy or rainy days.

4. Storage. We have no extra bedrooms, no garage, and small closets. There is really no place to store things that we're not using. I'll have to get really creative, or get rid of more things (or some combination of both).

So we've got it pretty good right now. I just need frequent reminders.

Well, I feel like I had more to say, but I'm kind of tired all of a sudden. And I should probably feed the dog. Oh, one more thing: Art has a mohawk now, because he plays rugby now, and I guess it's a rugby thing. I didn't want him to get one, but it's pretty short, and it actually looks good on him. And yes, I'm okay with him playing rugby. It really isn't more dangerous than football, and it's so much easier to follow.

Okay, I'm all out of words. It's your turn to tell me something (like, what you are all doing this weekend? It's supposed to be a beautiful one!)

It's All Done. Kind of.

It feels like forever since I've had internet, or time to be on the internet, but I'm back.

I think I mentioned it before, but just in case: our internet stopped working for almost a week (for no apparent reason). Then Art's dad came up and fixed it, and it worked for about a day, and then disappeared again. By that point, I stopped caring, because we had a lot packing and moving to do, and it didn't seem worth it to try and have it fixed again.

So yeah. We moved. We moved from a three bedroom duplex to a one bedroom apartment. We had to move all of our stuff, most of Art's brother's stuff, and most of Art's sister's stuff to either: A)Our new place. B)The dump. C)Goodwill. D)Mari's moving truck.

I'm thankful that we could get rid of a lot of stuff (and will probably get rid of more as we unpack and try to figure out where to put it all) but it's still a huge job. And our new place is on the fourth floor. Now, to be fair, the first level is below ground, so we're really only three stories up. Not that it makes a lot of difference when you're hauling box after box after box after box after box down the stairs of your duplex and up the stairs of your apartment.

I'm also thankful that it wasn't too hot outside. When we were moving this time last year, it was the hottest week that western Washington had experienced in a long time.

And while we're on the topic of being thankful, I'm thankful that it's all done! However, I'm quite anxious to get it all set up and make it a home. Which won't be until September, because did I mention we're house sitting? "Timing" is not one of our strengths.

We agreed to house sit for this couple that we know from the gym months and months ago. For the record, I protested. But Art assured me it would be fine. We also thought that we would have a week between moving and house sitting. But we started house sitting Saturday night, and we didn't get the duplex fully emptied until Sunday. That, my friends, is called an overlap. Oops.

I was actually quite upset about it at first, but I've gotten over that. I still can't wait to live in our place, but in the meantime, I like their house. I think the biggest issue is just getting used to using someone else's stuff. Sleeping in their bed (which is, like, four feet off the ground, and I have no idea why). Trying to locate dishes, and towels, and supplies. Taking care of their dog (who is very clingy, but thankfully, not very hyper, and pretty well-behaved).

Speaking of the dog, I should really take her for a walk, but I'm so tired. All that moving last week (so I didn't go to the gym at all) plus how unhealthy we've been eating (because I refused to cook) plus I haven't been sleeping great (I have a hard time sleeping in strange places). So I'm tired, and I haven't been on the internet in forever, and really, I don't need to have an excuse to blog.

Back to the people we're house sitting for, they're in Russia for five weeks, camping on a tiny little uninhabited island above Japan, doing research about the people who used to live there, and how they managed, considering the island is disaster central. It experiences hurricanes and tsunamis on a regular basis, and has an active volcano on it. How this island still exists is a miracle in itself. And then people used to live there? Unreal.

I feel like I had a lot more to say, but I think I'm done. And I should start thinking about getting things ready for tomorrow.

I'm glad to be back, and I hope you all say hi because I've missed everybody, and I just caught up on all of your blogs!

Marriage, and Moving, and Driving

Our internet was down for two days. How sad is it that I feel so disconnected and out-of-sorts when I can't access Facebook or Blogger for two whole days?

Anyway, my father-in-law helped me figure out a temporary work-around, and he's going to call back tonight with (hopefully) a solution. I was going to call Comcast tech support, but Mari said they are not as helpful as dad.

The stupid thing is that we're going to be out of here in 10 days, so I didn't want to call and some dramatic repair, only to cancel our service in a week.

So yeah, we got the keys to our new apartment, and with the help of my friend, I officially started moving on Sunday.

You know what's funny? I remember thinking that last year was so stressful, because we only had a week before we had to be out of our place, and we didn't have something lined up, and then when we did, we packed and moved everything in two days. I've been thinking about how I didn't want to repeat that experience.

But now that we have extra time on our hands? It occurred to me that it kind of makes sense to move everything all at once. I feel like there is so little that can be moved ahead of time. And I don't want to be halfway occupying two places at once.

So this year, I'm stressed because we have so much time, which is what I wanted!! I'm so fickle. Anyway, our friends came over on Sunday, and the guys wanted to play Art's new video game, so Sozan asked me what she could help me with. I answered: I need a strategy! She was so great. She basically took me by the hand, started making suggestions, and before I knew it, we were filling up her car with a bunch of random things, and driving over to the new place!

We only had time for one trip, but it felt SO GOOD to just get started. That was all I needed. I now have a vague plan, and all I can think about at work is what I can pack next (which isn't helping my work so much). And also, here I am blogging when I have some free time, and I really should be getting stuff done.

Also, two more quick updates: yesterday was our two year anniversary. We went out to a really nice seafood restaurant, overlooking the ocean (basically), and I'm sorry I didn't bring my camera. It was gorgeous. We stuffed ourselves silly. It was worth it.

And today I took a driving test and I finally got my Washington driver's license! I'm SOOOO glad that's over with. I can use it as I.D. instead of always pulling out my passport, and I can drive the truck to help move, and it just feels so good to get that out of the way. I told Art it was my anniversary gift to him (because he's been wanting me to get it for a while). So yay! I don't actually have a vehicle that I can drive on a regular basis, but it's a relief to know that I CAN. Legally.

So that's all! I'm going to get off my butt now and start doing some laundry and dishes and packing. I fully expect my next update to come from our new place. I think we'll be quite busy till then.