I Have a New Place to Live

Yesterday after work I drove to RR and signed the lease for my new townhouse.

It was somewhat unnerving, given how expensive it is, but when I drove past the unit, the youngish man who will be my neighbor to the right was first watchful when a stranger was driving slowly, then cheerfully friendly when I identified myself as his new neighbor. The little girl across the 'road' was a couple of years younger than my daughter, but very friendly, and I could hear kids playing elsewhere.

The unit is right next to the pool -- but that means it's also right next to the fitness center and the bigscreen movie room (with the popcorn maker). My daughter will love being so close to the pool.

I don't have they keys yet because they require an account with the electric utility before they turn them over, and the unit isn't fully cleaned yet. I'll call the electric company today.

Move-in date is July 1.

I am calling professional movers because I have some very nice, very heavy furniture that needs to be handled. There are also a zillion books to pack. And I never quite finished my sorting-purging process of papers, so that needs to resume.

My commute probably isn't going to be much shorter, in terms of time in the car, than the one I have now. The bonus is that I won't have to cross the lake, or go through the Mercer Weave or U-District bog-down. My new route will have a lot of traffic on roadways not quite up to the capacity that they are frequently asked to handle, but I'm sure my mom will show me several alternate routes (she's great at that). And there's going to be much more green as I get closer to home. As I drove out there yesterday I thought about how much more uncrowned_king liked it than my current neighborhood. We had been looking forward to walking on the 20+ miles of trails together. Once we've settled in, I'm going to buy bicycles for the daughter and myself.

My daughter's school will be only a block away, and this district takes elementary school to the sixth grade, so she gets one more year of being a kid before being tossed into junior high. Even better, the school has a program called "Walking School Bus" which is organized by volunteer parents to encourage fitness and conservation: two parents (a "driver" and a "conductor") walk groups of kids to school along particular routes. It's an official organization, with specific rules. My parents have already signed up to help.

Ups and Downs

When my office neighbor greeted me yesterday morning with a "Hi, how are you?" I responded cheerfully, and realized that I felt normal-good for the first time since uncrowned_king's death. I could concentrate. I wasn't exhausted. I felt fine.

Then I got home after a long day and a lot of driving, and opened the package containing the prayer shawl which oakmouse had made and blessed for me, and I collapsed in tears and started angrily demanding "Why?" of a particular deity.

The tears passed after a little while, and I called oakmouse and we talked for an hour, and then I did my evening meditation, and felt more centered.

But this morning I'm exhausted again, and I have far too much to do at the office. I have to leave on time, because my daughter's end-of-school potluck and showing-of-family-history-books is tonight, and we can't miss that. Tomorrow I signed up for vacation to be at her 5th grade graduation (our current district only goes to 5th grade in elementary school) and to take the rest of the day off, but I think I'm going to end up going back to the office until its time to pick her up.

Or maybe I'll just take my laptop home tonight and work from home.
Yes, that's the better option.

Day Job

I decided this morning that even though I've been frustrated by the delays, it's just as well the new job I want hasn't even been posted yet. With all the emotional upheavals, and now the move to plan and execute, I wouldn't want to also be worrying about interviewing, training my own replacement (which will certainly involve challenges with Miss V), and learning/creating a brand new job.

No. The new job can wait a few more weeks.

Vodka, Please!

My gadget just ate the dozen lines I'd typed for this entry, which is par for the course for today.

I have too much to do, and I'm stressed out about most of it.