Are We There Yet?

Eighteen more days! Eighteen more days (not including the weekends) 'til we have our new house and this current craziness ends....

...as Inigo Montoya said in The Princess Bride, "There is too much. Let me sum up."

So, since the craziness of August, what with our Colorado house sale having fallen through FOUR TIMES (mostly due to government assbaggery, big surprise), we finally managed to sign the papers and get that house sold to someone who really loved and wanted it. I am truly excited and happy for them, and relieved they loved the house enough to stick with it, despite the government continually trying to screw over one of its own soldiers. Alright, last poke at the government, I promise. It's not that I'm afraid of retribution, it's that I bore myself groaning and moaning about bureaucracy that really isn't going to change because I decided to whine publically about it. There are certain safeguards everyone needs when buying a house to make sure all parties are satisfied, and the government has more than most. They are SUPER CAREFUL. OMG CROSS THAT T OR YOU DON'T GET NO HOUSE!!!

But the house is finally sold, and now we get to buy a new one. We have already offered on one and been accepted; a lovely little home, older and smaller than our airy wood-and-stone sprawler in Colorado, but it's been remodeled and has no huge issues to deal with, just regular maintenance. Oh how I love those words, "regular maintenance". It could be because I tend to try to be efficient and economical, and truly take to heart the idea of keeping something in shape rather than letting it fall into disrepair and then trying to fix it. (If only I treated my own body the same way. But I digress.) Or it could just be that I love the idea of even having a home to maintain and call my own.

I will be so glad to move, for the second time this year, hopefully into a place we'll have for ten years or more. We're currently crammed into a two bedroom apartment 50 miles away from where we'll ultimately end up. The school year has started, so in addition to a work commute for husband, we have a school commute for the two kids. The schools are barely 5 minutes from the house we're buying, an awesome thing. But right now they're fifty miles from the place we sleep, and it sucks getting up at 5:30AM (which is really 5AM because my damn brain is like that...."OH 5AM, BETTER WAKE UP SO YOU'LL HEAR THE ALARM!" Bastard.), rousting the kids awake, eating, dressing, and getting on the road in the dark.

While my husband is at work and my kids are in school, I have the car and the town to myself. Now, for a week and a half this has been entertaining. I have explored the town (We have a Five Guys and an IKEA, woohoo! Not to mention a giant Hobby Lobby, but I try not to think about that too much because I can hear my wallet crying), found things I needed to find like the Post Office, the Library, and various supermarkets, and am learning cross streets and shortcuts, important for one such as me who has the general direction sense of a boulder. A boulder stuck in the ground that doesn't move much.

After a week and a half, with eighteen days to go, my enthusiasm is waning. especially with a daily wake-up call of 5:30AM. I spend most of my time in the car, or walking to and from it. Even when I can buy something without guilt, there's only so much time one can spend wandering around Hobby Lobby. Hanging in Five Guys does nothing for maintenance of my body, which as I said I tend to be lax on anyways. The Library parking lot is a great spot though. Trees to park under, mostly quiet, a cafe to duck into for snacks, and books. Their chairs are hard after a while. And I get weirded out at having to share a table with other laptop tappers. I don't know, it's A Thing, I'm working on getting over it. The car seems more private, even if I park as close as I can to the entrance, so I mostly hang out there.

I've also found a place to sneak a little wi-fi from, in another parking lot elsewhere, but I'm not revealing that one. It's my Secret Spot. Close to conveniences too. I could grab a quick nap in my car without too much trouble I think, but the idea of being observed unknowing while I slept....maybe not.

I listen to the radio sometimes, play games til the battery runs down on my laptop (I know I know, plug in at the Library....OTHER TAPPERS WATCHING ME), and knit. I almost have a sock done after starting it a week and a half ago, which is unheard of for me. Normally one sock takes a couple months. Boo yah, I've got my faster knitting secret. Be unemployed and stuck in your car = pair of socks in three weeks!

Time begins to drag now. I can taste my new house. The manner of decorations, the space for baking, the lovely hardwood floors. MY OWN BED AND BATHROOMS (Really, the Library bathroom is spotless, but industrial). I could take a nap in my house...almost anywhere. And no other tappers watching me.

Only eighteen school days. Eighteen droning driving days. Eighteen to bare feet, paint, canvas, and real food.