Category Archives: Life

Today I learned that when I am in the car, Wendy cannot drive very well and it’s not just because I am a horrible navigator. Somehow, I affect her driving skills.

I also learned that it sucks when it is sunny and your sunglasses are broken but that you will feel better once you eat and sometimes a cloudy sky isn’t necessarily a bad thing.

I learned that it totally makes sense for kids to fall asleep in cars. The road can really lull one into dreamland. However, it’s not really feasible for her to drive me around the block when I am suffering from insomnia.

I learned that sometimes it’s not the destination but the journey. But one of those destinations offered more than I realized at first sight.

I also learned that cake can be too sweet and I may be well on my way to a sugar-induced coma.

What’s that? You think I should sleep? Yes, I agree.

Having successfully spent more than one night in the new apartment—a good three weeks after I signed the lease—I am now operating in what I call “quirks mode.” That is, I am learning the quirks of the new place. For example, the mailbox door requires you to push down to open it and you may have to push the dishwasher door slightly to the right in order to shut it properly. The ceiling light in my bedroom makes a slight buzzing noise, sometimes, and the switch operates it from high-medium and then to low. I wish I could say the water heater issues were only due to a quirk but that is not the issue and it required a plumber (albeit, a fairly good looking one) to fix it. Four days without hot water may not sound that extreme but I can tell you that it felt awful and there was nothing more amazing than taking a hot shower this morning. I will have to remember to be grateful for that.

It is that very same gratefulness that will pull me through when I’ve had a bad day, when I’ve dropped furniture on my fingers or toes, when the DirecTV technician incorrectly informs me of policies and fails to install the damned thing after I have waited all day, when the cats have kept me up at night and I have been unable to fall asleep despite a very important meeting in the morning. When the Internet is shoddy and I have had one too many quirks for my liking, I will remember to be grateful. Hopefully, I will not wind up hating my home as I have previous abodes.

Because, hey, nothing can really be that bad as long as you have a hot shower—and your own bathroom to shower in, even if the cats keep forcing the door open because it does not close all the way. d=

It is 4:26 and I am newly showered. I am waiting for Wendy to awake but I realize that she may not work at her usual time. So, I am sitting here in a towel, listening to the quiet hum of my laptop. It is very calming and I realize that I have not been in a place where I could simply listen to it hum away. Wendy’s computer is ridiculously loud–so loud that you can easily hear it down the hall, in the bedroom. My laptop hums away; although, sometimes it is nearly silent.

It’s a shame that I do not take solace in the comforting and familiar sounds around me more often. The narrator of my relaxation CD tells me to do this as I fall asleep and, I must admit, the CD is more effective now than ever. Where I used to listen to it all the way through, and be wide awake, I am falling asleep with no concept of how long I have been listening to it. And sleeping through the night without so many awakenings. The result? I am sleeping far less than I used to. Perhaps still more than your average person (although, I have nothing on your average bear).

Now to get on a normal sleeping schedule because, as you can guess, it is quite abnormal for me to be awake at 4:26 in the morning and I won’t even make it to 8 o’clock tonight. I didn’t last night. That’s okay. I sleep much more soundly when it is dark. Luckily, Wisconsin offers me around sixteen hours of darkness every day and it certainly messes with one’s inner clock–especially if one is not awake during the few hours of light. This is also why I want to adjust my schedule.

But, for now, it is 4:41 and I am calmed by the sound of my laptop and that is all I need.

Not 3 days after posting a mopey thread at DayDreamz about not knowing where I’m going to live and being upset about this whole ordeal.. Well, let me explain.

Yesterday, I was officially here a month. After spending weeks looking for places over the phone, with my cousin, she decided to back out suddenly. Wendy piped up and said she’d like to move with me so I sent her and mom on apartment searches. We found a really nice place.. who took two weeks to reject us and basically rented the place right out from under us. “So Sorry, try next month.” We were unhappy.

My wishes to have a place ready for me pretty much fell through at that point. I sent Wendy on more apartment views–many of which sucked. We finally found one that was affordable and decent but, it took them 5 weeks to deny us, essentially. It was a combination of me moving and their utter lack of professionalness and disorganization. By the time yesterday rolled around, this “sure shot” seemed doomed and we were looking for more apartments.

Or apartment.

Wendy wasn’t at all happy on the way to the first place. Everything seemed to be delighting in making us miserable. We’d already had to pay for another month’s rent at her old place (the one at which she’d already put in her notice). I tried to convince her that maybe this was meant to be–that maybe the place we were about to see was really fucking awesome and it was all happening for a reason. Yea, I wasn’t buying it either.

After some Google map mishaps, we found the place and she wasn’t happy with the outside looks. To be honest, the exterior and the hallways within the buildings are extremely plain but.. the apartment. My god.

Is amazing. Two large bedrooms. Two full bathrooms. Real carpet. Tons of closets. New appliances. Garage. Adjustable lighting (in my room!) A patio. And a washer and dryer in its own room.

The woman who showed us the place wanted to know if we were serious and, if so, she’d put our application in ASAP. She did and we continued to look but I fretted. We’d been turned down by two places. One because we essentially didn’t make enough and the other because we made too much.

But, I was right bitches.

We were approved within the hour and we will be heading over this morning to sign the lease. And maybe use the washer and dryer. I don’t know. It’s all just amazing.

I feel a certain sense of smug satisfaction that I was right. Things did happen for a reason! I can call this morning and have my stuff delivered to my new home. I won’t have to live out of luggage anymore.

I almost started crying when she told us we were approved and I am crying now because this has all been so exhausting and I am just.. flabbergasted that it took a month and a half for two places to fuck us around and only an hour for one place to make my fucking year.

It will be a struggle to move Wendy and all her stuff but it will be well worth it in the end, for sure.

It’s been quiet around here, sorry. Things in my life are still turbulent but in a weirdly boring way and not very entertaining. Except for this conversation I had with Wendy regarding Lego Batman:

Me: You can use the Penguin’s umbrella as a gun and it makes him float through the air, too.
Wendy: That doesn’t make any sense! He’s too heavy to float.
Me: Out of all of the unrealistic things that could possibly bother you in this game, you pick that?!

Anyway, we hung out at Mom’s on Thanksgiving and despite her feeding nearly 20 people, it went really well–for the most part. There’s always some family drama and this year was no exception but I was able to help Mom out a lot and spend time with Samantha and that’s all that counts.

I have adjusted quite well to the weather, despite having a persistent cough left over from a cold my second week here. We had some chilly days that week, in the single digits, but it’s surprisingly warm tonight and rained all day today. It’s amazing to me that it could be warm enough here for rain at the end of November. It’s also more than amusing when I want to go for a walk and Wendy or someone else whines because it’s too cold. Hello?! Who spent most of the year in Texas? That’s right, bitches. I’m hardcore like that.

This post is winding up being rather incoherent but writing it has made me smile. I just want to say that I hope you have been well and I am grateful for you to be reading this. I’ve probably never been as thankful as I was this Thanksgiving.