As of last night, we finally have a (mostly) fully functional kitchen and bathroom. The bathroom sink is still disconnected, but we can definitely live with that. We are so happy with how our apartment looks now, we almost don't want to leave. Almost.

Living here for the next month will at least be significantly more tolerable. Although the washing machine broke today and our neighbors have had at least two domestic disturbances in the past 24 hours.

More good news though, Tim hooked me up with a babysitting job after I am done with school and I am contemplating a contract for a freelance design gig. I have been doing some freelance stuff for the past month, but it hasn't paid much.

But for the next week I am focusing on making it through my last four (yeah, four) days of work and my last test, class, and presentation of my undergraduate career. It is hard to believe graduation is only two weeks away, but I think I'm taking it pretty well, I'm ready for a change.

But for now, I need to stop procrastinating and continue studying. Goodnight.

Well, we are back at home after a mini vacation in Rolla. Tim's wonderful mom sprung for us to stay in a hotel here as an early birthday present for me.

This was the scene in the kitchen late last week. By Wednesday the thick layer of sawdust wafting through the air made it pretty difficult to breathe. By Thursday we were comfortably settled into the hotel and I tried to focus on the mess going on at home. Luckily, they were able to work through the weekend, and all the drywall is up and ready to be painted, and the new floor went down this morning. Hopefully we are a mere day or so from going back to normal.

Cleaning this mess up is going to be quite the feat. I have Wednesday off, so hopefully a majority of that can be done then. This all had to happen at the busiest time of the semester, didn't it? After a whole semester of doing a whole lot of nothing, I've got one more week to wrap it all up.

Next Monday I have my last test of the semester, a final paper due for one class, and a presentation for my independent study class. It sounds like a lot right now, but none of these things should take too much effort to wrap up. And quite honestly, I'm letting myself worry a little more about big picture stuff right now. I'm already accepted to grad school, and as long as I don't fail any of my classes I should be good to go.

It is hard to believe graduation is now less than three weeks. It still feels like we have forever left here, but the time is going much faster than I expected. We are still trying to work out our timetable for moving and finding an apartment, but it has been hard to focus on everything else going on. It is looking like we might be spending some transition time in San Diego with Tim's parents so we can find jobs and find somewhere to live. 

I'm just trying to go with the flow and not let all of this get to me. It'll all be over soon. 

For Better or For Worse

Just as promised, the past week has been pretty hectic. I made it through my next to last round of exams for the semester. While I was taking my MFT, my nephew Cael was born, luckily we got to make it up to Iowa this weekend to meet him.

It was a good weekend, and probably my last trip to Iowa for a while, so that is a relief. Not that it's a terrible place, but I'm more excited for Tim and I to start our new life together.

Unfortunately, part of life together is taking the good with the bad. A pipe burst in our apartment while I was gone, so we will be dealing with the inconvenience of a gutted kitchen for most of this week I guess. Right now we have three industrial fans and a dehumidifier going in the kitchen, it's the equivalent of living in a wind tunnel. But with the bedroom door shut it isn't too bad. I'm just hoping we won't have to put up with it for too long and we will be compensated for our inconvenience. Especially since our electricity bill will be significantly higher because of these fans running nonstop, but also the hours of cleaning out the kitchen I did tonight and the many many more I will be doing this week.

As you can see, part of our ceiling is torn out and our stove and refrigerator moved out of the way to dry out the water damage. Tomorrow they will likely be tearing out more of the wall and the cabinets. So I spent a good part of the evening taking everything out of the kitchen and into the living room. On the bright side, this gave me the opportunity to start sorting out our stuff for the garage sale. Thus, the moving begins.

I'm hoping we will have an apartment lined up by the end of next week. I also will be officially accepting my offer to go to San Bernardino. So it's for real. We're getting out of here...

Move Along.

I have moved 7 times in the past four years. The idea of moving again is enough to make me want to vomit. The only relief from that feeling is knowing when we get there, I am going to In-N-Out for a 2x2 and fries, all animal style.

I have started looking at apartments and will hopefully find some time this week to make some phone calls to a few of the places that looked good (online at least!)

But, remember, all of this is happening within the realm of a full-time student with a job. Luckily, my semester has been fairly easy so far due to online classes and independent study, but things are about to get crazy.

I have about 100 pages of articles to read tomorrow that I should have done over the break so I can report back to my history professor about the progress I have made on the research paper the reading is for. An outline for that is due at the end of the week and a rough draft due two weeks from tomorrow. I also have my first research conference this week, which also means I will be ungodly busy at work (I print the posters for the conferences). Oh, and I have a test and my major field test for my degree on the same day my sister is going to have a baby.

Ah, life.

Westbound.

We are going to California.

It wasn't an easy decision, but once it was made, it felt like the right one all along. We spent all of last weekend double checking our reasons, but we really only ended up finding more reasons to go to San Bernardino. Tim told his parents the next week, and they were already up there today checking out the University and apartments. They are going to be very helpful to us through this process. His mom is already wanting to know what we need so she can start hitting garage sales! In short, just about everything.

I planned on telling my parents today when we went to visit for Easter dinner. But, we all know what happens while we are making plans. I was talking to my mom on Tuesday when she told me she ran into an high school friend of mine and told her we were moving to Illinois. I figured she deserved to at least have the right information if she was going to start telling people. She tried not to sound too upset, but you know how moms can be. I gave her our reasons, and I know she understands that it is the best option for us, but it hurts nonetheless.

Luckily, my parents are dealing with it much better than I expected. And that is relief.

So, thanks to our parents and friends who have been supportive of us through our decision (and indecision).

The next few months are going to be hectic, but amazing.