It's almost July yo

I'm so tired.

The last few days have been nothing but go, go go. I take that back. That's the last few weeks.

Thanks to Ashley, Collin, and FG, we managed to fit everything into the uhaul and the truck in 1 trip, stacked like a mishmash of tetris and hillbillies, and I did have to get another storage unit but that's okay because we/they got it done. FG and Collin did the heavy lifting, and Ashley did serious work fitting the rest of it skillfully into the uhaul.

My house is sparkling clean and ready to hand off to the new owner. When I took a look around the house and locked up, I didn't even feel sad. I always knew that would be a transition house, and it served its purpose well. 

Too bad we're not closing tomorrow, and no alternate date has been suggested. Not ideal for anyone, really. I have to pay another month's mortgage but at least I have somewhere to live.

Back at FG's house, we are still in the process of moving stuff from one room to another, having it painted, doing the touch ups myself because I'm super picky about paint done right, and moving it all back and going to the next room. Plus now a bunch of my stuff is in the mix. Super fun chaotic times, y'all.

Speaking of, I need to show you how sexy FG is. When we merged cleaning supplies, we found that we have... a lot. So he cleared out a cabinet in his man cave so that I could have a nice, organized, consolidated place to store the cleaning supplies, at least until we have used up the duplicates and are down to a normal amount.

Oh, baby. Look at that. Hubba hubba. Reason #423 why that man is awesome. A cleaning supply cabinet, right next to the foosball table and Golden Tee.

FG and I are in the process of merging households and lives. We are asking questions about the other person's take on nearly everything, and it's moving along about how you'd expect. 

Some things we don't care about, and some things are oddly important. Like I wanted to put my metal straws into the butter knife spot in the silverware drawer and that was a HARD no from him. I found another spot.

He likes to put his pots and pans in the dishwasher and I cringe at that but go along with it. However, I insist upon handwashing my knives. Little process changes for each of us. So far FG has been very accommodating for every change that I run by him. I like it. I feel free in his house instead of stifled, like I feared. 

Pumpkin is also adjusting. This is a big change for such an old kitty who was used to a quiet house with all of her designated spots. She and Rosco did get into it almost immediately and I think she won because he had a scratch on him. She has been hiding amongst the piles of stuff, and she did shit in the closet, but she's also been hanging out and eating okay and she found a windowsill to lounge upon and she's venturing outside. I think she'll be okay in time.

P.S. my herbs are doing great and I put them on FG's kitchen windowsill and they make me smile. 

The blinds are filthy and I'm waiting for when the kitchen is painted and they have to be taken down anyway to clean them. Lots of things in this house have been cleaned for the first time in 10 years in the last few days. 

Don't even get me started on the washing machine. How do you get that mildew smell to go away in a front load washer? I've already bleached/cleaned out unmentionable things from the rubber seal but it still smells.

P.P.S. We still have not farted in front of each other and living together, even potentially temporarily, might change that but we're both fighting it. Stay tuned for updates on that.

mad week

Woke up early this morning with a stomach ache. Ugh, I don't need this this week.

This week involves: 

1. Packing/ moving my stuff into storage/FG's (plus figuring out if I have enough room for everything in the storage unit eesh)

2. Moving stuff around FG's house so that rooms can be painted.

3. Oh yeah, work.

By Sunday I want to be completely moved out. That leaves Monday for cleaning and we close Tuesday. The appraisal was finally done but the report is not back yet. Really hope that the closing date isn't delayed because I don't want to make another mortgage payment!

Coordinating everything at the same time is a little maddening. But it'll all work out. That's the motto lately.

The housing market is so weird right now. I saw a great house last week and it was priced a little high for the size, but it was fully updated. I offered 5K over asking price, and it wasn't the highest bid. Five thousand dollars OVER ASKING PRICE wasn't enough.. for a 1500 sf house. People are losing their minds over here. 

To be honest, I was a little relieved that they went with another offer. I have enough on my plate right now. I'm so thankful that I'm not in a rush to find a house.

Let's get some shoes

I spent 80 bucks on flip flops yesterday.

It all started when we went on vacation to Memphis and I didn't have the proper shoes for walking around GraceLand. Well, I did. But tennis shoes didn't go with my outfit. So I wore flip flops. 

Mistake. That place is huge and at the end of the day, not only did my feet hurt, but my shins, knees, and back hurt. 

Let's face it. I'm old now. Too damn old to wear shitty $2 flip flops, especially when it's for longer than a trip to the grocery store.

Yesterday I finally had a minute to run into the shoe store, and they were having a sale!

Wow, the difference between $2 flip flops and $35 flip flops is real. 

I wound up getting a basic, extra-cushy pair:

A sparkly pair that are so freaking comfortable that I was shocked. The bottom part is soft and cushiony, not hard and rigid.

I also got this sunshiney pair that makes me happy:

I got these for free because of the sale, yay!

These shoes rule. 

Super happy about my upgrades.

Updates on all the things

Writing this from my office. I usually blog from the couch but I sold my coffee table.

The garage sale was a lot. It was hectic and fun and hot and in the end, I made $175 and got rid of a lot of random stuff, including the bed and mattress in the guest room, most of the furniture, lots of home decor and kitchen items, and the Christmas stuff went super quick.

Ashley and I had bets on what would sell and what wouldn't. I won on the bags of socks and the girdle. People buy some weird stuff at the right price.

I was surprised that some 50 cent crystal wineglasses did not sell. I wound up keeping those. I have enough wine glasses, but that was obviously the universe saying that I should keep them.

Other news:

House- Still no appraisal. Not sure if that will delay closing and I'm tired of keeping my house clean. Went and looked at 2 houses that came on the market and neither one was right so the hunt is still on. Considering a remodel but... oh that's a lot.

Relationship- Been helping FG de-clutter and move things around in his house so that it can be painted. He wanted to refresh Nicole's room, so he sold the furniture and we cleared it all out. We will put my current bedroom furniture in there, since I was considering selling it anyway, and get a new bed. I felt a little sad when I took her clothes out of the closet. She had a cute style. Sweet girl. I wish I could have known her better. 

It's been kinda weird bc we are also planning for when I move in temporarily until I find my house. He's been clearing out space in his dresser and talking about where the litter box will go, things like that. 

So we're making plans for the immediate "when I move in until I find a house" and also for the future "when I move in forever" and the lines get blurred sometimes and we both forget that the current plan is that I'm still looking for another house. 

I still think that it feels right to move in with him, and I'm very tempted to commit, but also like that safety net so I haven't said anything yet.

Travel- I think we will cancel our trip to San Diego because the flights got screwed up and the city is mostly still shut down due to Covid. That's ok, because the timing is not great and Dad needs to come see us anyway.

Work- BIG NEWS! I checked my email tonight and we officially got word that Big Reference Lab does NOT need continuous support anymore! Yay! What a huge weight lifted off our shoulders. Whew.

Punk- She decided to start eating again. Of course I mixed some tuna in with her wet food.

That's all I have for now.

Key West and back to reality

Key West was fun, relaxing, happy, and wonderful.

I loved chilling by the pool, walking around the pretty town, riding bikes to the beach, drinking cuban coffee, going to the Hemingway house to pet the 6-toed cats, and watching the random chickens and roosters wander the streets. 

We both needed to get away for a minute. I wanted to stay an extra night but there is this thing called work and although I'm on PTO this week, FG had to get back.

Then we came home and even though I'm on PTO I checked my work emails and there's one to myself and Helen from my boss basically saying, "Hey who wants to work night shift at Big Reference Lab next week? Lol it has to be one of you." Oh, but if you pick days you have to work Saturday so either option sucks. We should have been done with this a month ago but someone higher up than us decided we need to keep doing it.

Helen and I have talked and we decided that we're done being walked all over. We both responded with reasons why we don't want to work nights or Saturday, so now it's up to him to decide what to do.

I have updated my resume. If there was an end in sight I'd feel better but this is starting to get ridiculous. If I wanted to work nights and weekends, I'd still be in the lab. At least then I'd get overtime pay and a shift differential.

Not sure what will happen, but we did buy a lottery ticket in Florida so maybe tonight we'll be rich and work won't matter anymore.

questioning everything

I think it's terrible that we live in a society where, when something happens, the first thing I do is question the validity of the information. 

Is this something blown way out of proportion as a political move? Another sensationalized news story to distract from another issue? The conspiracy theories are sounding more plausible than what we're fed by the media and (ugh) social media.

Also, this is 2020. Wash your hands, cover your cough, and no one should be fighting for equal rights regarding race, gender, sexuality, etc. Enough already! I'm sick of the circus. I'm becoming increasingly disgusted by humanity and the corrupt societies that we build... and support.

In other news...

House- The buyer and I came to an agreement which involves more money out of my pocket, and some slightly shady under-the-table stuff, but when it's over I'll still be pretty happy to get this house off my shoulders. Today we went and looked at a really, really cute house but it smelled like cigarette smoke, like they smoked inside. You can never get that smell out of a house. Uck. Not meant to be.

Relationship- There has been constant thought and discussion regarding the living situation, mostly on my part because FG knows what he wants and is waiting patiently for my brain to calm down. Here's the most recent update:

We have had many discussions about the logistics of living together and it evolved to the point where it seemed like I would move into FG's house, because it works. To the point where I know which room will be my office and we are choosing paint colors to repaint the whole house. It's actually been a lot of fun.

But. In our most recent conversation, I told him that I didn't feel like I was 100% there yet. I felt rushed. I didn't want to risk ruining our relationship because we moved too fast for me. I needed to make sure it felt right before I made this big huge life change and commitment. At the end of our conversation we agreed that I should still buy a house near him and live in it until we're ready to merge lives for good. Which we are both confident will happen, I just need a little bit more time.

It's funny though, because once we had that talk, most of my hesitations went away and living with him didn't seem so scary. Once I actually got the extra time, I didn't feel like I needed it.

WTF, brain.

I hesitate to tell him all of this because I've been so back and forth he might just think I'm nuts... which I might be. I might sit quietly on these thoughts for a while and see how they evolve.

I figure what will happen is I will find a great house and if I want to move into it, then my gut is saying take more time. If I don't want to move into it, then my gut is saying it's time to start building a life with FG.

There ya go. Moving on.

Travel- We're going to take that long weekend vacation in Key West and we've booked a bunch more trips. Making up for lost travel time!

Work- I get a week of PTO on the horizon so I'm going to enjoy our trip, then get ready to sell most of my crap in the garage sale and spend as much time with Pumpkin as I can.

Punk- She's had a rough few days. Hasn't been eating much and mostly takes naps in the heated cat bed. She's done this before and bounced back, but she's so much skinnier now and I feel guilty leaving her alone for a few days. I don't want her dying alone but I hear animals do that, so it is what it is. 

Right now she's curled up in the sunbeam covering her eyes, looking happy.