Settling In at The Place! in These Foolish Things

I’m still pretty buried in boxes, but now some of them are unpacked and there’s just stuff everywhere! Luckily, the weather here is supposed to be disastrous until at least Thursday, so I’m hunkering down and going to spend my days and nights unpacking and getting settled.

Best Bud and her husband and son were here over the weekend. It was so, so good to have people at my new place (hereinafter referred to as “The Place”) and especially nice to have a carpenter to help me mount my TV in the living room and also a nice sized mirror.

I don’t know if they were just being nice and wanted me to feel secure or if it really was true, but they kept telling me how much BETTER they liked The Place than The Treehouse. I mean, honestly, the two places are comparable in so many ways, but they LOVED the fact that The Place is on the first level and that there are no complicated lobbies, elevators and hallways to have to navigate - all you have to do is park right in front of the building and just walk right in! They loved the big balcony and they loved the white, white open kitchen (previous kitchen was dark) and the openness of it all.

And as they were leaving and getting in their car, my new next door neighbor family showed up and Best Bud rolled the window down and told them that they were getting a fantastic new neighbor. I thought that was sweet. It was good to meet the whole family, including the 2-year-old baby, Mia. And they again offered help in any way they could (I told them that BB’s husband was hanging things, and the wife offered up her husband to help me too!!). Just sweet!

At this point, I need to just methodically tackle room by room. For example:

Today: Entryway and Living Room
Tuesday: Kitchen and Dining
Wednesday: Main Bedroom and Bathroom
Thursday: Hallway and Guest Bathroom
Friday: Guest Bedroom
Saturday: Closets/Storage, etc.

And I have also leased a separate garage for Mini Pearl (a home of her own!) which will provide me with a LOT of extra storage space! So nothing in this new place needs to be crowded!

So far, nearly everyone I’ve interacted with have been incredibly friendly and talkative and helpful. I’ve made buddy-buddy with the head maintenance guy (not in that way like the creep at The Treehouse…OH! I have a story about that guy!) who is so sweet and helpful (and pure smiles and joy, honestly). I’ve only had one incident that I think was weird: there is an awesome grocery store less than a mile from The Place and I went early yesterday (Sunday morning) to beat the crowds. As I was walking through the aisles trying to get my bearings, some weird guy came barreling down the opposite way nearly crashing into me and giving me the stare like I was in the wrong for being in his way! I know groceries on Sundays can be dangerous, but damn. Serious business!

Anyway, I’m sipping coffee and watching the Today Show while I type this out. I’m going to slowly get up and get started with my unpacking for the day. I swear, not starting work for six weeks after the offer has been the best thing EVER.

As for the new job, which starts on February 15, I sent in my completed onboarding paperwork early, early this morning. I didn’t want them to think that I’ve forgotten about them and vice versa! It really is weird starting so long after the offer, but they were the ones who suggested it and I didn’t offer up starting earlier so here we are! I know, you guys are wondering about WTF I’m going to be doing, but it needs to be a whole other entry.

My mantra during this whole move has been: Everything Works Out and I have repeated it over and over and over. In my head, out loud, and often. And while things have been trying with the flood and some of the other crazy things, things have all worked out just fine in the end. So I will keep up with that mindset and keep moving forward.

OK, getting up now.
GS