We are moved in and settled, or as settled as we can be with little money and way too much stuff for a two-bedroom apartment. The final move will come in April when we transfer to a house. We have our eye on a house in Ruskin, 30 minutes from here – four bedrooms, two-car garage, cable included, never lived in, all for $50 less a month than I pay now. It's just a matter of saving up the money for it; I spent every penny I had to get Kelly here, so we're living on her last paycheck temporarily.

Seeing Kelly's parents and brother again after six years was a pleasure, and not awkward like I had worried. I think we're all comfortable that this is the right thing. They have built themselves a great new house in Princeton, IL (no connection to Harvard, IL that I know of) and are in the process of retiring; good for them.

I had a little freak-out for a while upon seeing Kelly's mountain of stuff to be moved, and what seemed at first glance like a lot still remaining to be packed with only a few hours until her friends arrived to load the truck. But Kelly assured me that all would get done, and I was wrong to doubt her or her friends, good people who are very generous with their time to move two friends in the same weekend. I expected the frigid cold and the foot of snow on the ground, but I neglected to anticipate the ice; somehow we got the rest of Kelly's things packed and carried down two flights of outdoor stairs and packed tightly. Many, many thanks to the folks who helped us.

The drive was painful and the unpacking even more so; we finally finished around 11pm the night before I had to return to work, which didn't exactly help me dive into the many outstanding items waiting in my inbox. But we're settled, and we're taking care of things one at a time, like opening Kelly a bank account and stocking up on (healthy) groceries. If we can finish wiring up her computer for the Internet so we don't have to keep sharing this one, I suppose things will be even better, but somehow it doesn't feel possible for me to be any happier than I am now.


Four Replies to Moved In

Aaron Shurtleff | February 9, 2008
Woo hoo! Way to go on the successful move!

Ruskin?! Wow, that's up by where my job is (technically in Balm, but the mailing address is Wimauma..pronounced WHY-mama)! I promise though, you'd have to be lost or looking for it to find it! I don't envy you the commute, but I've done it for going on 4 years now, so it's doable! I hope everything works out for the two of you!

And the previous offer of assistance with moving will be happily extended to the upcoming move as well, if you require it!

Anna Gregoline | February 10, 2008
All that trial and tribulation, and then that last sentence. Yeah! =)

Jackie Mason | February 10, 2008
[hidden by author request]

Lori Lancaster | February 11, 2008
[hidden by author request]


Logical Operator

The creator of Funeratic, Scott Hardie, blogs about running this site, losing weight, and other passions including his wife Kelly, his friends, movies, gaming, and Florida. Read more »

February 10-16

I don't really blog much about my day-to-day existence because it feels too mundane. But life is made up of those little days, and we don't get an accurate picture of each other's lives if we only discuss the big events. Here's a snapshot of my life last week. Go »

Week from Hell

It's my first week as manager, but there's no time for a honeymoon. On Monday, I got zero sleep the night before, and ran on fumes the whole day. Tuesday was spent almost entirely managing a single project and letting other fires burn. Go »

Hungry Hungry Kitty

When you want your dinner, you want your dinner: (link) I do the same thing at China Buffet when they try to take the chicken lo mein off the line. Go »

Fur and Feathers

Yesterday was a good day: To celebrate my mother's 75th birthday, we took her out for a day around Sarasota doing things that appealed to her love of animals. After starting with a big breakfast, we went to a local attraction that we've all been meaning to see for years, the Big Cat Habitat that takes care of exotic animals that were born in captivity but abandoned by their owners. The lions and tigers and liger were the prime attraction, but they also had bears, monkeys, a chimpanzee, parrots, emu, turkeys, goats, koi, and even stranger animals like a kangaroo, kinkajou, and coati. Go »

Day 86

The diet continues, but I haven't lost as much as I would like by now. Four pant sizes is something to be proud of, but three of them were lost in January, so you can understand my frustration. I've wound up taking a fourth meal most days, bringing me to ~1200 calories, and so far I've had a lot of trouble going back down to three. Go »

The Wedding

Kelly and I wed on March 15, an event that we've been looking forward to for a very long time. Despite keeping the wedding modest and casual, it still involved a great deal of planning and anxiety, occupying my attention for the last few months. (Kelly was in charge of her outfit; I planned everything else, with her approval at each stage.) Go »