These are the thoughts of a Texas transplant in West Michigan who makes his living as a newspaper reporter by evening, and a struggling novelist by day.

Friday, November 03, 2006

settled in

i've been away, away, away.

we've spent the week with stuff everywhere and in disarray in ournew house.

we moved in over the weekend and didn't finish up until tuesday. but despite moving in, nothing much got moved around until today.

we've started settling into our living and dining rooms and dawn fixed up the kitchen.in time it'll be a smooth running machine.

it was sad leaving the other house, even though i'm happy we're at the our own house now. as we cleaned and furniture and other items were removed until nothing was left, i kept looking around with the rental getting emptier and emptier.

it saddened me. i looked over to specific spots where things happened during the almost two years we lived there. i pointed out where the computer was and the stuff i looked up and people i spoke to online. friends and family we had over in the living room. movies, season finales and docs we sat through in the tv room. meals we ate in the kitchen. spots on the carpet where kit (our cat) hocked up hairballs.

so as i walked through the rooms one last time early last week, memories came flooding through. pleasant mostly. except the sitting area up front where dawn sat in pain as her gall bladder acted up one last time that summer night before we took her to the hospital.

we are still trying to get used to driving up this way down our street, only two up from our old house, so it's not far at all. friends still drive down 12th street toward our old place. it's only when we're halfway there i remind them they're going to the old house.

and here, well, things are getting done. we're going to have a small project in the smaller rooms downstairs and tear up the carpet in both rooms and paint the floors. i think it's the best thing. it'll cerainly be cheaper and we don't have to worry about allergens in the carpet.

upstairs we have a big landing that will serve as a nice sitting/reading area. we have a coffee table and several chairs and a tv, too. i think it's my fave. room.

hopefully in time we can get the backyard, which is huge, going and planting grass. it'll have to wait until next year due to the cold weather coming soon.

thanks to all who helped move us in. you all know who you are. couldn't have done it without you. thank goodness mark didn't go into cardiac arrest. there was potential there for it to happen.