A tiny spark of potential good news

I think something cool has happened.

We've done a decent job destroying our credit over the last couple of years, enough so that I can't think about the move too hard because it brings on apoplectic hyperventilation at the thought that we'll never find a residence in Columbia when I want us to, because we're a serious financial risk. It's mainly some ancient bad check issues and old ER visit bills, and one biggie: the car repossession this past May. That's a serious biggie unfortunately, and no help for it at present.

So I go to my complex's office yesterday to put $ on the laundry card, and I inquire as to the status, or for that matter evidence, of the work order we put in 2 weeks ago about the bedroom closet (see other blog...short version, we can't hang anything). Come to find out that the reason the work order never got filled was because the complex has just been sold to AIMCO, and they're in the process of reintegrating management and staff.

AIMCO? That name's huge in the south! They've had apartment complexes in like, every town in Florida I've resided in. I race home, jump online, and sure enough, there are at least 5 complexes with varying shades of potential in the Columbia area owned by AIMCO. My thought is that we could possibly grandfather into a new lease, on the basis of our 9! years' residence in Auburn Glen, and hopefully bypass some of the heartache. Sure, I was hoping for a house initially, and it's still a possibility, but more important is to make it to the end of April and actually be loading a truck. Even as a stopgap (take a year to settle in, then find a house), the idea has possibilities, just gotta make sure the false eviction got cleaned off our record and talk to someone in management about transfer potential. Bugs me that the holiday will delay my work on this, but alas, Santa's nearly here. Cross your fingers for us!

Inching forward

Another trip planned for Christmas, but given that it's the holiday, it'll be tricky to plan any side tangents to Columbia. Plus, the cats have suddenly become high-maintenance on us again. Jordan's weight was scaring us, so we tried out some Fancy Feast on him, and he seems to like the Medleys...naturally...they're the nice ones with Garden Greens mixed in and weigh in at 80 cents a can. Oh good, a cat with expensive taste. Bringing them up there with us is a pain and a half, never mind how it disrupts them, especially Fig - she's a very active kitty and we'd need to keep her closed in a bedroom for the most part, because a) there's a couch in the house that she absolutely cannot claw, b) there's 2 other cats to beat up there, and one of them's very old and frail. It's not fair to her, but on the other side of the coin, there's the potential for Jordan to decrease his eating because he doesn't get soft food from us for a couple of days. I'm not subjecting friends to the scariness that is that apartment, to check on the animals, so that leaves family, which isn't a choice really. Meara will only be in town for a few days, between her NY trip and her BF's sis's wedding, and the last time I asked Lil Bro to housesit, and well...that situation went rather epic on us, so it's better not to burden my fam. Since I got several days off around Christmas, I'm thinking we'll celebrate a little here before going north. That way the cats won't be without humans as long, and we won't burn out on his family.

Not really seeing a significant change in Husby's headaches, but it's all about patience. I've been working long hours lately too, which doesn't exactly lend itself to a surplus of free time for planning, but the thought nuggets are there, so to speak. I want to paw through the paperwork again, all the brochures and stuff I got last time we were up there, to better acquaint myself with the area. I want to compose an amazing cover letter to go with my app and resume to the city, so that I can apply for the Park Ranger I position as soon as possible.

The closet imploding on us is a blessing; it's going to start me packing and labeling. Early, certainly, but I figure comprising a good system now for cataloging our belongings will make it easier to find things now and later, and make working toward this move smoother. I'm starting to use a Day Planner again, to keep better track of stuff, and I'm digging into Outlook on the new computer as well. My drugs must finally be working again. I'm more focused. Maybe it's the haircut ::grin::

Just gotta get past the holidays....

And Les's procedures.....and then we can focus on the move.

Les is trying a pain management procedure again, this Wednesday and the following Wednesday, that involves the doc taking a lidocaine-soaked, long-handled q-tip and sliding it up his nose until it hits brain/it touches a particular nerve that may be responsible for his rebound migraines. Yeah, you needed to know that.

Until then, the migraines have been knocking him on his ass for 3 or 4 days out of the week lately, instead of just 2, so it's hard to get on his case about not looking for work. Besides, we're close enough where he probably oughta just be looking for prospects in Columbia.

It's completely idiotic and lazy of us that we never filed his SS disability paperwork. We still can, of course, and will...in the meantime, the damn holidays are going to be tight again, regardless of whatever bonus I can glean from the company. Of course, ideally, about half that bonus oughta be saved for the move, especially since cashing in my stock options when the time comes may turn out to tender a much lower number than desired.....that seems like an impossible idea, and it really shouldn't; it's all a matter of financial responsibility and organization. Anybody know where I can get some of that?

I've been checking out south Columbia, which offers an apparently easy interstate drive to Les's school. Don't know about the crime rate, but the houses look affordable.

In spite of our tenuous situation, I'm talking with Les about starting to try for kids now, because my body's been playing tricks on me in the fertility department and it has me spooked. I go see my doc at the end of the month for advice; I know I'm still too heavy, so I want her to put the fear of high-risk pregnancy into me.

Could be worse

Jacksonville really isn't bad, as cities go. It's big, so it's always going to have that sprawl feel, and the crime rate is a little high for my liking, and I don't know that I'd like to enroll my future kids in any public school in this town, but there's a comfort level attached to any place when you've lived there for going-on 10 years. I could follow my nose basically anywhere in this city and find my way home (well, there's probably some nooks and crannies on the westside that are still foreign to me), and I've found my niche with an amazing group of friends. It is going to be hard to leave.

But cooler weather does beckon, and to ensure that we're not making a decision in haste, I made a list this week of all the 2- and 4-year schools in SC and the programs they offer that Les is interested in. I'm pressing him to make a decision about his future, whether or not he wants to stay with nursing or go into something environmental, because wherever we land, I want him back in school by next fall at the latest. I hope to be pregnant by that time too, so it'll require some serious organization. Columbia is the plum decision, as it's a major city by SC standards, it's centrally located, close enough to visit his folks, far enough away to have our own lives (well, hopefully - Jade lives there now and is getting nagged constantly about not visiting enough); but if there's a better city/town out there for us, I want to make sure it doesn't pass us by because we're too focused on one place. I'm probably going to be stuck working a bit this weekend, but in my spare time, I'll be fleshing out that search, to ensure we're making an informed decision.

Not enough time

The sucky thing about these little trips is they always leave me wanting more. I mean, this trip was productive...we cleaned the Visitors Center out of brochures and maps and drove through Lexington, West Columbia, and Cayce, just to get a feel for the areas. We got so much material I was overwhelmed and didn't look at the stuff until the next day, and once I did, all I could think was ok, now I want to see this, this, and this.....because if reading about Columbia tells you anything, it's that the city has serious traffic issues like any other, so unless we're certain that Les wants to study nursing, we should look at living on the city side of the rivers.

Columbia is a bridge city just like Jacksonville, only there's 3 rivers instead of just one. The Broad and the Saluda flow into the Congaree in Columbia, separating West Columbia/Cayce and Lexington County from Columbia proper. The reason I bring up the nursing is because the local CC there, Midlands Tech, only offers nursing at the Airport campus in the SW Columbia/Cayce area. Probably silly to let his schooling dictate where we live, since all we've done for years is talk a good game about it, but it is quite a ways from the city and gas prices being what they are...we're looking into the WIA and other programs that'll give him schooling for free. I mean, he never finished any college, so he's still eligible for the Pell Grant and all sorts of other federal funding. Even if he's still looking at nursing, it'd be better for us logistically/financially/etc. though, if he went to USC. The campus is right smack in the middle of downtown.

West Columbia/Cayce felt ok; we didn't see much, but I didn't get an unsafe or trashy feeling from the area. Lexington has the small town/Main Street look to it, but it doesn't pull off the beauty and charm of Aiken. We both recognize that there's such a thing as living too close to family though, so we're not looking at Aiken; besides, the job market there is paltry. When push comes to shove, we're stuck looking in the cities because that's plain where the jobs are.

But the temps dropped and the leaves are turning, so I walked around with a big grin on my face all weekend, and I'm very motivated to plan our next steps in this process.

Holding pattern

As my body adjusts to changes in my meds, my motivation to work on projects ebbs and flows. So things have stalled a bit of late. Hopefully going up there this coming weekend to scout some more...was originally going to do the Avon Walk in Charlotte, but it's not looking feasible in the home stretch, so I'm working on getting us up there this weekend to look around some more. It's important that we don't go on a holiday, so that we can actually go into the chamber of commerce and the visitors' centers and get info. More next week.....

Lex/WCola

It's actually a litte frustrating, having all this information at your fingertips on the web about different places, and having no idea how accurate it is, how well it actually portrays the place you're thinking of uprooting to. Columbia proper wasn't so bad; the pictures that I had in my head of the place were close to the feel that I got when I was there.

I have a feeling that Lexington and West Columbia/Cayce are another matter though. They will definitely be the focus of our next trip up there. It's removed from the city, but very close to it, so you're able to take advantage of the amenities of it while living in suburbia. Lexington sounds similar to Aiken in looks: small-town feel, lots of little independent shops, town square-type of center, but as you dig further, you see that it's probably one big boring business district—their main employers include Michelin, Eastman Chemical, a power tool company...I'm being unfair, I know, it's just I kind of felt the same way about Irmo when we were driving through it. It felt like one big business district, too suburban for my liking; nothing but cul-de-sac neighborhoods, expanses of butler buildings housing different corporations, and the requisite Wal-Mart. Don't have an opinion on the West Columbia area yet, except that it's near the airport, and after so many years of living in a city with up to 3 air bases at one time, I'm ready for a little less air traffic in my life.

I'd almost like to check out the downtown neighborhoods in Columbia. I think they'll be too in-the-city for Les's liking, but there's actually some really nice options for housing downtown. Older neighborhoods, older houses, decent rental rates, family-style neighborhoods, sidewalks, easier access to stuff...may have to brainstorm on how to convince him to give that area a look-see. This weekend will be spent doing some serious thinking, because once the walk is through, I'll be looking for a 2nd job to help finance this venture, which means even less free time to travel up there to scout.

I have seen Columbia!!!

Not bad.

Well, you know how it is when you build something up to epic proportions in your head and then you finally see it and it's fine, average, almost dull. Believe me, I wasn't bored at all checking stuff out on the micro-tour we got from Les's sis, Jade; I'm still completely stoked about the move. But it has the feel of late Christmas morning to it now that we're home.

Still, I'd rather be there.

We had lunch and walked through Five Points and saw the Forest Acres/Fort Jackson area a bit, where Jade lives. Then drove through downtown, through the USC campus, which was a slice of heaven in my book, saw the state capital from a distance, grabbed iced mocha at Cool Beans, then drove to Irmo to scope out neighborhoods and see where she works. Then we looped back downtown to see the theater company where she puts a hand in—I recognized that area because it's right near the Amtrak station—and cruised back to her place.

There's lots of red brick to the buildings, mixed with modern edifices like the Richland County library, which is an exercise in glass. The campus is something out of my junior high dreams about college; Cool Beans is right down the street from a grassy area that should be on every recruitment poster for the place (I think it's the Horseshoe—couldn't find a decent pic online), a huge expanse of grass with large trees between a U of buildings, where people were sitting, studying, enjoying the weather...really looking forward to the next oh, half a dozen visits; I ache to explore that campus more.

There's plenty of ethnic diversity, but it doesn't have quite the desperate feel that downtown Jacksonville does, that level of poverty that people wear. Apparently they have their share of homeless but the crime stats are average, and it seems pretty easy to delineate where the "good" neighborhoods are, the ones that are cool to live in without destroying your budget.

Even though its land mass is decent—it takes probably a half hour to traverse the interstate from the Fort Jackson area to Lexington—it doesn't overwhelm at all like Charlotte does. There's construction, and the suburbs are expanding with evil Wal-Marts and Targets, but there's only 2 malls of any substance I think, and there's plenty of areas in the suburbs where we were driving through nothing but green, or at least had to go for a stretch before we'd encounter a gas station or a McD's. Lots of nice walk-and-shop neighborhoods downtown—eclectic clothing and coffee shops abound.

It was far too short a visit, I can't look at a map yet and really know the place, but it was a good start. I'll do some thinking this weekend about the different areas (especially the ones I want to investigate more closely for house prospects, livability, etc.), do some surfing for more info, and dig out what I have so I can update it. We both definitely want this to happen, but our credit being what it is scares me into thinking that we won't be able to make it happen by next April, so it's definitely time to get our noses to the grindstone.

Pondering

So I'm chatting up a coworker at PPD this past weekend and we're grousing about how our company doesn't seem to believe in little things like cost-of-living pay increases or paying us what we're worth according to the industry standard, and she clues me in as to a key reason why business has given the appearance of having dropped in recent weeks: we lost a significant business partner who was responsible for at least 40% of our revenue!!

ACK!

So it's got me thinking harder about what I want my next job to be. I'm certainly not going to burn bridges when we move; this job can be done remotely, and even with sucky pay, that's a good thing to have on the side. But I think I need to look seriously at employing myself in a full-time job up there, and have WSP as part-time from home. At least until I get pregnant.

So this week will be spent attempting to take some time to project, because I haven't made enough time yet to do that, and scanning the available opportunities up there for what may peak my interest. Also told Les that if his teeth are the only thing keeping him from looking for work, then he needs to a) go to my dentist down here and get a referral for another oral surgeon who may be cheaper than the ones we've encountered so far down here, or b) give serious thought to MCG (Medical College of Georgia), because they're infinitely less scary than say, Shands Dental, as far as cut-rate dentistry goes.

Back on the horse

Well, not really. I still need to focus pretty fully on the walk for 2 more months. But we're going up to SC for Labor Day weekend, so I might actually, finally get a good look at Columbia! Yeah, I know, kind of crazy to so look forward to a place I've barely seen, but that's me. Anyway, how am I dragging Les there? His sis moved into her own place with a friend in Columbia, so we'll have to see it and I can persuade (read: order) him to drive around a bit and case the joint while we're there. I'd like to at least drive through USC, which is practically downtown, and get a feel for the west and northwest areas. I'm guessing that the areas south and near Fort Jackson are similar to the areas around NAS Jax, meaning the house rates might be lower, but so is the safety/standard of living factor, so I'm focusing on West Columbia near the airport (where Midlands Tech is) or the Irmo/St. Andrews area, because it seems nice and close to town without being swamped by it. What sucks is that all this knowledge comes from the web, so I really want to get a look at the place, get a feel for it, so that I can further pare down my focus and really start planning how to get us there.

The number you have reached.....

My moving organization plans are on hold this week, as I strive to create an exercise and fundraising program and actually stick to it. I'm participating in the Charlotte Avon Walk for Breast Cancer in October, which means raising $1,800 and getting myself in shape. Once I have a groove going where that's concerned, I'll get back to projecting how the heck we're getting out of here come April.

For information on how to donate to the Avon Walk, check out the link titled, My Personal Walk Page, on my other blog: http://emberslighthouse.blogspot.com. And thanks for your support!

Yeah, well, it's like this, see.....

I had a good weekend.

Wouldn't know it to look at what I can cross off on the latest list. The only thing I really accomplished this weekend was purging the filing cabinet and going through 2 huge stacks of old bills and crap that needed to be filed or scuttled elsewhere. I hit the bottom drawer on Saturday and did the top drawer on Sunday. It's all I did this weekend, but it's a big step toward household organization. Took me so long because there was so much of it, and because a lot of the stuff needed to be worked on before I could throw it out. We don't own a shredder, so I had to Sharpie through personal info in the trash in the hopes of preventing identity theft. What a lovely world we live in.

Now I've just gotta keep it that way.

This week, in addition to organizing my fundraising for the Avon Walk, I'll be laying out that budget I keep talking about, projecting how the heck we can actually move in April without landlords laughing at us when we go to rent a place.

Hopefully some other stuff too.

Another weekend, another fresh start

This week was a wash, thanks to the arrival of Kylie Johnson-Burnett, my new niece. We were in SC from Monday night til Thursday morning, when we left at the crack and I went straight to work upon arrival back in Jax. Worked til 8, hit the sack on time, and here we are at Friday again already.

So how about taking last week's list and changing or expanding upon it:
1. Pass papasan chair onto ruthee.
2. Dig into boxes in dining area.
3. Purge filing cabinet.
4. Reorganize VHS shelves.
5. Call Comp USA about recycling the old computers.
6. Call dry cleaners and price preserving wedding dress.
7. Get a little sun.

Les looked into recycling the computers online, but found that a) it's probably more trouble than it's worth to ship them anywhere, in addition to being expensive, b) it's sort of illegal to just throw them out (considered hazardous material). Yeah, I know, like who's going to notice, but still worth factoring into the equation. I'm going to call the local CompUSA right down the street from us and see if they have any kind of program. Also, I think that list is plenty, so I'll save the walk-in closet box reorganization idea from last week for during the next week in the evenings. Give me something to do when I'm bored with knitting or reading.

The brain is such a fickle thing. Watching Kara give birth this week had me thinking I'd rather have my first kid here in Jax, because I have the most awesome OB/GYN on the planet and the hospital in SC offered more than one instance of practices that I'd frown upon in my own childbirthing. The doc bum-rushed her by breaking her water as he was telling her he was going to do it, so he could place a probe on the baby's head (hey doc, tell me what you're going to do BEFORE my legs are spread, whydoncha?!) and they put Oxycontin in her saline without even telling her. Now granted, this is a girl with chronic pain issues from fibromyalgia and a seriously low pain tolerance, but still...Anyway, came to my senses this morning and reminded myself that a) we're moving to Columbia, not Aiken; likely better medical facilities, b) I'm hoping to go all natural, which will certainly be communicated to all staff related to my sitch before I hit stirrups, c) it's all still academic since we won't be trying to get me pregnant for at least another 5 months, and d) I FRICKIN' HATE JACKSONVILLE!!! So I think allowances can be made regardless of my condition, once April rolls around, provided we're actually prepared to move.

So let's add to this weekend's list a budget and projection for now til the end of the year, highlighting the serious bills that have to be remedied before we can lay down an application for rental anywhere else, and looking over Les's SS disability paperwork for him. The damn doc is about to go on sabbatical, so it's imperative we duke it out with his office for his records before then.

The best laid plans...

You know, this tracking progress blog thing is only going to work if I actually like, print the lists I make for myself. Or log on on the weekend.

I got lots of rest this past weekend and started a fresh knitting project with the White Buffalo, in a desperate attempt to get myself out of the doldrums that my other UFOs are creating for some reason...I needed the rest after last week's hormonal blast, plus my body's adjusting to a new med.

However, I did not dig into the dining area and filing cabinet, reorganize a box, reorganize the VHS bookcase, or get the papasan chair to ruthee. And the only sun I got was in the Wal-Mart parking lot before and after our eye appointments.

But in keeping with the "Things not to do" list, I won't get down on myself; I'll just keep moving forward. The good news is this new med is increasing my energy and metabolism, and making me need less sleep. The bad news is I won't be able to take advantage of it in our apartment this week til at least Thursday. We're scheduled to become aunts and uncles sometime Tuesday or Wednesday, so we're heading up to SC this evening for a quickie 2-day trip to visit family. This week's a wash, and I'll accept it with patience. I'm thinking of somehow stuffing the papasan into my car to take to knitting bitches this week and transfer to ruthee from there. The rest will have to wait.

For the weekend...

Done:
1. Took 3 bags of excrement to Goodwill.
2. Found a home for the papasan chair.
3. Made more room in the dining area.

For this weekend:
1. Pass papasan chair onto ruthee.
2. Dig into dining area boxes and filing cabinet.
3. Reorganize VHS shelves.
4. Call CompUSA about the old computers.
5. Take one box out of closet and go through it.
6. Call dry cleaners and price preserving wedding dress.
7. Get a little sun.

Things NOT to do this weekend:
1. Try and do too much.
2. Go anywhere near the closet that holds the ironing board. You're just not ready for it yet.
3. Deal with the walk-in closet beyond that one box mentioned above.
4. Get too much sun.
5. Beat up on yourself for not doing enough.

Fairly realistic, I think.

It's the little things

It's just hard to go through boxes during the week. I know I'll need to step it up eventually, but between doctor's appointments and the tail end of hormonal enslavement this week, I have all the energy of Spanish moss by the time I get home from work...and that's with them letting us go early again this week!

Les filed his paperwork for a duplicate Social Security card this week (original got lost ages ago), so he should be able to look for work soon without any identity hangups.

One of the things to touch on when I'm projecting this move is what happens if I get pregnant between now and April. No, we're not trying per se yet, but I'm in the process of getting my ducks in a row healthwise, making sure all parts are fully functional, eating healthier, exercising, adjusting my meds. Much as I can't stand this city, I have a really delightful OB/GYN so I'd probably elect to stick around Jax til after birth, should the need arise. That would bring up a host of issues, like whether we stay in our current pit and deal with a significant rent increase (as my complex is under renovation and will hit market value sometime next year), or deal with the royal inconvenience of a short-term move in town. Easier to just stay put, but not worth the money...

Moved the wood coffee table into the bedroom, where it takes up quite a bit of space, but allows me an area to put my feet up when sitting on the Terra chair, as well as a workspace for books, knitting, etc. Les slid the dining table more into the dining area, which opens up more space and allows him a clear shot to throw things at the cat when she goes into the vertical blinds.

Reorganizing

sloth brought to you by http://movies.yahoo.com/movie/1805540029/photo/248343

After a solid weekend of slothdom brought on by raging hormonal enslavement, my headaches ceased and my energy level buoyed enough for me to rearrange the dining room yesterday. I moved the computer to the worktable, and moved the dining room table out so that we could actually, like, eat on it now. Or set up the sewing machine on it. Or do any number of things on it like a normal family would. My Kitchenaid mixer makes a lovely centerpiece.

Yes, I know, normal is overrated. Still, even though it eats a bit of space in the general living area, it adds a bit of space to the dining room area proper, so that I can spread out just a little as I go through boxes and throw things out. In my moving yesterday, I discovered a box of bank stuff that is ancient, can probably all be shredded, burned, etc. Also, we have a tiny computer graveyard in the dining area: two monitors, two CPUs, and a dot-matrix printer from the stone age...going to look up CompUSA™ online or call them to see if they can recycle any of it, and if not, it's hitting the dumpster (unless there's a techhie in town who's dying for some antiques; I mean, one of the CPUs has a 5¼" floppy drive!)

I'll probably deal with boxes this week and hit the movie poster corner on the weekend. I don't know what to do about those. There's probably nothing actually stopping me legally from selling 'em on eBay or something, but that just seems like more trouble than it's worth. Cross that bridge as we get closer to it...actually, I oughta donate some to the PPD rummage sale. Hmmm....

Papasan's going to a good home next weekend. Couch slipcovering on back burner indefinitely as we try to keep up with bills instead of letting 'em slide too out of control.

Free to a good home...

graphic courtesy of http://www.pier1.com
Man, cutting the cord on this baby has been hard. Even though it becomes a catch-all for laundry more often than it's used as a chair, even though we have absolutely no room for it now, even though it probably gasps a little now when my big bod is in it, it's still the first piece of furniture I purchased after moving out of my folks' house. It has history. It's a symbol of independence for me. Or something.

But our apartment has officially reached its maximum where furniture is concerned, and it's all furniture we like more than the papasan. Even if I was to decide to Goodwill the chair we just got from Terra, I still wouldn't consider keeping the papasan, because I could instead move the small couch to the bedroom and move more of our chairs and coffee tables into the living room proper. We don't want to spend the money on a storage space, and we do want to keep all our other furniture. We have 4 dining room chairs that get shuffled periodically, because the dining room table is our computer desk, and 2 extra coffee tables thanks to dumpster diving (1 glass, 1 solid oak) that're too nice to toss back. So allowances are made.

So I posted a plea to my Knitting Bitches to see if any of them want to take it off my hands, sans the cushion because my cats have whizzed or horked on it at least once a piece. If there are no takers, I'll either donate it to the Pagan Pride Day rummage sale next weekend or take it to the Hubbard House thrift store.

I started making a to-do list last night, things like sorting through my movie poster collection, our VHS tapes, and unpacking and repacking old boxes. My movie poster collection is obscenely large and made up mostly of stuff that'll never go on my walls, so if it's not an absolute fave or a collector's item, I'll be giving 'em away to friends. I'd love to sell 'em on eBay, but I'm afraid of copyright infringement or something, since they were all procured when I worked at the theater.

It's little stuff, sure, but it'll go a long way toward organizing us. I'll start making an inventory of what's in boxes, and create an identification system (stickers? large labels?), since I've got boxes that probably date back to my NC move, so needless to say, there's a lot of crap already written on them and I'd rather not have something broken because of mislabeling. I'm also going to purge my filing cabinet this weekend, because it's getting impossible to put anything new in there. What's the rule: keep bills for 3 years, bank stuff for 5?

What have you done today?

My bitches aren't going to like this blog, but it can't be helped. As much as I treasure the friendships I've gained through my Knitting Bitches of Jacksonville, the compass of my life points elsewhere and demands attention.

For the last couple of years, I've talked about moving north. My husband and I want to live somewhere that isn't quite so hot, that's a little closer to his folks, in a city or town that isn't known for its murder rate. We want to feel safe walking to the car at night and sending our future kids to public school (if that becomes absolutely necessary—personally, I'm hoping to shell the dough for a Waldorf school). We've been in Jacksonville for going on 9 years, and we're ready for a change. We're thinking of Columbia, SC, for a start, because it's far enough from his folks where we can have our own lives, but close enough where we'll be raising small people near nurturing grandparents. Not saying my folks aren't nurturing, but that's a story for another time.

But Husby has pain management and dental issues that've made it challenging for him to look for work for a couple of years now, so year after year goes by with me talking and us not making it north because we're barely making ends meet as it is.

I've been talking it up much more of late, making some plans and lists, trying to get organized, motivated by a friend who just moved across the country. Husby and I are a couple of packrats, dumpster divers too, so our little apartment is fairly stuffed to the gills with furniture, books, clothes, and the detritus of 8 years in the same house. There's a helluva lot of stuff in that place that goes under the heading of "when we have a real house," never mind the stuff you unearth in a process like this and think, "wait, have I worn this since high school?" And we're both a little lazy, naturally fearful of change, and have a little trouble with the whole "pull yourself up by your bootstraps" mentality of adulthood.

So we've got our work cut out for us.

I keep in touch with a friend I've known since the 4th grade. This amazingly intelligent and creative lady sent me an email the other day with the subject line: Moving. My first thought was that maybe she was moving from her latest niche in New England; then I opened the email. One sentence:

—What have you done today to get yourself closer to moving out of Florida?

What, indeed? Let's see, I whined more than once in my head about how boring work was, but I didn't make any lists on the side while I was working, to better organize myself. I slacked on dinner, heated leftovers, and zoned in front of a TV that had next to nothing on its 60+ channels, when I could've been digging into the mess that is our dining room or pulling down a box that's been closed since we moved in and gone through its contents to ensure everything in it was worth keeping. I could've brought the papasan chair to the dumpster. I could've...

What a shot in the arm it was! What a simple concept! It made me really look at the apartment and mentally cut apron strings on furniture, cull through the videotapes, think about more areas that could be packed now or rearranged. It's not going to happen overnight, but one day at a time will get us into a moving van 9 months from now with a little diligence and a lot of hard work. It's going to mean plenty of sacrifice, like no more eating out or buying yarn ::pause to breathe into paper bag::, but it'll be so worth it when we're finally starting a new life in the Carolinas.

So this blog's to keep me on track for next April, and for anyone else who's curious about a packrat trying to simplify her life. Let's pare it down together!