this and that...

Okay, so, another long lapse into blog silence. If only thinking about writing actually made words appear on the page! I swear I write a lot of really good stuff while driving, cleaning, walking the dogs, but then sit here and it's all a blanking blankness. What was I going to say? It was really good stuff when I wrote it in my head three days ago, I swear!

It is raining here in Asheville. It has been raining every freaking day since I returned from FL last week. It's ridiculous - we wake up to pouring rain, it's dark and gloomy and drizzling all day, then, around 4 in the afternoon the clouds start to break up and lift, and the evening is clear and pleasant. We dare to think, "Maybe the rain has gone away!" and wake up the next morning to pouring rain. The endless grayness is sapping my will to live.

The condo purchase is still on track - a couple of minor issues arose in the inspection and we will negotiate on them, but nothing unexpected in a place that is, as I said, a sort of time capsule of the 80s. Structure and systems are sound, and my review of the HOA docs didn't raise any red flags. I do want to confirm that the copy of the rules and regs dated 1990(!!) is the most recent version, but otherwise, I'm good with it.

I am planning another trip down next week, tape measure and notebook in hand, to get wall dimensions for placement of furniture and window dimensions for replacement of those godawful ancient vertical blinds. I also realized that I need to confirm that my big TV cabinet will fit on its future wall, or there is no point in moving it - plus I just want to make another trip home.

Yes, home. I'm surrendering to the fact that I am a Floridian, God Help Me. I will bitch about the heat and the traffic and the state government, yet still, it's home. I am glad I spent a year here in NC, it was delightful and maybe someday when I can really retire I'll retire here, but right now the smallness of the area is not compatible with earning a living. City girl needs the big city!

I'm going to miss the change of seasons, and yes, I'm going to miss SNOW! I LOVED last winter, I really truly did! Even Sophie learned to enjoy snow after the, oh, third or fourth snowfall. But I'm looking forward to being back in my familiar neighborhood and reclaiming my bike from the garage at the old house. I have missed riding my bike. People do ride here, of course, but between the hills and the winding roads I'd be scared to death.

So the countdown to moving is on - 11/1 is the closing on the condo, and I have until 11/14 to physically move my stuff from here. I'm trying to plan that in my head, because in between there are just a couple of minor things, like my daughter having her baby and my son's WEDDING. Nothing much! All I can do is laugh at how the timing is coming together AGAIN - and there really isn't anything I can do about it, because my lease is up 11/14, my son's wedding was scheduled before my daughter knew she was pregnant, and, well, it is what it is. Timing has never been our thing.

My Cousin C is coming up from FL for the wedding and will be here for a long weekend, and with her younger son and his girlfriend, we will "do the Biltmore" the day after the wedding. It's uncanny how this is forming the same pattern as last fall - a family wedding, a day trip to a tourist thing, then frantically packing boxes. How on earth did this happen? This time there are even more moving parts (heh) to coordinate. C was able to get a flight up from Orlando but not a return trip (???) and I was planning to drive down AGAIN to see the baby while she still has that "new baby smell" that Monday, and bring a few more boxes of stuff-not-to-be-trusted-to-the-movers to stash at my daughter's house.

On the trip up last November, the car looked like this:



Buried in there is my mother's china and silver and my computers and cameras and important personal papers and other things I didn't want to entrust to the movers, plus the air mattress and coffee maker and dog stuff, and all the things you need to camp at a house before the furniture arrives. I don't really want to do that quite that way again.

So C will drive back to FL with me on October 24th, and I'll bring a few more things to stash at my daughter's and spend a few days with the new baby, then come back up here and pack in earnest. I don't have to be present for the actual closing on the condo - we can do it as a mail-away and I can wire the money. So I'm thinking the actual move will be the first week in November. Baby will still be packed pretty tight for the trip, but I will be able to see out the rear window.

OMG, the clouds are breaking up and the sun is shining! At last!