I forgot…

Packing up my computer means that it is impossible to write a “final post” (my favorite!).

So this is a day late.

But I am moved. My apartment was packed and sorted and stuffed into a Uhaul trailer, a Jeep and the back of my little car. Surprisingly, there’s still room if we wanted to fit more. I did have to leave behind all five boxes of my books…my parents have promised faithfully that they will mail them soon. They’d better!

Right now, we’re crossing the great and spacious state of Wyoming. We had left last night and went to my hometown for a regrouping and final goodbye before heading out today…Got an hour down the road and realized that we (I) had left the insurance information for the trailer on the table. So we turned around. I have a strange feeling of deja ve… I wondder why. But we finally got everything and are stopped for the night a hundred miles from Nebraska. Here’s hoping we make it on time for my closing on Friday.

I’m tired, so that’s it. I’ll be without internet for some time as I set up house, so don’t let anything important happen!

I’ve really underestimated how much time it was going to take to pack up my house.

Not to mention how much stuff I have.

Ugh.

I headed out of town on pretty short notice for the weekend, up to visit my grandparents. I wish I could have spent a couple more days there…there are so many memories of vacations there… playing “pioneers” under the willows, starting the “Cove Country Cousins Club,” dressing up in the girls dorm. It’s always a place of reflection, of literary and politic discussion with my grandparents, of reminiscing of camping trips (my grandpa can tell some doozies. Although I could have done without all of the mice tales).

It was hard to say goodbye… knowing that it’ll be most likely a year before I see them again… a year when they are already getting older and frailer. They celebrated their 58th wedding anniversary while I was there. 58 years. I started to cry as I left. One more goodbye. One more uncertainty.

I had hoped to stay longer–two days was hardly enough time. But unfortunately, I had business back at home…contacting my bank, faxing contracts and bank statements, writing out checks, because…

I GOT MY HOUSE!

🙂 After a day and a half of bartering with (as Chris put it) persnickety sellers who refused to go down, we managed to reach a settlement that while it wasn’t the best, satisfied everybody. I still have to be approved for the loan, and the place gets inspected tomorrow, but hopefully, the place will close on the 23rd, ready for me to move in.

Wanna see pictures of it? Go here: http://jcd1013.lotrinklings.net/house/house.html. We visited it twice and in that time, the family had already moved out a lot of their belongings, so you can get a sense of what it will look like when I move in with my very meager belongings.

I’m very excited, even with all of the oh-so-fun paperwork. It’s going to be tight living for a while, but I think it’s worth it. I’m already planning out the guest room, to entice many many visits. 🙂

Well, I made an offer.

After much consideration and hashing out every issue with my dad and visiting both the little house and the condo that I was most interested in 3 times I made the decision to try for the house. It was such a hard decision, because there were pros and cons to each that seemed to equalize everything. The condo was a little newer (but still 40 years old) and taxes were better and the basement was more finished… but the HOA fee was much higher and it was further away and the carpets were old (and kinda smelly) and would probably need to be replaced. The house was older, but in good condition and the yard is small and manageable (at least it seems so now!), and was much closer to the hospital (not really walkable, but I can drive there in less than 10 minutes) and I liked the neighborhood better, and the resale value was better. In the end, it came down to the fact that I didn’t want to feel like I was living in a glorified apartment… and part of me really, really wanted a house that I could putter around a bit. I’ll probably feel differently once I have to mow every other week or when snow come (but the hours that I was going to be working, there’s no way that any association would have removed snow by then, so that’s almost moot), but by then I’m counting on myself finding a Luke to do all of the maintenance for me. Either that or a handsome albeit moody neighbor boy needing some cash with a pushy uncle. 😉

Of course, there’s no guarantee that they’re going to accept my offer. I’ve felt really good about my decision all evening…until now, as I get ready for bed and the paperwork is finished and all I’m left with is my thoughts and I’m a little freaked out. What if I’m not weighing things properly? How am I going to afford all of it any way? And so on. I’m trying to ignore that little whisper that I’ve made a mistake, because I really don’t think that I have…

P.S. Pictures are forthcoming. I just have to get them on this computer.

Buying a house is hard.

I really recommend never growing up. Certainly never getting a job and moving half-way across the country. Because that was the easy, cushy, wonderful life.

Am quite stressed out, because there are a million different variables that don’t compare to each other. I don’t know if I’ve found a place yet that I want to buy–there are a few that are tempting, but then I just get overwhelmed trying to decide.

Anybody out there have any perspective on the whole condo vs. traditional house argument?

Thanks to all of my wonderful flist for your support and caring. I love you guys. Really, truly.

I’m better. Sleep is a wonderful thing, as is resignation and realization. I studied harder for that test than I have all year long. I read up on every single one of my patients, on their diseases and how to treat them. I even relearned for the fifth time how to read EKGs and blood gases. I knew it–the basics, even crazy diseases. So I don’t know how 66% of everybody who took it did better than me, but it wasn’t for anything that I did.

And it’s just a grade right? *sigh*

I have to start applying for residencies this weekend–get my CV (curriculum vitae for those who don’t know–I didn’t until a few months ago) turned into the central processing place (oh joy), prepare my personal statement and get a list of three things that are “fantastic” about me to give to the Dean of the school, so that when she can write all kinds of wonderful things about me to send to the schools. Plus, I still have that research paper to work on, and I’m dog tending. So much for my holiday. Grr.

Went and saw War of the Worlds today. Hate contributing to opening weekend sales, especially after all of the Tommy fiascoes, but it was the one movie that Chris hadn’t seen and he owed me — that dog I’m housesitting? Yeah, he was supposed to take care of it, but he forgot and made plans to go to Jackson Hole. And did I mention that I’m not so fond of dogs?! The movie wasn’t so bad–properly intense in places and I was sitting on the head of my seat through a good portion of it. Melissa told me that sitting next to me with all of my gasps and freakouts made her more nervous than the movie did. The little kid’s screaming got very annoying very early on, and the ending felt rather abrupt and lackluster (although the explanation was cool). And Tom was rather flat… Sometime good, but eh.

Surgery rotation starts in four days. There are not words to describe how much I’m dreading this. I just about killed myself with two weeks! *pouts* So, I’ll definitely have to make some time for chatting on Sunday, because it’s going to be a long time before I get to do that.

The weather forecasters promised me snow and I got . . . gray clouds and no snow. Am quite bummed.

On the other hand, my parents promised me a washer and dryer and I got . . . a washer and dryer!!!

Most people probably won’t understand why this would cause such glee, but until you have to go to a laundry mat that is four blocks from your house and is apparently the hangout for the mentally unstable (buses and laundry mats… Those are the two places that I get hit on. Bleh.) and charges you $2.50 per load and your clothes still aren’t dry. Yeah. It really was the bimonthly entertainment. And that was the good place that closed down for no apparently reason a month ago.

So my parents brought the unit and spent most of the day installing it into my little apartment. I was in a bit of a mood, as in cranky for lots of little reasons. Chauffeuring my sister to work four blocks away (which with the badly timed lights means a seven minute journey in each direction) because she refuses to try to carpool, trying to clean my house so that we could move things around and having my roommate just sit there and read, even though she promised to help, my study partner NOT calling to say when/if we were studying today. Not that I had time or interest today–big believer in procrastination and the test is two weeks away–but it still would have been nice to get a phone call to say that he had decided to go skiing instead.

But my parents thought that I was in a mood because they were taking me away from my studies, so I got out of it soon. Relationship with parental units is so strange as an adult. It’s much better now than when I was in high school, although I never really had any major problems with them. But they still treat me like a kid one minute, and the next I’m supposed to have all of the problems figured out because I’m independent now.