*ping*

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Hello LJ. I still love you, I’ve just been going through stuff and feeling even less inclined to post than usual. I’m still reading you almost daily.

I started an account on Tumblr, but I’m not sure where it’s going to go. I’m thinking I’ll use it for some very specific topic or other. It was kind of silly to start in the middle of a big posting ebb, but in my own mind at least, I’m on the brink of becoming more active again.

For now I’m off to cook grownup dinner. It’s a new menu: chicken turkey patty pita sandwiches with a cucumber mint yogurt sauce, and sesame eggplant on the side. First time cooking both recipes, but they both sounded pretty good.

The Hell Outta Dodge

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Wow, I completely lost track of how long it’s been since I posted non-privately. Quick update, because that’s all I have time for tonight.

We’re moving to the house I mentioned a while back. It’s in Decatur, which is much closer to downtown Atlanta — and also much more of a destination in its own right than Fayetteville is. The house is smaller than this one we’ve been renting, but I think that’ll be good for us. The biggest sacrifice is that we won’t have a garage.

But we’ll have lots more dining and entertainment options, and more small kids in our neighborhood for Riley and Lydia to play with. Agnes Scott College is nearby, and apparently a good source of babysitters. Laura’s commute will be about the same, except running the opposite direction of the traffic majority. And those occasional tech writing jobs north of Atlanta won’t be out of my reach anymore. At least, not physically. 😛

The moving truck arrives early tomorrow morning, and we still have a bunch of junk to pack/clean up. Internet cuts out tomorrow too, and it’ll be a few days before we have it up at the new house. I’ll give some more details then.

Hmm. It’ll be one 26-foot truck. Looking around at this labyrinth of furniture and cardboard, I’m wishing we could’ve rented a Tardis instead.

Passing the Crossroads

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It’s looking like a move back to North Carolina is still not in the cards for us. But the good news is that we’re excited enough about our new house to be happy anyway. We did put an offer on the house I mentioned before, and the owners accepted. We’re currently wading through loan application stuff (that is, Laura’s wading through that while I finally do our income taxes).

We like the house’s layout and its location. Some of the equipment is getting old (e.g. water heater, one of the AC units), but it’s in great shape otherwise and everything’s still functional as of now. The neighborhood seems nice and has a bunch of small kids for Riley and Lydia to play with. The one downside is that there’s no garage or even a carport, but I can live with that.

I applied for a contract-to-hire job as a web developer here in Atlanta. Still no word, but the recruiter did forward my resume to their client yesterday, so at least I made it that far. It’s a junior-level position, which I’m overqualified for, truth be told, but I’m reasoning that my child-rearing hiatus will make that seem less true. But I’m also sure they’re flooded with applicants, so I’m not holding my breath. It would be a good thing, though, so wish me luck.

House Hunting in Limbo

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Well it’s been a bit of the same ol’ same ol’ here in BryceLand. My grip on sanity is lubricated daily by the nagging suspicion that sanity is overrated. Loneliness and misanthropy bicker with each other in the back seat of my brain, but I blare the stereo to drown them out. I’ve started several long posts about having been unhappy for a while, only to delete them as something I’m not going to want to remember in the future. Nice weather will help get me out of my slump, but suffice it to say that I do need to unslump myself.

I’m still scanning for work, but not hyper-aggressively because we’re not sure where we’ll be living half a year from now. Laura has applied for a job at UNC in Chapel Hill (two, actually, but they chose an internal candidate for the first one), so there’s a chance we’ll be back in the Triangle next fall. Which would suit me fine. (Update: it’s looking less likely now, but is still a possibility. We could have an answer in less than a week, thank goodness.)

Even if we stay in the Atlanta area, we’re still looking at a move this summer, to a more central suburb. We’ve been house shopping in preparation for this outcome. I think soon we’re going to put an offer on one of the houses we saw last weekend. Laura’s in love with it, which I hope we can keep under wraps. The house would be fine for our needs right away, and is also probably the easiest to add on to among the ones we saw. I’m pretty sure we wouldn’t even have to make the kids share a bedroom — although they’ve been loving that arrangement ever since we decided to try it out.

I’ve also been meaning to write something about the TMBG shows I saw two weeks ago, but this post isn’t the place. I would have done it already, but I couldn’t get past the unwritten whiny post. Funny how my LJ can get stuck like that.

Merry Christmas to Y’all

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I caught a cold from Lydia a day or two ago, and today it’s going full steam. To keep me from sneezing all over our holiday meal all day, Laura’s stepfather and mother graciously stepped in to cook tonight’s feast. We’re having cassoulet, and asparagus goat cheese salad. I would never have chosen to do something so complicated if I’d thought they’d be doing the cooking.

I wrapped all the kids’ presents last night except two; I ran out of steam and went to sleep. I finished up the last ones tonight. All of Riley’s missing gifts are accounted for at last. These will be two happy kids tomorrow morning.

I didn’t even know much to ask for myself, my life is pretty darn good. I doubt anything could ever top the super hug Lydia gave me tonight when she crawled up on my lap and said “Happy Merry Christmas, Daddy.” However I do want to thank for what will surely be my most Awesome present this year. :)

Wherever you are and whatever you’re doing, I hope this holiday season brings you joy.