New yet old

Today is day #4 in my new place. I moved in this past Saturday and have spent the last few days unpacking, organizing and trying to settle in - well, and working of course. And mostly everything is going well. I'm 99% unpacked, about 75% organized (the desk is still lacking) and I'd say 50% "settled".

I'm enjoying having a roommate, even though we haven't had much of a chance to spend time together. I think I would have been very lonely to go from a full household to just me. Irie is enjoying her new digs as well and we both love having the park across the street from us. Today, during lunch we walked over and played catch for a 1/2 hour.

In terms of settling in, I think I'm pretty much settled in my room. There are a few things that are missing - I haven't really hung anything on the walls yet, I don't have a frame for my bed yet, and I have a makeshift desk for the moment, but otherwise, I feel good in it. The rest of the house I haven't spent much time in. In part that's because I've been trying to get my room set up and in part that's because I can (for a reason I don't even want to try to explain) only access my remote connection to work when I'm hard-wired into the modem in my room. I can get internet anywhere - but not remote access. Weird. Anyway, that has kept me in my room primarily.

The rest of the house is also taking some adjusting for me because it's one of those places that's old and even when it's clean (which it's really not at the moment), it just doesn't necessarily look it. I generally like to live in places that are newer, have fresh coats of paint, etc because it just makes me feel cleaner. I think I'll get there in this place - just like my last apartment in Chicago, it will just take some time - and some serious cleaning! The kitchen is my other area of concern. I generally really like to cook, but I just don't like this kitchen. It's small and cramped, and the appliances are old, and while functional - again food and a lack of feeling clean just don't mix for me. That will probably be the hardest room for me to settle in, but it will happen - mostly because it's a totally necessary room! All these moves are definitely helping me determine what I like in a living space though - specifically I think I've determined that I really prefer kitchens that have seating areas. Screw the dining room idea - I like to have social time in the kitchen!

But all in all, I think it'll be a good move for me. I'm really enjoying working full-time from home, even if it has been a bit of an adjustment to not have as much downtime. Work is keeping me extremely busy at the moment and there are lots of times I glance at the clock and can't figure out how that much time has passed.

The neighbors here are really nice and I've already met several of them and attended a neighborhood party the same day I moved in. I don't think I've ever lived anywhere that people have been quite this outgoing.

I love the area and the proximity to things. I hate the closest grocery store - again, feels old and cramped. I miss having a Target very close. Ahhh, there are always pluses and minuses to everything!

Anyway, I'll post pictures soon. :-)