Two Publications in One Week!

Great news!

I had two poems accepted for publication this week. The first was "Lonely Town" by Dos Gatos Press and the second was "Phantasms of Love" in the Fall 2015 Dirty Chai online magazine. It's awesome having two acceptance notices the same week.

I'm still knitting my Drachenfels shawl and I'm on the second page of the written instructions. I made it through the first page with one ball of Color A. I'm now on the ridge section, but I'm dreading weaving in the ends.

Moving Can (and Does) Get Worse

My coffee table did not survive the move. The weight of the boxes on top of it made the legs collapse, which caused the box (with canned goods) underneath it to be crushed, which caused the liquid in the canned goods to spill, which caused the wardrobe box and several other boxes to become soaked, which caused the clothes and books and papers to mildew.

This means I'm not leaving a five-star review for the moving company that packed up and loaded my POD in Texas.

On the plus side, not too many books were ruined, and the stuff that was ruined is well below my $500 deductible, so it's not really worth making a claim and raising my insurance rates.

I can see the carpet again. Small progress. It's overwhelming still. I'm trying to ferret out which boxes were ruined and which boxes have wet bottoms or wet things in them thanks to the collapse and domino effect.

This next week will be dealing with my car and the driver's test and the insurance and the PO box and and and and and. I'll manage to get it all done, but it's exhausting to think about.

I'm shocked at how much crafting stuff I have. Now that I'm in a smaller space, seeing all the bags and bins of yarn, notions, and tools made me realize that I have way more stuff for knitting than I thought and that I really need to honor my goals and New Year's resolutions to knit down my stash before adding more to it. Then again, I just bought three kits' worth of yarn from Craftsy and that box arrived. The yarn is so squishy and lovely, but looking at how much yarn I have, I really can't order from there (or anywhere else) for a long time.

My mom offered to mail my ex's box to him and I took her up on it. I don't have the time to mail it off and get everything for work done while also trying to set up my legal residence. It doesn't help that I don't have a lease the government would really call a lease. I have an email. I doubt an email will be acceptable to the DMV and/or U.S. Post Office. So, I'm going to get my insurances switched over to my new state and go from there.

On the plus side, my Friday bowling date (followed by an impromptu walk in the park and then coffee at Powell's on Burnside) went well. Not sure I'm feeling anything romantic for the guy, but I am enjoying his company.

I'm unpacking. I'm settling in. I'm trying to make this home.

First Week of New Job, Third Week of Semester

This week marked my first week at my new job. It was fast-paced and intense, but I really enjoyed it. I ended up having to go into the office twice yesterday, but everything got taken care of and aside from an OK Cupid date backing out because I took too long, it was uneventful.

I met up for teriyaki and then ice cream with someone from OK Cupid. It went well. Not really feeling more than friendship, but I'm teaching him how to knit next week! Winning!

My new place is really great. The landlord is really thoughtful and kind. The view, as you'll see below, is fabulous. I'll hopefully have my furniture by next weekend so I'm not sleeping on an air mattress or yoga mat. I'm really looking forward to having my stuff again.

View from my new apartment.

I'm still knitting. My mom gave me some cotton yarn and I'm almost finished with the ball. I'm going to try and finish the Little Lady Garter Blanket in the next week or so, but it's really a boring knit and I'm sick of the color.

I bought Defarge Does Shakespeare on Ravelry. There were at least three patterns I wanted to make, so after several weeks of having it in my cart, I bought it on Ravelry.

I'm thinking I'll knit Lady M; Ravel'd Sleeve of Care; and Exeunt, Pursued by a Bear.

I've also been knitting a bunch of dishcloths. I've got two patterns memorized: Almost Lost Dishcloth and Grandmother's Favorite.

Almost Lost Dishcloth. Requires knitting short rows. It looks better in person. The easier-to-read pattern is from this website.

I don't have reliable Internet at home yet. There's a WiFi hotspot login I'm borrowing from my dad, but it's hit or miss. Some times I can watch an hour show on Hulu or Netflix without buffering and sometimes it drops every five minutes.

I'm down to my last five classes for my MFA. It's been hard to juggle the start of the semester with my classes, but I'm accepting the fact that good is good enough.

All in all, things are getting settled. I'm really happy to be home.

Fresh Start

I've made it to my new city. The new job starts on Tuesday.

I messed up with the PODS delivery and won't have my stuff until Sept. 17, but that's okay.

I'm just happy to be back home.