settling in...

I'm still overwhelmed with the semester ahead (but at least I have a little more idea of what to expect), the new place is still a mess (but it's slowly taking shape) and life is marching forward at something a dizzying pace!

The new place ... is in a great location. We can walk to the coffee shop, farmer's market, church, Hispanic market, the utility company, the bank, the post office, park (though it's a bit further) ... it's sweet. I get a little happy buzz being able to walk around town with Maggs and Tim.

It's also significantly noisier than living way out in the no-man's land of rural (and wealthy) Trappe. I mean, Easton is a small town ... but big old trucks and buses and fire engines barrel through our intersection all day and all night! I'm sleeping a little better as time goes by, but it's going to take time to get used it. Maggie loves the bus sightings (she waves to the drivers!) and always brings up the "sarans" (sirens). (She says, "Wee-ooo! Wee-ooo! Again!")

The new place is also... small. We certainly don't need all the space we had in Trappe, but well, we got accustomed to it. We got accustomed to big closets and options for how to arrange things. Here - we've rearranged things a couple times so far because, well, many ways just don't work! But we're working on figuring that out. Being an older building, it's narrow and quirky. I love the quirk - definitely - but it causes some hardships. For example, our couch didn't end up fitting up the stairs. So we had to buy a little futon, which I am perched on right now. This also means we need to find a home for our couch, as we just don't plan to ditch this nice couch we bought a mere 2.5 years ago. We still have the storage space, but ... it too lacks room. And there's also still stuff back in Trappe that needs to go somewhere (Maggie's crib, clothes for her as she gets bigger, camping equipment, etc). So there's lots to figure out!

But it will work for us. We'll make it work. The benefits of Tim being able to be close to work - and all of us closer to civilization - are amazing benefits indeed! And I think school will work out, too, though I continue to be nervous about things - my Ethics class especially. But I'd better run - I hear my Gooey girl a'stirring from her nap!