Get ready to be excited

I started my job today and frankly, I wonder how I'll squeeze in four full days of work each week. What with weekend trips to NYC, searching high and low for a day care, throwing Ashley a baby shower, planning a Triple Baby Birthday party for Edie, Camden and cousin Lexie, hanging with Edie, and buying a house, it's a wonder I have time to eat a snack.

I do operate well when going full throttle, but the last couple weeks have been a bit nutty. In early July, Dave and I stumbled upon an open house and decided to go in, just to get the ball rolling on the house hunt. I was pushing for buying a place whereas Dave was open to renting again, since we knew that buying could take a while. However, I'm plain sick of moving. I'm sick of packing, unpacking, getting rid of stuff, buying more stuff, dusting, undusting, and paying astronomical shipping fees.

The open house was nothing great

but it did unlock a bit of excitement, so I contacted a referred agent and provided our requirements (close to our walkable downtown, on a side or "local" street, on the north side of town, and in a good school district). Also I have a ton of other requirements that I hold close to my heart (i.e. far away from a soul-less subdivision, with trees in the yard, and no neighbors with cars jacked up on cinder blocks for a three-mile radius. Call me picky.)

We saw six homes, and fell in love with the second house our agent showed us. It's been very well maintained, has cute details like arched doorways, with ample storage space, good sized rooms, and a gorgeous (intimidating) yard. More importantly, it doesn't need a lick of work. (Have you seen me or Dave with a drill? It's not pretty.) Honestly, we both got a good feeling, and it fit within our requirements. We had my parents come take a look the next night. My Dad is a contractor and my mom is a talented home-renovator, so we value their opinions. They each gave a thumbs up, and we moved forward with the offer. Since then, we've been collecting, transferring, signing, and copying a ton of paperwork. Hopefully it all pans out, and we can unload the POD late August! We'll wait with baited breath until the closing.

It's pretty crazy that we found a great home so quickly, but life has been "coming up Kitzman",

as Ashley put it. You know that quote, "The harder I work the luckier I get"? We are really lucky, but we are also hard workers. When I tell folks that I got a job, sometimes they say "Wow, you got a job a week after you moved here?!" Yeah, but I hustled my buns off for the past 8 months in Seattle, updating my web site, contacting strangers to do informational interviews, creating marketing materials, and going to many interviews that didn't result in a job offer.

Now that we've (almost) nailed down a home and a job, I've been researching and visiting daycares that make geographic and financial sense. The problem here is not so much lack of supply. It's that the affordable daycares are run by fluffy cat-loving eccentrics and the lovely daycares that meet our standards (not depressing with compentent caregivers and a no-nut policy) are pretty spendy. As with everything in life, you get what you pay for.

Amidst figuring out the logistics of our lives, I took a quick trip down to NYC to hang with my sister in Brooklyn. We got our nails done, walked the High Line, shopped, walked a ton, she took me out to dinner, we saw a movie, ate a bagel, and I slept till the late hour of 8:30am. So much sister fun!

Connecti-kitzmans: Part 2

We still don't have our USB to download photos; it's in the POD, along with the rest of the physical contents of our lives. Edie is over the whisks

and bowls I've given her to play with. She looks at me like, "Sooo when do my toys arrive again?" and then I launch into yet another made-up version of Little Liza Jane.

Dave arrived after his long, enjoyable journey, and there are dead bugs covering our car with Idahoan origins. Yep, the Subaru made it. Dang right, as we just spent an arm and a leg rebuilding the engine.

Connecticut is hot and humid, which is nice, because there's also air conditioning and pools and ice water. I now have a reason to wear sunscreen and skirts after our somewhat-depressing Seattle spring. The downside is that working out is limited to early morning or evening when it cools off a bit. This morning I missed my window and had to sacrifice a perfectly good workout day. Or maybe that's just what I told myself. In related news, I bought a running stroller off of my buddy Craigslist, which has opened up lots more opportunities to work out with the girl.

My parents have a bird feeder in their front yard and it attracts species from far and wide. The bird feeder action reminds me of a scene fromDisney's Snow White: winged friends, chipmunks, and squirrels all coming together. The feeder is full in the morning and entirely empty by evening. It's cool to watch the wildlife; I wish I knew more about which types of birds they are.

It still feels like we're on vacation, as we're just getting around to unpacking our bags and settling in. We have gone without most of our possessions but I miss our music and Edie's books and our bed. My parents have been super helpful and generous, letting us use their car and other essentials as needed.

Tomorrow we're hitting up Misquamicut, and we'll show Dave the best of New England beaches. It's good to be home.

Connecti-kitzmans: Part 1

[Editor's note: I wrote this July 1. I was holding off on publishing
until I could upload more photos but our USB is in the POD, so enjoy this text heavy edition of Chez Moni!]

Whew.

Edie, my mom, and I are now firmly planted in Connecticut after a long four days of working round the clock moving the contents of our house into the POD/car/welcoming arms of Goodwill. Moving is so much dang work. Even though I've been faithfully packing for 6 weeks, there was so much stuff we didn't pack till the 11th hour (crib, silverware, Dave's vast and never-used CD collection). My mom was a task master: managing the girl, cleaning out our cupboards, making breakfast with the contents of said cupboards, and helping us pack our home.

Dave, some generous friends, and I did a lot of the heavy lifting. We were initially concerned that our stuff wouldn't fit in the POD, but once that big white box was planted in our driveway via crazy hydraulic lift, we relaxed. The first half of POD-packing went well: most of our big furniture is squared off, making for a manageable furniture puzzle. These items fit into their appropriate slots. But the proverbial wheels came off when packing the second half of the POD, as we loaded up Dave's beloved Barcalounger, floor lamps, vacuums, and kitchen chairs, which have very few right angles and tons of appendages just waiting to cause damage in a box freewheelin' down the highway. By the end, Dave and I were literally throwing stuff in the POD, as the driver showed up to take it away. We had to bid farewell to some baby gear and houseplants. Oh well.

Edie, my mom and I flew to CT, and Dave is driving in the Subaru with brother-in-law Jeff. I would love to drive cross country, it's been on my bucket list for a while, but not with an 11-month old. She's a great gal but traveling is not her strong suit. Driving cross-town is not exactly a day at the beach, and driving 3,000 miles with her would be downright

excruciating. The flight was okay, but what made it even better was the empty seat on the second leg of our journey. She entertained herself and slept in her car seat, I enjoyed some New York magazine, and we all arrived a bit happier.

So here we are, in West Hartford. The birds are plentiful, the radio is ho-hum, and the weather is beautiful. We're getting used to our new lives and looking forward to reuniting with Dave!