I still feel like I'm adjusting to apartment living. During the week I'm so busy I barely think about it, but on the weekends there's so much to do! I've basically been living on yogurt and cold cuts for food during the week so today was the first time I really cooked here. Besides needing more counter space (of course, but still better than NYC apartments), I made a pot of tom kha gai soup, rice, and mixed berry muffins. Hopefully this means I'll get into the habit and eat healthier on normal weeks.

After brunch with my sister on Saturday I went shopping again for more than just pantry staples, and despite my best intentions, chose sleeping in today over the gym. A routine will happen eventually, but maybe February is more realistic since this month is turning out to be dedicated to settling in.

I still love having my own bed back, and the comfort of my things around me. I made do over the past three years, but a lot of what I chose to put in storage are mine from when I was small, the books I grew up with, and the memorabilia I gathered over the years. Anything that didn't fit that description was jettisoned when I moved out of NYC, so what's left really is the core of what mattered to me. Now it's time to build my life again.

In every apartment I've ever moved into I always have the compulsion, once I've unpacked and rested a bit, to clean every inch of the place. It helps me familiarize myself with what's going to be needed and where problem areas are, as well as feeling like it's actually my space and I can damn well do what I please with it. 

Last week was a week from hell at work with giant important projects, so this weekend I flat out told them I'm not available. I visited with my parents on Saturday and collected some more stuff from their house that I'd purposely left when I moved since until I unpacked it I knew I wouldn't need it until now, then spent all day today cleaning, mopping floors, etc. While I wouldn't want to spend every weekend doing this, now I can go to bed tonight feeling more secure in the apartment.

Tomorrow I'm having an orientation at the Planet Fitness here since I have 40+ pounds I need to lose, so I finally signed up for my first-ever gym membership. I hope that I don't hate going to the gym as much as I think I may, but I really need to find something that help, especially since on the days I work I basically get zero exercise. I also need to know how to use the equipment properly since if I injure myself I'll continue to gain weight. Maybe I'll turn into a gym rat (HAHAHA no). Eh, maybe in another life.

OMG. I remember moving into this same complex nineteen years ago when my parents and I did the whole move ourselves, also into a second floor apartment with a couch and everything. I think we did it one weekend and I was back at work on Monday.

This time I hired movers who got my stuff out of storage, second stop at my parents' house to get everything from there, then on to the new apartment. Even though I wasn't moving myself I. am. so. sore. Living in a ground floor house for the past 3 years and trouble with my knees has robbed my ability to do stairs, and I wiped out on the concrete set of stairs leading to the back parking lot so I got road rash on a knee through my jeans and a few scrapes and bruises. Add that to the packing and unpacking and yeah, in about a week I should be recovered, but it's going to take that long lol.

It's so worth it though. I have my own place again, a job that seems to be secure, and I finally feel like I'm moving forward in life again. I don't have nearly enough furniture to fill this place since a full studio still doesn't translate to a large one bedroom, but I have what I need and I'm sure I'll add things like an actual desk and table at some point. Maybe even a loveseat or couch, which was always a pipe dream in my NYC studios. 

This Sunday I'll take ownership of the same car I brought here 19 years ago which has been my parents' since my move into the city, and once I'm mobile I can acquire whatever else I need. If car prices ever come close to what they should have been without the crazy pandemic bump I still want a Camry hybrid but for now my old Camry works. It's still progress, and I'll take it.

My aunt threw a hissy fit and didn't come down at all, partly since Mom and my sister pissed her off by asking her constantly if she was still sick (which, as I know well, my mom is overbearing and my sister is hypochondriac), and partly because she hates driving longer, unfamiliar distances on the Parkway (even though the Parkway is one of the easiest roads ever - just go straight until you hit whatever exit you're aiming for). She really is too old at this point, partly physically, but more mentally, to step outside of her comfort zone. I suspect she will live the remainder of her life that way, always looking backward to a whitewashed, idyllic version of the past when the family was much larger and closer together. I can understand that longing to a degree, but it's also a sad way to spend your last years.

We had baked her favorite cookies and my mom made a special recipe, so on Friday my parents are going north for a doctor's appointment and will bring them to her, but I know completely missing Christmas this year will just make my aunt even more bitter about her life. We've done what we can though, so I can't feel guilty about it. 

So the new year was again just the four of us in the family, still living in close quarters, but at least I have my escape ready to go. I'm about 95% packed, I've made all the arrangements, so it's deep breathing, getting through the next few days, pushing hard Wed-Thurs and then collapsing and resting on Friday. It's just about go time!