Rules for Feeding the Stash

Wednesday, February 22, 2023

Moving Weekend, Part 2

On Friday afternoon I dropped Lee Lee at the kennel, packed up my backpack, grabbed my trusty unicorn, and boarded a train to Chicago. My flight to South Dakota was at 9:15 on Saturday morning, so I planned to spend the night at the airport hotel, which was great planning on my part. Due to a couple of train delays and some less-than-clear directions, I didn't make it to my hotel room until almost one in the morning, and I only just managed to wake up in time to leave for my terminal as planned. 

Fortunately, my flight went much more smoothly, and we landed earlier than expected. I got to spend Saturday with my mum, and it was so nice to see her again. We ended up going to two different locations to pick up my U-Haul—the website wasn't entirely clear on which location my truck was at—but that was ultimately a very small hiccup. 

Sunday morning I got up early again to drive the truck down to my old town and load up everything from my storage unit as well as a few things I'd left with my brother. My mum and I grabbed lunch together at the cafe, and then I hit the road. The drive was less stressful than the first time I made it, but it was still a long day, and I didn't make it back to my new apartment until about 8:30. 

I'm tired and sore, and Lee Lee isn't pleased with having been left all weekend, and there are boxes everywhere and I hardly know where to start with unpacking, but the move itself is finally done. All my things are back in one place, and I can get back to settling in (as soon as I've caught up on rest).

Wednesday, February 15, 2023

Making a Home

I got a call two and a half hours into my Ikea delivery window on Friday letting me know that my order was delayed and would be delivered on Monday instead. Instead of spending the weekend building shelves and unpacking books, I watched some YouTube, watched a movie, and read a lot. It was a nice little rest, and when my Ikea order finally did come on Monday afternoon, I was raring to go. I built the two Kallax units that I got for my bedroom and two of the Billys for the living room on Monday, and then I built the last two living room Billys last night.


Now, I know that there's no such thing as a level floor or a straight wall. However, I didn't realize exactly how uneven my floors and walls are here until I tried lining my Billys up along the wall. I'd initially planned for them to all be flush against each other, but that wasn't going to happen. I'm okay with the placement now (I don't love having little gaps in between them, but there's no other safe option), and I think they'll look fine once they're filled with books and treasures. I'm hoping to get a bunch of books unpacked this week and start organizing the shelves, because I need to make space in the craft room (where all the full boxes live) for the rest of my stuff that's coming from South Dakota this weekend.


I didn't really bring much furniture with me from South Dakota—most of what I had was cheap, or had been picked up for free, so aside from my armchair and my papasan and a few small pieces with sentimental value, I've been looking for and picking up all new furniture. A couple weeks ago I found this adorable little dining set on Facebook Marketplace—I knew I wanted a small dining set, and I really wanted something with a drop leaf that could seat at least four people (I dream of making friends here and hosting brunch). This little table is perfect. I love the formica top, and the chairs it came with are great. My plan is to get a couple of folding chairs from Ikea to have enough seating for my future brunch parties, but that can wait. 


The rug is a vintage wool rug from Turkey, and I adore it. I really wanted a rug to define the dining nook, and I'm so pleased with how it ties the space together. Eventually there will be another little buffet for more storage along that back wall (currently it's acting as my dresser, but eventually I'll get a proper, larger dresser for my clothes) and I'll be able to properly display my vintage pyrex and my antique punch bowl. (The bike is also not living in the dining nook full-time; there will eventually be a rack to stand it up in the craft room, once everything is unpacked and there's room for me to get/set up a rack for it.)

This weekend is going to be busy—I fly out to South Dakota early Saturday morning, and on Sunday we'll start early getting the Uhaul loaded so I can make the drive back. Back when I made my initial drive out here, it took me almost exactly eleven hours from getting in the car to parking at my new apartment, but that was just with my (very full) car, so I'm anticipating the drive on Sunday to take a little bit longer. It will be so nice to have the rest of my stuff here, though. Most of my craft supplies are still in South Dakota, as well as my entire liquor collection and my tv, and it will feel really good to have everything moved.

Wednesday, February 8, 2023

It's Really Been a Year

Hi, friends. It's been a while, hasn't it? 

The past year was a bit of a doozy. Since we've last visited, I finished library school, spent many months trying to recover from working and going to grad school at the same time, and spent almost a year to the day applying for jobs. 

2022 was rough, y'all. It was all I could do to just keep going. I didn't write much, I didn't knit much, and since we last met I managed to release just one pattern (Ravelry Link) (Payhip Link). At the beginning of last year, I had big aspirations: I was going to recover from grad school quickly, dive back into writing and designing and making full-throttle, I was going to get a fantastic new job and move to Minnesota to be near my bestie. And then none of that really happened.

In November I applied for a job on a whim. I was burnt out on job hunting, and this job was outside of my search parameters, and I was so tired and frustrated that I decided to just send in my resume. And then six days later I was offered the job. 


Almost one month ago to the day I packed up my car and drove myself, Lee Lee, the goldfish, and all 57 of my plants to Illinois to start this new adventure. It's been a wild couple of months, and it's still really stressful—I'm surrounded by boxes and piles of stuff, I need to make one more trip back to South Dakota to get the rest of my stuff, I'm learning a brand-new job and a brand-new city and getting used to living in a new apartment that feels so very different from anywhere I've lived before. 

It's been an adventure (and will continue to be one as I continue settling in!) and sometimes I still can't quite believe that I did it. Bit by bit, my new apartment is starting to feel like home—I have a bed, finally, and this week I'll get the first batch of bookcases so I can start unpacking some of the book and tchotchke boxes, and I'm slowly getting used to navigating the new kitchen. I've gone on little adventures to the winter farmer's market, the public library, and some thrift stores to start learning the area, and I'm starting to get a feel for my job. 

It's good to be back, friends, and I hope that in 2023 we'll have lots to share with each other here.