The last week has been a sort of odd week. I’ve been playing housewife for a few days, job-searching wife for a few days and temporary job-working wife for a few days. It’s actually been kind of nice to be a housewife for a few days. I could get used to this really quickly, but unfortunately the GA (graduate assistant) position Bryan has at the library doesn’t pay all of the bills, so it can’t last too long. I’ve been looking for a job since before we even moved here. Getting my foot in the door in the library/bookstore world is a bit more difficult than I expected. It’s going to be a waiting game, but I’m prepared to wait. It’s something that I want bad enough that I’m willing to wait. In the meantime, I’m working at one of the college bookstores to help with the fall rush.

The unpacking took a lot of time last week, but this week we’ve been taking it easy. It hasn’t been quite as hot as it was last week, so we’ve been able to enjoy the nice weather with the windows open. Today is a bit warm, so I’ve cranked up the window a/c to try to keep cool today. It’s been a bit of a challenge getting used to not having central air like we used to. I’ll give up central air for an apartment with character in a nice neighborhood anyday though. I’ve actually gotten quite a bit of knitting done since we moved in. Unfortunately, one of the items I’ve been working on is a gift, I can’t post photos until the gift has been received. Needless to say, the gift is coming along nicely and it’s really a fun thing to knit. As Christmas approaches, I will have more secret gifts in the works and won’t be posting them until after Christmas.

Today, I also did quite a bit of work on Bryan’s ultra-warm hat. This morning I had about 4 inches of the hat completed and after knitting about 16 rows, I have 4 1/2 inches. I thought I had made good progress but it seems that the slip stitch that I’m doing (k1, sl 1 on the right side and k1, p1 on the wrong side, a sort of double-knit rib) seems to grow extremely slowly and shrink. I can measure it at one point and it’s 4 inches and then measure it after working a half-inch and it’s still only 4 inches. I think the stitch shrinks a bit but I seem to keep losing a half inch. Oh well, when I reach 6 inches, I’m doing the decreasing no matter what. :)

I’ve also been doing some spinning. This

is slowly becoming this.

My spinning chair seems to have become a favorite cat chair in the office, so I moved my wheel out to the living room last night to spin for a while. It’s much cooler in the living room for now with the a/c. Hopefully, I can reclaim my chair someday, but a cute sleeping kitty is so hard to disrupt.

Bryan has been in training all this week and will be for a day next week. Orientation is next week for all of the new library students. After not getting into library school on my first application, it’s been reassuring to know that not everyone gets into library school on their first try. If I have to volunteer several times a week at the library to prove that I am dedicated to library work, then that’s what I will do.

Another change for us in our new apartment, besides the non-central a/c is a non-dishwasher kitchen. I’m sure my mother is surprised to know that I actually have been doing the dishes. But when you have a nice view such as this out of the kitchen window, it’s not that big of a deal. The pole is a lovely addition to the view, but I can look past it. I’m not quite as picky as Cheryl with the wire on Curb Your Enthusiasm.

The Big Move went well. It was the most stressful move for both of us. If it wasn’t the truck being a bit too small, it was the furniture not fitting through the doors. We found out on Sunday that the moving truck was just a tad small for us. Bryan told the woman we needed a truck for a 2-3 bedroom apartment, so that’s the one we rented. It was for 2-3 rooms, not bedrooms. The movers told us it was too small on Sunday morning as they were starting to pack the truck for us. We both had the “oh sh*t” thought and thankfully, Bryan’s younger brother K was available to help us with some of the stuff that didn’t fit in the truck. K really saved us, without him we would have been screwed and had to keep the truck an extra day with an extra trip between Chicago and Champaign, it would not have been a good thing. He packed some of the extra stuff in his pickup and followed us down to Champaign.

Monday, the movers here moved us into our new apartment. There is a very small hallway after the front door of the house into our apartment and there were a few times that I was afraid that the couch and my desk weren’t going to fit in the front door. They were amazing and managed to get everything in the front door. My big 1930s desk didn’t fit into the room that we had designated the office. It’s actually worked out for the better because there are two west-facing, good-sized windows in the room that is now our office, as opposed to just one east-facing window in our now bedroom.

Monday afternoon, we set out to tackle the kitchen. Of course, when we thought we had it all finished more kitchen boxes kept creeping up. We’ve now finished the kitchen and it’s a very cozy kitchen.

We did have to purchase an extra storage unit, but not a big deal. And we’re managing to keep the kitchen clean without a dishwasher. I wasn’t sure how it was going to work without a dishwasher, but after each meal we’ve cleaned up quickly. The last time I was without a dishwasher was in college about 10 years ago.

Tuesday, our bedroom looked like this. Needless to say, it definitely does not look like that now. We were able to move the bed into the room Tuesday night and only have two boxes in there now.

And our living room looked like this. And is looking significantly better now.

Our office still needs a bit of work, but it’s getting there. I have my knitting/spinning area. I’ve put yarn on one shelf of a bookshelf to remind myself how much yarn I actually have and to make me think twice about buying yarn when I do go to the yarn store. I also have a shelf of fiber and spinning supplies. Today, I got out my wheel and did some spinning. I’m using a different chair than I’m used to, so it will take a little getting used to.

We’re settling nicely into our new apartment. We still need to get some more artwork and photos up but that comes with time.

My Midwest Knitters Blog Ring duties seem to have suffered a bit within the last few weeks with the move. To those of you awaiting acceptance, you’re on my to-do list this week.

I am moving with my husband. I’ll be off-line for approximately a week.

I may not get to see the Yarn Harlot on her bookbookbook tour, unless she suddenly decides to visit Chicago, but I can dream of meeting her.

I had a dream early this morning about seeing the Yarn Harlot.

The store was the Knit Caf� in a Chicago suburb; the suburb and the store don�t exist. I was the first one to arrive and I was feeling very awkward because I walked by the store all the time with my friends but never went in. So I walk in and the Yarn Harlot is walking around the cleared out store (all of the yarn had been moved to the backyard behind the store) and when I walked in, she mistook my name for Jessica instead of Erica. We talked for a bit and then some other people came in. The Knit Caf� was not just a yarn store, it was also a clothing store and at one point, my friend Brandi came in to try on clothes and the Yarn Harlot was telling her what looked cute.

I met up with my friend Erin, who I don�t even know in real life, but in the dream she was a good friend. So we hung out for a while before the Yarn Harlot spoke. Fast forward to after the Yarn Harlot�s speech. For some reason, I didn�t get to see her speak because I had to go tour the downtown with my husband, but I remembered seeing her speak in the dream. Let�s just say the timing was a bit off in my dream, but that�s the cool thing about dreams, you can do things there that you can�t do in real life � like be two places at once.

After the Yarn Harlot�s speech, the store served a nice little picnic dinner. Erin & I were hanging out with the Yarn Harlot and she kept calling me Jessica. I felt at one point that I should tell her my real name just so that she wouldn�t call me Jessica in her blog post. So at one point, I corrected her and told her that my name was Erica. She thought it was funny that my friend�s name was so close to mine and that�s probably how she got Jessica, even though she was calling me Jessica before Erin even arrived. The Yarn Harlot went to get some food and I turned to Erin and said, �I have to tell her about my blog, so she�ll put it on her blog.� But I didn�t know how to say it without sounding obnoxious. The Yarn Harlot came back and ate with Erin and I, and I wanted to tell her about my blog. Other people started coming over and I didn�t get a chance to give her my blog�s address.

Bryan woke me up about that time, I immediately thought, �Oh no, the Yarn Harlot is going to call me Jessica on her blog and she�s not going to link to my blog from hers.� As Bryan was waking up, I just laid there thinking about my dream making sure that I had everything right before I really woke up. Then I bounded out of bed and said to Bryan, �I had a dream that I want to post on my blog, I need to go type it up.� So here I am. And I figure, I didn�t get a chance to meet the Yarn Harlot on this bookbookbook tour, maybe the next one, but at least I had a dream about it.