2023 is not boring so far

 Oh, hey, it's been a while. As forecasted, it's been a busy month - Duchess wrapped up college applications, I started my new job, and we moved to our temporary home. 

My new job is good and interesting, but a bunch of factors converged to make my first month much more chaotic and intense than I was anticipating. I also go into the office twice a week, and deal with all the human interactions that involves, which is delightful and tiring. (Though I am really happy to have bus buddies again - I missed having a little cast of characters I see on a regular schedule.) 

Our temporary home is fine. It's interesting how living in a different physical environment pushes us into different patterns - in this house the girls have adjacent bedrooms on the main floor and share a bathroom, which means they have more contact with each other. We don't have room upstairs for a dining table, so we cook dinner on the main floor and then carry our food to the basement to eat dinner at the table there. (The basement is finished and furnished; this isn't as squalid as it sounds.) There's no good grocery store nearby, so we grocery shop less often. 

Duchess got her first college acceptance letter, relieving her fear that she wouldn't get in anywhere. She'll get the rest of her responses over the next two months, and there will be a lot of Feelings. 

Anyway, we're all fine. I think things will be a little more serene for a bit, but I make no assumptions.