1 site today. Slow and steady wins the race?
New Title: Coming Someday Soon
I might need to come up with a better title for these posts, in the event that LENS tapers off and stops eventually. Maybe "Lanyards and Life" if I start getting invited to conventions? "Laziness and Life" is a little too self-depreciating. "Learning and Life" is very trite. Perhaps I should settle on "Legwork and Life" until I can get to "Lanyards and Life." Referring both to the fact that I'm trying to do 5 day/week exercise (mostly leg-cardio) and the fact that this career is currently in the "legwork" phase, that is, the phase where it's not a paying career and I'm just trying to make the needed connections and outreach to make it a career.
Also, after staring at several pages of words that start with L, the letter L no longer looks like a letter.
Stuff to catch up on since last post... whoof. Okay.
The Engagement
So at Christmastime, when Chris and I got approval from our respective parents, he had not, in fact, proposed. We basically just discussed the prospect and mutually agreed. I did, however, kind of want an actual proposition. So being the sweetheart that he is, Chris agreed. Rather than spending a bundle of money, he cleaned out the tub so I could have a nice bath, cooked a double batch of beef stew (yum), lit of a bunch of those tiny tea candles, and scattered rose petals about (along with putting the remaining 10 in vases).
The beef stew turned out pretty good, and we had a good chat about the future and what we meant to each other. It was pretty awesome. I know the cultural ideal is to pop the question somewhere expensive and public, with an outpouring of extremely romantic words, but that honestly doesn't appeal to me. I hate having my emotions on display. So this was much more pleasant and meaningful.
We still don't have a date because of the next point of business...
Apartment Hunting
Continues with a vengeance! It must end! (please? I'm so tired of meeting new people...) At this point we've visited 5-6 places, and put in two applications. It looks like the last one is going to be our favorite, not because I'm worn out, but because the place is spacious and has basically everything we want for a reasonable price.
We were looking for lots of space (so both of us can be comfortable), 2 bedrooms, a reasonable price, garbage disposal, trash, parking for two cars, maintenance on site, lots of 3 prong outlets, included snow removal, AC/heat, and decent soundproofing. There were other things we wanted, like a dishwasher, central AC, storage unit, and a no-smoking policy for the outdoors. We got basically everything we wanted. So this should make things a lot less stressful.
I don't mind living in a sardine can much, but it's not a good situation for living together. That said, the moving process is going to be stressful... I have my minivan, which carries a lot of stuff. So on weekends we can probably just load the thing up and go back and forth a bit. Still, I'm not overfond of living in two places at once, constantly wishing you had this thing or that thing in the other building, and tossing things into boxes only to take them right back out again.
Other Life Improvements Incoming
So one thing Chris has been having trouble with is sleep. His bed is substandard at best, right now. He prefers a nice soft bed, and hasn't really had much luck with that in either the bed he bought for his life in CT or the bed he's using right now.
I, on the other hand, am fairly happy with my Sleep Number bed (a gift from my generous grandmother) but it won't do for us as a couple, since it's twin sized. The solution is to get another one of similar quality to the first, but bigger.
We've been tossing the idea around for months at this point. The only major issue with the idea is the cost. Chris noted that they were having a sale a few days ago, so we stopped by to check out the available discounts and beds. It turns out we get a discount, since I count as an owner. More importantly, as long as you make the regular payments on a Sleep Number bed, they don't charge interest on financing for 2 years. And you could finance the entire thing, without minding a down payment.
Given how poorly Chris has been sleeping, we opted to buy a bed that same day: a p5 model. It's not too plushy (as Sleep Numbers go), but should have plenty of soft for his back and plenty of firm for mine. After budgeting carefully, we figured we'll be able to make the monthly payments without too much issue. So that's going to happen.
I'm keeping my bed, though. It's too good a bed to ditch, and we have a second bedroom. We probably won't have guests much, but between that and the fact that I'm definitely a night owl, I think it'll still get use and appreciation.
In addition to the bed, Chris and I now have a Costco membership. This would be all but useless to us, except that we're also planning to get a chest freezer. Costco and other bulk stores are great for businesses and large families, and usually terrible for small families, single people, and couples. Other than toilet paper and paper towels, you don't usually need an industrial-sized anything.
However, there are a few things Chris and I go through pretty quickly: ground bison, frozen fruit, and granola bars, for instance. These things are much cheaper at Costco. My current freezer is practically stuffed full, but with a chest freezer, I would be able to cook soup, stew, or stir fry far in advance, then simply store those meals for later. This is, as far as I can tell, the prime tactic for people who hate cooking or are simply time-crunched. I've been vastly limited in my ability to do such things, given that my freezer is probably 3 ft. square or less. $200 for a 7 sq. ft chest freezer should fix that. And the more stuff I put in it, the less the freezer itself has to work to keep itself cold. So lots of incentive there.
New Title: Coming Someday Soon
I might need to come up with a better title for these posts, in the event that LENS tapers off and stops eventually. Maybe "Lanyards and Life" if I start getting invited to conventions? "Laziness and Life" is a little too self-depreciating. "Learning and Life" is very trite. Perhaps I should settle on "Legwork and Life" until I can get to "Lanyards and Life." Referring both to the fact that I'm trying to do 5 day/week exercise (mostly leg-cardio) and the fact that this career is currently in the "legwork" phase, that is, the phase where it's not a paying career and I'm just trying to make the needed connections and outreach to make it a career.
Also, after staring at several pages of words that start with L, the letter L no longer looks like a letter.
Stuff to catch up on since last post... whoof. Okay.
The Engagement
So at Christmastime, when Chris and I got approval from our respective parents, he had not, in fact, proposed. We basically just discussed the prospect and mutually agreed. I did, however, kind of want an actual proposition. So being the sweetheart that he is, Chris agreed. Rather than spending a bundle of money, he cleaned out the tub so I could have a nice bath, cooked a double batch of beef stew (yum), lit of a bunch of those tiny tea candles, and scattered rose petals about (along with putting the remaining 10 in vases).
The beef stew turned out pretty good, and we had a good chat about the future and what we meant to each other. It was pretty awesome. I know the cultural ideal is to pop the question somewhere expensive and public, with an outpouring of extremely romantic words, but that honestly doesn't appeal to me. I hate having my emotions on display. So this was much more pleasant and meaningful.
We still don't have a date because of the next point of business...
Apartment Hunting
Continues with a vengeance! It must end! (please? I'm so tired of meeting new people...) At this point we've visited 5-6 places, and put in two applications. It looks like the last one is going to be our favorite, not because I'm worn out, but because the place is spacious and has basically everything we want for a reasonable price.
We were looking for lots of space (so both of us can be comfortable), 2 bedrooms, a reasonable price, garbage disposal, trash, parking for two cars, maintenance on site, lots of 3 prong outlets, included snow removal, AC/heat, and decent soundproofing. There were other things we wanted, like a dishwasher, central AC, storage unit, and a no-smoking policy for the outdoors. We got basically everything we wanted. So this should make things a lot less stressful.
I don't mind living in a sardine can much, but it's not a good situation for living together. That said, the moving process is going to be stressful... I have my minivan, which carries a lot of stuff. So on weekends we can probably just load the thing up and go back and forth a bit. Still, I'm not overfond of living in two places at once, constantly wishing you had this thing or that thing in the other building, and tossing things into boxes only to take them right back out again.
Other Life Improvements Incoming
So one thing Chris has been having trouble with is sleep. His bed is substandard at best, right now. He prefers a nice soft bed, and hasn't really had much luck with that in either the bed he bought for his life in CT or the bed he's using right now.
I, on the other hand, am fairly happy with my Sleep Number bed (a gift from my generous grandmother) but it won't do for us as a couple, since it's twin sized. The solution is to get another one of similar quality to the first, but bigger.
We've been tossing the idea around for months at this point. The only major issue with the idea is the cost. Chris noted that they were having a sale a few days ago, so we stopped by to check out the available discounts and beds. It turns out we get a discount, since I count as an owner. More importantly, as long as you make the regular payments on a Sleep Number bed, they don't charge interest on financing for 2 years. And you could finance the entire thing, without minding a down payment.
Given how poorly Chris has been sleeping, we opted to buy a bed that same day: a p5 model. It's not too plushy (as Sleep Numbers go), but should have plenty of soft for his back and plenty of firm for mine. After budgeting carefully, we figured we'll be able to make the monthly payments without too much issue. So that's going to happen.
I'm keeping my bed, though. It's too good a bed to ditch, and we have a second bedroom. We probably won't have guests much, but between that and the fact that I'm definitely a night owl, I think it'll still get use and appreciation.
In addition to the bed, Chris and I now have a Costco membership. This would be all but useless to us, except that we're also planning to get a chest freezer. Costco and other bulk stores are great for businesses and large families, and usually terrible for small families, single people, and couples. Other than toilet paper and paper towels, you don't usually need an industrial-sized anything.
However, there are a few things Chris and I go through pretty quickly: ground bison, frozen fruit, and granola bars, for instance. These things are much cheaper at Costco. My current freezer is practically stuffed full, but with a chest freezer, I would be able to cook soup, stew, or stir fry far in advance, then simply store those meals for later. This is, as far as I can tell, the prime tactic for people who hate cooking or are simply time-crunched. I've been vastly limited in my ability to do such things, given that my freezer is probably 3 ft. square or less. $200 for a 7 sq. ft chest freezer should fix that. And the more stuff I put in it, the less the freezer itself has to work to keep itself cold. So lots of incentive there.
Yeah sleep is difficult when you exert yourself mentally during the day (as Chris does with his programming job and you do with your autism advocacy). When I worked almost full time I had to eventually get sleep medication. Now my mental health medication helps me get to sleep.
ReplyDeleteChest freezers are cool, especially because you can buy a ton of meat when it's on sale and then store it.