you make everything okay in 2013-2014

Ah, adventures in a new city. And by that, I mean it takes me forever to get anywhere. Part of it is just because I'm readjusting to a city wherein people actually live and there is traffic at all hours, 664,607 people to 115,452. (Sad part: the place in Georgia I lived was actually the sixth largest city in the state.) (This is also the largest metro area I've ever lived in; the next largest was Tallahassee, with 300k people.) The other part is that I'm only tentatively sure of where I'm going and sometimes end up going the wrong way on the Interstate when trying to get to Walmart.

Laugh away, Atlanta and New York and Washington DC and LA, but I don't have Ebola here. True story: the Ebola patient in Atlanta is only an hour away from the filming site of The Walking Dead, with the airport in the middle. The memes are terrific.

I botched lunch with Aaron today, leaving at the wrong time, and then had Misadventures getting to Walmart earlier (see above), but all is well. I have my door mat, soda, cabinet protectors, and dish detergent. My bank account only has $100 in it until I get my last UGA paycheck on Friday because my student loan carrier decided to withdraw $222. And while my washing machine is hooked up and functional (I love Aaron, yes I do), my dryer has a three-prong cord and the wall has a four-prong outlet. So I have to spend (minimal) money to fix that. Hoo-fucking-ray.

And I'm out of flea prevention for Lena and Sheppy after this month, and Sheppy needs arthritis supplements, and my car still needs its mystery gas cap issue resolved by the dealership, and sweet baby cupcakes why is life so damn expensive? Uugghh. It'll all work out. It's just a hassle.

Lying on the couch-bed, Aaron looked straight up.

"Is that a pony on the fan?"
"Yep."
"How did you reach that?!"
"A chair."
"Stacked chairs!?"
"No, just a lot of toes."
"You dork."
"By the way, if you ever want to change the light there, see those obvious screws?"
"Yeah..."
"Those are the wrong screws. That's the wiring set for the whole thing. Don't unscrew that."

After we worked on the washer and dryer today, and I gave him a shoulder rub for his efforts right after work, he took me to his sister's place where his mom had made us all dinner in exchange for more manual labor from Aaron and his brother. I haven't had homemade lasagna in a long time. It was terrific. While Aaron and Micah moved some heavy things around, I took the golden retriever mix outside and brushed her down. Kara hasn't had a chance and she's totally overwhelmed with two dogs and three kids under seven. I got about six mosquito bites, all on one elbow, but Ella is now fluffy and tangle-and-matte free. She flopped and relished it. She has some pretty tough skin, too. I did have to take some scissors to her butt fur, and she didn't like that as much as she did the flat brush against her spine, but at least she's groomed. She has really long hair, so I figure we must share the same enjoyment. The skin under long, thick hair tends to be under-stimulated, so a good hard brushing feels fantastic. She left behind a ball of fur large enough to create a whole new puppy. We left it outside to contribute to some bird nests.

In the car, I awkwardly apologized for any overtired grumpiness and neediness and general flailing as I adjusted to a new city and meshing into his established life while simultaneously creating my own, and he looked at me like I was an idiot and basically said duh? It's fine to every halting point. I loves him. We had a cute moment in the parking lot before I got out of the car, full of we are never Skyping again and but then how will I see you every night and you already saw me tonight; bye! and about three dozen kisses because WE CAN AND IT'S AWESOME.

We also concluded that everyone else is way more excited and serious about our wedding than we are. It's kind of awkward. We're at seven months. We should probably... do stuff. Like rings. And dresses. And dates. Eep. At six months we already decided that we're going to go get cookies and slushies and refuse eye contact or acknowledgment of wtf we're doing. As much as we toss around civil ceremonies and eloping, the religious aspect is important to us and our families, and... ugh, why why whyyyy are weddings so freaking difficult?! Let's just put on some nice clothes and sign some papers and take some pictures and eat. I think we're annoying my mom with our ambivalence. She's also really stressed out about the financial situation at home, which isn't helping.

I'm almost done unpacking. Lena has her cat tower back, and she chastised me soundly for about an hour for depriving her. She also screeched at me while I took a shower because she was convinced that I was going to die. Crazy cat. Once the maintenance guy files down my closet door, the rest of it can get put away. Once my dryer works, I can start exercising again. That is on freaking hold until I can wash nasty sweaty clothes.

This is real. This isn't going away. This is real. Everything is weird and awesome.