Summer To Do List

1. Finish school
2. Pack up classroom
3. Meet next year's students 
4. Write a book
5. Entertain company
6. Visit family
7. Almost get stuck in Canada 
8. Write more book
9. Take a class
10. Find a place to live
11. Take another class
12. Continue writing book
13. Plan new curriculum
14. Pack up apartment
15. Scare the cat
16. Moving day

So...we're moving tomorrow. The majority of our big stuff is packed, and now we're running around trying to find space for items that don't pack nicely with others. I'm gulping down my last coffee before I tackle the last of our kitchen utensils. Phil is unplugging and packing our electronic possessions. Lucy is hiding under the bed. Tomorrow morning, we'll pack up our U-Haul -possibly earning some frequent hauler points- and head south.

Our new dwelling is a two-bedroom apartment on the second floor of an actual apartment building. We didn't realize how rare an actual apartment building was in Vermont until we went looking. Housing hunting was the most stressful part of our summer. There were not a lot of available options, and we received responses to maybe 50% of our queries. We saw some pretty interesting (sketchy) places and were relieved when we found our apartment. We'll be less than 5 miles from my new school (Twinfield Union School), maybe a mile and a half from the center of Plainfield, about 20 minutes from Montpelier and Barre, and 40ish minutes from Burlington. Our building is one of 5 in a quiet, wooded area behind Goddard College. We hear Goddard is the last great hippie school in Vermont, so we're pretty excited. And by we I mean I am excited.

Before all the stress of moving, we had a pretty busy summer. Jantrey came from Colorado for a week, and she and I had a lovely time checking out new areas of Vermont. We also went wine tasting in Canada. Right over the border, there is a wine road with fifteen different wineries. In two days, we got all but two. It was delicious. We also spent a week in Michigan with the family. Phil's sister was still in Arkansas, but we did see everyone else in our immediate family. (Question: Do your parents and siblings still count as your immediate family after you get married and start your own?) It was so nice to see everyone, and Phil got to enjoy a couple days of Schaap summer on Glen Lake. 

Phil is writing every day we're not moving, and his story is amazing. He came out of the office the other day laughing his pants off about something he wrote the day before. He is currently pacing around the apartment reorganizing boxes, so I feel like I should go now. 

Happy August!