Dropped the car off at the mechanic this morning for its' winter special oil change plus to be ready for the long trip to St. Louis. I can't believe we are going to drive for 10+ hours in about a week. There's just been so much mental upheavel with the moving. I'm not a quick adjuster, but I think this first week in the new place has been going well. My head needs a little time to sort it out.

The cable is up and running, although apparently if I had just checked I would have discovered it was still up from the previous tenant. Doh! Actually, I am glad not to be stealing cable right now. I feel I should try to be as honest as possible lately. Despite knowing that cable is a total racket, I don't want to steal it. Does that make any sense?

I finally cooked in the new place last night on our skinny dorm stove. A Guy-Crosslin classic, pasta carbonara with peas. Since I cooked, Shannon loaded the dishwasher. Oh lordy, how I love having a dishwasher. The first few times we ran it, I forgot how loud they are as they cycle through a load. But last night, while watching TV, the sounds receded into the background just as they did my entire childhood. New place is spoiling me rotten, and it's awesome.

Tonight, I will be tackling the washing machine. It's a Danby twin tub portable machine. This means it has one tub for washing and one for spinning. It seems to require a bit of human intervention at each stage, so that'll be an adjustment. I have high hopes for it though, not only for not needing quarters except for the big blankets, but for getting into the big world of felting my knitted goods.