Making a rented house a home <3
We moved in 16 days ago. Rain delays from DC meant that we didn't get in until 2 am and had to move the next morning at 7:45. It took days for me to stop being sleepy from that, even though I know that's kind of ridiculous, since I wasn't doing any of the actual moving. We're finally almost entirely unpacked and have gotten a fair amount of decorating done. We still need to buy a dining room set (our one big non-IKEA purchase) and hang pictures, but the house is starting to look like ours.
I love my new house. It was really, really hard to find a good place in the area- everything here is controlled by realtors, who charge you a full month's rent for a fee. But my dad knew someone whose son was moving out of this place, so we got an in with the landlady. The house is beautiful. It's so beautiful and well taken care of that I'm freaked out I'm not going to treat it right. Today is my big housecleaning day before classes start next week. I've mopped the entire house with wood soap (it's all hardwood floors) and done the kitchen. The bathroom's up next. But I'm not the world's best housekeeper yet, so I keep hoping I'm doing it right. Right now I'm in nesting mode- I love cleaning it, and putting things away, and decorating. We'll see how that changes when I start classes.
I haven't done much the past two weeks, just settling in, unpacking, and reading. I'm almost done with Anna Karenina and have been reading some lit crit to wake my brain up (when I went to the English Department to turn in my fellowship form, I discovered the "Take a book, leave a book" shelf and borrowed some early Elaine Showalter). Michael works from home every day, but we've been spending our evenings cooking and watching "Mildred Pierce" and "Game of Thrones." It's very quiet and relaxing, but not so much that I'm bored yet. We spent a lot of time with his friend Herbert, who is fabulous and keeps inviting us over for homecooked food. She's a sweetheart and such a good friend to us. We were thinking of going to his parents' or elsewhere for the long weekend, but didn't get it together, so I think we will spend some time exploring Boston. We've been exploring Medford/Somerville and campus a lot, as well as Kendall Square (where MIT is, and where Michael might work from if he decides he wants a shared workspace rather than his home office here), but we haven't really spent a lot of time in Boston proper.
Orientation is tomorrow and Wednesday, then classes start next Tuesday. I am extremely excited to start, though I know I'll miss this quiet when it begins.
I love living with him. It makes me very happy, though I know it's extremely early days yet and we have a lot of both good and bad times ahead.
-Sarah
I love my new house. It was really, really hard to find a good place in the area- everything here is controlled by realtors, who charge you a full month's rent for a fee. But my dad knew someone whose son was moving out of this place, so we got an in with the landlady. The house is beautiful. It's so beautiful and well taken care of that I'm freaked out I'm not going to treat it right. Today is my big housecleaning day before classes start next week. I've mopped the entire house with wood soap (it's all hardwood floors) and done the kitchen. The bathroom's up next. But I'm not the world's best housekeeper yet, so I keep hoping I'm doing it right. Right now I'm in nesting mode- I love cleaning it, and putting things away, and decorating. We'll see how that changes when I start classes.
I haven't done much the past two weeks, just settling in, unpacking, and reading. I'm almost done with Anna Karenina and have been reading some lit crit to wake my brain up (when I went to the English Department to turn in my fellowship form, I discovered the "Take a book, leave a book" shelf and borrowed some early Elaine Showalter). Michael works from home every day, but we've been spending our evenings cooking and watching "Mildred Pierce" and "Game of Thrones." It's very quiet and relaxing, but not so much that I'm bored yet. We spent a lot of time with his friend Herbert, who is fabulous and keeps inviting us over for homecooked food. She's a sweetheart and such a good friend to us. We were thinking of going to his parents' or elsewhere for the long weekend, but didn't get it together, so I think we will spend some time exploring Boston. We've been exploring Medford/Somerville and campus a lot, as well as Kendall Square (where MIT is, and where Michael might work from if he decides he wants a shared workspace rather than his home office here), but we haven't really spent a lot of time in Boston proper.
Orientation is tomorrow and Wednesday, then classes start next Tuesday. I am extremely excited to start, though I know I'll miss this quiet when it begins.
I love living with him. It makes me very happy, though I know it's extremely early days yet and we have a lot of both good and bad times ahead.
-Sarah