Nicole and I have been in our new house for about a month and a half but truly alone with it only for about a month now. It's been a challenging month of finding our bearings and adjusting to what it means to own something this big and needy. This is a forty year old house after all and it does need special attention ( Read more... )

Another birthday is here and this one is the last of my thirties. Next year, I will be forty, which I think is traditionally the "Over the Hill" birthday celebrated when ones life is now on the downstroke heading towards retirement and oblivion. I hardly feel forty let alone thirty-nine let alone thirty. I remember when my mother turned forty and ( Read more... )

Another month has passed during this strange time of COVID-19. I'm still working from home and we're very thankful that I still have a job and we're relatively unscathed. Nicole has been venturing out into the world more and more and although she's unhappy and uncomfortable with wearing a mask, she's not letting it stop her from getting things done ( Read more... )

Today is our forty-third day of self-isolation due to the ongoing coronavirus pandemic. It's been six weeks since Nicole and I left the apartment for more than local walks. What a fascinating month it's been ( Read more... )

It's funny how after at least four months of this situation being in the news, I'm finally just now getting around to discussing it in my journal. As of right now, the Coronavirus pandemic is ramping up in America and could be everywhere within a matter of weeks. March has been an entertaining month watching society grind to a halt. To slow the ( Read more... )

A few weeks ago, Nicole spotted a house for sale in our target city that she immediately fell for. Within a single day and before we could even inquire about a private tour, someone else put in an offer. It was kind of a crushing moment. However, something funny happened and a week later, the house was back on the market. Our realtor assumed there ( Read more... )

Made it to 38! Hard to believe! Wasn't a bad birthday for Nicole and me. Quiet. Just a couple days of being together and pigging out on cheesecake. Life goes on. I remember when I was a kid and people were having "over-the-hill"-themed birthday parties for relatives who'd hit 40 and that seemed so far away to me. Like I'd never actually get there ( Read more... )

Every month it seems I mention the North Dakota family trust farm sale but every month it's like nothing's actually happening. That was true for June, which seemed to come and go like a bolt. We're still waiting on the interested party to send us paperwork and contracts detailing the sale. It was more frustrating months ago but now I think Nicole ( Read more... )

The family trust's farm sale we were hoping would happen so Nicole and I could finally begin house-hunting will hopefully continue on soon. Earlier this month we finally heard from the interested party and they said new contracts will be on their way soon. It's been hard to have to have such ambiguity hanging in the air but there's nothing we can ( Read more... )

Been a bizarre June month. For months, there's been a group of people plotting to move my software department to the basement level below the cleanroom at the factory I work at. For the last 18 months, we've been in a quiet corner of the ground floor just outside the cleanroom, which allowed us to pass equipment back and forth with ease. Sure, it ( Read more... )