Alive and Semi-Well in Lexington, KY

I am finally getting the chance to write a post after our extremely stressful move after the sale of our home.  I once again want to thank everyone who prayed for me & offered suggestions regarding nice places to live.

Apparently God did not want us to leave Kentucky!  We looked for a nice rental in 12+ different states, traveling to 3 of them more than once during our search.  We had been misled in one way or another with every home we viewed, & our closing date kept getting closer & closer.  I knew that God had something in mind for us, but Kentucky???  Really???  I had to laugh, but I am also giving Him much praise & thanks.  He blessed us with a beautiful townhome in Lexington which is about an hour north of The Devil's Playground.  It is a very nice area, & we actually have friendly neighbors!  I mean, it's unreal!  Two couples who live here have already come over to introduce themselves & welcome us to the street, & whenever we are walking in the area & pass by someone ... or we're sitting out in front of the townhome taking a bit of a break & someone passes by ... they actually say hello!  Sometimes they even add a sentence or two about the weather or some such thing!  I feel as if I have stepped through the looking glass & found myself in Home Town America or something!  We are within walking distance of various stores & restaurants, but our townhome is on a quiet, tree-lined street which is only traveled by the people who live here.  There is also a nice walking trail nearby.  I have two doctors here who are very attentive & I was saddened about having to leave their care, but now I can keep them ... at least for another year   : )

Living in the townhome is a bit of a challenge.  The kitchen cabinets & drawers are very small, so I have had to decide what things are absolutely necessary for daily life, unpack them, & keep the other things packed.  John & I are still moving things in, taking stock, & moving things out again into one of three storage units ... all of which are still filled to some capacity.  We will keep one to house the things we can't or won't be using while living here.  We ended up making a total of 6 trips to these storage units in a good sized U-Haul ... 5 of those trips in one weekend!  After closing I was feeling as if I had literally aged about 10 years.  It is only now that I am feeling somewhat back to my old self.

Although the townhome is beautiful, it was not well taken care of by the previous tenants.  They had been the only tenants & had moved in 4 years ago when the townhome was brand new.  I do not understand how two mature adults could be so thoughtless about the property of someone else.  Our landlord did not think it was necessary to repaint despite the fact that there is a multitude of damage & marks on the walls & woodwork.  I have been going around with a Magic Eraser to try to get at least some of the marks off.  She said she had the carpets cleaned, but they do not smell clean, & the nap is still smooshed down where the prior tenants' furniture had been, so I question if she had them cleaned or not.  I'm guessing it's the latter.  She also told us that she hired professional cleaners, but I have had to clean everything.  In some cases this has been pretty yucky work.  There are plumbing problems which she needs to address, broken refrigerator trays, & a few other things ... but all in all, it is a lovely home in a safe, friendly area & we are very, very blessed to be here. Thank you Lord!!!

During our moving experience, I was bitten 4 separate times by 4 separate spiders.  I do not like spiders.  Just typing the word makes me shudder.  I did not see them when they bit me so I have no idea what kind they were, but I know they were nasty because the redness & soreness & itching lasted a long time.  One bite was on the inside of my left thigh, & another on the front of that same thigh.  One was on my left waist, & the last one in the middle of my back.  I still have scars/scabs remaining from 3 of them.  The one on the front off my left thigh was/is really weird. The redness & swelling spread around the bite as big as my hand, & the left side of my thigh became somewhat numb.  I still have some numbness there. Ugh.  John told me numerous times that I should make a doctor appointment, but I didn't have the time to spare.

I have not been able to do any knitting or stitching of any kind for the past week or so.  I had been working on a shawl & had reached the border which was a simple k2,p2 pattern.  I was able to do this with just the ceiling light.  I have now reached the point where I need to do a bind off I have never done before, & without my Daylight magnifying lamp, this is impossible.  I have a lamp, but nowhere to attach it right now.  I ordered a floor stand for it before we moved here, but it arrived poorly packaged & damaged. Later this week we are having some furniture delivered including an end table which is crafted perfectly for my light   : )

And speaking of furniture, I think I may have mentioned in a pre-move post that the buyers of our home wanted to purchase most of our furniture, & we let them.  Sadly, we have been having to sleep on the floor ... the questionably cleaned carpeted floor ... for the past two weeks. I have been so tired by the end of the day that I could probably sleep on a bed of nails, but you should see me trying to get up in the mornings! I'm kind of like the "I've fallen & I can't get up" lady from the TV commercials years ago.  We purchased a mattress set last week but it was damaged when it was delivered.  We are now awaiting a new shipment to come to the store & they will then supply us with a new set.  I'm hoping it's sooner rather than later   : )

I guess that's all I have to say for now.  My thanks to those of you who have emailed me wondering if I am okay.  I am ... barely ... lol!  I know I will be doing better once we are more settled in.  I have to admit that I am sadly having thoughts as I'm unpacking that run along the lines of "In 10 more months I will be packing again!"  Hopefully things will be less stressful then   : )