Monday, May 23, 2011

A New Family Member, and Emptying the Fridge

One of my least favorite things about the move was the overwhelming feeling of insecurity.  Having no idea if what we were doing was going to be the right choice and the sheer size of this possibly wrong decision was pretty overwhelming, and here it is again, albeit on a much smaller scale.  When we landed in Sacramento we had to find an apartment pretty quickly, since we were living out of a Motel 6, so we were not really picky.  We had no idea where in the area we would want to be, so we chose our apartment based solely on the cost of rent (very low) and the length of lease (very short). 

Meet Murtry, the newest member of our tribe

It has been some time since our lease was up and we have been looking for a new apartment for months, though somewhat lazily.  When we got our tax return back our search got a little more serious, and then our family expanded.  About two weeks ago we adopted/inherited a dog.  This was not at all a planned thing, so we were completely unprepared.  One of the first things I said to my husband when he told me that he was bringing home this dog was that we had to find a larger apartment by the end of the month.  I cannot in good conscience keep a dog (though he is small) in our one bedroom apartment. 
So our search has had a bit of fire put under it.  We have looked at tons of apartments in the last few weeks and none of them seemed to be right.  More than once we tried to convince ourselves to take apartments we didn’t want because they looked good on paper.  We tried making lists of all the things we want in an apartment and the more we looked the more realistic we had to become, with our price range there is only so much you can ask of an apartment. 
This might take a while
We have (hopefully) chosen an apartment that works, and as we wait to find out if our applications get approved the anxiety is building.  What if we are making the wrong choice?  Its main selling point for us was its location, walking distance to Rob’s job and the American River.  Since Rob and I share one car this is pretty huge for us and will relieve a lot of stress and gas money.  Though I know that we made a good choice I can’t stop having doubts, which get exasperated by well meaning folks that question whether we should continue looking for that perfect place. 
I can’t wait till we are actually in the apartment so that these doubts will be behind me, and I can start cooking and eating for real again.  We are currently trying to empty out the fridge/freezer/cabinets because I have a weird thing with moving food, of all the things we have to pack, carry and move I find food to be unnecessary.  So a lot of our meals are consisting of canned beans, frozen stocks and soups and root vegetables.  Though some are coming out great (I have plans tonight for a meal that I will tell you more about if it works) I hate to be so contained.
I-man is less than pleased with the new guys eating habits
Our new buddy seems to be thrilled with his new family, and has been eager to show us his love, which is pretty awesome.  I am confident our new home with more space and the river so close by will make him ( and us) happy, and though there will always be a mythical better choice over the horizon I am more than happy to end the search, and get on with things.  We did talk to the landlord this morning, who said that our credit looks great and as long as our current landlord says good things it is pretty much ours.  Keep your fingers crossed!

3 comments:

  1. good luck, jess. moves are scary and stressful but usually once you're in the new place, you wonder how you ever survived in the old one.

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  2. Welcome to Sacramento! I would love to meet you and show you my favorite farmers' markets or other food spots. If you're interested, send me an email: AwakeAtTheWhisk AT gmail DOT com.

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  3. I realized today that I haven't read your blog in what feels like ages. This is what happens when technology fails you and you lose all your RSS feeds. Though the fact that I am dependent on RSS feeds to keep up with my online reading is a tad bit perplexing. Se la vi, I am here again. I hope the application process was a success and if it wasn't then make a huge list of all the reasons the apartment was a bad choice.

    The real reason I realized I hadn't been to visit your blog for a while was I need inspiration for another foodie book. I've gone the last month or so without a good one. It's amazing how when I don't read food related books consistently the rest of my world seems to suffer. Do you ever feel like the words are food and when you don't get them you're starving? (I know I sound like a crazy woman.) Now I am re-reading Comfort Me With Apples, which though it is fabulous, I have read it several times. Ideas? Or perhaps I'll just start A Homemade Life again. Perhaps in the middle. I always pick it up when I'm feeling a little off.

    p.s. The new addition is terribly cute!

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