Moving update...

I had a great Christmas with the family and it was nice to take a break from packing, but yesterday after Christmas dinner and a short nap I picked it back up again around 5pm and packed until well after midnight.

When you live in a place for eight years, you accumulate a lot of stuff. I'm proud of myself for the "editing" I've done in the past few weeks - three trips with full carloads to the thrift store and giving away lots of stuff to friends and family. But every time I turn around there's another closet full of stuff, things that need to be washed before they're packed, and for some reason, more books. I had probably 400 books on three bookshelves and stashed away in closets and in stacks on tables and nightstands.

I know I'm going to be happy once I get to Austin and unpack and have a lighter load, but the culling has been crazy-making.

Today is the day we move the large furniture items into the UNITS Storage container and a bunch of friends are showing up in a couple of hours. I'm drinking coffee and have already been to the store this morning to buy water and energy drinks for everyone. I went to bed last night around 2am, woke up at 5:30 and couldn't go back to sleep, so I'm running on caffeine.

I'm hitting the road for Austin on January 3rd and will spend the next week living out of my guest room with my laptop and the TV I'm not taking with me. Lots of errands to do next week too - taking the car in for an oil change and checkup, cleaning the house, change of address, paying bills, wrapping up some work projects, and probably a dozen other things that I can't remember right now.

If I can get through today, it should be cake from here. I'm anxious to get on the road and get settled into my new place in Austin, but I haven't even left yet and already miss Charleston. I took a nap on the couch yesterday afternoon and realized it would be the last time I napped on my comfy couch in my lovely living room with the TV on low in the background and the dog curled up on my feet. The next couch nap I have will be in Austin. Weird to think that I'll be gone in 8 days!

Wish me luck and energy to get through today on 3 and a half hours of sleep (I tend to cry when I'm tired, so I'm keeping my fingers crossed that I don't burst into tears at some point).

And I'm already missing everyone here. If I haven't sent you an update, my new email address is kellylovejohnson[AT]gmail.com (no more Mindspring!), my cell number is the same, and if you want my address in Austin, send me an email. You can also find me on Facebook (link to the right).

Could have used another half-hour...

My sisters called this morning and woke me up because they were on their way to my house to pick up some bookshelves and other things I'm getting rid of in preparation for the big move. They waited until they were on Rutledge to call, which was actually good because I was in the middle of a dream.

Those of you who know me know I have a thing about hearing other people's dreams and telling other people about my own. My theory is that dreams are only interesting to the people who have them, unless they're premonitions that come true later. So I'm breaking my own rule. The dream their call interrupted: I was in a big hotel (probably in DC) following Barack Obama around because I was working for him in some capacity. We had dinner together and he was charming and funny and I found myself attracted to him (sorry, Michelle...I'm not a husband-coveter in real life). We were talking politics and television and literature over dinner and at some point it became clear that we were sharing a hotel room. I politely explained as much as I would enjoy a tryst with our President, that I'd rather have him use his time wisely - say, on something like public option health insurance. As I waited for him to consider his options, my sisters called and woke me up.

I know this comes from the weeks I've spent trying to find private insurance because my COBRA is up at the end of the month. I hoped a year ago when Obama was elected that there would be a public option for the self- and under-employed by the time my COBRA ran out. After calling more than 30 insurers in the past couple of months and getting quotes, spending more time on the phone and applying to various companies online, I realize that (a) it's not going to be cheap (the least expensive I can find is $400 a month, which is close to what I'm paying for COBRA anyway), and (b) I am unlikely to find an insurer who will cover anything diabetes-related for a period of time (6 months or a year is the best I've found, forever is the worst).

Also, weird that I was attracted to our President because, even though I really like tall men with his build, I find his ears slightly off-putting. And there's the matter of his wife and children. I tend to put men with girlfriends and wives in the same category as my female and gay male friends: totally non-sexual.

The bad news is that Barack was just starting to talk about a public option for health insurance when my cell phone rang and woke me up. I'm wondering if I would have gotten any dream advice or direction. I could use some.

The good news is that my sisters carted away two large bookshelves, a corner shelf, an ottoman, and a large planter, so now I have more space for boxes.

In case you haven't heard...

I'm moving to Austin the first week of January. I haven't had time to Twitter, much less blog, but wanted to give everyone an update in case there's someone I forgot to tell! My new email is kellylovejohnson[AT]gmail.com and my cell is the same.

More details later...right now I'm multi-tasking (working, packing, donating, packing, working, and sleeping somewhere in between). And having the occasional tiny anxiety attack about being buried in boxes, moving away from my family (something I haven't done since I was in my 20s), leaving my friends, and leaving a city I love so much.

Don't get me wrong; I'm excited about the move and the changes in my life, I'm just overwhelmed with how quickly time is passing. This time next month I will be in Austin, hopefully mostly unpacked and settled in. And missing all of you.