Domestic Geek

I've been having a hard time sleeping lately. I know a good portion of that is my mind swirling with everything that needs to get done if this move actually happens. The major reason is that I'm still hating my job and need to find something else to do with my life. I'm also thinking it may be due to my increased intake of sugar and caffeine (to stay awake) lately. Danged vicious cycle, I tell you, since the sugar and caffeine also keep me from sleeping.

I've been self-medicating the anger and irritation with chocolate, candy and sunflower seeds (cracking seeds is therapeutic when deep down you want to crack open stupid heads). I've been adding chocolate milk powder and sugar to my morning coffee. I've been drinking a cold Via (again with chocolate milk powder to make it drinkable) when I get home from mid-day shopping on the weekends. I've had way too many chai frappucinos to count in the last couple of months. The almost solid week of traveling last week with bottled, sweetened teas to drink was not good for my system, either.

I've decided I really should cut out caffeine completely, but I turn into a raging beyatch when I try to go cold turkey, so baby steps will have to do. This week I'm starting by cutting out the morning coffee and just sticking with cold, unsweetened iced tea. I'll gradually start drinking more plain water instead of the tea. I'm hoping to wean myself off my caffeine by the end of the month and see where I'm at then. I know I haven't been drinking enough fluids (especially plain water) lately. I've been getting headaches and retaining fluid like crazy.

Well, we'll see how it goes.

I hope that's what South Dakota residents call themselves. I searched online and didn't find anything similar to the disagreement as to what those in Colorado are called (I myself prefer Coloradoan, but I digress).

The week prior to Memorial Day, Marcus and I made another quick trip up to Hill City, South Dakota. While the previous trips have all been about sight-seeing and biking, we had another agenda. Marcus wrote in great detail about it on his blog.

A quick summary: we may soon move our house to Hill City.

Why now? Well, the park owners are threatening to raise lot rent again (under the guise of high water usage). If such an increase goes into effect, the lot rent will be more than the house payment. Also, with the construction going on around here with the Fitzsimons complex, traffic is going to increase substantially. Access to our street was cut off by something they're doing over there, so the park owners converted the empty lot next to us into a street. Also, Aurora has made it no secret that they want to do away with mobile home parks. It's probably only a matter of time before we'd be forced out anyway. Finally, it's even getting harder to put an older manufactured home anywhere, even Hill City. If we don't do this now, we may never get it onto a permanent foundation.

Anyway, we'll know by the end of the month if we can do this. Sadly, we'll have to treat it as a vacation home at first. While I can probably find something up there to replace my pitiful salary, it won't be so easy for Marcus. First things first, though.

So, here's a little sneak peek of our (hopefully) new home:



Keeping fingers, eyes and toes crossed for the next three weeks...