Happy New Year!

"Those guys up there. They said they're not paying their rent."

It was the first of December, deep into the evening. Our landlord had texted us to let us know he'd be coming by ... two hours ago. By the time the knock sounded at our door, it was nearly our bedtime (okay, would have been nearly our bedtime if we were responsible adults) and we were honestly starting to get a bit worried. He's a nice guy. When he finally showed up, he was very distressed.

We live in a fourplex: two upstairs suites, two basements. We had the latter. And while we were reasonably happy with where we'd lived for the past seven and a half years, we knew the time was coming when we wanted a little bit more. Y'know, like a suite with ninety-degree angles. And a bathtub instead of just a shower. 

And while I secretly hoped a top suite would come available, it didn't seem like it was going to happen. Upstairs are a lovely couple who we get along with well enough that we feed each other's cats when the other is away. And Upstairs Next Door was a family that frankly, seemed pretty entrenched. Even if there were ... Issues. 

Yeah. Issues. Polite as I may be on here, you can be damn sure that those things will make it into my fiction. But now is not the time to dwell on drug dealers or obnoxious DJs, or people who threatened my friends for parking in "their" spot when in fact street parking is public.

So when Mr. Landlord came by late that night, he was panicked. And just like that, in part sympathy and part selfishness, we agreed to take the place.

By the fifteenth.

The next three weeks were a blur of packing, moving, feeding friends who helped us move coffee and doughnuts and then pizza and beer, then finally, unpacking. We are still not entirely unpacked, but by the 21st we kinda hit a wall and we needed to take a holiday break.

Which was great, because I came down with a nasty cold that still hasn't let up.

This whole moving caper came right on the heels of what is probably my last NaNo (long story). Which I successfully completed, in two weeks, because I came away from this year's SIWC with some important requests, and had to make some equally-important revisions before I could send stuff to agents. I also wrote a short story during Novemer, which felt so refreshing to do.

My point? The last few months have been insane. And that's not even factoring in Stuff. Which is still a problem because ... *mumblemumblemumblePeople*.

But one of my resolutions this year is to stop putting up with certain things in my life, and to make more space and time for myself. So I just wanted to say hi, Happy New Year, and yes, I'm still around. With hopefully some great things to share in the weeks to come.