Cross your fingers.

Marie shared these pictures with me from my birthday, and they've been nice to hold on to. Spontaneously moving was extremely difficult and nobody wants to pay me to be smart. I'm starting to scrape the bottom of the job market peanut butter jar, I have two weeks left to find something, anything. I think when I do get hired my first day off will be spent back at Linvilla, eating fried oreos.

Josh's birthday a month ago was excellent. I'd say it's unbelievable that he's sixteen already, but frankly i feel twenty-nine. Especially when I hang out with high schoolers for two days. It was super fun though. I want to be in the marching band really, really badly.

Friday night that weekend was a big rivalry football game, so Friday Night Flights at the local news station sportscaster came by in a helicopter early and talked about the excitement of the game while the marching band played behind him. Then we sat on the last row of the band during the game and I got to enjoy their incidental music for the first time. Like "There's a flag on the play/There's a flag on the play" and "Rumble!/Rumble!" Katie, Mom and I shivered in the stadium with popcorn and hot coffee. I booed and cheered with rowdy seniors and excitable grandfathers. It was great. I'd go back to high school if it were a public one.

Saturday was Josh's dance party. Below are some of my favorite moments:

Josh orchestrating his own happy birthday song.

Teenybopper line dancing is back in?

Mom and Ray dancing.

Me and Katie and Josh, which reminds me a lot of this picture:

We are finally settled in the new place. More pictures can be found here. This first is part of the studio, featuring this year's halloween costumes (Galactus and Land Shark, respectively.) The pets are very happy, and the apartment still feels huge, even with all our books. Having a designated studio is so great, and we have a kitchen again instead of a kitchenette. The kitchen isn't really a huge upgrade, but it has it's own area and doesn't spill into the living room. There is laundry and storage in the basement, and so far zero crazy neighbors. I'm having fun exploring the neighborhood, which was mostly built in the 1890s. The houses all have weird expansions and strange rehabs. Walking the dog is our own architectural walking tour of what to do and not to do when fixing a super old house. After many maintenance calls and one very long 12 hour day of scrubbing and painting, we are completely ready to unload the old apartment. Cross your fingers.