notes from (another) winter wonderland.

well, technically, it's the same winter wonderland it's been all winter long, but perhaps the final weekend wonderland i'll spend in the frozen tundra?

after all, it's on, y'all. the amazingly good-looking and fun gay couple who put a bid on the house mere hours after looking at it the first time (they were actually the fourth group to tour the house, a mere four days after it was listed!) are going to buy the house! happy happy joy. i'd totally resigned myself to the fact that some crappy landlord would buy the house, cut it up into a zillion little crappy apartments, and all the things i love about this house (the original woodwork, the leaded glass window in the dining room, the screened-in front porch - picture here, looking eastward) would be lost. but x is a college town. my house is on the edge of campus. as you all know, my neighbors are mostly college students (shocked to learn this? have you not read all the entries about hot tubs-in-driveways and awesomely bad band practices?). a landlord buying it would not be surprising.

but.

super cuties came in, fell in love with the house, will buy it. it's actually quite lovely to realize that the people buying your house, esp. your very first house, will love it as much as you do. sniffle. is inga getting all soft and sentimental? sadly, yes.

but i digress.

so the house is selling. over the weekend we had a crap load of nastiness ~ snow, then some rain (and even thunder...weird, weird, weird), then lots of slush, then more snow, then ice. now? it's snowing again. but it's 8:30 in the morning, i'm having a cup of coffee, sitting on my couch in my jams, watching the snow. why? because inga's done with work! friday was my last day at the university. i thought i'd have much more angst about leaving this place i've been for six and a half years. i thought i'd feel sniffly about working with my last students. i thought the idea of leaving academia would be heart-wrenching. and you know what? not so much.

now comes the big fun: packing. my new job is paying for movers, but i've decided to do the packing myself, along with ena's help. she's a master packer. we moved a lot when holden and i were growing up, so ena packs like a rock star. but, yeah, vivian and i can take long dog walks in the snow and slush. i can pack at my (somewhat) leisure. i can meet friends for cocktails and wine. i can totally bribe people to help pack boxes - after all, i'm still in a college town for the present, a place where free booze goes a long way in enticing people to lend a girl a hand.

so what will i miss about x?

believe it or not, a few things. but i'll get back to y'all on that. must pour more coffee, stretch a bit, watch the post-oscar fashion reports.