I’ve had a lot of moves in my lifetime. I was talking to my mom last month and for the first time I sat down with her and counted through all of the moves I have made since leaving home at 18. I don’t count that initial move out of the family home. I’ve moved 18 times. Yikes! I knew it had been often, but I had never stopped to think about how often.

I moved around a lot in college. I moved at least once a year as a young adult to find better apartments and neighborhoods. While I was married, we moved a lot for his job. I think perhaps that Gainesville was my longest stretch at a little over three years.

I need to put down some serious root. I want to. I really want to. I wan to live in a house for 10 years, 20 years, even until the end of my days. I’m OK with inviting some monotony into my life. Nonetheless, I know I’ve certainly got some more moves in my future and that’s OK as well.

I like to get at least three quotes when I move and I try to work with local people. Even if you go with a national moving entity, you still need to work with local agents. The times I have been forced to work with offices a thousand miles away are the times I have had bad moving experiences.

I suggest going with a company local to where your move originated from, for the best service. If you are moving from Chicago, find chicago movers. If you are moving from Tampa, find Tampa movers. Working with someone local to your point of origin means they can come out and actually see what you need to move. Your quote will be more accurate. You see my point?

Find a company that will do both local and long-distance moves. Find a company who has been in business a number of years and be ready to ask for references. I’m browsing the In & Out Moving and Storage website and I really like they the same company does both moves AND storage. I just moved all of my stuff into storage and my mover did not have a vested interest in how the stuff got packed into my unit. Having one company responsible for it all would have been fantastic. If they were local to my next destination, I would absolutely consider them. Even though they are not near my origin, the whole storage issue puts them in an attractive light for me.

OK, I’m done talking about moving! I’d like to go one more year without having to pack up again!

I watched the Rock of Love finale. I started watching the show about 4 or 5 episodes ago, mostly as a way to be on the phone with my friend pfunk making snarky comments about Bret Michaels’ hair and the desperate ploys of the women. Tonight was no different. And while I am “happy” Bret chose the gal he chose, I still feel dirty just being privy to this man’s thought process as he decided what makes a good woman for companionship.

He’s absolutely not like the men I’ve dated. First, he wears more makeup than me. Second, because he appears to sit back and just let the women who get the most gah-gah over him win their way into top spots. It did look a teensy tiny like out of the final two, he chose the girl who put up more of a chase. Still, that’s not saying much.

I wish them both the best and now I am off to Google and see if they are even still dating. More than likely, the only search result for Bret will be for creepy home-made sex videos. Ew.

As I was standing in the kitchen chopping all kinds of fresh vegetable san herbs for a morning omelet, I once Again started to think about how attending a cooking school would have been something I think I really could have enjoyed, not to mention been very good at (for what it’s worth.) That is what usually gets me in here surfing the net, looking for culinary programs to see what kinds of options are out there. I’m over at http://www.tca.edu right now reading up on the degreed and certificate programs for Texas Culinary Academy in Austin.

I know I just finished up my big adventure this past summer. I went back to school and got all the classes I need to teach here in the state. And, I do want to work in education. Still, the basic motivation of someone who loves the colors, flavors, scents and textures of food would naturally bring me back time and time again to the dream of, in the very least, taking some advanced cooking classes.

Of course, right now it is just me and my daughter and she is not exactly a raging gourmet. She asks for macaroni and cheese and I make it from scratch with aged cheeses and herbs. Usually, she expresses disappointment, because all she really wanted was the orange stuff you make from the box. Once her palate is a little more sophisticated, I will go right back to the more elaborate dishes I used to prepare.

I’m happy to announce that Gigi is finally on a schedule for her mornings. Unfortunately, that means she wants to wake up super early every day, including weekends. *Yawn* I don’t want to discourage her pattern, so I do not insist she stay in bed. Nonetheless, I do lay there for a few minutes battling internally over the issue.

I got up, but I’m still harboring fantasies about my bed.

Now, the next part of this equation is to find a way for her to have more nights where she drops off to sleep between 8 and 9 p.m. As it stands, there are too many nights she is in bed by that time, but awake and singing and making shadow puppets until approximately 100 p.m. That ways means she is cranky the next morning. I’m not a natural morning person wither, so it makes for some unpleasant times.

We have our routine: the bath, the story, the sitar music. Nonetheless, if she does not feel sleepy, she fights it.