(those of you on Facebook got the moment-by-moment version of this…you lucky dogs)

  • August 31: postpartum hyperthyroid sets in (on my birthday), making me think I’m having a 5-day-long panic attack. No fun. Takes a couple weeks to get my medication (was previously hypothyroid) sorted out. Spend several weeks feeling panicky and stressed.
  • September: we suddenly decide–surprise!–let’s move back to HomeState. We give notice on the apartment (to be out Oct. 11) and start packing. Again. September is All Packing All the Time. Oh, except for the putting together and submitting of 12 job applications.
  • October 10: guys we’ve never met come and put all of our earthly belongings on a truck. Will we ever see it again? (This stuff *may* be being delivered today, November 28. My fingers are crossed.)
  • October 10: we finish cleaning the now-empty apartment and drive 3 hours to GB’s parents’ house with 2 cats (2 in in-laws’ cars) and baby.
  • October 10-21: staying with GB’s parents/grandparents. ‘Nuff said.
  • October 20: GB leaves with the 4 cats to drive the 2400 miles to HomeState.
  • October 21: Waylon and I fly to HomeState, to my sister’s house (where my mom also lives).
  • October 21: GB arrives safely in HomeState, thank goodness.
  • October 23: we drive up to Hometown (3 hours) to see friends and look at apartments.
  • October 24: back to my sister’s/mom’s house in Capital City.
  • October 24-31: staying at my sister’s. My dad is also in town, and my mom lives there, so it’s a very full house. My sister and her husband (and their adorable son) are saints who never once say, “Uh, so, you’ve been here awhile, huh?”
  • October 24-31: prep for 5 interviews upcoming at Big Damn Conference. Oh, and Waylon and I both get sick. Waylon’s first cold! Good times.
  • October 31: drive 6 hours with GB and Waylon to Big Damn Conference (have I mentioned that Waylon DOES NOT like to be in the car?)
  • October 31-November 3: Big Damn Conference. I have 5 interviews: 2 on Saturday, 2 on Sunday, 1 on Monday. I completely lose my voice and can’t talk at all, starting on Friday night. 5 interviews completed in a breathy whisper. 2 go all right; 1 is not so bad; 2 are miserable, horrifying experiences.
  • November 3: drive 6 hours back to Capital City
  • November 4: election stress. Yes we can! Whoohooo!
  • November 4-10: still staying with my sister’s family. Did I mention she’s a saint?
  • November 10: drive 3 hours to Hometown with 4 cats, baby, and 2 adults in the car. Move into Skycat and the Yogini’s house, which they have-just that morning-vacated for 2 months. A few hours after we get in, GB drives 1 1/2 hours each way to pick up his mom at the airport.
  • November 10-19: GB’s mom is here with us. My mom comes up for 3 days too. OMG Moms overload. We find an apartment in the upstairs apartment at Crazy? or Just Eccentric? Landlady’s house. I get a call that I have a campus interview at Southern State University, at the end of this month. Yippee! I mean, oh my god.
  • November 19-28: frantic preparation ensues. Job talk written (and not yet practiced); 3 sample syllabi prepared; school madly researched (not enough, more to do today); faculty publications read (mostly, more to skim); interview questions/answers prepped (not even started). The Yogini comes back home to knit for three days, and I cannot resist having meals and hanging out with her. I do not regret Yogini time, but I am still woefully unprepared.
  • November 28: our stuff is supposed to arrive on the truck today. Will it or won’t it? Too early to tell, but if it does, there goes today, as we try to get it all moved into our new apartment.
  • November 30: GB flies to Southern State at noon. Waylon and I follow on a separate flight 4 hours later. I am scheduled to have dinner with faculty at 7pm.
  • December 1: day-long campus visit: interviews and meals with faculty, students, and administration, and my (first ever! O.M.F.G.) job talk (at 2pm). GB, Waylon and I all fly back home (together!) at 7pm.
  • December 2: we actually move into our new place.
  • December 3: we will be (probably) in our new apartment. I will sleep for approximately a week.

Dudes. Seriously. I haven’t relaxed since mid-August. I need a break.