Because

we haven't tested our relationship enough in the past year--we've decided to test it some more. We're moving. Again. Same town, but new neighborhood. We're very excited. We'll be downtown, yet right next to one of the biggest parks in PDX.

We will both be able to walk to work, which to me means--FREE AT LAST, FREE AT LAST. FREE AT LAST FROM THE BUS. I could go on and on about how I despise the bus. I can't count how many mornings I have carefully timed my arrival at the bus stop so that I will have to wait one minute in the (driving rain/freezing cold/insert some unpleasant weather event here) only to see the bus blow by 4 minutes early---meaning that I have to stand outside in the driving rain/freezing cold for 24 minutes. The bus smells--especially when it is wet outside, which I have come to realize is basically all winter long in Oregon. Not to mention the weirdos that ride the bus. You're probably getting the idea by now.....anyhow, I'm very excited to walk to work.

Our new place is very dog friendly, and has a locked courtyard--all the units are around a central courtyard, where residents sit outside during nice weather with their dogs running loose.

So, we're gearing up for all the relationship-testing things that a move provides. At least this time, we will not have to drive our car up onto a car-tow thing behind a uhaul. We've started packing stuff up (and kind of downsizing--we'll have to put some of our stuff in storage. Today, as I was going through Laura's stuff (she organizes nothing, I do it all for her), I came across what looked like a small rock. I took it into the living room, where Laura was sitting with her cat. I asked her what it was. She looked at the small object in my hand with horror, plastering herself back against the couch. She finally agreed to look at the object, and identified it as a "mineral," some special mineral that is only found in Australia. She told me that when I originally held it out, she though that it was a piece of cat vomit......because I usually carry that around in my bare hands.

We also realized this weekend that weird is relative. Laura has some friends that are really into video games---which we both thought was a little weird. No more---those guys seem totally normal compared to the batshit crazy dolly parton fans that we watched on a documentary about fans of the great Dolly Parton. Don't get me wrong--I'm a big fan of that TN girl myself, but these people....OMG. Never seen anything like it. One of the rabid fans spends his days carving Dolly Parton dolls. Nearly all of them have Dolly's signature inked somewhere on their bodies. The walls of all their homes are plastered with Dolly memorabilia. One moved to Nashville to be "closer to Dolly." W.E.I.R.D.