Six months down...

I really dislike overly used phrases.  When women come into my office after having a baby and start asking me if a reduced appetite is normal or pregnant women ask me why they are so weepy all of the sudden, I hate telling them, "It could just be hormones."  When moms come in with kids who eat like crazy one day and then pick at food the next day, I hate telling them, "Well, that is sometimes how two-year olds eat."  I don't know why it bothers me, I guess I just feel like I have a wide vocabulary and I should be using more of it instead of repeating the same several words over and over again.  Maybe I could say, "Well ma'am, in the first several days after the birth of your child, chemicals in the brain....." Yeah, even I get bored with those terms!  In any case, I am about to use another of my least favorite overused phrases: Time flies when you're having fun.  That's right, this Friday marks a momentous occasion: I will have lived in South Carolina for six months.

I'm not sure where all that time went.  On the one hand, it seems like I have been down here forever.  On the other hand, well, I have no idea how six months has gone by so quickly.  (Probably the same way almost a year has gone by since my college graduation and almost five years from my high school graduation!) So skipping over my blog's most overused phrases ("I haven't changed...I have changed...") I just want to dedicate this blog to everything that has happened in the last six months.

I learned that it takes one person a long time to go through certain supplies.  I have a bottle of hair conditioner that I bought two weeks before I left and it's still 1/4 full.   Just today I ran out of the cooking oil I bought the first day I was here.  

Friday evening I finally unpacked my last box.  Yes, 5 months and 3 weeks after I moved in, I unpacked my last box.  And inside that box were some decorations that I bought specifically for this apartment.  

I knew many years ago that I would be just fine living by myself.  Sometimes I enjoy the quiet and I do like to have things set up "my way."  That said, about a week ago I decided that I do need to eventually live with someone, because even with all my friends and co-workers it's just nice to have someone there with you at home, someone you can share with all the time.   

Since I now know that I can achieve even my most lofty dreams, I have decided my next dream is to live in my own house, specifically one not attached to someone else's house.  I try to give no thought to my upstairs neighbors, but every time I think I've gotten past their latest antics they up the ante.  Now they have a guitar.  And they like to sing.  On the patio.  At 12:30 a.m.

The women of the South have taught me that if you are over 18 and not in college or high school, you really should have no reason to not be married to/dating/living with someone.  And if you don't have children already, they will suggest you get started immediately, if not sooner.  One of my co-workers keeps telling me about this guy named Kyle: "All he wants to do is get married and have babies."  Yep. That's a good reason to marry Kyle! I have no problem with marriage, and I can envision myself happily married to the right guy, but I can't tell you how obnoxious it is trying to politely change the subject. 

I have learned what pluff mud, joggling boards, mosquito hawks, and palmetto bugs are.  I have tried boiled peanuts, okra, and true Southern sweet tea. I have geeked out over finding starfish on the beach.

Well, these are just a few of the things that have happened to me in these last six months.  So much has happened in the last 180 days and I'm sure that events will continue to unfold in a similar fashion for a long time to come.  Lastly, I am a procrastinator and need to get ready for work tomorrow.  Ta ta for now!