"Mom, did you know that humans have HUGE brains? That's why we're omnivores."

Elsie has been feeding me all sorts of cool facts she's gleaned from Dinosaur Train.

I keep thinking I'm going to have something brilliant to say about the new year.

It's 2012. Twelve years since I graduated from high school. The year I turn 30. Our ten year anniversary. The year the world is going to end . . .

But you know what? All I can think about, day and night, is moving out of this apartment and into a house. It consumes my waking thoughts and keeps me from sleeping at night.

In college, there was one semester where I was taking two chemistry classes simultaneously. Chem 106 and Organic Chemistry. In a stroke of genius (probably at about 1:15 in the morning on the opening day of class scheduling), I decided that I should schedule both my Chem labs on the same day. So each Tuesday, between classes and labs, I had something like 8 hours Chemistry straight. Then I'd come home and study. Every Tuesday night, as I lay in bed, my mind would start to wander and somewhere between being awake and asleep, I'd start to visualize 3-dimensional models of organic molecules. Rotating them in my mind, seeing angles, and imagining how they would bond with other chemicals. (I know, I know. I'm awesome. :)

The last couple of weeks have been kind of like that.

However, instead of rotating 3-D organic molecules, I'm walking through house after house that we've looked at, imagining my furniture and the space and how we could use it. Would all our things fit? Would it flow comfortably? Would I feel crowded? Is it too little room? Too much? Did it have cable hook-ups? Where could I put my sewing machine? How would I cope with having a front yard of nothing but concrete? Would I get a dog? Would they let me remove the wallpaper? Do I WANT to remove wallpaper? Why would anyone put carpet in a bathroom? What would that driveway be like in the winter? What would the golfers think of my kids running onto the green while they're lining up their putt? On and on and on - 2:00 or 3:00 in the morning. Finally falling asleep, only to be woken up by Clara needing to eat again . . . and then purposefully trying to not think again before I get to fall back to sleep.

I'm so tired. And I'm so tired of thinking about it.

But I'm kind of compulsive like that. I've vowed to never play Tetris again for this very reason. Do any of you get Tetris Brain? :) I think I'm hard-wired to over-think things.

Hopefully, by Monday, we'll be able to make a decision. We're waiting for a couple of different landlords to let us know if they will accept some of our propositions. Things like replacing nasty carpet or accepting a couple hundred dollars less in rent.

I'm just really hoping that once we get some answers and make a decision, I'll be able to settle my mind and finally get some sleep again. ---- And that we'll be able to get somewhere with enough room to fill the whole summer with all of you coming to visit us here and play at the beach! :)