Linaewen's Lake of Small Birds

I'm having an adventure this week. My healthy, active hubby went and had a heart attack on Monday. Part of the adventure was me driving him through Chicago traffic and construction zones to the ER, praying the whole way that I had not made a bad decision about where to take him or about not calling an ambulance instead. My prayers while driving were answered, and we made it in the nick of time -- he had his attack in the presence of the ER staff while I was getting the car parked. He is getting awesome care, and surprising the doctors with how quickly he is bouncing back from a 100% blockage on one side. I guess being healthy and active doesn't always prevent the attacks, but it helps with the recovery! He is actually doing so well that there a possibility he will be discharged today.

The rest of the adventure will continue next week, as we are scheduled to close on a condo we are buying the 28th, and then move into it by the 30th -- which I imagine will involve hubby supervising from a chair while other people do all the work! I'm praising God that he is still with me to do that, and for all the help we have been offered for the move, so that hubby can relax in his chair.  I'm also even more pleased now with our new condo, which is only a few blocks away from our current apartment, on the first floor, which will be good place to live for a heart patient and his wife who has arthritis in her knees (that's me)!

We are in the midst of that part of moving where some rooms are nicely set up and organized, while other rooms are a hazard of boxes piled high waiting to be unpacked, and suitcases with the contents spilled all over due to searching for something that is needed without taking the time to unpack everything and find a home for it.  So that's progress, I guess!  The landlord came by today and was happily pleased with how nice the part that is set up looks -- he didn't have to look at the other parts, thankfully!  It was nice that he came by -- it saved us having to call him about a few things that have yet to be done.  He made a list and will hopefully be getting on that soon.

The DH is still researching the best deal on phone and internet.  We have discovered that we can get something like 20 channels on the TV with just an ordinary antennae, so we will probably save ourselves the cost of cable and just go for DSL and phone.  That will hopefully make the decision easier -- but DH is always one to take a long time coming to a decision, especially when it involves a monthly bill.  That is frustrating when one is limited to using the internet once a day in the library, but it's also going to be good in the long run, because any way we can save some money on bills, we'll be happy.

We have been walking everywhere we need to go, and so far, nothing we need is more than a 5 minute walk -- which is very nice!  One doesn't want to give up a parking place unless one has to!  It's a bit hot walking the last couple of days, but not unbearable.  Thankfully, we have central air conditioning in our apartment, so we have been comfortable while unpacking our boxes!

I set out my Lord of the Rings books on a shelf by the bed today, next to a Boromir action figure, so now I can officially say I am home.  ;-)

Ugh, I forgot how tiring packing can be, lol!  I'm ready for a nap already, and I just got up an hour ago!!

It's a good thing we have the option of making innumerable trips in the course of moving, because I'm having a hard time deciding what is important to take in the first load of stuff.  I'm trying to include a little bit of everything, but even my brain is tired trying to anticipate what I'll need right at first.  I'm out of practice at setting up two households, methinks!

Anyway, we are off in a few hours to Chicago, and since I don't know what the internet situation will be, I'm letting y'all know you might not see me for a few days.  I'm pretty hopeful, though, that there will be a wireless signal somewhere in the city I can tap into at some point!  But first, it will be the moving and the setting up and the shopping for furniture...

And of course, the napping!

One of the most frustrating things about having my mom not here anymore is that I can't pick up the phone and call her to tell her of the exciting things that are happening in my life, or to complain of the less than exciting things that are bugging me.

One of those times came recently, and I actually found myself reaching for the phone to tell her some good news, and had to stop myself, lol! I wasn't sad about it when I realized I couldn't call, I was just plain miffed, hehe! After complaining to the DH that I was irritated I couldn't call my mom, I picked up the phone and called my sister and my aunt (mom's sister) instead. ;-)

Most of you on my flist know by now that my hubby and I spent considerable years in Pakistan, where we worked with a nonprofit organization, mostly doing teaching. We are still with that organization, but have been a bit in limbo over the past five years since returning from South Asia. We spent time working in the home office, but for the past three or four years we have been not really doing much of anything. ;-)

For some time now, DH and I have been pursuing an opportunity to a work with a center that aids the Paksitani community of northern Chicago with things like learning English and adjusting to the American culture and helping in all kinds of other ways. It's the perfect set up for us who have spent so much time in Pakistan, and know the language and culture, but are now living stateside. That part of Chicago is less than 2 hours from where we live now, so we can also still keep tabs on our son as he takes the next step in independence by being in charge of our house here in Wisconsin, while living in an Urdu-speaking community just like old times.

We finally got permission from our organization to move to Chicago -- and that is the good news I so badly wanted to tell my mom, lol! She had been a great source of support of our hopes and had been praying for a long time that we would find something like this to do. :-)

One reason you haven't seen me around much recently is that this past week we have been apartment hunting! Not an easy thing to do when you don't already live in Chicago. We have made several day trips recently, armed with phone numbers and appointments to view places. Even though a number of opportunities fell through by the time we got down to Chicago to look at them, we managed to see enough apartments that we were able to make a decision on one.

The place we are hoping to rent -- if we are approved -- turns out to be the very first place we viewed! It is pretty small, but new and beautiful, and located right near all the best Pakistani restaurants! And it's only one block from the Center where we will be working much of our time.

We decided on that place on Monday, and now are waiting for the landlord to approve our credit report. DH spoke with the landlord's agent this morning, and it sounds like he might be able to go down as early as tomorrow to sign a lease, if all goes well! Nothing like waiting for ages for something to happen, and then when it does, we can't keep up with it! ;-)

I am currently visiting with my my dad for a few days, but when I get home, I guess I'll have to jump into packing some things to move down to Chicago! Hopefully it won't be too hard to go back to living in an apartment after owning our own home -- but the nice thing is, our house in Wisconsin is not so far away that we can't visit it whenever we need a break from the big city. It will be the best of several worlds all rolled into one!

Now if only I could tell my mom about it...

But who knows, she might even know all about it already! :-D

ETA: Hope this entry doesn't need an LJ cut; I'm on my dad's computer and I don't seem to be able to do anything the way I'm supposed to be able to with my LJ -- and I can't remember how to do a cut the old fashioned way. ;-) I had to come in by the back door, so to speak, in order to get this to post as it is! Oh, for a nice wireless connection right now. ;-)