Bigger or Better: Life outside of Texas

Mark and I have decided we don't want to do another cross-country move. Or, if that's not possible, we'd prefer to have less stuff. Penguin supervision Right now we are in Packing Box Gridlock: we can't move thing A because thing B is in the way, and we can't move thing B because thing A is taking up the space. Also, I think moving presents a hazard to my health. So far, I have given myself a blood blister, a paper cut, various bruises, nasty scratches, a swollen nail-finger junction (more scientifically known as a nail fold), and low back pain; all of which are directly due to dealing with boxes. It's not all stress and pain, though. We have experienced major blessings in the moving process.  +Mark's parents flew down to help us move.  +We had safety in our long drive up, despite discovering that one of the tires had dry rot and needed to be replaced.  +My plants survived the trip, and didn't get the cars dirty.  +The timing of things seemed...

Big news: I'm transitioning to my new job as nurse practitioner, which also happens to mean that Mark and I are transitioning from Houston to Washington D.C. There are so many new experiences out there because of these transitions. Examples: +I have lived in Texas all my life [except college, but I came home for summers. also, I wasn't born here, but whatever, I don't remember that part] . I am used to the fact that if I drive for a couple of hours in ANY direction, I will still be in Texas. This is not so where we are moving. We will be in D.C., but we could easily be in Maryland, Virginia, New York, West Virginia, etc etc within a couple of hours by train. That is SO weird to me; it's like this alternate universe of life in the U.S. +I had to get fingerprinted to get my RN and NP license verified in D.C., and it turns out that I don't have any discernible fingerprints on my ring and pinky fingers. The fingerprinting lady said it was more common in women,...