#darcellife

Coming towards 3 years with my boyfriend, who I love dearly, but new relationship blinders are off. Which means I'm long past the point of making a decision re: if what we want from life is compatible enough to continue onwards. Mostly the issue is that on paper we want the same things, but his timeline is "someday, when I don't feel too young" and my timeline is "in the next two years".

I'm headed to Minneapolis soon for my next trip, which I'm excited about. I have never been and will probably be going by myself, so I'm trying to make a list of fun things to do around the North Loop area. I am probably overplanning this "work" trip, but since I usually just go to Indiana / rural Indiana / "did you know people LIVED here" Indiana, it's pretty thrilling.

So, buying a house. I picked a terrible time, as while interest rates are plummeting, apparently my sleepy local market has decided we're ready for some big city type bidding. The first house I bid on was the house of my dreams, a beautiful 2bd 1.5bath with a soundproof basement and a cozy yard, and it was sold within 10 hours of posting for 20k+ over asking price. That's set the vibe for this search.

I have also learned that I hate giving people my information. Why do you need to know how much I make from my job and the government AND the bank? Outrageous.

-- yard curves downwards towards future fence home (water)

-- electric wires and tree need to be built around

-- edge of tornado valley, so fence needs to be able to withstand regular high winds

-- jazzy blue house, needs to not look garish

Also, I wish to build it myself and my tastes are much grander than my budget. I keep coming to the idea of a retaining wall with a fence on top, but then I Google only to learn that they're hard to secure and expensive to do necessary maintenance. I also love horizontal fences, but between wind issues and just generally being lazy, it seems like that's a no-go.

Byron is itchy, sad and allergic to something mysterious in my apartment. Also a little chunky because he won't be left out of any trend and in my household we do NOT diet during a pandemic. He's been spending some time in jail because he's a bad

But there's also a new pet in town. Not a cat, which feels strange, but a leopard gecko. My BF found a gecko, and after trying to find her owners he has accepted that he's now a gecko owner. So she has gone from plastic tub to 40 gallon tank with plants, glass frogs, and bugs galore. She's definitely less interactive than Byron, but a weirdo in her own right. In Lisp's free time, she enjoys hunting bugs (and fingers), climbing any surface she can find that's not her rope hammock, and creeping from under things. She and Byron will probably never meet, which is for the best as she's almost as cute, which he'd never stand for.

I don't need to worry about the virus, because next time I sneeze I'm sure I will be taken behind the barn. My supervisor is jokingly (extremely) anxious so he keeps spraying everything with lysol and sternly reminding us that we need a six foot distance AT ALL TIMES.

**not everyone is allowed to pet Byron, but it's disrespectful not to Offer to pet him. Sometimes people struggle to learn this rule, and Byron has never believed in sparing the rod.