For the first time since I learned I'd be moving, I felt the weight lift off me today. I've been carrying around an ocean of emotion about all the uncertainty surrounding the move, and enough questions were answered today that I finally have a positive attitude.

I'm ready, or at least I'll be ready for each stage as it unfolds over the next few days.

Amelia, Landlord Fred's wife, has been very good to me over the course of this ordeal. I'm thinking that when the Fortress of Solitude became available, she might have been the one to suggest letting me take it. She's said some kind things about having me as a tenant.

This afternoon she knocked on my door to let me know that the window covering situation has been resolved. I'd been given the impression that I would be out at least a hundred dollars, because the blinds and drapes in the Fortress belonged to the Vacating Tenant.

Fred's partner Jerry checked the paperwork, though, and it turns out that the existing curtains from when the VT moved in came with the house and were discarded by the VT. They worked out a compromise where the landlords will trade some of their labor for whatever difference there is between the new blinds and the old curtains. So they'll still belong to the house, but I won't have to pay extra.

It's a relief not to have to come up with cash for this unexpected expense. I moved into Green Acres and found new blinds in all the rooms. To go from here to a place where the rent is higher by a hundred dollars a month, and to have to put out more money for something that I felt should be the landlord's responsibility to provide, left kind of a sour taste, even though in many ways the owners have treated me very well.

Amelia also said that they had bought the washer-dryer and the stove today, and they were working on redoing the kitchen. They'll do some painting tomorrow. At first she said that I couldn't start moving things into the garage until Monday, because they didn't want to pressure the VT to be out any earlier.

When I mentioned that it would be easier for me to get help moving on the weekend, she went back and renegotiated for me. Now I can start right away. David has volunteered to give me as much of his time as he can afford, between heavy school and work schedules. So he's coming by tomorrow afternoon and we'll get as far as we can with the boxes I've packed already.

We'll make another try at getting things actually inside the house itself on Tuesday, and then Thursday will be moving day. Thursday night I'll sleep in the Fortress, with no phone, no cable, no Internet, and no Noisy Neighbors. No barking dogs, no cars revving their engines in my driveway, no trucks peeling out day and night.

Nothing but peace and quiet and privacy. How will I ever stand it?