Rising From the Ashes...

The house is a mess. There are dishes in the sink, the sheets need to be washed, and piles of dog poop to clean up in the yard. I haven't cooked a real meal in months. I need a haircut. I'm wearing the same clothes as yesterday.

And yet.

There is a reason for the chaos. Despite all of my shit appearing as if it is not together, it is, in fact, coming together. Some big changes are in progress. Let me explain:

We sold our house, bought a bed and breakfast in Italy, and will be moving in six weeks.

The process has taken a year: Visiting the property in Italy, entering into a contract, coming up with the deposit, listing our own house and closing with some picky buyers, closing on the house in Italy, moving into a temporary place with the three dogs, and getting our visa applications together. We have applied for my visa, and are waiting for the approval. (We have decided that we will move regardless of whether our visas are approved, but if we are not approved, that is a whole plan B to address if we cross that proverbial bridge.)

Meanwhile, there have been some challenges: while visiting the property in June, I fell and broke both my ankles. So that has been a whole thing. It's the main reason why I haven't been cooking the last few months. It turns out that cooking happens mostly standing up. But the worst part is over, and I am hobbling around on my own now, albeit short amounts of time.

The next six weeks will be a a big transition. You will see some different content than my usual recipes: We need to ship our dogs in the cargo hold. We need to decide what is coming with us and what is staying. I need to quit my day job. We need to learn how to run a bed and breakfast. We need to learn Italian. We will be creating a YouTube channel soon as well to document the process. If you haven't subscribed yet, now might be an interesting time.

I feel like I should be panicking. But I"m not. I'm not scared, because I know deep down this is the right move. A big move, to be sure, but the right one.