today our van officially became a south carolina resident. we put it off as long as possible due to the very inhospitable vehicle/property tax that we had to pay before we could register the car. not only do residents have to pay it when they register their car, they have to pay it each year when they renew their registration. the tax is 5% of the purchase price (maximum being $300). it's outrageous. our michigan registration was set to expire in september, so we figured that waiting until september to register the car would be a good idea. that way, if/when we move at the end of jeremy's residency (in august), maybe we won't have to pay the tax again next year.
is it just me or does anyone else feel that a trip to the DMV is comparable to a dentist appointment?
the level of unpleasantness is certainly close, if not equal to visiting the dentist. (although if i were to choose, i guess i would go for the DMV over the dentist).
i don't know if there has ever been a time when i have gone to the DMV and actually done what i came to do in one trip. no matter how many papers, forms, and proofs i bring with me, there is always something more that is needed. it is so. frustrating.
today i showed up armed with all the papers we own about our van. the kids were secured in the stroller and i had two lollipops in my pocket for when they got antsy. i had even filled out the paperwork in advance, so i thought i was good to go. (still, for some reason i get very nervous when it's my turn at the counter and the seemingly unhappy worker glares at me, asks what i'm there for, and starts going through my pile of papers).
despite all my preparations, i was missing something - jeremy's signature. who knew that we both had to sign the form? there was only one line and nothing that said both owners needed to sign. alas, i dragged the kids out to the car (both were eating their lollipops by this point) and off we went to get jeremy's signature. my level of annoyance was quite high at this point.
the story ends three-and-a-half hours, four lollipops, and two emergency happy meals later when we finally walked out of the DMV with our new license plate. by that time jobot was screaming and a man actually jumped up from across the room and ran over to hold the door open for me. i think everyone was just glad that i was leaving at that point.
whew. it wasn't as bad as when we got our driver's licenses. that took three trips to the DMV and i think i actually cried at some point. but still, today was frustrating.
since we moved, life has often felt like a lot of paperwork...addresses to change, health forms to fill out, student loan deferments, health insurance paperwork, preschool forms, and on and on. it tempts me to move to a remote area far from civilization and live off the land. but, that would present a lot of problems as well. i just get tired of life being about papers and tired of my desk being covered with papers to deal with.
meanwhile, our michigan license plate has joined all the other ones we have saved from past states and cars. someday we will have a garage where we can display all those reminders of frustrating trips to the DMV. ha.
Showing posts with label moving across the country. Show all posts
Showing posts with label moving across the country. Show all posts
Tuesday, September 10, 2013
Wednesday, August 14, 2013
new house tour {jobot's bedroom / the guest room and full bathroom}
{ jobot's room / guest room }
pros:
- 2 windows with nice view into backyard, lots of natural light
- nice color on the walls
- large room
- seems to be the coolest room in the house
cons:
- very small closet
- random stuff being stored in this room because there is nowhere else to put it
- mirror on dresser is really dirty. i should probably wash that.
jobot's room doubles as the guest room, so when we have company, he sleeps in a portable crib in our room. we did the same thing at our old house, only his bedroom there was tiny, so it is really nice to have a bigger space for a shared bedroom/guestroom. i would love to decorate the walls a bit more in this room. i have a few trains that i would love to put on a shelf on the wall somewhere, and i would also like to put some art on the walls. i have lots of ideas for this room, but no budget to do anything with them...so blank walls they will stay for now. that's okay.
{ full bathroom }
pros:
- this room has a working toilet, bathtub/shower, and sink
- recent installation of ceiling fan
- cute curtain sewed by me (i do not like mini blinds. they are fine in other people's houses, but i just don't like looking at them all the time in my own...i would much prefer a curtain on my windows.)
cons:
- this room is narrow and tiny
- there was clearly a problem with mold before as there are mold stains on the ceiling and walls. we scrubbed it all down after we moved in.
- the caulking around the bathtub looks gross
- toilet flushes very slowly and uses a lot of water
- didn't have a door when we moved in (jeremy found the door in a backyard shed and put it on)
this isn't the greatest bathroom, but it is functional, so we'll call it good.
Saturday, July 27, 2013
new house tour {our bedroom & bathroom}
continuing with our house tour...
pros:
- lots of natural light (3 windows!)
- wall color is nice and works with our quilt
- it's a large room
- has 1/2 bath
- large closet
- ceiling fan
- we already had curtains that worked in this room. (they might not all be the same color...but we are working with a very limited budget here.)
- toilet used to sound like a fire siren when it flushed. then someone (who shall remain nameless, but it's the only person who attempts to fix toilets in this house...and that's not me) tried to fix it the other day and dropped our screwdriver down while it was flushing. as of wednesday, we have a brand new toilet!
cons:
- this room also houses the furniture that we couldn't fit in the rest of our house (basically, all the furniture that used to be in our dining room minus the table and chairs).
overall thoughts:
- this is my favorite room in our house. even though there is extra furniture and even though the toilet sounded like a fire siren, it is a really nice room that feels relaxing to me. i enjoy keeping this room clean and also toy free.
oh, and by the way, i LOVE having everything on one level in our house! while i wouldn't mind a basement for storage/extra space (no one here has basements), i am totally going to go for ranch style houses from now on. it is so much easier to keep clean this way! it's also easier with little ones to not have to take them up and down stairs all the time. so...that's a win (i kinda knew it would be)!
OUR BEDROOM & HALF BATHROOM
pros:
- lots of natural light (3 windows!)
- wall color is nice and works with our quilt
- it's a large room
- has 1/2 bath
- large closet
- ceiling fan
- we already had curtains that worked in this room. (they might not all be the same color...but we are working with a very limited budget here.)
- toilet used to sound like a fire siren when it flushed. then someone (who shall remain nameless, but it's the only person who attempts to fix toilets in this house...and that's not me) tried to fix it the other day and dropped our screwdriver down while it was flushing. as of wednesday, we have a brand new toilet!
cons:
- this room also houses the furniture that we couldn't fit in the rest of our house (basically, all the furniture that used to be in our dining room minus the table and chairs).
overall thoughts:
- this is my favorite room in our house. even though there is extra furniture and even though the toilet sounded like a fire siren, it is a really nice room that feels relaxing to me. i enjoy keeping this room clean and also toy free.
oh, and by the way, i LOVE having everything on one level in our house! while i wouldn't mind a basement for storage/extra space (no one here has basements), i am totally going to go for ranch style houses from now on. it is so much easier to keep clean this way! it's also easier with little ones to not have to take them up and down stairs all the time. so...that's a win (i kinda knew it would be)!
Friday, July 26, 2013
new house tour {living room and kitchen}
it's about time for some photos of our new house, so here is a little tour of the living room and kitchen.
LIVING ROOM
pros:
- fireplace with mantle (it even already has four hooks for our stockings)
- wall color (it was already here and i like it. we haven't painted and won't paint any of the walls...too much work)
- wood floors
- two new windows in the front of the room
- window on front door very similar to window on front door at our old house
cons:
- two really old and dirty windows
- the place where we have seen the most cockroaches
- no keys to the front door
- fireplace that jobot frequently walks into and bumps his head on
overall thoughts:
i really like this room. it is where we spend most of our time. arranging the furniture was a challenge, but i think we figured out a good set up. the two chairs by the front windows are perfect places for reading (except when it is dark...we need another light on that side of the room!), the couch is perfect for snuggling, and the floor is great for playing (though a rug would be nice).
KITCHEN
pros:
- nice space above stove to store spices and cookbooks
- window above sink with a view of our street
- nice little window sill above sink
- garbage disposal, ice maker, and dishwasher
- plenty of outlets
- cute curtains (recently sewed by me)
- lots of cupboard space
cons:
- awkward and crowded space by table/back door (difficult to navigate with two kids and a bag)
- garbage disposal switch at perfect spot for jobot access (covered by the neon pink tape below the sink. seriously...who thought that putting the switch there was a good idea?)
- no dining room (i really miss having a dining room)
- lack of natural light. room is usually quite dark and the red paint doesn't help.
- a big, blank red wall (we don't have anything to put on it!)
- cupboards/drawers are difficult to open and close
- love's bedroom is right off of this room (narrow door by table is hers)
overall thoughts:
this kitchen is okay. the arrangement of the cupboards/counters/appliances make it very practical to work in. to me it feels crowded and dark. not my favorite, but it could be much worse, and i am thankful to have a functional kitchen.
we are slowly making this house into our home. stay tuned for photos of the other rooms. for the post about how this house came to be ours, click here.
Thursday, July 18, 2013
eight weeks in
two months ago we were deep in the throes of packing up our house in michigan. this saturday will mark eight weeks that we have been living here.
this move has not been easy for me. i was very ready and excited to move, and we were both in agreement that this was the next step for our future...but it has still been hard. at first, i felt completely lost and disoriented. then after we were here for a week, jeremy started his program, and i felt so lonely and so bored all day. i didn't know one person in this entire city...there were no other moms to spend time with, no friends to spend part of the day with, and no community here to help us get through this transition.
i would drop jeremy off at the hospital for the day and watch as all the professionals walked into work chatting with their co-workers. i envied them because they belonged to something and they had a purpose, and i felt like i wasn't part of anything. i felt discontent, moody, irritable, frustrated, exhausted, and not like myself. in all of this, i have certainly thrown more than my share of tantrums and pity parties.
i found myself desperately searching the internet for moms groups and any way that i could possibly find some friends. the kids and i found ourselves at the zoo, children's museum, and library story time. i soaked up any little conversation i had with another mom...anything that made me feel like i connected with another person and like i belonged here. it was pretty sad.
well...eight weeks in and we have made several positive steps towards being a part of this community. the kids and i have had several get togethers with new friends and we have started going to a weekly mom's group. i have several new friends numbers programmed into my phone, we have attended the same church three weeks in a row, and we actually ran into someone we knew from church when we were out and about last week.
it has taken a lot to get here. it's pretty out of my comfort zone to show up to a stranger's house and spend a morning with several other moms i have never met. driving through a completely unfamiliar city to have a playdate with a new friend is not easy. finding a random mom's group online and going to one of their meetings only to feel very uncomfortable and not very welcomed is disappointing and frustrating.
thankfully, my experiences have been more positive than negative. i have been surprised at how easy it has been for me to jump into new friendships and situations. i have also been surprised at how open our new friends have been to welcoming us into their lives and city.
i still don't feel at home here and it is still hard. i think of simple things from our old life and feel twinges of homesickness...the natural light coming in the windows of our old house, our little neighborhood health food store that i loved, driving down our street and pulling into our driveway, driving out to the farm to pick up our milk, mornings with the kids at the botanical gardens, evening walks by the lake, and knowing my way around. even more so, faces of dear friends we left behind.
since we moved, there have been many hard days...times of feeling overwhelmed at the newness and unfamiliarity of this place, tears shed at what was left behind and given up for this. good mornings spent with new friends but then finding myself missing friends who already know me and who are so comfortable to be with. days of feeling like we were on our way to thriving in this place, and then days that felt completely opposite. and the reality is that it is much easier and more fun to be a full time mom when you are surrounded by friends.
the good news is that it seems that the good days (or moments!) now outnumber the bad. i think i am on my way to finding a place here. it is going to take more work, more experiences outside my comfort zone, more energy and time. i know that there will be more tears and more hard days...i am human and this is hard.
but...we are getting there. we are slowly finding our people and our places. we are making memories here.
one day at a time.
this move has not been easy for me. i was very ready and excited to move, and we were both in agreement that this was the next step for our future...but it has still been hard. at first, i felt completely lost and disoriented. then after we were here for a week, jeremy started his program, and i felt so lonely and so bored all day. i didn't know one person in this entire city...there were no other moms to spend time with, no friends to spend part of the day with, and no community here to help us get through this transition.
i would drop jeremy off at the hospital for the day and watch as all the professionals walked into work chatting with their co-workers. i envied them because they belonged to something and they had a purpose, and i felt like i wasn't part of anything. i felt discontent, moody, irritable, frustrated, exhausted, and not like myself. in all of this, i have certainly thrown more than my share of tantrums and pity parties.
i found myself desperately searching the internet for moms groups and any way that i could possibly find some friends. the kids and i found ourselves at the zoo, children's museum, and library story time. i soaked up any little conversation i had with another mom...anything that made me feel like i connected with another person and like i belonged here. it was pretty sad.
well...eight weeks in and we have made several positive steps towards being a part of this community. the kids and i have had several get togethers with new friends and we have started going to a weekly mom's group. i have several new friends numbers programmed into my phone, we have attended the same church three weeks in a row, and we actually ran into someone we knew from church when we were out and about last week.
it has taken a lot to get here. it's pretty out of my comfort zone to show up to a stranger's house and spend a morning with several other moms i have never met. driving through a completely unfamiliar city to have a playdate with a new friend is not easy. finding a random mom's group online and going to one of their meetings only to feel very uncomfortable and not very welcomed is disappointing and frustrating.
thankfully, my experiences have been more positive than negative. i have been surprised at how easy it has been for me to jump into new friendships and situations. i have also been surprised at how open our new friends have been to welcoming us into their lives and city.
i still don't feel at home here and it is still hard. i think of simple things from our old life and feel twinges of homesickness...the natural light coming in the windows of our old house, our little neighborhood health food store that i loved, driving down our street and pulling into our driveway, driving out to the farm to pick up our milk, mornings with the kids at the botanical gardens, evening walks by the lake, and knowing my way around. even more so, faces of dear friends we left behind.
since we moved, there have been many hard days...times of feeling overwhelmed at the newness and unfamiliarity of this place, tears shed at what was left behind and given up for this. good mornings spent with new friends but then finding myself missing friends who already know me and who are so comfortable to be with. days of feeling like we were on our way to thriving in this place, and then days that felt completely opposite. and the reality is that it is much easier and more fun to be a full time mom when you are surrounded by friends.
the good news is that it seems that the good days (or moments!) now outnumber the bad. i think i am on my way to finding a place here. it is going to take more work, more experiences outside my comfort zone, more energy and time. i know that there will be more tears and more hard days...i am human and this is hard.
but...we are getting there. we are slowly finding our people and our places. we are making memories here.
one day at a time.
Tuesday, July 2, 2013
in the south
as of yesterday, we are official residents of the state of south carolina. it took two trips to the DMV, crying kids, and lots of snacks, but it finally happened.
i have yet to say the word y'all, but we did try the southern delicacy of boiled peanuts at the farmer's market on saturday. we thought they were interesting...probably not something we would eat again, but they were a good thing to experience anyway.
when jeremy's dad was here we also went to a local restaurant and tried okra, sweet potato pie, pickled beets, and some other southern foods.
in the midst of transition and feeling disoriented, it is fun to experience a new place. we have also experienced and appreciated lots of southern hospitality...that makes it a bit easier as well.
i have yet to say the word y'all, but we did try the southern delicacy of boiled peanuts at the farmer's market on saturday. we thought they were interesting...probably not something we would eat again, but they were a good thing to experience anyway.
when jeremy's dad was here we also went to a local restaurant and tried okra, sweet potato pie, pickled beets, and some other southern foods.
in the midst of transition and feeling disoriented, it is fun to experience a new place. we have also experienced and appreciated lots of southern hospitality...that makes it a bit easier as well.
Thursday, June 27, 2013
the bugs
oh the bugs!
living in the south has given me a whole new perspective on bugs. thanks to the mild winter and the muggy weather conditions, the bugs here are enormous, and they are everywhere! i don't think i have ever seen bugs this big. seriously...bugs in the midwest are like the little puny cousins of the bugs down here.
there isn't a single trip to the outdoors (even walking from the back door to the van) when love does not find some sort of bug. it makes me happy to see her so excited about the them. the world is truly her classroom as she holds and examines bugs. it is fun to watch.
there are tons of cicadas here, so we can always find exoskeletons outside. we have also found several live cicadas, and some dead ones too.
one afternoon love and i went out to water the plants on the front porch, and there were two HUGE beetles on the porch. thanks to a google search, i believe they were hardwood stump borer beetles. love immediately went over and picked one up and was thrilled to have it crawling on her hand. if i would have looked more closely, i would have seen that it had large pinchers, but i didn't, and it pinched her finger. she shrieked and waved her hand around and it let go. i thought she would be traumatized, but she recovered quickly and it has not dampened her enthusiasm for bugs one bit.
i don't mind most of the bugs very much...the beetles, ladybugs, cicadas, and various insects. i share love's excitement when we find a bug, even if i really find it gross, because that's what mamas do (although i mostly leave it up to love to pick them up and hold them). i also think it's so cool that she loves bugs so much, and i don't want to influence her or dampen her enthusiasm for them. for the most part, she is really gentle in handling bugs, and we talk a lot about how to treat them kindly and respectfully.
...but the cockroaches. oh, those really get me. since living here, i have {unfortunately} learned all kinds of interesting (?) facts about cockroaches. i now know that they can run 3 mph, live without their heads for three weeks, and even survive for a while by only eating the glue off of postage stamps (can you believe someone actually wasted moments of their life figuring that out?). it's more than i ever wanted to know about cockroaches. we have encountered a few of them in our house and now i am paranoid about them. every time i walk into a room i do a quick cockroach scan, i wear shoes in the house at all times because i am terrified i will step on one with bare feet, and i have all our food carefully stored in hopes to deter them from wanting to make our house their home.
i have fears that one will crawl on me while i am sleeping...fears that were only made worse when i found one laying on it's back twitching RIGHT NEXT TO my side of the bed.
i think what really gets me about cockroaches is that they can run so fast, and the sound of their little feet running across the wood floor...ew, just ew!
i think we have had seven(?) cockroach encounters since we moved in. three were right after we moved in, so i figured they probably came in while we were moving in.
then there was the evening we were sitting on the couch watching a movie. jeremy was rubbing my back and we were relaxed. and then jeremy stopped rubbing my back, sat up a bit, and said he had to "take care of something a minute". i immediately knew it was a cockroach. sure enough...just on the other side of the room. jeremy stood up to get a big shoe, and before we knew it, the roach ran right under the couch i was still sitting on. i jumped up immediately, and i will even admit that i ran across the room and jumped on a chair. jeremy moved the couch, the furniture around the couch, and the couch cushions, but we never found the roach (it must have gone in the vent that is right behind the couch). seeing a cockroach and killing it? slightly traumatizing. seeing a cockroach, not killing it, and knowing that it is inside your house somewhere? ten times worse. ew, ew, ew. and then several days later it happened again (maybe the same one?). now we ALWAYS sit with a big shoe just within reach, just in case.
since moving here, i have learned that there is something here even worse than just a plain old cockroach...there is the palmetto bug. it's like a gigantic cockroach that can fly. thankfully, we have not encountered any of these in our house (i don't know if i would survive such an encounter!), but we have seen them flying around our lights outside. the first week we were here, jeremy was doing laundry (which involves going out our back door and walking under the carport to the storage closet) and a huge bug was flying around out there. huge, as in, the size of a small mouse. jeremy walked back and forth with a big piece of cardboard ready to swat the thing if it attacked him (i giggled, but only because i was inside looking out the window!). since then, we have both decided that it is not worth it to do laundry after dark. anyway, once we learned about palmetto bugs, we knew that's what it was.
i don't have any photos of cockroaches, and never will. i also should really stop doing online searches to identify the bugs we find because then i have to look at photos of tons of giant bugs that we haven't even seen yet! eek!
there isn't a single trip to the outdoors (even walking from the back door to the van) when love does not find some sort of bug. it makes me happy to see her so excited about the them. the world is truly her classroom as she holds and examines bugs. it is fun to watch.
a (dead) eyed click beetle we found on a walk
cicada
hardwood stump borer beetle, i think
one afternoon love and i went out to water the plants on the front porch, and there were two HUGE beetles on the porch. thanks to a google search, i believe they were hardwood stump borer beetles. love immediately went over and picked one up and was thrilled to have it crawling on her hand. if i would have looked more closely, i would have seen that it had large pinchers, but i didn't, and it pinched her finger. she shrieked and waved her hand around and it let go. i thought she would be traumatized, but she recovered quickly and it has not dampened her enthusiasm for bugs one bit.
discovering the beetles
and seconds before the pinch... :(
i don't mind most of the bugs very much...the beetles, ladybugs, cicadas, and various insects. i share love's excitement when we find a bug, even if i really find it gross, because that's what mamas do (although i mostly leave it up to love to pick them up and hold them). i also think it's so cool that she loves bugs so much, and i don't want to influence her or dampen her enthusiasm for them. for the most part, she is really gentle in handling bugs, and we talk a lot about how to treat them kindly and respectfully.
...but the cockroaches. oh, those really get me. since living here, i have {unfortunately} learned all kinds of interesting (?) facts about cockroaches. i now know that they can run 3 mph, live without their heads for three weeks, and even survive for a while by only eating the glue off of postage stamps (can you believe someone actually wasted moments of their life figuring that out?). it's more than i ever wanted to know about cockroaches. we have encountered a few of them in our house and now i am paranoid about them. every time i walk into a room i do a quick cockroach scan, i wear shoes in the house at all times because i am terrified i will step on one with bare feet, and i have all our food carefully stored in hopes to deter them from wanting to make our house their home.
i have fears that one will crawl on me while i am sleeping...fears that were only made worse when i found one laying on it's back twitching RIGHT NEXT TO my side of the bed.
i think what really gets me about cockroaches is that they can run so fast, and the sound of their little feet running across the wood floor...ew, just ew!
i think we have had seven(?) cockroach encounters since we moved in. three were right after we moved in, so i figured they probably came in while we were moving in.
then there was the evening we were sitting on the couch watching a movie. jeremy was rubbing my back and we were relaxed. and then jeremy stopped rubbing my back, sat up a bit, and said he had to "take care of something a minute". i immediately knew it was a cockroach. sure enough...just on the other side of the room. jeremy stood up to get a big shoe, and before we knew it, the roach ran right under the couch i was still sitting on. i jumped up immediately, and i will even admit that i ran across the room and jumped on a chair. jeremy moved the couch, the furniture around the couch, and the couch cushions, but we never found the roach (it must have gone in the vent that is right behind the couch). seeing a cockroach and killing it? slightly traumatizing. seeing a cockroach, not killing it, and knowing that it is inside your house somewhere? ten times worse. ew, ew, ew. and then several days later it happened again (maybe the same one?). now we ALWAYS sit with a big shoe just within reach, just in case.
since moving here, i have learned that there is something here even worse than just a plain old cockroach...there is the palmetto bug. it's like a gigantic cockroach that can fly. thankfully, we have not encountered any of these in our house (i don't know if i would survive such an encounter!), but we have seen them flying around our lights outside. the first week we were here, jeremy was doing laundry (which involves going out our back door and walking under the carport to the storage closet) and a huge bug was flying around out there. huge, as in, the size of a small mouse. jeremy walked back and forth with a big piece of cardboard ready to swat the thing if it attacked him (i giggled, but only because i was inside looking out the window!). since then, we have both decided that it is not worth it to do laundry after dark. anyway, once we learned about palmetto bugs, we knew that's what it was.
i don't have any photos of cockroaches, and never will. i also should really stop doing online searches to identify the bugs we find because then i have to look at photos of tons of giant bugs that we haven't even seen yet! eek!
Wednesday, June 26, 2013
how we found our house
let's see..where to start.
originally, jeremy and i planned to take a whirlwind trip to our new city to find a house to rent, about two weeks before we were scheduled to move. though it wasn't glamorous and was mostly going to be filled with business-y details, we had decided to also call that trip our 5th anniversary trip.
due to a variety of factors beyond our control, about a week before we were going to leave it became clear that the trip was not going to happen. this was sad (we were really looking forward to getting away together!) and stressful (how would we find a place to live? and how would jeremy get the things done at the hospital that were required before his program starts?).
the day after we officially cancelled our trip, i woke up with weird, excruciating back pain which i have never had before. seriously...it was terrible. i told jeremy that it was some of the worst pain i have ever experienced...and i have given birth naturally to a 10 pound 10 ounce baby in our dining room, so that is saying quite a lot!
anyway...jeremy ended up staying home from work that day because there was no way i could take care of the kids. while he was home, i came across a house for rent online that was exactly what we were looking for. jeremy immediately called, and after many phone calls back and forth, verifying through a variety of means that it was not a scam (and that it didn't smell like cats), and wondering if we were crazy to be renting a house that we had only seen photos of, we secured the home as our own. (and maybe we were crazy...but we were really out of options at this point). it just all felt right and we were very thankful to have this major detail taken care of.
and oddly enough, the back pain gradually lessened and was pretty much gone a few days later.
the house has all the things we wanted/needed in a home plus more. our must-haves were: rent that equaled or was below what we budgeted for, 3 bedrooms, central air conditioning, and a backyard. things we preferred/wanted but were willing to compromise on were: a dishwasher (we've never had one!), within walking distance of a park, a ranch style, and close to the hospital where jeremy will be working (in our weeks of looking, we only came across one house that was close to the hospital - the hospital is downtown and there's just not much housing available there - so we were willing to compromise on that one). anyway...the house has all of those things! it is exactly what we had budgeted for, has three bedrooms, 1.5 bathrooms, central ac, a fenced in backyard, a dishwasher, it's all one level, it's within walking distance to two parks, is in a great neighborhood, and is only two miles from the hospital! it also has a fireplace, an ice maker, a garbage disposal, wood floors, and a front porch.
the house also has some great neighbors. our retired neighbor next door is a very sweet lady. she bought us dinner our first night here, often comes out to talk to me over the fence in the backyard, and has several cats that like to sleep in our front yard and keep our kiddos entertained during the day. our neighbors across the street are becoming our friends. they have a four year old boy and will be having a baby in july. we met them the day we moved in and they invited us to their church several times. after visiting three other churches, we visited theirs and loved it and have decided to attend there. they came over the other night and we sat on the front porch and talked with them until it got dark. it all felt so neighborly to me, and i appreciated it so much, especially since that would never have happened in our old neighborhood.
so...it seems that God planned for us to live in this house all along, and really has blessed us with more than we had hoped for or imagined. it's really amazing to me when i look at how it all came together.
(oh, and p.s. jeremy and i still ended up getting a 5th anniversary trip to ludington, mi...and it was even better than our original plan of coming to south carolina. we didn't have to find a house or deal with moving details, so we could relax and just enjoy getting away together!)
originally, jeremy and i planned to take a whirlwind trip to our new city to find a house to rent, about two weeks before we were scheduled to move. though it wasn't glamorous and was mostly going to be filled with business-y details, we had decided to also call that trip our 5th anniversary trip.
due to a variety of factors beyond our control, about a week before we were going to leave it became clear that the trip was not going to happen. this was sad (we were really looking forward to getting away together!) and stressful (how would we find a place to live? and how would jeremy get the things done at the hospital that were required before his program starts?).
the day after we officially cancelled our trip, i woke up with weird, excruciating back pain which i have never had before. seriously...it was terrible. i told jeremy that it was some of the worst pain i have ever experienced...and i have given birth naturally to a 10 pound 10 ounce baby in our dining room, so that is saying quite a lot!
anyway...jeremy ended up staying home from work that day because there was no way i could take care of the kids. while he was home, i came across a house for rent online that was exactly what we were looking for. jeremy immediately called, and after many phone calls back and forth, verifying through a variety of means that it was not a scam (and that it didn't smell like cats), and wondering if we were crazy to be renting a house that we had only seen photos of, we secured the home as our own. (and maybe we were crazy...but we were really out of options at this point). it just all felt right and we were very thankful to have this major detail taken care of.
and oddly enough, the back pain gradually lessened and was pretty much gone a few days later.
the house has all the things we wanted/needed in a home plus more. our must-haves were: rent that equaled or was below what we budgeted for, 3 bedrooms, central air conditioning, and a backyard. things we preferred/wanted but were willing to compromise on were: a dishwasher (we've never had one!), within walking distance of a park, a ranch style, and close to the hospital where jeremy will be working (in our weeks of looking, we only came across one house that was close to the hospital - the hospital is downtown and there's just not much housing available there - so we were willing to compromise on that one). anyway...the house has all of those things! it is exactly what we had budgeted for, has three bedrooms, 1.5 bathrooms, central ac, a fenced in backyard, a dishwasher, it's all one level, it's within walking distance to two parks, is in a great neighborhood, and is only two miles from the hospital! it also has a fireplace, an ice maker, a garbage disposal, wood floors, and a front porch.
the house also has some great neighbors. our retired neighbor next door is a very sweet lady. she bought us dinner our first night here, often comes out to talk to me over the fence in the backyard, and has several cats that like to sleep in our front yard and keep our kiddos entertained during the day. our neighbors across the street are becoming our friends. they have a four year old boy and will be having a baby in july. we met them the day we moved in and they invited us to their church several times. after visiting three other churches, we visited theirs and loved it and have decided to attend there. they came over the other night and we sat on the front porch and talked with them until it got dark. it all felt so neighborly to me, and i appreciated it so much, especially since that would never have happened in our old neighborhood.
so...it seems that God planned for us to live in this house all along, and really has blessed us with more than we had hoped for or imagined. it's really amazing to me when i look at how it all came together.
(oh, and p.s. jeremy and i still ended up getting a 5th anniversary trip to ludington, mi...and it was even better than our original plan of coming to south carolina. we didn't have to find a house or deal with moving details, so we could relax and just enjoy getting away together!)
Wednesday, June 12, 2013
on the move...
We have internet at the new house, so I can finally post all about our move. I kinda disappeared from blog world in the midst of moving, so I have several posts planned to catch up on the past six weeks or so of our life.
Today found me caring for our little ones in the midst of a stomach bug. It came out of nowhere...I didn't even feel sick until I started eating breakfast and then it hit me. Unfortunately, this was also a really busy day for Jeremy and tonight is his first "on call" night at the hospital. Being on call actually means being at the hospital from 4 pm through the next morning, so it's really just being at work...I don't really know why they call it "on call". Anyway, I had a fever this afternoon, the chills on and off, and just felt pretty miserable. The kids did okay and I somehow got them fed and to bed. I am feeling a bit better, so that's good.
Let's see...writing about the move. Two-and-a-half weeks ago the moving truck was packed and waiting in our driveway and we were sleeping on our mattress on the floor in our empty bedroom.
My mom came for those last couple of days to help us with the kids, the packing, and the cleaning, and she was so helpful with it all...even making us delicious meals out of the random odds and ends left in our fridge with only one pan, some olive oil, and salt and pepper (everything else was packed!). We also had an impressive crew of seminary men help load the moving truck, as well as numerous other friends who helped with the kids, cleaning the house, food, etc...
After a week of packing, cleaning, and saying goodbyes, we finally loaded the last few things into the moving truck and the van and then locked the door for the last time and drove away. I expected more sentimental feelings with leaving our house, but the reality was that by the time we left, I was so ready to be done packing and cleaning that I couldn't wait to get out of the house. (By the way, our house never did sell, so we are renting it, in case you are wondering.)
We drove for about three hours and spent the night with my Great Aunt in Indiana. A good time, good food, and good conversation were had by all. Friday morning we hit the road for a long day of driving. Jeremy drove the truck all day (there was no way I was going to drive that thing!). I spent about 8 hours total by myself in the car with the kids. It was quite possibly my most challenging day of parenting yet, and it will be a hard one to beat. We all survived and finally arrived at our hotel in Knoxville, TN for the night, where we found that the one bedroom suite we were expecting was actually just a normal hotel room. (Our entire family sleeping in one room = terrible night of sleep for everyone). Jeremy had not yet arrived at the hotel at that point, and I had just taken our kids out for dinner and then hauled all our stuff and our whiny kids up to our room by myself and I was in no mood for arriving to our room to find that it wasn't the suite we were expecting. In my state of exhaustion, I may or may not have kind of lost it on the phone with Jeremy at that point. Thankfully, he arrived at the hotel shortly after and we were moved to a different room that was a suite and was handicap accessible, which meant it had a huge bathroom. Love slept in the living room, Jeremy and I slept in the bedroom, and Jobot slept in the gigantic bathroom. {At this point, I should add that Jobot had developed hives at some point during the day...possibly from the stress of moving, or from the fact that I fed him strawberry baby crackers pretty much all day because that was the only way to get him to stop crying while we were traveling. Seriously...if he wasn't sleeping or eating in the car, that kid was crying. He is not a good traveler. I had new-to-us toys for him to play with and new books to look at, but he would not have any of it.}
We all collapsed into bed shortly after 10 and everyone slept all night long.
Saturday morning we had breakfast at the hotel, cleaned out the van (which was a disaster from the day before), filled up on gas, and headed out for a shorter day of driving. The kids handled the drive about the same as the day before...lots of crying, whining, and misery. Lots of me trying to ignore them because safety on the road was more important than their latest demand, and lots of me passing back snacks, books, and toys to the backseat when I could. And, again, lots of a crying Jobot with hives. Taking a long road trip alone with two kids ages 3 and 1? Not such a great idea. And with kids who are all stressed out because you have just loaded up their entire home onto a moving truck? It makes is even worse. We didn't have any other options though, so we did it and survived.
We drove through the Smoky Mountains on Saturday and arrived at our new (rental) house around 5. A hired crew of three really nice guys helped us move in, we met some of our neighbors, and one of our neighbors even ordered dinner for us and ate with us after the moving truck was unpacked. It was a nice welcome.
Jeremy had the first week off, so we spent that week unpacking, setting up the house, and cleaning (the house was filthy). It was exhausting, challenging, disorienting, and honestly, just pretty terrible.
Things are a bit happier these days. The boxes are unpacked, the house is mostly clean, and we sort-of know our way around. This moving thing, though...not easy.
Jeremy is really enjoying his program and is excited about what he is doing, so that is great. He is working at the Children's Hospital, which is what he was really hoping for.
We are looking for a church, and for friends. The days are long and boring for me because I don't have anyone to hang out with. Not boring in the sense that I don't have anything to do, because these two little people take quite the energy these days...they are both at such busy stages. Just, bored because I don't have any other Moms or friends to interact with. I think I am going to go to a Mom's group on Friday, and a relative of someone Jeremy works with called today to "meet" me over the phone, so hopefully soon we will have some friends.
A few photos from our days here...
I will take photos of our house and do a little tour post at some point, and also tell the story of how this came to be our house (pretty amazing). Anyway, that's all for now.
Today found me caring for our little ones in the midst of a stomach bug. It came out of nowhere...I didn't even feel sick until I started eating breakfast and then it hit me. Unfortunately, this was also a really busy day for Jeremy and tonight is his first "on call" night at the hospital. Being on call actually means being at the hospital from 4 pm through the next morning, so it's really just being at work...I don't really know why they call it "on call". Anyway, I had a fever this afternoon, the chills on and off, and just felt pretty miserable. The kids did okay and I somehow got them fed and to bed. I am feeling a bit better, so that's good.
Let's see...writing about the move. Two-and-a-half weeks ago the moving truck was packed and waiting in our driveway and we were sleeping on our mattress on the floor in our empty bedroom.
Loading the truck on a rainy afternoon.
Yes, we will definitely be bringing these two with us!
Our dining room in a state of disaster.
Our last dinner in our house. Dear friends brought over dinner and we had a picnic on the dining room floor in our (mostly) empty house.
Love checking out the "Diesel Truck" (her name for it).
My mom came for those last couple of days to help us with the kids, the packing, and the cleaning, and she was so helpful with it all...even making us delicious meals out of the random odds and ends left in our fridge with only one pan, some olive oil, and salt and pepper (everything else was packed!). We also had an impressive crew of seminary men help load the moving truck, as well as numerous other friends who helped with the kids, cleaning the house, food, etc...
After a week of packing, cleaning, and saying goodbyes, we finally loaded the last few things into the moving truck and the van and then locked the door for the last time and drove away. I expected more sentimental feelings with leaving our house, but the reality was that by the time we left, I was so ready to be done packing and cleaning that I couldn't wait to get out of the house. (By the way, our house never did sell, so we are renting it, in case you are wondering.)
We drove for about three hours and spent the night with my Great Aunt in Indiana. A good time, good food, and good conversation were had by all. Friday morning we hit the road for a long day of driving. Jeremy drove the truck all day (there was no way I was going to drive that thing!). I spent about 8 hours total by myself in the car with the kids. It was quite possibly my most challenging day of parenting yet, and it will be a hard one to beat. We all survived and finally arrived at our hotel in Knoxville, TN for the night, where we found that the one bedroom suite we were expecting was actually just a normal hotel room. (Our entire family sleeping in one room = terrible night of sleep for everyone). Jeremy had not yet arrived at the hotel at that point, and I had just taken our kids out for dinner and then hauled all our stuff and our whiny kids up to our room by myself and I was in no mood for arriving to our room to find that it wasn't the suite we were expecting. In my state of exhaustion, I may or may not have kind of lost it on the phone with Jeremy at that point. Thankfully, he arrived at the hotel shortly after and we were moved to a different room that was a suite and was handicap accessible, which meant it had a huge bathroom. Love slept in the living room, Jeremy and I slept in the bedroom, and Jobot slept in the gigantic bathroom. {At this point, I should add that Jobot had developed hives at some point during the day...possibly from the stress of moving, or from the fact that I fed him strawberry baby crackers pretty much all day because that was the only way to get him to stop crying while we were traveling. Seriously...if he wasn't sleeping or eating in the car, that kid was crying. He is not a good traveler. I had new-to-us toys for him to play with and new books to look at, but he would not have any of it.}
We all collapsed into bed shortly after 10 and everyone slept all night long.
Saturday morning we had breakfast at the hotel, cleaned out the van (which was a disaster from the day before), filled up on gas, and headed out for a shorter day of driving. The kids handled the drive about the same as the day before...lots of crying, whining, and misery. Lots of me trying to ignore them because safety on the road was more important than their latest demand, and lots of me passing back snacks, books, and toys to the backseat when I could. And, again, lots of a crying Jobot with hives. Taking a long road trip alone with two kids ages 3 and 1? Not such a great idea. And with kids who are all stressed out because you have just loaded up their entire home onto a moving truck? It makes is even worse. We didn't have any other options though, so we did it and survived.
We drove through the Smoky Mountains on Saturday and arrived at our new (rental) house around 5. A hired crew of three really nice guys helped us move in, we met some of our neighbors, and one of our neighbors even ordered dinner for us and ate with us after the moving truck was unpacked. It was a nice welcome.
Jeremy had the first week off, so we spent that week unpacking, setting up the house, and cleaning (the house was filthy). It was exhausting, challenging, disorienting, and honestly, just pretty terrible.
Things are a bit happier these days. The boxes are unpacked, the house is mostly clean, and we sort-of know our way around. This moving thing, though...not easy.
Jeremy is really enjoying his program and is excited about what he is doing, so that is great. He is working at the Children's Hospital, which is what he was really hoping for.
We are looking for a church, and for friends. The days are long and boring for me because I don't have anyone to hang out with. Not boring in the sense that I don't have anything to do, because these two little people take quite the energy these days...they are both at such busy stages. Just, bored because I don't have any other Moms or friends to interact with. I think I am going to go to a Mom's group on Friday, and a relative of someone Jeremy works with called today to "meet" me over the phone, so hopefully soon we will have some friends.
A few photos from our days here...
Fun with the hose in the backyard.
I will take photos of our house and do a little tour post at some point, and also tell the story of how this came to be our house (pretty amazing). Anyway, that's all for now.
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