A new beginning...

First of all, I have to say I did surprisingly well with not having internet access for over a week. I was expecting a total meltdown, but perhaps I'm not as thoroughly addicted as I thought. So that came as a welcome surprise.

Otherwise, other than some general soreness and occasional crankiness, the trip went quite smoothly. David drove behind me in the Matrix, and we just drove until we got hungry or tired. Just into Texas we drove through the remnants of what must have been a pretty intense hailstorm, with hailstones that were several inches deep along the highway. Glad we missed that! Otherwise the weather was on our side the whole way which was great. And yes, we even made it to Maryland in time to see "Pirate Master", so all was good in the world. ::grin::

Our friend Tom had dinner waiting for us, shrimp and hamburgers cooked on the grill - delicious.

Friday morning we picked up my parents who had flown in to help, and we drove down to the new place. We were a bit apprehensive since we had never actually seen the inside. When we arrived they told us the maintenance guy was still fixing a problem in the sink, and would we mind waiting? The day we moved in turned out to be the hottest and most humid day of the year, threatening to break heat records. Though we arrived at 10, we weren't able to start unloading the truck until 1:00. But they docked some money off our rent for the inconvenience which was nice, and then when we got inside we were just so pleased nothing else mattered. Brand new carpets, huge windows, good water pressure - the place is awesome. Twice as big as our apartment in Albuquerque. It only took us about 90 minutes to unload the truck, and though it was fairly brutal, we survived. A big shout out to my parents for their help! Several neighbors came over to welcome us which is always a good sign. There is a neighborhood association meeting every month, so we'll probably go to at least a few of those just to get acquainted with people, cause I sure like having friendly neighbors.

We've already started spending my future paychecks and have done a lot of shopping for paint and window blinds and, of course, new plants. (Most of the ones we brought along seem to be doing ok, with just a touch of sunburn on a couple.) Still on the market for a new bed and a washer/dryer. Finding a stackable w/d is going to be a challenge, if anyone has any tips let me know. We found a decent one at Sears, but they wanted $240 for delivery/installation. What the heck?

Sorry this post is kind of rambly, but it is just a lot to catch up on. My parents left last night, just in time for us to watch the most boring Tony Awards show in recent memory (you know when the best musical number in the show is sung by a former American Idol winner, something just isn't right). But congrats to our friends Heather, Matt and Leenya in "Company" for their surprise win for Best Musical Revival! Also Tom introduced us to the delightful game of throwing rolled socks at the TV whenever someone is boring or stupid or bad weird (as opposed to good weird, which I applaud). That is a tradition I could get used to. heh

Now it is time to really get started putting the house together. David is upstairs painting the guest bedroom so it will be all ready for you. I'm still waiting to schedule my NCLEX, but I should really start studying in earnest, cause it shouldn't be long now. Again, I apologize for the rambling post, my mind is in a thousand different places at the moment. But things should start to straighten out very soon now. And as soon as they do I'll start to post some pics.