Since Adam’s job is the reason for our move to Texas, we had our things moved “professionally.” Everything got packed up on June 23, loaded onto the moving truck and taken to a warehouse on June 24, and was supposed to arrive at our new house by July 7 at the very latest. (We were warned that since this is the busiest time of the year, our delivery window was twelve days–from June 26 to July 7.)
That so didn’t happen.
We still don’t have our things. Apparently they’re supposed to come by this Tuesday, July 19 (fingers crossed!), but we’re trying to not get our hopes up too much. The moving coordinator that we’ve worked with has been less than helpful, but she worked it out so that we’ll be paid $125 for each day our household goods are late. (That’s nice and all–by July 19 it will be $1500–but we’d kind of rather have our belongings…)
There’s a lot to complain about it. Waa waa waaaaaaaaaaaaa.
. . . so I decided that we need to make a list of some of the positive things and things we’re grateful for concerning our move. Ready?
- We packed a lot of things (12 days worth of clothing (we didn’t know how long it’d be before we got our washer and dryer), our computer and printer, a desk and chair, four place settings of dishes, our medicine box, and an air mattress, to name a few) that keep us fairly occupied and more comfortable than if we didn’t have all those things. Thankfully, when we were packing up all those things before we moved, Adam had the foresight to realize that we should bring a lot of stuff to keep us occupied (just in case). We’ve still been kinda bored, but not as bored as we could have been! It has also been nice for Adam to have more than one tie and for me to have more than one dress to wear to church every week.
- We have internet. A connection to the outside world. Hallelujah!
- We met our nice neighbor, a man in his seventies, who offered to let us borrow his ironing board, sleeve board, and clothes steamer…and anything else we might possibly need.
- I’ve learned a lot of creative ways to cook when your dishes are limited.
- Someone had vision to create microwaveable food. As gross as it can be, it has kept us fed several times these past few weeks!
- We do have an oven and stove.
- We’re better than camping. Our air mattress is on carpet, AND we have easy-access indoor plumbing.
- We have ipods. That means hours of entertainment.
- Facetime.
- Music! To sing and listen to.
- We’ve had a lot of time to think.
- We have cell phones, which means we can call our family, friends, and doctors. (I’m soooo glad we don’t have to communicate only through snail mail and horse-riding messengers.)
- We have a car! That works!
- We live five miles from the nearest Family History Center, and they already have some good German resources. Hooray!
- I’ve only had to kill one spider and one cockroach so far. (Adam killed a spider too.)
- We’ve discovered some fun restaurants, donut shops (Round Rock Donuts!), movie theaters, and furniture stores. Good to remember for later on.
- We brought our violins with us (we didn’t want them packed…not so good for the instruments…), and Adam printed out the Bach Double Concerto in d minor so we could play it. I had a copy of Mozart’s Tabletop music too. We had fun sight-reading, and we got to remember how rusty we are. It was fun though! We hadn’t played together before ever.
- The people in our ward are really friendly. Some friends had us over for dinner last Sunday, and it was great.
- We’ve lived here before, so we know where the grocery store and Wal-Mart are located.
- Netflix.
- We are now Texas citizens basically. We have Texas drivers’ licenses and license plates.
- Our AC works now!
- Popsicles and ice cream and root beer floats.
- We live close to the pharmacy, which was a big blessing earlier this week.
- Five Crowns (a great card game).
- The Texas sky is SO BIG and has BEAUTIFUL sunsets.
- I now have all but one of my textbooks for my last three undergraduate classes!
- Our new air mattress stays inflated the entire night. (That’s twice as good as our previous air mattress…)
- The extra $1500 is going straight into savings for a house. That’ll be nice.
- Adam has a real job, for goodness sake! That means a real salary, real benefits, and real life. And security. That is so nice.
- We live only about seventy miles/two hours from the nearest temple, and I already got to attend it with a few ladies from the ward last week.
- We have the gospel! We’re members of the Church!
- We’re a family! Aaah! Isn’t that the best?!
