Huge Update

So, a lot has happened since the last time I posted...

Two weeks ago, Jared's grandpa past away.  It was hard to see such a big family mourn for him.  We'll miss him dearly.

George Denos

Rest in Peace

Next, any employer who can't respect an employee who's dealing with the death of a loved one doesn't deserve that employee in the first place.  So, K-Mart, I sarcastically applaud you for being stupid (note, not all supervisors were being stupid, just one).

We had to quickly pack the rest of our shit since we were running short on time due to the need to mourn and see our families one last time.  We spent a few nights at Wal-Mart begging for boxes from the over night restocking crew.  And then the day came for the moving company.

We left Utah on Friday.  It took us three days to get to Wisconsin.  Let me tell you the drive was horrendously long.  And Gizmo was so friggin bored.  We stayed in Sidney, Nebraska the first night.  And let me tell you, there is absolutely nothing in Nebraska.  And since there is nothing, the hotels can take your money as they please (the hotel was expensive).  We stayed in Des Moines, Iowa the second night.  We had more time that day, so we got to wander around a little.  Jared got to experience a firefly for the first time.  His reaction was very amusing ("What the hell was that?!?")  We drove over 1000 miles on I-80 East.  And then we arrived in Madison on Wednesday.

Our first rest stop in Wyoming.  It was very windy...

Gizmo and I bored in the car.  Gizmo was sick of his bed.

So he laid in my arm for a couple of hours.  Looks very comfortable...

Gizmo looking for some left over food...

We began our hunt for an apartment on Monday.  We saw probably 15 different apartment complexes.  On the way home (after 5:30), we decided to check out Target to get a few necessities.  We were stopped at an intersection.  The light turned green and the car began to go and never made it past the intersection.  It died and wouldn't restart.  That's when I frantically screamed at Jared to get out and push the car to the shoulder and out of the intersection.  After questioning my seriousness, he got out and pushed the car twenty feet uphill.  Did I mention the car was completely dead and wouldn't let me steer all that well?

So, our car was towed.  At least it didn't die in the middle of Nebraska where there were moments without cell service (and other signs of life).  So, the distributor went out on our car.  We had to spend Tuesday taking the bus to our apartment appointments.  3.5 hours on a bus.  And then we picked up our car which was fixed (YAY!!).

So...  Car breaking down:  unexpected.  Moving company screwing up their quote and topping off our total to $1000 on top of the original quote:  really stinks.  Finally having an apartment to move into on Sunday:  awesome!!

Overall, we're figuring things out.  Sure, we're going to be financially hurting for a little while, but it's just a little while.  I think in the long-run, this move will have been worth it.  Plus, what the locals have to say about my future employer makes me think I picked the right employer.  I start on Monday by the way.

Our little adventure is barely beginning...  I'm so excited!!!

Moving

So...  A lot has happened in the last week.  Let me clarify, a lot of life-changing things have happened in the last week.  I received a call on Monday from Epi(.  Unfortunately, I was busy and couldn't answer the phone.  So, I got to listen to a message that said "I have good news."  I had to wait out the evening while specifically wondering just what "good news" meant.  And then I was offered a job on Tuesday.  Let me say, complete victory dance.  Yay.  And now Jared and I are going to be moving to Wisconsin.  Yeah, tons of excitement, nervousness, and other things...

We are hiring a moving company to move our junk to Wisconsin.  Funny thing, a U-Haul costs more to rent than hiring a moving company.  Hence, we choose to be lazy and have the moving company move our stuff out and in.  We will officially leave Cache Valley on July 23.  We're planning on a three day/two night road trip through the middle of nowhere (Wyoming and Nebraska and Iowa).  I've heard the sites will be very dull in those states.  Still, road trip...

We'll enter Madison, Wisconsin July 25.  Our temporary housing has been booked for us already.  And then we'll have a week to look for an apartment that suits us.  I officially start work at Epi( on August 2.

I'm excited to see a new city.  I'm excited to have a job.  I'm excited for a road trip that will have little to no awesome site-seeing.  And most of all, I'm glad my husband and dog are coming with me...

Oh and even though I'm excited, it still seems surreal and a little weird...

Two Weeks

So, it has been two weeks since we moved in. And I'm still unpacking stuff. Kind of pathetic. But considering this is actually the first day I've almost had off in a long time, I finally have time to unpack.

My day's been relaxing and kind of boring. And I loved it. I definitely couldn't do it every day, but I like the offset of working 24/7. And I did get out of the house and go to work for an hour. It was nice that I spent the majority of the day inside my house. And I took Gizmo on a long walk after bathing him and brushing his teeth (not an easy feat). So, Gizmo loves me today.

I've unpacked quite a lot. I unpacked most of my picture frames. We bought some sticking tape stuff that doesn't leave holes or residue to hang stuff up in the house. And after messing some frames up a few times, I found out that the sticking tape really does work when taking it off of stuff. Some of my frames have the hanger right in the middle, so I kind of hoped if I put the tape to the side of the middle, it would be able to hold off the gravitational force as well as the momentum force that the tape to the side would cause. Boy was I wrong. One of the frames broke. And after a few hours of trying to super glue it back together, I got the awesome idea of using the tape to hold it together. My frame is all better and now stuck to the wall... I also bought some putty stuff that goes well with attaching paper/posters to the walls. Apparently, a small mirror is too heavy for the putty as I found out the hard way. But not everything has gone against me today. While accomplishing almost nothing, at least I unpacked a little...

Oh, and did I mention I found one of Gizmo's toys? I found his squeeky bear. He spent the next hour running around like a maniac squeeking the brains out of his bear. He was so excited.

Busy Bee

Life has been crazy.  I have no internet at home.  We're supposed to get internet installed (or whatever) tomorrow.  So, hopefully things will be better then.  But it's not like I'll ever be home anyways...  I have absolutely no time to unpack and organize my home.  And since we went from a huge house to a small apartment, there's a lot of organizing that needs to be done.  All I want to do if I ever have a break is rest.  School, work, unpack, ugh...  Oh, and I think we're all still healing from the move over the weekend.  Since we didn't have a Uhaul, it took us a very long time using two trucks and an SUV-type car.  And trust me, moving stuff up three flights of stairs is annoying and tedious.  And I didn't even move the big stuff...  Well, hopefully, life will be a little more bearable after this week.  I just have to survive the first week of school.  Hopefully things will get easier.

Moving

Did I mention I will be moving in a week?  We're moving back into an apartment complex.  That way, we won't have to deal with the crazy landlord here.  The thing that will make moving so difficult is the fact that our apartment is on the third floor.  I've never lived on the third floor in a 3-level apartment complex.  I have always lived on the second floor (and I've lived in probably 10 different 3-level apartments).  Wait, I think I have to take that back.  I did live on the third floor for two months when my mom dragged us to Missouri.  I try not to remember those memories.

Anyways, I'm hoping Gizmo will like the new place.  Hopefully, he won't freak out too bad since his life will basically be a little upside down once we move.  Oh, and he's not allowed on the balcony or on the stairway without a leash.  The space between the bars isn't small enough for Gizmo.  And knowing his luck, he'd have one of his clutzy moments right next to the bars and fall off the balcony.  But that's not going to happen...

I've been packing up stuff today.  I think I did quite a lot of packing even though there's a lot more to do.  I just hope that this new place works out for us.  And I'm really hoping our neighbors aren't too noisy.  Geez, this is going to be a difficult transition.  But it's for the better.  I'll be closer to school and stores.  So, preparing for a different home journey...