Our New Homestead

A couple weeks after our arrival in Texas, we were able to move out of our 2 room cottage and into a full size home. We have learned that our families happiness together is directly proportional to the amount of space we have available to separate ourselves from each other.

Yesterday we spent the morning cleaning up from the move. We have lived amongst cardboard boxes for the past three weeks and it was time to clean up our act. We still have boxes in a couple of rooms that we are not spending much time in, but our bedrooms, kitchen, and living room are free and clear. Its a great feeling to walk around the house without tripping over, rubbing up against, or being cut by cardboard boxes. Even though we are hoping to only be in this house for a year, it is finally starting to feel like home.

When we moved, we decided not to take our washer and dryer with us. We are now the proud owners of high-efficiency front loading machines. It took me a week to get the washer level enough that it stopped walking around the laundry room but now it just sits there and quietly spins our clothing clean at 2400 rpms. The washer has a gaping 4.7 cubic feet of space for clothing. In other words, we can do a weeks worth of laundry in two loads once a week instead of two loads every other night. The only drawback is that it takes a ridiculous amount of time to fold all of the clothes that can fit in the machine.

One of the drawbacks to renting is that I don't get to do any home repairs or projects. In fact they made me sign a sheet of paper promising to call them to fix anything instead of doing it myself. So now instead of being able to procrastinate fixing all of the little things that need to be worked on, I have to wait for somebody else to decide to do it. I'm starting to understand how Stacy feels.

Texas or BUST!!!

We survived our move from Florida and arrived in Texas just in time for Christmas. The trip was about as exciting as it could be. If you have ever spent much time on the Southern Gulf Coast, you are well aware of the complete lack of geographical interest. There are occasional rolling hills, but for the majority of the 18 hour drive, it is relatively flat. Luckily the boredom outside the minivan was countered by the excitement inside the minivan.

Yes friends, family, and fans, the excitement was at times, just too much to bear. In anticipation of this long ride and from long gained personal experience traveling across Nevada with my family without air conditioning, I thought I had prepared well for this experience. I was wrong.

The new minivan that I bought for work a while ago has everything. Seat warmers (just silly in Florida), build in DVD player, wireless headphones for the DVD player, multiple thermostats so that everybody can be as cool or warm as desired, cup holders everywhere, and plenty of room for four people to be comfortable. We had snacks, food for meals, and drinks to keep us going for three days just in case our two day trip was extended. The Pioneers would have been so jealous! But the smaller members of the family did not appreciate how far long distance travel has advanced in the past 175 years. These small children not only expected everything that was offered to them, they expected even more and expressed the displeasure of not receiving what they wanted with fervor.

About four hours into the drive, Cavell was done. He decided that until he was released from his car seat, he was going to scream. He did not just scream or cry for a while and then stop. He just screamed. When he couldn't scream anymore, he would take a short breath and resume the screaming. This would continue for hours. I thought for sure he would have to stop or hurt himself or break something. But he persevered and was able to reach his goal.

After 18 hours of screaming and listening to the audio for the movie Cars, we were very excited to arrive at our little two room cottage in Gruene, Tx. I understand a little better what the pioneers felt when they arrived in Salt Lake valley or any other destination. Travel weary people are just happy to stop moving. We all knew that we still had unload a moving truck, set up a home, and put together a new life in a new area of the country. As much work as that will be, we were just happy to get out of the van.