Part 2: Ohio Welcomes Us!

The day after Colby and Lexxie's wedding (we got home at 2:00 am), Neal and I rose bright and early to go to church in Columbus (4 hour drive+11:00 church=6:00 am departure time, however, 4 hour drive+11:00 church+a few wrong turns=we arrived late). Because we were unfamiliar with the area, we borrowed Neal's parent's GPS. It was amazing! It knew exactly where we should go, but sometimes we doubted it and ended up taking a long route. We were hoping to ask around at church for some pointers on where to live, but got much more than that! A couple in the ward, Brandon and Stephanie, invited us over for Sunday dinner and, as entertainment for the evening, drove us around Columbus showing us good apartment complexes, good streets to look at, and where important places are. I couldn't believe how helpful they were. I will talk about our apartment later, but we actually found it by calling a number we saw when driving around with them. The ironic thing is that when we got to Brandon and Stephanie's house and saw some of the pictures on their wall, we realized that Stephanie is a good friend of Neal's old roommate in Salt Lake. Their wedding announcement was hanging on his fridge for months.

We visited MANY apartment complexes Monday trying to find the perfect place. We almost signed a lease for another apartment, but then backed out when we saw that the model apartment looked nothing like our actual place. We decided to go with a townhouse-type apartment. It is a two-story, one-bedroom apartment in a complex of three. The bottom level is the kitchen/living room and the top level is the bedroom/bathroom. It has plenty of closet space, air conditioning, and is in good condition. I have been calling it cute, but then I realized that decorating is what makes an apartment cute, so I will have to just say that it has the potential to be cute. The best part for me is that it is only one mile from Neal's school. A bus passes our house every ten minutes that can take him to classes. The only part that I don't love is the neighborhood. We were told not to live south of Hudson or east of High St, and our apartment is only one block northwest of those corners. The road is a little noisy, but I think it is worth it to be so close.

We are getting settled in now. Neal's mom drove all the way from Pennsylvania with us so we could use her truck and manpower to move our stuff from a moving truck about 15 miles away into our home. (While Darlene was extremely helpful, Neal doesn't think manpower was the proper adjective. He couldn't give a better suggestion though, so just assume "man" here applies to both men and women like in the Declaration of Independence and the scriptures.) My parents had moved all of our stuff from a trailer into the moving truck while we were driving. I know parents do a lot for their children, but it makes me feel bad now that I realize just how much they do. Both sets of parents were great help in this move and it would have been extremely more difficult without them. All of our boxes are unpacked and everything is done except for finding a couch. As part of a bonus for getting wireless Internet, we get TV free for a month. It is perfect timing because 1) I don't have a job and 2) the Olympics are on, but it is getting uncomfortable to sit on the ground. That is the next to-do.

We got our drivers licenses last week. I barely passed the eye exam, but I was expecting that to happen. We lost the title to our car, which is bad news. However, as we were driving back from the DMV, I noticed a consignment furniture shop that had a "One Day Sale" sign up in the window. It was the kind of store that probably always had that sign up, but we stopped anyway. The furniture was stacked 3 deep and sky high, but we noticed two bookshelves through the window of the store. They were covered in dust, but in great condition and only $20. We drive a small Jetta, and thought we would have to have the shelves delivered, but to our surprise, they both fit in the back of the car. We didn't even think we would be able to get one in, and really it is amazing that they fit. If they had been 1/2 inch wider or taller they wouldn't have. Neal and I had a hard time stopping to laugh as we looked at our car. When we unloaded it reminded me of Mary Poppins purse. The slide show has a photo of the bookshelves.