Day one-three

Our Grand Adventure                                    

9-10-11

We went to Mom and Dad's house for brunch before setting off on our grand adventure. Mom made coffee cake and eggs :) She makes the best coffee cake ever! Nichole and Lydia were able to join us. It was a meal filled with  laughter and love.

            After we finished eating Lydia whipped out two full grocery bags full of snacks for our drive. Then Mom asked if we wanted any of the leftover from our party the night before to bring with us. My initial thought was “ were are we going to put all of this?!” It all fit and it was very helpful. We were able to eat that instead of stopping to eat somewhere along the way.

            It took about 10 hours to get to Norfolk, Nebraska. It was an adventure in itself following Tom! I think the trip home for Thanksgiving will be better because I know what to expect now.

            We made it safely to Norfolk around 10pm. We unloaded most of the essentials. We were up until about 1am trying to settle in. It was very nice to sleep in our bed again, I missed it so! It seems bigger after sleeping in a twin size for most of last week.

9-11-11

We woke up around 10am. We unloaded our vehicles and the trailer. While we were doing that we realized that the windows didn't lock. Tom would have none of that! He said “we need to secure this place. It would be way too easy to get in!” So we went to the job site and cut some scrap wood to hold the windows shut. (The job site was very impressive. It will be interesting to see what it looks like when its finished.)

            After getting the wood we came home and secured the windows and grabbed my computer. We then spent about 20minutes driving around trying to find some free WiFi. We eventually found some in the parking lot of the Country Inn and Suites. I'm pretty sure we looked like creepers sitting in the parking lot :)

            We then went to WalMart to get some groceries and then back home. We were very hungry by then but didn't know where any of the pots and pans were. So we spent a couple hours unpacking most of the kitchen just trying to find something to cook in. Of course they were in the last boxes that we looked in. We made dinner/lunch (linner?) and the maintenance man and the landlord came over with some paperwork.

            After dinner we watched the Breakfast Club (Tom picked) All around a profitable day. The next day real life would begin.

9-12-11

The alarm went off at 5:30 this morning. Ugh! I forgot how early 5:30am was! I made Tom breakfast and lunch and packed it all up for him. Due to the fact that we haven't found his alarm clock yet I woke him up. He went off to work and I was all by myself... I went back to bed and woke up to the sound of little, running feet. I think the upstairs neighbors have a kid, I'm pretty sure his name is Anthony because I have heard his mom yelling at him on more than one occasion. It made me think of  Kendal and how even when she is frustrated with Anthony she deals graciously with him. I miss Kendal.

            I did laundry today.  The laundry room is right outside my front door. There is only one washer and dryer so I set a timer for the clothes in order to be polite to my neighbors. I apparently didn't press start because it never went off. I put the clothes over and started a new load. When the dryer went off I found the clothes still wet. Not sopping wet but still wet enough that it needed to be run again. I thought to myself “I'm not wasting another 75 cents to run it again, I'll just hang them around the house to dry.” I switched the setting on the dryer from “normal” to permanent press”  It didn't get the clothes any dryer than normal did. So I used my last three quarters to run it again. It dried the clothes the second time around. I wander if this is a normal occurrence. Oh well, its still cheaper to wash clothes here.

            I was tired of unpacking the kitchen stuff so I decided to work on the bedroom. I turned on some music to drown out the silence of being by myself and the occasional noise from upstairs. I unpacked the stuff in the dresser first. I set up my jewelry box and my jewelry. I came across the green necklace Nichole gave me. I felt the need to text her and tell her that I missed her. I unpacked most of my clothes (I think we are missing a box)

            After all of this I decided to be a big girl and venture out to find the post office and the Area commerce building. I brought the GPS just in case. I put the post office into the GPS and followed it to the post office that is one block east of our apartment :/  I filled out our change of address form and went back to my car. I tried to put in the area commerce building in to the GPS but it couldn't find it. So back into the post office I went. When I asked for directions, they ladies asked me if I knew where the Ford dealership was. “No” I replied “this is my second day in town, I don't know where anything is” “Well, this street out front is 4^th st. Take that south and go through 2, no 3 lights. Take a right and the building is right in the middle of the dealership.” I thanked them and went on my way.

            I followed the directions and found the building but didn't see anywhere I could pull into. To late I realized I would have to park on the street. I went around the block for a second try when I noticed a shop called The Craft Gallery. I think yes! I kept going and went into the Area commerce building. The lady was very nice and gave me a couple phone books and some Norfolk booklets. One had a map in it! After this I went back around the block to check out the Craft Gallery. It was a cute place with country style crafts like bird houses and such. When the lady who ran the place came over to ask if I needed help I told her I was new in town and just checking stuff out for now. “Oh” she said “did you get a job here?” “my husband did” I replied. “Oh, what is he doing?” “ He is one of the men building the Family Aquatic center” “Is that an Aquarium or a pool?” “Its a pool/water-park type place.” She wrinkled her nose at me and said “I voted against that.” What do you say to that?!?!?! I said “well I'm glad my husband has a job!” She tried to pull the words she spoke back but it didn't work. Oh well. She drew me a map of how to get to most of the places I might want to go in town. And gave me the name and number for the only Cable company in town.

            After I left there I tried to find the cable company's office to find out how much it would cost to get the internet. I couldn't find it so I went home. I got really excited when I saw Tom's truck parked outside our apartment building. It was only 3pm! Two whole hours before he was supposed to be home! He came out of the apartment just as I was getting out of the car with a tool in his hand. :( He told me he loved me and that he would be back in a couple hours, LW.

            I went inside disappointed and feeling quite sorry for myself. I thought “if only I had a book!” I then got the bright idea of using my newly acquired map to find the library! It was just across the street from the post office according to my map so I decided to walk. When I arrived I went strait to the front desk to get a library card. The lady was really nice. She told me what she needed from me and of course I didn't have half of it. I explained to her that I didn't have anything official with my address on it because I just arrived Saturday night. She was very kind and gave me a library card anyway! She then explained everything I would need to know about the library. I was able to get on facebook and check my email there, which was nice. I also got a fun book and a book of Nebraska History in pictures.

            I came home and started dinner for Tom. I turned out ok. I think the carrots were the best part... Oh well.

            Tom took me on a drive to explore the town. Johnny Carson grew up here or something so we went to find the house. Couldn't find that so we went to the park looking for the cowboy trail-head. Couldn't find that either so we came home to watch a movie. On our way into the house as we were passing under the lone tree in our front yard I caught a glimpse of something moving by Tom's head. It was the biggest spider I have ever seen!!!! Tom didn't seem to concerned. And then told me about the giant spiders in the desert somewhere. I don't think I will be going to the desert any time soon...

9-13-11

I'm tired of unpacking already. I unpacked most of the bathroom stuff today.

            While I was doing that I was thinking about how it would be a good idea to keep a journal or something about our time in Nebraska. That thought led me to the thought of a blog so that our parents could feel included in our time here.

            This first post will probably the longest because I want to catch y'all up on the happenings here. My goal is to write something everyday. Until we get the internet I will be typing up the day's happenings and saving them to a USB and taking them to the Library the next day. It is 1:48pm and I don't really feel like unpacking. Therefore I am procrastinating a little. Please don't think badly of me because of it.

            When I get a chance I will upload pictures of our apartment and of my progress unpacking and setting up. Ok, I am taking this to the library now. I am sure something will happen later. If something does happen I will write it down tonight and post it tomorrow. Well I thought I was taking this to the library, I had to go find the USBs. Didn't take me super long though. Sandy packed the desk up very nicely and put it all in the same box.