Let Sanity Commence!

Phew! What a busy week! I have so much to tell y'all but where do I start?

I guess with moving in.

We've been in our apartment for a week now. No, we are not unpacked fully yet...we may be halfway unpacked. May. Despite our best efforts we still brought way more over than we can fit so now it's a battle of "do we buy more shelves/storage bins or do we get rid of more stuff?" It's becoming a problem. Hopefully we'll find a resolution this weekend.

What's it like here? Our complex is quiet. It looks ghetto as ever with Pepto-bismal pink mixed with yellow for outdoor paint (thank goodness the inside is white and we can paint indoors if we want. Yippee!). But they're painting it brown this fall. Not a pretty brown but, really, anything is better than Pepto-bismal. Just looking at the walls makes my tummy hurt. Oh, now that I'm listening, I guess I should mention: while our complex is quiet as far as street noise goes (shocking, since we're off a very busy road) it's not actually silent here. The cicadas do a good job of keeping a lively chorus going all day and night. Kinda soothing, makes you feel like you're in some adventurous jungle or something. And with the Spanish moss adding to the effect you can really get into it. Yes, we have Spanish moss EVERYWHERE. Have huge drippings of it right outside our huge back door. It literally goes BAM! SPANISH MOSS! the second you get into Savannah. Amusing and beautiful. Helps with shade and keeping things cool too.

There is plenty of MARKED parking spaces (haaaaaaallelujah!), plenty of laundry machines, a nice pool that we've enjoyed already (and are going to enjoy again today), and we're next door to an abandoned orphanage that makes me want to trespass for awesome photos so bad it hurts.

What have we been up to? Mainly unpacking and exploring. Not a single grocery store from Oregon is out here. Not one. The closest Costco is three hours away and everything else doesn't exist. Wal-mart doesn't count because we both hate it. So we've been trying to establish which grocery store out here is like ones from home as far as quality and price goes. That's been interesting to say the least. We're really missing Winco. We can't find any store here that allows you to buy bulk pasta. Or bulk anything for that matter. Oh, bulk section of Winco, how I miss hearing people open the container doors and letting rice pour into those plastic bags. We have pretty good stores here though, even if they are a little pricier. We were excited about shopping at the Piggly Wiggly...until we saw it. Never. Shopping. There. Ever. We might get hepatitis. No joke. Publix is like Safeway and they have the most amazing Dutch apple pie yogurt EVA. Krogers varies from Albertson-esque to Market of Choice-like, depending on location.

I'm sorry, but I need to interrupt. My stupid air conditioner WON'T TURN OFF! I've switched it off 4 times now and it just won't stop! Please don't let the electricity bill be horrendous...

Anyway, back to my spiel. There's a place called Fresh Market that's supposed to be like Whole Foods but we haven't checked it out yet. There's no Petco here which I'm grateful for because I prefer PetsMart. But I'm also sad about it because I recently discovered that one of the food brands we buy for Truffle (which she LOVES) is only available at Petco. Amazon.com for the win I guess. But what's this going to mean about Birdworm! Because come Christmas time I predict she'll need another one. She's already removed a feather from her new one and as it's not on the table where I put it I have a sneaking suspicion she ate it last night while we were sleeping. Why does she have to EAT the feathers!?!

Ahem. Sorry.

We've been to a portion of downtown. It's so beautiful! The houses! The history! The inability to decide whether the streets should be paved, brick, or cobblestone! It's fabulous! And the candy is to die for. I know some of you have heard me say it already but the pecan pralines here....oooooooooooooooh. There is no contest. Heaven help me if we have babies outside of Savannah and I get a hankering for that praline. Or rather, Heaven help JT. That stuff is gooooood.

And since we're on the subject of downtown let me just slip a little tidbit of info here to mention that I got a job.

That's right. A JOB! The first (only) job I applied for when we got here called me up a few days ago for an interview. An hour after the interview I was told I got the job. I have training on Monday and start work sometime after that (probably Tuesday or Wednesday. For sure working the weekend). Where do I work, you ask? Oh, you know, at this cool little tourist shop DOWNTOWN. But this downtown area is different than the other downtown area. Technically, downtown is divided into north and south. It should also be divided by east and west, in my opinion. They're so different. Where I'm working is right near the HUGE stores where all the tourists can spend their moola. My shop is where the carriages and trolleys load up to show everybody the sights. So I won't be lonely. Nope. I'll hear plenty of people without southern accents!

Okay, that's a lie. I'll be a little lonely. I miss my peoples! But it'll be nice to talk with people who understand me. (For more details, please call and ask what the significance of sprinkles is. You may get a laugh out of it.)

JT loooooooooooves his new job. He can't stop talking about it when he comes home from work. Basically, he loves everybody there. His manager is super cool and treats him like an equal instead of the ugly pug that has mange and got dragged in from the sewer. His coworkers are professional and actually do their jobs. All of them talk about their faith daily, as if it's perfectly normal (I think he loves that bit the most! Welcome to the Bible-belt!). He's learning a ton. Yesterday was Rally Day. The first week of the month...maybe it's just the first day...week?...anyway, they try to push to get a TON of solutions so they can work on their sales goals as well as work on how they sell. They got more solutions yesterday than JT's old branch got in a week when everyone was at work and being fantastic. Says a lot, no? He's very happy!

So that's the lowdown on the low country. Okay, we're not in the low country (that's South Carolina) but it only takes us 10 minutes to get there (no joke!) so it counts. If not, too bad. I said it already. JT gets his computer up this weekend which means there is hope for photos soon! Granted, it might wait until after the weekend if I work but never fear! Photos will be here!