There's a Bat in Here?

Now that we have internet (and with it, a real grown-up cable package too - whoo hoo!), I can officially blog about yesterday. You lucky duck...

Our story begins at 2:30 am Friday morning, when I rolled over in our incredibly squeaky but darling bed, waking Lee up. I was trying to apologize for waking him up, but we all know nothing makes sense in the middle of the night. Still, I tried in earnest to explain why I had jolted out of sleep: "I'm sorry, Lee. I was having a dream that there were bats flying outside, and then when I woke up, I saw that wreath up there [pointing to the wall] and thought it was a bat." But it was to no avail. Lee sleepily/nonchalantly replied, "There's a bat in here?" We both rolled over and went back to bed. When I apologized yet again that morning after we really woke up, he said he wouldn't have even remembered it if I hadn't said anything.

Maybe you had to be there, but I still thought I would include that story for posterity, and at least I will appreciate it in years to come. :)

Our B&B suite was not equipped with a shower, so an early morning bath it was! Fine with me... We got cleaned up and then went down to breakfast. We were served a delicious meal: fruit salad to start, then a cheese and bacon omelet with fresh, seasoned tomatoes on the side, homemade biscuits, and freshly-squeezed orange juice. Mmm, scrumptious! I took pictures, but I had forgotten the memory card in the computer, so they are trapped in my camera until the moving truck comes with the cable to get them out. Whoops.

The ride to Spring was mainly uneventful...the usual - bathroom breaks, reading, grad work. We did see an overturned Miller Lite truck. Maybe it was childish of me to take a picture, but all that spilled beer (blue) was too funny.

We passed into Texas through Texarkana, but we didn't see a "Welcome to Texas" sign. That was pretty upsetting since that was the one I had been waiting for most. :( Maybe it was because the city is technically in both Arkansas and Texas? I don't know. In any case, this was all I got.

Next in our food saga was good old Sonic. We knew the restaurant was going to be on basically every street corner in Texas, but it was right next to the gas station where we filled up and we couldn't wait. I mean, tater tots at a fast food place? Fo' sho'!

Soon after lunch, it started pouring. But as quickly as it came, it left... And don't worry Mom and Dad - we remembered what you said about how hard it rains in Texas. :)


My birthplace! Just had to include it...


Rayford Road. Our new home. When we got to the apartment complex, we signed our lease and waited for our keys in the Clubhouse. My cousin, Rebecca, showed up to "help us move stuff in" (aka keep us company, which was much appreciated - thanks, Becca!).


When we finally got our keys, we drove down to our apartment. It. Is. So. Cool. Look:

Living room...


Messy kitchen:


Dining room/kitchen looking from living room:


Guest bedroom/office:


Guest bathroom:


Master bedroom (that's the door to the master bath):


Master bathroom:


Roman soaking tub (we have TWO of these...can you guess how happy I am?!):


Saweeeet walk-in closets:


Deck and storage closet:


Our luxurious accommodations for the night:


And by far the biggest surprise...what do we find in the laundry closet but these: (!)

We totally were not expecting to have a washer and dryer! We were planning on buying a set, but with the move and me out of work for the summer, we didn't have enough extra $$ to purchase them right away. God knew what we needed though, and He provided! We will still probably have to pay $20/month to rent them from the complex, but that's a small price to pay until we can afford our own. No more lugging laundry to/from relatives' houses! You have no idea how excited I am. In fact, I was so excited that I did a load last night... AND I folded it. For those of you who know me well, you know I would rather do almost any other household chore, so that was a big deal. :)



Our apartment is on the west side, so we can sit on our deck while it is still (relatively) cool in the morning, sipping our coffee and spending Saturday mornings together, without the sun beating down on us. And then we get to watch the sunset at night. Glorious. Just one glitch in that plan... No patio furniture yet, and only one lawn chair. All in good time I guess. This is the view from our deck and master window. We are really hoping that this street does some serious Christmas decorating. The light-lined houses would be so pretty at night!



So after an exciting day, we went to Burger King (we still had no food), and I called my parents to talk for a few minutes. I taught my dad how to blog for me (hence last night's post). Thanks again, Dad! You are my hero. After we got our food, we went to my cousin's house to play games with her and her husband, Pete. ...Saw a GIGANTIC spider near their door. Tried not to freak out. Didn't work.

We went home, watched an episode of 24, and hit the sack, err...air mattress.

This morning, the cable guy came around 8:45, and by 10:00 - voila! Awesome cable and internet! We DVR-ed a movie just because we could, and we paused live tv for a potty break. Again, because we could. We are cool like that. Just let us be. In fact, right now, we are watching a show on demand ("How the States Got Their Shapes").

We left our apartment for a WalMart run around 11. We needed to replace basically ALL of our refrigerated/frozen food, and many household items. It took us an hour and a half but we did it. Our cart had never been that full, and I don't think we've ever paid that much for plain old stuff either. (Is that tax deductible too?! Please? ;) 17 bags, $263, and a broom and a mop later, we had replenished our pantry/supplies.



We quickly dropped the stuff off at home, then ran right back out to get fingerprinted for school. On our way back, we stopped at Lowe's to get an overhead light for our living room and propane. We got a little sidetracked with this little guy, something I had been talking about since we knew we were moving to Texas...


Our very own cactus dish garden!

We went to visit my grandparents, and my grandma sent us home with a plate each of meatloaf, mashed potatoes, and broccoli with homemade cheese sauce. It tasted so good! Thanks, Gramma! And since then, we've been watching 24, exploring our cable, and blogging.

It's great to be here, but we need our stuff. The apartment won't have that "homey" feel until we get it set up, but it's the little things that help. Like this housewarming gift from my sister...

A cowboy boot bank. YES. And it matches our kitchen so well! Thanks, Rachel! It's almost half full already. :)

Oh, and for those of you wondering about the fate of our African violet that took a little tumble on Day 1, it's a little banged up but hanging on. If you notice from the pictures of us moving, it's about half the size now because the leaves got cut off, but it's a fighter!


Well I think that's all for now. I hope I got all the details of the past 2 days, and I hope you enjoyed reading about them! I'm not sure when we'll do anything else exciting enough to write about, but until then...

~Hooks