We are no longer homeless and we now have a bed! :)

First let me fill you in on yesterday. Yesterday we tried to tackle the transportation issue (our new abode to campus) and answer the burning question train or bus? We found the answer to be BUS. While we found the train to be slightly cheaper and run slightly longer than the bus, we also discovered that we are roughly 1.5 miles from the nearest accessible train station. We also found that we are about 3 miles from the nearest mall. We found this out by taking the train and then walking to the mall, about 5 miles of walking all together. Needless to say, we slept quite well last night. The other unfortunate discovery of yesterday was a terrible town between our new house and the mall called Avondale, where they are very keen on giant spiders! :( Jen was not pleased.



Today was Moving Day Part I. We arose early to a windy, rainy (but warm) Saturday morning and ate meat pies for breakfast at Starbucks before picking up a rental car. Once firmly in the mindset of KEEP LEFT, we headed out to the Warehouse which is a very Walmart type store with some less expensive things and many cheap things. We ended up purchasing $750 worth of stuff for the new house including a computer chair for Scott's new office, a microwave, towels, sheets, mini bookcases, laundry baskets, silverware, and just STUFF! It is amazing how much stuff you need for a house.
Anyways, then we headed back into the city to eat lunch and pick up the key to our new home. Then back to the house to drop the stuff off. Then it was off to the New Lynn Mall down the road to buy a vacuum cleaner, dishes, and we had planned on buying bedding at a department store called Farmers who were having a big sale. Vacuum, half price, yes! Dishes, buy one get one free, yes! Bedding...grumble, that was a bit more dodgy. There were apparently 2 sales going on, one was for 30% off and one was buy one get one free. Since we had 3 items to get, a duvet (comforter), nice set of sheets, and a mattress pad, we figured that 30% off was a better deal than buy one get one free. Unfortunately it was very unclear which products were attached to which sales and the 30% off was only if you bought 2 items??? We are going to go back tomorrow to have someone talk us through it, but for the moment we had to rush back to the house to be there for the delivery of our Italian style queen-size bed and mattress.
We made it back in time to try to assemble the vacuum and do some cleaning, but DRAT we need tools in order to assemble it! So instead, Scott busied himself with trying to assemble his computer chair and I checked out the mini-bookcases, which also required tools. The bed people arrived and assembled the bed for us in about ten minutes. The bed is quite...um...firm, yes firm, definitely firm...and pretty. I will let you know how else I feel about it after our first night's sleep on it. Then it was a quick trip back to the Warehouse with a brief detour to a Salvation Army type store and an Office Max type store where we found a nice big computer desk for Scott's office on sale for $200 ($100 off!). We had a bit of trouble fitting it into the rental car, but prevailed in the end. Back at the Warehouse we bought tools, a step stool, cups, cleaning supplies, and garbage cans, but we were too hungry to do anything but drop stuff off and head back into the city for dinner.
Tomorrow will be equally busy as we have to get the car out of the parking structure by 8am and back to the rental agency by 4:30pm. In between that we have to buy a refrigerator, buy some more furniture, buy some bedding, buy some kitty litter (so we can haul it in the car), and do any number of other little tasks. The biggest obstacle that we have found so far is finding a washer and dryer combo. So far we have only found one that did both washing and drying in one compartment. That has been quite frustrating.
Anyways, perusing the pictures of our new home, you may notice a bit of a problem with the windows. They are in fact screen-less and therefore cat unfriendly. We are thinking about purchasing some netting for when the kitties arrive. Also noteworthy are the peach tree and apple tree in the backyard. In the picture with Scott in the window, keep in mind that they are planning on knocking out the wall to the right of him and putting in French doors and a deck. Also keep in mind that the featured fireplace is NOT decorative, but in fact our only source of heat in the winter. We are also lacking in the way of a dishwasher or garbage disposal, so that should be interesting. Another interesting touch is the cabinet in the kitchen with a vent to the outside, which was an early type of “cool-box”. That should give you a rough idea of the age of the house! :)




































Now I must bid you adieu and apologize in advance for what may be a quite long gap in posts as we are not sure when we will have access to internet again for a while. So until then...

Cheers,
Jen and Scott