Relief

I think I mentioned that we had found a house in Blackfoot. . .well we got a call this week. Oops, they sold the house. Ahh!! So we started scrambling to find a new place. No one was answering/returning my calls. Ever apartment complex I called was booked up with at least a 6 month waiting list and don't even get me started on the costs! Not one of the apartment complexes included utilities, yet they were all charging over 700!
In a state of stress I began my search in earnest employing all of the resources I know of on the internet (google and craigslist).
In the end I found an apartment . . . agreed to rent it and then happened to trip onto a site which included some renter comments. Usually I don't look at these, but for some reason I did this time and noticed it was VERY negative. Then I read the others and found another site with comments. There were about 16 total comments and of those 1 was positive and it was very short. So I backed off of that one and started the search again.
I ended up finding a few homes for rent in Rexburg, all of them higher than we wanted to pay, but still within our abilities. Then I started calling the companies. It took me 3 days, emails, phone calls/messages to get in touch with them but I finally did.
I'm still waiting for a return call about a couple questions.
So I searched again and found a townhome, emailed the owner and received a reply within a few minutes. We exchanged a few more questions and answers and finally I think this is the one. . . It's farther from campus than we were anticipating, so I've still got my ear to the other two companies just in case, but it's the best option so far:
I've included what few pictures we have of it. Don't be jealous.



This week also saw the completion of the last wiring in the house. Everything officially works. We ended up opening up an entire wall (a small one) because there were more studs than drywall and we couldn't figure out where all the wires went, but it's done and we'll worry about repairing it next week after we move everything out.
Also interesting to note that we're staying the night at my mother's house tonight because when we got home this afternoon we no longer had water. . . yes that's right, no water. Why? Well, after about 10 calls to the landlord he finally called back and . . .oh oops. . .forgot to pay the water bill last month because he went on vacation last week when it was due. Seriously? What kind of landlord are you?!?!

Anyway, on to a happier subject: We got our new car :)
My mom got the final okay for the closing on her new house, and since it is out on 2 miles of unpaved road everyone involved felt it would be wise to get a more durable car with higher clearance and 4 wheel drive. So she bought a new subaru. This meant they had an extra car. . . oh what to do with it?
So, we're the proud owners of a new Honda Accord LX. It's pretty.

Also Jason has been sick as a dog for the past week. His latest is the flu. Stay away my love, stay away. He and Alisabeth match each other well. No new work stories because he literally drags himself through the day or comes home early due to sickness.
We did have a nice yard sale this last weekend. We sold about 1/2 of our earthly possessions and a good chunk of my mother's as well. I was actually quite surprised about how few people there were. Most of them didn't speak any English and had license plates from Sonora. They were worried about how much tax they would have to pay crossing back over the border with their loot. One lady actually took our table completely apart so that she could bury it on the bottom of her other items so they wouldn't see it.
I just nodded, tried my best to not let them bargain me to death and looked away as they stashed it away.

In the end we took most of the remaining clothes and books and housewares to Goodwill. I could have tried to sell again next weekend, but no one was interested in the clothes and most of the larger items were gone. I did keep a few of the things I felt had actual worth to try to sell them on E-bay instead of yard selling. We made enough for gas on the moving truck all the way up, now we just have to see if the last few items can get us gas money for the car :)

We also had our first Christmas. It was at the Liddeke's house and it was a blast. All of the little grandkids went first and since they're all girls there were a massive amount of little beautiful dolls. I was a little nervous because Alisabeth was at attention when she realized that all the little girls were getting dolls. After about the third one she kept saying "my turn!"
So when she got a different box I feared for her reaction, but Sonja picked perfectly. When she opened her new trainset she was more than thrilled. She was immediately enthralled.
The adults had a gift exchange once the younger ones were done and I ended up with a really cute candle holder. Jason got coffee mug with some Vanilla flavored coffee. He gave the coffee to the highest bidder and planned his hot chocolate revenge.
After we had enjoyed the gifts and family for a while we had to rush across town for a "Surprise" party for Holly. We had balogna sandwiches and chips for dinner and then a great cake made by Jason's younger sister. The gifts were really nice, my favorite being the little figurines her youngest girls got for her. It was a nice night which culminated in my daughter throwing a coughing fit and making herself sick, so after locking her in her seat I got her back out and bathed her while Jason cleaned the seat and then we headed home. (She was gone before we got half-way there).

It was quite an eventful week! I'm excited for this one which promises just as much fun. Christmas Eve will start at the Liddeke's Mexican Christmas dinner followed by an overnighter at Jason's parent's house. Then gifts in the morning followed by more gifts at Nana's house and Christmas dinner. Whew! See you on the other side.