Hello from South Carolina

Merry Christmas everyone! I apologize for not updating this after we moved to SC. I think I avoided updating this at all costs because it was really rough when we got here. We moved down here on September 28, 2009 and spent the next 11 weeks in a hotel. Yes it was as fun as it sounds! 2 adults and 2 dogs (90 lbs each) crammed in a hotel room. It was not even like you could enjoy it and sleep in on the weekends because inevitably someone would burn their waffle in the waffle maker in the lobby. One morning in particular 6 fire trucks showed up for burnt waffle and yes we all had to evacuate. I just wanted to run up there and say 'come on people, if you smell something burning wouldn't you have the sense to unplug it? Or tell somebody....SOMETHING before the fire alarm goes off?' Ugh, nobody here seems to think that far, they move so slowly, but I will get to that in a minute. I think we are about spent as far as staying at hotels goes. I think anytime we go on vacation we will need to rent a place from here on.

We are still getting adjusted to Southern life. People move A LOT slower down here, not only driving, but they do not get excited about pressing issues (septic tank backing up, over charging your credit card by $1,200.00, putting you on a 5th floor room when you specifically asked for 1st floor). All of this of course makes me feel like I am talking to a brick wall. Also since we moved down here we lost our house that we had built. It was a huge mess with KEYSTONE and I would not use them nor recommend them to anyone. They accepted another contract on the home we built and basically nixed our deal to sell it to the other interested buyer. Not only did they nix our deal but they refuse to return us the thousands we invested with their company. Yes - we were off to a great start here in the South. I applied for hundreds of jobs here and with applying for so many, if I did hear back from them it was weeks later and I forgot which ones I had applied for. Finally I got a position at Mike's work (will I ever remember to call it MY work?). I would love to say I am an Assistant Buyer for Kenneth Cole or Ralph Lauren (like Rachel was on Friends) but I am really an Assistant Buyer for a vending machine company and I order the parts for 2 particular assembly lines. So far so good, the guys I work with are pretty level headed and have common sense. I don't work directly with a lot of women so lets see how long we can avoid the drama.

We are also having culture shock with not having much to do on the weekends. Recently we went to Hopeland Gardens to see their Christmas lights display, that was fun & free! But for the most part it seems that these country folks are just fine sitting on their front porch, in their rocking chairs, eating their boiled peanuts and watching cars go by. I will say that while we deeply miss our family that is 750 miles away, we have started to form a new family here. Some of our neighbors moved with the company from the STL area, so we are going through similar issues at the same time. Also, Mike got involved with the local Marine Corps League down here and they have pretty much adopted us. Those guys have been great! We are by far one of the youngest couples in the group but none the less they have welcomed us with open arms.

It has not all been bad though and I have to remember that. Since the deal with Keystone fell through we found a beautiful house to rent. The landlord has responded quickly (he is from the North though) to the septic tank issue we have had, we have great neighbors and I like my job. We have been getting a little better adjusted since we have a place to ourselves now. But still when I have a bad day I just want to load up the Jeep and move back to STL. Mike's obligated for the next 21 months and our rental is for the next 24 months. We will definitely have to reevaluate things around that time. For now we just have to make the best of it. Maybe when it warms up and we can just pack up and head to the beach for the weekend I will feel a little differently. We will also be excited to have family and friends come visit!

Well I feel much better after putting it all out there. A lot of people keep asking how we like the South and this pretty much sums it up.

If you want to take a guided tour on our new house, Mike has taken a video. He balances the camera much more steadily than I, so you should not feel queasy on his tour. Also, we are now accepting reservations for Chateau Keen. Make your reservation today, slots are filling up quickly!

New pics of the New House!

Entry way/Dining Room

Living Room on opposite side

Kitchen

Master Bedroom

Master bath

The Big Move - Oh my

Ok so my 'Type A' had me all in a panic when these guys were packing up our house. They packed up EVERYTHING - dog toys & leashes that we needed, our shower stuff, Mike's business suit....crazy. Since most people cannot imagine what our house looked like, I of course took pictures. Take a look - my am i glad all of this is not trying to fit in our hotel room!

Kitchen

Living Room

Basement

Latest on the New House

As promised - here are some more pictures of our new house. I will have to keep looking at these while we are living out of a hotel room. We had to get temporary housing because we are not due to close on our new house until the end of November. Our temporary housing quicly became a hotel room because a lot of places did not want to rent for us for a short amount of time AND they would not accept our dogs. So hotel room it is......





That is blue protective tape over the oven door.



I love the extra countertop above the sink.



Dining Room



Introducing the new 'Man's Den'. I am SO excited about the door on the room for the comode. Now I can be in the bathroom getting ready while he is in THAT room. The running joke is that we bought a comode with a door that came with a house.



Yes that is trash in the tub - I'm sure they will do a great job cleaning it before we move in though.

3...2....1....

We are down to the last 3 weeks in STL. For so long it has been 'oh we are moving in 6 months, 3 months, 8 weeks, 6 weeks.....' and now here we are in the last few weeks in St. Louey. I, the planner thought we had everything ready to go. Turns out there are quite a few things we still need to do, but it is not so easy to plan as Mike's work has to set up the movers, storage unit, etc. Of course the more questions you think of, the less time there is for the corporate gew-rues to answer. Now that we are in these last few weeks, my stomach is a rumblin' in anticipation. Once we send the movers off, we could use some help cleaning the house if you would like to come on over.

Hope you all had a fun and safe Labor Day weekend. Saturday early evening we went and had dinner with our friends from Church and played 'Apples to Apples'. If you have never played it is something you should try. It is very funny - and I bet would be pants wetting hysterical after a few cocktails. Then we came home, fed the pups (who are doing well thank you) and went to our neighbors house for Margaritas & FARKLE. That is another game that is side cramping fun once you have had a Margarita or six. My neighbor Terri could even keep up with the math of the game while having Margaritas. Sunday was a nice easy, relaxin' day and same goes for today (Monday). It has been nice to have this long weekend to catch up with our friends and family before we move.

Well it is getting late and I need to get ready for bed. More to come later and picures of our new house that is almost completed in SC.

We have a driveway!

Mike pulled up to the house on Thursday (8-13-09) after meeting with the builder on Monday and he said "WE HAVE A DRIVEWAY"! I thought a driveway came with the house, glad to know it is for sure now! He unexpectedly had to stay in SC for this week too - so maybe he will be able to take more pictures. It is coming along so quickly! Here are the latest pictures. Louie is getting bettter, traffic through our home in St. Peters is increasing and things are coming together for the move. Please continue to pray that our home in St. Peters sells before we move!

Front View



Back View (patio is going to be bigger than that)

Great Room

Master Bedroom

Cieling in Master Bedroom

New House Coming Along!

Mike is in SC all this week, so he will be able to take more pics. He had a pre-drywall meeting with the builder on Monday and when he called me after the meeting I thought he would be really excited about the house. Instead he was a little confused....Mike said that it was hard to picture everything in it because it looked like small with the frames all over the place. Here are some pics of our new house. It is amazing to see it all transform. Pray that our current house sells so we can actually move into this one!