The Move to Nashville

We did it. We moved to Nashville. It was hard to believe it would actually happen. We've talked about it for so long, but as it turns out, the actual process of moving takes longer than a year of talking about it. I've been without legal internet for about a week, so we have a lot to catch up on.

Last Friday, Chris loaded up our Knoxville apartment into the moving truck while I partied with my kids on their last day. (BIG thanks to Kevin A. and CatMoe for taking the place of his delinquent wife.) We loaded up and drove to Murfreesboro, where we spent the night to rest.

Saturday was MOVING DAY! It started a little stressful when we were one of 5 move-ins at our new apartment. Apparently each move-in takes 1 and 1/2 hours. So we were quick like jaguars and snuck in before all the others. Total time in leasing office: 20 minutes. Muahahaha!

Fast forward 3 hours and this was the situation:

Our dining room.

Another BIG thanks to Britney, Bobby, Michael, and my mom for helping us move! I was being moderately helpful until I discovered this:

Our first ice cubes.

YES! Those are ice cubes! An ice cube maker! No more popping ice cube trays! I was too excited about this the rest of the day to be helpful. We were pretty pooped after 2 days of moving, so we took a nap and tried some Fat Mo's Burgers. Decent.

The next day, I had to go back to Knoxville to finish my last 2 days of school. I had the following items:

• Air mattress + pump
• Lawn chair
• Computer
• TV
• Suitcase of essentials

It was like camping.

School was pretty uneventful. And by that, I mean a lot uneventful. I came back to Nashville on Tuesday, but not before a little excitement. It was my job to finish cleaning the Knoxville apartment and return the Comcast equipment to Comcast. Simple enough. Except I couldn't get any of the cables out of the TV, cable boxes, or modems. And I had no tools. After 30 minutes of doing my best to twist the cables loose and fearing that Comcast would close (and I would have to spend another night on the air mattress), I found a solution.

Take ALL of the cables, TV, cable box, and modem into Comcast STILL CONNECTED and let them help me. Yes, I looked ridiculous carrying all of these things into Comcast. But you know what? They got it unhooked and I drove to Nashville. Problem solved.

This is what awaited me when I arrived in our *new* home:

My increasingly awesome husband had prepared dinner (in the crockpot, no less!) and bought me roses! You can all be jealous for a while.

Yesterday was busy. We bought a washer and dryer. Hello?! Are we old enough to buy a washer and dryer? It is not okay how excited I am about it, either.

The goods.

We did not buy a chair.

But Chris found a chair. He calls it his throne. This is on our wish list. When is the next opportunity to register for gifts? (just kidding)

Study chair? Or sleeping chair?

I decided that the best way to thank Chris for spending a week painting to make us some money, would be to ask him to paint our new apartment. Miraculously, he agreed! With conditions-- he would edge the room if I rolled the walls. The outcome? Not bad!

The walls match the pillows on our couches. We didn't take the pillow into Home Depot to have it match or anything.

Okay, we did.

Today was a business day at Tennessee State. Getting ID's, paying tuition (BOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!), not getting parking permits, and being mauled by cicadas.

First dinner that I've cooked in our new home? Cheesy Meatloaf Minis. They were adorable and delicious.

That's about all the excitement for now. We have a little more than half of all the boxes unpacked. Those are my projects for the next week while Chris starts PT school.

I do have a prayer request, though. I have two interviews for teaching positions next week. While I am comforted in knowing that God is going to provide for us somehow during our time in Nashville, I would really appreciate a specific prayer that God would save one of these positions for me. Pray that the interview would go smoothly, I will be calm, and the schools will be open to my ideas.

Thanks, friends.