Columbus o-h-i-o

Well folks, we made it. Like a month ago. I guess it's time to let people know we are still alive. Here are some pictures of our new place and somewhat of what we have been doing this past month. 

Spencer usually does this every waking moment of every day:

Or this: (imagine spencer as a chinese man)

When we got here, we stayed in motels and then an extended stay hotel for two weeks because we were "walking by faith" and decided not to prepare anything ahead of time because we knew it would all work out and would all be prepared for us. Which was mostly true, minus all the hotel bills. After searching a few days for an apartment, we narrowed it down to two (well, they were our only options).

OSU is the big yellow and gray square on the map. Option number one was tempting because it was so close to campus, but it was built in the 1920s, had peeling wall paper, creaky woods floors, old appliances, and probably not much insulation, and was $700 a month for a one bedroom flat. (Lower right hand window in the left-side picture.)

Option number two was not appealing because it is located in "Mormonville" where about 90% of the young LDS student families live, but for about $50 more than option number one, we would have a three story town-home, three bedrooms, 1.5 bath, washer/dryer hookups, parking, and a great neighborhood watch already set up. Plus immediate friends. Plus a million kids. Plus, the "waiting list" that most of the other couples here without kids were on (who finally had to find other places to live because they came in May and there were no openings then), was waived for us, and she told us over the phone that if we wanted the place, it was ours. So all we had to do was get another week at the extended stay and they worked hard to finish the floors and painting and we were able to move in a week earlier than they had originally said. 

So we chose option number two, and boy was it the best option. 

Don't worry, I found the exact white duvet cover I wanted to get from Ikea originally $40.00 for $2.99 at a thrift store. No stains, pure whiteness. but I bleached the hell-o! out of it and now it's just like new. Also our couch, striped chair, mahogany desk, and my gray computer table were all bought on Craigslist one day when we rented a truck. We also picked up our kitchen table and chairs (new) that day. And once we redeemed all our BB&B and target gift cards, we were pretty much set. We also bought a bed, new from Sears, because we both do NOT want bed bugs. Is it bad that we are both used to sleeping on wooden boards and now prefer extra firm mattresses? Our next trip will probably be to Ikea to pick up a bed frame, a bookcase, a dresser, and maybe a few other things. Investments, I tell spencer, investments.