Getting Settled In

Well, it's a long story... but I am finally settled in Clarksville, Tennessee.

Saturday was moving day. It began with loading the truck with all of our belongings. Six wonderfully strong men from our ward in Bloomington showed up to help us load the heavy items. It took a total of 40 minutes to pack the truck - seriously! I cannot begin to say how thankful I was to have the help. They made it look almost easy - almost.

Next we drove the 230 miles to Clarksville. We were lucky. The forecast called for thunder storms, but we had sunny, blue skies the whole way. When we arrived, we checked to see that the electricity and water had indeed been turned on in the house. We turned on the air conditioning (as it was 92 degrees inside) and went to get some dinner.

After dinner, the moving help from our church in Clarksville showed up and we began to unload the truck. Unfortunately, we soon discovered that the air conditioning was not working in the house. While I called my landlord's son to decide what should be done, everyone else continued to unload boxes and furniture into a steamy, humid house. Poor guys! By the time we were through, it was even hotter in the house and we were all literally soaked to the bone with sweat.

Paul (the landlord's son) showed up and tried to fix the air conditioning. No luck. He called someone to come service it, but they would not be able to come out until the morning, so we headed to a hotel so we could sleep in cooler weather.

The next morning, we headed back to the house and it was refreshingly cooler inside. About 81 degrees. Nice. So we worked in the basement to unpack and set up furniture. After several hours, Stan mentioned that he didn't think the house was getting any cooler and that perhaps the air conditioning still wasn't working. When I checked, the temperature in the house had actually gone up! So I called poor Paul again. Then we headed out to dinner for some relief from the heat. While we were shopping at Walmart, Paul called with the bad news - the problem was major and would not be fixed until the next day. So we went to another hotel.

Monday morning, we had a great breakfast at the hotel and headed back to the house to continue to unpack and set up house. The air conditioning repairman still hadn't come, so we worked in the heat and took frequent breaks. Finally at about 1:30 pm he showed up and worked for two hours until he had fixed the problem. By 8:00 pm the house had cooled down to 77 degrees. Relief!

Mom and Stan had to leave Tuesday morning, but not until they had helped me set up the computer, put together the TV stand, hook up the big screen TV, unpack the kids' rooms, the kitchen, and countless other boxes of stuff. Without their help, it would have been so much more overwhelming.

Since they left, I have spent time each day unpacking, arranging belongings, doing yard work, exploring the town, and cleaning. While my room is still a bit of a mess, the rest of the house is pretty close to being done. I still have to hang some pictures on the wall and buy a piece of furniture to hold all the movies that we own, but I feel like I am mostly settled.

Here are some pictures of the outside and the inside of the house. My personal favorites are the red chairs at the kitchen table and the pink polka-dotted bathroom.

I hope that our family will feel at home in this new town in this new house. The kids come back from a trip to Colorado in about a week and I can't wait for them to see our new place.