We had a couple of minor adventures this weekend.  Last night, Erin and I were watching a show and we both noticed a smell….kind of skunky.  I checked one of the AC registers and found that was the source.  I hurried to turn off the AC and went outside with a flashlight to check for any animals.  It smelled in the garage and out the front door.  Well, long story short, I never found anything and the smell had mostly dissipated by morning.

We went back out this morning to look around again and didn’t see anything.  However, Erin noticed several wasps coming out of our Rinnai water heater air intake.  In fact, we saw about 10 coming in and out.  That was a problem.  We got some Raid and sprayed the ones we could see, then, with gloves and a sweatshirt on, I pulled the cover off.  I found two wasp nests and quite a few hanging out in there.  I raided the nests, killed several more and knocked the nests off with a shovel.

Erin had a good idea.  We left to go get some mesh screen from Lowes and hot glued it on the inside of the cover.  With that back on, we’ve seen several wasps wandering around looking for somewhere else to nest.  Hopefully they will take off and find another place to hang out.  Until then, we’ve got the Raid in reach.

We’ve had a busy week.  Erins parents came down for her birthday since we were unable to come up.  They brought along their power washer and we’ve been using it almost nonstop to clean our driveway, patio and walks.  Today they finished washing and sealing everything. The grass is cut, fertilized and weeds have been cut.

Tomorrow, Doug and I are going to reattach the transmission pan on the car since it’s been leaking slowly. If we have time, we may adjust some of the wiring in the house since there are some light switches that aren’t connected to anything. Also, we’ve got a ceiling fan out on our back porch which would be nice to use except the switch it is connected to is also connected to some recessed lighting out there. That means that turning the fan on will attract lots of bugs. So we have never used the fan out there.

I would also like to get the shop wired up. Right now it’s got two receptacles. I need more so that I don’t have to keep shifting an extension cord around.

We’ve been playing a bit of Cranium. It’s an amusing game; Erin and I kick butt.

So, I posted some pictures from our trip back to IL.  There are a couple pictures up there just for my WA people.  See…I told you I went to school and lived in the middle of a corn field.

The trip wasn’t bad at all.  It was about 8-8.5 hours.  It is really easy…just long.  Apparently we live 15 min from the TN border (we didn’t know that, we never go north…).  We also live about 90 min from Nashville.  TN and KY went by very quickly, but IL….seemed to drag on forever.  One interesting part…we passed 10 Red Cross Disaster Trucks heading south while we were heading north (Hurricane Gustav was about to hit).

It was nice to see everyone.  It was fun to see Grandma…even though she was very preoccupied with “An Affair to Remember.”  The nursing center was showing that movie the day we went to see her …and she was very worried we would make her miss it.  I think that is about it for the trip home…other than…ha ha Dad I WON!!

As Nick already said, when we got home we found our grass decided to grow…a lot.  So that made for interesting few days of yard work.  We did have some nice weather over the weekend…we even had one day nice enough to turn off the air and open up.  It was very nice to air the “new house” smell out…at least a little bit.  However, when we opened the windows we found lots of dust from when the brick was placed on the house….that took us about an hour to clean out.  We are now back to our 90 degree weather.  Nick and I have decided we are both very homesick…for WA weather.

I just added some new pictures to the house gallery and the Alabama gallery.

Well, we have lived here for just over a week. I think we got a lot accomplished last week with my parents help. During the day mom and I pulled weeds (until we couldn’t stand the heat anymore) and then worked inside for a while. We were able to get the majority of the backyard weeded…the neighbors fence line looks much better and the very back corner is no longer covered in weeds and vines. We were also able to get a lot put away in the house. The only problem…we now have no idea where we put everything. The office is better (the books are on the shelves, Nick just has to arrange them…the computer is on the desk, Nick just has to fix it). The second bedroom is fairly organized for what my mom calls the junk room…which it definitely is. The last bedroom is also organized and looks nice (my parents use that room…so that is probably why). The bonus room is fine, but in all truth, we really aren’t using that room now.  We also lined the entire front walk and flower beds with brick on Saturday…that was a long day.
Nick has also been very busy. He has been getting used to work during the day…and is enjoying his job. He is really enjoying the decreased hours (only 40 hours a week, what a change)! After working, he and my dad worked here. They hung all the pictures, moved furniture, fixed a leaking faucet, hung towel holders, and fixed several other things. They also made significant progress organizing the “shop.” We put a fan and a fridge out in that garage so they can try to stay cool when out there.

This week I am going to try to finish up sealing the rest of the tile and granite. Nick will also get to enjoy some yard work this week…it looks like this weekend will be time to cut the grass for the first time. (The sod is actually growing pretty well and we only have a few brown spots.) Hopefully this week our upstairs air conditioner will get fixed, right now it is collecting water.

Many people have asked, so yes, I am looking for a job, but can’t get one yet. I have to wait for my license to transfer to the state of AL…and that only works as fast as the state works, in WA it took a couple months. Basically I just have to fill out a ton of paperwork, take some classes (which I already did online), pay some money, and wait. Oh well, I am making good use of this time off.

Nick and I have decided one thing …we miss WA weather…VERY badly. It is supposed to be over 100 here today. It is 80 here now, and only 58 in WA.

Remember everyone, we love visitors and have plenty of room (so come visit). Apparently we are very close (5 miles) to a road a lot of people take when going south.

So, we went down to the post office today and we will get mail!!  I supervisor there basically said she was tired of all of the complaints she was getting and they would deliver it today.  So, at approximately 3pm today we got mail.  Finally…I was worried everything would get sent back to Seattle.  Now, hopefully they will put up street signs soon.  One thing at a time I guess.

I just wanted to let everyone know that we are having some difficulty getting mail.  We are going to the post office tomorrow to try and get it resolved.  Apparently they are not delivering to our sub division yet…well our street, the rest of the subdivision gets mail.  They are supposed to hold it at the post office so we can pick it up, but apparently some of it has been returned.  So, if someone does send something for some reason, please let me know so I can try to make sure we get it.  I guess the Athens post office is really small.  (None of our neighbors…all two of them…get mail either).

So, as Nick said, we have been very busy trying to unpack. We signed the paperwork on Thursday, and used that evening to clean the house before the movers came. Friday at 8:30 am, the craziness began. The movers arrived at 8:30 and began unloading our stuff. Then they company came to install the blinds. Next, they came to place the phone line. The movers finished up around 2pm. It went fairly well. We escaped with minimal damage. We have a hole in one wall, a few black marks on the wall, and one filing cabinet drawer that no longer opens or closes (probably because of the huge dent in the door). Friday afternoon, they came to install the satelite. They were supposed to come between 2:30 to 4:30 to install our washer and dryer. We called several times throughout the week to make sure there were no problems with the order or address. But, at 4:30 pm we got a call (from a 206 area code) telling us that they were staning in our driveway. Well, they were in our driveway, but in Everett. So, we called the company and we were told that we had to cancel the current order and re-order. It would take 7-10 days to get our money back on the first set and in the meantime we would be charged again for a new set. So, needless to say, we cancelled our order, but did not re-order from them.

Saturday, we spent the day unpacking and trying to find stuff. We also had our first visitors (my parents have been here helping us unpack…so, since they have a key, they don’t count as visitors). Nick’s brother Jeff and his family stopped by on their way home from Gulf Shores. We live approximately 5 miles off highway 65, so we were on their way north.

Sunday we got a new washer and dryer delivered from a local company. I have been using that almost constantly since we got it.

Monday was Nick’s first day at work. He said it went well…after he got his computer. He has a lot of learning to do, but does like it. My parents and I spent the rest of the day unpackinig and organizing. It is getting a lot better in here. Things are getting a little bit more organized and our grass is actually getting green. Well…I think that is all I have to update now.

I also put up more pictures.  They are in the AL album on the last page of the gallery.

We’ve been hitting the boxes pretty hard to get everything unpacked.  We now have the kitchen cleaned and mostly put away, bookshelves full and disorganized and we’re about to get our washer and dryer installed.  My feet hurt.

I just added three albums to the last page of the gallery. One is photos from us moving out of our townhouse in WA. One is pictures of our new house here in AL (just the recent ones, when I get a chance I will put up the old ones, but I think everyone has seen those). The third album is just random pictures we have taken since being here in Alabama. I will try to update it frequently as we go along this week. So far, everything still looks on track from closing on Thursday, although we are now unsure when the moving van will arrive.