Huge Changes!

Wow. So much has been going on over here!!

First, my really nice camera was stolen. Out of our car, right in front of our apartment. I did accidentally leave it in the car but we were shocked that it was snatched that quickly, which shows you that someone is prowling around the parking lot looking for things to steal. We reported the incident & gave them the serial number in case it shows up at a pawn shop, and the cop said there have been a lot of thefts from cars here lately. (It's general a nice, quiet area where you feel safe.)

This was about a week or two after our video camera & computer printer mysteriously died, and we generally had a growing list of things that needed to be replaced with little hope of having the money to do so. I think the camera thing would have sent me over the edge but then....

Justin got a new job! He's been looking for months but there just weren't a lot of high school science spots opening up. Once we got further into the summer he'd pretty much accepted the fact that he'd be at his school another year. Then we got a call out of the blue for from our top choice school district and within two days he interviewed & was told he had the job. It's for Physics, his specialty (he's been teaching all four sciences) and a *huge* pay increase.

The next week he was out of town for a science workshop while Orson & I stayed with his mom (so we wouldn't be alone & car-less for a week). Terrible timing, but we both spent the time searching online for a new place to live. At first we were looking at apartments & I had a running list of about 70 & had called about a dozen to ask about openings. The longer we looked the higher our price range got, and the selection was still pretty sad (we've been spoiled here!). But with the new higher price range we started looking for houses and the options were *so* much better.

Unfortunately almost every rental house I called either didn't allow pets or was already rented. (I think a lot of the sites have pulled the info from other sites & don't update it when they are off the market.) We were able to get appointments at 2 houses for Saturday. Saw the 1st one & loved it but the 2nd one called before we got there & asked about pets so it got cancelled. (I never knew one de-clawed & neutered cat could cause so much trouble) We found a few other options online but decided to just go with the one we'd seen.

So, we move in 2 weeks (on Orson's b-day!) and the new place is 1.5 hour away! Last night we started packing.  Time-wise we are not too worried the packing, the hardest part will be finding enough boxes and dealing with all of the little details (utilities, internet, address changes, etc.). It's going to be a crazy few weeks!!