My first week in New Jersey - Oh boy!

I made it! A small town girl from Kansas and I’m settling into my NYC-suburban life. First off, it should be known that I NEVER aspired to live in NYC – I wasn’t even sure I’d ever get to visit NYC. So, to live less than 30 miles from downtown NYC is a bit surreal and frightening. Here’s my first week…


Monday, March 24

We drive from Richmond, Indiana through Ohio, through West Virginia (we weren’t expecting to see that sign, so that threw us off for a few minutes), through Pennsylvania (if it weren’t already really late, I promise we would have stopped to see you, Licon family!), into NJ and to James’s workplace to get his car. He had left from work directly to the bus station and we figured that midnight on a rainy, FREEZING Monday night would be the best time for me to drive alone for the first time. Maybe less traffic? (James works about 30-40 minutes from our house. Really it’s like 25 minutes but rush hour traffic makes it more.)

Well, turns out his battery was dead. It didn’t even try to turn over so I suggested he check and make sure he still had a battery. My small town mind was thinking maybe it got stolen? I can imagine lots of terrible things happening in the big city. Fortunately, the battery was still there.

Our tiny beast of a commute car.

As it was FREEZING (read that with chattering teeth), we decided not to jump it right then and went home, arriving at about 1AM to our new home. YAY!

James promptly gave me a grand tour which reminded me of our very first apartment after we were married when his family showed up while I was gone with all of James’s belongings from his childhood and our wedding gifts and dropped them off in piles and piles of boxes. It was a tiny apartment and there was a little path to the kitchen sink, the toilet, and the bed. No other walking room available. That’s what this home felt a little like though not quite as bad.

I decided to do as Scarlett O’Hare and think about it tomorrow.


Tuesday and Wednesday

These days were pretty much the same. I tried to unpack until I was drowning in empty boxes and plain wrapping paper. Note to everyone: when companies move you, they use an entire forest of paper to wrap your belongings in for safety. I appreciate the care, but WOW! It doesn’t take long to feel like you can’t move for all the piles of paper.

I discovered that James was right. The heating elements in this house are NOISY. They steam and squeak, creak and bang, and sometimes sound like someone is either breathing in the corner of the room or trying to break down a wall. It adds to the ambiance of living in a big city.

One of them even leaks water which it’s not supposed to do. Remember this – it will be important later in the story.

The noisiest heat elements in the world.

Both days, Abi was trying to remember how eat solid food with a spoon as that was pushed pretty low on the priority list of the three-day drive out to NJ. This translates to lots of screaming and crying. Her screaming, me crying.


Thursday

The screaming and crying finally hit a high point on this day. I didn’t even try to unpack. The piles of paper and boxes were ridiculous, Abi’s eating was pointless, and I was still battling a nasty cold that made my energy levels almost nonexistent.

James came home a bit earlier and mentioned that someone from our ward (a ward is a church unit like a parish) called and invited me to a Relief Society meeting. The Relief Society is the world’s largest organization of women and is a part of our church organization.

Realizing I needed to get out, I went.

It was lovely with great ethnic and healthy food (all the salad dressings were oil and vinegar based) and the ladies were friendly. I made a few friends actually so I call it a success.

They told me about all the things that were happening this weekend in our ward: Friday night was a farewell for a young man about to serve a mission. He was Hispanic so dinner and dance were included. Saturday morning was a double baptism. Additionally, from 9-5, a quilting guild was meeting in our church building to do some charity sewing. Also, that evening, before the General Women’s Broadcast at 8, there would be light refreshments and socializing at 7. Then of course church on Sunday at 10AM. Whew!!! No lack of things to do, for sure.


Friday

I am realizing that there are a few things that should be very obviously labeled on the boxes when you move or you struggle to survive. Here are a few: toilet paper, dish soap, towels, shampoo. I am still unpacking, hoping to find dish soap.

I also got internet on Friday! YAY!

So, our doorbell doesn’t work properly. Apparently. Because James had to call me from work to tell me that the internet guy was on my doorstep. Oops. Sorry dude. So, if any of you visit me, be sure to press hard near the bottom of the button, or I won’t hear you.

The internet guy was pretty nice. He was very talkative and hilarious to me. He has obviously had to explain to people how to set up their internet about a thousand times. Poor guy.

As I stood outside waiting for him to flip the switches or whatever he was doing around and under the house, I noticed something that I’m shocked I didn’t notice earlier. First, I need to mention that while we lived in the San Francisco/San Jose area in 2007, we visited the Winchester Mystery Mansion. That place is so odd, it’s cool! The oddities include stairs that lead to the ceiling and doors that open to walls. Well, check out my new house!

Our personal stairs to nowhere.

Yeah, why that took me four days to notice, I don’t know. That's right on the back porch - essentially our front door.

By the end of the internet installation, the internet guy said, “I have to tell you and your husband to treat each other well. I see lots of married people and most of them aren’t happy, but after meeting you and talking to your husband on the phone, I can tell you’re happy. So, you treat each other well and keep that up!” He said he is single and most of the married people he meets make him want to stay single but he could tell we were a happy married couple and one of the few that actually make him want to be married. I thought that was a nice compliment. I’ll take it!

We didn’t go to the Spanish dinner and dance at the church that evening, but rather stayed home and enjoyed our internet by Skyping family, watching some Psych and eating ice cream. A rather lovely date night!


Saturday

Oh, Saturday. James and I slept in, first off. Because jet lag is starting to kick in. I know it’s only two hours but I’m a night owl anyway so feeling like it’s only 10PM when it’s really midnight is terrible and having an 8-month-old who feels the same only compounds it.

But we did make it to the church where James attended the baptism and I joined the quilting ladies with Abi. She loves fabric and texture anyway so we found somebody for whom we could help pin blocks together.

The quilting ladies LOVED Abi! Her cheeks are pretty mesmerizing.

We also decided now would be the right time to get James’s car. WHAT?!?! There is a huge difference in traffic between Monday at midnight and Saturday at 2PM. I nearly threatened James like this, “You had better be a good leader guiding us home. If we get separated, I’m just pulling over and waiting for you to come and if there’s no shoulder, I’m taking the first exit and waiting for you to find me.”

Oh I forgot to mention, it was also raining pretty heavily AND, oh, how did I forget this? There are pot holes in the roads here like there is road kill in Kansas – everywhere! And of a very large variety.

So, as it’s raining and I’m following James VERY closely, the rain is making it impossible to see the potholes before I hit them.

Small anecdote to completely explain the danger of these potholes and why I’m so concerned: February 14, house hunting trip. We were being driven around by our lovely real estate agent and she was talking to us so didn’t see a crater of a pothole until it was too late. Her car hit it and scraped bottom! The sound was terrifying and we were silent for a while except the agent who was nigh unto cussing out the NJ transit. Then we heard the tire flumping around and had to pull into a parking lot so James could teach this poor lady (and me) how to change her tire – again in the rain/snow.

Well, we managed to make it home and I didn’t even have to pull over or wait for my rescuer to come find me. AND no flat tires.

We spent the afternoon unpacking until it was time for me to go to the General Women’s Broadcast at the church. I walked into the kitchen, picked a grocery sack of food up off the floor to put away and the bag ripped leaving everything on the floor. So I started picking everything up one by one when I realized the bag of chocolate covered coconut in my hand had holes chewed into it all over!!! YUCK!

Mice!

So now starts our big city adventure I guess.

We threw away the chocolates (sadness) and I hurried to my meeting where we had angel food cake with fresh fruit and spray whipped topping as our light refreshment. It was delicious but healthier than I was expecting. Yes, my definition of healthy is broad.

The Broadcast was lovely, and the best part – when I got home, James had collapsed all the empty boxes and sorted all the paper piles. I could walk through my own house! What a husband!


Sunday

Church was lovely. We were even early. Oh yeah! Totally rocking this fresh start on life. (James wants us to not be late all the time. Me too…)

We spent the afternoon working on the kitchen a little more (finally found the dish soap). Mice make kitchen-unpacking more of a priority. Actually, all life stops until mice are gone. Let’s clarify that.

I Skyped my mother and told her my story and she completely agreed with statements like this, “You just tell your landlords you want your money back and move right out!” Or “James, you should be going to the store right this minute to get poison!” Or “Heidi, don’t touch those things! Let him set the traps and unload them!” And my favorite, “Get some poison and a CAT!” (Reminder that James is allergic to cats.) And even better, “There are no mice in Kansas... I could have given you a cat.”

Abi would like a cat!

She explained how the poison works that makes them leave the house first in search of water. That’s when I told her about our water dish we have set out perfect for mice. Remember the radiator water leak I mentioned earlier? Yeah…

Bowl that catches water drips.

More from Mom, “So James isn’t going to work on Monday, is he? He should be staying home protecting his wife and daughter! They’ll be stuck on the couch all day keeping away from the mice.” (Like being stuck on the couch is bad…)

I love my mom. That’s why I told her my problem. I needed more support in the extermination-NOW department.


Monday, March 31

I’m sitting on the COUCH… writing my life story starting with last Monday. Hehe…