Things I Miss About Michigan

So it is 1:15am and I can't sleep...due to several factors. I'm in a listing mood, so here is a list of why I cannot for the life of me fall asleep.

A) I am sooooo hungry. I'm trying to be better about not eating late because I thought that was what was keeping me up at night. Apparently not so!
B) I may or may not be leaving early in the morning for North Carolina with Josh's Mom and sister...I was never really given a definite answer. I'm a planner...I need to plan. And pack. Ahh.
C) Someone feels the need to repeatedly slam doors on one of the floors below us. If you are coming or going at this indecent hour, at least have the common courtesy to BE QUIET.
D) Sadie is being a bed hog. (I know Mom, she's *just* a cat, kick her off! But she's sleeping so cute!)

Since I can't sleep, I decided to blog. Hopefully this does the trick!

Life in Aurora is going okay...I love being with Josh again and I am excited to finally start this new chapter in our lives, but some aspects have been kind of rough so far.

Unpacking-wise, we are mostly settled. There are a few things that I still think "Hmm, I wonder where that wound up..." but for the most part, our day to day necessities are all in place. Josh's office is really the only thing that needs some more attention. You can finally see his desk again though, so that is a major improvement!! There are just a few boxes left in there that need to either be unpacked, or stored, but other than that, this place is livable. Kind of crammed, yes...but so far we aren't going too crazy.

Sounds like your typical experiences after moving, right? I know. But we've also been dealing with a remodel next door...so from 7am to 4pm I hear constant drilling and hammering. Not to mention, the Mexican music the carpenters listen to (I swear it's like they're having a fiesta every day!), and the crazy Russian guy (who I think is their boss or something, because he's only here for short periods of time and basically just walks around to all the different apartments they are working on) who talks (and sings) really loud. In Russian.

Plus, our mail is all screwed up. And when I went to try to get it straightened out...do you think the Postal worker spoke English? Nope. I'm pretty sure he thought I was stupid...but I'm not. All I know is, we haven't gotten mail in like 3 weeks, and I know we should have been getting a lot. So hopefully it shows up, although they didn't make any promises as to when, or any guarantees that we'd ever get all of it. Nice.

AND...the most horrific thing of all...I cannot get a library card because of said mail issues!! I have to have either an Illinois license, or a bill with proof of the Illinois address. Well I can't get a license without proof of the new address either, and since I can't get my mail to get something with our address on it....I am up a creek without a paddle. And this is driving me insane! In Otsego I went to the library 3-4 times a WEEK.....I haven't gone in like, 3 weeks. Yikes! I think we are going to round up everything we have and go there tomorrow just to see if they'll work with us...probably not, but it's worth a shot!

The other day I had my first laundromat experience. That was...interesting. We have 2 washers and 2 dryers here, but they are in a separate building and there's no place for me to sit and wait. I would rather watch it to know no one is stealing my stuff (which we were told, has happened). So I thought I'd check out the laundromat. Well first of all, the one I went to was all in Spanish. Plus it was all JUMBO washers and dryers, so it was like $5.00!! Complete rip off. Anyways, I go there, start my laundry and am sitting there minding my own business...when I am approached by a man wanting to sell me DVD's. They had TV's going with different movies playing, so I figured I was picking one to play since one had just finished. He didn't speak English, and as he held his hand up and made the sign for money, I quickly realized he was trying to sell me illegally burned copies of DVD's. For $15. If I am going to get a DVD at all, I'll go to the store and get it cheaper than that. Not to mention it's illegal, and it is Spanish with English subtitles...No thanks. So he was upset with me that I got him all excited thinking he was getting a sale. Sorry dude. Then my laundry is finally done washing so I move it to the dryer. The dryers were on steroids I'm pretty sure. I could not for the life of me figure out how to start it. I bet I tried for a good 3 minutes...the directions are all in Spanish and the workers are all Spanish speaking, so I just kept pushing buttons until finally it started spinning. Thank goodness. My clothes took forever to dry, but they finally did and I threw them in my hamper and was on my way. I didn't bother to take time to fold them there because frankly, I find it odd to fold my underwear with creepy men looking at me. No thanks. So I walk out to my car and am loading my stuff up when I realize a lady driving past giving me a funny look...I had no idea what her deal was until I was pulling out and realized the shop next to the laundromat is apparently an adult bookstore...and I just happened to park in front of that because that was the only open spot. So now she thinks I'm some perverted nasty girl. Needless to say, I won't be going back there. I guess I'll try a different one or just deal with doing it here. Or maybe I'll start washing them in the sink...hmm...it'd be cheaper that way, that's for sure! Paying to do laundry is such a rip off!

Yesterday we went to Sears in search of an elliptical. They had them on sale so we got about 50% off a really nice one, and we are really excited about it. We obviously can't have a noisy (and beastly) treadmill on the 3rd floor, so we didn't bother to bring ours with us. We looked into gym memberships, but that would be around $700 for both of us. That's a lot. So we decided to get an elliptical. They are quiet, but just as (if not more) efficient than treadmills. So that is our new piece of living room furniture...nice huh?? Plus we figured it's a good investment because then someday when we finally have another house again, we will have the start of our own gym with 2 machines. Yay!

While we were at Sears, talking to the hilarious sales guy John, we witnessed some major excitement: some lady got chased, tackled, and arrested by the cops!! It was pretty intense. She was almost to the exit at the back of the store by the exercise equipment where we were, and all of the sudden 3 real cops and 2 mall cops start running through after her yelling at her to get on the ground. She plopped on her butt and was all " I don't know what ch'all are doin', but I ain't done nuttin wrong" and they were all "SHUT UP!" Apparently it was something involving her and an Autistic boy...not really sure, it happened in the mall, she just was escaping through Sears. (The sales guy, John, said it was probably her dress. It was quite hideous, and she was quite large to be wearing such a little amount of clothing. Did I mention he was hilarious? He also went off on a rant about Jillian Michaels and how she tries to make the entire world one big, giant Fat Camp!) But whatever it was, it required 3 cop cars and an ambulance...so that was pretty exciting. As we were walking out to the car, we walked past the cop car and one of the cops was telling the mall cop "That's how we do it in Chicago..." Welcome to the big city, small town folks!

Okay so as the title promised, another list.

Things I Miss About Michigan
1) Bottle returns. Not only because the extra change is nice, but there is a lot more trash/litter here because people have no incentive to take care of them! Plus I just can't get used to throwing them away. We still have a separate trash can for them! Not sure what we're going to do with them, but that's another days trouble I guess.
2) People who speak ENGLISH. I realize this is because I'm in a suburby area of Chicago and the part of town we are in is apparently very much Mexican influenced...but come on. You are in America. Please learn the language if you are going to have a job in public or customer service.
3) My washer and dryer! Never realized how much I took them for granted.
4) Knowing where everything is and how to get to it. I don't like having to use MapQuest to find a grocery store/library, etc.
5) Being only a half hour away from family and friends. Now that I am done unpacking and have little to do with all my free time since I can't get books...I am starting to get homesick. Well scratch that, mostly just people sick!! I miss my friendly fellow Michiganders :(
6) Friendly service. Everywhere I've been in Aurora people have treated me rude. Or, they speak in Spanish so I really don't know what they might or might not be saying about me in front of my face.
7) Everett...my lovely piano. We have a lady pretty interested in buying him and I'm pretty sad to see him go :(

There are more, but I am starting to get tired and my back is getting sore, so I am going to lay down and hopefully drift off into dreamland...plus it's now after 2am and I really need to get some sleep one way or another.

I hope I wasn't too much of a Debbie-Downer for you. I really am not unhappy here...it's just a whole new experience and too many new things to get used to and deal with right now. It's a little overwhelming, but at the end of the day, I have my husband, my kitties, my fishies, food on the table and a roof over our heads. Thank you sweet Jesus for providing for us, and please continue to be with us as we make this big transition in our lives!

Goodnight!