KEYS!

So, Tuesday, July 28, 2008...the day we closed on our first home and got keys! The morning was pretty standard. We hung out at the hotel until 1:30 and then started driving up to our neighborhood although we hadn't received a phone call from Joyce saying the house was ours. Then, the phone did ring. And it was Joyce. And she said, "Do you know that the power is not turned on in the house"?

What?!? Josh had the Arkansas electric company fax a credit letter to the Arizona company on Thursday or Friday before we left. So, we go to the neighborhood Starbucks and Josh starts making phone calls about why our electricity isn't turned on.

After an hour and a half (and having to go inside Starbucks to plug in the phone because it had a low battery) we were approved to get the electricity turned on that day. The electricity issue was the only bump in the road house-wise. I mean, buying the house was the easy part but getting power was a bit aggrevating.

Josh was pretty upset because he had done his part early on and these people were not on top of things saying that they had never received the fax from Arkansas and that Josh would need to pay a deposit. BUT, after listening to the automated system to pay the deposit over the phone it asked how much we wanted to pay and we didn't know because no one had told us so we had to call someone else. Not to mention that there is a $6 "convenience fee" when you want to pay for something over the phone. Josh finally got a manager on the phone who said, "Oh yeah, I have your fax from Arkansas right here." Can you believe it?!? But, all's well that ends well.

Next, we drove over to the Villa and you can see our first reactions to getting keys and going inside the house. While the sun is really bright in Arizona, it's not as blinding as the video would make it seem...we can actually see the green outside our windows.

About 15 minutes after being in the house, the power came on. The water was working fine as was the cable (the owners left the small tv attached in the kitchen). Josh's next task was to get the internet set up while I unpacked the suitcases and blew up the air mattress. Chores done, we drove out to Walmart for groceries. At only 10 minutes away, it is the longest we'd have to drive to pick up groceries.

Going to Walmart was kinda cool. I mean, I love Walmart. I can go inside and immeadiately feel like I'm back in Arkansas. Except that they sell wine for $1.98 in the refridgerator cases by the front doors where they typically sell flowers in Arkansas. Wait, this is better than Arkansas :)

After our shopping excursion, it was back home to eat our first dinner in the house. Lime cilantro tortilla chips and Herdez salsa were so amazingly delicious. Then, strawberries for dessert and a little sparkling wine for me to celebrate. I love the contrast between a nice bottle of wine and a disposable bowl and fork.

I spoke to my mom that night while laying on the air mattress looking outside the master patio doors. Before moving here, I wondered if I'd be able to see the stars since it's such a big city. I got so excited when I saw a bright light in the sky, actually gasping, only to realize it was an airplane!

After getting off the phone with my mom, I walked outside and noted that stars are visable. However, the color of the sky is different here. In New Zealand, the sky was truly pitch black and the stars just popped! Here, the sky is like a dark denim color over our property, then if you turn south, you get the orangy glow of Phoenix. You can hear light traffic noise at night if you're outside but you can't hear it inside the house (thank goodness-that would drive me crazy).

On Wednesday, July 29, we did some shopping for the house. We looked around Home Depot and talked to a guy about lawn mowers. Who knew that grass grows in a variety of ways, not just straight up? I learned something new. Then, the guy proceeded to tell us about how he and his wife moved out here from California last year to be with their daugher and son-in-law, but now his daughter and son-in-law are divorcing because when the son-in-law moved out here he got really into body building and then started cheating on his wife. Hmmm....I must look like a counselor.

Home Depot was having a great sale on patio furniture but we just couldn't commit to buying the set we wanted so we left and drove over to Ashley's Home Furniture. We hadn't planned to buy furniture (just wanted to look), however, they were having this amazing sale where if you bought one piece of furniture, you got the second piece (of equal or lesser value) for $1. And this.....is where we met......Chuck!