March 12, 2011 by Sarah
It’s hard to believe that we have only been in our new home in DC for only 2 days. It feels like a week. We have explored the underground tunnels that have everything we need (for a price!) including: pharmacy, Duncan Do-Nuts, grocery, restaurants, including mexican, souvenirs, jewelry, clothing shops and the Metro. Well, I guess we really don’t need the Duncan, although if it were a Shipley’s I would definitely be needing it. I’m trying to pretend like the Duncan doesn’t exist, because eating yummy chocolate-iced do-nuts doesn’t jive with my goals while here which include: hiking, walking lots, eating healthy, and maybe as a result losing some weight. As you can tell, I’m not doing well pretending that place has been obliterated. But, I also have only eaten there once.
We have also spent close to a $1000 on things that we need to set up our home here. We are living in a furnished apartment, which means that there was no furniture needed. But, there is a LOT of stuff that I like to have to make my house run well. Stuff like soap and dishwasher detergent, and kleenex and toilet paper and paper towels and welcome mats and plants and room fresheners (because what is that smell?!) and ziploc baggies and aluminum foil and toothbrush caddies (because there are no drawers in the bathrooms) and a brita pitcher (because the tap tastes bad). Then there’s food.
We have eaten as well as we could on the road, but I think I’m not too far off the mark in saying that I probably consumed only 1 day’s worth of veggies in the whole week of traveling. So we have spent a lot of money at the local grocery stores, trying to re-stock a kitchen, while at the same time buying only what we will use for the 6 months we’re here.
For our first move with State I think we did pretty well. But I do wish I had put some of these things into our UAB: welcome mat, baskets and canister-type containers to help organize space, coffee, kids plastic plates, over-the-door hooks, and scented drawer liner sheets. Those are necessary if you, like me, think your clothes might become contaminated by a raw dresser bottom that belonged to multiple previous owners. I hope I remember to look at that list before packing out again. Oh, and a router. We forgot to put the router into UAB, so now we own 2. I still need to get a new stroller and highchair.
Slowly our new home is starting to feel less like a hotel-styled apartment and more like our place. The welcome mat really helped, and so did getting plants put around. We also moved the desk into the den area from the bedroom, since that’s how we like to work- around everyone. Plus, since a lot of computering happens late at night, and we have a baby in our bed, it doesn’t work too well to have the computer in the bedroom. The kids are acclimating really well. They are all sleeping well, and acting normal during the day. No weird habits or crying fits yet, though if those come I’ll be cool with it. It’s been harder for me than I imagined it would be to not be at our Houston house. I miss it. I miss the pretty bathrooms. I miss the way it was so easy to use the kitchen. I miss the yard. But as I’ve spent loads of money on our new apartment, it has helped me see it as really mine, at least for a little while. The other thing that has really helped is getting out and exploring- getting to know the neighborhood, the area, realizing that we are living in DC!!! Seeing that the traffic isn’t much worse than Houston when I need to go somewhere, and that the kids do great on the metro.