arkansas traveler

We made it!
We drove down overnight a week and a half ago, arrived tired on Sunday, and had to pin down an apartment on Monday. After some very disappointing apartment visits (loud, bad shape, and too expensive to boot), we actually found our dream apartment! Well, almost our dream apartment. It has two bedrooms, a washer and dryer included in a small laundry room, newer appliances, brand new linoleum and carpet, and an awesome well-shaded private deck. It's in a nice area of town, only 10 minutes from Jon's work, and really doesn't 'feel' like an apartment. The downstairs neighbors are a bit loud, but this is the first apartment I've lived in where I've felt like it's worth it. They apparently think we're loud too and have actually complained once, though how they heard Tristan's running over their loud stereo, I'll never know.
It took Jon a lot longer than expected to get things packed up and in the truck. He was shooting for Thursday; he showed up around 6 on Sunday. Poor guy was exhausted and in a rotten mood. I hired some guys to come unload the truck yesterday and I totally understand how he got so down. Where did all this JUNK come from? Geez. I'm going to have a hard time making it fit in here well, but I guess it has to be done. My mom took off last week and this week and has been a huge help in all of this. Ellie has been wanting to be held during the daytime lately, and Oma's arms are perfect for that while I get stuff done.
A few little peeves with my darling husband's moving job, but I do understand where he was coming from. We'd agreed that the cats should be returned to the (no kill, fostering) humane society they came from, but they showed up in the U-Haul. He just didn't have the time. That was solved OK...they are now outdoor cats. The younger, more feral one hasn't been seen since the first night, but Manhattan keeps coming back and hanging out on the porch. He seems to be doing pretty well with it.
We also lost a lot of stuff to breakage and had a lot get scratched, though that was worse by far with the stuff at the back of the truck. As things were brought in, they were packed better and better...he'd definately gotten burned out by the end.
But I'm really grateful to him for all of this. The only reason we're here, really, is so that we can be near my family. I hope he ends up liking it well enough to want to stay here more than a couple of years.