We’re finally in our apartment!!! I’m really excited about it! We moved everything in yesterday (Sunday), and immediately got to work setting up the office. We had an argument about who got the corner desk, which Anthony won, somehow. Though I get to see out the window, and that’s nice.

I also unpacked most of our clothing and got it all hung up and in drawers. I thought having only a week’s worth of clothing for a month would be difficult, but it turns out I didn’t even really miss any of my clothing (with the exception of my coat) and wear the same few outfits day after day anyhow. I’m thinking a serious closet-purge is in order, and I’m toying with the idea of a 40-hanger closet. We’ll see.

We’ve done a lot of shopping at Ikea for furniture–well, we’ve bought some things there and the found other things we liked but instead bought on Craigslist. So I guess our apartment is Ikea-Craigslist chic. We got our brand-new (in box) office chairs for $275 together, and at Ikea they’re $200 each. We also got the corner desk for $100 off Craigslist and it’s $230 at Ikea. We could have gotten even cheaper options, but I really wanted nice, new, matching furniture since I have to spend about 8 hours a day in this room. I know it might seem silly, but I really feel like having a nice looking office helps with my creativity and productivity.

We’ve got a few more office things to purchase, like a file cabinet and some mouse mats (they’re like 11×17 mouse pads, and they’re awesome), but we’ve gotten a good start and I feel like I can finally get back into a work routine.

As for the rest of the apartment… the bedroom has a mattress, so good enough, the bathroom is finished and all-around awesome, the living room has some electrical problems and is missing the couch but should have it soon (the apartment is supposed to be partially furnished), the dining room needs some paint and some shelves, and the kitchen/laundry isn’t even really started, but should hopefully be finished this week… If not, I guess I’ll be glad I have too many articles of clothing, as otherwise I’d have to be wearing smelly stuff over and over… Not positive what we’re doing about food besides cereal without a kitchen or anywhere to cook. Pizza every night? I wouldn’t complain.

I’ve probably got to go to Ikea and pick up some storage containers and maybe some decorative stuff. I might go with my friend Kari, since Anthony doesn’t understand the concept of things matching OR organizing, and always tries to talk me out of buying things. That’s no fun.

But we’re finally in the apartment and my office is functional and that makes me happy!!!

After arriving in Denver, we spent the night with some friends, then went down to see our new apartment. Or rather, how our new apartment was coming along.

We were supposed to be able to move in by October 1st, but things weren’t happening quite as quickly as the landlord hoped. The renovation to her basement (our future apartment) is taking longer than expected.

Originally, we were told the delay would be possibly only a week, so after a week at my parents’ house, we headed out. We’d hoped that, worst case, we’d be in our new apartment after a few days.

But it turns out there are some inspection hold-ups, and the new windows (which were required for fire safety reasons) need to be inspected and signed off on before much of the rest of the work can continue.

Long story short, we’re being put up in a hotel room until at least the 14th, and very possibly until early November.

It’s not a horrible hotel, but the internet is certainly horrible (barely above dial-up speeds), and I’m getting increasingly worried about what’s going to happen when my “vacation” from work is over and I need to FTP a bunch of files or try to talk to a client via Skype or Google Hangout. I don’t think this internet can handle a video chat.

As you can tell by the photos, we’ve set up our computers in the “dining room” and since the table is so small, we just use the same monitor/keyboard/etc. and plug and unplug our towers depending on who is using the computer. I did transfer a lot of “emergency” client files to Google Drive so that I can access contracts and do small edits to websites on my Chrome Book, but to actually do design/development work, I really need my desktop. And a good internet connection.

It’s definitely not an ideal situation, but it’s kind of fun at the moment. We’ve been spending a lot of time laying around in bed, exploring the town, and acting like we’re actually on vacation. Hopefully the internet situation won’t cause too much of a problem, and we’ll be able to move into our new apartment soon!

We left my parents’ house last Wednesday morning, and spent many hours in the car. After stopping for the night in Manhattan, Kansas, we reluctantly got back in the car for the worst part of the drive: western Kansas and eastern Colorado.
No offense to anyone who lives in these areas, but seven hours of flat, brown landscape while sitting in a jam-packed car, is incredibly boring and uncomfortable. Despite listening to Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets (we’d finished Philosopher’s Stone the previous day) the drive was really getting to us at this point.

Which is probably why when we saw the signs telling us, “RATTLESNAKES, FOXES, GOATS, BUFFALO,” or “36-INCH LIVE DONKEY,” and most especially, “5 AND 6-LEGGED COWS,” in only 150 miles, we started talking about how fun it would be to stop at a tourist trap and see a bunch of animals.

And by the time we were only 50 miles away, we were really wondering what the big deal about a 36″ live donkey was. Is that big? Small? Abnormal in some way?

We had to find out.

We took the exit and fortunately it was right off the highway. It was a low building with a big red “Prairie Dog Town” sign above the entrance. There was a privacy fence around the entire property so that you couldn’t get a peek without paying.

So we forked over $9 each, and an additional fifty-cents for a small bag of animal food.

The rattlesnakes were all kept inside the building in a big plywood box with a chicken-wire top. They laid there, under the heat lamps, like snakes do.

I was beginning to question what the rest of the “town” would be like.

We stepped outside and I felt a bit like I was back in Indiana on a friend’s farm. Because that’s pretty much all it was. A bunch of pens and cages with animals inside.

Except we don’t have prairie dogs in Indiana, and those little guys are adorable! They’d pop up and run around from hole to hole and reach out and grab the food Anthony would put down for them. I loved them!

After that, I was less than impressed.

I hate zoos because I hate seeing animals caged up, and I felt the same way here. I loved seeing the fox, coyotes, and bobcat, which I likely wouldn’t get to see well in the wild, but hated how they were kept in small cages with hard cement floors and nothing soft to sleep on. (the coyotes and bobcat didn’t want to pose for photos)

The five and six-legged cows were strange, but not what I was expecting. The extra legs came from their back/shoulders and just hung there. It was weird and I do wish I’d been able to see them better because I find that kind of stuff interesting.

Besides the prairie dogs (which had free-run of the place) the only really happy animals seemed to be the goats. They were so excited to eat food out of Anthony’s hand! They’d all run up and line up along the fence and butt each other out of the way to get a treat. It was pretty funny.

It was definitely great to get out and stretch our legs, and now we can say we’ve been to a tourist trap, but I really can’t stand seeing animals in cages. I wanted to take them all home with me!

And I still don’t know what’s so special about a 36″ live donkey…