My own place and space

We have had a blast the last 5 weeks, visiting family and friends in New Mexico and Utah. I've gotten to see all of my and Kevin's families, plus a good share of my extended family. I got to visit with some of my wonderful friends, and I can't thank my parents, my brother, and my sister enough for letting us crash with them for days and weeks at a time!
But as it always goes, I've been chomping at the bit for a while to get going with my life.
And today it happened!
We got to our apartment yesterday. We unpacked our suitcases, Kevin put his bike back together, and we finished the day with no food in the house except two pieces of pizza, some clementine oranges, the packets of instant coffee provided by the apartment, and some bottled water.
First item of business this morning: renew Costco membership. Check!
My biggest worry about moving into our new place was how we would get our Costco stuff home. We live within walking distance, which makes it really easy to get TO Costco. But how do you get home again without a car? Most of the grocery stores around here have locking carts that won't let you go past a certain spot in the parking lot, which I discovered the hard way a few times. So what am I supposed to do here? I guess I could do the China thing and just get a stroller-full of groceries every time, making the girls walk beside it the whole way home.
But when we pulled up to our apartment, the first thing I saw was a virtual parking lot of Costco carts outside the door. We went on a walk last night, and I found several carts all around the neighborhood. Apparently Costco missed the memo on those self-locking cart wheels. Bully for me!
I got a cart full of food and supplies-- the first of many, I'm sure-- and brought it home. It feels like home now that I can go stand in front of the fridge and graze in my kitchen cupboards.
My first phone call here in our new apartment was a telemarketer. Ugh. She was selling newspaper subscriptions.... which I ended up buying! I've never bought anything from a telemarketer, partially because I never want what they're selling, but equally because I think it's a stupid sales technique. But thanks to me, today, they're not stopping any time soon. Sorry, everyone.
So, house full of groceries, doorstep full of papers, my next stop was the library. I REALLY missed the library while we were in China. I love reading, but I don't want to buy every book I want to read. First of all, I have terrible taste in books, and I don't want to own every crappy piece of teen chick-lit that I read. That would be one embarrassing bookshelf! And buying books is expensive. I don't love every book I've read, and it would be such a waste of money to buy everything, try it, find I hate it, and then be stuck with it. So I love going to the library! It's the only place I let myself go hog-wild and impulse shop till I drop. Then if I hate it or don't even read it, there's no problem, and I just return them the next week!
I found some children's books about Brazil. I thought I'd read them to the girls, but honestly, I'll probably just read them myself. I'm learning more from the kids' books than I've learned so far. And let's face it, they're made for people with my attention span!
I'm loving my new apartment and my new little space in the world. Our neighborhood is awesome, and I'm excited to settle in and feel at-home here. Our UAB shipment comes on Wednesday, so I'm thinking we'll settle in pretty quickly!