Muffy Toe

Well, yesterday morning Jaime called to ask me to move in at noon instead of 10am because he was still cleaning up. This gave me time to find the most beautiful old wooden desk with a bookshelf on top and old newspapers that cover the drawers. The house still isn't "done" but it's liveable and my room was as done as its gonna get so I bought a fan and some cleaning supplies and set to work.

I don't know what your 80-year-old grandparents do, but mine clean ceilings, clean walls, clean doors, assemble furniture, carry things up and down steep staircases, change lighbulbs, fix everything and anything, scrub and polish floors, and go shopping. All in one afternoon. They are truly amazing and I am so honored to have them as mine and so happy that they came with me. Gran-O and I have the same heart towards this old house. We love it. Old houses just need a little cleaning and a lot of love. I think Mom is concerned that all the dust will make me sick (she's the one that had to take care of me when I was in bed for a month with mono, so she's allowed to worry about these things), and Granddaddy fixed everything so hopefully he feels better about it now, too. BIG THANKS to the three of them for taking a week out of their busy lives to take care of me and get me settled.


Mother, Granddaddy and Gran-O left around 7 this morning. It was a rather teary goodbye for all but I managed to get another hour of sleep before going over to my house to meet the nice college boys delivering my new mattress, which they kindly hauled up the narrow winding staircase to my bedroom. Stephanie and I got to know each other while I "swiffered" all the downstairs ceilings and walls and she cleaned all the windows. (She was quite amused when I told her that Houston windows don't open.) She spent the afternoon on the porch assembling and staining her old wooden lawn chair set while I worked in the kitchen. Any mother, and especially mine, would be proud of how well I cleaned and disinfected that refridgerator. It was a very grown-up thing to do.

Since the shower won't be working till tomorrow afternoon, Stephanie and I embraced our grubbiness and walked a few blocks to eat pizza and go out for coffee. I'm writing this quickly and without any editing as I think she's about ready to go home. Tomorrow will be more cleaning and hopefully I'll make a little time for reading, exploring, or bike-riding.

Pictures to come.
Stay dry down there. It sprinkled a tiny bit this afternoon and now it's beautiful outside. :)

At the sweet request of my family, Bible study, and a few family friends, I will re-dedicate this little blog back to its original purpose (which was to record my life in Sydney). So now, you lucky people at home can read about my adventures in grad school and Bloomington, although I am quite sure they will not compare to the day-to-dayness of life in Sydney.


We arrived in Bloomington tonight and drove straight to my house. (Not so straight, actually, as I got lost several times.) The house is NOT finished being remodeled, but Jaime (landlord) promised it will be ready for me to move in to tomorrow morning. I hate to think of him and his friends working all night, but oh well. The house is pretty old and my bedroom is much smaller than I thought it was, but of course I fell in love with it anyways. The best surprises about the house were the wooden winding staircase, the red kitchen, and (most exciting!!) the back patio.


Mom and I walked around some tonight and it feels so good to be on campus. I've been so restless the past few weeks, and I think it had more to do with not being in school than with anything else.


This is just a quick post to let people know we got here safely. Sorry it's so rough- I'm pretty tired from driving. These last few weeks have been crazy, and I cannot close without saying thank you to all the friends who have talked to me, listened to me, sat with me, confronted me, distracted me, made me laugh, cooked for me, and hugged me. Special thanks to Walt and Chandra for making me feel so treasured and so Texan, to Bailey for finding me on TV and sitting by me at my goodbye dinner ;) and to Ames, Lauren, and Alex for holding me together.

Goodnight!