Navigating

I have officially lived in Los Angeles for a week. And guess what, I think I already know my way around about as well as I did in Yuma and I lived there two years! I know, it's a little weird. Ang thinks maybe it's more the want than the ability to navigate.

Apparently we live in the Hancock Park area, according to the Not For Tourists Los Angeles book we picked up tonight. From what Ang heard at school, it's a good neighborhood and according to the book is home to some of the largest mansions in the city and celebrities. Needless to say, we don't live in a mansion. But I am liking the house. I'm a little tired of it still not being 100% up and running (the kitchen is my goal for tomorrow) but it's getting better. The ants are almost gone. Yesterday we got more traps (houses as I call them) and this indoor/outdoor spray. When we got home from Santa Monica last night Ang announced we had a mass grave site on our hands, lots of dead ants on the kitchen counters. That's a good thing! Dead is so much better than alive when it comes to ants. So now that the problem is ceasing I can feel more comfortable buying food and putting away dishes and things. And maybe cooking. Though I had the traditional turkey dinner tonight at Koo Koo Roo and it was pretty good. Turkey, cranberries, squash, stuffing, mashed potatoes, yum!

Oh and we have a helper neighbor! His name is Bill and he lives in the house to the east of us with his wife Betty. Whenever I meet new people I try to create ways to remember their names and when I met them I immediately said hey, it's Grandpa Bill and Grandma Betty (of which I have both!) so that worked out well. And no, I don't call them grandpa and grandma, it's just a way of remembering. Bill loaned us his dolly to move and got us a two-by-four to hold the garage door open with before it got fixed. And tonight when we got home our trash and recycle cans were already at the curb (Friday is trash day). Since none of us put them out, it must have been Bill. So that's nice. (Well at first it was a little weird but he's retired, older, and seems harmless so I am going with nice! I think once we get really settled I'll make him some cookies as a thank you.)

So that's about it for tonight. We cleaned Ang's classroom most of the day and we are all pretty pooped. But it's ready to be organized tomorrow. And we're still getting things done here, all those little things that take so much time like having the cable man come back because one of the cable boxes doesn't work (yeah, the TV was on the wrong channel, I felt like a genius) and getting extra keys for the backdoor made and finding a shelf to put up in the bathroom so my electric toothbrush can be near the sink (it's an older house with a pedestal sink and no vanity, needless to say we bought an over-the-toliet thing-a-magiy right away).

I promise I'll get pictures up and out SOON. This weekend at the latest. I just want all boxes gone and things to look nice first. And it's starting to get better. We have tons of storage here which helps immensely. And a garage. And apparently our rent is relatively cheap for the area and size of the house which makes things a lot better!