Moving to Boston has been quite the adventure. There were many days that I did not think I would survive, that the chaos around me threatened to engulf me, and that the buzzing in my head was compounded by my kids touching each other, crossing the imaginary line on the seat in the car, or by someone actually biting another someone in the bum.

When we moved to Fayetteville less than a year ago, I do not remember it being quite as traumatic for me. Perhaps it was doing all of the packing and loading last year while the kids were in Houston at Camp GG Grami. (AKA, staying at GG's house with Grami, too.) It could also have been the 5 days we spent at Disney en route to Fayetteville where my only responsibility was to make sure we used all of our dining plan meals and made it through the parks with the least amount of waiting in line. And lastly, it could be the almost 1000 sq feet difference in last year's house and our new house in Needham.

Last year when we were still in boxes, we could throw everything in the two spare rooms. Currently, we are getting out of boxes as fast as possible because we are constantly worrying about tipping one over and the china inside breaking, having our kids fall down the stairs trying to avoid a box, or not having anywhere to walk that isn't covered by boxes.

This is our first introduction to living in an area where a high cost of living forces people to economize on space. The elevation of the house in Fayetteville had a front door with two windows to either side and then a garage. Those windows were from two separate rooms. Similarly, our house here in Needham has two windows on either side of the front door, but those windows come from the living room, Sydney's room, and our room. Sans garage.

Having said that, this house has some great qualities: recessed lights in every room and in the kitchen there are sky lights which open electronically. Almost every window in the house has honeycomb shades which should help keep the heat in this winter. There is actually quite a bit of built in storage so that I have lots of empty cabinets in the kitchen. It is true that I got rid of an entire set of dishes, and that my china is in storage, but after the unpacking began, having a set of dishes to use when I didn't feel like using my everyday set did not seem so important. Although I briefly considered throwing out my holiday plate collection, I made space for it. Did I mention that there is no pantry? Luckily we have plenty of space for food.

For the first time in our almost thirteen years of marriage, we have more than one tv hooked up in our house. It is such a luxury to send the kids to the basement to watch a Disney show. In our defense, we have been training them to watch World Cup Soccer.

Can I just throw in that I think USA was robbed today by the ref. Dana White, the President of the Ultimate Fighting Championship, is famous for saying that a fighter should never leave the outcome of a fight in the hands of the judges. This applies to soccer as well-if the Americans had not allowed that early goal, they would have won...

Finally, there is the trash service here. When our landlord first asked us what we would do with our trash, Neil and I looked at each other, literally speechless. (You know us, and that never, ever happens...) My first thought was the city government takes care of trash service-even if they contract out to private companies, you arrange for the service through the city or county. Here in Needham, the city offers a trash transfer park. (AKA the city dump). For $60 each year, plus the cost of the special yellow bags, at $1.60 per bag, you, too, can load your car up with your trash and drive to the Transfer Station to visit with your friends while you drop off your trash. From the people I have talked to, it is a cultural event here where there are boy scout car washes, politicians hang signs and campaign, you chit chat with friends. Neil left the decision up to me since I am in charge of trash at our house. I briefly considered the adage "When in Rome..." but ultimately I called the trash pick-up service who will pick up my trash each week so long as it is in any kind of bag, and take my recycling, as well. I have never recycled before, but I can pick up that cultural habit. (It is free to recycle here. Conversely, we see that the city government is attempting to change an individual's behavior by taxing them when they do not do what the city government wants. Wow, where else do we see that?) Anyway, for $50 they will come pick up the rest of the boxes, packing paper, and trash generated by moving in, and then for another $52 each month, they will come by once a week. On the bright side, the lovely owner of the trash service insists that when I take two weeks to vacation at the Vineyard in August, he wil credit my account.

We are in love with our new grocery store, Trader Joe's. Their homemade tortillas are on par with Guadalajara's in Houston. That is saying something. We went to a Farmer's Market for the second time ever, and bought a head of lettuce with lots of dirt still on it, but no pesticides, fish that had been caught that morning nearby, and some ribs form a community farm that does CSA, or community agriculture. Super cool stuff. They tried to convince me to buy lobster that my kids had been playing with so that I could butterfly it while it was still alive and then grill it. I had to wipe the tears away before the people saw them. Never in a million years could I do that, even to a lobster.

The most startling thing has been everyone's reaction to the kids. We get more stares as we walk through restaurants and buildings. Today someone told us that we had an army. I was tempted to tell them that we call them Dumbledore's Army and that we teach them wizarding spells. Most people can tell right away that we are not from around here. Fortunately, the kids have chosen those moments to behave the perfect little angels they are. It's just in the car that they go nuts on us.

We found a Cost-Co and Target. There is no Wal-Mart nearby, and Neil says he can go the next three years without stepping inside one. The most comforting thing we have done so far was to drive to the Air Force Base. Why did my heart rate go down when I saw the familiar signs to the Commissary? Neil and I were commenting on how wierd that makes us when even an Air Force base seems more normal than where we are.

Off to bed because the sun rises here before 0530.