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1/9/94 Journal entry, Moscow Idaho

1/9/1994

     I haven't written in my journal for probably five or more years now.  I kind of miss it.  I felt like when I met Andy I didn't need to write anymore because I shared everything with him.  Well we still share most everything but he's gone lots and AJ has done some things that we should be writing down for future laughs.
     We moved up here to Moscow, Idaho on July 23, 1993.
     It was a very exciting and scary time for us.  We loaded up a small u-haul trailer, our truck and car and Andy's parent's truck and started up here with no apartment.
     We stayed in a hotel in Boise and went swimming and ate dinner.  It is really fun to do things with his folks.  We drove all day and got to Moscow about dinner time to find out there was nowhere to park a trailer.  We drove for quite awhile and ended up down a huge hill to a beautiful little camp ground on the snake river by a dam.  We stayed there Saturday and Sunday night.
     Monday we still hadn't found a place so we got a hotel - Mark IV and paid for one week.  We kept our microwave and Andy's clothes and a cooler and just kind of "camped" in the hotel.  Andy's mom and dad came by Tuesday morning and said goodbye.

    "She cried all the way home," dad says about mom.  It took all my powers to swallow the lump in my throat and not beg them to take me with them.
      AJ and I started our mission to find a home.  We called every number on the ward listing of apartment owners, all the listings in the phone book and everything in the paper.  NOTHING.  We had no luck until Thursday when the Bishop's wife called and said she heard there was something free on the 400 East E Street block.  The Mark IV is right on E Street so we put on our walking shoes and came looking for an empty apartment. The number she gave me looked very occupied.  There were some old folks out on the lawn though and I asked if they knew of any vacant apartments in the area.
    They referred us to 406.  We walked over and asked the next door neighbor about the place.  He said it was vacant and gave us the Potratz's number.

Our house was the middle one with the big tree
406 East E Street, Moscow Idaho

     Of course they weren't home so I left a message on their machine.
     A little while later she called and said she had already rented the place. We were disappointed.
     Friday she called and said the previous renter had changed his mind about going to school and we could have the place - $430/month.  Deposit was first, last and $200 deposit. I came and looked and the place was immaculate.  Plus there was a dishwasher, disposal, washer/dryer hookups, nice carpeting and much cheaper than any of the other places we'd looked at.  (Much more than the $250/month we were used to paying though).
     We moved in on Saturday morning.  Slowly - because we had rented the hotel until Monday morning.
     We had some difficulties getting the washer dryer in.  Our washer overflowed all over the brand new linoleum in the laundry area.
     We went and bought a new washer because the old one wasn't worth fixing.  We decided to buy a new waterbed mattress too because ours had lasted it's expected life time and we were afraid of another flood.  The waterbed store here was more reasonable than expected too.  $65 for a new kind size mattress and a mattress cover.
    AJ locked himself in the bathroom shortly after we were here too.  Andy was off doing some newspaper business.  So I had to take the handle off the door to get him out.  He was ok most of the time in there. I think he actually enjoyed it -- except when the little smarty turned off the light.  Luckily he was able to turn it back on but he was pretty upset for a little bit.
     Life has had it's ups and downs.  It's hard to tell if this place has been a blessing or not.  I think it has helped us grow spiritually.  Andy is teaching the Deacons and is assistant scout master.  I am primary secretary.
     I really enjoy the job because I get to meet lots of people and go to Sunday school and relief society if I want to.  It's been such a long time since I've been able to do anything spiritual. Sunbeams was really fun but it didn't teach me much.
     Well I'm going to try to write occasionally so we might remember some of our married life when we're too old to remember by ourselves (like next week!)

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