Welcome to Richmond!

Well, it's done. It was kind of weird, looking into a 24-foot semi (borrowed courtesy of Tracy Sodders) and realize that all of my worldly possessions, minus the car, were inside. We were truly blessed by the amount of people who showed up to help us move. It was done in under 40 minutes - my incredible wife had been diligent in packing everything up (I helped a slight amount) and we had taken apart all of our stuff. So people came, loaded, and we were done. We left Charlottesville a little after 10, and we know there were at least 2 people who showed up after that to try and help (sorry guys, but thanks for the effort!)
The trip to Richmond was quick and pain free. When we got here, Ryan showed up almost right away. Our fireman in training unloaded half of the truck himself. We unloaded in just under an hour - the only problem was the box spring on our bed. It did not want to go up the stairs. But Ryan and Tracy weren't about to leave it there - with the removal of our front door, the removal of the plastic things, and the removal of some paint and a tab bit of ceiling through their pushing, the two beasts got it up. Way to go, guys!! There was at least one guy from the ward who showed up to help, but unfortunately didn't have our number and had the wrong time, so we were inside and done before he showed so we didn't get to see him (I was sure to thank him on Sunday, though).
So we're here. And we're tired - the first few days have been long. The place was surprisingly dirty when we showed up, and we didn't realize how bad it was until everything was already moved in. Abby's little tootsies were black within an hour. So we went out today and got some floor cleaner and polish, and we are going through, room by room, cleaning and polishing. We did our room today - what a nightmare, moving all the furniture back out into the hallway, bathroom, and Abby's room to get at everything. But it helped a lot. Jodi cleaned the stairs real well, but no polish - don't want to slip down. So we'll need to attack Abby's room, the downstairs, and the hallway upstairs. We;ll get it all done this week so we don't have to worry about it once Jodi has started work. For now, we're all walking around inside in sandals except where stuff has been cleaned.
Now, I have never had gas appliances before, so I don't know how they are supposed to work. And the ones here are new, so maybe this is normal. But whenever we run the stove, we both feel like a gas smell permeates the place. We called maintenance, and they showed up and they said they couldn't smell any. We ran a burner for a few minutes, and I smelled it, but they didn't. I mentioned maybe I was more sensitive to it and that was it, and one of them claimed that he had a nose for it - that if there was a leak, he would have smelled it when he walked through the door. He said "I don't smell gas - I smell heat, but no gas." Ummm...excuse me? I didn't feel right making a wise guy comment, so I just stared at him and said, "You smell heat?" He said that the stove was working properly and there was nothing else they could do. They tried to make it look like maybe I had run a burner without it being lit, and that was why I smelled gas. They seriously took a few minutes to explain how to work it, making me out to be some kind of moron. Whatever. When I made mac and cheese later, Jodi, who was upstairs, called down and asked if I was using the stove because she smelled gas. We're going to go out and buy a gas detector, I think. Maybe it's just the heat that I'm smelling.
Enough ranting for now. Want to hear some perks? Rent here is actually cheaper than what we were paying. We have an attic storage place (which is much needed!!) that can actually fit quite a bit of our crap. The hardwood floor in our room actually looks pretty good after our treatment, and we have high hopes for the rest of the place. One of the coolest things here is our neighbors. Not the two legged ones (of whom we've met very few) bur the little woodland dwellers - there is a small colony of rabbits living in the bushes in the surrounding areas, and we see them frequently - they come to graze on the clovers. Right out our back door. Seriously, I've got a couple of pics taken from our stairs, the rabbit being no more than 10 feet away. Abby loves them. We went out to get some rabbit food and will see if we can make friends - they look so squishable and cuddly, I can't wait to try.
We had our dryer delivered today!! We need to wait on the washer, something about some storms somewhere holding something up. So although the setup is a bit strange (you have to see it to understand), we will be able to do laundry in our own place. That is so awesome to me.
We already love Richmond - we live about a half mile from where Jodi is working, but still live in a very residential, nice area. And about 3 minutes away is the main road in town, with everything you could want - Target, grocery stores, restaurants, you name it. We went out and went to Target, Kroger, Home Depot, and Petsmart all in about an hour. A trip like that in Charlottesville would have been a few hours at least. Everything is so convenient, it's amazing. We picked the perfect location. Plus, we saw a rainbow today.
I think that's enough for now - Sorry for the long post and no pics. Our desktop is not yet set up (not sure if we'll have the space for it) and it has the software and everything for the camera. We'll get stuff going soon, just give us a bit of time. For now we're working hard to make this place feel like home. Our first night here, Abby was upset going to bed (understandably) and Jodi was trying to calm her down. Abby said "Abby's sad. Abby wants to go home!" :( What do you say to that? How do you explain these things to a three year old? Not to worry, she seems to be adjusting well, and is being really great about the whole sandals thing. I guess we can't ask for anything more than that.