We are not in Iowa anymore

Good things about Connecticut
I will start with the good, because I think for now my bad list is a lot longer.

There are trees everywhere.
I love that the highways are lined with trees. Our complex is surrounded by trees. When we were flying into Hartford the ground looked lie it was covered with broccoli.

We like where we live.
I was able to find a place within our budget that wasn't a piece of crap and was in a nice area. We really like Bloomfield. Its a quiet little town and I feel safe here.

We live near lots of cool stuff.
We are near NYC and Boston and not to much further from other fun places to visit. I think people will be more likely to visit us here then they were in Iowa. We also live only about an hour and a half from Jared's Uncle and Aunt Randy and Ann and not to much further from his cousin and his family. It is so nice to know we have some family near by our closet family when we were in Iowa was 8 hours away.
I know there are more good things about living here and I am sure we will find more as we are here longer or at least I hope so.

Not so good things about Connecticut.

Everything is expensive.
Our rent is twice as much as we paid to live in own house in Iowa (that we are still trying to sell if anyone is interested). Our car insurance was twice as much thanks to the fact that Connecticut was among the states with the worst drivers. We have to pay for health insurance which I wasn't expecting, because when I worked for the University of Iowa health insurance was part of my benefits package and I didn't have to pay anything for it So when Jared was told he got a benefits package I didn't know that meant he gets health insurance but we have to pay $300 a month for it. That took a big chunk of money from our paychecks. Groceries are more expensive. And they tax you like crazy here. Jared bought an old car to get him back and forth from work. When we looked it up and didn't seem to bad to register we actually thought it was going to be cheaper then in Iowa, but that was because we didn't account for the fact that they make you have a CT drivers license and then charge you $150 for it and then they charge you hundreds of dollars in property taxes to register the car. So our $2000 dollar car ended up being a $3000 car. I we still own our house in Iowa when the registration is up on the van I am just going to renew the registration through Iowa.

Addi doesn't have any friends her age.
In our complex there is a lot of older people and although there are kids running around they all seem to be older. The same seems to be the case in our ward. Addi is the only one that is not old enough to go to nursery that isn't under 6 months old. She has made one friend Melia who is 9 months older than her, but it just isn't the same as having 10 kids all about the same age to play with in Iowa.

Crime is awful.
The first week we were here there was a fatal shooting every single day. (not where we live mostly in East Hartford). First there was a murder suicide of the Fox news lady, then some guy got shot through the window when he was in his bathroom, then there was just some random gang shooting or something. Then we skipped a day but then the next day there was a double homicide at the candle vigil for the guy we got shot a couple days before. It is crazy. In the last 6 months there has been 19 fatal shootings in Hartford alone and 4 of them in the month that we have been here. Now I know why everyone told us not to live in Hartford. Apparently one of the other dental residents didn't get the memo about Hartford and he said he ran for his life from a mugger the other night, but he signed a contract so he is stuck in Hartford for the rest of the school year.

Random things about Connecticut
In West Hartford Center there are these painted cows everywhere we don't know why, but I think the person who makes them lives around the corner from us because there is a house around the corner that has like 10 of them in their yard.


The For Sale signs are really tiny. The sign are about 10 in by 10 in and they hang from these big wooden post. It looks quite silly. The odd thing is that these tiny signs are only in Bloomfield, CT (the town we live in) so it must have something to do with city rules.

There is a Dunkin Donuts on every corner and I am not kidding. I have never seen so many Dunkin Donuts in my life. Within about 10 miles of our house we have 1 Taco Bell, 1 Wendy's, 1, Burger King, 5 McDonalds, 10 Boston, Markets, and 100 Dunkin Donuts. It is kind of annoying if we are out and about and need something fast and cheap to eat we don't have very many options. We can usually find a McDonald, but I would rather eat somewhere else unless it is breakfast. Most likely there is a boston Market but I need somewhere with a dollar menu and without fail there is a Dunkin DOnuts, but we can't have donuts for a meal. Addi and I have been known to stop a time or two and get some donut holes but we need some variety.

Overall we are adjusting pretty well. This is our house the one on the end. I don't have pictures of the inside yet I haven't finished decorating, but I will have them soon. We desperately miss our fenced in backyard and dog door, but our place is nice and although it only has 2 bedrooms compared to the 3 bedrooms we use to have it has more space and we do have a storage room down stairs and a 2 car garage.

Addi seems to like it and gets into everything. I left her boxes open in her room and she decided to unpack them herself so her room is a mess of clothes, toys and books everywhere.

Tito has adjusted surprisingly well I thought I had traumatized him for life, but he has make this as his territory and barks at anyone that gets close to our door. He does not like the maintenance guy or the internet guy who come into our house. Tito is very protective of me and Addi. This is his tree. He spend most of his time outside trying to figure out how to get up the tree. This is the tree the squirrel scury up when Tito comes running out the door. Our neighbors put feed out for the animals so Tito has plenty of squirrels and birds to chase. I just wish he had a confined space to chase them in.