Week 4

It has been four weeks since we have moved out to Texas. The days seem long but the weeks seem to have flown by. Daniel started his job at PoolMan. He works every day from about 6 to 3, though sometimes he is home by noon. He is paid on a salary and is waiting to get a permanent route or become assistant manager. I am working at Strickland Financial Group as an office assistant. I am paid to answer the phone and do whatever small tasks are needed, but the phone is not ringing off the hook so there is a lot of down time. I work from 10 to 3 Monday through Friday. It is definatley different going from wearing a swim suit and flip flops to wearing heels and a skirt for work. Daniel is starting the process for his teaching certificate, he is currently awaiting his transcripts from BYU. After he recieves those, he can take a test and start applying for openings in the Fall. We are grateful to have jobs in the meantime however.
We are also in the process of finding an apartment to move into. The housing here is pretty limited to what we can afford, so we are planning to file for section 8, which is just low income housing.
Finding work was a great accomplishment, but not very thrilling to blog about. We are trying to establish routines as best we can and have productive days. Every night we go on a walk through different parks. We set one goal for our first year of marriage and that was to lose weight during the first year rather than gain weight. We have been pretty consistant with our walks and being tight on money helps to keep us at home for dinner rather than going out.
The only other major accomplishment I can think of since we have been here is getting a Texas drivers' license and changing my name. A feat that must be applauded.
I had done some basic research on changing your name in Texas and knew that you just had to go to the DMV to get a license just as if you were getting your first license. When I researched it, the website claimed all I needed was my marriage license and prior drivers' license and to do this before I went and changed my name. We decided to take a proof of address along just in case, I figured I would have to prove I lived here before they would allow me to get an ID here. We get to the DMV, which is in the corner of a strip mall, it was so small and so crowded. There were no pictures and a very sad looking paint job. We stood in line and when we got up to the counter she asked what we were there for, when we told her she asked if I had my birth certificate and SS card. I didn't think these were necessary since I already had a license and just needed to switch the state and name. So we go to the storage unit and get my paperwork. We go back to the DMV, it has become even more crowded now. We stand in line, it was now 3 pm and the DMV would close at 5. We got to the counter again this time everything was in order and we got a number. We sat down to wait for our number to be called. The numbers are not called in order so you have no indication of how close to being called you are, as if we weren't frustrated enough. About 30 minutes later we were called to the back. She asked what we were there for and we said to get a Texas license and change my name. She said you've never had a Texas license before? No ma'am. And you haven't changed your name yet? No ma'am. Then you have to go change your name first at the Social Security office. Here is there address and phone number, just drive straight down this road until 360 and you will hit it, you should be able to at least do that today. How come online it says that all I need is my marriage certificate and current license? If you already had a Texas license we could do that for you since you would be in the system, since you don't you aren't, so I can't, but you can come back with the printed out reciept and we will be able to do it since you will already be in the sysem. So we hurry out, knowing it is a government agency and they tend to close their doors at inconvient times. The office is located on an access road running parallel to highway 360. We drove to where she said it would be and could not find it. After the second loop around Daniel called the number, the message said they had closed at 4, 45 minutes ago. So we went home annoyed and decided to go again in the morning since we had nothing else to do. This time we looked at google maps to find it, we had not gone far enough down, mainly because then we would not have been on the road we were instructed it was on. I also filled out the paperwork that was necessary to change my name. In the morning we got up and went to TCC to get Daniel's transcripts and then headed over to the social security office. We drove past the place we were told it was and kept a vigilant eye out so we wouldn't pass it. We hit an intersection, we had passed it somewhere. We looped around and decided to drive through the parking lot of the strip mall. Suddenly I saw the number we wanted, the sign was obstructed by a huge bush. There was no way we would have seen it from the street. We go in get a number and sit down again. This was just as run down as the DMV, but instead of being called behind a wall, all the employees sat at windows right in front of you. I guess this way they could see how many more people they had and how fast they needed to be. We waited and watched people. Some people were in and out, some people didn't understand what paperwork they were missing and why they papers they had were not correct, some people even had the gaul to go up to a window and ask a question just so the worker would take them out of turn. Anyway, we were in and out in under thirty minutes. We then headed back to the DMV. The line was much longer this morning than it had been the day before. We again waited, they even had to pull another lady from the back to help move through the line quicker. We got up to the front again, and answered the same questions, this was my first license in Texas, do I have all my paperwork. They gave us a special attention number which was supposed to be called shortly after given to us, but we still waited 20 mintues. Finally we got to the back and she says, Oh you just changed it today? They told us we could just bring this back and it would work. Alright, let me see. 20 minutes and 28 bucks later she was taking my picture for my new license. It was a lot more hassle than we had hoped, but we got it done.