Adaptation...

...(noun) a slow, usually unconscious modification of individual and social activity in adjustment to cultural surroundings....
So that's what Webster says is happening, this is what I say: (WARNING: the following post has been building for over 10 days and HAS BEEN EDITED to protect the innocent. Translation = the process associated with moving stinks!
GOOD GRIEF! Who knew it takes a minimum of 10 solid days to EVEN COME CLOSE to living "normally" once someone relocates to the HOTTEST, MOST HUMID place God created? I'm sure you thought the rain forests we all hope to save were humid and hot, but clearly you've never set foot in northern Mississippi (or M, I, crooked letter, crooked letter, I, crooked letter, crooked letter, I, hump back, hump back, I as Riley has so eagerly learned).
While you never fully appreciate the people close in your life, I would like to think that I did in fact appreciate the close friends and my beloved parents and in laws I used to live within 15 minutes driving time of. This has all changed! Case in point: ALL ERRANDS (no matter how big or small) are preformed with the help of my loyal sidekick.
Have you ever taken a very inquisitive 5 year old to apply for a new driver's license? If so, then you know that she really needed to have her picture taken just like her mother so that we could fashion her very own driver's license once our computer was up and running. She received that this past week, her very own Olive Branch, MS library card, has been exposed to the power company, water company, sewer company, phone/internet company, trash service, health department, vehicle registration/car tag office (MS state tag DEB 865 now adorns the CR-V in case anyone is looking for me), post office, First Tennessee Bank of Olive Branch MS...don't you think that's weird??? First TENNESSEE of Olive Branch, MISSISSIPPI??? Ya with me here??? Don't ever take for granted the utilities that Knox County TN combines...it's a luxury I never appreciated! We've found our new grocery store, Wal-Mart, Target, Lowe's, Bed, Bath and Beyond, the park, and the YMCA. In fact, Queenie was so adamant about us visiting the YMCA (and Mike and I have been so overwhelmed with guilt about unpacking boxes rather than attending to her every whim) that we utilized 1 day of a 2 day pass and checked the Y out this past Sunday afternoon. Here she is eating a snow cone, doing the "Y" part of the "YMCA song" she and her Daddy sang (have you heard Mike sing?)
And, here the two are checking out one of the indoor pools. This was the "heated, therapeutic one", don't they just look like they need therapy??? Hee Hee!
I just can't stop...too much time has passed for me to cut this post short (you know, b/c I have tons of followers). However, you know my little princess/hog farmer rises early, and I gotta get my sleep! I'll take some pictures tomorrow morning and post them sometime tomorrow to catch you up on the progress we've made. The yard is looking great and things are slowly, but surely finding a place (sort of like us). It really seems like a great little town and it's extremely close to tons of stuff w/o feeling like you're in the "big city". We're optimistic that we'll like it here. I've got tons of other pics from moving day (incidentally the hottest day of the year thus far in Olive Branch) and will post them too. We had THE BEST free labor (and most loved) we could have asked for. Pics to come soon!
I still miss "home" (only now it's just on an hourly basis that I think about it instead of several times an hour).
One last pic, you haven't seen this since the sod, spires, and porch columns were added.

Don't be jealous of my temporary, paper blinds!!! :)