new place, new life

We live in California. My wife, my dog, and myself. I don't come from the US, but my wife does. I'm writing this to kind of document my life here, my troubles being a foreigner, looking after a dog, trying to make money, all that good stuff. Hopefully you won't be bored. We moved to a new house this week, exactly 1.5 miles from where we were. The place is great, lots of room, a yard, a driveway, and the all important garage for my tools and beer. I can't tell you how elated I am to be here. The old place was, in a word, fucked. The landlord is trying to stiff me out of the deposit, but I've got news for him! When we moved in, we were just recovering from a foreclosure on a wonderful home in the same neighbourhood. Although we did everything we could to keep it, we took too much of a hit from the tanking economy and had to say goodbye, forcing us to take a smallish 2 bedroom apartment. It seemed okay at first, but then came the cockroaches, then the smells, then the noise, then we met the people living underneath us, all 12 of them. I will say it served it's purpose, but holy fuck it was a shithole, even the dog wasn't happy there, and he came from the streets. But we're out, and the new home is simply wonderful. My wife is happier, the dog is calmer, and now I can start to look forward to coming home from work.