cooking

when i’m not sick on the couch, i actually do things from time to time i enjoy cooking, though i am not the best at making portions just for one. in other words, want to come over for dinner? i go on cooking spells – i get inspired to make a fun meal and then the next day i may have cereal for dinner.  so you better warn me if you want to come for dinner otherwise it may be a cereal night!

one more day of work and then i’m headed home for christmas. looking forward to being with family.

yes, i used the self-timer to take a picture of myself cooking. i can do silly things when left alone for too long.

after south africa i decided that i don't like buying pre-graded cheese (it doesn't exist over there). i like the texture and statisfaction of grading it myself.

couch

i am very thankful that my couch arrived last tuesday – otherwise i would have spent the last several days being sick on the floor. haven’t left the couch since friday afternoon, but i think i may actually venture into town this afternoon. we’ll see. it’s a comfy couch!

where i set a new personal record of 17 hours sleeping

i know i’m in small town montana when…

• the discussions at the staff christmas party were about hunting and fishing (“how many deer tags did you get this year?” “did you get a doe or a buck?” “i was hoping for an elk” “i’m turning mine into jerky”)
• my co-worker asks me if i want to put in an order for jerky
• my company buys their beef via an entire cow from a local rancher
• the car mechanic asks me: “how long have you had this car in montana? i noticed your anti-freeze is the kind that only goes to negative ten degrees; we typically use one that goes to negative forty here in montana.”
• someone gives me directions to a store and starts out by saying: “do you know where the town pump is?”
• ladies wear cowgirl (or rancher?) hats to the staff christmas party
• flannel is the new silk or cashmere
• it takes over an hour to get to the closest walmart, target, and starbucks
• my mattress won’t arrive until 5+ weeks after i ordered it
• i am one of many to have my big winter sorel boots on in the store, at work, etc.

these are just a few of the things in the past two weeks that have made me chuckle. montana seems like a great place.

weekend in the apartment

i was rather productive in my apartment yesterday since i didn’t have a car.  attempted a bit of decorating and organizing. had the staff christmas party last night, which was fun. visited another church this morning; i hope to find a home church here in eureka or the surrounding area. the school just hired a new therapist who is from illinois! her and i have enjoyed getting to know each other and chuckling at the illinois/montana differences.  a few pics from my apartment:

 

i used some kenyan fabric that i had to cover up some of the busy-ness of the bathroom shelves

looking into the family room area from the kitchen

my air mattress that is failing me

making sure the stove worked

a deer grazing in my backyard area

air and perhaps an alternator too, please

where to start: has been a full week and it’s not ever yet. work got busier this week and i am learning a lot. it has been neat to get to know the girls more and i am excited to be a small part of the clinical side of things. i had my first over-night on campus thursday. i enjoy running two mornings a week with the girls as well as simply chatting with them. the week started out freezing. colder than freezing, really. it was negative sixteen one day (let me repeat: it was sixteen below zero). brrr. all of my shampoo, lotion, etc. that were in my car pre-moving into my apartment froze. about that:

i moved into my apartment tuesday night! after many trips back and forth from my car to the apartment, frozen fingers due to the negative degrees, and a double shot latte, my car was unloaded. i look forward to making this place my home for however long i am here. i blew up my air mattress (not by hand, of course) and settled down for a night of sleep. or so i thought. apparently my air mattress got a hole during the move because it slowly deflated twice during the night. awesome. i called the furniture company to verify when my real mattresses arrive and they are estimating december 29th! sheesh. i really must have moved to the middle of nowhere. so, i put my camping sleeping pad under my air mattress so that i would have a soft landing when it deflates

then my car got a flat tire on wednesday. it was fixable, yet it was another crucial thing that was leaking air. and my computer cord broke due to a combination of winding it too much and the cold, so i was without my computer, and thus internet, for most of the week.

which brings me to today. one exciting thing about my work schedule is that i will typically be done by noon(ish) on fridays. yay for an early start to the weekend! after getting off work today i decided to drive to kalispell where the closest walmart is (and i stopped at starbucks. lekker). i was wanting to buy a bunch of stuff for my apartment as well as run some other errands in the city. kalispell is about an hour and fifteen minute drive from eureka. i headed back this way around 6pm. around 6:30 is probably when baxter started acting weird. it seemed as though my lights were not very bright. then within five minutes my speedometer and odometer went blank, my cd player stopped, all sorts of lights came on, and just as i pulled off the road baxter died. i couldn’t get him to start again. i put my hazard lights on as i was on the edge of a 2 lane highway – in the dark, in the snow, and surrounded by nothing but trees. realizing what had just happened i pulled out my cell phone and road side service phone number. i  initially had no cell reception which momentarily freaked me out. it is basically a miracle that i briefly got reception and was able to make the call and a tow truck was sent my way. to shorten the rest of the story, a guy stopped and helped me and let me sit in his warm truck until the tow truck came. the guy who stopped happened to be a car mechanic and he thinks my alternator went out. i got dropped off at my apartment, unloaded all the things from baxter and then sent him to the car place. so for now i am without a car. shouldn’t be difficult to fix the alternator if that is indeed what went wrong, but unfortunately the car place is not open on saturdays (gotta love small towns). all is well. it will work out. makes for a funny first week in montana!

and that’s all for now. now that i am home bound this weekend i have no excuses as to why i am not completely unpacked. i’m getting there…

thefamily room/eating area in my apartment. my couch supposedly arrives tuesday!

maybe i should have gotten a 3 shot latte...

exploring town

spent the afternoon exploring eureka, which let me assure you does not take long! that said, it was fun to walk along the street (yes, the one and only street) and go into shops. there are some quaint stores with cool things. i like the rustic decorating style of montana. it is definitely a different (life)style here, similar to utah but perhaps an even slower pace. i’ve seen a lot of flannel shirts and carhartts! people have been friendly and if they find out i am new in town they immediately ask, “why did you move here?!” i don’t think they mean it in a bad way, rather are simply curious why someone would move to such a remote and small place. anyway…here i am. below are a few pics from my afternoon exploration:

this is eureka. not quite the entire town - probably about half of it made it in this one picture

this is montana's version of a coffee shop. they are all over montana: drive through coffee. there is no coffee only cafe in eureka, but of course there are restaurants that serve coffee as well as two "drive through espresso"s!

enough said.

driving to montana

here are a few pics from the past few days:

i think jack wondered if he sat by the "to go pile" if he would get to go along too

leaving CU

baxter has a road named after him!

yay montana mountains!

blurry picture so here's the explanation: mom and i drove into canada just for kicks this morning and we saw a herd of elk cross the road. hence the blurry picture taken from the car.

the soccer field - sweet backround!

eureka!

after three days of driving i have officially arrived in eureka! we made great time thanks to the 75 mph speed limit have a few life logistics to do tomorrow and then my first day of work is wednesday. i cannot move into my apartment until this weekend or early next week, so i’ll be staying at the school and temporarily living out of my (very packed) car.

 i just moved to montana. excited and also a bit speechless.

baxter

allow me to introduce you to Baxter – my new wheels! baxter is a 2000 subaru outback. he has a few dings here and there, but is overall in good shape. the all wheel drive and spacious back were what sold me. bring on the snow, montana…

baxter, jack, and me. i'll try to get a better picture some time where half the car isn't in the shade. maybe with some mountains in the backround.

packin’ time

it has begun:

yes, every wall in my room at home is a different (bright!) color. it's ok to be jealous.

this morning several key logistics came together: i put a deposit down on a car and i found housing in eureka! yahoo. the plan is to pick up my new wheels later this week.