Alright, I know it has been forever since I last posted. And I've been slacking a lot on my resolutions, but feel I've made good excuses for them all. LOL.
So, an update on what's been going on. Last time I wrote, I was getting ready to go to Illinois. That trip was fun and somehow in my Kia Sorento I managed to bring home a dresser, a small tv, 5 new pillows, a dog, my bag, bf's bags, box of can goods, two boxes of my Great Grandmother's china, and me and my bf. It was a tight squeeze, but it gave me hope for getting to Colorado! (Should have taken pictures... )
Then, the following week I was asked to judge the local Fair Queen Pageant with the bf which turned into judging the talent show also. It was hard because I knew a few of the kids from substituting but I think I did good on judging them based on what they showed me at the pageant and not what I knew they could do. This meant that I had less time to be backing for the great road trip, and... I missed the entire night of bull riding! That's the one thing I always went to at the fair and I missed it this year because I was judging. :(
Saturday came and we loaded up the car. I mean we LOADED the car FULL! Some of it even ended up going on top of the car and getting tied down. (Again... should have taken pictures...) After driving 12 miles and realizing I forgot to deposit money in the bank we had to turn around (local bank) and head back to town. Took care of that and headed out again. About 3 hours into the trip or so I heard a strange rattling sound coming from the roof of the car. Nervous something was coming untied we pulled over. Everything was still tied tight so we carried on. Awhile later I heard it again, we stopped, everything was fine, we traveled on with the radio up a little more. Then, after awhile it really started to bother us and we figured out that maybe it was the ends of the rope flapping that we were hearing. Tucked those in and we were all good. No more noises!
We stopped in Lincoln, NE for a break and walked around their Capitol Building. It was really cool and really neat to see green grass! It's been so dry even our green grass is still a little crispy on the edges. Lincoln had gorgeous, soft green grass. The puppy sure enjoyed it! We ate dinner at a truck stop and still debated the drive-all-night vs stop-somewhere plans. Decided to play it by ear. We did have a time crunch in that we had to be to town to meet the landlords no later than 2pm but by 11am would be best. They were leaving town for the week and everyone they would leave stuff with was also out of town. We ended up napping once or twice and taking turns (although bf did most of the driving) and when we were just outside of Laramie, WY we stopped for the last few hours of the night. We just slept at a rest area and called it good.
I should also mention that it is COLD outside at night. Coming from a land where it might get down to 85 at night to where it was in the 40's is a HUGE change and blonde me didn't pack any warm clothes where we could get to them! And, I was traveling in shorts...
Morning came, we got up and went potty, walked the dog, and headed into Laramie. Laramie is an important place to stop on the trip because it is the last town before getting to the little town where I'm living and the last place to really stop for groceries/wal-mart. After cramming every nook and crannie with the things we picked up at Wal-Mart we headed on to my new home!
We unloaded the car, set up the air mattress, and slept a long time.
Then, since the bf is here for 2 weeks we decided to hit up every other town I could go shopping in. First up was Fort Collins. Nice town, LONG drive through mountains. Originally I thought mountains would be cool and was a little sad I am in a big flat valley of ranches, but after that drive, I like my valley!
While in Fort Collins we hit up an awesome thrift store! Bought 2, not one but TWO, humidifiers for $3.99 each! The dry air had been killing us! Also got two folding chairs for $2.99 each (brand new and I hadn't packed any thing to sit on), and a bag of crochet thread (more on that another day) for cheap. Then we went to Ross, very happy to see there is one there! A trip to the Dollar Tree! Followed by lunch at a microbrewery (bf's a beer fan) and a tour of New Belgium Brewery! Then, since the dog was now going to be locked up longer than planned, we rushed through wal-mart to get new humidifier filters and a few other things and Safeway to get food. I <3 Safeway!
After trudging back through the mountains following a semi who almost ran three different cars off the road (he wouldn't stay on his side!) we made it home.
Steamboat Springs was the trip planned for yesterday and was interesting. Our list of things was smaller this time and so we really only stopped at Safeway, Walgreens and Wal-mart. We had lunch at what was apparently the town's first Mexican restaurant. Amazing food, but our waitress wasn't the greatest. At one point she made me feel really needy because when she asked if we needed anything I requested more tea to drink (cup was 2/3 empty) and some extra napkins. I feel, and I was once a waitress, that she should have asked if we were ok with drinks and such instead of just always asking us if we needed anything. But still good food. The drive to Steamboat was a lot better and so either there or Laramie will be my shopping places.
We also got to watch the balloon festival thing yesterday morning at 7am here in town. We've seen a lot of antelope, prairie dogs, and birds of all kinds.
This week is my first week of school! Well, for me and the other teachers. Tomorrow starts our teacher work days and all that cool stuff. Then, Friday bf and I are heading to Denver so he can fly out on Saturday. I'll be coming back, scrambling to get everything done and ready for Monday, the first day of school.
I also, began Insanity workouts again today. Started at Day 1 with the Fit test. I'm nervous to compare results to the last time I started it.
