the first 30 days of the rest of my life

Well... as of today I have been at my job one month. I won't pretend the transition has been easy for me, but it is getting better, and that is all I can hope for. (I have only cried once this week!) I brought in bagels and cream cheese for everyone this morning as kind of a celebration, but more so because it was Friday and half the office staff was going to be away for one reason or another. Seems like a good day for bagels to me!

I am enjoying the little town so far. In particular, I have enjoyed the abundance of pickup trucks and the way people tend to wear an embarrassing lack of clothing considering the weather. I saw a guy shoveling his walk yesterday in shorts. (That is snow shoveling in shorts.) And there is a gentleman who frequents the planning office who seems to prefer neon orange tank tops in 20 degree weather. I can only guess this some kind of Montana-guy-toughness-I’ll-show-you-cold kind of thing. I suppose, though, he might always be on his way to go hunting, and the only neon orange he owns is in tank top form. In either case, I probably won’t ask him about it.

Otherwise, things are falling into place. I am doing what I can to find my place, not only in a new community, not only in a new state, but in basically a new country after being gone two years. At least I speak the local language!

I am still working on my Rubix cube I got at Christmas.
I have mastered the warm green salad.
I have bought most of the thrift store hippie skirts I could find and I am knitting them into a rug.
Shaun and I are happy, and managing to not only live together but also work together in peace.

So pretty good overall.

Welcome! Welcome! Welcome!






This is the living room...










this is the bed room...

Oh and this... this is the kitchen... notice the curtains! I made them from old dresses!















And these too, in the bathroom... from an old smock...

Wait, wait... don't go! Let me show you up stairs!!

This is the upstairs! You like my house?!