Do you guys have freeways out there?

Yes. At least one. And mailboxes. A veritable cornucopia of modern existence, and, you know, bears. I didn't get to see the bear, but Steph did get to see his back end (insert bear butt joke here).

Freeways, mailboxes, and bears. Oh my.

I like our apartment. It has character, like sloped ceilings that, by way of long lost craftsmanship, manage to escape notice. Until you smack your head on them, that is, then you notice them. See? Character. All the lights go dim in the kitchen when you run the microwave and stove simultaneously, and one of the most precious resources in the apartment is 3 prong converters, as nothing here is set up with a ground wire. Upon reflection, that seems like an oversight in an apartment with wood floors, but I digress. Character. And mice. Steph likes mice quite a lot. I can tell because she screams like those girls at the Beatles concerts they show on TV when they want you to buy a CD whenever she sees one, or thinks she might see one, or hears one, or thinks she hears one. As a point of irony, she just looked mildly annoyed when she discovered one of them had left a present in a measuring cup.

Really though, I like the apartment. I've just been having this mood where I complain about things I like. If you were to ask my mom, she would tell you this has been going on for 30 years, but I'm fairly certain I didn't start complaining until I was 7. 7 was a rough year.

Still studying for my CompTIA A+ certification. Turns out going through 1100+ pages for a 200 question exam takes a long time. Who knew? It's also, apparently, important that I understand stuff like what kind of file system goes on a CD, because you can change it and manipulate it if you know what it is. Only you can't. It's like knowing that a pregnant goldfish is called a dork, it's just going to lay there gathering brain dust. Brain Dust would be a good band name, feel free to use it and to give me lots of royalties if you manage to get signed to a major label.

That's all for now. Maybe next time I'll actually have something to write about. Don't count on it, though.

Oh yeah, we're going to Ben and Jerry's in a few minutes for the factory tour. Your jealousy is appreciated.

Phil

Settling In

Things We Have Accomplished

1. Unpacked all boxes: We unpacked most of our stuff within the first week with the exception of books and movies. We ordered new bookshelves that can be disassembled and packed (unlike our old bookshelves). Unfortunately, Phil clicked the wrong address on Amazon, and the bookshelves were shipped to Kremmling. 
2. Recycled most of the boxes: They take up just as much room sitting in the kitchen when they're empty. 
3. Bought our first couch: Our landlady sent us to a family friend who sells new and used furniture. We found a nice little burgundy couch and were gifted with an old set of drawers. Phil and I were very pleased because aside from our misshapen closet, we had no bedroom storage.
4. Pretended to be crafty/handy: The drawers were free for a reason. The veneer that covered the drawers was peeling off, two of the four casters were missing, the top board had warped and wasn't really attached to the back of the chest, and the insides were disgusting. Our landlady helped me with round one of cleaning the drawers and gave us some red paint. Phil hauled it upstairs. Then I stared at it for a long time. I have seen a ton of "up-cycled" dressers, and people rave about how easy this process is. I had no idea where to start. So I started peeling and cleaning again. After many hours of cleaning, sneezing, sanding, sneezing, and painting, we had a red dresser. The top is still warped and one of the pull nobs wiggles, but it holds clothes and looks pretty nice.  
5. Purchased area rugs (which cost more than the couch): We have lovely wood floors in most of the house, but we wanted something a bit more cozy for the living area. We went rug shopping two days after we moved in, so we were still shell-shocked when we entered the carpet showroom. It took us a long time to pick out two rugs. However, we were successful and have two lovely area rugs in our living room. 
6. Obtained Vermont licenses: We took a beautiful drive east to Newport to get our licenses and register our car. After living in Colorado which is brown in the summer and white in the winter, we were mesmerized by all the green along the road. We live right next to a very large hill (which is a mountain in Vermont) that connects Richford to Jay and Troy and Newport and other towns we have not discovered yet. When you start descending, there is a huge valley to the side of the road, and you can't see the bottom because of all the trees. It's beautiful. Anyway, Newport is a cute little lake town with a giant bronze fish in the town square. Phil and I grabbed all of our paperwork and entered the wonderful word called the DMV. Least painful DMV experience yet except the title for our car was still in my mother's bank box. (We're still not sure what papers we used to register Vera in Colorado.) We had huge piles of other papers but not the one we needed. They gave us our licenses and some temporary paperwork for registration. Those papers plus the title and a safety inspection would lead to registration. When Phil took the car to be inspected, we forgot that the paperwork was still in the living room. Good thing we live close to town.
7. Found some dittos: When Phil and I dropped off my school boxes in my classroom, the floor was already covered with boxes. I took several days going through what was left. Among the boxes, I found a dozen pepper shakers, several dittos (which predated my time as a student), Borax, forty drawing compasses, and a plastic volcano. I threw a bunch of stuff away. My rule was if it was older than me or smelled funky, it was gone. I put the science materials in my partner's storage closet and discovered I had a counter in my classroom.
8. Fought the orange...and lost: Some authority figure in the school decided teachers should pick the paint color for their room. And then everyone got a new room. The teacher who had my room last year selected a pale orange that I have dubbed rotten tangerine. What makes the color worse is the huge sections of wall covered floor to ceiling in teal cork. The room, while not large, was too big for me to cover up all traces of weird colors, so I tried to drown them out with bright colors and big patterns. It didn't work. I had been working in my room for several days and was about to light it on fire so I wouldn't have to deal with the color. Instead, I walked down to kindergarten where my room was saved. The teacher had a border set with orange, teal, blue, yellow, green, and red. Her room was decorated and perfect, so she let me take everything that was left. It made huge difference. My room is still very bright, but now it looks like the colors were chosen on purpose. I still have a couple sections to work on, but the temptation to burn down my classroom has passed.
9. Studied...a lot: Phil has been studying for his Comp TIA test which will give him paperwork that says he knows about computers. His study book is massive. His knowledge base was quite large to begin with, but everyday he learns at least one new nugget of information. Once he has passed his test, he can start scoping out job opportunities and start studying for his next test. I have been studying math. I am teaching a 5/6 grade class this year, but we split up for math. I will have 6th grade math in the afternoons. I've gone through all the standards and I can do the math, but I don't know why I can do the math or how to explain it...yet. I've been reading lessons and watching math video clips which has helped. I'm also going to be working on curriculum maps this week for math, and I'm hoping that will help as well.
10. Drank a whole pot of coffee and typed many words.

My first day with kids is August 29 and I have a wedding in Colorado on August 31. I'm sure we will have many more stories to share after that. As soon as one of us can remember where we put the camera, we'll post some pictures of our house, my classroom, and the green.

We live in Vermont now...finally

Moving mostly across the country has been an experience we hope to never endure again.

Our original move date was June 14. We were going to rent a moving pod, pack it ourselves, and meet the movers and our stuff in Vermont. When Phil went to reserve the pods, he discovered that particular company did not service the middle of nowhere Colorado. He tried several different companies that offered the pods, and the best option required us to haul our stuff from Kremmling to Estes Park (which is on the other side of Rocky Mountain National Park). We thought that was a horrible idea and began searching for alternatives. We found a company that would come to Kremmling, pack up our boxes, and meet us in Vermont seven days later. Yay, life was good, and we continued packing.

June 14-moving day arrived. We had not gotten a call from the movers like we were supposed to, but we were hopeful nevertheless (aka naive). We waited and waited and waited. Phil called his contact who apologized for the movers being late but they had not realized how far out we were. (Rant: Look at a map! That should have been the first step of the planning process, not something that happens the day your movers are supposed to pack the truck. People can find Denver pretty easily on the map. We're only two hours away. That should not have been a big deal. Ugh!) They had scheduled a back-up date for the next day. Phil and I had family plans in Michigan for Father's Day and needed to be home. We were told as long as someone was at the apartment to let the movers in, they would grab our stuff and life would be good. We nervously gave our keys to a neighbor who had adopted Phil and me, packed the car, grabbed the cat, and left Kremmling a little after midnight.

The drive out was fine. Lucy does not travel well in her kitty carrier, so we hooked her into a harness and leash for the trip. Before we passed through Denver, she had climbed on top of some boxes in the back and watched the world go by.

Plan A was to stay in Michigan for a couple days, spending time with our families.We were there for almost two weeks. Our movers never showed up. Every time Phil called, they apologized and set up another move date. Lies. We canceled our deposit and began our search again for other moving options. It turns out, we were the best option. My mom traded cars with us for a while, and she drove around in our cute little Vibe while we drove her Yukon back to Colorado, packed a U-Haul trailer, and drove across the country again. 


The trip with the trailer also went well. I felt pretty awesome driving this massive truck with a trailer behind it despite being passed by every other vehicle on the road. Our journey took longer than we had anticipated which resulted in apartment hunting on the Fourth of July (Happy 3rd Anniversary to us!) still with the trailer attached to Yuki. I had been in contact with two landlords and found one more possibility on the way out. They were all very gracious and met with us on the Fourth. Landlord A drove us to the property so we didn't have to worry about maneuvering the trailer, Landlady B offered to let us spend the night in the apartment even if we didn't rent it so we didn't have to pay for a hotel, and Landlord C was shifty. 


We moved into Apartment B that afternoon. We are living in the upstairs of an old house a couple miles outside of Richford (where I teach). We have a huge backyard right on the Missisquoi River, two bedrooms (one small, the other smaller), a large living room, a real kitchen and dinning area, and a small bathroom with a clawfoot tub. There are wood floors in the bedrooms and living rooms and slanted ceilings which I have run into more often than Phil (go figure). 


After we unpacked most of our boxes, we were supposed to drive back to Michigan to swap cars and get our cat back from Mom and Aunt Betty. That trip was postponed, but at this point in time, everything is as it should be. Our car is much better suited for the narrow and curvy roads in Vermont, Lucy is enjoying the deep window sills in our apartment, and Phil and I have unpacked all of our boxes and have no plans to drive anywhere outside Vermont for a very long time.