Life in North Dakota....so far

We finally moved into our ND home on Nov. 9....only about a month and a half later than we thought. At least we are finally lving in the same house again! The new house is very nice. The dogs do however really miss our large yard in IL. The yard here is so tiny and it's just dirt/mud right now. Between the two dogs, Fitz least likes the dirt yard and won't do his "big business", so we have totake him to the empty lot across from us or be prepared to find a "present" waiting in the basement. It's hard to get too mad at him as I wouldn't like the dirt either if I were a dog.

I haven't taken pictures yet of the house as I need Guy to hang up things on the walls for me. I was hoping to have painted while my mom was here, but there just wasn't enough time. I'll eventually get around to it, but it will probably be over the summer or something. Painting will create some challenges as the corners are rounded off, and not square. It looks nicer rounded, but makes it harder when it comes to what walls to paint. Most everything is unpacked and the way I want it...mostly thanks to my mom as I couldn't have done everything without her! Part of our family room is storage for my mountain of boxes from my old classroom. My goodness do I have a lot! One thing I don't like about the house is I don't have a storage room. There is storage under our entryway, but it's hard to get to and it's not a big area. One thing I thought was odd is that my laundry closet is in one of our bedrooms downstairs. It's not ideal, but it will work for us since it's just a spare bedroom.

It's hard to believe that it's already the week of Thanksgiving. I can't believe how quickly the last year has flown by! Guy and I will be spending the holidays alone. A coworker of his did invite us over Thursday, so we might take her up on the offer, but I think we would be happy to just spend it just the two of us as well. We probably would have traveled home for Christmas, but I won't be able to travel then because I'll be too close to my due date. We can't believe there are about 10 weeks left. Our mom's would much rather visit us once Baby Girl comes...I can understand that! :) Since it's just us for Christmas this year I don't think I will decorate as much as I normally do...I say that now, but I just love decorating for the holidays!

I haven't seen too much of the town yet, but I do know how to get to a few places. Some things I have learned so far:
1. Winter comes too quickly! It's already been in the single digits and there's a dusting of snow on the ground.
2. On Sunday's retail stores don't open until noon. If they are 24 hour stores, like Wal-Maet, they close at midnight on Saturday.
3. Cars around here are always filthy on the outside....and you can't even get a car wash until noon on Sunday.
4. Milk is about a dollar more a gallon here than what I was paying in IL.
5. People are very friendly and helpful!
6. The timezone difference is weird. Stations are based out of Bismarck, which is Central time, and Dickinson is Mountain time. So, I watch the 5o'clock news at 4....you get the idea. :)Plus there are places Guy has to go to for work that are Central time, even though they are northwest of us.
7. people pronounce things differently...I'm sure we'll start talking like the locals eventually though. It's bound to happen. I'm sure they think we talk differently as well.
8. No one gets in a hurry about anything. Everyone seems to be super laid back.
9. The locals have mixed feelings about newcomers due to the oil boom. Some like the growth, some don't.
10. Housing prices keep going up! The contractor who built our house is set to build another next door to us. The buyer has an option between a ranch, like ours, or a split-level. The base price of the house has already jumped from when we put an offer on ours and it still doesn't include finishing the basement....which we had to pay more for as well.
11. I've never seen so many split-level homes until driving through ND. Even when we were in Bismarck we noticed a ton of split-levels. When Guy and I went house hunting in August out here we didn't go through many ranches.
12. It's nothing to drive an hour or more to get somewhere or go somewhere.
13. You can buy gas, alcohol and guns all at the same place...we found that funny.
I think that's all...for now at least.

We hope everyone has an enjoyable Thanksgiving! Guy and I have a lot to be thankful for this year, so I know we will be reflecting on all God has done for us and what is yet to come.

The big move...

We closed on our house in ND on October 20. We ran into a couple of issues, but all should be resolved soon! After closing Guy called and scheduled the move. We were told that the packers would show up on Halloween and they would load on Nov. 1. With that said, Guy came home Friday! It was so wonderful to see him after 8 LONG weeks! We enjoyed the weekend together and spent some time with a few friends and lunch with family that was able to make it on Sunday.

When the loaders got there yesterday they were in for a long day as the packers didn't get near accomplished what they should have accomplished. We were assured that everytjing would get done and they worked their butts off and finished packing and loading everything around 6:45 pm. They took a lot more than we thought they would, so we didn't have a ton of stuff to take with us in our vehicals. We have stayed with my mom the last couple of nights; and I will continue to do so until she and I leave. This morning, Guy and I did a few things around the house and he left about 10:30 am to head back. I know he's going to try and drive it all today, but I'm hoping he stops....I'll worry about him until he gets back.

The movers won't be at our new house until Wed, Nov 9, so my mom and I won't leave until Monday morning. Our plan is to drive half-way and stop for the night. On Tuesday we'll drive to Bismarck and stay there, as there is probably not anything available in Dickinson but we'll certainly check, and them head over to our house early Wednesday morning. Bismarck is about an hour and a half from Dickinson....plus you gain an hour because Dickinson is in the Mountain Time Zone. Until Monday I'll probably wrap things up here and do some cleaning at the other house....although Guy's mom has offered to clean and that for us....thank you to Sue!

We are also happy to say we are under contract on our home in Maryville! Closing is scheduled for Thanksgiving week. We hope everything goes well and we sell our house. The market in the St. Louis area is horrible, but we are thankful we've been able to sell so quickly.

Please continue to keep us in your thoughts and prayers as we travel and get our new home settled. If you'd like our new address please let me know and I'll email it to you. My email is: tiffanyconover@gmail.com