A Good Week

I am quite content this morning. I slept in and had coffee and a quiet time when I woke up; now I am just stalking my friends on Facebook and leaving comments on my brothers' blogs (I must figure out how to link to those. I am sure it is something very easy, but since it involves technology, I am intimidated) and eating Apples and Cinnamon instant oatmeal.

This was a very good week. Examples to back up my thesis statement:

On Monday Ian and I found out we finally have a renter for our house, so thank you to everyone who was praying for us. 

I did my first bit of freelance writing for the company for which I used to edit, and I got in contact with someone about a possible job at a university here, so unemployment is no longer the only thing looming on the horizon. 

Yesterday I talked to two friends on the phone (I miss you Sarah and Alison!) and got to have an evening to myself since Ian was out of town. 

I have been in contact with a few professors from my M.A. program, which may not sound exciting, but when you are in a degree program that trains you to seek the approval of certain people time and time again, then even after you graduate you get a rush every time they affirm you. Better than drugs, I say!

Small World!

So, I am applying for a teaching position at one of the colleges here in Iowa, and I discovered yesterday that the professor with whom I have been in contact also got her M.A. at UNR more than twenty years ago, and she knows several of the Spanish department professors that I studied with there.

Crazy!

All About Fareway

I went to Fareway today,  the local grocery store and midwest chain. I love going to Fareway. I'm not sure how much of this is the fact that I actually like the store, or just that I am going a little stir-crazy and enjoy pretty much any time I get out of the house. 

I also think I enjoy it because it's local and so small. I know that there are other Fareways, but this is the only one I've been in, so it feels unique to Winterset. It's also nice to not have to wander a really long way just to get from the frozen vegetables to the milk. There are slightly fewer choices than you would get in a Wal-Mart or Safeway, but since I am not decisive, this pleases me. And the prices are good... they are actually somewhat similar to Wal-Mart, and things that are on sale are cheaper than you can get them at the Wal-Mart in Des Moines.

Also, Fareway can be a social time because it is a major employer here in town. About half the kids in the youth group work at Fareway, so if I go after 3:00 or so I get to see people I know.

So anyway, grocery shopping is fun again.

Homesick

This morning I woke up homesick for the first time since I've been here. I miss a lot of people in Reno.

Hi everyone, I just wanted to give you all an update. I realized that I haven't written much about what has actually been going on in Winterset since I started the blog, so I thought I would let you know how things have been going for the last three weeks.

Bottom line: things are going well.

Actually, it's been really neat to see how people have welcomed us into Winterset. On the day we arrived in town, a group of women had already cleaned out house up, so I didn't need to clean the bathrooms or wipe out any cabinets. They left a variety of cleaning supplies (paper towels, clorox, Lysol bathroom cleaner, etc.) and grocery staples (bread, cereal, etc.) on the counter. Eight different people showed up to help us move into our house, and since then, several people have had us over to their house for dinner or taken us out to eat.

Everyone has been extremely welcoming and kind, and it's been great. I'm realizing that the sense of community here is much greater than in Reno. People wave when they pass each other driving, and pause to have long conversations even when you both are in the middle of tasks. I had a long conversation with the librarian who gave me my library card (now you see where my priorities are), and she said that she had lived in Winterset her whole life, and she had heard that other places had much faster paces of life.

"It's true," I told her.

"That's hard to imagine, because it seems pretty fast around here sometimes," she said.

I didn't say it, but I was thinking that other places, she wouldn't have time to talk to me for so long, and that's how you can tell the slower pace of life. It's great.

So... Ian is working hard and getting some of his first tastes of Southern-Baptist-ness through the state office (not so much our church). We have made several renovations to the Studio, and we are getting to know people at the church. I look for jobs and read and write and hang out with students at the Studio and play homemaker. This is what most of our days are like.

If you would like to pray for us, please pray that I will get a job soon and that we will be able to rent out our house in Reno soon.

Thanks! I will talk to you all next time.

What Sixteen Degrees Fahrenheit Feels Like

So, my poor dog had not been for a walk for two days, because on Wednesday the high temperature was less than 10˚ and Thursday the high was 0˚. I was not anxious to go outside on those days, but today the high was supposed to be a balmy 16˚, so I thought I would take advantage of the nice weather and walk Petey.

The walk was only fifteen minutes long, but about halfway through I realized that my face was numb. My cheeks seemed too stiff to smile, and it felt like my nose was running, but you can't be quite sure when your face doesn't actually have any feeling. So I zipped my jacket all the way up so that the collar covered part of my face, and walked a little faster, which was difficult because my thighs were also very numb inside my jeans. By the time we got back to the house, my calves were also beginning to lose a bit of surface feeling.

But my cheeks had turned a fantastic, naturally red color that looked way better than any makeup I'd ever worn. If only one didn't have to freeze to get that look!

It is fun experiencing new daytime high temperatures that are so low, just because they are so new to me.

Pictures of Our Road Trip, Pt. 3

Okay, so here are the pictures from the last part of our journey, from half of Iowa and all 450 miles of Nebraska.

So, this is evening of Day 2. We are entering Nebraska at this point, and pretty much what you see here is what we saw during daylight hours there. But at least people there live the good life. And I didn't realize that Arbor Day had a home.

This is sunrise in Nebraska on Day 3.

There was a pretty little church in the distance. This is also what Nebraska looked like. Note that my window if rolled halfway down because it was very dirty.

And, skipping a few hours...

Here's our front yard and the trailer in Winterset! About eight people from the church came to  help us move in (unloading in an hour and a half what it took us three days to load). It takes a long time to attach the trailer to the suburban, so when it was time to haul the trailer to the church to unload Ian's office furniture, one guy offered to bring over his John Deere tractor to shorten the process. O, the beauty of living in farm country!

Pictures of Our Road Trip, Pt. 2

Okay, so here's what we saw the first two days of the road trip:

These are some of the mountains in Nevada, just outside of Reno. While brown and ordinary most of the time, they were quite pretty when dusted with snow.

We stopped for lunch in Winnemucca, where it was VERY snowy. 

This is the start of Day 2. See the pretty Utah sunrise! Really, from I-80, I'd have to say Utah was the best-looking state.

Here we are, still in Utah, headed for Wyoming's capital. (At this point, it was still about 400 miles away.)

This is a lot of what Wyoming looked like: hills, vast expanses, big sky, light snow, and long, straight roads.

Also in Wyoming, there were many hilltops lined with rows of these huge windmills. They were absolutely enormous and very cool-looking.

See how cool-looking this is! From the picture you can't tell how huge it is. (That's what she said.)

Now, at some places there was a lot of snow blowing across the roads. It wasn't actually snowing, but the winds, those high Wyoming winds that we were warned about, blew the snow piled on the sides of the road across it.

Finally, here is another scene of Wyoming. All along the highway, they had these fences built, I'm guessing to block wind or what the wind blows. This was a pretty mountain to the south of I-80. The southern side of I-80 was consistently prettier than the northern side. It's like they purposefully divided the state in half.

Pictures of Our Road Trip, Pt. 1

I enjoyed a new hobby of driving photography while we were on the trip. In Ian's parents' driveway, right before we left on Saturday morning. These people came over to say goodbye to us.

As we drove out of Reno... notice the back of the trailer. This is what I looked at the whole way, all twenty-five hours of driving.

Things I Learned Driving Across the Country

1. Wyoming is the most dangerous state to drive in - ever.

Having lived next to the Sierras, I expected to see a few "snow tires and chains required" signs here and there on our winter drive. But what I didn't expect to see were all the other signs that appeared in Wyoming:

"Warning: High Winds next 8 Miles" (There were about four of these all in a row, so I wondered why they didn't have just one sign warning about high winds over the next 32 miles.)

"40+ mph Winds"

"Chains Required When Flashing"

"I-80 Closed When Flashing - All Vehicles Must Exit" 

"Interstate Highway Closed When Flashing - Exit Now."

Note that there were no signs of this type in any of the other states. All I can say is, if you are driving, STEER CLEAR of Wyoming.

2. Trying to draft off the large trailer in front of you doesn't work in the winter.

Let's just say that I was hoping to increase my Honda's fuel economy, but the amount of ice and sand on the road made it perilous for my windshield.

3. Moving mix CDs are best when made by friends and not oneself.

Thanks for my best friend Kristen and Ian's cousin Ben, we had three new CDs of moving music to listen to on the 25-hour drive. I also had made myself a moving mix, but I could only listen to it once for enjoyment, instead of the suspense, novelty, AND enjoyment that are available when listening to an unknown CD.

Introduction

Hi everyone!

I am starting this blog so I can keep everyone who's interested updated on what Ian and I are doing in Iowa. This way, no one will receive mass e-mails or be placed in the awkward position of having to ask to be removed from an e-mail list. (Just in case I assumed you're interested and you're not, or maybe you are interested but not that much.)

So, just in case you didn't know, Ian and I moved to Iowa almost a week ago so Ian could take a position at a church here. Basically, we moved because we were convinced that God was calling us here. The long version of the story is on Ian's blog (see Ian's blog here).

Anyway, I will try to keep this updated with anything interesting that happens.