Just Thinking...

Since today has been a little calmer for me (and I had that nice sit down lunch), I've had to chance to do a lot of reflecting today. These are some of my thoughts:

• Though I've done considerable traveling on my own and it's never bothered me, I realized today that this is the first time I've been on my own for quite awhile - at least over a year. And, even then, it wasn't for this amount of time. It's really been different for me this time. I miss the company. Though there are many times when I'm at home that I'd love to have some "alone time", it's been lonely not having Joe with me. I think how nice it would be for him to have seen the same beautiful sunset I saw the other evening. How great if he'd seen the same funny, wild animals I've seen at the same time. Though his conversations drive me crazy at times with his political and/or sports observations, I miss him telling me in person how much he loves me. I miss having him share my space.
• I found out by accident about Mom's doctor's visit she had yesterday. Will she/does she really have cancer? If she does, what do I/we/she do? If she doesn't, what do I/we/she do differently? How do I move away and leave the living/the dying to her and the others left behind?
• Why can't I have parents who live forever? Why can't I always have them there for me when I need something...a conversation, a laugh, a blessing, a hug, an encouraging word or anything else they are willling to give?
• When am I going to find out what I'm going to do when I grow up? Why can't I lead a boring, settled life? Why is it necessary that I have such life altering changes be a constant in my life?
• When will I be truly happy every day? Will I ever be truly happy? I do know what makes me happy...my family - Joe, Mom and Dad, Corey and Nikki and definitely Derek. My family members, especially when life is good for them. I love being able to pay my financial obligations, have an interesting, steady and permanent job. I love when I give a great Sunday school lesson. I love my friends and the support I receive from them when I need them.

See what happens when you leave someone on their own for too long, all alone and with a computer?

Day Three and Four - Job Hunting In Laramie

I rolled into Laramie late afternoon Wednesday. I had planned on leaving Casper early morning, but plans changed. I got a call to come in for another job interview and wasn't about to tell them "no". Then I spent some time checking out possible house rentals in Casper. Drove to a cute little house which would be very convenient to any job I might get in Casper.

On the way out of town, I stopped in Glenrock which is about 15 miles south of Casper. I was meeting a real estate agent to check out a rental in the country which was next to the Platte River. It was a double wide located on a gravel road with 2.5 acres and a very, very large double garage - a great place to put the car and the dogs when the weather turns cold. I think it would be a great place to live, but what do we do when we have to drive to Casper for work and the roads are covered with snow and ice? (When people talk about the winters up here, it's not really the snow and ice they talk about, but rather the wind. I've noticed that the wind does blow alot around here. It doesn't matter if you fix your hair or not because the minute you step outside - whew, it's rearranged).

Anyway, it was a four hour drive up and down rolling sagebrush covered hills to Laramie. I say that so that you might understand how almost impossible it is to have a conversation on your cell phone. The last part of the trip had the best scenery. It was in the mountains. The elevation climbed to about 8,000 feet and the temperature dropped some 20 degrees and the ears were popping.

First impressions of Laramie - not my favorite place I've stayed in Wyoming. (That's a picture of one part of downtown Laramie). It's a large college town with the University of Wyoming located here and that is the major "industry" here. I'm sure it probably has great qualities, but at this point, I'm not sure I want to find out what they are right now. I don't think this town even has a Wal-Mart, it has a K-Mart, but can I actually live in a town with no Wal-Mart?!?! And pickup trucks. Did I mention the amount of pickups around here? OMG!!! They're everywhere!

Day Four - I had my plan of attack planned for the day...Contact all the people at the University and do follow-ups with them, as well as an attorney and check out the local WorkForce office. That didn't take as long as thought, so for the first time in a very, very long time, I had a little bit of down time. I even actually ate a real sit down lunch today. Wow! That was a big deal for me. No real interviews today with the right people - just telephone conversations and pre interviews with people that might not make a difference. And, the real estate bombed out too. So, unless something changes between now and the time I leave this glorious state, Laramie won't be our new home. BTW - saw a real chipmunk today.

Tomorrow is Friday and it's on to Utah to see the kids. Yeah!

When I Was A Child...

Another interesting email sent by a friend that will make a few laugh and nod their heads...

When I was a kid, adults used to bore me to tears with their tedious diatribes about how hard things were when they were growing up. Things like walking twenty-five miles to school every morning uphill...barefoot...both ways...in the snow. Yadda, yadda, yadda. And, I remember promising myself that when I grew up, there was no way that I was going to lay a bunch of whoie doie like that on kids about how hard I had it and how easy they've got it! But now that I'm older, I can't help but look around and notice the youth of today. You've got it so easy! I mean, compared to my childhood, you live in a Utopia! And I hate to say it, but you kids today you don't know how good you've got it! I mean, when I was a kid:

• We didn't have the internet. If we wanted to know something, we had to go to the nearest library and look it up ourselves, in the card catalogue!!
• There was no email!! We had to actually write somebody a letter, with a pen! Then you had to walk all the way across the street and put it in the mailbox and it would take like a week to get there!
• There were no MP3' s or Napsters! You wanted to steal music, you had to hitchhike to the record store and shoplift it yourself! Or you had to wait around all day to tape it off the radio and the DJ's usually talk over the beginning and screwed it all up!
• We didn't have fancy stuff like Call Waiting! If you were on the phone and somebody else called they got a busy signal, that's it! And we didn't have fancy Caller ID either! When the phone rang, you had no idea who it was! It could be your school, your mom, your boss, you just didn't know!!! You had to pick it up and take your chances, mister!
• You had to use a little book called "TV Guide" that you purchased EVERY WEEK to find out what was on! You were screwed when it came to channel surfing! You had to get off your tush and walk over to the TV to change the channel and there was no Cartoon Network either! You could only get cartoons on Saturday morning. Do you hear what I'm saying!?! We had to wait ALL WEEK for cartoons, you spoiled little brats!
• We didn't have microwaves. If we wanted to heat something up, we had to use the stove ... imagine that!

That's exactly what I'm talking about! You kids today have got it too easy. You're spoiled. You guys wouldn't have lasted five minutes back in 1980!

Day Two - Job Hunting In Casper

How strange to find out that it was much, much colder in South Georgia today than here in Casper. It's like everyone at home was having "sympathy pains". However, it wound up being about 70 degrees here and 40 degrees at home.

I spent the day completing my list of "go sees" and then started in on contacting real estate people for possible leads on rental houses. In the midst of all this, I did get a call for an interview this afternoon at Rocky Mountain Oilfield Testing. The job is 35 miles out of Casper four days a week, ten hours a day. It's at the Teapot Dome Oilfield the site of the big "Teapot Scandal". The oilfield gets its name from the rock formation on the oilfield site. Anyway, I think the interview went great - we'll see what happens.

Other great things about today:

• While driving down the road, I saw a couple of prairie dogs playing along the side of the road. I decided to turn around to take pictures and pulled over. Then I saw them - at least 100 prairie dogs on my right. They were running all over the place, popping in and out of their holes and chasing each other. They were everywhere!!! (pictures will follow) Never saw anything like that in Georgia.


• Price of gas here is $2.18!!! Wow!!!


• Got a lead on rental property...2.5 acres out in the country by a river about 20 miles from Casper. I'll be checking that one out tomorrow on my way to Laramie.


• My oily skin is drying out. It always does, but takes a couple of days to take effect.


• I'm finding my way around Casper and not having to look at the map as much.


• It was a gorgemous day. Snow on the mountain, clear beautiful air - would have been absolutely perfect if I'd had someone to share it with (like my sweetie).

On to Laramie tomorrow...

Day One - Job Hunting in Casper

So off I went into the cold, cruel world. And, I do mean cold!!! The wind chill was 14 degrees. When I went out to the car, there was some of the strangest frost all over my car. I used my Piggly Wiggly grocery card to scrap it off - it was so thick and artistic looking.

First stop this morning was to WorkForce which is the equivalent of our Department of Labor. I got some "go sees" set up that consisted of following up on letters already sent and also new places to go. No nibbles on jobs today though. And, the housing situation is looking pretty bleak around here too. There is no shortage of jobs, but certainly is a shortage regarding rental properties.

My funniest experience today was driving around an office park today and coming upon about six pronghorn antelopes or deer (whatever they are). They were walking down the middle of the street like an animal parade with no regard to all the buildings, cars and people around them. You don't see things like that in Omega.

I called seven area bishops tonight picking their brains for real estate contacts. That was fun since I'm sure they were thinking in the beginning that here was an out-of-towner claiming to be a Mormon who was going to need some type of assistance like money, food, etc. I heard all those kind of stories when I worked for David Perry when he was the bishop. Nine out of ten times it was some non-Mormon person dunning for money and giving some hard luck story. I assured these bishops I wanted nothing from them other than names and/or contacts, if possible. It all came out good as I have several names to call tomorrow. We'll see what happens, huh?

Now it's time to go to bed. The clock here may say it's about 10:30 p.m., but my body thinks it's 12:30 a.m.

(Thanks to Susan for the use of her laptop). And, what a wonderful job she did with The Wall. I'll be writing more about that later along with some pictures.

Welcome To Wyoming - Again!

Well, after a rough start to get here, I finally made it to Casper last night about 9:00 p.m. For those of you who didn't hear, I really had a major brainfart! I arrived at the Jacksonville Airport on Sunday morning only to find out that I should have flown out Saturday morning instead!!! I'd gotten my days mixed up. But, after crying off all my makeup, purchasing another one way ticket and being put on standby, I made it to Denver one hour after I'd originally thought I would. So, all turned out well considering. However, it left me leaving Denver about two hours later and consequently I had to drive in the dark most of the way when I made it into Wyoming. That was interesting since I didn't know if a deer would run out in front of me at any time. And, it was a part of Wyoming that I'd not been in before and I missed it. It was about a four hour drive from Denver to Casper which seemed like forever after traveling all day.

At least when I go into Casper, I knew where I was spending the next few nights. It was the same place Joe and I had stayed a couple of weeks ago. Finally got me something to eat and went to bed after calling my sweetie!!!

"When Can You Start"?

Disclaimer...this is the written rantings of a semi-crazy woman. Proceed at your own risk! Consider yourself warned!!!

What a month it's been for me thus far. Joe and I left for an innocent visit to see the kids and the gbaby in Utah and that got divided up into job searching in Wyoming.

It's amazing how life can change so quickly. When we made our reservations six months ago, I was truly in a very happy place. I had a great job, was paying bills on time, Joe was healthy, etc., etc., etc.

Then a couple of weeks before we leave - there went the job and the subtle concerns about earning a livelihood began. It's like deja vu all over again. But, I can't complain and I'm really not. Life is still good. It's just kinda screwed up at the moment and I've got to sort it all out again.

The trip to Wyoming and the scheduled job interviews went well. Thank God no one said "We want you to come work for us. When can you start?" I WOULD HAVE DIED!!! I know that I sound like a nut case about that, but I hadn't made any preparations to move, yet. I'm having to figure this all out as I go along and haven't had time. Even after leaving Wyoming, I was and still am being contacted for interviews. Someone wants to speak with me so badly, that they're even doing a phone interview tomorrow (oops, later this afternoon). Yes, I do feel flattered, but I do feel severely overwhelmed at the moment.

When we arrived home on last Wednesday, my computer was offline and I had to wait for three days for the cable repairman to show up. Still during that time, I was receiving new employment questions via phone and using Dad's computer. Slow down people! Give me a moment to think this all through. And, that's what Joe and I did. We sat down and I typed out what we would need to do to move if those words came across the telephone - "When can you start to work with us"? We decided to use one of my airline vouchers and make the trek back west to Wyoming alone for two weeks. I need time to speak with people and check out the housing situation. Would you believe I have or I am in the process of submitting another 24, yes 24, applications for employment by tomorrow? And, they are all specific jobs I am very qualified to do and pretty much confined to two cities - Casper and Laramie. (Believe me I'm not getting that kind of results around here even within a 50 mile radius of my home. In fact, the pickin's have been so slim around this area that I don't even have to use all my fingers and toes to count the "real" jobs I've had the chance to apply for).

With the decision made for me to return to Wyoming comes new thoughts for me:

• Is Joe going to be alright while I'm gone? Who's going to change his "tummy worm" bandage? What is he going to do virtually by himself for the two weeks since he will have no means of transportation? Will he let the dogs sleep on the bed with him and lick his dishes since I'll be gone?


• What if I get out there and those words come ("When can you start")? I won't have the house packed up and ready to leave.

Other questions come up like:

• What do we do about the house? We don't know yet! (I did find out it is able to be an assumable mortgage. And, I'm also waiting on the payoff to come in the mail since they don't give it over the phone).


• What do we do with all our "stuff"? I've lived in this house for almost 30 years. I've got things that I don't remember having. But, regardless if we move or not, it's time to do some cleaning out. We'll be selling furniture, giving away things, E-Baying other goodies, storing other things somewhere else and doing whatever we have to.


• What if someone wants to buy the house and we're not moved? What will we do?


• What if the jobs in Wyoming don't come through? What if the jobs around here don't come through?


• What do we do if my unemployment runs out the first week in January and I still have no job? (You and I both know that after the week of Thanksgiving that finding a job is pretty much a gonner. No one will be hiring until after the first of the year. Remember, I went through this at the same time last year).

Do I want to move? Maybe yes and maybe no. I don't want to leave Mom and Dad, first and foremost. I have family and friends here and none there. Wyoming could be a scary place with just my sweetie and I. But, we'd be closer to the kids and I'd have a job! And, lots of new places to explore. It would be a new start, a new beginning and I know that Joe would love it since he was in that area and practically lived there for many years. If a good job came along here in the next couple of weeks, this dilemma would all be over and I would at least have a better cleaned-out house.

So, dear friends and family members, keep us in your prayers and if you've got any suggestions bring 'em on! (Then I could get back to some fun blogging).

At The End Of A Very Long Day

Here's Joe just getting off at the top of the escalator at the Atlanta Airport. He's looking for me.

Still looking for me. He knows I'll be around there somewhere.
He thinks he sees me now. Doesn't he look cute dragging his suitcase along?
Yep, he found me!!!
You'd be happy to see me too if you'd just traveled from Salt Lake City to Houston to Atlanta ALL DAY LONG!!! (I traveled from Salt Lake City to Phoenix to Charlotte to Atlanta). We finally made it to our hotel about 12:30 a.m. and then went to get some food since it had been about 30 hours since I'd eaten. (Remember, my airline doesn't feed you at all. No drink, no teeny, tiny bag of peanuts).

For Ally Baba...

While passing through the Charlotte, North Carolina airport, I saw something that I knew Ally would love to see. But, since she wasn't there in person, this is the best I could do...

Sunset somewhere over the middle of the U.S.

Some views from the window seat...

It's the Grand Canyon...

It's Phoenix, Arizona...

The view at the end of Corey and Nikki's street. (On the left hand side was a freshly plowed field that was covered with seagulls digging in the newly turned dirt).

Trying To Smuggle Derek To Georgia

This is when I told him that he was going to get to go home with me. He was so happy.
You think I was kidding? See the suitcase in the background.

This is a wall sign that Joe and I gave to Derek as a present. It hangs in his room.

It's Bedtime For Derek

Back in Springville Again!

Learning to crawl on his knees and playing with Daddy.

Leaving Wyoming

After interviewing for jobs on Thursday, we were going to spend another day in Casper, if necessary or just head northwest to Riverton to make contact with a person I'd spoken with while in Georgia. However, we were warned about an approaching snowstorm heading our direction and decided we should pack it in and head back to Salt Lake City. This is some of the news we were seeing on the television Friday morning.

Based on the temperature, we knew we were definitely not in Georgia anymore!
This was the view from our hotel room.
We had about two inches of snow already on our car when we went out.
The temperature speaks for itself.

These are two pictures I took that show the "white out" conditions we experienced before we even left Casper. Snow was even sticking to the road signs making it difficult to tell if we were on the right road.

These are signs that we didn't want to see with blinking lights. If the lights were blinking, that meant there was too much snow ahead and we'd have to turn around and go back to the town we'd just passed through. The gates would come down making it impossible to continue on the road.
Yes, the temperature continued to drop. I can't remember the last time I was in 32 degree weather.
One patch of highway where it was snowing quite heavily and beginning to stick to the road.
Snow fences like this were located along the road quite frequently.

These two pictures were taken at a rest area on I-80. (This is the same one that Corey and I ate lunch at several years ago when we drove out west by ourselves). The snow was coming down fast and furious at this time.


I just love the way it looks when snow starts to cover everything, except the road.