Tuesday, September 25, 2007

Oh my GOSH!

I can't even begin to tell you how freaked out I am! I found this Wikipedia Article today on a neurological condition called synesthesia. I had NO earthly idea there was a name for this and for the longest time I did not know that it wasn't normal. I thought everyone thought the same way, and I have only in the past few years begun to realize that it was just me. I stumbled upon an online conversation about this and nearly wet my pants when I read this article. THIS IS ME!!!!

Snow!





It snowed yesterday! It only snowed on the tops of the mountain, but still...it looked really pretty and I don't think it would take much more to bring that snow down to lower elevations. Most of you know I pretty much hate snow, but I am getting really excited, because this will be my first experience living in it, and I'm game to give it a shot. Mainly I am excited for Elijah, because He's never seen snow in real life! It will be fun to make snowmen with him and take him sledding and all that.

These pictures are from the hills (mountains??) right in front of the house. Elijah was completely disappointed when we awoke to clear skies and (albeit brusque) sunshine. It's already clouding over a bit again, so we will see.

By the way, as an unrelated side note and sort of an addendum to my last post (the "lemon bars are good for the soul" one) I wanted to add that lemon bars are not good for small children to have for breakfast! Just in case anyone was considering it. Yesterday morning while I was on the computer sending an email and drinking my coffee, Elijah found the rest of the lemon cheesecake bars in the dish sitting on top of the oven. I walked in the kitchen to refill my coffee and found the entire top of the bars gone and the middle filling part pitted with craters made by small fingers (the bars were layered crust then lemon filling then cheesecake topping)...I guess as Bill Cosby says that at least when you only have one child you always know who did it! He was literally zooming around all day and it was too cold for him to play outside and the car wouldn't start for me to take him anywhere (it's fine, but we need to fix the connection of the wire thingy to the battery thingy...don't mind the technical lingo) so needless to say I almost cried tears of joy when it was bedtime. Anyway, word to the wise, hide your lemon bars if you have children :)

Sunday, September 23, 2007

Lemon bars are good for the soul

Am presently sitting here with a nice hot mug of red raspberry leaf tea and a lemon cheesecake bar, and felt like writing for a few minutes. The lemon cheesecake bar was born out of a very cold day necessitating the need to bake and a deal with myself that I would take a nice long walk later. The walk did not come to fruition, so I settled on having a second lemon cheesecake bar. Not exactly the best moment of my dieting day. Haha, well at least they were made with low fat cream cheese, and I can walk tomorrow :)

Today was the first day that I felt - really and truly- cold. It was over cast and stormy today, but the rain kind of came on and off, so no biggie. The sun even came out for a bit (as they say in Wyoming "if you don't like the weather here...wait five minutes" apparently thats the saying, and quite accurate at that). Then while I was putting the lemon cheesecake bars in the oven, I heard the wind begin to howl and heard along with it, the distinct smattering of...something...rain? I thought if it was rain, it was raining really hard! It turned out to be hail, and the gusty wind blew off the top of our trash can into the neighbors front lawn. The distance felt formidable as I covered my head with the hood of my (rather ineffectual, it turns out) sweatshirt and dashed across the yard to retrieve it...OW! Those little pellets felt like beebees...really really cold ones haha! They blew under my hood and onto my face. Brrrr. It's calmed down now, but all I can think is how miserable it must be on the mountain where Jay is...that, and there will be no real archery hunting on days like today, meaning a longer stay for him.

So I have discovered, the thing about marrying someone you actually like (I mean in addition to love, obviously) to be with is that it's not a whole lot of fun when they are gone. I'm still happy I came here, and I don't generally have a problem being alone (well, not alone so much as sans adult interaction), but I just miss Jay when he is gone. For instance if something funny (or like yesterday-completely upsetting) happens, I want to tell him about it. I've actually taken to writing things down in little notes and whatnot and just giving them to him when he comes home for a day or two. It would be alot easier if there was phone service where he was...I forgot that there were places remote enough to not receive a signal haha. I actually thought we'd be able to talk on the phone! I'm such a city girl ;) But I am learning.

I'd love to hear from everyone, so if you are reading this, throw me a note :)

Friday, September 21, 2007

Horseback riding!



Jay took me riding a couple days ago. We rode for a couple hours on the same trail Jay takes when he goes up to high camp. I don't need to tell you how beautiful it was...I took lots of pictures to show everyone, but it just doesn't seem like the pictures are enough. They don't give the full impact of being there. It was great to be on a horse again, though after riding for 4+ hours, I was a little teeny bit sore.

The day before that, we went fishing again. The best part of that was that I finally got to see a beaver! He was huge too and I got to watch him for the longest time. So far I've seen lots of deer and the beaver and some specks that apparently were mountain goats...I still haven't seen a moose or an elk though.

Not much new other than that. Jay is gone again, this time he has bull elk archery hunters, so my guess is I won't see him for about 8 days or more. It's a little bit depressing (okay alot) when he leaves and gets me to missing everyone even more. Four more weeks and hunting season is just about over, so I'm just counting the days for now.

I found an ad for someone looking for childcare for their 2 kids, a 3 year old and a 1 year old. I may call and talk to them and see if that is something I could do...I mean, I wouldn't be making a whole lot probably, but it would bring in some money and give Elijah some interaction and I wouldn't have to pay for gas and childcare. The hardest part is that Jay isn't here for me to talk to about it, so I don't want to make any permanent arrangements. The downside is that I would still be lacking the adult interaction, but there may be more pros than cons, and I haven't been able to find much in the way of job opportunities yet.

Wish I could see everyone, I miss you guys!

Monday, September 10, 2007

Free at last


We got the Expo back! Yippee! I feel so...so....free :)
We got it back on Friday and it was perfect timing because Jay was finished with his hunters on Friday night, so Saturday we all went to Idaho Falls ('we' meaning myself, Jay, Elijah and Kenny) and did some shopping. We got Elijah some new clothes including a badly needed winter coat. Afterwards, we went to the salt river and did some fly fishing...well that's not entirely accurate...Jay and Kenny did some fly fishing. Elijah set himself to finding sticks to splash the water with and rocks to throw in the general direction of the water Jay was fishing in - thereby ensuring that any fish would be scared about a mile up river. I was busy scouting the banks for herbs. I found lots and lots of chamomile and mint growing wild. I actually did let Jay give me a fly fishing lesson, but fortunately didn't catch anything. If I had, I am fairly certain I would have dropped the pole while running and screaming. Jay did catch two fish, but they were teeny so he let em go. On the walk back to the car, I saw a muskrat, which kind of looked like a swimming gopher.

I really kicked myself for not bringing my camera, it was incredibly beautiful where we were. The sun was settling, and the way the light hit the hills and river was indescribable. We all felt relaxed and peaceful. One thing I love about being here is that when you just let yourself sink into silence, and just let yourself be surrounded by the quiet, you realize that even though it is quiet and so peaceful, you are at the same time surrounded by life and movement. I have that sense here more than I ever have anywhere else.

After fishing, we went to 'Tootsie's' for some pizza and her famous strawberry tirimisu (my verdict: leave tirimisu alone. It is delicious the way it is. Strawberries belong on shortcake). When we were leaving, we ended up finding a kitten. It was so weird because I had woken up that morning thinking about wanting a kitten after having a dream about one and (Jay can attest to this) the very first words out of my mouth that morning had been "I want a cat". Lo and behold, that night this little 'trash rodent' (as Jay calls him) practically landed in my lap. He is adorable, and Elijah and I are totally smitten. Jay on the other hand....well....he's not a big fan. We made a deal, if I see him by Wednesday morning I will give the cat away, if not...I get to keep him sans guilt. We are both happy with arrangement, so we will see what happens. Honestly though if Jay really doesn't want to keep it, I probably will just go ahead and find him another home, even if I DO win this little contest.

Today I took Elijah to town to run some errands and we stopped by the local library in Thayne. It is literally one-third of an average sized mobile home, but it is quaint and will have to do. We did check out some books, and they do run a really cute little story time every Monday morning, so I will be taking Elijah to that. After the library we had a picnic and we brought our nameless little kitten. I DID bring my camera this time, so here are some pics of Eli with the little vermin!