Update this week

Another week of getting settled in our new digs...

DD is getting used to the new school. She has a very small class; she actually started with about 16 in her class, but they lost two kids last week that moved away. That means there are only 14 kids in her class. This is a huge change from the 30 kids she had in her class before we moved.

The elementary school is also remodeling this year. They are actively working on a $8 million expansion to the existing school. They will have a new gym, a new cafeteria, and room for music classes and computer labs. They are constantly hiring new teachers because of the new students coming to the area.

We have planned an excursion: this weekend is a shopping weekend. That means we will most likely be driving two hours to go to a mall (we would like to visit with Santa) and to do our grocery shopping. There are small (3-4,000 square feet) grocery stores in town, but their prices are a little high. I was chatting with someone this week and she said she regularly drives to Bismarck (3 hours away) to do her shopping. This is going to take some getting used to.

I am trying my hardest to plan out lots of meals (there is no fallback...I can't make a last-minute decision to eat out) including some convenience meals. If I don't plan it out, we'll be eating canned, processed food all week! I don't mind. Planning is my thing. I have to plan these things so that if there is a big snowstorm, I have enough to carry us through a couple days if we can't leave the house.

They shut down the roads here when the weather gets bad. Travel advisories are issued and they should NOT be ignored. After living in a place where rain is the worst you have to worry about, I am reluctant to drive after dark here. There are TONS of large trucks on the roads here because there aren't any pipelines to carry the oil yet. I have been hearing about the recent increase in accidents because people try to pass a truck when they shouldn't.

The other thing I have been hearing is that last winter was apparently pretty mild. The forecasts this winter point to "normal," so I think we are in for a snowy first winter here. We'll just drink lots of hot chocolate and make lots of snowmen and spend the rest of our time in our little trailer and off the roads.

--Katie