Blog? What Blog? You Mean I Have a Blog?

OK, so I've been lazy. I can't believe I haven't posted anything since November 26!

It is ironic when I think about starting this blog. Laura thought the whole thing was kinda weird. Then she created hers a few months later and has been so much better than me about staying updated!

Anyway, too much has happened since November for me to recount it in detail here. The summary:

Dec. 5: Went cross-country skiing in Pattee Canyon, I think maybe a week or so after the walk I described in my last post. It was a "demo day" with a local shop called The Trailhead, so I got to try out different skis for free.

Dec. 11: I couldn't convince Laura to try skiing with me, so instead we tried snowshoeing instead. We both had a great time. We initially went on rented snowshoes (again, from the Trailhead), and liked it so much we bought our own. Alas, we've been unable to go again since then. A few pictures here.

Dec. 14: Stayed out way too late the night before we were to have the walkthrough on the new house.

Dec. 15: Closed on the new house, but did not officially own it until about five days later. We did, however, start moving in the next day (Dec. 16). Apparently there were some issues holding up the actual funding of the loan and so forth. Went shopping and ordered a new dining room table, sofa, and end tables from the Ashley Furniture store here in Missoula.

Dec. 16: Rented a Uhaul and moved most of the big stuff from the rental to the new house. Also moved some little stuff, like the cable modem and router. To a house with no cable connection yet. This was the start of nearly a week without online access. At this point, I had a good excuse for not blogging!

Dec. 17: Mayflower delivered our stuff out of storage. Finally! Some of these boxes were packed LAST SPRING when we were decluttering the old house to go on the market.

Dec. 18-19: Unpacked, tried to organize my new office as usable as possible.

Dec. 20: Went to post office to get keys to the mailbox. Note to self: five days before Christmas is a terrible time to go to the post office for any reason.

Dec. 20: Went back to work (telecommuting)...with no internet access. No e-mail. Discovered that the post office keys didn't work either, so no snail mail. I've never felt so cut off from civilization in my life!

Dec. 20-22: Drank a lot of lattes at the nearby Barnes & Noble Cafe, using their wireless internet access.

Dec. 22: Bresnan finally got around to transferring our cable TV and internet to the new place. Got back online right around the time many of my co-workers back in Illinois were taking off for the holidays.

Dec. 23: Laura called the post office and was told they switch out the locks on Tuesdays and Fridays. Assumed I got the keys to late on Monday to get on the schedule. Someone from the post office came over and opened the box so we could get a week's worth of mail.

Dec. 24-25: Went to see the in-laws in Bozeman. Had a nice time, but Laura's mom was very obviously not feeling well. She stayed home from church on Christmas Eve, which I think might be a first.

Dec. 26: Went shopping and spent money received for Christmas. Also took Bailey to a new vet (conveniently within walking distance of the house!) to see if they could do anything for his miserable itching and nasty break-outs. They took skin samples to try and better diagnose the cause of the rashes, so now he has little stitches in a few spots. They also tested his thyroid, which is low, and gave him medication for that. Who knows, maybe it will help. The cortisone shot has helped as well.

Dec. 27: Discovered the mailbox keys still don't work.

Dec. 28: Called post office again and was told someone would fix it and leave NEW keys (we had the wrong kind) at the post office. So I went to the post office. They couldn't find the keys. The supervisor promised to fix it the next day and BRING me the keys.

Dec. 29: Finally got mailbox keys that work. Had much excitement in getting the snail mail.

Dec. 27-today: Worked, unpacked, worked, unpacked, etc. We had to get all the boxes cleared out of the dining room by tomorrow when our new dining room table arrives.

Wow. I can't believe that 2006 is just about here!