This crazy journey began a little over 2 years ago in Umatilla, Oregon. My husband worked for a company that finished up the work they were contracted for with the Government. He had always wanted to be a power lineman and this would give him the money to go along with the time.
So we moved in with his parents while he went to school for those 5 months. As graduation neared, the race was on to try and find a job that would hire a person straight out of school, along with competing with the 100+ other students for those said positions. While he studied, I was tasked with applying to all of the jobs that sounded interesting.
As the days started to tick by and we began to receive "We regret to inform you..." letters and emails, I had to start branching out locations on the applications. We eventually landed on a company in New Mexico that was hiring groundsman/apprentices. I thought "What the Hell! Let's send it in!" and received a phone call a couple of days later. Since we didn't have any other prospects for jobs anywhere withing 500 miles of Oregon, this seemed to be the best option.
Off we went for lands unknown a week after T graduated. We landed in Roswell, New Mexico 3 days after we left Oregon. It's a long drive, but it feels even longer when you are moving and have a toddler to take care of. Our son probably handled the trip and move better than we did!
Isn't that a rather boring view? Very flat country!
Roswell was HOT! Even in September when it had started to cool off in Oregon. The 90 degree weather about killed us. We had arrived on a Friday, had enough time to unload the U-Haul truck, unpack a little and to attempt to find T's new place of work in this unfamiliar territory before Monday.
What people don't bother to mention, when talking about New Mexico or any of the South West states are the "pests". I prefer to call them the enemy and stomp them out as often as I can. Our first morning in our new house in Roswell about caused me a heart attack. Something decided to check on the new occupants:
That is T's hand next to the window and I took the picture...not willingly I might add.
That was the first and last time we saw this giant. I lovingly nicknamed him Aragog. After this, I was in constant battle with the cockroaches. Nasty little things. It is true what they say, one can never get rid of them permanently. And dirty tough!
We lived in Roswell for about 6 months before T was given an opportunity to continue his career at an electric cooperative in a neighboring county.
REALLY sick of packing and moving by this point, but I want T to advance his career as much as possible. The rent in Lovington, New Mexico is awful and hard to find anything to rent. Thankfully a co-worker had a house he would rent us until we could close on the house we decided to buy.
Lovington is a cute town, but it feels as though one has stepped back in time. Hardly anything is open on Sunday, and if it is, not for very many hours. The people still address each other in "Ma'am" and "Sir" with a slight Texas drawl. The first month for me there, it was extremely hard to not crack a smile or giggle depending on the amount of Texas in their voice.
We eventually closed on our house after what seemed like an eternity, but in reality was a little less than 4 months. At this point I am nearly 7 months pregnant trying to get our new house washed and ready to move in all while juggling a 2 year old. Not the most fun in the world. My biggest surprise about our new neighborhood are my neighbors. They are the sweetest people ever and have made not having family close a little easier to deal with.
Basically my plan for this blog is to be a bit of a record of my time down here in the Land of Enchantment and to show what interesting differences I have noticed since living here. This first part is just a brief explanation on how we got here to New Mexico and I will continue to expand on different parts of the story. Along with explaining how I am still (somewhat) sane raising 2 boys under the age of 3 without much help except from T when he is not at work. My days are interesting to say the least and I wouldn't have it any other way!
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