Project 52: Week 12

Some of my favorite photos of the week. 

Spring must be super near because I have seen a lot of this little guy the last week. 

Perhaps I should name him? 

Any ideas?

I don't want to get too attached because we are moving in less than 3 weeks and this fat little guy is going to have to say hi to the other neighbors every morning. 

He did let me sneak up on him a little this week though. 

Montana, you're makin me crazy!

I shouldn't be surprised, It snowed last year on Memorial Day weekend.
But this year was a bit much. I am super excited to be moving this fall.

This started the night of May 23
(I know I am way behind on posting)

It started in the middle of the night with intense fog.

and a thin layer of snow dusted the neighborhood.
But, when we woke up, it was way more than a dusting....

Most of the snow melted by the weekend. But we still had icky rainy and cold weather until this week.
Finally the last 5 days or so have been pretty nice. Hopefully it lasts. 

If any bloggers want to do ad-swaps or guest posts for June/July e-mail me at PrincessAiko@me.com

I'm new to ad's and I've never had guest posts so this should be fun!

Work it Gurl!

I've been doing a lot of hiking/walking lately. I live really close to a very nice trail that runs down the very steep hill I live atop. I think the elevation change is around 200 feet  and down and back it's about 4 miles. 

The great thing, besides the awesome view, it's paved, so I can bring the baby and jogger, which is totally awesome. 

There are several great turn around spots on the trail, depending on how much time I have, or if I have  a mileage goal, or if I want to do the really really steep part. 

The last time we went out (Saturday) we were just getting into some really icky weather, that is still here, and we ended up getting sleet/rained on almost the whole way back. It was a total bummer. But I did get to break in my new pretty shoes! 

My goal is to get out two times a week and do at least a small (2-3 mile) hike, and once a week go all the way to the bottom and do 4+ miles. I can even go beyond the bottom of the hill and get more mileage if the weather is nice. 

These are a few of my favorite things

There are a few things that I really like about the house we are living in now. 

 We have a really cool view. That out there is a mining headframe, which is a tower above an underground mine shaft. They are used to hoist things from inside the mine. 

Trees! We have trees! And they are pine trees! 

I love the sound of the wind through pine trees, it's got to be one of my favorite sounds ever. 

Also behind that tree is a little park, how cute is that?

There is a lot of history up here too, Walkerville is part of the historic mining town from the late 1800's and a lot of the buildings and houses around us are very, very old. We are only about a mile away from Historic Downtown Butte. It's really cool being surrounded by all this history, I can't wait to learn more. 

another thing I really like is the smaller back yard with a built in firepit. Come this summer I am hoping we will get lots of use out of it. 

I like that the yard is smaller, so I have less of a yard to chase the dogs through, but they still have enough room to run around. 

another tree!

So we are really settling in here, and really liking the place. 

But I am also really looking forward to moving out of Montana at the end of the year, hopefully before it gets shitty and cold again. I am looking forward to summer, a lot goes on in Butte, specifically in downtown Butte, and we are in just up the hill, about a mile, totally in walking distance. 

Another exciting thing about this area, is that it's hilly, so that'll be great for walking and exercising.

One small thing that worries me is stray (or unleashed & unsupervised) dogs, there are quite a few we've seen around. Renji is still traumatized from being attacked a two summers ago, and has fear based agression (we've done a lot of training, but it's still a problem). It's hard to take him around other dogs, because he has a tendency to flip out. He's never attacked anyone, but he acts agressive and just flips out, Thankfully he's only 18 pound so I can easily restrain him. But around an unleashed dog, his behavior could lead to us being attacked. 

But we'll just have to see, there are also several walking paths that would likely be safer with the doggies and Evey. 

So this summer look forward to some posts of adventures through my neighborhood. 

- Alana

Slowly getting settled

The last two weeks have been a mess. Packing, unpacking, looking for my jacket, finding things I forgot I had.

The actual move itself wasn't nearly as bad as I expected. They got all of our stuff packed, and delivered safely. Since it was just an overnight pack (they packed one day loaded the truck the next and delivered the third) they moved our pantry contents and all of our alcohol. Which included my large hoard of wine that I collected while pregnant.

They successfully took apart and reassembled the huge entertainment center that we own. We love it but damn, what was I thinking, it's enormous, and weighs a ton.

We got the house emptied had some guys come and clean, spend one last night on the floor, the same floor that we spend our first night on only 2 years and 2 months prior.

The next morning we got up early and packed out. We loaded our cars way beyond comfortable capacity with the things we knew we would need right away and the few things the movers wouldn't move (dog kennel, cat litter box, pack and play, vacuum, plants, and cleaning supplies, live animals.)

and we said good bye to the first house Evelyn lived in.

And the view we have grown to love. 

The drive down to Butte actually really sucked. The roads were much nastier than usual. But we arrived in one piece and met the movers and got all of our billions of boxes of stuff.

We have moved from a 3br 2ba with a living room, den and a 2 car garage on about 2/3 acre to a 2br 2ba with parking in the front yard on about 1/8 acre. So we do have a little more than we have room for, but we're working through that. The back yard is only about twice as big as the deck in the old house. But that's not really a bad thing. I have less of a yard to chase my dogs through when they won't come inside.

We worked very hard for a whole week unpacking and making huge strides in getting rid of stuff we never use, don't need, have enough of.

Everyone has been pooped out. We have all been sleeping pretty good. I don't know if it's because the stress of moving has passed. Or if it's because the neighbor dogs aren't barking all night.

Then Wednesday afternoon we finally got internet, And productivity came to a screeching halt. I have not touched a single box since Wednesday. Yesterday I didn't do anything, except tend to Evelyn and take the dogs out and shower. Today I at least left the house though, we went to get lunch and then came home to internet some more. 
We got netflix again, That's been the real time killer. I have watched the entire first season of Workaholics and the first season of Parenthood. 
The whole internet thing has been super-d-dooper because we have had satellite for 2 years, at a breakneck speed of 1.5 megabytes or something. Which is fast enough do download an entire album from iTunes in about... 3 hours. I could drive to target buy the CD and drive home in less time. Now we are about 10-15 times faster than that. 
But this weekend Paul will be home and we will do more unpacking/purging. I hope to get the nursery/guest room at least partly set up by next week, then we can fill it with boxes again and finish the living/dining room.

And that is all. I am working on some much overdue Evey picture posts. And brainstorming some exploring Butte posts in the next few weeks, Because you all want to come and visit Butte, Mt.  

We have Internets!

Well I have internet again! and we are mostly unpacked! and we have a huge section of 'Yard Sale' stuff! I'm still trying to catch up here at the house though. I'll try to get some posts up in the next week, but I still have lots going on here. But I'm almost back! Huzzah! 

Moving

Yep, We're finally moving. Tuesday- Thursday my things will be put into boxes, then put into a truck, then delivered at the new house. Posts will likely be few and far between for the next week or so. Hopefully by next week we'll be at least partly settled, and have internet figured out. 

I need to pack some bags for the three of us (+ animals) so we have clothing and toiletries until the weekend, then find somewhere to put these things so they are not packed by the movers. I also need to finish the laundry so my washer can dry out, then I need to pack my own underwear because I'm not okay with strangers handling my panties. 
Of course I have no motivation to do any of this.

But I've finally made it to the point that I am excited about this move. I am looking forward to moving, and having a new place to call home, unpacking and rediscovering all my treasures. Making new friends. Having internet that doesn't get streamed in from space (and therefor sucks ass). We'll I guess I should start packing, so I can unpack this weekend. 

Have fun until I get back. 

And if you don't already, 'like' my Facebook page, If I have time I'll do some updating there, if I have a chance.

- Alana