Hey guys!
Back by "popular demand" (ie: family, friends, and mom's co-workers), I have decided on a new venture of internet ramblings inspired by my very recent move to the arctic tundra (ie: Minnesota). For those of you who followed my previous blog, New England Newlywed, please forgive me for the lack of posts... I realized a little too late that devoting a blog entirely to cooking was not only too one-dimensional for me, but also pretty boring. I can assure you, though, that I still love cooking as well as trying new recipes, and some of that will definitely make its way into this blog. But seeing as recipe writing is laborious and generally unexciting, I think I can safely say that this is not Julie & Julia.
So, to catch you all up on the lives of Mr. and Mrs. G, here is a brief recap of the past 6 months:
Connecticut is lame, so we moved.
Now that you're all caught up, let me tell you a little about why and how we came to live in the Land of 10,000 Lakes. For those of you who don't know, Minnesota is Mr. G's homeland. And if you know him, you know that he thinks Minnesota is God's gift to the world, and he has been ready to move back as soon as he left a year and a half ago. I am from Nashville originally, but I visited Mr. G often in MN when he lived here, and while I didn't quite think it was heaven on earth, I did really like the place. I knew we would probably come to live here eventually since he felt so strongly about it, but I never though it would happen only 6 months after I moved to CT. But while I was here in January, I realized I didn't want to go back home, and I felt a sudden and strong desire to live here. It was as if God knocked me over the head, and I knew I could make the decision to change our lives and make my husband the happiest man in the world. At that point, I realized what I had to do - admit to Mr. G that he was right. He predicted I wouldn't like CT, and I stubbornly tried to, but I just didn't. It never felt like home.
Mrs. G's mom suggested that we write down all the things that God did to make it possible for us to move, so that's exactly what I'm going to do, and then some. I've made 3 lists - everything that went right, everything that went wrong, and an intro to Minnesota culture. Let's start with the good stuff.
Everything that went right:
- The renters living in Mr. G's house (which he owned previously) decided to move out right as we started discussing the possibility of moving. They left about a month ago, and now we are living in our first house. :)
- Mr. G's company allowed him to keep his job and work from home in MN, so we didn't have to worry about both of us finding work out here.
- In addition, they gave him a major promotion AND a raise... Crazy, right?? Especially in this economy! We needed the extra money for the move as well as to cover expenses while I search for a job, so that was a completely unexpected but very helpful blessing.
- I got more interviews before even moving to MN than I ever got while living in CT. I've had 2 so far, and I have 2 more lined up.
- Our car insurance is less than half the cost out here, and our expenses as a whole are reduced significantly.
- We got a very large tax return that we used to help fund the move as well as buy our dream couch. :)
Everything that went wrong:
- When we started moving into the house, we realized that the renters didn't leave it in as good of shape as we had anticipated. In addition, I realized that there was more work to be done than I had planned for.
- We were supposed to pick up our couch the day we moved in; we planned it that way because we had the moving truck and thus wouldn't have to pay to have it delivered. However, when Mr. G called the store, they said someone broke ours and that we would have to wait a week for the replacement to come in. They never called to tell us, so of course we didn't bring our couch from CT. We have been sitting on the air mattress in the living room.
- Comcast installed a faulty cable box, so we returned it for a new one. That one didn't work either. So for a couple days we had no TV to watch from the air mattress.
- We also haven't had wireless internet since our router hasn't come in yet. This means that we are going over on our data plans this month because I've been using 3G on my phone to keep from going stir crazy, and Mr. G's brother used his phone to play games the entire drive out here.
- Our precious dog, Molly, was perfect the whole road trip, but as soon as she got here, she started acting CRAZY. She has always been a mild-mannered, well-behaved dog, but this move has messed with her head. She now humps anything and everything, and she even got a little aggressive with a friend's dog. I swear she has gender confusion.
- Our friend's dog (Kenzie) also has a ton of energy, which she harnessed to run full-speed at our screen door leading to the porch. We now have a lovely Kenzie-shaped hole there. In return, Molly decided she would scratch up their screen door, so I guess we're even now.
- We locked ourselves out our second night in the house. We had replaced the lock on the door, but I didn't realize you could open it while it was still locked... Oops. Thankfully, Mr. G is skilled at breaking and entering...
- We got an inch of snow already. :( Hopefully the weather will improve soon!
Minnesota Culture 101:
- There is nothing better than a Minnesota accent. It's a hilarious blend of Norwegian and Canadian with long o's and flat a's. Plus, there are the awesome colloquialisms: "ohhh man," "you betcha!" and my personal favorite: "uff da."
- Since pretty much everyone out here is of Scandinavian origin, they are pretty much all blonde and fair-skinned. This is the opposite of Connecticut, where Mr. G and I were lonely Anglo-Saxons in a sea of Italians.
- There are also quite a few large families out here, especially in the rural areas. Mr. G actually hails from a family of 9 including his parents. A neighboring family is somewhere in the teens.
- Homeschooling is more common here, or at least more than I've seen. Mr. G was homeschooled for most of his education, as were all his siblings. Most of his friends were homeschooled, too. I never knew a single person growing up who was homeschooled. But then again, maybe that's because I met everyone at school...
- Much like the South, people tend to marry young out here. I've also seen a lot of short engagements, which is interesting to me. Although mine wasn't exactly long, but that was mostly due to Mr. G's urging!
- Last but not least, all the women out here are pregnant. Seriously. There must be something in the water.
- These are all very large generalizations, of course, but are all based on my observations as an "outsider," though I guess I'm one of them now! I've been polishing my accent...
Well, I think that just about sums it up for now. You can anticipate forthcoming posts about decor, crafts, and job hunting, all of which consume my life right now. Plus maybe a few recipes from CT that I was particularly proud of. :)
Goodnight!
<3 Mrs. G
