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About Me

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Western North Dakota , United States
My husband, Allen, and I are high school sweet hearts. We started dating Sep.99'- I kind of followed Allen home one day, and never did leave, is Allen's story. November 02' we were engaged, and on November 22,2003 - we were married. Having been married for 6 years in 2009, marked the 5th year we had been trying to start our family. With the referral of a Fertility Specialist from a friend, our IUI attempts ended up being a complete success despite my doubts. We welcomed our sweet little girl, Hayleigh into the world on June 30,2010 at 6:28am after 37wks and 1 day of gestation. She weighed 7lbs 14oz and was 20 in long. We found out that we were Baby #2 on April Fool's Day- a complete surprise! Reid Allen was born 11/13/12 3:24am 9lbs 8.2oz 21", after 38wks 5 days. Our 3rd baby, Eva Jane, was born on April 19, 2015 after suffering a pregnancy loss June of 2014. We are currently anxiously awaiting baby #4 due 2 days before Eva's birthday, so we are having Irish Twins! Our family is so blessed and happy to be growing!

Tuesday, August 5, 2014

Should I stay or should I go....

I have a problem that has become clear. It is 1:30 in the morning and I am not in bed enjoying snuggling with my hubby. It is hot in our bedroom, he is sweaty, snoring, and I love our bed- but not with him in it right now... what the hell has happened here??? Well, with him being gone for 2 weeks, and home for 1 week, I have grown accustomed to having the WHOLE bed to MYSELF. When it is just me in there it is cool, the bed curves to me only and I am soo snuggled in, blankets all stay in one place with sheets all staying tucked in hospital corner style. I also don't cook much anymore- only a few times a week do I with just me and the kids- I'm talkin mac n cheese, spaghetti, meatloaf or goulash are a BIG deal here. I cook and clean every day Allen is here, and frankly I've gotten to where I don't know how other "moms" out there do it every.single.day.... Something is really wrong with that....

Let me take you back a day on this all. Sunday night I think Allen and I reached an epiphany. He is now driving back here by himself, no partner to help drive back and forth since his partner got switched to another crew/rotation. Now, Allen has to make the 12-13 hour drive in GOOD weather by himself. This used to not even be a problem. When we first moved out here, there was a direct company flight that left here on Sunday morning, and flew in on Monday afternoon at 2pm. It was wonderful- picking him up here at our airport in the private plane sector. His crew got split up- he is the last original guy left on Silver Crew from his Grand Junction crew. They moved the flight to just Denver around the time Reid was born since they lost people from here, and people on the flight. Now, Allen can drive to Denver to catch that flight if he wanted- it doesn't get into Denver until 6pm- which puts him home around 930-10pm on Monday night in good weather across the slope, and he leaves out 7 am-ish on Monday morning. It's a hassle, and he loses time here with us with it.

So, where does this all lead us.... to somewhere I swore we would never go. After Allen was leaving North Dakota after working all day, we were both expressing how much we hated his drive. Then I think we both kind of just broke down on it all. Our lease is now up- we are free to move around. We love this area a lot but.........He's gone 2 weeks, then driving 30 hours round trip to and from us. We are fine with the schedule- we make it work. What if we gave up a few things for making some things not so hard though???

Halliburton has housing for families, and just workers. They have man camps- basically a dorm like setting that is free for employess to live there. It is noisy, people coming and going at all hours- it's kind of like a dorm/hotel deal. A "maid" comes and cleans your room, so you have no real privacy. But it's free- which is great. They also serve food for free- cafeteria style- after a week you're burnt out. 

Then, they have the townhouse housing for employees to share- that is what Allen does. For $275 a month, you can have you're own private master bedroom with bathroom- has a lock key card like a hotel to get in- so it stays locked, they share a garage, kitchen, 2 living rooms, and a dining room, laundry room, and outdoor patio. All utilities are paid- including cable and internet, and it is fully furnished with 4 guys living there. It is really nice- we visited Allen's back when he only had 1 room mate. Right now his townhouse is full- but they are all clean, and cook together. I joke one of the guys is Allen's work husband- he keeps the place stocked up with scented candles and air freshners, brought in more curtains, and rugs. I promise the guy is not gay- he is just pretty picky on what he likes. They all share 2 grills they have brought there, and grill out a lot. It's nice and Allen really likes it over the man camp even if he has to do his own cooking. The only thing they do not like is they have cleaners come every other week that go into their rooms- just to vacuum and mop the bathroom floor. With these guys, it is not needed, and the people who do this snoop and spy on the guys- the maintenance guy was thought to have come in on a day he was not on, and $400 cash went missing from scented candle guy's room. It was a big to do, and the ladies were called in and were complaining how guys up there had hookers, and were messy, had drugs.... which we know for a fact was not going on in this townhouse. sigh.... anyway......

Then for families, there are 3 types of housing. There is Halliwood- the apartment complex everyone has dubbed the name Halliwood. It is a huge apartment that has 3 bedrooms- all with their own bathrooms. The key card has been disabled from all of the doors- it was orig. set up like the townhomes, but so many families were moving up there, so the apartments switched to family only. They cost around $1200 a month. It is a cesspool for gossip, colds, and just drama. That's what I hear anyway since I would say 90% of the women are stay at home wives. I believe their utilities are included except for cable/internet there. They do have a garage area- one car slot and is open, not private to all who live there. It is actually right across the field from Allen.

They then have 2 levels for mainly supervisors and service leaders- the townhomes and houses. The townhomes are supervisors for the most part with their families. I believe they run the same as the apartment, and some utilities are included. I think the same as the apartments- but not completely sure. They do not have a fenced in yard- basically they are unfurnished versions of Allen's, but just a family occupies it instead of room mates. They are 3-4 bedroom and have their own bathrooms I believe as well. They have a park right in the neighborhood- something we do not have here, and a dog park as well.

Then there are the houses. Those are service leader only. They are very limited, but have their own fenced in backyard, and I believe run the same as the townhouses- just a house. Same deal with them on utilities as well I believe. 

So, as you can see we have an option here... no, not the apartment. Allen's supervisor title should be done and through when he goes back up this Sunday. We are currently checking into getting into a townhome as it seems. This is where our talking lead to.  I know we've went on about how much harder it would be to live with Allen- he is on a night one week/day the next work rotation. The kids would have to stay quiet, and he would not get to see us but a few hours a day. That was our main reason for staying here- it was just easier- we had our own schedules. But... the bedrooms are all upstairs, unlike the apartments to which the bigger problems with noise really are with bedrooms being on the same level with a family. The kids really don't get loud through the day and Hayleigh will be in kindergarten next year.  It would be nice for Allen not to have to take the extra time to cook and do his laundry- getting up earlier for those- I would already have them done, and we would get more than 30 minutes a day on the phone talking. We really do love it here in Colorado- not saying we would never come back. We have plans in our near future- 2-3 years for Allen to switch gears and move up. We are living in our rent house as a temporary thing... and quite frankly it's getting pretty old here. We need way more storage than what we currently have- there is hardly much, and it is very small- but cheap on rent for here.  I really do not like our neighborhood, but it's not terrible. People just really do not take care of their places here, and I HATE that neighbor's barking dog that apparently no one can do anything with. I think pretty much the only things we do not like here are our house, the area the house is in, the time away from Allen, and the drive. We do not have family here, there is no longer a company flight, and Allen's crew is not all here- like it was when we first came here- our reason for moving here to begin with. Now, we do love this area- the city, the amenities, the scenery, things and places to do and see, and it has 3 great hospitals. It is very clean for it's size, and has great private schools. The parts we like, we would be giving up. The grocery shopping, just shopping availability in general, the restaurants, and things and places to see/do would be cut. The closest place to go to a mall and Sams club is a 2 hour drive- about like back in Illinois what we had there. But, we would gain seeing Allen every day, him not driving almost 2 days worth every month, we would save over $800 a month without the double rent and the travel expense, not to mention the wear and tear on a vehicle with the insane mileage that is being put on it. Allen would have meals already cooked for him, see us, have his laundry done, and not being spending time driving and missing us.

What to do..... After saying the things we would gain out loud Sunday night, I kind of got sold on the townhome deal. IT IS NOT PERMANENT. That is what I keep thinking over and over again. The kids and I really don't get out much at all. I don't go to the mall hardly at all- mainly when Allen is home- but once every 3 months or so. They do have bad winters up there, I go back to tornado area- we do not get them here and I LOVE that, the town is still growing- they have a new rec center that is open all year round, new bigger hospital, but eating out is not good- service is horrible, the traffic is thick and crazy, shopping at Walmart is like shopping in a third world country- everything is left out on pallets all the time. I have Amazon, and at least do not go shopping much, and we already don't get out much. Some of Allen's crew live up there, and I could have more friends there that are on the same rotation, and same company/line of work. My photography business could be moved with no problem as well, since I am not established here yet. The only things I really worry about is the school situation- we would do private, and the doctor situation. I know there will be more dog walking, and bundling up. But to me the trade off would be better than what we have now. AND I would get used to sharing a bed once again...

Nothing is set, and nothing will be happening soon. I'm sure there is a waiting list- but it's all who you know up there and who you are. Allen is moving up very fast there, and his second level service leader really does help Allen get things moved along. So, who knows what will happen. I'm sure we will probably be spending Christmas here, and maybe much more time than that, but at least we are free from a lease and free to make changes if we would like to.

~ just some late night thoughts coming from she who does not share a bed well......

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