Welcome to Montana! Ow! Ow! Ow!

FINALLY we got to move into our new apartment. It was a bit touch and go for awhile, seeing as how both Beau and I are unemployed and have just arrived into the state. Would you rent to us? I understood the apartment offices' hesitation, but it still really pissed off Beau when they suggested his elderly parents co-sign for us just in case.

We had done quite a bit of looking, were interested in one, put down a deposit, and then finally relaxed. Apartment hunting blows. Still, we had to wait for our final approval. Two unemployed and homeless people who have just arrived into town don’t make the best tenants, no matter how good our rental history is. And then, horrors, the apartment fell through! The surly lady in the apartment office had failed to notice that the apartment we wanted wasn't available for another three weeks! Not an option for us, who were living in Motel 6 on the edge of town. After she apologized profusely and gave us our deposit back, we went to another complex with nice apartments, and a location I wasn't totally pleased with, but could live with. We paid the deposit and for about 24 hours we bit our nails as they checked up on us (seriously, the FIRST time my past landlord has ever been called!). And then finally they said yes, and we were no longer homeless!!!! HOORAY! Too bad we had to cough up the GDP of a tiny country to move in.

Sadly, on moving day, the temperature was about 12 degrees Fahrenheit with one of the most wicked winds I have ever felt -- the kind of wind that will literally push your car a couple inches to the side when driving down the highway. I tried to spend as little time outside as possible, and wore my warm clothes against the cold. Since all our possessions fit inside the little Honda, it didn’t take us too long to move it all in, despite the fact that we live on the third floor. It was literally the easiest move of my life, though that’s cold comfort when you don’t have one stick of furniture, namely, a BED.

After a few hours, it became clear that something was wrong with my face. In a very short amount of time, I seem to have acquired a wind burn. As a child I’d gotten one a couple of times when downhill skiing, though it was always something that was more comical than problematic. I guess you could say this one was comical, to Beau. Certainly not to me.

Now, I’m a VERY fair-skinned gal and have had about a half dozen really scary burns in my life. The last one I had in while in Phuket, Thailand (a beach resort town) was so bad, that I had a bubble on my forehead and my nose swelled up. It scared the crap out of me, especially since I’d only been in the water for about an hour (and walking around for about two).

But this wind burn was in a different league. It’s about a week later now, and I’m still suffering. When it first happened, it felt like someone had covered my face in an itchy, leather mask and pulled it as tight as they could across my face. I felt like Hannibal Lecter. Despite this haphazard facelift, I also gained an immediate set of wrinkles that hadn’t existed before, particularly bunched around my eyes, which succeeded in instantly aging me about ten years. But the worst part was just the pain. Just like a sunburn, my face was bright red and BURNING. I felt like I had a full-on fever and spent quite a bit of time placing a cold compress to different parts of my face, though it would heat up the compress within a couple minutes. Beau, whose face was completely unharmed, could only stare in disbelief as he kept repeating, “How did you do that?” He never received a cheerful response in return.

So here I am, about a week later, and though my face is no longer painfully hot, or as tight as before, it still is giving me quite a bit of discomfort. Oh, and bonus! Now I get to enter the ‘slowly peeling’ stage! Hooray! Nothing like going in for an interview with teeny flecks of skin dotting your face, especially those attractive ones hanging around the edges of your nostrils. Yes! Oh yeah, and every lavish application of face cream results in about 30 seconds of intense burning akin to squeezing lemon juice into a paper cut. JUST FUCKING GREAT!

I just hope I get a job REAL soon so I can focus on something else besides my stupid face.