As some of you already know I have moved from small-town Rexburg to the thriving metropolis of Idaho Falls. Believe it or not, there is quite a different feeling here in Idaho Falls compared to Rexburg. Besides not being in a bubble, Idaho Falls feels like a much larger city solely because of the mass amount of vehicles on the roads! It feels like it's always rush-hour. Ok, that might be a little of an exaggeration, but not by far. There's a lot of people here.
I moved to Idaho Falls in order to save money on commuting from Rexburg each day for work. Gas wasn't the only thing that my truck was guzzling. Being located in Idaho Falls for just one week has already proven to be wallet-friendly. I live just a few blocks away from the Idaho Falls Temple and the airport in a quiet neighborhood. This location is near the agency I work for as well as the clients I work with. Again, saving me some pennies.
I am renting a room in a split level home that houses three other females and four dogs. I found that renting a room that already included utilities, wireless internet, and a washer/dryer was much cheaper than finding a place of my own. So, here I am:
The front of the home that I am living in. The windows to the right of the front door are the kitchen windows. (Not pictured: two trees on the right side of the house that is perfect for setting up my slack-line!).
Walking in the front door and turning to your left you have a set of stairs going up and a set of stairs going down. I live in one of the two rooms downstairs. (Not pictured: The upstairs livingroom straight ahead from the front door and the kitchen to the right of the front door).
The bathroom, which is located on the left at the bottom of the stairs. Can you tell which side of the sink is mine? (Door of bathroom is pictured in previous picture).
Across the hallway from the bathroom is my bedroom. This picture was taken standing in my doorway. I love the large window in my bedroom that is ground level allowing LOTS of natural light into my room, which I LOVE. Each room in the house comes with it's own ceiling fan. A nice and needed feature since there isn't air conditioning.
Another nice feature of my bedroom, opposite my bed, is my double door full-size closet. The closet runs the whole length of wall in addition to the bedroom door.
Coming out of my bedroom and taking a right (or a left coming out of the bathroom) you enter the kitchen and livingroom area. Walking through the doorway (pictured on the left side of the above picture) the kitchen is to the left. It features a range that looks like it came from the 60's, a small refridgerator that barely fits two people's worth of food in it after great organizational efforts, and minimal cupboard space. (I thought I moved out of college housing....)
We have a lovely back porch table in the dining area that is opposite the range/refridgerator. We don't use it to sit and eat from, but it houses the microwave and other personal kitchen appliances. But a much grateful addition to the kitchen/dinning room is the pantry, which is behind the two doors shown in the right side of the picture. The far door has shelves whereas the forefront door is open for storage/broom and dustpan (for the carpeted kitchen/dinning room) and other oddities.
After walking through the doorway and looking to your right we have the livingroom. It features my camping chair, a back porch lounge chair and a little plastic table (which are used on very rare occassions). As useful decoration we have my mountain bike, longboard, and road bike. Can ones livingroom be more complete? The doorway seen in the above picture leads to the backyard....
Remember how this home houses FOUR dogs? I discovered upon walking out the downstairs doorway that the backyard is all four dog's bathroom. I don't think an open bedroom window or backyard lounging will be frequent, if at all. The odd yellow tube you see in the picture is a training toy for the dogs. The owner of the home is going to school to become a dog trainer. This is one of many other dog training toys in the backyard. It's a pretty backyard, but prefer not to expose myself to the natural dog aromas present there.
The whole house in carpeted with the exception of the upstairs kitchen and entry way. I'm not used to stepping out of the shower or walking into the kitchen and have carpet for the flooring. It is one of the many older homes that populates Idaho Falls.
I have also discovered after moving in that I basically have the whole downstairs to myself, besides the shelving/cupboards of the kitchen and bathroom that I share. My downstairs roommate spends her life outside of work in her large bedroom watching TV and movies with her dog, only coming out for food and bathroom breaks for her and her dog. I can count the number of times I have seen her on one hand and have only spoken to her once, where she 'laid the law' down about living downstairs. The other two girls upstairs (the owner and her cousin) are unseen beings as well. They also spend their time in front of the TV upstairs with the livingroom entry way door closed. All I hear from them is, "Ah ah ah ah, nooooo. Sit!" Or other very similar variations of their dog commands.
This being only a temporary living situation I have only unpacked the basics plus a few decorations to make it a little more homey. And for my own entertainment purposes I get on my bike and explore the area to discover places and things in Idaho Falls that are hidden treasures not seen from the roads and routes I take daily for work.
