Need info/help regarding move to Nebraska (Scottsbluff, Gering: real estate, new home)

[tccamp]

Hi,
I am new to this forum but from what I've read it sure looks like the place I need to be. I am trying to find a new home for my daughter and I closer to our family that lives in Northern Colorado. We currently live in SE Minnesota in a small farming community. We love the country/farm life and are big wildlife/animal fans.
On a recent trip to Colorado we drove through Scottsbluff and spent a night in Valentine on our way home. We camped at Smith Falls State Park, very very pretty location. We liked Scottsbluff too but it sure has that look of the old western movies. (dessert bluffs)
I am currently looking at Sidney and although I have not driven through there yet I have been doing a fair amount of reading about it. It sounds like a small farming community but still has some ammenities.
My one brother lives in Fort Collins Colorado and I would shrivel up and die if I had to live in a big city like that but, I would like to be close enough to them for visits now and then.

Can anyone share with me some ideas for a small rural town, safe enough for a single mom and young daughter, lots of church involvement, but still have some employment and reasonable housing possibilities? (Don't want much do I?) Oh and not quite so flat and brown as parts of Wyoming we went through. We live by a river right now and are quite used to deciduous trees and green grass.
Thanks in advance for any help or ideas you may have.
TC

[aerahrtlu]

It might help it you mention what type of jobs you are looking for. Out west there aren't ALOT of jobs available. Oh you can find them, but they're harder to find.
So what type of employment are you looking for??
I've heard that Sidney is a great town. I personally haven't lived there, nor been through there, but I've heard and read alot about it.

I wish I could be of more help!! Good luck!

[tpabes]

Sidney is a popular town of late! Here is a thread someone brought up and inside the thread is a post with more links to Sidney threads:
http://www.city-data.com/forum/nebra...sidney-ne.html

Scottsbluff is a nice area, if you wanted to live in a smaller town look into places like Bayard, Bridgeport, Mitchell, etc.. and you could commute to Scottsbluff/Gering for a job if you needed to. Other towns to think about could be Imperial, Ogallala, Kimball, and Sterling, Co.

Like aerahrtlu said if you have more of specific idea of what kind of job you want, we can narrow it down a bit for you!

[tccamp]

Thanks for the reply. I did notice that thread about Sidney and I was interested in the link to the paper for housing info but, I must be doing something wrong cause when I try to view the classifieds it just keeps bringing me back to the search screen. Wonder if I have to buy an online subscription just to view the classifieds.

As for work - that might be a tough question I spent 8 years at IBM doing IT Support work (upgrade machines, repair machines, connect them to the network, troubleshoot printer problems, etc.) and I did love that work. Got laid off about 4 years ago, then was hired by Mayo Clinic to do administrative work with the "promise" that it would turn into 60% Technical support down the road. Well, 2 years later it was 0% technical support and 100% secretarial. But, nonetheless it was a good paying job, allbeeit boring as watching paint dry. However, 1 year ago I had to make a tough decision. I had been through the "Big D" and don't mean Dallas and my elementary school age daughter needed me to be home for her after school. I asked Mayo to reduce my hours by 45 minutes so I could be home when my daughter got off the bus and it was "out of the question", in fact they wanted me to switch to LATER hours. I tried to transfer to a part time job but they were limited and being filled by long-term employees. So, I made my choice to be Mom first and employee second, I gave them 4 weeks notice. So, for a year now I have been supporting my daughter and I with odd jobs and self employment.

I have over 25 years of work experience under my belt and most of it has been in corporate America, office type jobs. I would LOVE to find work in a Christian organization or doing some kind of mission work or service work that could use my job skills.
WOW..... bet you're sorry you asked now !
Thanks again.

[tpabes]

I bet your right, I went and tried the classfieds and got the same thing. Another good source for jobs is the workforce development, the zip code for Sidney is 69160 (you'll need it for your search)
Nebraska JobLink
Here is a link to Cabela's career page, which is a big employer in Sidney and could be a place to do IT support work:
Cabela's -- About Us -- Career Center
Here is a list of real estate offices:
Sidney Real Estate Offices

I don't know of any Christian organizations in Sidney (doesn't mean there isn't one), but I wouldn't be suprised if a church could use someone with your experience.

Also if you are still interested in the Scottsbluff/Gering area here is their newspaper:

Star-Herald - Star Herald - Front Page (no problem accesing classfieds)
The zip code for Scottsbluff is 69361, for workforce development.