Cookies!

Alissa, Sophia, and I are baking chocolate chip cookies today. It is getting quite chilly here in Syracuse. Sunday it is supposed to go down to 32 or so...maybe our first freeze of the year. It is cold and rainy out today, but warm and cozy in the house. We're all off today and plan to stay indoors...we may watch a movie or something. So far the chillier weather hasn't bothered any of us in the least. Oh, except maybe for Sophia, who had a field trip the other day to Abbott's Farm. It was cool and rainy that day, and the next day (and now) she had chapped hands. We'll get used to what we need to do to deal with all of the things that come with colder weather before long, I suppose. We're just not 'northerners' yet. Anyway, Sophia proudly presented us with a small bag of apples she had picked herself at the farm. Pretty cool!

My job is going fine, and I will be off of orientation the middle of November, which is when I start my 3pm-11:30pm schedule. I am really looking forward to that schedule, since now I wake up around five am to get to work by seven. I will also be able to park closer to the hospital, as the 'night crew' gets closer parking. Days parks in a lot that is farther away, and we get shuttled in to the hospital, which is getting a bit old.

Our puppy Thor is fitting in nicely with our family. He has had only one 'accident', he's feeling a bit ill today, since yesterday afternoon he managed to pull jalapeno popcorn out of the garbage and chow down on it while Eric was out getting one of the girls from their bus stop.

Ok, off to deal with cookies and a hot oven. I may take a picture of our cookies.

Pets

Ok, just so y'all know-the Millers will not be getting any more pets for a while...trust me when I say this. Three dogs, three cats, and a hamster will be keeping us busy for a while...

Thor

Eric and I went and got a new puppy today...about six months old, and we named him Thor. He is a German Shepherd, maybe a German Shepherd mix (we don't care what breed), and he looks like he is going to be a big dog when he is done growing. We drove out this morning past Constantia, NY (out in the country) and bought this dog for a small fee from some people living in a trailer. So far so good today, he appears to already be housebroken...I'll keep ya informed...

Apple Fest!

Lafeyette, NY Apple Festival
Current mood: happy


Ok, long time no blog again. I am on city water & sewer, to answer Melissa's question from a while ago. We live on the outskirts of Syracuse, in the 'burbs. We avoided country living so we'd have the conveniences of the city, though it sounds quite nice (and I am sure just lovely) to live in the country around here.

We're liking it so far, though the coldest weather we've experienced (and it's October already) is 39 F. I had a patient tell me the other day that he loves the snow, which is unusual-Syracusans often respond to me about why I moved here by looking at me like I'm daft. I then list off a number of good things about living here (good schools, affordable housing, affordable insurance for housing and cars, lovely parks for hiking, a zoo, museums, a symphony, plenty of restaurants, a relatively low crime rate, the place is not overcrowded like where I came from), and the person often says, "Oh yeah, I guess we sorta take these things for granted..."

I've gotten off track... Today's high was supposed to be 83, but it felt like 90 something to us while we were at the Apple Festival in Lafayette, NY, speaking of country towns. We drove to Lafayette, which took us less than 20 minutes & went to their Apple Fest.

The view of the mountains was beautiful, since fall is in full swing now-I think the girls and I will drive to Oswego tomorrow while Eric is working. Oswego is about 30 minutes north of us, and it's the place that got all the publicity last year for having so much snow. Anyway, the Apple Fest is big around here...lots of people went, and the line to park took us a while (lines to get into places around here are relatively rare, which is one thing we don't miss about crowded old S. Florida).

Once we got in to the Apple Fest, we walked around in the different tents looking at arts and crafts stuff. There was a lot of cool stuff-we ended up buying a four or so feet long stool with storage space inside for by the front door. It'll be a nice place to sit and put on or take off our boots when it gets really cold out. I found a cute little sign that says "Live well, Laugh Often, Love Much" which is already hanging above the sink in the kitchen, and a stained glass hot air balloon to hang in one of our windows. There were different farm stands, a tractor stand, and pony rides.

We ate fair food (steak sandwiches), though we opted not to wait in a line of about fifty people to get apple fritters. We all went on rides, mostly the girls, though: Ferris wheel, Tilt-a-Whirl, and Sophia's favorite, Bumper Cars. We left after almost four hours, got to the closest convenience store and got the largest sodas I could get my hands on, then made our way home.

Life is good.