IT'S HOT HERE TODAY!!

AAack! It's hot here! Omigod, what am I gonna do? Kiddin. It is going to be a low of 59, so soon it will cool off this evening. It is almost six now, high of 86 today-we didn't turn our air on out of sheer stubbornness, the girls must think we've lost our minds. We're turning into big ole cheapskates now. Ha. It didn't really start to feel hot to me until about two. It is definitely different here than what we were used to in Florida. Don't worry, we talked about it, and we won't let ourselves sweat to death, we are going to turn the air on as soon as we wake up tomorrow, since the next few days the heat wave is expected to continue. Thursday the high is like 95!

Tonight we're grilling out. Hoffman's hot dogs are big around here, we have some of those, along with some other sides. Heid's, a famous hot dog joint around here, serves that kind of hot dog. Heid's is great...and they have the very best, super-duper crunchiest onion rings I've ever tasted. I'm absolutely serious! Ever!

Eric mowed the lawn and it looks really nice. I will go and get my pictures from Rite-Aid tomorrow and hopefully will have some good ones to scan and post. I bought the greatest little clear glass cheese plate today from St. Vincent De Paul's Mission thrift store. I have to confess I've bought quite a few little things there, rather than having to pay full price for lots and lots of things we need. I also found a little stained glass hanging to put in one of my windows, and a bowl to put water outside the screen door for Pepper, our dog, to have a drink now and then while she is hanging out in the back yard.

Okay, bye for now. Time to go and spend time with the family.

Rambling On

Ok, it's late in the afternoon on Monday, and now we're relaxing. The kids have been playing in the backyard for hours now. It's good for them. Our boxes are still not all unpacked, but we'll get to them. I put more pictures up on the walls and Eric set up a composter in the back yard today. Yard waste is absolutely banned from the garbage! This is good, it's better for the environment, but we had to adjust. As I've mentioned before, people around here take recycling much more seriously than what we were used to. I brought a big bag of aluminum cans to Wegman's and got five cents each for them. We had breakfast at Denny's this morning, the four of us. It was nice to sit together, talk about things, etc. We've been much better about doing that at dinner time, too. In our condo, we'd gotten rid of the dinner table due to space issues, so we're liking having a dinner table again. The party in Whitney Point yesterday went well. The girls really enjoyed being around other kids, I think, and are looking forward also to starting school and really beginning to meet more people and making more friends. I heard Sophie whisper to Alissa in the backseat on the way home from Jessica's, "Hey Alissa, did you make any new friends?" We met our neighbors who live in back of us, seem like a really nice family-two kids, one boy around Alissa's age and a girl, an almost-grown-up teenager. I'm trying to savor my last few days of being "off of work"-I start work August 20th. Anyway, bye for now.

Whitney Point, NY

Today we're driving down to Whitney Point, NY to Jessica's (my stepsis) for a birthday pool party for two of her children. The drive is something we're not used to yet-it's got lots of mountains, it is really quite beautiful. At one point, close to Jessica's house, we feel like we are going straight up, then straight down a mountain. We felt the same way when we were driving to Sterling, NY for the Renaissance Fair, which was awesome, by the way. I'll have to take pictures one of these days. We did get a cell phone picture of the girls riding a camel (yes! a camel!) at the Ren-Fest. Our digital camera has been not working, or out of batteries, or lost, or something. There's been a little more disorganization than usual since the move. I've got another throw-away camera for today. I've got two throw away cameras being developed at Rite-Aid. I cannot put pictures of the inside of my house up yet, partly because of the camera situation, and partly because the place doesn't really have that "put together" look. Yeesh. Oh, today we put up a hummingbird feeder! The other day when the usual flock of birds was eating away at the seed we put out in a feeder, a lone hummingbird hovered, discovered no nectar, then left. One of the types of birds that visits our feeder is a cardinal-lovely, lovely bird. There are many other kinds...we have yet to figure out what they are. Ok, must go now and finish getting ready for the b-day party.

Snowthrower in July!

Got the snowthrower-5.5 HP, brand new, but in winter we will be happy we did this, I am sure. Ended up ordering it online with Ace hardware instead of buying the used one Eric set out this AM to look at. The thing was rusty, and had an asking price of over 200.00. We opted for the comfort of a warranty; there are a few things one shouldn't be cheap about, and around here, a snowblower is one of 'em. Today I went shopping with my kids in tow again. Got more stuff at K-Mart for the house, a couple of pictures, scatter rugs for the girls rooms, and at this moment I cannot remember what else. We went to lunch at New Ling Ling Chinese Buffet, which is close to our house, and very delish-and kinda cheap at 17.01 for the three of us including our drinks. Then we stopped at a consignment shop right here in town and cleaned up! Awesome sweaters, full length, for Alissa, along with some light jackets and several cute tee-shirts, including ones by Aeropostale, Guess, and Hollister! I didn't buy them, but I found a couple of Coach bags (one large white, one small brown)! Wow! The shop owner was really nice, and had very positive things to say about living in Syracuse. She is another person who states she has lived here her whole life and wouldn't live anywhere else. It was nice to hear. Oh, our air conditioner is still on today, it has been for two days now, so it definitely does get hot here. Well, off to take care of dinner stuff, do some cleaning, etc, you know the drill for those Moms out there.

Snowblower

Eric just left to go and look at a used snowblower. We've read and been told this is very necessary for up here. I'll blog later, gotta have my coffee now. I was up pretty late watching on-demand videos on the TV...

PJ's & Rainy Days

Today I stayed in my pj's way too long. I got dressed and went out to get a haircut just on principle. On what principle, I am not sure, but I ended up just a few streets down from my house, at house converted to a salon, called Mercedes Salon and Day Spa. A charming old house, probably built anywhere from 1900 to 1940...$23 for a wet cut, not bad, and a young woman named Amber cut my hair. I know she's a good one, she has my niece's name. Hi Amber, if your Mom is having you read my blog!! Love you! Anyway, Amber my hairdresser was interested in why on earth we'd move from Florida to upstate, NY. She's an upstate NY native, and as I meet more people here, I am finding many people have lived in this area their whole lives. I listed a few things, but the one thing that was really memorable and shocking to Amber was the fact that I could not deliver cupcakes to my daughter at her school in Pompano Beach, since the school was on lock-down that day due to a shooting down the street from the school. I also stated how much quieter the area is than what I am used to. After the hair, it was on to Wegman's, which I swear is just a little nicer than Publix. All the while it was raining, thus my title of this blog, but a soft rain, so not too bad. Not much happened at Wegman's, but I am enjoying the differences between here and Florida, that's all. I like that there generally aren't long lines anywhere here, people tend to be friendlier than I am used to, and I always get ID'd buying beer at Wegman's. Ha. Maybe that is why I really like Wegman's. Hmmm.

Success at the DMV and the Mall!!

Now both our cars are registered in NY!! My poor kids had to sit with me at the DMV and be bored silly, but it's done. Just have to get both cars inspected now at a local shop within ten days and that ordeal will be done for a year. We then went to the Carousel Mall (see the scanned postcard to the right) and had a nice lunch at Johnny Rockets. I asked our waitress, and yes, this is the same Johnny Rockets that Leo Dicaprio had a meal at not long ago-it was in the papers here, quite a bit deal. He was apparently really quiet, low-key, only recognized by one staff member at Johnny Rockets. Oh, and speaking of famous people, Richard Gere went to North Syracuse high school, I've been told. Homer Gere, Rich's Dad, still lives here and delivers meals-on-wheels, too! Maybe I'll get to meet him sometime. Anyway, the girls and I shopped away. I was surprised when Alissa didn't go for it when I offered to buy her a Hollister t-shirt. I think she didn't think it was a good value, or didn't care about the label or what. She ended up with three shirts from Old Navy for the same price of that Hollister shirt. Maybe she was as annoyed with the terribly loud music in that Hollister store, too. All right, the A/C vent, which is on the floor, is turning my feet to ice. Gotta go for now.