Snowin' & snowin'

Ok it is Saturday evening, and it is now really snowing. And snowing, and snowing...and it should keep on through the day tomorrow, supposedly stopping sometime later in the day tomorrow. Fortunately tomorrow is Sunday and we'll all be home. Who knows if the kids will have school on Monday. I'm not complaining, don't get me wrong...just taking all of this in. I work on Monday, but I am sure the roads will be clear by the time I need to drive in. I have to say, Syracusans are organized about clearing the roads after a big snow. Oh, and they love pizza. Pizza is BIG around here. Another topic for another day.

Soooo, we're all doing pretty well with the cold, too. It is 16 degrees out now. We went out late in the afternoon to see the movie 'Enchanted' with the girls. It was a really cute movie, I have to say-one of the best kids movies I've been to. Of course Patrick Dempsey from Grey's Anatomy was the leading man in the movie, which helped keep things interesting.

As another aside about the cold, I got to wear a sweatshirt I hardly ever used when we lived in Florida. And another thing, when Alissa and I went out alone together after dropping Eric and Sophia off at home to take care of our dogs and just nestle in, I remembered a gas can in the back of the car we needed to fill up for our snowblower. What a different life my family and I are leading now. I honestly don't miss the endless eighty degree weather of S Florida.

I'm writing now since a friend asked if I'd given up on blogging. I pretty much have...I've been working lots lately, and so has Eric. But all is well. Jessica will be having her baby soon, my nephew, and I really hope I can make it in time to be there. I work Christmas Eve and Christmas Day this year, but then have four days off around the New Year. It's all good...and I gotta go now and try and get some sleep.

Eleven

It’s Eleven Degrees Outside Now...
Current mood: content


I just spent a while writing the nicest blog about how great our day was. When I looked up the word idyllic to be sure I was spelling it right, I lost the blog. Grr. Both Eric and I were off today and the kids were also home...a big rarity lately. We had a really nice day together....

We shopped for goodies for a family dinner, then snacks for afterwards while decorating our tree. I think the high today was 20, and it didn't get any higher than that! It was interesting...the white blanket over the city stayed that way, pretty much, since we got a good amount of snow last night. I don't know how many inches offhand, but enough to leave quite a lot of the white stuff lying around-quite beautiful, actually. And there were icicles hanging off of buildings, we noticed-we were pretty intrigued by this.

We listened to Christmas music while we did the decorating of the house. Idyllic. As my sis Jess would say..."I'm greatful."

Our First Snow Here!!

SNOW!!
Current mood: amused

It was snowing outside just now...just before 2PM this afternoon!!! It was really beautiful, billowy and white! It is 37 out, so it's not building up on the ground or anything...Wow!!! That is my third (and yes, I know, I will be seeing LOTS OF SNOW HERE) time seeing snow!!! I know I sound out of my mind, but it's exciting for me to see snow!!!! WOW!!

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.