Summer 2008

I'll write more later, but I have to say, summer up here is beautiful. It is a very different kind of heat than we were used to in Florida, it doesn't 'get in the way'. A friend described the heat in Florida as being similar to 'living inside someone's mouth', kinda yucky reference, but true. I have to admit the pools up here have so far been way too cold for me, as are the lakes that we swim in (no ocean swimming for us nowadays, not that we went to the beach all that much in Florida). Rambling. More later.

Spring

So, it is May 19. I don't blog very much. Lots going on here, though. Alissa is playing soccer now. Her team is undefeated...three games, three wins. She seems to enjoy soccer; she is about the only kid who hasn't played before, so she is learning.

I actually got a little sunburn while Eric and I watched Alissa's game on Saturday. It was still pretty cool out (probably no higher than 65), but the sun was shining sooo bright and the skies looked like they were clear for miles. Anyway, just gorgeous. What a direct contrast from the South Florida heat we were used to. Heard the temp in S FL was 93 the other day. I really don't miss that.

Sophia is done with her Irish Step Dance class for now, I am sure she'll want to do that again next year. Second grade is going well for her and she and Alissa both have made a lot of friends and have gone to lots of birthday parties. Sophia seemed to like the snow and cold more than Alissa. Alissa told me she liked the snow, but would like it to not be so cold. She also has told me that the 'kids up here are happier, nicer, than in Florida'. I thought that was an interesting statement from a 6th grader.

I work nights now and it's interesting. I may never go back to working a 'normal' 9-5 schedule again. This wacky schedule allows for having stretches of time off and for me to be there for plays, games, etc. It also demands that I sleep during the day quite often, which Eric has pointed out may be part of the reason I like it so much. Maybe I feel like I am getting away with something. Ha.

I am still learning lots with my nursing career, too. I am still working in Oncology, which is the fancy word for cancer. Sad, but I have met some of the coolest people that I otherwise probably wouldn't have met. I can't mention names, but I am thinking right now of a particular lady who passed away recently that I'd really gotten very attached to. I told her while she was dying that if I lived to be a hundred years old I'd never forget her. At that point in her dying process, she was hardly ever opening her eyes. She never lost her dignity, the woman I am writing about. Even in her very last days and hours, she seemed to be trying to smile when people came in and talked to her.

I won't continue on about my work experiences; they are really moving experiences at times, but I know they're so sad and even can freak people out when I talk about them. All right, had a good cry just now. Sheesh. Blog later (probably in several months again!!).

Springtime!

High of about 60 today...
Oh my-today was a gorgeous day...high of about sixty and it was clear, beautiful, blue, and with very sunny skies. It seemed like everyone was out. The Big Dip, the ice cream place on the corner, is now open and had lots of people waiting in line to get their awesome treats. People were out washing cars, walking dogs, mowing lawns (there really isn't grass to mow yet, but it was so freakin' awesome out I don’t blame the guy I saw doing that), riding motorcycles, grillin out, and just lookin' happy overall. The seasons are just so beautiful to see up here. It's about 45 out now, at almost midnite...perfect sleeping weather. Gnite!!!

Alissa will be 12 on Sunday!

Gawd, my first baby will be 12 on Sunday. We're having a little party for her here at the house. She is pretty excited, I think. I guess I'll get her a day of shopping with Mommy. It'll be fun...she and I like to go up and down the aisles of stores and in the different departments of department stores looking at stuff and imagining how this and that would look, just kind of mosey around stores.

On a sadder note, we had our first pet death this past week...Our hamster Pumpkin passed away...she lived a long life for a hamster-we had her for over a year and a half. Sigh.

We're due to have another winter storm....today it was warm, though-in the 50's. Lots of melting piles of snow! Well, not much else to tell...I am working nights now and adjusting. It is one AM now and I am trying to stay up a bit late on a day off so I will rest more during the day tomorrow. I work 7P-7A tomorrow...

Checking in...

Okay, so now I am just awful about updating my blogs. Life is busy nowadays, but I have to say overall things are really going well. We have had about 83 or so inches of snow here so far, and much of that was in December. We've had an unusually mild January and February as far as snow goes, according to the records. Anyway, Eric, the kids and I drove out today with the two puppies...Loki and Thor, who are now each about ten months old. We drove around Oneida Lake and stopped at a couple of parks so we could check out the iced-over lake. Oneida Lake was covered with about a foot of ice, according to one of the fisherman on that lake. Today's high was about 36, and it was clear and sunny out...just gorgeous, really. We're all adjusting well to the snow and cold. Syracuse, as I have said before, is pretty organized about clearing the roads when we get a good snow. I felt like I had so much more to say when I sat down to write this blog, but that is about it for now. I swear I will get better about writing more blogs...

Bye, 2007

Current mood: calm


Bye, 2007-you'll be over in just a few short hours. It's been a good year overall for my family. We FINALLY moved to the Syracuse area after selling our condo in South Florida. I say finally because it took a while for us to be in a position, financially & otherwise, to make this big move. Selling the condo wasn't easy until we lowered the price a bit more than we had anticipated. I hear now the condos in that area we lived in are selling for even less than what we sold at (like 20G-ouch!). We talked & researched for quite some time about where we'd move and the kids were fine with the big move.

We visited Disney in April of this past year because we knew it'd be a good long while before we could do that again. We visited Epcot one day and the Magic Kingdom for two days. I remember Eric saying, "Visit Disney...the hottest place on earth..." quite a few times during that trip. I really don't miss the heat we experienced in Florida. The heat here isn't, on most hot days, like the heat in Florida. Florida heat is a special kind of humid, humid heat. Anyway...

So in July we packed up our two kids, our belongings, our three cats, a hamster, and a dog and made a three day drive to Syracuse. I think about it now, and it is amusing, really. Cats really don't like to be 'whisked off' to places. We captured them from the condo into little crates, moved them next door to a friend's condo for a month where we lived until the closing date of our house in NY was close. Then we captured the cats again and drove to Hinesville, GA and stayed the night with Eric's parents. I think besides the moving of all the furniture and boxes (Eric and I feared our backs were gonna give out), the cats were the most difficult to move. A lot of hissing and tiptoeing around sneaking up behind the cats went on.

Then we drove from Hinesville, GA to Richmond, VA to a pet-friendly hotel. It really wasn't in the nicest section of town in Richmond VA-we were nervous that our stuff was going to get broken into. Again, it is amusing now. In between driving from Richmond to Syracuse, I got a call from our real estate attorney saying there was some kind of delay with closing!! This is still not amusing to me. Anyway, we arrived here-oh, after I dropped the three cats of with my sister Jessica in Whitney Point, who was kind enough to keep the three cats so we could close on our house in peace. Only one day delay with closing, and we arrived at the attorney's office with two kids, a dog, and a hamster. That will always amuse me. Anyway, we left the hamster in the car, the kids and the dog sat in a room by themselves for a little while, and Eric and I signed a mountain of papers, got the keys, & got home.

So here we are. The kids like their schools, are making friends, and they really love the snow. They're begging to go sledding today, but even though it snowed last night it is a bit too slushy out. Soon, soon, we will go sledding-they each got a nice little sled for Christmas. We had friends over the other night for dinner, which was really nice, I'm feeling more settled at work, and Eric has steady work at home he was able to move with him. We went to Whitney Point yesterday and saw my sis and her kids, including new baby Allen, born Dec 18. We're doing fine. I'm looking forward to putting down more roots here in 2008 and seeing more of beautiful upstate New York...

Lots more snow....

Current mood: content


Eric, our two girls and I just got back a while ago from a long-ish walk in the snow...it is something like 26 degrees out, & we were all bundled up. I got into our Christmas stash and let the girls have their snowsuits my Grandmother sent them as an early Christmas present. We had a good time.

Walking in that much snow reminded me of how it felt on my legs to walk on a beach, as I'd done a zillion times while living in Florida. The girls made snow angels and slid down a snowbank or two left behind by snowplows. We walked to a park and the girls went down the slide a whole bunch of times while Eric and I watched from the swings we were sitting on. We took quite a few pictures of all of this. The sight of the girls on the slide was pretty funny; their snowsuits made for a slicker surface on the slide and they would come down the slide at a much faster speed than usual, flying out onto the snow at the end. Sophia somehow was flying out of the slide faster than Alissa, which amused all of us.

It's good to be off of work today-the snow is really coming down now. I just made a batch of biscuits that we'll eat with our stew in just a bit. It's cozy inside the house & I've been making good use of the warm slippers I bought just before we moved here. It feels good that I managed to get a little exercise. We're going in the hot tub in just a little while...because we can. Anyway, just wanted to write; I like to look back on what I was doing on such and such a day from time to time. Good times, good times...