Hanukkah photos

A couple of photos from our Hanukkah celebrations. Alana did the puppet show because Caleb had done the same show the night before (she still copies virtually everything he does!)

Baking Day

I bought this "Play Doh" cookie dough as part of a fundraiser at Caleb's school It's the best $15 I could have spent - the kids had a blast making cookies (I had fun too!) Here's a couple of photos of them, and a close-up of the final product (the ones that didn't get eaten up!) I also included an adorable picture of them enjoying some treats that Grandma Jeannie sent for my birthday last week.

Alana update

November 15, 2006

Alana went to the pediatrician today for her annual exam (a month late, due to delay in transferring medical records from Philadelphia). She weighs 30 pounds (50th percentile) and is exactly 3 feet tall (25th percentile). She checks out perfectly. She didn't need any immunizations, but got a flu shot - she didn't cry, but got the most outraged expression on her little face, and, as we were leaving, told the receptionist that she got a "yucky shot."

Attached are some recent photos: her in her swimming class at the YMCA, Roxy walking at the local park (she and I go walking there almost every day), and a photo from my birthday (ready to eat the gluten-free cake that I baked).

Halloween in Liverpool

October 31, 2006

Well, it's only 7:30, but things are definitely winding down here. We only had maybe 40 trick- or-treaters during about an hour and a half - it seemed slow to me, compared to Bowman St. The kids went out with Larry (who, bless him, got home early from work). They hit about 4 blocks and came home with a pretty good supply of sugar. A minister lives across the street and has a tent set up in his front yard offering respite for adults - a place to sit, hotdogs, a movie playing for the kids - nice. Attached are some photos of the kids in their costumes (with our neighbor Phillip) and with the pumpkins they help carve over the weekend and at Alana's party at school (Phillip is in that photo too). Hope your holiday was nice.

New haircuts

October 26, 2006

Both kids got haircuts today (Caleb got a trim and Alana went quite a bit shorter); then this evening they were rocking out in the living room with Larry to Cheap Trick's Surrender, plus some Prince and Boomtown Rats.

Welcome to Suburbia

September 25, 2006

I can't believe this - a neighbor, who I've never met or spoken to, just asked me not to walk on her lawn because it makes her dog go "crazy." I only walked up on her grass because the mail truck was coming, and there's no sidewalks in this sub-division. But more to the point, her dog always goes crazy when I walk by with Roxy, whether or not I walk up on her grass. I guess I could avoid her house altogether, and walk around the block in the other direction, but that seems a bit extreme. I have to say, that's the nastiest reception I've gotten here - mostly people have been fairly friendly (although what they say about us behind our backs is another story I'm sure).

Addendum

August 29, 2006

We enjoyed the State Fair, but it seems Caleb picked up a wicked case of food poisoning (as traditional as the 4-H exhibits - I still have clear memories of my own county fair food poisoning back in the day). He started barfing around 9 a.m. and kept it up pretty steadily until around 3 pm. Then he took a nap and seems fairly recovered now (around 5 p.m.) I felt so bad for him - he said, several times, "I don't like this day at all." It was awful to watch, but he's bouncing back quickly, now that the worst is over.

Interesting: we ate all the same foods . . . Larry says the hotdog we shared is the likely culprit - my system could have handled the bacteria that would have made Caleb so sick.

Settling in

August 29, 2006

I found my favorite salad dressing and my favorite salsa (after frustrating searches), but could not find my favorite kind of wine (Chenin Blanc) even after visiting four local wine and spirit shoppes. I as ready to despair until I discovered Liquor City (I'm not kidding, that's really the name). It's a large discount liquor store (small warehouse, really) near where Larry works (everything is near where Larry works). Among other things, they have the largest selection of wine I've ever seen. And they had at least three kinds of Chenin Blanc (it's arranged by country and region, not by types of wine).

I'm also happy because Larry ran a cable up from the basement so I can watch cable on my TV in the kitchen. I know that's pathetic, but I spend so much time in the kitchen, I've always had a TV there. In Philly I was perfectly happy to watch the networks, which came in fine with "rabbit ears," but here I could literally only get one channel (not even PBS!) So now I'm wired for 80 channels, just in time for the (inevitably disappointing) fall TV season .. . . (I think Larry was pretty proud of his Tool Time act too).

Other than those highlights, it's just the same old same old - being a domestic goddess and job searching in my spare time.

Hope all is well with you.

Ramblings

August 28, 2006

Dear family and friends,

I feel like I'm terribly overdue for an update and especially, I feel like I'm behind on photos. I'm sending a bunch with this email - probably too many. If you have trouble seeing all the photos, let me know, and I'll resend them in smaller batches.

I feel like the summer has flown by. Caleb finished YMCA camp last week. He had a blast. He starts school (first grade!) on Wednesday, September 6th. Alana starts daycare at the YMCA on September 5th.

Today we went to the much-vaunted NY State Fair, which is held just east of Syracuse. I took the kids on the shuttle bus from one of the strip malls near our house. We spent several hours at the fair and only scratched the surface of all there is to do, but we saw cows and horses and chickens, and we saw a small shark show, and watched a guy carve wood with a chain saw. Maybe the highlight was right after we arrived - we watched a terrific street perfomer who picked Caleb as his assistant - Caleb rode on his shoulders while he rode a unicycle! Seriously!The kids have had tons of fun in August, with friends and family (Larry's parents and son, Matthew) visiting. I didn't get photos of many of the things we did, but we took a lot of pictures at an amusement park in Rochester called Sea Breeze. That was great fun - we played in the water park section for a couple of hours, then ate lunch and went over to the rides side. I got adorable photos of Alana riding the kiddie rides, plus a few of Matt and Caleb doing older kid stuff. The park offers an observer ticket, which costs about a third what a participant ticket cost - since I got the obsever ticket I was in a good position to take pictures!

We're all enjoying our house and yard. Alana loves the little wading pool stationed out in the yard and frequently can be found in her "birthday suit" splashing around in it (like many kids her age, she shucks her clothes frequently while we're home). The picture of her in the bath tub is her "taking a picture" (with her cup) of her favorite bath toys - Dora, Boots and Diego.Lately, Caleb is obsessed with card games. We've played a lot of War, and his latest favorite is a simplified version of Rummy called Scat or 31. He's very good at these games, though he isn't always a good sport about losing. He's recently discovered Pokemon cards (which involve trading and "battlling" with a complicated point system). Unfortunately, he missed the sign-up deadline for local soccer, so he'll have to wait for next year to participate.

I'm sure there's more news, but it's late and I want to get this sent. Hope all is well with you and you're having a good summer.

Best, Danielle

Grandparents visit

August 26, 2006

Well, I made it through another week. Larry's parents arrived Wednesday evening. They're leaving tomorrow (Monday) and dropping Matt at his house on their way home. It's always nice to have company, but it's a lot of extra work - more laundry, more shopping, more cooking and cleaning up.

Larry was off Friday and we all went up to the Thousand Islands area, right across from Cananda, and took the boat shuttle over to Boldt Castle (on one of the islands). It was a nice trip - the kids enjoyed it and so did the adults, and the weather was perfect. It rained all day Saturday, but today (Sunday) we went into downtown Syracuse (Clinton Square) to the Latin America festival (Syracuse is called the city of festivals - there's one almost every weekend). We heard some good music and ate some very authentic Spanish food and bought beaded bracelets. We left just as the rain was moving in. It was a very nice outing.

I still haven't heard from the University re that research job, except to hear that they're still deciding. I wish it was over, one way or the other. Last week I sent in my resume to another job, at the medical university, but haven't heard anything at all from that one yet. The best news, or at least the development that I'm most optimistic about, is that I met a woman who works in the personnel office at the University. She was very friendly and gave me her card and offered to bring me in to meet with a recruiter. I don't know that anything will come of it, but it's always nice to connect with someone who's actually in a position to help! I'm calling her first thing Monday and setting up an appointment.

Caleb just has one more week of camp left, and starts school Sept 6; Alana will start daycare that same day. I thought about delaying her start, since I haven't got a job yet, but I think it will be better for her to start with the other kids and get settled and into the routine. She watches way too much TV (though it's mostly PBS shows) and she's gotten way too used to having her own way. Her daycare will only cost a little more than Caleb's summer camp, so it shouldn't be too much of a strain money-wise. I feel discouraged when I think about the financial situation - I hate not earning my own money. But I just keep thinking - "it's temporary . . ."I keep busy and keep looking for a job and the time goes by . . . before you know it, it'll be winter and we'll just be trying to stay sane until spring (just kidding, sort of).

Enough for now. More soon - hopefully good news!

She barks, she chews, she mooches, she smiles

August 20, 2006

.. . . and she thinks she's a lap dog - the second you sit on the couch, she's on your lap, all 34 pounds of her.

We've found that Roxy does in fact bark, an odd sort of muffled bark. She doesn't bark at the dogs in the next yard (though they certainly don't return the favor) and she doesn't bark when someone knocks on the front door. She does, however, occasionally bark at absolutely nothing.

We've also found that she chews up toys - Alana's baby doll was the first victim. We're considering what to do about this - so far, she's only chewed up stuff when she's alone in the house. We're experimenting with blocking the doorway, so she's confined to the livingroom.

She's a big moocher and always hoping for a treat. And she has a weird "smile" where she lifts one side of her mouth when you talk to her.

The cats are still annoyed, but what's surprising is that Rudy, the biggest 'fraidy cat in the world, is standing his ground with Roxy, while that macho cat, Casey, spent days cowering upstairs (I don't think he came downstairs for three or four days). I thought it would be quite the opposite.

She's quite a character. So far, except for the toy destuction, she's turned out to be a great family dog.

More ramblings

A bit more on Roxy. She's a pitbull *mix*, to be precise. She's about a year old, so she's full-grown. She's a bit timid, but doesn't seem especially cowed or nervous or anything like that. I'm including another photo of her (with her True Love, Matt, of course), which is better of both of them.

Now a bit on me - I've been composing this for over a week, so it got rather long . . .

The big news is I finally got a call from the University and my interview is next week. I've been finding new places to search for work, though I still haven't turned up much other than this University job. I don't want to depend too much on getting it, but it would be a relief if I did get it . . .. we'll see what comes of the interview.

I'm hanging in there - too much to do and the days zoom by. I keep adding items to my To Do List but I don't seem to check too much off. It's a frustrating feeling, but I try to ignore it. I'm trying to enjoy the freedom of being jobless and having more time at my disposal, but I feel a lot of pressure to get stuff done (the American illness!), and there is still a lot to do (kids' records to pediatrician, finish putting together organizers we got for the closets, organize desk!, etc)

We had central air conditioning put in this week. They used the existing duct system (that was added after the house was built, for the gas heat), so it wasn't as expensive as starting from scratch. The heat was bothering me, but Larry really can't take it - he was even having trouble sleeping at night. We spent less on the fence than we expected, so we justified the A/C expense that way. And hopefully it improves the resale value (assuming Larry can ever convince me to undertake the moving process again!)

It's been great fun hanging out with Alana. She's at such an adorable age. And you miss that exclusive time with a second child - it's such a blessing to have some of it now. Being home together made it much easier to work on potty training and she's basically done - only one accident in the last week. She's still chasing after Caleb and copying almost everything he does. She loves to paint and still loves Dora the Explorer and pushes her baby doll around in the stroller. She loves swimming - she's played in our little plastic pool at home and last week we went up to the "beach" (lake) one day and we were in the water for over an hour and a half together. She's obsessed with pink and must have pink ice cream whenever we go to the ice cream parlor. She loves cheese and has "cheese bread" (an open-face, melted cheese sandwich) every morning for breakfast.

Caleb is doing really well at summer camp, having a blast. He's obsessed with a ball game called four square and we've been playing it at home as well. He's slimmed down a bit - he put on a little bulk while we were moving - watching so much TV and eating in restaurants for every meal. His hair is gorgeous - sun streaked like a little surfer boy. I suppose we'll have to get it cut before school starts, which will be a shame.

Larry was away for two days in Boston recently, but after being away two weeks at a time last fall, two days seemed like nothing. He's busy getting the Syracuse Texas Roadhouse open - they've interviewed about 800 people already, with plans to hire about 200. Matt (his older son, who lives in NJ) was with us for a few days and is now in Albany with a friend for a few days; he'll be back next weekend. Burt and Bobbie are coming up later in the month and will take Matt home (to his house) when they return home.

I got Caleb signed up for school (first grade!) and Alana will start daycare the same day (Sept 6). Everyone raves about the school Caleb will go to (Allen Rd Elementary) - depending on who you talk to, it's the best school in the district (North Syracuse), in the county (Onondaga), or in the state .. . . I hope they're right!

I finally started going to the gym at the YMCA. A very nice (young!) man helped me get started on my first visit (gads, they make me feel old). I just do a cardio workout while Alana plays in the playroom. She wasn't too keen at first, but is fine now, after being there a few times. They do fun crafts like making necklaces out of Froot Loops, and they have nice toys (doll houses and books and such).

I talked with the (only) Reform synagogue in the area; they have a prospective member Bar B Q in August (the Friday night that Larry's parents will be visiting). The program director there connected me with a neighbor who attends the synagogue. She's great fun, but just told me they'll be moving next year. Boo hiss. But that gives me time to make some other friends.

I've made good progress on unpacking, but there's more boxes to unpack and more home repair projects to do (and more repairs to get done - we're having the driveway repaved next week). I'd gotten really burned out on unpacking last week, but am still trying to do a box or two each day. Two months of doing nothing but packing and unpacking have taken a toll - I think I need a spa day or something to recharge. =)

Mostly I'm just plugging away at the To Do list, running endless errands, and trying to make the most of the newly bearable weather.Thought I'd include these two photos of the kids hiding in the closet, just because they're so cute (Alana's is almost, but not quite, X-rated).

Thanks for staying tuned.

Meet Roxy

August 4, 2006

We finally took the plunge and adopted a really sweet dog from the SPCA. This photo shows her out on the deck with Matt (who's visiting right now). Against my gut instincts, we adopted a pitbull. She was rescued from an abuse situation and had been adopted by another family, but in her new family, one of the children was terribly allergic to her and they very reluctantly returned her to the SPCA. The SPCA said she is extremely mellow and gentle, and we have certainly found that to be true - she hasn't barked once since we got her home and although our cats have both given her a piece of their minds, she ignored them. I'm especially relieved that she hasn't chased them or even shown much interest in them. She's great with the kids and they're already very fond of her. And Larry is quite smitten also. Roxy on the other hand, seems partial to Matt, but unfortunately for them, she's staying here with us when he heads home later this month.

Another great weekend

The weather was perfect. On Saturday, I took the kids to another of the local recreation areas, this one is called Green Lakes and it's a little south and east of us (but still only about half an hour away). The water is indeed a bit green looking. We stayed for over 3 hours, and then we only left because a thunder storm was coming and the life guards made us get out (I was relieved because I was getting tired and the kids were not!) Caleb has always loved swimming and Alana has become a little fish as well - she was laying down in the water and splashing around (it starts out very shallow and gets deep very gradually). I'm including a couple of pictures (I actually remembered the camera this time!) Then on Sunday, I took Caleb back to Oneida Shores (which is less than 20 minutes from our house). Larry stayed home with Alana, who was supposed to take a nap, but guess who was the only one who fell asleep?! Caleb and I agreed that we like Oneida Shores better than Green Lakes - it's closer and the water is warmer (and it's cheaper, though Caleb doesn't really appreciate the advantage of that). Caleb suggested we take Matthew there when he comes to visit (Larry is picking Matt up on Tuesday). It was great to hang out with Caleb and be able to focus on just him, and I feel like he really needed that. Plus it's a little nerve-racking to try to watch two kids (at such different ages) when they're both playing in the water.




Tonight we went to a Skychiefs game - that's the local minor league baseball team. It was a gorgeous night - not hot and not raining. We got free tickets from someone Larry knows, so we went ahead and gorged ourselves on over-priced junk food (hotdogs, french fries, nachos, cotton candy) and of course peanuts - Larry says it's not a baseball game without them.

Dog update

July 19, 2006

Several people have asked what's going on with our dog adoption. Here's the latest: we finally got approved (!) at the SPCA and all four of us went there last week to "visit" a dog - after the visit we found out that the dog we had picked (I call her Blackie, though no one else likes that name) was already being considered by someone else and we would have to wait and see what they did (the staff weren't supposed to let us visit Blackie b/c of her "hold" status, but they just overlooked the paperwork in her file). In the meantime we answered a local ad for a dog "free to a good home" b/c the owner is moving to NYC and can't take the dog with him. Meeko is a shepard mix. We're in the process of arranging to meet her (and her owner). Then, the SPCA calls and says that "our" dog was NOT adopted and is available. Yikes! We told the SPCA to take the hold off that dog (so that someone else can adopt her if they want) while we sort things out with Meeko. So it's sort of raining dogs right now. Everything is still up in the air, so we'll let you know how it all turns out.

Back to the beach

Yesterday (Sunday) we went to the "beach" at Oneida Lake, about 20 minutes away. They call it a beach, though of course it seems odd to me, since there's no ocean. But there's sand, maybe that's the key ingredient for a beach. It's hot here, but not as hot as Philadelphia, and not quite as humid. Everyone says we wouldn't need central air conditioning here, but I can't really see surviving all summer without it. It gets pretty stuffy in the house, even with the ceiling fans. Thankfully it cools off at night, so sleeping hasn't been a problem (though last night was definitely the worst it's been). Anyway, the kids had a blast at the lake. Alana was a tiny bit nervous at first, but quickly got comfortable in the water and she played along the shore, throwing sand in the water and so on. Eventually she even ventured into the water alone, so I had to watch her carefully. Caleb made quick friends with some other kids who were looking for fish (there's lots of tiny minnows, though it's hard to see them in the murky water). We stayed for a couple of hours and plan to go back next weekend if the weather cooperates. There was a pretty good crowd, but it wasn't crowded (at least not by Jersey shore standards!), just enough to give the place a nice energy.

Larry's folks were here for most of the weekend, our first out-of-town guests. We gave them a minimal tour of the area on Saturday, though it poured rain most of the day (the rain only seems to come down in torrents around here!) The kids enjoyed having their grandparents around to show off for. We found a nice place for breakfast nearby (The Market Diner) that we'll definitely be visiting again.


Below is a picture of the kids playing with Play Doh that they got from a friend (I'd include a photo from the beach but of course I left the camera on the kitchen table - I was focused on remembering the sunscreen!)

Job search

July 13, 2006

I know I mentioned that I had a nibble from the University -- I'd gotten an email saying they were starting their search, but two weeks had gone by without a word, so I called this week - they said I would hear from them by the end of the month (you forget how slowly these bureaucracies move!) I've gotten some intriguing recruitments from various online search engines - tutoring, working for an online university, reporting for an online newspaper called USA Voice. If I can't find anything full-time, I may check into some of this stuff. I'm not really much for working from home, but I could make some money until something more permanent comes along. Who knows, one of these could end up being my dream job. =)

My freaky cat

July 13, 2006

Our chubby cat, Rudy, has taken to sleeping in some odd places in our new house (his favorite place in our old house was a very normal spot - under the bed). Here's two photos of him - sleeping in the broken kitchen drawer (before it was fixed) and sleeping inside a cupboard.

Moving update

July 5, 2006


Greetings friends and family,


How was your 4th? The weather here was lousy - we had a huge rainstorm in the middle of the day. We had planned to go to the recreation area by the lake or to a local Manyunk-type place that was having a big sidewalk festival, but we ended up staying home all day b/c nothing would have been fun in the downpour.

Larry spent the whole day with the electric drill in his hand, fixing stuff - for example, the bar in the upstairs closet fell down as soon as we put clothes on it . . . there's a lot of stuff in this house that has been done poorly. He also put in ceiling hooks for my hanging plants and hung my china cabinet (with my cream pitcher collection). It was great to get a bunch of that stuff done. Tomorrow the electrician is coming to put in the ceiling fans and the fence guy is setting the posts for our fence.

I've finally got some photos uploaded, so I'm including a few: the kids in front of the house (our lawn is full of yellow flowers and purple clover - Larry is dying to cut the lawn with his new lawn mower, but I think the flowers are so pretty) and in the backyard (with Larry on the deck); Larry fixing a broken drawer, me working on the computer in the entryway (before we got our internet hooked up) and Alana pushing Caleb in the stroller in the playground parking lot.

Larry jinxed us

July 2, 2006

This morning Larry said, "What else could go wrong?" (because the couch he ordered will take another week) so of course this afternoon during a violent but relatively brief thunder storm, the power went out and stayed out for several hours. It came back on around 8 p.m., right before it got dark, thank goodness. It wasn't a complete disaster b/c we ended up hanging out on our neighbor's sun porch for much of the time and had a chance to get to know our two over-the-fence (behind us) neighbors. Nice people, one with 2 daughters (one who babysits!) and the other with a baby boy (8 months old and a bruiser). Not my soul mates or anything, but it's nice to know I could borrow a cup of sugar if I needed it.

Otherwise, things have been hectic and the unpacking is moving along slowly. We put all our errands on hold on Saturday and just worked around the house - we got some stuff done, but not as much as we hoped to, of course. Larry installed some of the closet organizers that we bought and I unpacked what seemed like a lot of of boxes, though there's still so many to go.

Caleb starts summer camp tomorrow (Monday). I'll miss him, but I'll get a lot more done without him around. He's been to the YMCA pool several times with Larry and is really comfortable in the water again. He'll do great. Of course the camp is closed on Tuesday, so he'll just go for one day and then be off a day, but that may be a nice way to transition into it.

No, we have absolutely no plans for the 4th. There's fireworks, but they start so late that I doubt we'll go.

It's very buggy around here, which was a surprise, though it shouldn't have been. I thought the cooler climate would help keep the bugs to a minimum, but I forgot that we've been living in the middle of a city all this time - bugs come with suburban living I suppose, and there's a wilderness area right behind our development - apparently the bugs don't know where their designated territory ends. Alana has quite the bug phobia, though I'm sure it's just a phase. She admits to liking ladybugs, but otherwise wants them all to give her a wide berth.

The house is really working out fine, other than a few little repair jobs that we hadn't noticed before (for example, the front screen door is coming off its hinges and the sliding glass door in the back doesn't lock), which is sending us back to Lowe's. It's lucky that one of our neighbors is handy - he'll be a good resource, both for knowledge and tools. But it's really nice to have the extra space (though we still haven't found a place for everything!), and I'm finding the layout to be great. I just have to keep reminding myself that it took a long time to pack everything up, it's going to take some time to get it all unpacked too.

I think this is probably enough rambling for tonight. Hope everyone is well and your summer is enjoyable.

Moving Day 4

June 28, 2006

Who am I kidding? I have absolutely no idea what day it is. It's all a blur. (Plus, do we count from when we left Philly, or from when our stuff actually arrived in the house???) The first couple of days we could really see progress by the end of each day, but now that things are a bit settled, it just feels like we're spinning our wheels because the progress is not so apparent. I know I did stuff today, but I can't even remember what it was and you sure can't tell. It feels like we just move stuff from one end of the room to the other. Every time I look for something specific, I can't find it - I don't think we've reached Critical Mass of Box Unpacking yet. Which is why I shouldn't be wasting time typing this message!!!

And what's with this weather? Is this "climate change" or just bad luck? Our neighbors tell us we never flood because we're at the top of a small incline - who'd have thought that would be so important so soon after moving in? I really feel bad for all the stranded travelers and folks forced to evacuate (or watch their homes fall into the water). It puts our own minor troubles very much in perspective!

Stay dry and I'll write more soon (just one more day without a proper computer!)

=)

We're in!

I’m writing this on a cool and rainy Monday morning at the local Panera Bread (which has free wireless), next door to the grocery store, which is my next stop (we don’t have cable, phone or internet until Friday). We’re (finally!) in our new house. It’s exhausting to pack up a house, but it’s just as exhausting, in a different way, to live out of boxes and try to find a place for everything.

Things may be even more chaotic than normal moving chaos, because our very fine PA movers put all the boxes in the back of the truck and all the furniture close to the door so that the furniture would go in the house first. But of course the order was reversed when the stuff was loaded into the storage unit - the furniture went into the unit first and then the boxes. The second team of movers ended up putting the boxes in the house first and the furniture last. The net result was that we had all the furniture in the middle of the rooms and boxes all around them. Yesterday we finally got the furniture basically arranged, and now we’re tackling boxes. It took me two days to find the silverware and dish drainer, which I came across about midnight last night, literally in the bottom box in the last stack of boxes – I was almost convinced it got left behind.

Saturday night Larry got stung by a bee right on the side of his nose whilehe was outside our garage (we’re pretty sure there’s a nest somewhere). It seemed fine at first but the next day it started to swell and this morning he looks like he went several rounds with Mike Tyson. He went over to the Urgent Care Clinic – they said it looks like it’s infected (apparently not uncommon) and he started a 10 day course of antibiotics. No end to the fun.

Caleb watches lots of videos, but Alana prefers to putter around; they both like to “help” move boxes and lift furniture – it’s quite endearing. Casey prowls around a lot and Rudy has picked the landing of the stairs as his favorite sleeping spot.

We’ve eaten in lots of local restaurants, most of which have been very good. There’s been no Welcome Wagon or covered dishes from neighbors – I guess that era is over. But we have met several people in the neighborhood. Next door is a family with two kids, a boy 4 (Jacob) and a girl 7 (Maddie). Many of the houses around us are older couples, but there seems to be a few younger families in the neighborhood.

Silver lining: There is a babysitter behind us and the family next door uses a nice neighborhood girl named Caitlin.

More fun (and some general rambling)

June 26, 2006

I'm sitting on our porch at 10 p.m. writing this email, because Larry discovered that we can piggyback on someone's internet connection from out here, probably a neighbor or some local wifi. Some moths are dive-bombing the light above me, but other than that, it's rather pleasant.

I forgot a tidbit in my previous email - the first evening we were in the house, we discovered that the previous owners, or the property mgt co, turned off the pilot light of the hot water heater (the water never got hot when I [tried to] wash dishes). Larry had to relight the pilot light . . . luckily the water heated up faster than we feared (within a couple of hours) - we thought we were going to have to take cold showers - fun!

Larry and I spent a small fortune at Lowe's today (they honored the 10% off coupon we'd gotten for Home Depot). Bought a lawn mover and hedge trimmer, ceiling fans for the bedrooms, some shelving brackets for the basement, new toilet seats for all three bathrooms, and a few other things. Homes are money pits - I'm here to testify.

I took the kids to the SPCA today. The process of getting a dog is so much more complicated than it used to be - they have lots of rules, and our "application" will take several days to be approved (!) We saw a darling "terrier mix" that we consider a hot prospect, but he just arrived today (a local stray) and all pets must be there for 5 days to rule out being claimed as lost. He's such a sweetie, I'd be surprised if he isn't just lost. We'll know next week.

I did get a nibble on a job I applied for at the university. It's the only response I've gotten to the three jobs I sent resumes to . . . and there hasn't been any other remotely viable listings since last month (I've checked plenty). I'm trying not to get my hopes up too high on this position (just b/c I'm desperate!) - they probably have lots of applicants. But several people who know the area have assured me that I won't have trouble finding a job. . . Gads, I hope they're right!!!

We *are* (slowly) learning our way around the area by driving to stores and restaurants. We'll be old pros soon enough and won't remember how lost we felt these last few days. . .

This is turning into a minor novel, and I'm going to be sorry if I don't hit the hay soon. Can you tell I'm just avoiding facing more boxes?!?!

Thanks for your calls and emails. They feel a bit like a shout in the dark - it's all so overwhelming here and I don't have any support system at all yet.

More soon!

The disaster continues

June 24, 2006

It's now Saturday morning and I'm again writing from the hotel because the movers' "small" job Friday morning of course turned into an all day deal and they were never able to move our stuff. It may be a blessing - we were all exhausted by Friday afternoon and it would have been a *very* long day if the moving had actually occurred. We're waiting to hear from them now and I don't see any reason why we wouldn't be in the house, with our stuff, this afternoon. It's a gorgeous day here, so that's a plus too.I'll be in touch on the other side of this - keep us in your thoughts and prayers!

Clarifications

June 22, 2006

Hi gang,Here's the deal - the previous owner was transferred by their job and some kind of property management company took over the house. So it's not that anyone is there - the family is long gone (the house was on the market since last November). The hold up is only paperwork or just cussedness ("you said you wanted to close on the 30th!") or some legal mumbo jumbo. We're pretty miffed at our mortgage company b/c it seems like they should have known what was going on (at least should have known that the mgt company wasn't expecting to close on June 21) - Larry's been on the phone with them almost daily for a couple of weeks, faxing forms and emailing stuff. But being annoyed serves no purpose - at this point we're resigned to our fate and just trying to deal with living out of our car and suitcases.

P.S. Larry is off work until June 30th. It would be nice if we could spend that time settling into the house instead of hanging out in a hotel. But at least we can start finding our way around Syracuse. Last night we went to Mike's ice cream near our house, on the recommendation of our waiter at Red Lobster.

P.S.S. So much for our perfect moving in day (which was yesterday and only yesterday) - it's supposed to rain for the next 5 days. Oh, and Alana has a raging head cold (though she seems better today than yesterday, so maybe that's on it's way out).

Complete freakin' disaster

June 21, 2006

I'm writing this on Wednesday night from our hotel, because we DIDN'T CLOSE ON THE HOUSE TODAY. As unbelievable as it may sound, the seller isn't ready - they claim they thought the closing was (still) set for June 30th (the original date). Our mortgage company is working hard to move the date up to this Friday, because that's the last day for our guaranteed interest rate. Larry spent literally hours on the phone today, and after all that, he met the moving truck at a storage facility and watched them load our entire house into a 10' X 30' storage unit. Even the moving company guy (Ralph, from Poland) felt sorry for us. We figure it'll cost an extra thousand dollars for the storage unit and a second team of movers. Hopefully that'll get reimbursed by Larry's company. Meanwhile, we're cooling our heels in a hotel, after rushing to pack up everything by the 20th (10 days earlier than originally planned). It's almost surreal. On the bright side, we're here . . . . I took the kids to the YMCA, which has a lovely playground right next to it. And we stopped by the house and picked up our mail (!) What a ridiculous situation.

Silver linings:

The drive up went very well.
The hotel is very nice and has a pool (though of course I don't have my suit).
The cats are settling in nicely to the hotel room.
The weather has been beautiful today.
We're right across from the ice machine (hey, I'll take what I can get).

Thanks for all your good wishes (Janet, your lovely card was waiting for us.)

I'll keep you updated!

March madness

We're doing pretty well. Caleb stayed home from school today, he seems to have been hit with a stomach bug that's going around. He also stayed home two weeks ago because of a bad asthma attack that started Tuesday night and continued into Wednesday morning (but in general we've had a pretty easy cold and flu season this year).

Last week I met with Caleb's teacher for his second report card conference (Larry was out of town). He continues to do very well in school. He's now reading above the level he should be at by the end of the year. His writing is average; his teacher says he tends to rush and does better when he doesn't, so we're working on that. His teacher also says he's a role model in class. We're extremely proud.

Caleb lost another tooth last week, the third in just over two weeks (and a total of five). He looks a bit like a jack-o-lantern now, and he's getting quite rich off the Tooth Fairy. Here's a favorite story of mine: After he lost his third tooth, he told me that his school friend said that his (Caleb's) mother was the Tooth Fairy and he (Caleb) wanted to know if that was true. I hemmed and hawed a bit and finally said that it was. Apparently he was just testing me, because he said, "No you're not Mommy!" I was glad he didn't believe me.

Alana had a growth spurt recently and has actually grown out of some of her pants. She had a second haircut today. She's somewhat over her obsession with Dora the Explorer, though she still likes her a lot; for good or ill, she's more likely to ask to watch the things that Caleb likes -- Spiderman and Star Wars and Scooby Doo. She still copies everything that Caleb's doing -- recently we had dinner at a restaurant where Larry knew the manager, who came over to the table to say Hi. He shook Caleb's hand and of course was a bit surprised when Alana stuck her hand out, insisting on her own handshake.

Here's a closeup shot of Alana that Larry took:



Alana coloring in the hotel room in Syracuse:



Caleb's current gap-tooth smile:



The battle that Caleb set up in the hotel room with available items:

The luggage arrived - HURRAH!!!

March 6, 2006

In plenty of time for tonight's party. Thank goodness!!!!!!

We spent the afternoon going up the nearby gondola to the *top* of the mountain, and walked up a long stairway to take us even higher. Even more amazing views, if possible, including our hotel nestled below us. Larry's napping (he was up early -- not adjusted to time change, which is Mountain Time). I may go window shopping at the many shops in the hotel, since there's no pressure to buy the things I thought I was going to *need*.

Trip update -- disaster!

March 6, 2006

Yes, you read that right. 24 hours into it and only one thing has gone right (more on that later). The first leg of our journey was a flight to Minneapolis, with a connection to Calgary. Before we boarded the plane, we were told that our plane would be making a fueling stop on the way, in Milwaukee. Needless to say, we missed our connecting flight (by about 10 minutes!). So they booked us on an additional leg, to Salt Lake City. That left late, but we actually made our connection to Calgary, with mere minutes to spare. Of course our luggage wasn't so lucky (seems like a lot of folks here are in the same boat). Thankfully, they gave us company t-shirts in our "goodie bag" when we arrived, so we have something to wear today, but the formal dinner/dance is tonight and I have nothing -- no dress, no stockings, no shoes, no jewelry, no makeup. Larry found someone who can loan me a dress (I haven't seen it yet), but I'm really hoping that our luggage arrives.

Now for the one thing that went right. We didn't ge to the hotel until almost 9 p.m. (we expected to arrive around 4 in the afternoon), and we figured dinner was long over. But to our great (pleasant) surprise, they had just gotten through the salad course, so we had a great dinner.

Our room is small, but the view is spectacular. We can see over the hotel into the valley below, a small river and the mountains behind, unbelievable. They almost look fake, they're so gorgeous. The weather is great too, not too cold (not much snow either, which was a surprise).

Overall, once we've gotten settled, we're looking forward to a great trip. Who needs fresh clothes anyway???