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.