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.