my journey, destination unknown
I can’t believe that we haven’t been to Eddie’s Attic since we’ve moved to Decatur! Two blocks away and yet we haven’t been…. Ever since we discovered the world of “kindie”, we’ve loved Gustafer Yellowgold. So t is a no-brainer that when Morgan and Rachel will be in our neighborhood, we will not only be…
Ever since I was a little girl was lucky enough to see “Annie” on Broadway, I wanted to be Annie. I had an Annie doll. I had the piano book for the score. I had the record, then the tape and then even the CD. I had every lyric memorized (practically still do). Alas, it…
Thursday, my age was incremented by one. Other than the fabulous birthday wishes I received on Facebook, it was a fairly ordinary day around here. Work, shuttling Chloe around, moving forward on the to-do list filled my hours. But I also set aside some time for dreaming about what I want this year to be…
January is more than half over, and I’m thrilled with my progress on this month’s Happiness Project “Do It Today”. This month, instead of my to-do list growing, it is shrinking. And getting all these things done, keeping up with the stuff coming in, simply sending out emails and making the calls instead of stressing…
We’ve been camping in sub-freezing temps before — at LEAF, in Jackson, WY. But this weekend was the first time that water froze to a solid block. Our gallon jugs froze and even the spigot at our site froze. Silly me, I had SCOFFED at the steady trickle (not drip) of the faucet at the…
This weekend, the girls and I participated in the Run with the Dogs 5K and much to my (and her) surprise, my Chloe won third prize in her age group. No training, ran in jeans, walked with me for the first half mile, but she still managed to rock! (I have no idea how *I*…
Our family joke when we see a house that is collapsing in on itself is that it isn’t a “fixer upper” but that it is a “knocker downer”. Each year, the girls and I make a different gingerbread creation, such as a gingerbread tree, gingerbread village, etc. (all from kits, I’m not that creative). And…
The girls didn’t want to do it. They didn’t want to get up early on a Saturday. They didn’t want to go out in the cold. (Cold? It was in the mid-50s at 8am!) They really didn’t want to walk 3 miles. But, I got them out the door and over to Decatur High School…
Despite having three cars at our disposal, the girls and I have gone for three days without using a car. That’s a fair carbon offset for Rob’s flights to Hong Kong last Sunday, right? Right? While I know it is silly to think that my little experiment is going to save the planet, I know…
I didn’t sleep well at all last night. Why is it that every appliance in the condo must inform us that the power has gone off and come back on? Beep Beep Beep. All. Night. Long. Add into the mix some aches and pains, and it was a rough night. I finally gave up at…
During the weeks before Christmas, I let the list of things that needed to get done weigh me down. In fact, I let these tasks weigh me down so much that I couldn’t do them. Instead of just tackling them, I let them strangle me. And then I found that I wasn’t enjoying the Christmas…
As we worked through the idea of our downsize move and talked about what it was that we hoped to gain from the move, one of the ideas that I was hoping to pursue was that of living locally. Now that we’ve settled in and we’ve started to try to “live local”, I’m questioning what…
It should no longer came as any surprise to me, but I’m once again reminded of how “unhip” I am. Everyone around me is making fun of Christmas “brag letters” saying how much they despise them as being ridiculous and how they think the letters that make fun of the sincere ones are “hysterically funny”….
Our first “Bonfire on the Square”! The weather was slightly uncooperative – 70 degrees is just not chilly enough to merit a need for added warmth. The kids didn’t mind getting in close to roast their marshmallows. Or, sometimes, set the marshmallows on fire and then swing their flaming torches. I was pleased to see…
Chloe has now been attending school for two months, and tonight she had to get up in front of a “multi-purpose” room full of parents and speak two lines. She was quite nervous about this little part, but she did just great! I’m not a huge fan of chaotic gatherings such as the one tonight;…
It has been almost a month now since we had snow on the square… I’ve fallen quite far behind here, haven’t I? A few Tuesdays ago when I went to pick up Chloe from school (school gets out at 3:45 and gymnastics starts at 3:45 — great plan), the kids filed out to the hill…
Except when it isn’t. I had finished work for the day. Camille had headed out to walk to the park to meet friends. I didn’t need to “transfer” Chloe from school to gymnastics for an hour. Blogging could wait. I was going to indulge in reading a bit and maybe even sneak in a cat…
After two months of intense, packed lists of things that needed to get done, we are settled. And all of a sudden, I am ungrounded. No longer facing huge piles of things that MUST GET DONE, I am feeling untethered, not sure what I’m supposed to be doing, flitting from one thing to another, but…
Wowza! It feels like absolutely forever, but, in reality, it was just less than two months ago that we made our first offer and a little over a month ago that we made the jump over. In that time, we found homes for most of the furniture, books, toys, tools and all the rest that…
since I seem to have two hearts. (And two neighborhood email lists to moderate now …) We are *really* enjoying life here in Decatur. Chloe likes going to school, riding the bus, hanging with her friends. Camille likes being able to walk to Little Shop, the library, the park. I like how easy it is…