Words from my Hubby

I have been sick this week.  Nothing serious, I will live.  However, my hubby told me today that he was glad that he heard me laugh today.  He said that is how he knows when I am really sick - I don't laugh, I don't give him any snappy comebacks and I don't have my normal voice.  It made me feel good to hear him say that.  I often accuse him of not paying any attention to me but then he says things like that and I know that he does. 

It is not the big things that make a relationship.  It is the little day to day events that warm your heart and make you happy. 

Winter Learnings

So, living in the frozen North for my first winter, I have learned a few things so far. 

1.  When it snows, they still expect you to show up to work.  Now what is that about??  My whole life has been in the South and when it snows you stay home!  It is a good plan, it works for everyone.  Not here.  2 inches of snow - go to work.  4 inches of snow - go to work.  6 inches of snow - go to work.  It isn't until you get into 12 + inches of snow that they consider not opening the business.  That just doesn't seem right to a southern girl.

2.  Snow blowing is hard work.  Let me be clear - I have learned this one by observation only!  My poor husband gets out and clears our driveway, our sidewalk and then the driveway and sidewalk of one of our neighbors.  By the end of that, he is frozen and exhausted.  One of the good by-products of this is that he has met all our neighbors.  I looked out our window one day and saw that some stranger was clearing our sidewalk.  I said to my husband, 'some man is clearing our sidewalk'.  He said, 'yeah that's Mike.  I cleared his this morning'.  I don't even know who Mike is and my husband has bonded and exchanged favors. 

3.  Small dogs do not like snow.  Take dogs with legs that are less than 4 inches long, add 6 or more inches of snow and you have a situation that requires you to FORCE the dogs to go outside.  You must stand at the door and ensure that they go outside.  Then you must watch them while continuing to say to them, 'you do your business'.  Now I am sure that our neighbors think I am crazy because you know they can hear me.  But if you don't watch them, the dogs will just turn around and come back in the house.  They then do their business inside and appear to feel perfectly justified in doing so.  They look at me as if to say, 'you moved me here, you can clean it up.'

4.  Snow is pretty when it falls but it is ugly when it stays around.  It gets dirty from all the car exhaust and looks nasty.  All the salt that is used to melt it so you don't kill yourself turns the pavement white, gets on the bottom of your pants, etc. 

They say that we are going to get temperatures in the 40s this coming week.  Maybe it will melt some of the snow and we can start over. 

Stay warm y'all!

Where have I been?

I have not done a great job on keeping up with this once my family got here!  But I don't want to let my blog die.  So, here I am again.

Griff and I went for a ride yesterday, we needed to get out of the house for a while.  We ended up at Port Clinton and saw that Lake Erie is mostly frozen - at least the part that we could see.  Kind of amazing that something as big as Lake Erie can freeze.  Now that is cold!!  Griff just kept saying how he coudn't believe it was frozen.  It is hard to believe how cold it has to be and for how long to freeze a lake, especially one as big as a great lake. 

Christmas was good yesterday.  We had lots of good presents.  We ate too much and both felt miserable afterwards. 

Long break

Sorry for the long silence but I have been very busy.  I moved my husband and fur children to Ohio, settled into the new house, and got an offer on my house in Tulsa.  Whew, no wonder I've been tired!

We are getting acclimated to life in a small town.  We went to the Halloween parade here and it was too cute.  There were the cutest costumes in the parade, my fave being triplets dressed up as the 3 little pigs.  I had no idea there were so many twirling schools in the area though.  The parade went something like cute kids...twirlers...cute kids....band....twirlers...cute kids....twirlers....etc.  I'll post pictures later. 

Lots of details and no control over any of them.

Those that know me know that I have control issues.  I like to understand what is going on and how I can influence or impact those things.  It seems to me that the buyer has very little control after the offer is negotiated when buying a house.  You are now in the hands of mortgage companies, realtors, utility companies, moving companies and title companies.  And what is a title company, anyway??  So, now I close on my house on Friday and I have no idea what time or how much money I need to take with me.  I suppose those are only minor details!

This will be the first time in over 20 years that I have lived in a small town and it changes some things.  I called the utility company to find out what I needed to do to get my utilities hooked up.  I was getting nervous since I had not been able to get in touch with anyone and wasn't sure if they could get them turned on in time.  So, no worries.  As long as I get to the municipal office before 2 pm they will have my utilities turned on before the end of that day.  That made me laugh.  Wouldn't happen in a large city!!

Drinking coffee

I came back to Tulsa for Labor Day weekend and have OD'd on coffee on the couch with my puppies.  There is something so simple and soothing about that.  The house is quiet, no TV, radio, or other noise.  I can sit on the couch and surf the net to catch up on the things that interest me and read.  It is my favorite way to start the day. 

I can't wait!

Everyday when I get off work I drive by my new house.  I can't wait until we close!  The more I see the house, the more I love it!