Recently in Binghamton Category

This morning Sophie climbed out of bed to go find Mom & Josie (they were sleeping in Sophie's bed, while Sophie & I were in our bed - our nightly routine is still pretty odd) and shortly came running back into our bedroom.

"Dad! Dad! You have to come look!"

As you probably guessed from the picture, it was our first snow in the new house. Everyone was very excited to see it. They're outside right now playing in it, in snowpants from Aunt Sarah.

 

Last night we spread out a bunch of newspaper on the garage floor and made a big mess with all the pumpkins we've been accumulating... afterwards we lit them up and took a family tour outside to look at them (it was cold!), and Brandie toasted the seeds. Hope you enjoy the results as much as we did!

Ok we all know the answer to that old chestnut, but what about leaves falling on your neighbors' lawn? Since it's our tree, do we rake them up?

We never had this dilemma when I was a kid, as our lawn was separated from our neighbors' by several acres of woods. Here (pictured above on a recent gorgeous day, taken from our deck) we don't even have fences.

Thankfully we only have a few trees on our property now, and the lawnmower my sister gave us has more than met the challenge.

Labor Day Weekend has come and gone again, and apparently taken summer with it.

Sure, it's still in the 80s & sunny out, and our little blue plastic wading pool is still filled up and getting as much use as ever. The lawn is still mostly green, and Eula is apparently still shedding her winter coat.

But the signs of change are unmistakable, from the one or two trees that have surrendered their green early (one of the traitors is in our very own backyard) to the yellow school buses chugging up our street in the morning like they did when we first moved in. Plus Dan is gone again, and not just claiming to be working all the time when he's really just hungover and sleeping it off.

We miss you summer (and Dan), come back again soon!

We moved. We finally decided to stop being indecisive and bought a house here in upstate NY. Do we have doubts? Sure. Do we save the boxes we unpack for fear that we could be packing all of this stuff up in less than 6 months? You betcha. But what can we do other than live our lives? Constantly questioning ourselves is tiring and very annoying to our friends.

While celebrating our anniversary with our friends Dave and Karen, I let Dave know that I'd had it with this area. The stinking snow, the people, the lack of culture. As soon as we could we were getting the hell out of Hallstead. Dave said to me, "Just wait until mid-May and decide then when the weather breaks." Ick. No way, I am outta here buddy. You can convince yourself to stay here but not me, I know better. But wait, what's that? A sunny day? Oh, maybe this place isn't so bad.

Tons of houses started flying on the market, and not the dumps we were used to seeing. Some nice, fairly modern homes in good neighborhoods. Our agent sent us a listing that we actually both loved. We saw it and loved it. Made an offer right away and viola! We were on our way to homeownership again. It seemed so easy this time around. Everything fell into place, we were approved for a loan that required almost no paperwork, with a low rate and what did our broker just say? The approval was done early and we could move our closing date sooner? Clearly this woman hadn't read the memo from the karma police about how to deal with this family.

Things went smooth, we hired great local movers (Miller Movers) after getting astronomical quotes from national lines. The guys were friendly, helpful and never once took a break! Our same friends Dave and Karen came over to help us clean before the move (our baseboards, miniblinds and light switches sparkle thanks to those two).

The girls have their own rooms, we have a jacuzzi tub in our master bath and Eula once again gets to sleep inside. We've been in for just under a month and I feel like tonight, as I mowed our lawn (with some encouragement from my husband. Women's lib is for the birds!) and smelled bbq chicken, I was home. Where my thought's escaping. Home, where my music's playing.

It feels nice.

Yep, we've done it again: email me if you didn't get our address change info.

I heartily recommend the moving company we used, Miller Movers: they busted their humps non-stop to get us moved in a very short amount time, asked very good questions and volunteered extra help to get everything onto the truck, and were very nice guys to boot. Thanks very much!

This almost never happens in San Francisco:

Cafe closed after deer crashed through window

Somewhat ironically, The Lost Dog Cafe is one of our favorite local eateries, even though Brandie always calls it Deaf Dog. I like their sweet potato fries and the parmesan sage chicken sandwich.

Josie & I moments before the snowmobile incident*

Another Maple Fest has come and gone, and once again we had a fine time. Hayrides, sugar shacks, maple museums and free maple candy. What more could you ask for?

Well ok, some sunny weather would've been great but it honestly cleared up the moment we walked in the door at home. Perfect timing as usual.

* There wasn't actually a snowmobile incident, Brandie just thought the sign was hilarious, especially with me standing there oblivious.

O Creek Bend, Creek Bend
Driving Range
Mini Golf Rec Room
Soft Ice Cream Bar &
Snack Bar

O Creek Bend, Creek Bend
The best part of losing all those farm team games
Ice cream sundaes mini-golf
Mr. Werman Mr. Werman
Chris is playing games for free

Brandie noticed (while kindly taking notes for my post) that the signage on the barn is being re-painted. There's a realty sign out in front of the property, leading us to think it might be reopening? "That would be a-mazing!" to quote Sophie.

Been trying to capture some of the beautiful views out our windows here, both sunrises and sunsets are generally spectacular. The snow is receding rapidly (again), hopefully we're really on our way into spring this time.