I *Heart* New York

So far so good! We've been in Northern New York since February 12. As I was expecting, it's worlds different from Louisiana. We'll have to adjust to the weather a little bit, especially once my "vacation" period ends and I have to get back in the world. It's such a strange feeling to have everything in your life come to a halt and you get suspended in limbo for short while.

I'll explain.

When we were in Louisiana I worked a part time job, lead a Girl Scout troop, had normal household chores, friends and play dates... you get the idea. Now that we're here in New York I'm on vacation. ALL of our worldly belongings are in storage and we're living in a cute little vacation house overlooking Lake Ontario. The house is big enough to make us comfortable for a short term stay, but small enough to make us *really* appreciate the 2700 sq ft house we bought! There are 3 bedrooms here, and a kitchen, living area, and bathroom. It's so much better than staying in a hotel. But, there's nothing to do. There isn't much to clean, I have nothing to fix or fiddle with like I would in my own house, nothing to decorate, not a lot of room to cook my masterpieces. Like I said, I'm on vacation in limbo.

The kids are in school now, they just started back this past Thursday. We wanted to wait to make sure everything with the house we bought was solid before we got the kids in a school. I'd hate to have to pull them out of yet another school. They left their school in Louisiana easily enough, but we don't need unnecessary moves. Soon we'll get the kids in their sports and scouts and we'll finally get back to normal. I know. I guess I should enjoy this break. How many people say they would LOVE to have the opportunity to sit and do nothing for 4-6 weeks?! After we move in to our new house and start all the projects we have planned, I'll wish for down time.

Back to our new home. Locals call our area North Country. It's north, it's cold, and it's rugged. We're at the tip of mountains up here, so it's rocky terrain. They talk about "elevation" a lot, which amuses Husband and I. The weather guys will say things like "expect more snowfall in higher elevations". We're flatlanders by birth, so we're getting used to the hill people life now. The natives here in Northern New York are just as tough as those you'd see south of us in the big NYC. They endure the harsh winters like their neighbors the Canadians (which, by the way, I can see out my vacation house window right now). These people love their history, and their roots are deep here. Instead of building fancy new subdivision after fancy new subdivision, they fix up all the gorgeous old houses. When we went house hunting (a tiring week of looking at about 20 houses), we saw some beautiful turn key, 100+ year old houses. Most didn't fit us, or weren't in the school district we really wanted. But luckily for us, at the very last minute before we were about to "settle" on a house, an amazing Victorian that Husband had his eye on had a deal fall through and we snatched it up. It was built in 1900 and we're so proud to own a piece of history like this. We hope we can continue along the lines of the previous owners and add our touch to the house to keep it proud for years to come.

Husband goes back to work in a week and a half, and we move in to our new house shortly after. My vacation will be over. I guess until then, I'll find things to occupy myself with, and be grateful.