Blog Continued.....

Well, many of you have requested that I keep blogging about our experiences as we get acclimated to our new surroundings so here's an update!

We "moved" in on Sunday the 16th, to a lovely little house that's less than a mile from my son's school and about 2.5 miles from my daughter's school. I was thrilled to encounter the full-sized washer and dryer here (we had to have a stackable set before)as well as the 3 full bathrooms! Although we made it here, our stuff hadn't arrived yet (and won't for another 5 or 6 days) so we promptly headed to Target to purchase our indoor camping equipment: air mattresses, a pump, sheets, shower curtains, paper plates, and dish towels. Luckily there was a "back to college" sale going on so we got some good values on the bright pink and black linens we found. It's kind of a "Goth Barbie" look that we're currently sporting on the floor.

Anyway, we had a fun first night eating dinner on the dining room floor and sleeping on our bouncy floor beds. (Thank goodness kids are so adaptable.)

Monday morning came and we decided to stop by my daughter's school to see if there was any information about enrollment, registration, when the first day was, etc. Well, it's a good thing we did because we learned that her first day of school was scheduled for the very next day (today, Tuesday!) So we had to do the NASCAR dash back to the house for the important paperwork that we needed (birth certificate, immunizations, etc.)and then we ran to Target yet again for the extremely thorough school supplies list.

As an aside, I'm fully aware that I'm a grown woman, but I still get really really excited about getting school supplies. There's just something about all of the brand new pencils and notebooks and markers -- they represent the hope of new and exciting things to come. And while my daughter wasn't exactly thrilled to be starting school on her third day of state residency, the cool new backpack and bright new supplies certainly took the sting out of it.

I know I haven't mentioned food in a while, so I will share our fun and exciting lunch experience from yesterday. We stopped off at a nearby bagel shop, as all of us in the family are big bagel fans. (admittedly we were skeptical about what a mid-West bagel might be like, as we are somewhat particular (insert "picky") about what constitutes a GOOD bagel) Well, let me tell you, this place did not disappoint. They were sensational, and it turns out that the owner is good-bagel-savvy as well, and has spent years perfecting the whole "boil and bake" process. We were delighted with the results, not to mention the beautiful creation of his that is chocolate chocolate chip cream cheese. Heaven.

So we're ready to leave, and we decide to buy a dozen bagels to take home with us. We start telling the guy what flavors we want, and he says, "If you take all of them, you can have them for half price." And we're like, "Are you serious?!" To which he replied, "Well, we close in 10 minutes and we need to get rid of them." So we said, "Great! We'll take 'em all!"

Well, little did we know that they had somewhere around 120 bagels left! The guy starts filling up big paper bags, and then more paper bags, and then more paper bags, and this point we're saying to ourselves, "What have we gotten ourselves into?!" When all was said and done the owner only charged us for 4 dozen, and we joked that they were working against themselves since now we wouldn't be coming back for a few months! When we got home we had a "bagel repackaging party" and now the freezer looks like it was invaded by the "Eat Bagels Daily Task Force." We're thinking we might introduce ourselves to our neighbors with bags of bagels in hand....

So that was a really fun experience, as was the evening, which was filled with sorting, labeling, and our first experience boiling pasta at this altitude. We knew that water boils faster at a lower temperature here, and that was evident almost immediately as my husband walked away from the stove for a minute and steam starting rising up from the pot and the water was suddenly boiling away and threatening to run over the sides. We learned, as a result, that boiled things take longer to cook here, and then we had the challenge of figuring out how to drain noodles without a colander! Where are our tennis rackets when we need them?!

Overall we're getting settled, we're having fun, and we're trying to accomplish things like getting a phone number, opening a bank account, registering the kids for sports and activities, and exploring the neighborhood. We're living in a gorgeous, very well maintained area just outside of Boulder, and there are times when we still can't believe it when we look out the window and see majestic mountains rising up on the horizon. The scenery is so beautiful, and a constant reminder that these mountains were here long before we were, and they will be here long after we're gone. That concept alone helps to put things in perspective and cut down considerably on the stress level.

Deep Thought For The Day:
(I'm currently being plagued by a "getting used to the altitude" headache so this may be short.)

I was talking with a friend on the phone yesterday and she asked me how the kids were doing with the move - were they scared, were they nervous about starting a new school, how were they doing with sleeping on the floor without their stuff around them....and I answered her truthfully, that the kids are doing beautifully and having a great time. I told her that since we always try to laugh and have fun wherever we are, we bring the fun with us to wherever we go. So while not having our furniture could be one of those things that could be difficult to deal with, we're making it fun by camping out on the floor, by finding the humor in things like getting caught in a rainstorm while we were out walking yesterday, and looking at the good things in life and being grateful, rather than focusing on what we may not have at the moment.

I sincerely hope that this is an attitude that the kids take with them wherever they go in life. Most of the time we can't control our outside circumstances, but we can control ourselves and the way we look at things. With rare exception, there is always a positive side to situations, and often it's up to us to find it.

Glass half full? Glass half empty? I'm just happy to have a glass.