Top views

Our girls were in a posing mood. Which doesn't happen very often.
Here are some final photos of some views from on top of the castillo.

St. Charles Bastion

I thought this was pretty cool.
The tower seen in the background was where the sentry rang the alarm.
You can read what happened in the second photo.


I love the faith seen here.

It was amazing to see the stones that they had quarried - that were literally made from millions of sea shells which had solidified and cemented together.


The drawbridge across the moat

Rey Carlos' coat of arms. At the entrance of the castle you can see this in the stone.

The view of the courtyard (not sure if they called it that) from above.

Castillo de San Marcos National Monument

So while we didn't have very much time (due to an extensive day at the beach), we decided to check out the castle (castillo) before it closed.


My hsuband points out that this "castle" was really a fort - since that was it's primary use, I'll have to give him that.

We had fun taking pictures with the sentry guard, and chatting with some 'period' guards later on

Canons seemed to be the thing at this fort. They were everywhere. We even got to watch a video that had a 17 minute re-enactment of how they loaded, and shot a canon.

St. Augustine

We saw this little guy as we left the state park.
He was SO cute!


We headed into town - St. Augustine that is.
St. Augustine was founded in 1565, and is the oldest settlement in the US (not counting the native americans of course).
It was originally settled by Ponce De Leon, a spanish conquistador, under the reign of King Carlos of Spain.
They said that the sun never set on Carlos since it was always day time somewhere throughout his dominions.

Here's the historic lighthouse view from the castle.

Anastasia State Park (yet another beach)

We headed to Anastasia State Park this weekend for more beach
We just can't seem to get enough!

This time, we came equipped - we brought the beach umbrella and some chairs, and some boogie boards. It was all we needed.

We had a blast riding the waves back to the shore - especially when we caught 'good ones'

Dad took both of the girls for a run with him along the beach. Here's the end of a two mile run.

Did I mention how beautiful it was???

Well, a nice 12 year old guy named Thomas asked if the girls would like to try out his surf board when we asked him when exactly to 'catch the wave'. Both girls had several tries.
Our oldest did well and LOVED it.
Our youngest got up on her very first try, and rode in ALL the way to the beach.
It was SO fun to watch!
We can't wait to go back and try some surfing... :)

So, how do you like Florida?

Here's a photo of our new digs.

We had dinner last week with the Morelos family, and they had a super cool chair our girls couldn't get enough of.

Here's the answer to:
How are you liking Florida?

Hair bows

The girls needed some new hair bows - here's our most recent projects

Seriously?

Please forgive my small little rant.  You've been forewarned - if you don't want to hear it, please leave now. 

I met with my daughter's principal last week, because I wasn't sure that the teacher was a good fit for her.  

Everyday she came home telling me about her teacher's punitive style: lost recesses, yelling teacher, getting after her for not writing fast enough.   

If she were a naughty kid, then I'd say - give it to her, she probably deserved it. 

But not this child.  

She's a model (with a capital M) student.  She's eager, kind, helpful, enthusiastic, and has a heart that's still mostly of gold.  She emanates goodness.  

New to the school, new to the area, with a mean teacher to boot.  How hard on a kid.  

After meeting with the principal, I met the teacher for lunch last week as we discussed some issues.  She was totally surprised that my daughter was so unhappy.  She was floored.  

Fast forward to yesterday when my daughter brought home her math test.  

It had a BIG FAT "D" in red ink across the top. 

WHO does that?  Especially to a child who is struggling academically, and trying to get up to speed on their reading (which affects everything else).  Especially to a kid in elementary school.  

It made me want to cry.    

I so want this teacher to love her and build her up, rather than shatter her finite academic self confidence.

I will begin volunteering in the classroom next week.  Hopefully, I can really observe the tone, and what's happening there, and make some decisions.  

Thank you for indulging in my rant.  Grrr

My latest pool adventure - and chronology of my non-swimming career

I don't know if I've mentioned how much we love the beach.  We've visited the beach every single weekend since we've been here.  

We LOVE the beach.
And the water.

And the community pool. 

When I was a kid, my parents put me in swimming lessons. 

Then I had to get stitches. 

They made me go and watch the lessons. 

It was like torture. 

The next year, they put me in lessons again.  

I was in the baby class.

With the mean teachers. 

They threw you into the pool and told you to swim. 

I know other kids were way more scarred than I was. 

Then I had contacts and never wanted to get my face wet. 

Needless to say - I'm a horrible swimmer.

Fast forward to 5 weeks ago. 

While I lobbied for a pool at whatever home we chose, ultimately, I didn't get it. 

But, we have a very nice community pool 1 block away.  

I have legs and can walk.  

But sometimes I drive. 

With a trusty set of goggles, I spent one evening practicing putting my face underwater.

And blowing. 

My husband is so sweet. 

He watched me one evening and said, 

"Wow, you look like a swimmer"

High praise indeed. 

Every time I go swimming I think of that.

And I'm so glad that I now feel much more comfortable in the water. 

Unfortunately, this week I found I just might be a LITTLE TOO comfortable in the water. 

The kids got out of school early. 

We headed to the pool. 

I was super excited that I found swim shirts, and we were trying them out and I wasn't going to fry!

We walked through the gate. 

I set down the towels and my keys. 

And we raced to see who could jump into the deep end quickest.  

When I resurfaced, I realized I was still wearing my skirt!  

Florida stuff

I've been keeping a mental list of the things I find just a little bit different here in Florida.
I figure if I write it down, I can get rid of at least one mental list.

Some things, I'm still kind of scratching my head and saying, 'huh?' over, and others, I just find novel, or interesting.

Lizards.  We have an entire army of them everywhere - outside our house.  At any given moment I can look out the back window and see one on the window, or scurrying across the patio.  These lizards LOVE to do push ups.  Up and down, up and down.  I figure it has to be a mating thing, 'hey baby, check out these guns...'
They also puff out their chins, which are red.  Pretty cool.

Along with every size of lizard, we also have miniature toads everywhere.  No larger than a cricket.  Teensy little guys.  When I walk through the grass, or past them, they hop out in front, or scurry across the sidewalk seeking cover.  I think they are beetles until I look closer.

Let's talk about plants.
I love plants.  I love gardening.
I just bought my first fake plant (EVER) today.

A couple of weeks ago, I was dying for some green in my house because I had to give all of my plants away back in Colorado.  My daughter and I headed out to Home Depot and got a bunch of plants.  She put together 2 planter boxes for her room, I got a pineapple plant (couldn't resist the novelty), a couple of pothos, a snake plant, and a pretty flowering plant, and a hanging basket for our backyard patio.
Here's what I've found:

• My houseplants don't ever seem to dry out inside due to the humidity.  
• They mold. 
• I've killed most of my plants (well, after they succumbed to the mold, or dried up from not being watered because they always still feel wet).
• Even though there is high humidity outside, and it often rains in the afternoons, unless watered with tons of water each day from my hose, my outdoor hanging basket will die. - It is in fact, dead now. 
• Plants outside WILL die if neglected without water (despite 85 - 100% humidity) for 1 day. 

The next thing. 

Soil.  The soil here - it is sand.  Like the beach.  So weird.  The grass here is what we call 'crab grass' back home.  It is a week that we diligently dig out of our lawns in the west.  

Well, not here.  Here it gets fed, and trimmed and mowed, and watered, and covers every single lawn. 

Finally - we have to talk about the water. 

I've spent more time in my swimming suit here in the past 5 weeks than I've spent in my entire life put together.  However, that's besides the point. 

The tap water - yuck...it just isn't good at all.  Not a bit.  And I'm not a water snob.  

However, when taking a shower, or after running the water for cooking for more than 1.30 seconds - the water is warm.  Cold water does not exist here.  They need cold water coolers here (like a hot water heater). Seriously, put on the tap, put your cup under there - patiently waiting for a nice cold glass of water.  You get lukewarm, tepid water...and no matter how long you let it run, it won't get colder.  So if you exercise and want a very cool shower to cool down with - you'll have to settle for a warm one, cause you aren't getting anything cold.  

Finally, all of the parents walk their kids to the bus stop.  And hang out.  It is like a social club.  Really?  The bus stop is only a block away.  I'd rather send my kid out the door 1.30 seconds before the bus shows up so that she can get there, and step onto that big yellow taxi.  Nope - we've got to get there 10 minutes early for social hour.  Then, I get to do it again picking her up after school.  I could just rebel, but I figure I'll either be ostracized for being the bad mom, or else they must know something that I don't.  

Finally (really this might be the final finally), after school here is CRAZY!  I went in to initial a paper that I'd made a mistake on, on my daughter's registration forms today.  The parking lot is a serpentine, windy ordeal.  While I parked and walked in, I couldn't help but marvel at the line of cars.  2 deep, all the way out to the road 20 minutes before the bell even rang.  

I asked the principal if this was normal.  She said the first cars got there almost an hour and a half before school got out to start the que.  It took me a full 12 minutes just to drive through my other daughter's school parking lot to pick her up last week.  

PS - We still haven't seen an alligator.  I think they may be a hoax.     

First day pics

It has been a while.  I've even got some pictures to post - but I had a hard time getting them to upload.
Sigh - technology.
We've weathered half of the first week of school.
This year I was ready for the kids to go back to school.  They needed to make some friends and I needed to stop running around jumping through hoops for the schools to get my kids registered.
Our youngest daughter said her first day was the best day of school she's ever had.  She got to ride the bus and has 2 friends from the neighborhood she just can't wait to see each morning and play with before the bus comes.

Our older daughter started middle school.
Despite her auspicious beginnings (no schedule, showing up early to figure out where to go and them sending me away leaving her at their mercy), her day didn't get too much better.
She knew one girl in her math class from church.
She had 2 friends from church that she sat with at lunch.
I think those were the highlights.

I got a phone call at 4:39 (the time her bus was supposed to be here).
A tearful child was on the line.  "Mom, I took the wrong bus - I have no idea where I am".
I sort of panicked.
She stayed on the bus, and rode it back to the school.  I picked her up there.
We joked that because I took her in the morning, she was trying to make up for it on the way home with the bus.
I think she's got the routine down now.
Anyways - here are the first day of school pics.

Back to school....bureaucracy

I'm not sure if I ever mentioned how patient I am.  

Really

Well, to talk about it wouldn't be very humble now would it? 

Today we entered the back to school melee... 

You may remember 3 weeks ago when I dedicated almost a full week to collecting every scrap of identification we own, as well as proferring up my firstborn so that we could get the kids registered for school. 

Grrrrrrrrr

I got it done and thought - whew...now we can enjoy summer. 

Except, they wanted records. 

Our schools we just came from were still on summer break (so no chance for getting records for a while)

And so the fun began

Kind helpful previous teachers scanned and emailed me information, and I dug through more boxes to find test scores and report cards.  Scanned it all in and said, 'phew' - glad that's over. 

Today we went to the middle school to pick up the schedule

We got in a line. 

They didn't have my child's schedule and sent us to the guidance line

(along with all of the disgruntled kids and parents who didn't get the class they wanted)

The guidance person (after the 25 minute wait) told us, 'oh no - you'll have to go to the media center for that'

We went to the media center

They were handing out numbers

we got 43

After 30 minutes of waiting we decided to head to the transportation line to figure out bussing while we waited  for our number to be called

It was only an 18 minute wait in line.

We got back to the media center in time to hear them call 20.

After another 30 minutes we headed out to some of the classes to meet the teachers.  We figured we had at least a 2 hour wait in front of us still. 

We did. 

All of the teachers went home at 12

At 12:30, we decided to forgo the schedule since at least I had traded my pen with a worker for information that my child wasn't even in the computer.  

She was nice enough to find the file (in an old box) and at least enter my child into the system.

  

We'll be back in line tomorrow. 

Crocodile Cake

I just did a posting on this cake on my recipe blog for this cake that turned out SO adorable.  

Yes, my husband REALLY wanted an 'adorable' cake for his birthday.  But the girls helped make and create it - so he loves it.  And we think it is pretty great too.  

Here's a link

Served Papers

We got served some court papers this morning.   

That server guy - he seriously has a pretty awful job.  

He just gets to give people bad news over and over again all day long.  

I wonder if he catalogs people's reactions?

  

I be there are categories like:

Relieved that it finally happened cause we knew it was coming

Total shock and dismay (me this morning)

I can't believe this is happening

This is a mistake

Denial

Total Anger

Quiet Reluctance

Embarrassment

That's all I can think of but I bet there are lots more.  

He could probably write a whole book with stories of his experiences.

And make a million dollars. 

By the way, who rings the doorbell two times at 8:30 in the morning?  

My kids answered the door.  They should know better!

Don't answer the door to strangers.  But there they were - "come on in Mr. Stranger Man who is going to kill mommy's morning!"  

I may appear rather calm.  I think I finally am. 

I've been told by the responsible parties (definitely not me) that it shouldn't have happened and is a mistake.  (denial category?)

It has nothing to do with anything we've done - we were just being informed.  

Thank you Mr. Server/Informant man for seriously putting a downer on my day.  

Don't eat at our house

Seriously.  Today was one of my worst cooking days ever.
We threw some ribs into the crockpot last night, and added some barbecue sauce - hoping for some nice barbecued ribs after church.

Because we don't know anyone here, we invited some new people over for dinner - they just moved in last night, so we figured they might be hungry.

The ribs cooked all night, and were ready when we got home from church today.  Sort of.  They got a little over cooked, and the sugar in the barbecue sauce had burned and gave it all a bitter taste.
To accompany the ribs, we made fake flakes (potatoes)  (because I found a box of them in our food storage and they needed to be used, and we liked them back when we bought them).  Once they were made, I found they were stale.  Our guests had just pulled up, and I didn't have time for a plan B.  I made gravy.

We found a box full of jello mixes yesterday - last night I made cherry jello with bananas and whipped cream - my grandmother's old standard.  There isn't a lot you can do to kill jello.  I was relieved that at least something might be edible. Fresh fruit, carrot sticks, and broccoli salad - pretty tough to kill as well.  I figured if we just stuck to the sides, we might make it through.  

I was pretty uncomfortable with the meal, but past the point of being able to do much more to salvage it, short of peanut butter & jelly sandwiches, and they had a peanut allergy.

As soon as we sat down to eat, our guests let us know that his father is a professional chef, 'no pressure they added'.

I was really embarrassed.  Really.  And uncomfortable.  

As we began to eat dinner, our guest's 3 year old began to eat.
He shoveled the meat into his mouth and to my horror - began to vomit.  Yes, at the table.  We all scattered while his parents both tried to catch it in their hands.

That's apparently what my food will do to you.

Okay.  Not really.
After throwing up, he began calmly (the only calm part) to eat again.
He merely said, 'I put too much into my mouth'.
Except, his parents were the only ones who actually understood what he said.  That's what THEY said he said.

I wonder if I should believe them?

Week 2 survival

Another week - another Sunday.
It seems like a lot has happened this week, but I honestly can't think what.

We entered phase 5 of the move this weekend.  At least that's what I'm calling it.
Phase 1 - pack.  2 into the trucks.  3 out of the trucks. 4 out of the boxes.  5 re-arrange everything that you thought you had in the right place.

That's right ladies and gentlemen - the sofa came from the family room into the front room.  The dining table went from the nook into the dining area, and the table from the dining area went into the nook.

All of the food storage that was in the garage (remember that stuff? - filled up the whole garage?)...well...we have a pretty big master bedroom.  One corner is now completely stacked to the ceiling with food storage.
We reverted to my husband's "distributed food storage plan".  He even has a nightstand made from food storage boxes.  I'll be doing some sewing quicker than I previously thought.  It works though.  Especially in Florida.  We do have to worry about hurricanes and the like here, and I'm glad to know we have what we may need should we ever have a problem.

So - the latest and greatest is that I got a calling at church today - actually 2.  Glad they are putting me to work.  I need some adult interaction during the week.

This week I got a new iphone.  2 days later I sent it back.  I found out a new one is coming out next month, so I thought I might as well wait for another month or so for the latest and greatest....
We tried out a new gymnastics gym.  Didn't like it.

Headed to the beach Friday night.  It was pretty heavenly.  We got there around 7, and stayed until 9.  Jumped waves, and played and played.  Watched the sunlight disappear.  It was so beautiful.  There were some sailboats just on the horizon, and the sun hit their sails illuminating them against the pink sky.  Pretty cool.

I found a cello teacher this week.  I'll start once the kids are back in school.  She's the principal cellist of a symphony - I'm really excited to meet her and make some personal progress.  I'm meeting on Tuesday with one of the high school teachers here - she's going to be teaching the strings program this year, and she'll be referring her students to me as a private teacher.

The girls begin piano lessons this week.  Their teacher graduated from Julliard, and got her masters from another pretty prestigious music school.  Can't wait to hear them working again on the piano.

My husband got his license this week, and finally - my biggest accomplishment  -  I think I can see my desk top!  What can I say?  It is the little things.

The Beach!!!

So, we got up, took care of some chores, and headed to the beach yesterday.
Unfortunately, the camera was out of memory, and we just managed to eek out a few photos. I'm sure we'll have more to come. :)
When we got there, it had been raining so we had to wait a few minutes for the storm to clear.
It definitely cleared though. The kids didn't get sunburned, but my husband and I did. Despite lots of sunscreen.
I actually did pretty good. After an hour or so, I pulled out a floppy hat, and put on a shirt to help limit my exposure. I just forgot to hit my legs, and they got a little toasted.

We sort of took turns playing with our little one since she didn't like wave jumping, and the boogie board that we picked up in San Diego broke. My husband and oldest daughter went out snorkeling...she got hit by an unexpected wave and she lost her snorkel and goggles.
That water was like a bathtub - SO warm. It was all delicious.

After 3 hours, we decided it was probably time to go. My husband's back was getting a little toasty. It wasn't until we got home when we really saw the sunburns that we were grateful we'd left when we did.
I think we are all excited to go back. I'll be taking the kids several more times before school starts.

Movers

Further documenting our odyssey, here's the big huge diesl moving truck that houses three grown men. It lived at our home from 6:45 am - 9:30 pm a couple of weeks ago.
I don't think that these movers will every forget us.



The surveyor did his initial appraisal of the weight of our move. He estimated us at 14,600 lbs. The movers saw all of our food storage and couldn't believe it. Then they say all of our books (slightly less than the food storage, but we definitely have at least a year's supply of books). After the movers moved all of the books and food storage from our basement, poor Joey volunteered to bring up all of the shelving - which was simply cinderblocks and planks of wood. Poor poor Joey.
The movers said we had at least 10,000 lbs that they moved from the basement.
Here's Joey's cache of cinderblocks on the front porch awaiting the truck.

Here are our movers at the end of the day. I can read minds and here, they are thinking, c'mon lady. We are SO tired of moving all of your junk, and still have to drive back to Denver and can only go 35 miles an hour, so, get your photo done cause I'm really tired and ready to go. They were very courteous and nice though, and did a great job.

In the end, the movers weighed in with all of our stuff at 19,600 lbs.
That's a lot of food storage!

Kitty's last ride

Here are some of the most important photos from our move.
7 years ago, a black little kitty came to our home to join our family.
Our daughter INSISTED that we name her "Allengia". We had several family councils about the name, but to no avail...her name became Allengia. The rest of us mostly called her "kitty"...it was easier to pronounce and she recognized it.
Even though kitty was sometimes tempermental (especially during those cold snowy winter stir crazy months) she became an important part of our family. At the first opening of a can of tuna, there she would be, meowing right at your side. She learned from the girls that if she whined enough, she would almost always get what she wanted...so she took to whining by the door to be let in or our.
She was a very polite kitty. She would wait to be let into the girl's room at night. Once you let her in or out, she always had a grateful 'meow' to say thank you.
She was also the mother of 11 little kittens...who we gave to other happy homes.

We were saddened to find that she couldn't make the trip with us to Florida. It almost broke a few girl's little hearts.
But then, our friend John did some painting for us while we were out of town, and kitty kept him company.
They bonded.
She would wait for him at the front door each day.
He would feed her yummy stuff she'd never dreamed of.
John is a cat spoiler, pamperer, & indulger. We were so thankful that we could send kitty to a new home where she would be loved.

We didn't take her for car rides very often, but here she is on her very last ride to her new home.

Here's kitty's new happy family. We've known these friends for almost 13 years. The latest report is that kitty is beginning to make herself at home. Though she shares the house with another cat Ephraim, they have settled into an avoidance routine which involves a little hissing and fur ruffling... We know she's definitely loved.
As for us...I'm still suffering from phantom kitty syndrome when I turn around and expect the kitty to be there. Maybe in a few years when we get another house...

Day 5

Our cars came yesterday.  We pulled up our chairs on the back porch and watched the driver bring our cars down from the top of a semi toting 8 different cars.  Highly entertaining - who needs tv?

The kids tried out a new gymnastics gymn.  They didn't like the coach or the program.  It went from 5-8...it was REALLY long.  Afterwards, we grabbed something to eat and headed out to the airport to deposit our rented car.  Didn't get home til just before 11 pm.  Long night!

Got the phone service set up today...except I can't find the phones.  That's always fun!  Still searching for the kid's immunizations cause I put them in a 'special' place so that I wouldn't lose them.  That's how it goes I guess.
 Ready for another exciting new day!

Latest and greatest

We found a piano teacher - we will meet her tomorrow.  She studied at Julliard.  So great to hear my kids at the piano playing again.  They are getting ready to play for her tomorrow.

Cars should be here in 30 minutes or less.  It will be so nice to have wheels again - that are mine!
Possibly checking out a few gymnastics gymns this afternoon/evening.

Tomorrow meeting the piano teacher, getting a new license, registering to vote, & getting all of the kid's immunizations records transferred to the Florida forms so that we can register them for school.

Phew...I thought it would be easier on this end of things but my list seems to continue to grow!

Sunday morning

Sunday is generally my posting day.  I should be getting ready for church, and will in a few moments.
I think I got the AC set now so that it isn't a freeze out for the family.
Yesterday afternoon I watched some lizards dancing on my back patio - scurrying about, trying to impress each other.
Friday night we hit Costco for some essentials, and last night we did our first cooking.  Homemade waffles for dinner (that's what the kids wanted).  They came out beautifully crisp - and quickly went soggy from the humidity.  It's gonna take some getting used to with this humidity.  I don't mind it, other than I'm trying to figure out why my windows are all completely wet in the mornings...and when it affects my cooking...and the sand in our kid's hourglass clumped together and stopped falling.  :)

We got more boxes unpacked yesterday, and I was able to finally clear off my kitchen counters (YAY).  We got many of the front room and office area wall hangings up, and some of the book boxes emptied into bookshelves, and most of my clothes are hanging up, but my husband's collection of tees, jeans, etc. is in a big  immovable box in the middle of our bedroom floor.

While gas may be a bit cheaper, milk, dairy, and most consumables are actually higher here.  We thought the cost of living would be cheaper, but it isn't!  Agh!

Anyways, I'm hoping to unearth the camera this afternoon and get some pictures up.  It seems like we have lots of kids in the neighborhood.  Our girls are trying to figure out how to meet other kids.  We are hoping that they can make some friends at church today.

We made it!

We finally made it on our big cross country move to Florida, and are here loving the heat.
Well...we are adjusting to it (first day), but it really isn't too bad.
The kids have their own rooms for the first time - one of them is having a tougher time in her own room tonight...we'll see if she makes it through the night (she's on our bed right now).
We just got the computer up and running, ran to the store for some staples, got people to bed, and I thought I'd at least let the world know that I am alive and still here.
I'll post some pics...once I find my camera :)

We got to our house this morning just as the moving van got here.
While we had a floorplan of the house and had a map of where everything needed to go, it just didn't work out quite that way, and there was a lot of trying to figure it out, and I'm sure most everything will end up in a different room eventually.

Anyways, we are back and we really have mostly made it through the past 2 whirlwind months.
Phew.....

Thank yous and a party

I should be in bed.  I should be shredding my bank statements, and lease agreements from 1998.  But my shredder overheated.
My computer will be packed in a big moving box tomorrow night.  I will have no internet come Friday.  I'm a little scared.  I'll be un-plugged for reals for like a week.
I might sneak into the library just to get an internet fix though.  We'll see if I can last.

I am so grateful for wonderful people.
On Monday, a friend showed up with lunch, and helped us pack all day.  Then his family fed us dinner, and we enjoyed fireworks with them.
On Tuesday, a neighbor stopped by to help out, and a friend brought us dinner.
Today, 3 ladies came by and helped me clean and pack my kitchen.  1 neighbor came by to help us out with some odd jobs, and another showed up, and mowed and trimmed our lawn.
After I picked the kids up from gymnastics, dinner had been left on our porch.

Thank you thank you thank you to all of our wonderful neighbors and friends!

Some ladies from church are throwing us a going away party Saturday at 6:00 at the church.  If you want to come and rob me because you know that I won't be there, you are welcome to.  The movers should have everything moved out by Friday night, and we won't be staying there. (That was just a friendly message to any perps that might be reading my blog...its late - what can I say?).
It sounds like a meat is provided, bring a sidedish/dessert potluck sort of a party.

You should come.  Even if you have to drive far.  Cause, Florida is WAY farther.  I promise.
I'm grateful for the ladies who are so giving of their time etc. to help us with this tough transition.  We've been really blessed.

Lastly.  We need to rent our house.  It isn't rented yet.  It is such a cute house.  The garden and fruit trees are going crazy (fruit on trees that have never bloomed until this year even).  We finished the landscaping.  Tomorrow we are getting 2 tons of rocks delivered to cover up the dirt where our friend just dug up all of the grass from today.  The sprinklers didn't have enough water pressure to keep it green so we are opting for rocks.  2500 sq feet, lots of storage, close to schools, bike paths, blm, and full of new carpet and paint.  What's NOT to like?  We'll be sad to leave.

I realize I'm rambling.  Back to the shredding.  Don't forget to come to our party - you are invited!!