The days seem not that long ago when we were children heading out for that first day of school. Yesterday I was reminded of those days while out shopping for some shoes and other goodies. There were children and parents out doing that last minute shopping and the little lads and lassies were out flaunting their new duds and backpacks. The crazy thing was, I ran right smack dab into Jennifer and Little Chic on the sidewalk and was so shocked to see them.

The picture below is my very first recollection of Jennifer and me. Jennifer is in the orange and I’m in the red. Back in the day, Jennifer was a wee second grader and I was a wee third grader. Just in case you don’t know the math, that was 31 years ago! We were in a school program… and who knew all those years ago that we would be bumping into each other way up here in NY. I think this is pretty cool!

I never got around to elaborating on our travels but we ended up bringing well over 300 pounds of luggage I would venture to say upwards of 350 pounds! I thought of everything from hangars, to our digital bathroom scale, to the important papers we needed and everything in between. We ended up with a total of 5 check bags and 4 carry-on’s.

Every single piece of check baggage was carefully weighed on our handy dandy digital scale so that we wouldn’t be over the weight limit of 50 pounds per check bag. There was one bag that weighed exactly 50 pounds and I mean EXACTLY 50 pounds at home. When the gal at the airport was ready to take that bag, Bob informed her saying “this bag is exactly 50 pounds.” She rather gave him a funny look, took the bag and the bag was exactly 50 pounds on the scale at the airport. It was not 50.2 pounds, I’m talkin’ no points, just 50 point zero pounds EXACTLY! (insert a HUGE PRAISE and a sigh!) I was just a wee bit concerned about that bag as that was the heaviest one. All the other bags were a mere 49 point something pounds each. It was an enormous relief that all the bags passed the scale test and I was amazed that both my scale and the scale at the airport were exactly the same.

The gentleman right in front of us in line had gone over the weight limit by 15 pounds and was charged $50.00! He argued with the gal checking his bag and she firmly said “Sir, you can either take out 15 pounds or pay the $50.00” he said in a gruff tone “just charge it”. You can imagine how jittery I was after that ordeal.

When we arrived into Binghamton, a gentleman right next to us, after seeing our luggage said “Are you guys going to be gone a month or something?” We said yes, we just moved up here.

We shocked ourselves with the amount of luggage we brought because we’ve learned to travel light. I normally pack just one carry on for the two of us if we’re going to be gone a week (that’s if it’s summertime). That’s it, we don’t fuss around with check bags and what have you. So for us to have such an entourage of luggage ended up being a puzzle loading all that stuff into the rental car. We made it home with our luggage and I had it all unpacked and put away by the very next day. The bags are now stowed away upstairs in the other bedroom and we are all settled in.

For the upsetting part, I lost my camera while whirling around all that stuff in Texas. I totally misplaced it and came to grips that I accidentally packed it somewhere. It wasn’t until I started unpacking up here in Binghamton that I found it safely tucked away in my carryon! (Sigh)

Our cars arrived yesterday! And to think just two days ago they told us we would not receive the truck until this Friday. I’ll tell ya, I felt like ‘Queen Bee’ back at the wheel of my old familiar truck. It was truly like a piece of home delivered to our hotel doorstep! And my face lit up so bright to see my set of wheels outside!

Bobby has not driven since he got home from work Friday evening. He’s made me drive everywhere this weekend so that I would get acclimated to the area. I’m so glad he thought of that and directions are starting to sink in. I’ll be ready to hit the road no problem and I have plans for the mall today.

We received our computers Friday afternoon and Bobby so diligently set up my computer that evening. I brought my tape dispenser, scissors, pens, little stapler and a few other desk items.

My Little Office

Bobby was so nice to give me our bedroom desk area downstairs and he’s taken over the bedroom desk upstairs for his computer/office area. I think he knows I got the better end of the deal but he wouldn’t have it any other way.

Bobby’s Office

We’re settled into our little nest and beginning to call this home. After all, we’ll be here for quite a while, so why not make ourselves ta home in our hotel.

Magic has always had a love for the great outdoors so this is something we’ve been treating him to each day. This morning as I was coming back for my camera, Bobby at that same time was on the way with the camera. It’s something that we were both thinking this at the same time. Here are a few pictures of Magic in the great outdoors.

Magic our kitty is not doing well since his last visit to the vet. When we took him in to get his shots (for the flight), we learned that he lost another pound in the last 4 months bringing him down to 4.5 lbs. And Magic seems to be going down hill so fast from the time he had his shots and the trip didn’t help either. Bobby weighed him again just a few days ago and he had lost another half pound from the time we arrived. I weighed him again this evening and he’s down more than one pound in the last three days. He weighed in this evening at 2.4 pounds. He’s sleeping almost 100% of the day now and doesn’t appear to be eating anything at all. Bobby has been trying to get him to eat some chicken, tuna, broth, kitty treats and Bob’s been trying anything and everything that he can possibly try to get his poor kitty to eat something, anything.

The vet told us that Magic would eventually get to this point but it is so hard to accept. Today Bobby purchased Magic’s little box and our hearts just about broke. Bobby’s found a little pet cemetery where they will cremate. And we’ve already made plans to have him cremated and we’ll keep him with us until the day we retire. We have plans to eventually burry him in our backyard one day and we’ll plant a tree in honor of him. He’s been Bobby’s friend going on 18 years and it’s so hard to say goodbye.

We started off the day by sleeping in. There was no alarm or wake up call to jolt us out of bed. And the blinds in our bedroom were pulled tight the night before. They’re the kind that make our room blacker than black long after the sun rise! Let’s just say I may consider this type of blind for our next bedroom.

We made it down to breakfast around 9:45 AM. Rochelle, you will appreciate this… I’ve already purchased a large bottle Crème Brulèe coffee cream to carry down to breakfast each day. And to top if off, Bobby gave me a nice coffee thermos that he received from work. They keep fresh coffee down there all day so I’ve been known to make a few coffee runs throughout the day.

We were finally ready to leave the hotel in search of a home/lot around noon. Can you tell we were not rushing around at all this morning? We Drove to PA and looked at some property. (The property in PA we were looking at would only be a half hour drive to work for Bobby.) To make a long story short, we didn’t find what we wanted there.

We’ve got this ‘lofty’ idea that we want a view. This land is so breathtaking and it would be so nice to have a home planted right on the top of a hill. The beautiful thing about this area is that it’s not all built up with lots of developments. The silly thing is that most of my readers already know this and Jennifer has lived here for what, 17 + years now? But this is the first time for us to experience this and I’m truly in love here.

After our trip to PA we stopped by downtown Owego for a very late afternoon lunch/dinner. We ate at a nice little Italian restaurant and the stuffed shells were out of this world! Then we leisurely strolled down the streets window shopping and found some charming quaint little shops. What a nice mellow day and we let it unfold without a rush.

We got home late afternoon and we were able to once again pull those blinds to make the bedroom dark and took a nice little siesta. Ah, we continue the relaxing pace into the evening hours.

It was 10 years ago today that Bobby and I had our very first date. What a great guy he was and still is. On the next date we had a nice motorcycle ride down by the intercostal. He still wow’s me and I’m so thankful for him each day.

We always had great times together and he always made me feel special. Those times never faded as he makes me feel like I’m the most important person in the world.

Since our move, he’s been calling each day just to see how I’m doing. His whole desire is to make sure I’m alright and he’s doing whatever he can to make this transition is as easy as possible.

The three day holiday weekend is coming and I’m so blessed to be spending it with the man of my dreams.

The house hunting is going pretty good. There are a few places I want Bobby to see so we’re scheduling time to look this Saturday. Bobby has put me in charge of the house hunting while he’s at work and wants me to narrow it down and then he gets involved after all the homework is done. We both like it that way and we work really well as a team. I’ll continue looking and hopefully we’ll find something we like. If not, we’re entertaining the idea of building.

I keep wondering when we’ll feel at home and I don’t think it’s going to feel like home until we get settled into a place. Patience is key, one day at a time and we will be all settled into our home sweet home one of these days.

On the bright side, we’re learning the area more and more each night and discovering our new favorite places to eat. Our realtor has given us a list of restaurants she recommends and we are certainly making our rounds. Our cars should be here by next weekend and I look forward to spreading my wings a little more.

Our computers should be here tomorrow and it will be so much better with all my programs.

We keep chipping away day by day enjoying our stay until we can call it home sweet home.

I wake in paradise each day and I’m so in love with it here. I’m still unable to fathom that we are in the middle of this beautiful place. I’m in awe of the land surrounded by gorgeous rolling hills. Bobby is such a sport as I’m constantly saying “It’s so beautiful here”.

I’ve been keeping myself busy house hunting and finding plenty to do to keep busy. I’ve also settled into an afternoon nap each day this week. It’s not like me to nap daily so perhaps my body is just trying to catch up.

Each evening when Bobby comes home (that sounds funny, home) we figure out where we want to go for dinner. Then we take our own sweet time chatting over the dinner table, catching up with each others day.

The other night after dinner we made a visit to Wal-Mart and I was totally blown away by the size of the one here. I’ll just say it’s the biggest one I’ve ever been in ‘seriously’ and I’m so in love with it! My only problem is that I want to feel home, I want to feel like it’s ‘my’ Wal-Mart, I want to know it like the back of my hand. Believe me, this Wal-Mart and I are going to become pals and I’ll be so acquainted with this place before you know it.

Side note: While Bob and I were in line to check out, a group of college boys were behind us chatting. I got so tickled when one of the guys asked the other… “What do you think is gayer, a robe or pj’s.” The other guy responded quickly, “A robe” Hmmm said the guy who asked the question “Why a robe”. Well said the other kid, I have both a robe and pj’s but if you must know… “When I think of a robe, I think of someone who is cold and snuggling to keep warm, they have a cup of coffee in their hands and they have slippers on their feet”. This kid made me laugh right out loud. I used to think of college students as adults but really they are just grown up cute kids. Ya just gotta love them. Living near college town is another perk, it will keep us young at heart.

We are off to a great start and looking forward to calling this our home.