Fire Island Adventure

Yes I said Fire Island. I am not hallucinating from cabin fever. I was actually on Fire Island yesterday. Freezing my butt off...but so happy to be walking on SAND!!!

Went with hubby and friend to check out some summer rentals. I emailed an online real estate and connected with the agent online and arranged to look at houses. As the day got closer I started to worry. How do I know if this is really a real estate agent? What if it's a murderer who lures people to the Island of Fire to kill them and throw their body into the cold Atlantic? After I was poo-poo'd by hubby and friend we were off. Had to meet "Bruce"at Field 5 then he would take us over in his jeep.

OK so now forward to the "meeting" . Out of the Jeep ( a little one mind you I am thinking like 4 doors but no) emerges Bruce. Not your typical real estate agent. I am thinking, ok I was hoping for someone to emerge that would put my Stephen King novel to rest. No such luck. Six foot, long hair, knit hat, surfer dude shades, denim jacket, boots. Hmmm. We shake hands as we introduce ourselves. "hey Cara so cool to meet you..." Oh boy.

So without more than a brief introduction we are off. Skidding out and bumping along the beach. 10 foot waves crashing not too far away. This is it. He is going to make a sharp right and go right in...killing three birds with one stone. (so to speak) But no, we keep bumping right along. Did I mention the BUMPING???? I mean after three large babies, my insides ain't what they used to be. I think my bladder is stuck in my throat. He tells us he has lived here for 32 years. A true local. I say..."must run out of things to do here all winter." Well that opened up the flood gates. He was a carpenter, real estate appraiser, clammer, construction company owner, surfer, husband, (wife couldnt take the floods in the 90's and since she was a professional roller skater and joining Cirque Du Soliel anyway she ditched him), divorced guy, boyfriend (girlfriend is 30 years younger..now I am figuring him for about 60), a resident of Costa Rica, multiple dog owner ( hence the smell of wet dog and dog hair all over the back seat...yummy), horse owner, an almost multi-millionaire 3 times over, green..environmentally speaking, and very well read. Oh, and now a real estate agent.

Mind you we were with him for about 1 1/2- 2 hours. A lot of info for that time frame. Even for me and I like the details. And we did manage to look at 6 houses in between stories.

Now had I gone alone or with CB...and not the men. I am thinking I would have said...
Cara? No I'm not Cara I am meeting someone else here." And left. But since I had the men with me...probably could have taken him anyway..but it's good to have some backup, we went on the adventure.

After saying some goodbyes and listening to a few more stories...oh and he really is not into the Nude Beach at Field 5. Too many old men tanning their wrinkled junk. (not my words..) We decided that we like one of the houses and he will call with all the details. He thought we were cool...and he had fun laughing with us. I think that's a compliment since he probably thought the three of us had a 10 foot pole up our ass when we began. We finally got into the car..cranked the heat (did I mention that I dont think there was any heat in that Jeep?) and laughed all the way back to the Mainland.

All in all an interesting "adventure". I am glad I went. Learned some things about FI. Got a LOT of dirt on the residents...I may write a book. Got to walk on the sand...as the sun peeked out of the clouds..as if to say...I will be here waiting. Come back soon. Oh and I think that old Salty Dog is pretty cool too.

So I hang on by a thread getting through these last days of winter. I have to hang on. I have a date with the sun that I am planning to keep.

Happy Valentines Day

Sent all my loves off this morning...with the first little gifts of the day. Sometimes I worry that the big kids won't want to keep up traditions we have since they are getting older. But they do, at least they say they do. Not sure if it's for Shorty's benefit or mine..but either way I am always pleasantly surprised that they do.

Had some Love Day trinkets waiting for them on the breakfast table..and though they were happy to get them they were wondering if there was going to still be a scavenger hunt. I thought even Shorty wasn't much into it last year and wouldn't want to do it. The scavenger hunt you see started many moons ago....I think the first one was was back when Jr. wasn't even really speaking yet, and was dragged all over the house by you know who. But I always made up clues and hid presents around the house. They ran all over finding candy and toys. This was of course followed by "Red Dinner". Ravioli, heart shaped biscuits, Shirley Temples in fancy wine glasses, candlelight and something red for dessert (this year it's red jello creations). So now after the Kindergarten Valentines' Day party...making snowglobes with 23 five-year olds....H-E-L-P!!) I have to create the scavenger hunt. I complain...but secretly I am tickled. I guess I will have to do it until they are more interested in the their own Valentines and don't have to settle for mom. But that's ok.

My big Valentine gave me a beautiful card this morning and (no candy...weight watchers remember) tickets to a B'way play. I truly enjoy the card the most. After 23 Valentines Days together his card choices are second to none. Well, maybe except mine. ;)

New Look...

Since I turned the page on my calendar and the "dark" days of January are behind me I decided on a new look. I have actually had some time to breathe lately during the day so I had some time to devote to sprucing up my blog. Seriously I started after having to drive Jr. to school at 8:20.
(He left for the bus stop only to call me from said bus stop to say since he had to print out his homework before he left, he forgot to "do" his hair. So he just didn't feel right and needed to come back and do the gel thing. So would I mind driving him? Not a problem High maintenance siblings are all gone for the day. Like I said I have time to breathe. And remember this is a kid who used to not brush his teeth regularly. So I am happy today to drive him so he can do his "do".)
Now it's 10:00..I havent eaten breakfast and I am still in my bus stop attire. (which is minimal..hair brushed somewhat, teeth brushed of course...face somewhat presentable although today required sunglasses even though there was no sun..Crocs which I am not allowed by teenage children to wear in public other than to bus stop or out in the yard...and choice of coat which depends what I wore to bed and what needs to be covered somewhat or completely) Is that T.M.I.? Oh well...

And here I sit blogging and uploading some pictures. The old format was kinda impersonal and dark. I am not feeling dark. I am not totally hating February. I mean there is Valentine's Day. Which I do like. There's our "dating anniversary" which to this day we always acknowledge. (2-11-08 will be 23 years "dating" and I have the gold, tri-color, alternating sapphire and diamond ankle bracelet to prove it!!! Holy moly!) and there's winter break..(with a trip to somewhere warm would be divine but not this year), and now we have our moving in anniversary too. So not terrible.

And that ground hog can bite me. I am thinking warm spring thoughts!

Happy Anniversary

Two years tomorrow at H. Lane....

Sometimes its feels like we just moved here, then other times it seems like we have always been here.I realized somewhat sadly, I am forgetting what my old house looked like. Now I remodeled that entire house. Well, not all me..of course TP did a lot. And I guess the construction company did actually do the addition big deal. But I put my heart into that house. I mean it wasnt a "colonial" when we bought it. Every room on the second floor was new. I picked out paint, rugs, furniture...I ate and slept decorating that house. Now I can't remember what color the carpet was in my bedroom. Or the light fixure that took me months to find. I can't remember what flowers I used to plant in the backyard. I mean this is the house that I decorated for a holiday in a few hours flat. I could do it with my eyes closed. Same things in the same place every year. I had holes in the same places on molding where I tacked my decorations to every year. My little paper autumn leaves or little red hearts that went on my upstairs windows...sounds so silly when I write it "out loud". I mean no one made us move. We wanted to. We had wanted to for several years but never actually got up the nerve. But our life really started there. We loved our old apartment it was a really great apartment. Darling Daughter had her own room, our landlords were like family....but it never felt like home. Our boys were born in that house on F. Avenue...we got our first dog, cat(s), minivan, neighbors, pool, block party, just to name a few in that house. But, my old friends on the block say that the newest people that live there (the BIG PEOPLE moved out) are a nice family, with company, BBQ's, kids playing basketball in the street and even a St. Bernard!! So that makes me happy. I am glad there are people who are making new memories there....even if some of mine are starting to fade.

But happily things are great here too. I love my block. I love living on my block. Driving home to my block. This is a block I used to drive past with almost asleep babies in the backseat looking at houses I wanted to buy someday. It makes me smile sometimes when I pull into my driveway. It has just recently begun to feel like home. Of course there's a million and one things on the "wish list" to do. Evenutally they will get done. It is most "home" to Shorty who doesn't remember a thing from the old house. Jr. has rearranged his room I think its four times since he has lived here...I wonder how many more configurations he can come up with?? Even the pets are at home. They have their spots to sleep or watch squirrels outside in yard. We have already made memories here. Some to last a lifetime. We are happy here. We would probably be happy most anywhere. But being in the town we love makes it even better.

I know we will be here for a long long time. Forever even. And not only because moving totally bites. Because I like to be happy. And we are happy here. I hope this is another great, memory making year in our house. No, in our home.