Our winter

Welcome to winter. Although it's been a mild winter, weather-wise, I'm so tired of winter and wish spring would come. So I'm going to rant.

• House is completely torn up. We had to clear out the pantry and porch. Everything went into the living room and foyer. It is very cozy (read: cluttered) in our house. 
• They might turn the water or electricity off any time. 
• The city had to dig a four foot hole in our tree lawn today to try to get to the box to shut off the water so that our plumber can change a pipe, and, after showing up 90 minutes after they said they would, they couldn't get to the box. Then they took off without telling our plumber when exactly they were coming back. They claim that they're coming again tomorrow to "try again." Water will probably shut off just in time for me to make dinner and try to mix and warm up a bottle for Ian.
• The kids have had various colds, congestion and coughs since the beginning of November.
• Jim just got the mother of all colds.
• The neighbor cat, Donovan, has claimed our front porch, which is now completely open, awaiting delivery of windows and door. So our cats, especially Zeus, have a fit every evening when he makes his appearance on our porch, sounding a little like a screaming baby.
• The only time Jim can get an appointment with the building inspector for phase 2 of our home project is on a Thursday from 2-4. Because, apparently, people doing home projects can't have normal jobs to pay the bills; they have to spend all their time with the home inspector or waiting for Home Depot to make deliveries. Our door delivery from Home Depot arrived at 6:45 this morning, as I was chasing Annie around, trying to get her dressed. Really. Also, the city randomly sent us a letter today and said that we have to have our water meter changed, appointment required, our responsibility to contact them.
• After all is said and done with this home project, there will still be 1000 things that need to be done to our house and I'm very tired.
• Our car needs a muffler.
• I need to find a matching hub cap for my car. It's bothering me because I think my car looks like junk. But I don't have time to go to a scrapyard to find one, and don't want to spend the $50 it would cost to get a new one from the dealership. It's the front passenger side wheel, and now that I look around, it appears that everyone is missing this particular hubcap. I don't exactly know why. 
• I have to unload baby stuff and I'm sad about it. 
• I wish I wasn't a pack rat. Jim wishes I wasn't a pack rat too.
• Did I mention that our house is a cluttered mess?
• I need a vacation that involves swimming outside.

Home

It's been 10 days and we have arrived in Ft. Lauderdale. It was hard to blog when Internet cost $.55 a minute. So I kept a written journal instead. I have trips in there dating from 2004 and it's a nice tradition to keep logging trips in there. Back to reality soon. We have to report to disembark in 30 minutes, and then it's on to the airport and to Buffalo.

Airport

It's about 5 am and here we are at the airport, waiting for our flight to board. There are a remarkable number of people here for it being so darn early in the morning! I guess that's why they call it the city that never sleeps? No, wait we're in Buffalo. ;) To Atlanta, then Acapulco. First time using the new passport, even though it was issued in 2007. It would all be very exciting if I didn't miss Annie so much. She was sleeping peacefully when we left. I'm trying not to think about how it will go when she wakes up and realizes Mom and Dad are gone.

Packing

We are almost packed and getting ready to leave for Buffalo. There seems like so much stuff we have to bring. I always worry that I'm going to forget something important. But, in the end, most stuff can be picked up on the way. As long as we have our documents, Annie, and her snuggy, we are all set.

The challenge this morning appears to be keeping everything packed. Annie loves pulling things out of our bags, carrying them around, and then discarding them somewhere else. Also, she insisted on wearing this pair of pants this morning that are too long on her. She keeps coming by and saying, "pants, please," so I'll pull them up for her.

It's been a long time since we've done a big trip like this! Nervous, excited.

Coming soon ... vacation!

Dear Blog Readers,
It's been a few months and we will soon be going on vacation! The original purpose of this blog (sort of) was to share our travels, so I'm going to do that again. I'm not sure how much Internet access we will have, and this will be an easy way to update everyone on our whereabouts.

So, first, an introduction.
What? A cruise through the Panama Canal, starting in Acapulco and ending in Fort Lauderdale.
When? Coming soon in March
Why? Um, it's a vacation. Do you really need a why? :) Seriously, though, this is a baby-moon, and the first international vacation we've taken in over 5 years. Back in the day, we loved a good trip and have traveled all over Europe, a little bit of South America, Egypt, and have seen quite a bit of the U.S., including the cross-country drive and trip to the Southwest that we blogged about on here. These days, most of our traveling involves going to Buffalo.

See you back here soon with our travel log!

A note

Dear Blog Readers,
You'll notice that I haven't written a blog in a while. The truth of the matter is that between this and Facebook, I'm getting awfully tired of monologues. I much prefer dialogs. Is the current "social networking" technology such that we don't talk to each other anymore? We just all post things about ourselves in separate spheres, and then "cyber stalk" all our friends?  At this point, I'm done with that.

I hope that I will come up with another use for this blog in the future. I feel that blogs are successful if they inform the world about something greater than ourselves.  A cooking blog.  A blog about economics. Etc. But, if you want to know how I'm doing or what I'm up to, please call or e-mail. I would love to hear from you.

Dad

I would like everyone to take a moment today and remember my wonderful Dad, who died three years ago today. I will always remember the twinkle in his eyes when he smiled, his wonderful sense of humor, and his guiding wisdom. People don't truly die until they are forgotten, so remember him today.