Friends that are like family

We recently travelled back to NY for a week. It was really crazy. We had only been gone two months and during those two months, we were only really alone for 2 weeks because of all the company. It made the trip feel weird. It felt like we never had left. I didn't like that feeling and I'm thankful that we will be putting some distance between us and NY for a while. Christmas will be a perfect time to go back. It will have been 6 months since we had moved and 4 months since we had been there last.

While we were there, BC worked for the copier giant on site. He needed to check in with them and make sure they hadn't forgotten about him. Since we were in my in-laws city, we stayed with them. This was challenging for a number of reasons.

The main reason was how far away they live from the copier giant. They are 45 minutes away! I haven't travelled that far for anything since I left! Everything is right here. Each day we took BC to work on the eastside of the city and then we would visit our friends. This did not make the in laws too happy. June and Ward, mostly Ward, were not pleased by the amount of running around we were doing.

I can't help it! I have friends that are just like family to me! In fact there are times that I feel closer to my friends than I do my family. It's just the kind of person that I am and always have been. We did make sure we had quite a bit of time with June and Ward also. In fact we spent more time at their house than we were expecting.


We are trying to figure out how to work it out when we come in December to see our family (friends) and the in laws without making everyone so angry. Our current plan is to come up to NY the weekend before Christmas and stay with friends. BC will go to work on site and we will visit friends. Then as it gets closer to Christmas, we'll move to the in laws house. My sister in law Phoebe wants to see some of her friends as well so we are talking about the idea of an open house at June and Ward's. Maybe they will be happier if we see our friends at their house?

As if we didn't make June and Ward angry enough, we put some icing on the cake (or cinnamon roll) the morning we left. We were headed to Syracuse and had to be there by 9:30 to watch my friends kids while she took her baby for some testing. BC told his mom that we were leaving around 7:45 that morning. As we are up and getting ready to leave, June is making gluten free cinnamon rolls for BC. I kept thinking, there is no way those are going to be in time. Sure enough, June pops them in the oven at 8 am, just as we are leaving (late too I might add). Yeah, that was the frosting on the cinnamon roll. It went over like a lead cinnamon roll.

Friends that are like family.

We recently travelled back to NY for a week. It was really crazy. We had only been gone two months and during those two months, we were only really alone for 2 weeks because of all the company. It made the trip feel weird. It felt like we never had left. I didn't like that feeling and I'm thankful that we will be putting some distance between us and NY for a while. Christmas will be a perfect time to go back. It will have been 6 months since we had moved and 4 months since we had been there last.

While we were there, BC worked for the copier giant on site. He needed to check in with them and make sure they hadn't forgotten about him. Since we were in my in-laws city, we stayed with them. This was challenging for a number of reasons.

The main reason was how far away they live from the copier giant. They are 45 minutes away! I haven't travelled that far for anything since I left! Everything is right here. Each day we took BC to work on the eastside of the city and then we would visit our friends. This did not make the in laws too happy. June and Ward, mostly Ward, were not pleased by the amount of running around we were doing.

I can't help it! I have friends that are just like family to me! In fact there are times that I feel closer to my friends than I do my family. It's just the kind of person that I am and always have been. We did make sure we had quite a bit of time with June and Ward also. In fact we spent more time at their house than we were expecting.


We are trying to figure out how to work it out when we come in December to see our family (friends) and the in laws without making everyone so angry. Our current plan is to come up to NY the weekend before Christmas and stay with friends. BC will go to work on site and we will visit friends. Then as it gets closer to Christmas, we'll move to the in laws house. My sister in law Phoebe wants to see some of her friends as well so we are talking about the idea of an open house at June and Ward's. Maybe they will be happier if we see our friends at their house?

As if we didn't make June and Ward angry enough, we put some icing on the cake (or cinnamon roll) the morning we left. We were headed to Syracuse and had to be there by 9:30 to watch my friends kids while she took her baby for some testing. BC told his mom that we were leaving around 7:45 that morning. As we are up and getting ready to leave, June is making gluten free cinnamon rolls for BC. I kept thinking, there is no way those are going to be in time. Sure enough, June pops them in the oven at 8 am, just as we are leaving (late too I might add). Yeah, that was the frosting on the cinnamon roll. It went over like a lead cinnamon roll.

Chickenpox

So the latest news around here is chicken pox. Mabel's son came down with chicken pox first. She called all of us to let us know he had chicken pox since all of the kids had been playing together that previous weekend. My first thought was, "Didn't get the vaccine?" Yes, he had. But apparently that doesn't keep everyone from getting it. And apparently my daughter is one of them. Elizabeth came down with chicken pox yesterday. She and Grace are both home. Grace only has a few but Elizabeth has lots of them!

I was opposed to this vaccine. As a new mom, I wasn't educated on all the different vaccines that my son would get. When they went to give the chicken pox vaccine, I laughed. Seriously, chicken pox. Yes, the doctor told me. People die from the chicken pox. I laughed again. I loved having the chicken pox. It was the best sickness I had ever had. I got a whole week off of school and I felt fantastic, except for some itching. I let him convince me to give it to Bubs and then the other two as well.

When I told Elizabeth she had chicken pox, she cried. She tends to be dramatic. I told her to get excited. She just got a free pass from school for an entire week and will get to stay home and play all day long! She stopped crying.

Labor Day

On Labor Day some of my neighbors were out laboring in their yards. Mabel was one of them. I had received this email (excerpt) from her earlier and wanted to talk with her a little more.

"I am so utterly disappointed in some of the people that live on this street. I have only spoken to that new woman 2 times (this is the one that peed on Mabel's lawn). Sally is so toxic that she turns people that don't even know me & to think that woman has just moved into the street really pisses me off!! What I find even more bizarre is that people are still talking to these woman after knowing what they have done & then talking to me!! I cannot & will not be 2 faced! I have way too much integrity & self respect to be involved in this disgusting childish behavior & i am now starting to disconnect myself from these people."

Then she wrote "Good luck being friends wih her. Some of her other friends have just turned their backs on her, I only hope she doesn't do the same to you!".

I took that as a .....well, I won't even say it on here. Anyway, I decided to talk to her face to face.

I can't remember the exact conversation but what I was trying to say to her was that I do not condone the peeing. I do not condone the mean behavior. I do not condone gossiping (what the heck are we doing on your lawn right now?) I've never met this new person that peed. Seriously, what do you want me to do? Essentially she was asking me to give Sally a piece of my mind and stop being friends with her. I reminded Mabel that I live right next door to Sally and I need to get along with her. Our kids are friends, we have to talk each time we let the dogs out at the same time because her dogs will eat mine as a snack if we don't coordinate.

Thankfully Tom (her next door neighbor) was there. He did say that while he doesn't like Sally, they have to get along as neighbors. He also reminded Mabel that she has probably been drunk many a time and made some poor choices herself. She agreed with that but said that act was done out of vengance.

This is really annoying!! The more I think about it, the more annoyed I get. Where the heck are all the sane people??

What are we, twelve?

Our new neighborhood is made up of smart, educated people. Or at least it appeared that way when we moved in. People have great jobs, there are few SAHMs, some dual incomes. We have principals, teachers, tons of engineers and some business owners.

When I moved into the hood, a few people made casual mention about the drama on our street. They call it "Wisteria Lane". I'm sure my readers are not familiar with Desperate Housewives but to fill you in, you don't want to live on Wisteria Lane. People change partners, tell massive lies, gossip, often get hit by cars, commit suicide and get killed. So I probe. That's what I was trained to do. Someone gives you information, you follow up with a probing question to get more detail. This was probably one of those instances where it would be better "not to know". While no one is getting killed, there is a lot of drama. Lots of lies and gossip.

From what I can tell there are three teams. Team one is the "Happy Hour crew". They hold a happy hour every Friday night at someone's house. These can be short or these can go on into the morning hours. I've only attended once because of our busy visitor schedule.

I don't have a name yet for Team two. They are definitely several very opinionated people. While this could be said about the Happy Hour Crew, they are less vocal about it around people they don't know.

Then there is Team three, which I am on. It's called Switzerland. I'm trying to stay neutral which clearly they do not want us to do as they have been trying to recruit us on their team.

The team leaders for one and two live directly across the street from one another. They despise each other. And to make it worse, I live right next door to the leader of team one and then adjacent to the leader of team two. Again, I'm trying to be Switzerland.

A few weeks ago, my dad was here for a visit. Happy Hour was going to be at the team leader's house (Sally), right next door. Since my dad was here, and my sister, we declined to attend. When we woke up the next morning my dad had a full report of the goings on from the previous night.

Dad: Your neighbors were having a great time last night!

Me: Oh yeah, they have happy hour every Friday night.

Dad: They kept me awake from 1:30-3:00.

Me: What are you talking about?

Dad: Last night I kept hearing all these voices around 1:30 am. I thought it was a bunch of teenagers and since they were so loud, I thought maybe they were causing trouble. I looked out the window and it was a bunch of adults standing in the street.

Me: Wow, I didn't hear a thing and my room is at the front of the house. Must have been tired. I've heard these people really like to party it up.

Dad: Oh yeah, they were really partying all right. One lady went across the street, pulled down her pants and peed on the lawn.

Me: What? Are you sure?

Dad: Oh yeah, I saw the whole thing! (he laughs) They must have been pretty drunk to pee on someone's lawn.

Me: Show me which house.

He then points to the leader of Team two's house, Mabel. I thought he had lost his mind. I kept asking him if he was sure. He kept laughing and saying, "Oh I'm sure."

Then it clicks. Maybe the Happy Hour crew had someone go over to Mabel's lawn and pee on it!!

Fast forward to this weekend. Theresa (team two) stops by my house, because of kids.

Theresa: "Just so you know.....the drama is full on."

Me: "What?" (seriously I do try to stay out of it)

Theresa: Apparently a few weeks ago, this new person in the neighborhood was at Happy Hour and she peed on Mabel's lawn.

Me: So it's really true?

Theresa: What?

Me: (before I can think) My dad saw the whole thing. I thought he lost his marbles. That is crazy! I seriously can't believe someone peed on someone else's lawn. What are we, twelve?

I can't remember all the details about how it got back to Team two but you know that saying, "Who pissed in your Cheerios?" Yeah, well....Mabel knows who pissed in hers.

Comments, thoughts? I can't post this on Facebook and yet I got to tell someone!

Outerbanks - OBX

I love the Outerbanks. A few years ago, my side of the family rented a really large house for a week in Corolla. It's pronounced "CAR-ra-LA". I know this now that I'm a North Carolinian. Before I called it Corolla as in the Toyota Corolla.

I love the beach! I just do! I love being near the ocean and watching the waves. There is something so soothing about this process. Maybe it's the predictability. Tide coming in and out each day around the same time. The sound of the water hitting the sand. Boy, I need to get back there!

We were looking at lots of places in the northeast but decided on the OBX because you can almost guarantee to have great weather. Further north, you can't guarantee that. You could have a "fall day" in the middle of the summer. It could be cloudy all week. You just don't know.

We did go during hurricane season which freaked me out but thankfully it was not an issue. From watching the hurricane process this week with Earl, I'm impressed with our Governor and the people. They handled it so well and the tourists should be able to return in no time.

There are lots of houses on the OBX that are large enough to host your entire extended family. We rented a 7 bedroom house which had three levels. I highly recommend this if you can swing it. When living with your family for a full week, for the first time since you were young, you need lots of space. It was great to have plenty of room to spread out and be doing different things.

With a larger house, you get more amenities. Our house had a large in ground pool, hot tub, view of the ocean, three deck levels, outdoor shower, bikes, and lots of other things. There are typically community pools and fitness centers in case you don't have your own pool.

The boys played Kan Jam every morning on the beach (redneck version of Frisbee golf) and the girls sat in the sun reading a book while the kids played in the sand. It was very relaxing! Every afternoon we headed back to the house and spent time in the pool. Some people napped, read books, went for bike rides, or went out exploring.

The houses are expensive to rent but if you can get a lot of people, it's much cheaper. It can be cheaper than a hotel for a week and you have your own space with the ability to cook full meals.

Of course we had a lot of family dynamics but since it was three years ago, I don't remember a whole lot of the bad, just the good. I had not "lived" with all of my siblings and parents since I was 19 years old. Even then, it was only for one the summer, since I was in college. My sister Elaine was 15, Frushie was 11 and George was 7. That was a long time ago and we have all changed a lot since then not to mention the addition of spouses. Boy if I had been blogging then, I'd have a lot of stories for you!

Update

I apologize for not keeping people up to date with our changes. If you haven't heard, we moved to North Carolina which we have been trying to do for over a year. It all came together really fast. BC heard from the copier giant that he was approved to work remotely. Three days later we were scheduling a visit down here, getting the mortgage approval together, and farming out the kids. This makes it sound so easy yet it was craziness for those three days. We travelled down Memorial Day weekend to NC, found a house and made an offer. When we returned, it was done. Just like that, we were moving!

We waited until the underwriters were all set, BC met with his manager again, and other safeguards before announcing it to our friends. Within three weeks, we were down here again, doing a final walk through on the house and then closing. It was surreal. When you wait for over a year for your plans to come together, and they finally do, it doesn't seem real at all. We were blessed beyond what we could have imagined. BC and I had made a list, along with the kids, of the things we "must have in the house" and things that would be amazing. All of the things on both lists were in this house. We are blessed!

We've had a ton of company including a 2 week visit from June and Ward, which is a blog post unto itself. We had one set of company leave and the next arrive hours later. It was a bit crazy but I am sure it made it much easier to transition when having familiar faces around. This included some of my favorites like my aunt and my "leftover friends". Lots of laughs, Long Island ice teas, and (hopefully) great food.