Home Sweet Home (Continued)

Hi, everyone!

Well, here's the (hopefully) longer update that I promised y'all last night! I'll just start writing and we'll see how it goes...

Let's see. When I last sent out a proper update, we were in Weatherford, TX, not far from Fort Worth. We drove through Dallas later that day and waved at the Ambassador Hotel, which is were the ATI Dallas headquarters are and where Ruth went for EXCEL last January.

We got to Conway, AR later that day, and we spend two nights at the hotel where my aunt Debbie works. We got to visit her and her family, and my aunt Marnie and her two children, whom I haven't seen in years. It was great to visit with them, and I know several members of my family who wanted to stay a week or so before heading up to Chicago. ;) But, the weather was not getting any better up in IL, so we thought it would be better to get settled in now rather than risk driving in dangerous weather.

We started driving to Joliet on the 5th, and were debating if we should get a hotel for the night or try and make it all the way home that night (it would have been 1 AM if we had) when whoops, Joanna threw up all over me. Talk about writing on the wall..."GET A HOTEL!!!" ;) So we got a hotel somewhere in IL and spent the night there. We were only a few hours away from Joliet, so we thought it would be better to drive in the morning and get to the house while it would be daylight.
Dad and I left the hotel a little earlier than the others so we could pack the van up, and we were surprised how cold it had gotten overnight. We opened up the van to discover that anything liquid had frozen, which to a Californian is pretty cool! ;) Water bottles, plastic batons with sparkly water inside, and other sundry items. My dad had asked me to take a box of wipes and clean up a mess in the van, and when I told him that they had probably frozen he said I was probably overreacting to the cold. Well, they were frozen. :p ;)

We arrived at our new home at around 2 PM, and immediately began exploring the house! Some folks from our church had shoveled our driveway and left some food for us, which was very kind of them. We're very delighted with the house, and I think we're going to enjoy living here! :) I'll send some pics soon.

The weather here has been cold and snowy. :D When we got here there was several inches of soft, powdery snow on the ground, and it snowed several more last night. Today was a bit warmer and some things began to melt a little, but I know it's gone below freezing again because all the partially melted snow has gone hard again. It normally doesn't snow this early up here, so it's probably going to warm up soon, but either way I'm sure we'll get our fill of snow before winter is over. ;) It IS a nuisance at times, but it's so pretty! The view from my window is breathtaking. I still can't get over all the snow around here, lol...I ought to take a few pictures and show them to you, just to rub it the faces of my beach lovin' Cali friends. ;) They don't have weather like this down there, that's for sure! I can't wait until next year, when I can assume the air of a seasoned Ilinoian (is there such a thing? lol!) and not appear such a newbie...and trust me, I DO look like a newbie!

People aren't really big on property fences down here (everything seems more casual and less "locked up" then California), so there's a lot of open stretches of snow around us. The lot on one side even has a small "pond" that's frozen over. Our yard is the only one with ton of footprints in it. ;) The houses on either side of us have not been built yet, and neither has a lot of houses on the opposite street. It makes everything look very open and spacious. Our property lot isn't really that big, but the lack of fences and houses on either side of us make it look a lot bigger. Right now, I'm enjoying the space and quiet, but I know next summer I may feel very differently about a bunch of dirt and a ditch full of vermin-infested water. Our realtor says that both of the empty lots have been sold, but the buyer has a contingency plan where they won't actually buy the house until their own home sells. And with the way the market is, that could be awhile. So, in theory, we could have a nice spacious living area for a long time. Either way...if the DO start building, it's going to make life very miserable for us for several months. I guess that's what earplugs are for. ;)

Well, this update has been long enough and I probably should close now. I could go on and on and talk about the city of Joliet and the different kinds of stores and restaurants that they have here (no In'in'Outs, sadly!) and about my "little" shopping excursion today (when one brings very little necessary living items with them on a move, one has to buy a LOT when they arrive at their destination), but it's 11:30 and I've still got work to do before I can go to bed.

Thanks so much for all the kind comments that have been directed my way! I'm not sure when I'll update next, but hopefully not before too long. :)


God bless,
Asile