Thursday, October 23, 2008

Climate adjustments...

No more house pictures yet, just some thoughts on our new place. I walked Avery to preschool this morning, and I knew it was going to be cold so I made him (under duress) put on his puffy winter coat. He hasn't worn it since last winter, and wasn't particularly thrilled with the sensation apparently. I was thanked as soon as we stepped outside and got a, "Brrr it's cold!" out of him. It was somewhere around 40 degrees and very windy. Halfway through the twenty minute walk to preschool he wanted gloves too.
And poor Curran ran errands with me while his big brother had class, and he really didn't care for the wind. By time I removed him from the van for a second stop he learned to (hood up) tuck in his arms and curl his head into my chest to avoid the cold wind.
Of course after living in the bay area so long, I just always keep my sandal/flip-flops by the door for running around town. I managed to put on boots this morning for the long walk, but later in the day I just slipped the sandals over my socks and ran out... Toes got a bit chilly they did...
No snow around here, just a low of 23ish tonight. But our house heaters work great! You'd never know it was frigid outside - until of course you have to throw that stinky diaper in the outside garbage can. Our central heat works great, and the big open living room has extra heating along the baseboard/trim. I can only hope that the air conditioner feels so good when the summer heat sets in.
And please don't think I'm complaining about the cold. I'll sooo take 40 over 85! Okay, now since you've managed to make it through this wordy post, what you really want:















And no, the beach picture is not from our new home. Avery was making sand smoothies (and no, not really drinking them) about a month ago. The picture of Curran was taken on the steps that were our only 'soft' seating in the house until our furniture arrived. We finally got all the bookshelves assembled (thank you Dad) today, thereby drastically reducing the number of boxes filling our living room.
I have discovered that Curran really likes to help out. Most recently he helps me unload our (HOORAY!) dishwasher. He'll hand me the little plates one at a time while I stack them. It's quite cute. It's not quite so cute when he tries to hand me the paring knives, so I've learned to just remove the silverware tray first and avoid that argument :)
Some things here are sooo cheap. We found amazing leather/tapestry/carved wood couches for $850! It was very very hard not to break down and buy some perfectly matching set for our living room because "we could never get those prices in Marin!". On the other hand some things are much more expensive and disappointing - like the produce section. The bell peppers - even the green bell peppers are $2 each!! On the other hand I can still get hummus and pita bread out here, so that makes Avery (an avid fan) very happy.

2 comments:

Eddie Louise said...

Yes.. the weather will be a big adjustment! But hopefully the dry climate will help your breathing! Glad to hear you are settling in and how *cute* that Curran likes to help! Bet you are really loving that dishwasher!!

Chip Michael said...

You'll not really notice the difference in climate until you get the heating bills... they can be slightly painful from October through April (yes, that's right all the way until April... and even May can be chilly at times). But I'll agree with you - I'd much rather have the colder than the hotter - even with my old bones.