March has been Busy!

Along with more doctor appointments and getting the house as squared away as we can before Peanut arrives, March is just slipping away!

Tom had an out of town conference in St. Pete Beach, FL from March 12-15. Luckily I got to go along (with some convincing from Tom.) It was really nice. Our hotel room looked out over the gulf of Mexico and we had a beautiful beach to walk on. Tom was only in conference from 8-noon and all meals were included, so we were pretty carefree! We really needed it, too. Tom has been working so much that he was pretty beat down and I really needed to have some time with him. It was nice to just spend time together.

It had the added bonus of revitalizing Tom, too. When I asked Tom about getting some yard work done yesterday, he was quite willing, which was a big help to me. I've been starting to worry about how I'll get everything done before the baby comes. We got bulbs planted and mulch put down and the yard mowed. Honestly it makes the whole place feel a little more homey and more like our own.

Other projects are starting to fall together now, too. We had the roof replaced at the end of December and the new heating/air conditioning system goes in on Thursday. Both were unexpected expenses, but I suppose it gets chalked up as the joys of home ownership. I had a guy out to do a "tune -up" on the HVAC system in December and he more or less delivered nothing but bad news which included the inside of the air handler being covered in mold. Since the system is 9 years old and we will likely be moving again in the next few years it only made sense to upgrade and clean it up. It especially makes sense with a Baby on the way and because Tom got sick back in December and it really didn't clear up until we put him on Claratin at the end of January. I would chalk it up to the mold. Hopefully the souped up filter system we're having installed will mean he can get off the Claratin.

I also had some of the gutters fixed early this month. Then once the HVAC system is replaced I can have ALL the carpets and living room furniture cleaned. We never managed to do it when we moved in, but honestly I'm just as glad now that I found out about the mold. Now we can clean everything at once. When the carpets are cleaned I can finally put the crib together and start getting ready for Peanut to come home. It really feels good to be marking stuff off the list.

Spring is definitely in the air here in Charleston. The trees are budding and the flowers are blooming. The bugs are buzzing. I've already seen a large Palmetto Bug skittering across the garage floor and with all the outdoorsy stuff I've been doing I have been eaten alive. My forearms are just bug bites on top of bug bites.

A Table for Four!

When we moved to Charleston in June we had our dining room table (for the dining room) but no table for our eat in kitchen. I have been searching and searching for a table that would work and FINALLY today I found one! It was the perfect shape, size, has the right chairs and is a pedestal and comes with a leave to make it oval if we need more room. I found it on Craig's list for a reasonable price (I thought, but Tom wanted to haggle - and he's sore that I didn't let him) and it was still available when I called on it. I told Tom the ONE and only thing I can think of that would have made it better was if it had had a drop leaf so that we could have the extra space, but not have to store the leave somewhere else.
I was so frustrated with the whole situation I was about to give up. Tom had mentioned at one point how great it would be if we had a couple of recliners in the kitchen so he could stretch out and relax while talking to me when I made dinner. I told him on the way to look at this table that if it wasn't what we wanted I was seriously temped to make a little sitting area there with our love seat, a small coffee table and an area rug and call it good. Once I saw this table, however, I knew it was the right one.
Craig's List in Charleston doesn't work as well as Craig's List in Portland. In Portland there were rules about posting and your ad was removed after 7 days to keep if fresh. Here you'll see the same ad placed day after day and people don't go in and remove their ad's once the item is gone. There were many times I got all excited about a table only to find out it had sold several days before. I can't believe I found one that was so perfect and mine for the taking.

Life's a Beach

When we were in Oregon going to the beach was a very fun thing to do. We would load the dogs in the car and some toys and water, towels and bowls (all the necessities) and drive the hour and a half to Del Ray Beach on the coast. You could drive right down onto the beach and we could just open the back of the car and let the dogs go. They would run and play and wade in the waves. The one downside seemed to be the bath when they got home.

Well after months of living in Charleston, we finally made it to the beach with the "kids." We loaded the car and drove out to Sullivan's Island this morning and walked and played on the beach. During winter months you can go from 5am-noon and let your kids romp and play. During the summer I think it's only until 10am. It was a little harder with the time restrictions. Even though it is a shorter drive (25 minutes or so) it is a longer walk to the beach. It's a pretty walk, but it's very hard to walk calmly, without pulling when you're an overexcited Brittany named Sam. He'll be 6 in May, but he doesn't seem to realize that he should have mellowed out a bit by now.

Much fun was had by all and it was good to get out and do something. I think even the dogs would agree, even if it did mean a bath.

Christmas In A New House... State...Culture

WOW! What a difference between Charleston and Portland! First off I must say that I am highly jealous of everywhere else in the US that is getting snow, because we certainly aren't! Portland got a complete dump for Christmas and I think they are expecting more. I on the other hand was sweating my buns off and fighting mosquitoes while trying to hang my outdoor lights.

Yes, it was quite an adventure decorating the outside of the house. An adventure in Folly! Now Tom and I haven't decorated the outside of the house in a few years and we've obviously never decorated the outside of this one. So it started with the idea of getting some net lights to drape the bushes in front of the front porch. We bought one that sounded like it would be the perfect size. However I assure you they are not as wide as they claim. The one we bought was enough tho cover the end of the bush and I had to go by two bigger ones to cover the rest of the bush.

Then I found these cute little prelit saplings to flank the driveway. However the cord that runs between the saplings is about 2 inches off the ground. The HVAC guy walked through and killed the first set and I walked through and killed the second set and the third set I bought just plain didn't work. I bought another brand through Home Depot which were bright white LED lights and you could have landed small aircraft with them. So we'll just have to find something else next year.

Then I was trying to find time for Tom and I to decorate the front porch and garage together, but one way or another it didn't happen. So, I did it myself on night, and as I said it was warm, muggy, and buggy. I got it done about 10 minutes before Tom came home. So I said " I got the porch, you get the garage!" Well then none of our ladders worked because they were to short. When we did manage to get Tom on the roof, he felt it was to steep. So I have two unused strings of icicle lights that never managed to make it onto the peak of my garage roof to finish to look I was going for.

Then came the Christmas Tree hunt! I saw a tree at the local fruit stand we liked. It was gorgeous and would have cost us $60-$70 in Vancouver. I almost died when I saw the price tag - $250!!! We didn't get that tree, and it was still sitting there a few days before Christmas. We did visit tree farms in the area, but their idea of a Christmas Tree down here is Leland Spruce, or larger versions of what I grew up thinking of as a shrub cut into Christmas tree form. We were getting very discouraged. We did find a lovely tree - from North Carolina - at Chik-Fil-A (think the Burger King of Chicken breasts.)

Happy New Year EVERYONE!!!

Was that an Alligator?

So, Tom has this weekend off and we spent today running around to Home Depot and Lowe's and Costco. Now, all three of these stores are much closer to our current house then they were in Portland. If you don't count the 3 minutes it takes just to get out of our development, it's about 2-3 minutes to Home Depot and Lowe's (they are directly across the street from one another and about 5-6 minutes to Costco. The whole reason I describe how close the stores are to us is to illustrate how close the Alligator was to our house.

Yes. Tom and I saw our very first wild South Carolina Alligator on the way home from Costco. (I had Tom take a picture with my cell phone, I'll have to see if we can get it onto the computer.) I was driving and we were passing a pond just a little ways away from Lowe's, and I just had the vague sense of seeing an Alligator shape on the bank of the pond. I told Tom and we decided to turn around and check. Sure enough! It was about 4-6 feet long and it was sunning itself on the bank.

Of course the joke on the way home was me telling Tom that I hadn't seen the 3 local Ducks that hang out in a pond in our development. Tom just turned to me and licked his lips.

Vacation!

Tom has had the last week off from work. We didn't know he was going to have a vacation in October until we got his call schedule on October 1st. So since I was supposed to work, we didn't really have a chance to plan a getaway. This hasn't been Tom's best vacation, I'm sure. However, it has been productive. Tom has built his workbench in a corner of the garage and wired in outlets so that he can start putting his tools away. They have been hodge podged on a table in the middle of the garage since we moved in. We bought some cabinets at the ReStore for $30. He just needs to put the pegboard up on them to hang his screwdrivers and wrench's and he'll be happy.

We also got our gardening stuff organized with a clever little shelf with hooks to hang tools from on the bottom. Slowly but surely the garage is emptying out and it looks like Tom might actually get his wish. He is determined to park in the garage by the time he goes back to work.

So, for those of you who haven't looked around at the rest of our blog and noticed our blog links - WE'RE PREGNANT!!! I got really excited and when we resolved not to tell everyone early on, so, I started blogging so that I wouldn't pop. This is our first pregnancy and we tried for over a year, so I wanted to tell everyone, but deep down I knew it was a good idea to wait until the first trimester had passed. However my best intentions have gone awry and I think more people know at this point then don't. So we are 10 weeks pregnant, very early I know. Our first appointment is next Wendsday, so hopefully I'll have more info to share then. Feel free to visit our "Little Person" page to see what's been happening so far.

Other good news is that I have found great terryaki beef or "beef on a stick" for the first time since I lived in North Adams and we also had a really delicious Thai dinner the other night. Talk about Mango and sticky rice! It came in a huge bowl and was warm and coconutty sweet! Mmmmmmm! Oddly enough the restaurant that makes the good Terryaki also makes other good Chinese food and sushi, too!

We had torrential downpours all day today and by this evening a large portion of the back yard was under signifigant water. It was deep enough that it actually covered the tops of our solar lights along the back fence. I hope they work once they've dried out. At one point the edge of the water had made it about a foot past the base of my birdfeeder. (You can find a picture of the backyard in my last post.)

Life in Charleston

IS BUSY!

First off, let me apologize for not posting in a while. This is my second attempt at this blog. The initial page sort of froze up and none of my links worked anymore. I tried to have our friend, Jonathan, help me trouble shoot the problem with me, but it was working for him. So I just decided to start over and transfer everything old to the new.

Tom is very busy. Really he is hardly ever home. They are keeping him very busy at MUSC. I'm lucky if I see him 10 hours during the week. I feel bad that he is SO tired all the time. Of course I also get frustrated when he comes home and wants to eat and go to bed and I just want a few minutes with him when he is conscious. I try to be patient and hold out for the weekends. I get at least one weekend day with him all to myself.

I also have a job. I was hired in July by Dr. Zetz at Crescent Moon Orthodontics. I'm working as an assistant along with another dedicated assistant and then one who has been out sick since right after I started and another who is often out sick due to chronic issues. It makes it interesting. I find it somewhat frustrating that I came to this office from an office where I felt like a valued member of the team and I was confident that Dr. Brown trusted me and wouldn't be mad about decisions I made, but here I feel not quite so appreciated or confident. I only work Thursday and Friday for the most part, so I just go and do my best try not to worry to much the rest of the time.

The vast majority of our things are unpacked and have a home in our new house. The Office still needs book shelves so I can finish unpacking boxes in there, but it's only now getting so it's comfortable to work in the garage after 10am. We also need to finish arranging the garage. It needs shelves and a work bench. I also need to by a table and chairs for the kitchen.

We have a lot more wildlife at this house then we did on Mall St. Just this evening I had two rabbits in the backyard. The birds are eating me out of house and home. The neighborhood has residential ducks and Hattie and Sam are enthralled with the frogs we encounter on our walks. We also have a couple different lizards running around the house, definitely Anoles and I think the other is a Skink. The best part is the wildlife we don't have. For those of you who had to listen to me wine about Skibby Man and his noisy neighbor in the apartments behind us (over our backyard) in Portland, WE LOVE OUR NEW BACKYARD! It is SO quiet. There is a house behind us, but it has a large backyard so it's a ways away and the only noise I hear is when they are mowing their lawn. It's GREAT!

We are still trying to find restaurants we really like. We have a few we can go back to, but we aren't in love with several of the places we've tried. The supermarkets are lacking as well. I finally made it into Earth Fare a few weeks ago and was so happy to smell that "natural food store" smell. In general the other grocery stores are okay but lacking basics like good frozen vegetables and buttermilk (in the south! Isn't that crazy! I thought buttermilk was as much a staple in the south as Okra and fried chicken! No cornbread, either!)

We did go to see Fort Sumter in August. We also visited Fort Moltre again as well. My sister Lisa and my brother-in-law Kenny came to visit us in mid-August. Kenny is very into history and the civil war and the like. So while they were here we took the boat out to Fort Sumter and had a tour (in the pouring rain, it started just as we got off the boat.) It was very interesting to see the fort and hear about the battle. I didn't know that the fort is actually built on "northern" soil. The land the Fort Sumter sits on is fill brought down from Massachusetts! The aircraft carrier you see here is the Yorktown. It's located at the landing where the boat back and forth to Fort Sumter docks. There is a submerine there as well and you can take tours of both.