Thank God For the Crabapple Tree

Because the crabapple tree out our window brings the robins. The robins who hang out up here all winter, just like we do.

This winter. Ugh. I already whined about winter last year, calling it the "least frugal thing I have ever done" -- and, uh, now I'm kinda looking back fondly at last year. I just deleted a huge paragraph of whining about the snow and the cold. (I'm sure I've complained enough on Twitter anyway.) There has been snow on the ground every day in 2014. That's longer than Jesus spent being tempted in the desert, y'all.

But let's not dwell on that.

Let's focus on the good things instead. The weird and fun things I'm still learning about living in a winter wonderland.

• Dancing trees. One day it was snowing buckets and buckets, and I watched it pile up so much on the evergreen trees that they finally gave in. The snow fell off, the branches bounced up and down, and it reminded me of this singing Christmas tree that my mom got as a gag gift many years ago.
• Snow-hawks. The poor unfortunate cars that are not garaged often get left with snow on the tops. The owners drive them around like that, and it looks like they have white mohawks.

That black car in the background totally has a snow-hawk

• School closings not dictating anything else (unlike in my home state of Georgia). Thank God for this or we wouldn't get anything done around here. The schools have closed for 12 days since January, and they have tacked on over a week to the end of the school year to make it all up. But all the shops, libraries, and my beloved gym stay open unless it's a state of emergency. This also means my husband goes into work all those days, but at least I have places I can go to.
• No random old ladies reprimanding me for bringing my tot out in -3° to get groceries. And she often removes her hat and mittens, so she's not even fully covered. But these old ladies know that you gotta get things done, weather be darned! On that note, all bread, milk, and beer have been stocked in their usual quantities throughout the winter (unlike that Southern panic thing I know too well).
• Sledding! In farm-flat Indiana, you have to seek out the hills. B remembered one from when he was a kid (and I had seen it on some lists), so he took Cora and me there. I had never really sledded before* either, so I actually shared a first with my 2-year-old. How cool is that?
  

*Well, I do remember something from my youth about a trash can lid, an inch of snow, and accidentally sitting on a cactus. But let's not count that.

• Most importantly, the realization that God is in control. We can make all the plans in the world, but some days there will be blizzards. Other days, I'll wonder what on earth made me think it was a good idea to leave the house. And on other days, your city will be paying $300,000 in overtime for snow removal efforts just so people can get to work.

Aside from the dirty snow piles, the calories I've expended shoveling the driveway, and the blown-over snowman in our front yard, if you really look at all of this fluffy white as a whole, God really shines as a master artist. And he even gave me some cute little birdies to gaze at out my window.

7 Quick Takes (Snowshoes and Dancing Olympians)

--- 1 ---

Hey e'erbody, happy Saints Cyril and Methodius Day! Oh wait, hang on a sec.

--- 2 ---

Literally an hour after I told someone yesterday that "we don't do squat" for Valentine's Day and that B might get me flowers and candy 3 days later, when they're on sale, he walked in the door with this:

WAT.

(He was apparently so excited that he got off work on time for the first time in a long time that he flew to Meijer and bought the farm.)

--- 3 ---

He also got some hilarious snow shoes for Cora that make animal footprints in the snow (clearance rack, baby!) and a Minnie Mouse stuffed animal that he'll give her tonight. I was so surprised because he always thinks she has too many toys. (He's kinda right.)

She walked around with them on okay while in the house, but once she was out in the snow, she couldn't walk at all! Maybe next year.

--- 4 ---

I have been loving the Olympics once again! So many cool sports that I'll never do and athletes that are younger than me. Like freestyle skiier and his ridiculous giant pants:

Yeah, those are 4XL. Apparently, it's his style (and he uses suspenders).

--- 5 ---

With all the Olympics I've been watching, it's no real wonder that it might pervade my slumber. I was having a dream last night that I was a beautiful figure skater, gracefully doing triple axels and double salchows like nobody's business. Just as I was about to go for the quadruple toe loop, my husband jabbed me in the arm and woke me up. He told me I was thrashing around and wanted me to stop.

Apparently, I'm not even that graceful in my sleep. I have been laughing about this all day.

--- 6 ---

I finished my first book of the year! (I have a resolution to read and actually finish 7 books. I have a bad habit of starting books and then getting distracted, usually by other books. It's a rough cycle.) But I devoured this one in 3 days!

It was fantastic, and reminded me why I am pro-life. I had never heard of this gal until a few months ago. Her entire conversion and news surrounding it happened right after we got married, so I guess I had other things going on.

--- 7 ---

Since B is cooking tonight, I promised I'd make him cookies. So I better get on that. I'll let Olympic luger Kate Hansen see us out.

For more Quick Takes, visit Conversion Diary!

On Winter and Discontent

Note: I started writing this post about 3 months ago and never finished it. Today, in late April, we woke up to a dusting of snow on the ground and our car windshields, so I think it is about time to post it.
This is a post about the weather. Well, it's sort of a post about frugality and moving around, too.
I have officially survived my first Midwestern winter. Or so said the calendar. We got a snow dump less than a month ago and woke up to the white stuff today, so, uh, Happy Spring, y'all!

Here is a whiny mess of a list containing most of the reasons I hate cold weather:
1. First of all, I am a small person. And I am half-Middle Eastern. My body was straight-up not made for this mess. I also grew up in the Southeast, and everyone freaked out any time it dipped below 40. Including myself.

2. Which brings me to my next point: WEAR ALL THE CLOTHES. Experiencing winter in the Midwest is pretty much the least frugal thing I have ever done. Let's just take a little comparison in pictures because the camera does not lie!

(I was slightly pregnant/mostly bloated here.)

My wardrobe for 10 months of the year in (northern) Florida consisted of a $10 tank top or shirt, a $15 skirt, and $10 flip-flops. (And a 2¢ ponytail holder.) That is ALL. Total cost of outfit: $35.02

I put on a brave face for the camera. Perhaps my daughter will learn it some day.

My wardrobe for at least 5 months of the year (possibly more!) in northern Indiana consists of $10 long-sleeve shirt, $25 jeans, $10 fleece-lined leggings, $120 coat, $70 boots, $8 wool socks, $15 gloves, $15 hat (and possibly more). Total cost of outfit: $273.
[Yes, I know some of you can find coats at Goodwill, but sometimes you need something in your size that actually looks half-decent.]

3. Not only do I have to dress myself, I have to dress my baby. A baby who hates hats, gloves, socks, or really anything. And who could blame her? She spent the first 7 months of her life in just a onesie and a diaper.

Also, it is a pain in the butt if it's really cold, because it's not as safe to put her in the puffy coat in the car seat. That means on the coldest days, I have to put the coat on her to take her to the car, take the coat off once we are in the car, and then put it back on before we get out of the car.

Time is money, people!

4. Another frugality argument: warming the car up. We have a one-car garage, and B is the rightful user of it since he leaves for work at 6am. So my car sits outside, and it generally needs to be warmed up before going anywhere. What a waste of money. And time! It takes like 10 minutes before I can actually leave the house on a given day.

Then sometimes I have to scrape the ice/snow off the car!

5. No matter how many times I put lotion on my hands, the cold and dry air makes my skin crack. And it hurts. I ended up with a band-aid on my thumb for a good week or two. We keep a bottle of Jergens up on our bar, but I always forget about it. Or I remember it right before I do something that requires hand-washing directly after.

6. I've hardly been outside since October. I want to train for a 5k outdoors, but I refuse to run if the cold kicks into my lungs. (Note: I don't actually like running. Plus it would require special cold weather running gear, and that's more $$$.) My whole family needs some sun-provided Vitamin D (the good stuff!) pronto.

On a positive note, the Powers That Be uncovered the pool at our apartment complex this week. (Then it snowed, and I saw geese swimming in it this morning.) The local zoo opened today. (We'll go when the temp gets above 40°. Eh, maybe 50°.) Also, we are proud members of the local Y, which features both an indoor track and a heated indoor swimming pool. (And, among other things, an outdoor splash pad if it ever warms up enough to be used.)

If you're tired of me taking the "win" out of winter, you should go read something uplifting and somewhat cute about cold weather from somebody living in even-more-frigid North Dakota. Check out Kinsi's guest post on Messy Wife.

But if you want to continue shaking your angry fist in the air at Ma Nature, see this post from Wife of a Sailor about the winter that made her start hating winter.

"Winter is nature's way of saying, 'Up yours.'" - Robert Byrne

7 Quick Takes (Hoosier Snow Dump Edition)

--- 1 ---

Who is ready for CONCLAVE?!
By this time next week, we might have a new pope!! How exciting is that?

I made a guess on FantasyConclave.com on who the next pope will be. I also got to guess what name he will choose, and I actually think that was fun to guess too! I chose Pius XIII as his name :)

(This is also over on my sidebar for the next week.)

--- 2 ---

I'm starting to wonder what will happen first. Will Baby Cora take her first steps, or will we have a pope? She almost did it this morning at library story time. But then she didn't.

--- 3 ---

I made sangria for the first time!

This was on my 101 list. And the name of the wine I chose was . . . not an accident.

--- 4 ---

We got snow-dumped on Tuesday night. Most of the schools were cancelled on Wednesday. I think it's officially the most snow I have ever seen, so of course I had to bundle up the baby and take her out into it. She did okay for a bit, then she proved she really was my daughter by hating it.

--- 5 ---

My husband B had quite the trial leaving for work in the snow on Wednesday morning. His job has to have someone there 24/7 (and no, he doesn't work at Super Wal-Mart), so he obviously wasn't getting the day off. But he was trying to leave at his usual 6am, and the stupid apartment complex snow-plower caused him a lot of grief because he . . . plowed.

Basically, the plow had only done a rough plow of the main apartment street and kicked all the snow to the side, thus creating a 3-foot hill at the area where everyone comes out of their garage (it's kind of like a side street or alley). B tried to scale the 'hill' in his Buick Century and failed. He tried digging himself out with his bare hands, then came in to get some gloves and boxes and who knows what else. (Note: we don't own a shovel. Yet.)  He eventually had to change his clothes before he left since he was all wet.

Then he called me right after he got to work (as I was waking up for real) and told me he was pretty sure he left the garage door open. (He did.)

--- 6 ---

But I do have a very nice husband who cleaned all the snow off my car right after getting home from work that same day. Then the plow finally came to really plow the parking spots, and B told me to run out and move my car. So I ran out in my slippers with no wallet or coat and drove around the block a few times.

She still has Florida plates, and she was not too happy about this white stuff.

--- 7 ---

All of that crazy weather-talk to say this:
I am officially a resident of Indiana now! A Hoosier, as we say here.

Those fingers need lotion like whoa.

I had to pass a 'written' (on the computer) test about driving, and it was actually kind of hard! I got the first question wrong, and Cora was fussing a lot next to me, so I wasn't even sure if I would pass. But I did, and then a week later I got my official license in the mail.  I was still hanging on to my Virginia license before this, and I hadn't lived in that state since 2010. It's nice to have a home again. And be registered to vote where I actually live.

For more Quick Takes, visit Conversion Diary!

7 Quick Takes (Indiana Inaugural Edition)

— 1 —

We made it to our new home state of Indiana quickly and safely over this past weekend.  And I am coooooold!  My new agenda is to find some actual winter clothes!  They have to be cute, warm, easy to both chase a kid and nurse her in.  This is going to be a quest, I gather.  I have a look in mind, it's just a question of money and that last caveat (who sells nursing-friendly sweater dresses??).

— 2 —

We are crashing at my in-laws' place just north of Indianapolis for now, but the day after we got in, B's dad took us up to Fort Wayne (just over a 2-hour drive) to help us look at apartments.  We looked at three and made a decision that day.  We gave the movers a call, and we'll be moving in next week!  For some stupid reason, I forgot to check if it has a dishwasher, and I've been having mild panic attacks all day that it doesn't (it's not listed on their website).  I guess it's good that our pact is you either cook or do the dishes, and I'm usually the cook.  But I also love to bake, and I'm on my own as far as "hobby cleanup" is concerned. No turning back now, though.  I guess I'll just find out on Monday.

This apartment also requires me to scale a flight of stairs, which I'm not so keen about. It will be the first time in almost 4 years that I'll be living on the second floor, but there's no one above us and we have our own private (indoor) staircase.  We also have our own one-car garage, a patio, and we're a mile away from an great park/YMCA, and another mile from an awesome library that has a "Born to Read" program for young babies!  The icing on the cake (other than the fact we don't need to buy a snow shovel) is that we're an easy five-minute drive from B's grandmother and his aunt and uncle.  I'm actually really excited to live around all this family.  They all have already offered to babysit, too.  They love Cora!

— 3 —

And who could blame them?  She is pretty cute!  And she already shares my love of maps!

Learning to navigate her new home!

— 4 —

Cora has had some interesting physical development milestones lately. My MIL found an old baby fork in her drawer so she put some of last night's dinner on it and gave it to her to see what would happen. After Cora gnawed on the back end of it as she usually does with spoons, she turned it around and fed herself off the fork!

Baby Cora can also get into the crawling position, but only seems to be able to crawl backwards.  She can then drop down on her stomach, pivot, and barrel roll.  And as of this week, she can get herself back into a sitting position.  Her favorite thing to do, though, is stand up.  She can't pull herself up yet, but she's trying soooo hard.  She also has tried to just stand up from the middle of the floor (unsuccessful as well). We usually just sit there and hold her up or prop her up on some furniture and sit behind her.  I'm not sure if she'll ever really crawl, since I think she'll want to walk instead.  According to my mom, that's what I did, so hey, it worked for me.

— 5 —

B and one of his brothers went to a political debate that was being held here in their hometown on Wednesday.  It was the gubernatorial debate for the Indiana candidates.  Aside from trying to teach Baby Cora how to say "gubernatorial," B also mentioned that the Libertarian candidate looked like he 'smoked pot in the woods.'  I saw the picture of him and immediately recognized Rupert from "Survivor" fame!  He does look like a barefoot hippie . . .

One of these things is not like the other . . . [Source]

— 6 —

I don't talk much about the baby products I use, but I did a TON of research on strollers a year ago, and I think it paid off!  I knew too many people who were disappointed with their pretty-but-flimsy travel systems, and we didn't need the car seat part of those anyway.  Instead, we used a Snap-N-Go (bought at a consignment store for cheap) until Cora was big enough for her "big girl" stroller around 6 months, but I still LOVE what we got for the long haul.  

Behold, the Baby Jogger City Mini:

In the course of a week, she went from wearing a onesie and no pants or socks to THIS giant bundle!

We had to wait to use it because if you look closely, the straps are still at her ears, and that's the lowest they go.  I also have a tray that goes on the front, but she has no real need for it yet. The maneuverability of this thing is great, and it folds soooo easily! My only beef with it is that I can't fit my giant diaper bag in the bottom, but it hasn't been that big of an issue yet. I keep a quick-changer system in the back pocket and then just throw my small purse in the bottom.

I promise I'm not being compensated for this, I just really love our stroller!

— 7 —

B and I celebrated our 3rd anniversary the day before our movers came for the packout.  Our big "celebration" this year involved eating freezer pizza and drinking champagne while my neighbor looked after Cora for a few hours.  And we also got ready for the movers, namely by throwing stuff into the hall bathroom. I've forced B to join me in taking the same picture by the lamp each year (and amazingly all 3 of our anniversaries have been celebrated in Pensacola, even though we lived there just over 2 years).

Also known as "The Decline of Formality"

I also took one this year with just the two of us.  I can't decide whether to do it with the children or without each year.  I like to see how the family changes and expands, but we also do pictures for Christmas cards each year that shows that.  What would you do?  For now, I think we'll just take both.  Hooray for digital, right?

For more Quick Takes, check out Conversion Diary.

Where Life Takes Us Next

B accepted a job offer!

He is starting his new position on November 1.

He'll be doing something at a power plant, but not a nuclear power plant.

I'm sure you guys don't care much about that, you just want to know where we're going!

Well . . .

It's in the Eastern Time Zone. (I'm actually kind of bummed about this; I loved Central Time!)

It's the second-largest city in its state.

One of us graduated high school about 2 hours away from it.

We will need winter clothes to live there.

It is the 74th largest city in the United States with a population of 255,824.

It is known as The Summit City.

It has a large Burmese ex-pat community.  (I heard that on NPR, lol.)

We are moving to . . .

Fort Wayne, Indiana!

Yup.  Sort of back home for B.  He went to elementary school in this city, and his grandmother and various extended family live there. I finally get my "village" to help raise my child, so that's a plus.  However, I now have to dress my child in pants. And a jacket.  I have to learn how to drive in the snow.  No beach anywhere near, but I think there are lakes which you can actually swim in (no gators!).

As for how his job search went?  Well, I had previously mentioned the headhunters and job conferences and all that jazz.  Those amounted to squat for him.  This job was found the old-fashioned way: connections.  His cousin is an engineer up there (at GM, where he'll be working as well) and blasted his résumé out to anywhere she saw fit. B will be working for a contract company, but within the GM truck plant.

I suppose you want to know our timeline, too?  Yeah, I knew that when it happened it would happen quickly, which is why I quit my volunteer job right when he went on terminal leave.  We're moving NEXT FRIDAY (in one week!).  Holy crap.  The Navy is moving us; we had to pay an extra $100 or so because it's slightly farther than his hometown.  They're packing us up Thursday and the moving truck is coming Friday.  Our stuff will go in storage while we look for a 3-bedroom apartment.  We don't plan on buying a house immediately because I don't like being rushed into major life-altering, debt-inducing purchases.  We currently are debt-free, and will be taking a pay-cut for the initial part of this job (and the health insurance is flippin' expensive!), so we can probably get a better house in a better location later anyway.  We'll hopefully have a house in a year, but no rush. Renting has generally been good for us.  Maybe we're nuts, but we like  having other people mow the grass (and shovel the snow!).

So that's our story. Farewell, Navy.  Hello, Hoosiers!

open mouth, insert foot

Remember this post from a few weeks back?  The one about how I never believed my hometown would ever see snow on Christmas?  And that I would "seriously crap my pants" if it happened?

Well, if you hadn't been paying attention to the news lately, here's my self-shot 1-minute video to fill you in on the phenomenon that hadn't happened since 1882:

p.s. it doesn't officially take an inch to make it a white Christmas, I have since found out.

After experiencing it, well I wasn't all that impressed.  I mean, it's just snow.  I didn't find any "magic" in it.  It just complicated things since people freaked out about driving (meaning we had to move dinner up to early afternoon).  And nobody showed up for mass the next morning, even though there was nothing on the roads.  I still don't wanna sing a song about it or close my eyes and wish upon a star for it to happen again.  But, if anything, it gave me some small talk with my in-laws.  Whoopy doo.

However, I will note that I did not seriously or even un-seriously "crap my pants" as I claimed. Since I knew you were wondering.