The weather was perfect today.  On the schedule was driving to the Irwin area to meet my Favorite Egg's Mom, Aunt, cousin, and his cousin's fiance to go visit a few cemeteries where I got to "meet" more of his family including his grandparents.  It was a lovely day and I enjoyed the time together chatting and learning a little more about his family.  That is - until the drive home, which had me feeling itchy and squeamish.  You see right before we parted I spotted a bug on his Mom's sweater.  It was a tick.  UGH.  To think we probably picked it up in the cemeteries in early April.  UGH!  When I got home I stripped down, did laundry and showered.

The threat is so real this summer folks.  I know we always have issues, but I think it's going to be a rough year.

I woke from dreams this morning of Altoona and my Mother's home.  I had driven by and they had taken out the front porch (and coal bin).  It's odd that I woke from dreams of home etc to find a message that my aunt, my Mom's one older sister has passed early today.  She was only two days from her 87th birthday.

I know she was upset when my Mom passed that it was not her.  I believe she had found more happiness after this where she was staying with assisted care and pray that her mind was as at peace as her passing sounds like it was.  God bless you Aunt Dee.

It's baaaack!  How on earth is this wind only 18mph.

Love looking at the forecast and seeing nice temps in our future.  This of course means I really need to get out back and clear some of that brush and get my flower bulbs/seeds where they need to be.

I wasn't super productive this past weekend, but my Favorite Egg and I got to spend lots of quality time, so that was a nice trade off.  Saturday was pretty busy starting of waaaay too early.  We headed to a baby class for the morning, for a quick lunch, and then to a consignment sale.  After a little bit of time at home we needed to run to Big Lots to stock up since the 20% off deal was going on.  On the way there we had a pretty darn close call thanks to some idiot who came barreling down a side road and straight out into traffic in front of us (completely ignoring his stop sign).  Everything had gone into slow motion and I can't believe my Favorite Egg got stopped instead of clobbered.  Someone was definitely watching over us.

Last night we walked the girls down to try the local frozen custard joint - Turtle Twist.  It isn't the Meadows but it's pretty nice and I love that it's a relatively short walk.  Saffy knew immediately what type of place she was at and was trying to jump at the counter to place her order.

For the first time in a while I feel mopey.  I'd prefer to not feel this way so if the rain would go ahead and go away that might help.

Another bad dream (translation lost dog) last night.  This one was particularly sad when I woke as not only was Saffy missing, but it seemed in the dream I had been away when she disappeared.  I went in to wake my sleeping mother asking her how long she had been gone and she told me a few days.  I welcome Mum visiting me in a dream, but make it a happier one, please?  This was one of those dreams I woke from, started to fall back asleep and was drifting back into the same scenario.  Upon my second waking it was time to call Saffy up to cuddle with me.  She did not complain.

I ran out last night to a hair appointment.  My hair was long overdue for a trim, so I got brave and found a place to try out.  It was just a trim really, nothing dramatic, so I'm sure it will be fine, but I can't really tell until I wash and dry it myself.  On the way there I stopped at the local library because I needed a couple of photocopies.  I spent a good bit of my childhood in the library, so it feels right to start to get familiar with this place now.

The lamp post out front was fixed yesterday.  There goes another $400, but it functions now and is safe.  It was so nice yesterday I had it in my head that I needed to get on planting some hydrangeas that were gifted to me, but today it's cold enough that I had to turn the heat back on.  Thank you for that gift of sanctioned procrastination mother nature.

I'm doing a little here and there.  Nothing that LOOKS like a big impact, but stuff that needs done (shifting books around to different shelves, clearing old tax papers out of the filing cabinet to make room for other stuff and putting them in a box for storage, going through old pictures and wall decorations - and forcing myself to make the decision to get rid of some of them).  I didn't expect another round of purging through the house AFTER the move, but it's probably for the best - even if I did pay to move some of this stuff.  I'm sure if I had purged some items pre-move I would have regretted it.

I really need time this weekend to mix the paint the previous owners left behind so I can touch up throughout the house.  Then I have no excuses for not getting things on the wall.  I've settled on colors for the wall sticker I have planned for upstairs - so that will be ordered soon.  I will need to paint under that once I can get a good color palette match.  I say I, but fortunately I have people who have volunteered to help with paint to keep me out of the fumes.

I had another "keep your eye on your credit card" moments today.  The hotel we stayed at in February pre-cruise was prepaid through a third party booking site.  Well the hotel just tried to charge me now too for a slightly lesser amount.  I was surprised how easy it was to reach a person at the third party site to start trying to resolve this.  Fingers crossed I just need to wait now.

This morning I had a concrete contractor in... and I think I now have that lined up.  It will come out the basement door and under the deck then around to the bottom of the deck stairs.  This will give me plenty of space for more sitting and/or to put in a shed.  I'm sure my Favorite Egg would be happy to know that I'm probably going to do the slightly thicker slab too, as to potentially accommodate a hot tub someday as well.

Of course, I need to deal w/ the HOA on this one too.  It isn't that much work but at the moment there is something about it all that feels overwhelming, maybe because across everything that's three requests - all of which I need to get signatures from neighbors on.  One thing at a time, right?

I did do some organizing in both the basement and would-be baby's room last night to get a few more things 'unpacked' and away.  There is still plenty more there to do.  I will try and get more achieved here today (the laundry already running is my crowning achievement so far this morning), but I also need to run out to check out another kennel for the girls this afternoon. *fingers crossed*

This morning I heard a dog beside the bed where I swing my feet out (around 6am), I crawled out to hit the facilities and there wasn't a dog there... Saffy is now climbing completely under the bed.  What a goof.  I guess this is because I refused her the other day when she wanted up.

I headed out this evening to hit the post office to get one of the two left behind DirecTV boxes sent back.  Why did they only send one box? I have no idea.  I'm so confused.  From there I ran looking for lighting goodies.  The electrician was here today to look at the problem the previous owners were to have fixed before I closed on the house. *sigh*  $75 for today's visit, a new lamp for out front ($90) and prb another $300 or more for him to dig out the path and re-run the wiring in a proper conduit underground and back into the basement going around the stairs since they're in the way now. Turns out they just had about 20 feet of wire coiled all over the place just under the mulch.  Further, that wire then goes under the stairs, no conduit whatsoever, and into the house.

Since I had a coupon I wanted to maximize, I not only bought that but I tried to shop for ceiling fans and lights for the other bedrooms and for other light fixtures I want to replace (bathroom and dining room).  No major luck, but I did buy what I want for in the half bath (fixture and matching toilet paper holder and proper towel holder instead of a hook). I guess I need to buy online for the bedrooms - I'm just not finding what I want in the stores.

Dearest internet reader, it's time I also came clean here.  I'm pregnant!  Yesterday marked the start of week 17 and so far everything looks perfect and healthy.  We also already know the gender with thanks to some additional testing, but we're not ready to put that out to the world.  My Favorite Egg and I are excited, nervous, and completely mindblown.

If you're a crazy baby person I'll post nauseating detail here:  http://onebigchoice.blogspot.com/
Of course, if you go there you'll learn a wealth of stuff I neglected to discuss here from the past 7 years.  You have to remember you're talking to someone who said she'd never have kids years ago, but I'll blame that on childish naivety combined with the desires of the person I was with at that time.

I'm not saying I won't post about it here, but I'll do my best to not be "that person".  I wouldn't want to interrupt the daily run down of mundane details with even more mundane details that a large population of the world has also already gone through.

Well, I met one neighbor.  I headed out to meet the mailman as I knew he had a package - I figured I'd save him a walk to my door.  Well, he also had several packages for next door.  When she answered her little dog scooted out the front door and towards me.  So at least one introduction is done now.

I had a Safyre in my bed again last night.  Around 2am she put her feet up on the side of the bed and wouldn't take a "go back to bed" for an answer, she jumped up anyhow... and she wasn't content to lay where she normally does in bed at my side, instead she climbed down between my legs like she does on the couch.  Goofy dog.  I didn't hear any thunder or anything, so who knows what was up.

Today I've pleased her greatly by shifting the two plants that were in front of the entry window - one off to each side just enough that she can get in there and gawk out the window.  While I was out getting the mail I can't even tell you how cute that is.

I also need to report on my first experience with StitchFix.  I'm cheap.  That's clearly a problem.  I had marked everything they offered to indicate I didn't want expensive items.  Then again, I also noted certain likes/desires and dislikes that they seemed to disregard in their selections.  One item was a $48 tank top that is made to be skin tight (I noted in both their canned selections and in my text notes that I did not want skin tight tops).  Hells no.  Another was a wrap sweater that was cut way too low - it wasn't awful, but it wasn't the summer clothes I was asking for.  Another was a long shrug type sweater in black - loved it, but I already have quite a few of those and I'm not going into the office anymore.  There was a pair of jeans that were silky smooth and so comfortable, but I knew before I tried them it wasn't happening at $78.  Nope, I wouldn't normally spend that much on a pair of jeans, but especially not now.  Final item I really debated keeping.  It was a long sleeve but lighter weight shirt with a very attractive print.  Ultimately it was the fact that the upper arms were a little snug coupled with the long sleeves and the $48 price tag that had it go back in the bag - for $30, sure, but not nearly $50.  I'm going to invest in sheets I can cut holes in the top of to put my head through.

I have not heard the owl again since my post regarding his presence, so perhaps he was just moving through, but this morning I heard and saw a woodpecker!  I've heard them before back in Jtown but I never managed to spot one.  He was in a tree two houses down the street from me.  This of course was too far to get a good look and make any attempt at identification, but it was neat to see him smacking that little face in rhythm.

I've started my hunt for a kennel in the area thanks to training for work (sigh).  So I need to call two places soon and go check out their facilities.  I still need to find an electrician and get a few other contractors here or responding on estimates.  It really seems like the same issues from Jtown are pervasive here as well.

The girls are settling back in with my sister and niece gone.  Danika was definitely sad yesterday.  My Favorite Egg came over last evening and kept me from noting the emptiness of the house.  I'm working diligently on leftovers - mmm Mom's recipe ham pot pie!  But I'm also looking forward to trying another local fish fry tomorrow.

A crazy storm has headed up through NJ/NY/PA... well, most of PA.  I know it's early and it can still nail me, but I was surprised to wake to only a few flakes barely clinging to my deck this morning.  I am truly going to become spoiled (and weak) quickly living here as I know it typically gets a lot nicer weather than good old Jingletown.

Nothing major to report otherwise.  The girls and I will be sad and lonely come this evening as my sister and niece head back out.  Maybe I'll get bored enough to press forward on getting some other things away and organized.  I just haven't been feeling any burning desire other than to put my head on the pillow.  Of course, I've not been sleeping well and waking with sore hips so that's probably part of it.