A Little over Two Weeks to Go

Well, Thanksgiving has come and gone. We drove to Frisco to see our oldest, our daughter and her 'moosh'(husband in Russian) They are staying at his grandparents house until close to the end of next week. He is in the Army and had a few days off. He will be leaving for Afghanistan on January 3. I think he just wanted to sit around doing nothing for these days he was off. He has only been back from Iraq for a little over a year. We wanted to see him since we will be in Ukraine when he leaves and they don't live close to us. They live several states away, so we don't see them often, though our daughter calls several times a week.

I have never wanted to rush Christmas so soon after Thanksgiving like many in our neighborhood do. I always wanted Thanksgiving to be it's own holiday, but this year is different and I have already started getting out the Christmas decorations. I do have more of those than Thanksgiving decorations. We will put at least some lights out today.

One reason we are decorating so early is partly to get the house all nice, clean and clutter-free. We've been very occupied with Robotics, which takes up so much time plus I've had too many projects going. We also need to make room for two more little girls in our house, and another reason is that we leave for Ukraine in TWO WEEKS!! One big reason is that we need to take pictures of our home with us which will include the girls' room. (There's always good reasons for de-cluttering. Just not always enough time.) We have lots of stuff for girls since we saved everything from our oldest. I just have to set the room up and take the pictures.

I have always wanted to have the house really, really clean whenever we leave for out of town, even if we are only gone for just a few days. I love coming home to a neat house:) Maybe it is the fact that there is no one there to mess it up. I guess I always assume when I clean something up, it is to stay clean and no one is to put something in that cleared off spot, but alas, it never happens that way. (One person in our family thinks I clear surfaces off for him to put his things on. He can't stand to see cleared off places even though he will deny it)

I have a few more things purchased to pack into our suitcases. So much for not re-arranging the bags again. I say suitcases, but we have two 24" rolling suitcases, three duffels and two personal bags so far. We will end up with four duffels by the time hubby packs his clothes. We will lighten our load considerably since all of one duffel is donations, one duffel is coats, and a good bit of the rest is gifts and clothes for the girls. Our plan is to buy some bungie-type cords to fasten the duffels on top of the rolling suitcases. This way we can carry the light duffels and personal bags and the rolling cases can bear the brunt of the heavy duffels. We chose 24" suitcases because we have been told the trunks of the cars can't handle any bigger than that.

I have been very busy washing winter clothes. We just now have had some really cool weather (downright cold for the Gulf Coast) the past few days. Most of our 'winter clothes' end up being packed away and it's been so long now since our last cold snap, they need to be washed.

We rarely see snow here. We have ice at times, which will melt by noon. We occasionally see a few flakes floating in the air, but I can count on one hand the times I've seen snow on the ground. We're told because of the warm Gulf air, the ground never gets cold enough and snow melts when it touches the ground, unless the temperatures have been below a certain point for several day. Conditions are rarely right for the snow to stay very long, much less happen in the first place.

We have lots of ice, though and lots of foolish drivers who refuse to slow down on icy roads. When our middle son was born, our daughter was five. He was born at the end of March, so it was unusual for the weather to be so icy this close to Spring, but the roads were very ice when he was born. A few weeks before he was born, we all drove downtown to take me for the doctor check-up. Our daughter was very, very nervous about the icy roads because she had seen many news stories about people sliding their cars into the rails of bridges. We tried to reason with her, but those pictures left a lasting impression.

I guess I'm obsessed with ice, snow and cold weather because that's what it is like in Ukraine right now. We are going to FREEZE! I don't like when our summers are extremely hot and humid, but then again I don't like to freeze either. I am planning on wearing lots and lots of layers. I will probably wear many of my clothes that I might have needed to pack!