I am an HGTV addict - I love all the home shows.  First Home Buyers, First Home Sellers, Rent your First Place, Color Splash, Curb Appeal...  I love to see how other people live. How they decorate their homes.  How much they think their homes are worth and then the reality check they get when the host tells them they are way of base.  One things the real estate experts always tell the first home buyers is Location.  That is one of the most important features in buying your home.  Whether it be in a up and coming neighborhood or an already established one, location is key. 

I have been in my home 8 months and the location makes all the difference.  I moved 1 mile and I feel like I changed states.  In my old house, I had to drive everywhere - the kids could walk to the 7-11 but not without a grown-up.  I didn't feel comfortable letting them out on their own.  My son had to be driven to all his friends houses and there were no kids in the neighborhood who my children played with.   Sunday I had 8 kids playing in front of my house, parents sitting on my porch - everyone just hanging out having a great time.  My kids can walk to a friends house across the street or down the block.  I let them go to town, without me, for ice cream.  They have the kind of freedom I had as a kid.  When I was a kid, I could walk to the candy store. My mother would give me a note for the guy at the corner deli and I would walk over for groceries and cigarettes.  I walked to school and sometimes even walked home for lunch. 


Where you live and who your neighbors are can make all the difference in the world. I got lucky with my neighbors, I got lucky that Lu has a "best friend" right across the street - that Sam has friends down the block, that Mae found girls she can walk home from school with.  I am looking forward to spending more time on the porch, watching the kids play and talking to my neighbors.

Cara's two cents: I couldn't agree more! A perfect day on H Lane is kids running from one pool to the other, getting the ice cream man before dinner, and kids and parents "marshing mallows" in our pjs around the fire.

I don’t like winter sports – I do not like to be cold. I am not a skier or snowboarder or generally an outdoorsy type of person when the temperature is below 40 degrees.

This week I watched my girls learn to ski. Mae has skied before but the last time she was 5 or 6 – she is 11 now. She was scared at first – and cold – and complained quite a bit but after her lesson, I couldn’t get her off the mountain. Lu has never skied before – after a one hour lesson and about 2 hours on the easy course, I couldn’t get her off the expert run for another 5 hours. I set Sam up for a private lesson or a refresher as he hadn’t skied in a few years but like riding a bike, it comes back quickly. Today he learned to parallel ski.

I learned to ski in my twenties. Actually learned is a big of an exaggeration. I took a lesson in my twenties and hated every single minute of it, returned my skis and never tried again. My brother and sister both ski – because my parents took them when they were younger – by the time I came along, family ski trips were out and so I never learned. Skiing is one of those things best learned when you are young and your fears are not as concrete. When you are lower to the ground so a fall doesn’t hurt so much and when you are fearless and a big old mountain is not the least bit scary.

I sat in the lodge for 3 days and watched my kids fly. Laughing and loving life. They stopped once or twice for a drink and some food and then back out they went. It was 22 degrees – and snowing. They were wet and frozen with icicles hanging from their jackets and snow up their sleeves and they didn’t care. They were having a blast. I was sad I couldn’t be out there with them. They kept begging me to come and ski – to take a lesson – but I know it’s not for me. I went to the ice rink with them after skiing and only lasted 20 minutes – it was just too cold. I really just wanted to be inside curled up with a good book in front of the fire. What I can offer my kids is the experience. I will take them skiing – I will be their biggest cheerleader - they can grow up knowing how to ski and loving it and I will be in the lodge, toasty warm, watching out a big window with a big smile on my face – watching my kids fly.

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Yesterday was Columbus day - and where we live it is a holiday. That means no school for kids and no work for hubby. Last year we went away. This year we went Pumpkin Picking. It is a family tradition - each year, we head out to the farmlands and pick pumpkins sometime in October. We have been going to the same place for years. Each year we drive about 45 minutes to "our" place. Pass all the big flashy farms with thier corn mazes and hot cider and pricey admission to a little corner family farm where we can pick pumpkins and go home. Guess what? Our little family farm has sold out. Gone is the pumpkin picking field and in its place is the corn maze and haunted house and money making stuff. Dissapointed that we couldn't go out in the field to pick pumkins, we decide to pass and find somewhere new. We drove along the winding roads, enjoying the farms and fields and came across one of the big, flashy, pumpkin picking farms and decided to stop before the kids killed each other in the back seat. We roamed through the fields and picked our perfect pumpkins. Okay - lets go... but the kids wanted to try the corn maze so we walked over to see what it was all about. $10 each to walk through corn... that's $50 for my family which equals a week worth of dinners. After just spending $40 on 65 pounds worth of pumpkins, I had to say no. It turned a fun morning into a silent ride home - Mae was really upset, and she held back the tears. We have done it in the past - but these days $50 is a lot to blow just to walk around corn. I felt guilty as I tried to explain it just wasn't in the budget. I wish I could do everything but I know they have to learn that money has value and sometimes we have to equate what something costs with its true worth.

On the way back we stopped at the farm stand - I wanted to get Mums, they were 4 for $10 and they were the big giant ones that the grocery store has for 15 each. Mae wanted to know why I would spend $10 on flowers on not on her? I told her the flowers would last more than a 15 minute maze walk and would be something beautiful for us all to look at. I didn't get much of a response to that ... when we got home and put the flowers on the front porch, she did tell me how nice they looked.

Cara's two cents: We went local..$15 to get in...$15 for pumpkins....$3 for a candy apple....and $6 for hot apple cider.....so much for priceless. :)