New York CIty pretty darn safe

http://news.aol.com/dailypulse/103006/_a/the-most-dangerous-cities/20061030105309990001?ncid=NWS00010000000001

Anyone who warned me about the "dangers" about moving to New York City should read this article- a recent study ranking major North American cities by danger ranked New York City at 227th. That's right, 227th. So studies are showing what I've been saying all along... that I really do feel safe. I hope my friend Hailey reads this article- she spent the entire time in the city getting hand cramps from gripping her purse so tight :) hehe. She SHOULD have been gripping her purse like that while her plane was laidover in St. Louis...
The #1 most dangerous city in North America :)
Christina

October's Oddities

I haven't written in awhile, and thought this morning, while Big kid is watching Blue's clues, and baby is trying to catch a bit more sleep before we officially start the day, would be the perfect time. October has been wonderful! My cousin Crystal came to visit, which was so good. I think the best thing about her being here was that it was like having a pocket friend or something- like a friend who just got to join me on my regular life and make it more fun. It was great. I must say, though, the greatest part of her visit was when she was getting a pedicure at my fav. mani pedi place in Chinatown, and after a couple minutes of delightful pedicure action by this lovely Chinese lady, the lady starts chastising Crystal for having too hairy of legs! She's talking very broken English and grand hand motions of shaving, trying to really get that point across that Crystal had better get on the ball. SO FUNNY. I was out of money by then (budgeting) so I was just sitting there watching, so I was loving this little exchange, and continued to laugh to myself while reading years-old Redbook magazines while I waited.
So that was pretty funny :) We got to go to the city 3 different days, and got to see a Broadway show, Central Park skate dancers, and went on a long walk in the crisp Autumn air by the beach down the street. Really nice. My contact lense ripped in half partway through "Beauty and the Beast" (the broadway show we got cheap tickets to,) so I was like the one-eyed wonder all through the second half of the show, but it was good nonetheless.
Of course, because I've had so much alone time this year, by the time Crystal left I was ready to get back to my quiet little life. That weekend after she left I had the whole house to myself, and celebrated by baking, relaxing, and spending a long Saturday tag-saling all over the countryside (well, Westchester County's version of countryside.) It was all going great until I accidentally walked into some sort of Jewish religious service looking like someone who just finished a run. Let me explain. I drove up to Greenwich to check out the garage sales (NY speak=tag sale) because I figured- the people are wealthier up there, their tag sales will be better, right? So headed up to Greenwich. Well, a big old "tag sale" sign caught my eye right by the entrances to a temple and a Church, right next to each other! I drove around the block a couple of times, and finally chose the temple as the most likely place, because I saw people coming and going, figuring that it must be some great tag sale to get such a crowd! Well you can probably fill in the rest of the story. Walked in, looked silly, and speed walked out of that place... and across the parking lot to the REAL tag sale. I mean, for those of you that have MET my dad, you know that garage saling's just in my blood. A little humiliation doesn't stop me from catching what could be the best tag sale in the Northeast. It wasn't... but it could have been! :)
So those are just two little stories for you all! Today I'm dropping Big kid off at school, then trying to hang out with my friend Regine (moved back to New York!) while watching the baby. It might just consist of her hopping into my van and driving around White Plains with me, judging on the baby's cranky mood today. That might be all he can handle. We were planning on going on a walk or going to Starbucks or something, but in the best interests of the other people who might want to drink their coffee in peace, I'm thinking bringing this cranky baby all around to torture the townspeople would just not be nice. He has become like monster baby in the last couple weeks. So demanding and cranky all the time! But we're working with it. :)
ALSO we have another nanny candidate coming this weekend, so the possibility is still here of going home soon. I wouldn't think it would be sooner than 3 weeks from now, yeah, I think that would be the absolute soonest I would be making the voyage back to ole Iowa. We'll see though. ALright, love you all! You can all look forward to my next post, already titled "Airing of Greivances day and the Don't Go There list," which is a blog posting I've been thinking about writing, with some ideas for getting along with family better over the Holidays. Who doesn't need that? Nobody can push those buttons like the ones who know you best! :)
Love,
Christina

Pumpkin Spice Latte weather

Wow, it's been awhile, huh? I've been thinking for a couple weeks now that I needed to update you all on my life, but then more, more, and more things kept happening that I needed to add! So today you all get the big ole royal update, I imagine it will take a couple of posts so I better get started. Alright, I'm seeing that my last post was on 9/28... well, 2-3 weeks ago, not bad. SOOO, in that last post I wrote about how we were starting to interview nanny candidates and were flying a nanny out that could potentially send me packing in a matter of weeks.
Well, of course things turned out quite differently than what any of us thought was coming. The nanny candidate totally spazzed on us and blew off her interview. That's right, people. She didn't get on the plane- she didn't use the ticket we got her, she cancelled the hotel room we reserved for her, and she didn't return our calls! I KNEW I had a bad feeling about her! The NERVE! So that was pretty crazy. Pretty stressful, but also good. Like, in that week scare that I thought I was going home in weeks, I realized how much I want to be here. How much more I want to do and experience and money I need to save. So it's been a blessing, actually. Also I just had to get over the whole deal and stop stressing, because as we saw with this nutcase, apparantly it's going to be awhile before we find the perfect nanny replacement, since you have to sift through so many wierdos. :)
Also, something else happened since I wrote last.
Fall happened!
You know that day, when you go outside, kids in their tee-shirts, and you realize, woah, it got chilly! And you have to shuffle the kids back inside for more clothes. That's the day fall happens. Up until then you can try and and convince yourself that if you really wanted to, you could still spend more time at the beach and stretch out the summer a bit longer, but then that day happens. Fall day, a little happy, a little sad. But mostly happy! I've just been throwing on more layers for the kids and me, and taking them on walks around the gorgeous New England landscape with a Pumpkin Spice Latte from Starbucks. How great is THAT? By the way, I know that one isn't grammatically, supposed to capitalize the names of coffee drinks, but if you tasted it you'd know why it's worthy of such grammatical liberties :)
I'm love love loving fall here. Driving the kids to school is even more fun, with all the trees turning beautiful colors all around. I just love the crisp fall wather, just love it. I feel like I've been given a gift, of still being here in NY, and I'm just loving it.
alright, part 1 done
christina