We have officially lived in New York for a little over four weeks now. That seems impossible. I also don’t feel like we live here yet. It feels more like a very long, stressful trip. Not a vacation. Not a relocation. Just lots of displacement.
When we arrived we were placed in an apartment in Henrietta. An employee checked us in and told us our apartment was non-smoking, which was very important to us. Upon moving into the apartment we discovered we had a neighbor somewhere in the building smoking. Our dishwasher was leaking and so I called resident services and complained about the smoker, and the dishwasher; they sent out a maintenance worker who fixed the dishwasher and I told him about the smoker. He told me he would look into it and get back to me. The smoke was only bothersome when the neighbor was smoking, not all day long, which was fortunate. But it was especially bad in the evenings (you know, when the office is closed). In the second week I called again to complain about the smoker; once again I was told they would look into it and call me back, and they never did. In the third week (on a Friday evening) I called again and this time they sent out a maintenance worker who verified that someone in the apartment upstairs was smoking; he said he couldn’t tell her to stop and we’d have to call management on Monday morning.
Monday morning I called management and they told me that I was, in fact, in a smoking building. Now, this was incredibly irritating to me because it took four people to determine that, and on top of that, I would not have known this was a smoking building by the signs on the building that say “designated non-smoking building” or the stickers on the windows to our entrance that designate non-smoking. She informed me that the non-smoking building was the entrance next door to ours, and not to our “section” of the building. And that the stickers on the entrance to our building only meant that you couldn’t smoke in the common hallway. Three weeks and four people later we finally figured out that we were in a smoking building. Then they tell us that they have no available non-smoking apartments.
I’ve been trying to exercise regularly since we arrived. At the apartment I was having to walk in 25-degree weather across the complex at 5:30 in the morning to get to the gym. At the hotel, I get to walk down a cozy, warm hallway. A-mazing. And the elliptical is brand new and full of cool functions I could never have imagined. I want one.
We are hoping to close on our house in two weeks, and (is it crazy to say?) I’m incredibly excited that the previous owner is leaving behind a treadmill. We are planning on setting up a little home gym space in the basement. This is going to be awesome because I’ll be able to workout in my own private area before the kids wake up every morning.
We are a little frustrated with the process of closing on a house in New York and I’m afraid things will be delayed, but fingers crossed, we will be in our new home soon.
Evelyn and I have a cold; Liam had it but recovered very quickly and so far, Barkley has been spared, as usual. Despite it, Barkley, Liam, and Evelyn played in the hotel pool last weekend, as there wasn’t much else to do. Liam started swimming on his own with his new floaties. We haven’t done much swimming them, despite being from Florida, so I was glad to see him enjoying it so much. In the past, Evelyn really didn’t like getting in swimming pools. She really doesn’t like it when water touches her face. At first, she got a little upset, but after a few minutes she really started enjoying it, even when her face got wet. It’s been amazing to see Barkley and the kids get closer now that they have a regular schedule and routine, and they’re getting to spend so much more time together. Family bonding!!!
We’ve done very little sightseeing outside of searching for a home, mostly libraries and parks, lol. We visited the library that’s closest to the new house, and I couldn’t help but be a little bit sad as I miss our library in Florida where I spent so many days with the kids. This library is super small but quaint and cozy. The kids liked it! I’m hopeful we’ll have many fond memories here, too.
We went to Powder Mills Park and fed fish in the Hatchery there. It was fun for about five minutes, but I was terrified the kids were going to fall in the ponds. Lol.
Last weekend we went to Gennessee Valley Park which had a gorgeous river with trails, bridges, pavilions, and a playground.
Sense and Stephanie 