A week to just be me

Wow, what a busy week! I feel like I have been going non-stop for days and am grateful for this night to sit in my hotel room, relax and blog :)
This is the end of the line for me as a PSS employee as I am in Jacksonville training my replacement. I flew down at the beginning of the week and am flying home on Saturday afternoon. It is definitely a bittersweet trip for me... I got to come down to Florida and see my friends (on the company's dime) but it also is the official end of my 7 year career with PSS.
On a lighter note, I've learned 2 things during this trip: #1 - I will NEVER buy a minivan. I have a Dodge Caravan as my rental and absolutely hate it. #2 - My "sleep number" is 15. The hotel that I am at has the sleep number beds and I have enjoyed my nights laying on a pillow soft bed (that would drive Scott crazy).
So, as much as I have enjoyed this week to just be me and spend time with my friends, I miss Scott and Josh (and Kody too) and can't wait to hug and kiss them again.

Living in the South spoiled me

I'm a Northern girl through and through, or at least I thought I was. Granted, I complained enough while I lived in Jacksonville about how slow people moved (like they had no sense of urgency) and I never really got into Southern food (except for grits - with butter and cheese, yummy).
Now that I'm back up North I've come to realize that besides missing the weather I also miss people having manners. People are so rude here in Cleveland! Almost no one holds doors for other people even if they are literally 5 steps behind them, and when I do hold a door for someone they don't even thank me. That kind of stuff never happened in Jax! As for driving, I'm glad that people drive with more urgency up here but sometimes its to the point that you would think there was a fire somewhere. Anyone who has ever ridden in the car with me knows that I'm a crazy and fast driver but these people even scare me.
My final complaint is about the grocery store - Giant Eagle. They are severely lacking in customer service. 75% of the time we have to bag our groceries ourselves! What the heck is that?!?!?! I miss my beloved Publix where we never had to bag things ourselves and the employees were actually helpful. Its really sad when I'm actually thinking of boycotting Giant Eagle and doing all my shopping at (gasp) Super Walmart!
Ok, enough complaining for one day :)

Kody the "Conehead"

We all have allergies in our family, including Josh AND Kody. When we lived in Florida Kody's allergies weren't too bad... manageable with a little OTC Benadryl in the spring and fall. Since we've moved to Cleveland his allergies have gotten much, much worse to the point he is chewing himself all day, every day. He has managed to chew the hair off of a portion of his tail, break the skin and cause himself to bleed. So, on top of the steroids, super-strong Benadryl and antibiotics he now has to wear the dreaded "cone" until his tail heals. The vet says that the allergies will subside once we have a hard freeze which I'm sure isn't too far away.

From the 70's to the 40's

Two pictures from Josh's first trip to Chuck E Cheese last Sunday... I was a little disappointed... what happened to the ball pit?

It has been a pretty quiet, uneventful week for our family. Josh got to go see his new pediatrician this week and sadly has a double ear infection. He's on antibiotics now so hopefully he'll be in better spirits soon. The weather this week was fabulous, highs in the 70s which is unseasonable for Cleveland. But now its the weekend and of course the weather has taken a cold turn with rain and highs only in the 40s. Everyone keeps saying winter is right around the corner. I guess its inevitable :(

Ringling Bros Barnum & Bailey Circus

Nana & Papa came into town yesterday and we all took Josh to his first circus. He was a bit overwhelmed by all the sounds, lights and things to see but had a good time. He especially liked seeing the elephants, horses and tigers. The acrobats made all of us adults hold our breath. Afterwards, Papa treated us all to dinner at Chili's and we went home happy, full and exhausted.