Tampa, cont.

I'm probably going home on Wednesday--a $79 flight that won't be that price again until next Wednesday, so this one is looking good. I'm going to try to remember to ask why the Wed. flight is $79 and the Saturday one is ... $309!! What?!? But a non-stop here to P'burgh is the best.

Living with two little girls is funny. It sort of takes me back but not completely because I've forgotten so much. But that time was, I'm pretty sure, THE happiest of my life. E & J were perfect in my eyes: smart and beautiful to boot. (They still are.) Kaitlyn is in the process of beginning her adjustment to having a sister. What she doesn't realize is that, like being a parent, being a sibling is a lifelong adjustment! She can do a 2-yr-old whine, but her parents are pretty good about telling her to "use her words." And like my girls learned with Grandmarie, Mimi is definitely not as soft a touch as either Mommy or Daddy! (That would be the dark side of grandparents--they're tougher because they got toughened up raising Mommy or Daddy!) So Emily will have a blast being a stay-at-home mommy for awhile. I'd worked for so long by the time I was "off" for our first year in P'burgh that I went nuts. But we also had NONONONO $$ and that's not a problem here. So Emily will love it, I'm guessing.

Meanwhile, I looked into an area where some friends lived for a year--Homosassa, FL. It's about 90 minutes north of Tampa and there's a world of difference. It's much more rural--you pass pastures with beef cattle and fields with what look like feed crops on the way up. We drove around the area a bit and had lunch at Chili's, so it's not the total boonies (uh, like P'burgh, which has no Chili's?). Anyway, I looked online at houses for sale and there are a number that we could probably afford if we sold ours. But the idea of actually permanently relocating is not one I'm really ready for yet, I think. I'd love to be a snowbird, and think that if Bruce would be willing to let a student house-sit we could try it. I'll have to talk to my ex about finding us a student candidate; Bruce might find that acceptable. The idea of missing a month of winter is so attractive....

Okay, I only have about 1 - 1 1/2 hrs. to wait for the little Peapod to wake up for her feeding. So this is a sign-off till who knows when. Ta ta and sunshine to ye', all you Irishpersons-for-a-day!