Settling back down

Back home...it feels good.

The first week in my tiny little "home away from home" was ok. I was sick that whole week, so I did a lot of laying about on the sofa with my fuzzy blanket and watched videos. I drank a lot of tea, ginger ale and water. Went through 3 boxes of tissues and 2 bottles of Robitussin, coughed my lungs up and blew things out of my nose that were indescribable. (Why I looked at it is still a mystery, but I did)

I came home that weekend and as I recall - M and I didn't really do too much. I still wasn't feeling all that great.

Week two was a little better. I had a little routine: come home, eat my frozen dinner or pre-cooked dinner from the weekend then get in my jammies and either read or watch a movie. Three days of that was nice, but Thursday - I was kind of bored with it all already.

I went home again for the weekend. M and I did a few miscellaneous errands, and then we went to see "Doubt" which neither of us really liked too much. Out of all of the movies I have seen with Meryl Streep I think this was one of her weakest characters. It was uneven and I couldn't figure out which accent she was trying to use, or if she was a good nun or a bad nun. I found the whole thing kind of confusing - but lot's of people liked it so who am I?

The following week was more of the same. We had some more snow, I watch more movies, I read a little more, and drew a really weird picture out of sheer boredom. More TV dinners or just hummus and wheat pita, maybe just an apple. Read some material for work, tried to come up with a "sales presentation" and a "site demo" that tells the story of the company.

For the record - I suck at presentations. I find that I end up reading the slide with little or no emotion behind them. I am NEVER satisfied with the content or the flow or the arrangement of the slides. Power points in my humble opinion have go to be one of THE most boring things in the world. I can count on one hand how many PPts I have seen that have actually held my attention. Over all - I think 3, maybe 4.

Anyway - M came up for a visit that weekend. We had a nice dinner at an "Irish styled" restaurant in Stroudsburg called Siamsa. The coolest thing about the place was that it was an old bank and the old bank vault door has been preserved and is part of the restaurant. It's HUGE! I tried to find a good picture of it, but was unable to.

Saturday we had breakfast at a little diner type place and then walked around the downtown area. It seems to be in a bit of a transition. Either it was really nice once and is slowly sliding down or it was really crappy and is trying to make it's way up.

If you listened to the man at the antique place that I talked to for nearly an hour the decline is because they let those "blacks and Latin Americans in by offering cheap real estate. "The town isn't safe any more because of those blacks and Latin Americans. If you see kids on skateboards, watch your dangling earrings! And I'm not a racist."

M - who just happens to be "Latin American" stayed silent.

Welcome to Pennsyltucky I whispered to her as we left the shop!

Next we went to visit the Crayola factory in Easton. We didn't actually tour the factory, because it isn't a factory anymore. It's really just a place for kids to go, but we went into the shop and bought some crayons, saw the worlds LARGEST crayon and felt like little kids with our new toys.

Back at the tiny little home away from home - we munched on leftovers from our dinner at Siamsa and read our books and just chilled.

This little apartment was really built for 1 person. Two people just get in each others way. AND it only had a full size bed.

M and I had a full sized bed when we first got together. We've graduated to a queen and now have been eyeing up a king size.

I am a "full sized" woman who can fill up a "full sized" bed all by myself.

It was a bit snug - but we managed somehow!

Sunday was THE best! We slept in a bit and then I made some scrambled eggs and bacon and just ate our breakfast nice and relaxed. Then we were off to the Blankstone Farm and met a wonderful woman named Kit and her flock of Alpacas!

Sunday was the day I fell in love with these beautiful creatures. And M can tell you that I think a few of them liked me too!

Kit gave us some baby carrots to feed them while she introduced us to almost each and every one. First we met the "teenaged" boys who aren't allowed to hang with the ladies quite yet and are too young to hang with the big boys.

Then we got to meet the females of the herd. They were of all ages and so many different colors. A few were pregnant and due in late spring.

Alpacas are very shy and do not like to be touched, but Kit was able to hold a few of them for me so I could feel their fleece. It's incredible. I was expecting it to be a lot like a sheep, but it's so much softer.

The fleece is becoming very popular now. It's softer than wool, warmer and stronger. Kit belongs to a co-0p and sells some of the clothing made with the wool and it's just beautiful Not itchy like lambs wool. Quite expensive too!

She invited us to come back for their Autumn Alapacafest which is a two day event filled with info about how to buy and raise your own alpacas. There are currently some wonderful tax write off in raising these animals and every thing you do to maintain the farm and raise the animals is 100% tax deductible. That is probably why alpaca farms are popping up everywhere.

This is my new pipe dream now is to drop out of corporate life and buy a little farm and raise alpacas and organic veggies and chickens. Maybe a few goats and a cow or two.

I would much rather work out side in the rain and wind and snow than be in an office with a loony boss and and forced to make cold calls all day.

"Green acres is the place for me! Faaaaaaaaarm livin' is the life for me! Land stretchin' out so far and wide, keep Manhattan just give me that country side!"