If you were used to reading this blog, and want family updates, Facebook is the place to find most of the Sneary clan, as well as many of the Ostranders, Baxters, Kleins, Martis, and meta-family-members.

Ugh, Cora has Strep Throat. I have a sinus infection with cough. Megan’s got something making her cough, and a very active baby kicking the crap out of her abdominal organs. Owen’s doing great though, and everybody’s in good spirits.

We’re starting to prepare for the holiday avalanch. It feels like from Owen’s birthday until New Year’s is just one long, very busy week. Buying presents, attending parties, driving about, scheduling the whens and hows.

Hopefully, though, that means we’ll get you soon.

I really should blog more often! I have a large handful of blogs I read regularly and I really enjoy them. But I have some kind of weird block about remembering to blog myself.

I blame Facebook. I share status updates nearly daily and enjoy reading those of others. It’s amazing how much you can care about people you’d otherwise have lost touch with long ago. And I’m surprised to see how many people seem to care what I’m up to….

But I do think that I need to take the time for myself to redevelop my own voice by writing. And blogging does it without feeling too serious or intimidating. It’s something I should do for me! So I will try, yet again, to make the time and effort to come back here at least weekly to share something with whomever happens to click.

I am currently procrastinating as I have to do an intensely math heavy project today at work.

For all that I am actually using a lot of the skills they taught me in school, I still don’t like it and it’s still hard!!

We are a bit of an anomoly in our town. We waited to have children until we were nearly 30. Most people with kids our kids ages are nearly 10 years younger than us. It’s not a problem except when we are trying to make friends with lives similar to our own.

We have been VERY lucky to have found friends who are either not having kids, not having them yet, or have MUCH older kids. These friends generously get together with us at our house instead of going out so that we don’t have to get a babysitter. Our kids usually have dinner with us and then go to bed and the adults play a game or just hang out.

Just recently we have started to broaden our friend horizons to include parents of our children’s classmates. It can be hard to connect with them in the few passing moments as we drop off or pick up kids at pre-school but we make an effort. And now it seems that others are doing the same. So……

We have entered a new world of social networking. We are getting to know people we usually see in passing through Facebook and trying to figure out how to maneuver our brief contacts into friendships.

I ordered these cute “contact cards” from an online publisher that feature each of our family members as a cartoon, have our contact info (cell numbers and emails), and even include our pets so that no one is caught unawares and goes into an allergic reaction at our home. I had to put a “title” on them so I wrote something like “Let’s hang out sometime!” followed by “family activities, playdates, dinner out, etc.”

Here’s hoping people take these cards as a genuine opportunity to get together rather than as some sort of creepy come on! I’ll have to let you know which way the wind blows…

One of my favorite neighbors has just moved herself into assisted living. I’m proud of her for making this decision by herself for herself. Her house sold in only 2 weeks! I’m not surprised since it’s a great place in a great neighborhood and really well taken care of! And I think she listed it at a bargain price.

So, now we are getting new neighbors - military family coming from Germany. I hear they have 2 kids and another on the way. My kids will like that! I also hear that the husband went out to look at our dogs and see if they would bark at him. He didn’t want to live next to loud dogs.

I get that, but MY dogs are not the ones to worry about in the neighborhood! There are so many that bark all day and part of the night!!! Including a couple of yappy little things and a baying hound dog! My dogs are inside with us as soon as we’re home and, from what we’ve been told by our current neighbors, pretty quiet during the day.

Here’s hoping our new neighbors will be nice and that we can make them feel welcome in our community!

So am now re-recommitting to updating our blog.

I read several blogs daily and really get a lot of joy and inspiration from them. I have decided to post lots of random musings, not just family stuff. But I will do that too.

I think this is going to be more for me than for a particular audience….

So I am going to start the recommittment by defining myself as I see myself:

I am a 34 y.o. mother of two.

I have been married to a pretty great guy for 7+ years.

I am pack leader to 2 dogs and 5 cats, all rescues.

I am a home owner with a leaky roof.

I am not spoiled but I am very well taken care of - especially by my parents.

I have made wonderful friends in my life and am honored to still be friends with them.

I kissed a lot of frogs while looking for my prince - and have recently found out that many of them grew up to be their own kind of princes.

I define myself by my job and that is unfortunate for the stress it causes me and the time and energy it takes away from my family.

When stressed I become acquisitive. Thus Amazon is dangerous.

I’m proud to say that one of my criteria for a good movie is whether or not stuff blows up.

I’m a sucker for school supplies and organizational stuff. Thus Staples, Levenger and Back to school sales are dangerous.

I have 12 calendars on my wall at work, one for each month of the year. I like the photos!

I love that my husband and I always know which parent the other is talking about even when there are eight of them and our spouse isn’t being specific.

I consider myself the youngest and first born child in a family of six kids.

I like buying craft supplies more than I like taking the time to make crafts. Thus Michaels and Oriental Trading Company are dangerous.

I am a recovering food hoarder. Thus Costco is dangerous.

I am overweight and try to look professional. Thus Lane Bryant and ULTA are dangerous.

I like being me!

I have posted pictures of the Georgia Snearys’ June visit to Arizona on our Flickr.com page.

 A bit late, but at least its still 2009 when I got them up.

Per a Lifehacker posting

1. Roll down the windows.
2. Turn on the A/C on the fresh air setting, do not recirculate.
3. Crank the fan up all the way and make sure the thermostat is on the coldest setting.
4. Adjust the airflow to include floorboards, this helps force the hot air out of the car.
5. Drive for a minute or two with the windows down, to force out the superheated air.
6. Once the air in the car begins to feel cooler than the outside temperature, then switch from fresh air to recirculate.
7. Adjust settings using lower thermostat and fan settings.

And to keep your car cooler in the summer heat, buy a set of car window visors. They allow you to keep your windows open with no fear of rain getting in.