I was born in a small town, and I live in a small town...

Ol' John Mellencamp knew what he was singing about

You're right, Jeanie, the town we moved to is about a 1 1/2 drive from where we used live in WI. Small towns are great, Tanya, especially if they're not your small town. You know, your small town is where everyone knows your grandma and about your Uncle Joe's hernia surgery and that kind of thing. Another advantage to this small town is that it's not YOUR small town, Tanya. YOUR small town, as you mentioned has sucky schools, which I think my kids got enough of when we lived in Hawaii. My new small town ranks as one of the better school districts in the state. Someone else's small town is better because you can know their grandma, but don't have to deal with them knowing yours, yet you still get that nice small town feel where you bump into familiar faces at A&W your first day in town. Talk about A&W, Angel #2 has a job interview there tomorrow afternoon and she's pretty excited about it. She's been wanting to get a job for a while, but hasn't been able to because of the unsettledness of our lives. Now that we're un-unsettled, she's ready to start making some $$$.

The kids broke me down this afternoon and we turned on the air conditioning. I really hate to turn the a/c on and only do it as a last resort. It seems that once you turn it on, it's so hard to turn it off again, and the next thing you know, the leaves are turning colors and you've still got to keep your windows closed because of the cold rather than the heat. I refused to sit in a/c when we lived in Hawaii - not only did we not need it, but my theory was that I didn't move 4000 miles so I could sit inside an air conditioned building. Though it gets hotter here than it does in Hawaii, I resist the air because I know that summer days are so limited in Wisconsin that I don't want to waste them breathing processed air. I spent a good portion of the afternoon sitting on the back deck in a porch swing reading a book today. Now THAT'S summer living.

The Angel's start school on Wednesday. The girls are more than ready to get going, but WE is resisting things. I think he's nervous about starting out in a new school with a bunch of new kids, but is putting on the bravado to give the impression that he's not. I'm sure he'll do fine, but the mom in me always gets nervous when my kids have to go out and do something new and scary.