It's been almost two years since we pulled into the driveway of our new home in Holly Springs, leaving Florida behind.

I've learned a lot and I am really starting to enjoy many aspects of living in North Carolina. I like year-round schools, enjoy the weather, and appreciate the fact that we can actually take in-state vacations.

But I was totally unprepared to hear that my daughter has to go to school tomorrow, on a SATURDAY.

I know, I know....this is the way it is here but I was completley unaware of that and found myself calling many of my relatives in Detroit who I knew would be equally shocked.

My grandmother couldn't help but laugh as she looked outside at the 10-inches of snow and reminded me how I used to walk to school in snow for months on end.

In Michigan, snow days were worked into the schedule and we rearely had to make them up. If we did, they were just tacked on to the end of the year. But I do understand...

One of the things I found most confusing when I moved here from Flroida back in February 2007, was the "inner" and "outer" signs in relation to I -440, or what I soon learned should be referred to as "the beltline."

I wrote a blog about it back then, and my friend Dave Sweeney explained the whole concept of "inner" meaning clockwise and outer meaning counter-clockwise. That is essentially how I've managed it to date. I found it quite bizarre and I've always wondered why it wasn't simply "east" and "west." 

As a newcomer, that was quite frustrating but I did learn to manage.

Given that the beltline is actually a circle, there are ultimately instances when you are traveling "north" and "south," so maybe that's why the "inner" and "outer" came to be in the first place--the avoid all of that potential confusion. 

So,...

As a former Florida resident and one who ultimately fled the heat, I am having awful flashbacks thanks to this record heat wave.

The inability to breathe and the feeling that my skin is being cooked and my hair is on fire is quite familiar, and I can't say that the memories are fond ones. 

As I sat inside with my daughters pretty much all day on Sunday, it made me realize that I allowed myself to be a slave to the heat in South Florida. 

That epiphany did not send me outdoors however, BUT it did make me realize that extreme heat is okay in small doses.

Because, now that I've lived here in North Carolina for more than a year, I have fond memories of beautiful fall weather, low humidity and even scattered snow flurries. So, I know that this too shall pass.

Is it hot? Yes. But it could be worse. Trust me.

You could be a slave to the heat for seven months out of the year, down in South Florida. And believe me, there is no fun in that.

It's been a little over a year since we made the move from Florida to our North Carolina home.  I'm still adjusting, but I've learned a lot, and I'm happy to announce that it's beginning to feel like home.

I know that last summer was very hot to the natives, but it wasn't "South Florida hot" by any means, so to me it was a welcome relief. 

But  after living in Florida for 8 years, I'd forgotten about the fact that the temperature could drop 20, even 30 degrees in a 12-24 hour period. That is taking some getting used to once again, and my children (having only lived in Florida) are quite baffled by it. 

When you think about it, it doesn't seem logical that you can see your breath on the way to school and wish you were wearing flip-flops by the time you hit the playground at lunch? It just doesn't seem right.

But as crazy as it is, I am happy to experience it. Moving to North Carolina has brought back memories of my childhood, growing...

Amazing.

I grew up in Detroit, Michigan (just blocks away from the Detroit River) and walked to school in mountains of snow. I'd never known anything during the winters, BUT snow (until I moved to Florida in 1998, of course), and I have never heard of this snow cream everyone is talking about.

We did eat the newly fallen snow as kids, but you never brought it into the house unless you were going to try to save a snowball to pull out during the summer.(Which I was never able to pull off because it ultimately turns into an ice ball.)

I find it truly amazing that this isn't regularly practiced in places where it snows all the time, and here it's pretty much a given.

I've been looking at some of the recipes posted on GOLO and mentioned throughout the comments area on the big snow story on our home page and I am in awe that there is a real recipe that involves snow. I'm telling you, I've learned something new at least every other day, since becoming...