This Ad Makes Me Smile...

This, That and The Other...

Poor Mike...he's been sick for the past couple of days. He even stayed home from work on Friday (his last sick day was in 1996) so I knew it was serious. He wound up at the ER last night and they told him that he had a sinus infection and gave him an antibiotic. He dropped it off at CVS and headed home.

I really think that all pharmacies are out to get me because I head up to pick up the prescription about 45 minutes later. The pharmacy looks closed (the store itself was open). I see someone back there so I ask, "are you closed?" She says, "yep. We closed at 6." (it was 6:03 by their clock) I say, "but I needed to pick up a prescription." She says, "you'll have to come back tomorrow." Ummm...no. I head up to the front to find a manager or something. I find a shift supervisor. I really wanted to be mean and angry because that's what I was feeling at the time but decided to start off being as nice as I could be. I told her that I really needed to pick up a prescription for my husband and that we had no idea that the pharmacy closed at 6 (btw, the store is open until 10), was there anything she could do? She says that she'll get the prescription for me and calls over to the pharmacy. She tells them to get my prescription and that I'll be heading to the back. When I get back there, the tech comes out from behind the gates, rolling her eyes. The other tech keeps saying something about how they had already clocked out and that it was unfair. I guess the shift supervisor heard her because she came back and told both girls to go home...she'd take care of it. I thanked her and thanked her again and she told me that it wasn't a problem.

My question is, why would a store like CVS not have their pharmacy open the entire time the store is open? (This wasn't because of any holiday...it's their normal hours) I can see places like Target and WalMart closing their pharmacies...but they close later in the evening and they are stores that happen to have pharmacies in them. CVS is a pharmacy with a store in it.

So, Mike ends his year with a lovely sinus infection and I end it with a nice case of pink eye. Just dandy. Yesterday, I thought it was just a sty, but I woke up this morning and it was red and itchy. Ugh. I ran up to Walgreen's to get some pink eye medicine (the Similisan stuff is wonderful!) and not only was it cold outside, it was snowing! Grrr. It was in the 50's last night and suddenly, the temps dropped to the low 30's this afternoon. Because it's been so warm, none of it is sticking, except to cars and whatnot but it looks like it could get pretty icy out there. The snow has stopped for now but looks like it could start up again at any moment. It wouldn't be so bad if it weren't so freaking windy outside.

Hannah slammed her hand in the door yesterday. Whoever put the door leading from the house to the garage on springs was an idiot. I was waiting for someone to shut something in that door (I really thought that it would be me) and it finally happened. I've got to figure out how to change the hinges on the door to normal ones...it can't be that hard, can it?

Oh! I almost forgot...Lifetime is going to start reruns of Grey's Anatomy starting Sunday, January 7th at 11pm/10pm Central. They'll start with Season 1/Episode 1, A Hard Day's Night, so if you've never seen it, here's your chance!!! I know I'll be watching! :)

Anyway, I hope everyone has a great New Year's Eve...I'll talk to you all next year! LOL!

Grey's Clip

I know that you all have missed my lengthy posts about Grey's Anatomy...there's just not much to write about since they went on a winter hiatus. :( But...I did find this great Meredith and Derek clip from the next new episode. I was trying to find the promo they showed after this week's rerun (OMG who is George yelling at!!!) but found this instead. Once I find the promo, I'll post that too!

Found it!!!! Here's the promo for the January 11th episode. Alex and Addison?!? I've warmed up to the idea of them together. I hate this break! It's been too long since the last new episode!!!!!!!!

Stocking Up

I was reading an article in Kansas Parent yesterday about how stocking up your pantry (like having 20 rolls of toilet paper and 8 bottles of ketchup) can help save your sanity. While I'm not exactly sure if that sort of thing would work for me (although the 20 rolls of toilet paper would be nice at times), she mentions an interesting idea that I think I may try...Once A Month Cooking.

There are several cookbooks and websites devoted to this sort of thing. One that I found last night, will actually keep track of what you should have in your freezer and you click off when you've used it. You can make shopping lists and whatnot so that you can spend one day cooking and fill your freezer for the week/month.

Now, I've been known to make a double batch of things (soup, stew, chili) and freeze them. In fact, a few weeks ago, I did it every night and had my freezer stocked with dinners so that if I didn't feel like cooking, all I had to do was defrost and reheat something. I love that. But I've never sat down and thought about deliberately filling the freezer with stuff like that (except I did do the Gourmet on the Go in Virginia, which was fun but the dinners were a little too different than the stuff we're used to eating).

Does anyone do this and have pointers?

Overheard This Afternoon

I just had to post this arguement between Jacob and Daniel this afternoon...

Jacob: Do you think it's easy being the big brother?

Daniel: You're so mean all the time.

Jacob: I have to help you! That's why it's so hard to be the big brother. You think it's so easy but it's not!

Daniel: That's it! I'm going eat more healthier than you so that I can be bigger and stronger than you and then I'm going to beat you up!

The Photo Post

I think the best way to document our trip is through pictures, so here are some from the trip...

At Bobbi and Ed's house for Hanukkah...

Jacob and Hannah play Dreidel (sp?) while Daniel was busy coloring (and Mike was busy napping!)


Bobbi thought it would be fun for us girls to get manicures, so Hannah got her very first manicure (which she loved!)


Louie the cat takes a nap behind Mike (I just thought it was cute), the latkes fry on the stove and we all enjoy a good dinner



We invited some friends over for dessert...Ken, Adam and David enjoy some fruit
Mike and Dave share a tender moment
Patty, Katherine and Hannah ham it up for the camera
Daniel, Eric and Jacob are glued to a game

At Mom and Dad's house for Christmas (I didn't seem to get as many pictures here! That's upsetting. Someone's going to have to send me some!)

The Nsects were a huge hit with the boys
Mark helps Daniel open his Nsect


Hannah and Mary Rose enjoyed their FP3 players


It really was a good trip...and thanks, Dad, for forcing the issue with the tires for the van. They make a huge difference!

The Catch-Up Post

We got back tonight from our whirlwind tour of Illinois. So much to talk about...where do I start?

We left for Chicago Thursday morning. We had left a little later than we had intended but that was okay. The kids were good, as was the weather, so we were moving right along. We had stopped for a late lunch outside of Des Moines and we got back on the road. We were hoping to make it to the IL border before stopping again.

Not long after switching roads, the sun began to set and the fog set in. Drizzle and fog are not my favorite things to drive in but traffic was still moving and we were making good time. I had Mike call mom and dad to see if they knew when the drizzle/fog would lift and they said that they had it too so we could pretty much expect it all of the way in. Nice. Okay. We can deal with it. After Mike got off of the phone, Daniel starts screaming that he has to pee. Ugh. Fine, I guess I could gas up as well. So, we carefully pull off of the road and get gas, use the restrooms and load up on snacks. Soon, we're off into the fog again.

We were trudging right along and were about 2 hours (probably less) from our destination when the kids decided they were hungry. There was an oasis ahead so we thought that the kids could have McDonald's and Mike and I would have Chinese. We pull in and Mike takes Oriana for a quick walk. I grab my purse and quickly realize that I didn't have my wallet. I begin tearing the van apart while Mike takes the kids inside to get dinner. The big problem was that we couldn't remember the name of the town we had stopped in to get gas. I'm running back and forth between inside and the car...insisting that the wallet has to be in the car. If the chili cheese Fritos made it, then the wallet had to have! I make the realization that my credit card is, for whatever reason, in my purse and not in my wallet so all we have to worry about is the debit card.

I call Mom and Dad to see if they remembered if we had called before or after Iowa City and they couldn't remember. Like it would have helped anyway. We called a couple of gas stations in the chain with no luck. We got in touch with the bank and cancelled the card and decided to get on our way. I've never felt more stupid in my life. How could I have left my wallet somewhere? Grrrr...

So, we get to Mike's parents' house and I tear the van apart again. No luck. I probably only slept 3 hours that night just replaying over and over how I left it. It was getting pretty annoying to Mike who told me just to let it go...everything in there was cancelled and I could get a new license when we got back. Fine.

Mike and his Dad ran out to get everyone lunch when he calls to tell me that we need some bank info, would I mind calling? Sure. So, I call and the guy says to me that someone from a gas station called to say they found my wallet. If Mike hadn't needed some numbers, I would have never known! So, I call the gas station and after telling her what the wallet looked like, she agreed to mail it to me. This could not have ended better. Yay!!!

So, that's the big story from the trip. I'll post more tomorrow when I'm a little more awake than I am now.

I hope everyone had a great Christmas and Hanukkah!

Will The Baking Ever End?!?

I think I'm done. I hope anyway. I baked cream cheese squares for Mike to take to work tomorrow. It's all I can do to keep my hands out of it. LOL! Oh well.

We're struggling with Hannah and her asthma this week. She's woken up a couple of times having a hard time breathing. She's as pumped up with medicine as I can get her...I'll give her another treatment before I go to bed tonight while she's sleeping...hopefully, that'll help. Ugh.

Best Spritz Cookie Recipe Ever!!!!

So my venture into adding peppermint and chocolate into the spritz cookies really didn't work well (although the kids are eating them). I did find this AWESOME recipe for Spritz cookies that I ended up making for Mike to take to the cookie swap tomorrow and I had to share...

1 cup butter (softened)
3 oz cream cheese (softened)
1/2 tsp salt
1 cup sugar
1 egg yolk
1/4 teaspoon cinnamon
1 teaspoon vanilla
2 1/2 cups flour

Preheat oven to 350 degrees

Cream butter, cream cheese and sugar until fluffy. Add egg yolk and vanilla and beat until incorporated. Add flour, salt and cinnamon and beat until well blended. Put dough in a cookie press and press out onto an ungreased cookie sheet. Sprinkle with sprinkles or sugar if desired. Bake at 350 degrees for 12-15 minutes or until edges brown.

Enjoy!!! Tomorrow...cream cheese squares!

My First Meeting

Hannah and I attended our first MOMS meeting out here. Talk about uncoordinated. I understand that it was their holiday party but still. A lot of people introduced themselves but none introduced themselves to me as an officer or gave me any info until I asked. I was also told that the new member stuff would be e-mailed to me "hopefully before Christmas" so that I can begin attending events in January. Strange. They also seemed very confused as to why I wasn't "trying them out" for a longer period of time. Ummm...because I need to jump in and meet people? Could that be it? I know I'm frustrated because I know what I'm used to and these ladies have a different way of doing things but a hint of organization would be nice.

Feeling Domestic

I found myself making more cookie dough tonight. Being tired of the plain spritz cookie recipe, I decided to play with it a little. After breaking two cookie presses last year (and one the year before), I had decided to put less flour in this time. I also decided to melt some baking chocolate that I had left over from the divinity and added it to the dough. I also added peppermint extract to the dough and some crushed candy canes. So freaking tasty. I'm very pleased with myself. Every year, I get a theme in my head and I guess that this year it's chocolate peppermint. Anyway, Mike will have plenty of cookies to take with him to the cookie swap on Tuesday and we'll have plenty to eat here. Now I just have to make my cream cheese thing for Mike to take on Wednesday. Phew...

Caroling

It's night two of Hanukkah...

Our neighbors decided it would be fun for everyone on our street to go caroling together. Okay, so no one had actually been caroling before...except for me many many years ago. Because of that, I was unofficially given the title of lead caroler. That title was stripped away pretty quickly since Beth took charge and suggested a way of going through the music book. (of course, we still didn't follow that way either! LOL!) The kids had fun (we did too!) and Mike and I got a chance to meet a good deal of our neighbors. This is such a great neighborhood...you can tell everyone is close. It's also nice that most of us are the same age with kids the same age. Mike did an awesome job picking out this neighborhood!

Here are some pictures from the evening... Just a fraction of the kids on the trailer before we left

Jacob, Daniel and Hannah enjoy the ride

Hannah and Daniel cozy up

A shot of the front of the trailer.

Happy Hanukkah!

It's night one of HanukkahYou've got to love a holiday that celebrates oil by eating things fried in oil. For dinner we had...Bar-b-que brisket, matzo ball soup, latkes with sour cream and applesauce (not mixed) and doughnuts. The kids also lit the menorahs.

Happy Hanukkah to those who celebrate it!

Isn't This Week Over Yet?

I swear this week has been 10 days long. And it's only Thursday.

Last night, I got a voice mail from Mrs. L, Daniel's teacher. She was talking about some things when she mentions that the class is further ahead with sight words than Daniel is. She said that she had been trying to work with him when he proclaimed that he can't read those words...he can only read Japanese. LOL! Mike and I fell over laughing so hard. That's my boy.

Seriously, though, this school district is tough. Mrs. L said that they consider the kids behind if they are not reading by the end of kindergarten. We've got a lot of work to do. Luckily, he'll be getting help from the Reading Specialist.

Jacob's fallen right into the groove of school. His teacher, Mrs. G, says that he's an excellent reader and he seems to be handling math really well too. He's loving the science stuff that they are doing. They are working on a unit on geology and they've been taking soil and rock samples and doing all sorts of experiments. Tomorrow he has "Student Sharing" (think show and tell). He's actually graded on it. Mrs. G asked him to bring photos of Virginia and is counting it as geography. He's been doing book reports as well...the goal is 12 per month.

Today, he brought home an assignment packet for economics. He has to visit a business (on his own...not as a class) and make a poster that he will be presenting to the class (that should go well). He's graded on the poster, the presentation and use of economics words in the questionaire as well as a whole host of other things. His teacher specifically said that the students are to do the assignment...not the parents. They take the pictures, they type out labels for the poster (or write on the poster), they put everything together. I like that. But...if this is second grade, what's in store for third?

Golden Globes and Grey's Anatomy

Whoo Hoo!!!!! They announced the Golden Globe nominations today and Grey's Anatomy was nominated for Best Drama Series!!!!!!!!! My girl, Ellen Pompeo, aka Meredith Grey, was nominated for Best Actress in a Drama Series! Patrick "McDreamy" Dempsey was nominated for Best Actor! And shock of all shocks, Katherine Heigl (Izzy Stevens, or as Michelle calls her...Blondie) was nominated for Best Supporting Actress. I guess all of the weeping over Denny paid off for her! I'm just so happy right now! :) (which is why I used all of the exclaimation points!)

LMAO!!!

Watching Conan O'Brian tonight, he starts talking about a skit they did last week where he made up a website hornymanatee.com. He said that a funny rule is that if the personalities make up a website that doesn't actually exist, they have to buy it. Conan figured if they're going to bother buying the site, they may as well put one up. It's pretty funny. It's also probably not as funny without seeing it on the show but whatever. Gotta love the Live Manatee Web Cam. Enjoy!

You can see Conan explain how the Horny Manatee website came about by clicking here It's worth watching through to the end since they do a funny version of You Shook Me All Night Long at the end.

A Little Freaked Out

Last night I was flipping through channels. I've recently discovered DIY Network and find myself watching it a lot. I was watching a kitchen renovation show when they broke into commercial. Bored, I started flipping through channels. I came upon VH 1's Celebrity Paranormal Project. Of course, it was midnightish and everyone was asleep. Oh and I was in the basement, which sometimes freaks me out anyway. As soon as I figured out what was going on, I knew I should have changed the channel but just couldn't. This poor girl goes, by herself, into this children's dorm room in the middle of the night to try to connect with the spirit of a girl who was murdered there. She has to hang a windchime and wind up a music box to see if she'll come out. Of course, all of this is in the dark and they have those strange night vision cameras. She radios the "headquarters" and it starts to cut out. You can tell that this poor woman is scared out of her mind. She thinks she hears breathing in a corner and the radio completely cuts out and then the video does. The next thing you see is this poor woman running for her life back to the headquarters. Needless to say, I was sufficiently freaked out. When she gets back, she tells everyone that someone was there but it wasn't a little girl. There were two other "missions" after that at which point the woman I mentioned before starts to scream, "GET OUT OF ME!" (I didn't mention that she had just gotten back from a "mission" where Evander Holyfield had to handcuff her...as the people there were handcuffed...and walk out of the building.) At this point, I'm sure I'm going to have nightmares (which I did). When it was over, I turned off the TV and ran upstairs. It took me forever to get to sleep and I must have woken up 4 times. No more of this show for me!

Baking Baking and More Baking

I have now finished 2 batches of fudge, 2 batches of divinity and 2 batches of chocolate mint divinity. I'm tired. Oh, and I also made a lasagna for dinner. The chocolate mint divinity turned out really well. Very tasty. I'll have to make more since Mike's going to be taking most of what I made today to work.

At one point, Mike walked over to where I had the baking chocolate and started to take some. I said, "I wouldn't do that if I were you." He picks up the wrapper and realizes that it's unsweetened. Later, the kids ask for some. I decided that I would let the kids try some. Daniel even asked for a "big piece." They were fine at first but then they began gagging. Mike says something like, "it can't be that bad," and takes a piece. Then he begins gagging. LOL! At least they'll be staying out of the baking chocolate and won't be begging for some.

Weekend Update

The kids had such fun with Anna the babysitter last week that we called her up to see if she'd babysit again this weekend. She said that she would. All day yesterday, Jacob kept telling me that she had promised to bring her Pokemon stuff the next time she came and that he was really looking forward to seeing it. I told him that he shouldn't be mad if she forgot. Well, she didn't. She not only brought the Pokemon cards with her but a couple of other games as well. When she walked in the door last night, it was like Mike and I didn't even exist. We tried and tried to get the kids attention but they were so into Anna and what she brought that they never even said goodbye to us, or heard us say goodbye to them. Mike and I walked out of the house laughing that this had never happened before.

Mike took me to this really great steakhouse for dinner. Since we had a little wait for our table (although, because of call ahead seating, it wasn't that long), we headed over to the bar for drinks and appetizers. We talked a lot about if Kansas was what I thought it would be. Honestly, it's just like anywhere else. Since we're in a suburban area, it's a lot like Chicago without the traffic. I would even go so far as to say that the traffic in Winchester is worse than it is here. It's also a lot newer so it doesn't seem as dingy as some areas in the suburbs of Chicago (the Dundee/Rand road area for example). The whole area reminds me a lot of the newer area by Sam's in Peoria. It still feels open even though it's developed. There are a lot of people in the area but it really doesn't feel like it. The idea of farms as far as the eye can see and The Wizard of Oz emptyness is really no where to be found around where we are. Although I get the impression that many have embraced the idea of Dorothy since you can find Oz stuff everywhere. (a neighbor has a really cute Tin Man windchime) Anyway...

We hadn't been waiting long when our buzzer went off. Mike stayed behind to take care of the bar bill and I went to get our table. What Mike missed, and I neglected to tell him last night for fear of teasing, was that I slipped on the way to the table (which is also why my shoes were hurting my feet last night) and almost fell on my butt. The hostess turned around and said "Oh my! Are you okay?" and several tables turned around to stare. I didn't fall, though, and didn't even spill my wine! LOL

The steak was awesome! I would go so far as to say that it was probably the best steak I've ever had. Yummy.

When we came home, I realized again how much I like Anna. The house was quiet and the kitchen was clean. She had packed up the pizza and put it in the fridge, dishes were in the sink, table was wiped down, the floor was swept and the kids were asleep! I love this girl!

This morning, Jacob told me that he was so exhausted from playing that he went right to sleep last night.

We got an invitation yesterday to go caroling with neighbors next week. As in the entire street is going out. Someone rented a big truck to do a hayrack ride from place to place. It sounds like fun and we can't wait to go. :)

Ummm...Okay

Before I went to pick up Daniel from school, I decided to check my voice mail from the school. It said that I had two new messages and one was marked as "urgent." The "urgent" one was from Daniel's teacher saying that she has a surgery scheduled for next Friday (it was originally a week from this coming Monday) and she won't be back. Following that message, there was one from the principal saying that after her surgery, she'll be going on long-term disability and then going into retirement and that they will begin the search for a new kindergarten teacher today. (I have to admit that I thought about going to talk to the principal...even though I don't have my Kansas license yet) Poor Daniel. This will be teacher number 3 for him this year. This came so out of the blue - this morning, Mrs. L and I were talking about how she was looking forward to our upcoming conference next week. Now that's up in the air too. At least this is happening to Daniel. He handles this kind of thing well. Jacob does not.

Read For 2007 Read For Life

Daniels' class invited all of the parents and siblings to come and participate in a reading program this morning. Daniel's teacher signed their class up to read for 2007 seconds (33 1/2 minutes) through a program with Scholastic that they dubbed the "world's largest children's read-a-thon." So we packed up some books to read and some pillows and headed to school. Jacob was upset because he had to walk across the parking lot into school...he likes it better when he's just dropped off because he doesn't have to wait for everyone else - he can just walk into the building(it didn't help that it was 15 degrees outside - I don't know what the wind chill was).

Hannah and I sign into the office and we head to Daniel's room. (Jacob had ditched us long before) The room is packed with kids and parents. There were only 2 kids without a parent there. I felt bad for them. Mrs. L put them with two other parents to read. Both Hannah and Daniel did well until there was about 5 minutes left. Then Daniel kept asking when recess is and when can they do something else. I was actually really surprised at how well all of the kids sat and listened for 33 1/2 minutes.

When it was time to go, Daniel got upset. He wanted to come with me and/or wanted me to stay. After some encouragement, he was fine with me leaving, so Hannah and I packed up the pillows and books and headed for home.

I can tell that there is a really high parent participation rate at the school. That's nice to see.

Help For Your Holiday Newsletters...

Before I go on with this post, I just wanted to let everyone know that Bill Amend, the creater of Fox Trot has decided to go to Sundays only beginning December 31. That sucks.

I found this in the paper this morning...

WHAT A (____) YEAR! Haven't written your holiday newsletter yet? Never fear: Just fill in the blanks.
By Tim Engle from The KC Star

Dear family and friends,
We hate to send out the standard Christmas "newsletter," but this one is different from all the rest because at least ____ percent of it is actually true! Ha ha.

Well, 2006 has turned out to be another truly ____ year. I think of my job as not just a career; it's more of a ____. Remember in high school when I was named person most likely to ____? That prediction couldn't be more ____.

There is one co-worker, ____, that I'm having issues with, but I will exact my revenge at the holiday party. Let's just say that ____'s "eggnog" will be more like ____nog. Tee hee!

The children are doing so well. Popular, always make the honor roll, volunteer at the nursing home. Of course, those are the neighbor kids. Kidding! No, actually, _____ was the inspiration for a new municipal skateboarding law, and ____ can download any song or movie for free, legal or otherwise. We're very proud.

You probably heard about the police coming out to our house back in _____. It was all a mix-up. What neighbors heard was _____ and me rehearsing a scene from "____" for our community theater. We sent you an invite to opening night, didn't we?

Healthwise, you could call this the Year of the ____. It is so not true that no one comes down with ____ anymore!

Did you go anywhere fun on vacation? We tried one of those one-tank trips and actually made it all the way to ____, home of the World's Largest ____. But we had failed to budget enough money to refill the tank (____ing oil companies!) so we were forced to ____ to get back home.

Here in KC, the Plaza lights are glowing again, and the Chiefs seem poised to make it all the way to ____ this year. Of course, we can't attend the games in person anymore, ever since that day we were tailgating and inadvertently barbecued a ____. Too many beers! :-)

No doubt you heard about the sports complex's rolling roof (a ____ idea), which failed at the polls. But Clay Chastain's latest ____ actually passed. How did your candidates do? We supported ____, so of course we were ____ with the results.

Well, that hits the year's ____lights. You should come visit! Like they say, the sun always shines here in ____. Granted, our home is no showplace-some of the neighbors call it Case de ____ - but we'd love to see you anyway!

Happy holidays, and wishing you nothing but ____ in 2007.

____ and the ____ clan

Happy Hump Day

I went out yesterday and got my Kansas driver's license. Okay, so I got a driver's receipt but that's neither here nor there. Here, they give you a temporary license and mail you your real one. I'm so afraid that I'm going to accidentally throw it away because it seriously looks like a receipt with my signature and photo on it. Hopefully, it'll come closer to the 5 days than the 45 days they say it can take.

I also went to HyVee for the first time since living in Iowa. I always hated the way their stores were set up...and it's the same here. Good thing there's a lot of choice here. I miss my bright and shiny Martin's with the Tree House and Easy Scan.

Dad told me yesterday that Ryne Sandburg was named the manager of the Chiefs. I've always loved Ryno...we'll definately be going to more Chiefs games this summer.

Feeling Festive

We pulled out the tree from the safe room yesterday and got ourselves a gingerbread house and let the kids have a ball. 90% of the ornaments on the tree are on the bottom 1/3 and, of those, over half are on two branches. You know what? I don't care. The kids had fun putting them on and that's all I care about. Same with the gingerbread house. I'm sure they'll start picking the candies off beginning this afternoon. Whatever. It was a nice way to spend a day.

After The Storm

Well, we're all dug out and the snow's even beginning to melt. The kids were out playing in it for well over an hour yesterday and were having fun throwing snowballs at each other. When all was said and done, we got somewhere between 8 and 10 inches (depending on where you read/hear it). I know it was a lot. I'm just glad that the snow came this week and not last week when we were in Peoria. I read this morning that they closed a good deal of I-70 through Missouri and that would have been the way we would have taken. I hope that everyone who was hit by this storm is digging out and staying safe.

Mike and I are going to a holiday party tonight and the kids are having a sitter. This is the first time in months that Mike and I have really been out together on a date. Yes, we went out for a little bit at Mom and Dad's last week but the kids were already in bed when we left. I'm so looking forward to some adult time and getting to meet some people.

OMG!!!!!

Look how much snow Mike had to shovel out of our driveway!






Just kidding. LOL! Got you for a second though, didn't I?!? (Mike's sitting on his knees) Here's a real photo of Daniel by our backdoor (that's snow coming up several inches on the door's window)......and it's still coming down. They've already cancelled school for tomorrow which is good, but Mike has to go into work. All I know is my butt's staying put tomorrow.

Oh...and I just heard on the news that because they got no snow at the airport, we are officially going on the record books as having 0 inches of snow today! The weatherman was just in shock.

Snow Play

The kids just couldn't wait until tomorrow to play in the snow. So, they went out tonight and had a ball. There are more than a few inches out there...and it's still falling!

So Freaking Cold!

Okay, so the kids had a snow day today. And with good reason. The back streets are still solid sheets of ice although the main streets are fine. Jim Cantore from the Weather Channel (I re-subscribed to the Notify service) has called me 4 times to remind me of the Heavy Snow Warning. The kids and I headed up to Super Target this morning to get hats/gloves and lots of other necessities for the snowstorm (milk, juice, snacks, etc). Boy, I have not missed this weather. Actual temperature outside is 15...wind chill is 0. Ugh.

It began snowing about an hour ago and it's really coming down. Big fat flakes. I'd be happier about the snow if it weren't so flipping cold! I guess I got spoiled in Virginia.

Our frontyard around 2:15 pm

Our backyard around 2:15 pm

The frontyard at 3:15 pm

Our backyard at 3:15 pm

It also seems as though the furnace is not working again. Nice. It's currently 63 degrees in the house...amazingly, the upstairs and the basement are warmer. The fireplace helps and I made some cookies so having the oven on helped too. The guy's on his way to fix it. I can't wait for it to be nice and warm again.

Just In...

The National Weather Service In ... Has Issued A Heavy Snow Warning... Which Is In Effect From 12 PM Thursday To 6 AM CST Friday. The Ice Storm Warning Has Been Canceled.

The Next Winter Storm System Will Move Into ... Kansas And ... By Thursday Afternoon. Accumulating Snow Is Expected To Start First Over Southwestern Sections Of The ... Area Around The Noon Hour And Then Spread Eastward Across The Rest Of The Metro By Mid Afternoon. The Snow Is Expected To Become Quite Heavy During The Evening Hours With Snowfall Rates Of Up To 2 Inches Per Hour Possible With Thunder Snow. The Snow Is Expected To End During The Pre-Dawn Hours Of Friday Morning With Total Snowfall Accumulations Ranging From Around 6 Inches From ... To ... To A Foot Of Snow South Of The ... River.

I just loved the Thunder Snow reference! This winter's going to suck.

Updating

I can't tell if this is ice or snow! It sure looks like snow but feels like ice. If it's snow, it's not as big of a deal but if it's ice...ummm...I'm a little frightened for the ride into school tomorrow. It's still coming down so who nows just how much we're going to get.

My neighbor, Larry, stopped by tonight. He said that they took Abby the cat in because they saw her wandering around with icicles hanging from her fur. He wanted to know if we had any kitty litter that we could spare. I told him that we did and I could even give him some cat food. I told him that we'd been feeding her because we felt bad for her and he told me that several other neighbors have been feeding her too. He was planning on calling her owners in Maryland to see if they still want her and how to ship her if they do.

BTW...they just broke into a commercial (I've never seen them break into commercials before!) to update the weather...he said that there's a storm over Colorado right now that if it tracks just a little to the north, we're going to get dumped on snow-wise. Great. Thanks a lot, Sue!

Oh, and Mike...you pulled me from Virginia for this?!? :)

Got Ice?

We do! They're saying that we're going to get 1/2-3/4 of an inch of ice before it starts snowing. The sleet/freezing rain started about 2 hours ago. Ugh. I was not prepared for this. Luckily, the streets look like they're just wet. It's been so warm for the last week or so that I think it's going to take a few more hours before it starts to get slick. Poor Abby's outside the door right now. I feel so bad for her.

The deck (Daniel thought it was snowing but it's ice)

My poor van!

I thought the double icicles on the deck was funny

Comcast Hates Me, I Just Know It

(It's Comcastic! LOL!)

We've been struggling with our phone and cable since we moved in. The only thing that has worked is the internet. After numerous calls to Comcast, we had everything straightened out...that is, until I went to use the remote on the cable box downstairs. I couldn't get the thing to work! Arg. So...another call to Comcast. I couldn't get the guy to understand that the box was working fine but I couldn't get the remote and box to communicate. Long story short, they're bringing out another remote tomorrow. I would just love one day where I didn't have to be home to meet someone or didn't have something I had to do.

I can't complain about Comcast service, really. They were scheduled to show between noon-3pm and the guy showed up at 11:30...right as I was walking out the door to get Daniel. He waited outside for me to go and come back. He also resolved the problem. It took him a while, but he did it.

Now, I have to go get Jacob from school. I'm getting really tired of this no bus thing.

The Photo Post

Sue was saying that she didn't take many pictures at Thanksgiving...well, this is pretty much all I took: (L-R...Jacob, Emma, Mary Rose, Daniel and Hannah running up and down Mom and Dad's driveway)
I know...everyone can pick themselves up off of the floor...Thanksgiving is just one of those holidays where all you are really doing is eating. Who wants photos of themselves eating? LOL!

So, here are the kids' new beds. BTW, they are all out like a light...in their own beds for once!


So, I know what you're thinking..."Barb, Hannah's bed's a bunk bed!" Not really. There's no bed under hers and it's not even tall enough to be considered a loft bed (in my opinion). She wanted her fort bed and so she got it since we could get it for her. It is possible to make it into a regular twin bed, in case you are wondering.


And the boys... I love the boys' beds. I just love the wood. They'll have these beds for quite some time.

Finally Posting

Sorry about the few days without posting. We went to my Mom and Dad's for Thanksgiving and got back last night. The ride from Kansas to Illinois is a lot easier than traveling through the mountains from Virginia. It's not nearly as scenic, though.

Before we left, we had an interesting thing happen. Hannah and I had changed the bunny's litter. Mike bought pine bedding instead of the recycled fluff that we normally get because they didn't have it. I didn't think twice about it. We were walking out the door when Hannah says that her eye hurts. She had a bunch of little blister looking things all over her eye. Within 5 minutes, her eye was almost completely swollen shut. I took her up to the emergency room and they gave her some prednisone (she's been on so much of that lately) and massive doses of Benadryl. They said that it was an allergic reaction to the bedding. She's fine now but we've gotten rid of the bedding.

The kids' beds come tomorrow. We went to the store to get bedding and whatnot tonight. All three kids will be in twin beds (finally...I hate toddler beds) and they all got to choose what kind of sheets they wanted. Daniel picked Spider Man, Hannah picked Hello Kitty and Jacob picked a Monkey. He didn't want superheroes, he wanted a monkey swinging in a tree. Whatever.

I met more of the neighbors tonight. I was outside with Hannah and Jacob watching everyone talking in their little groups...desperately missing Virginia. I saw a girl drive down the street and stopped to talk to another girl across the street. She drove to the cul-du-sac and immediately came over to talk to me. Her name is Amy (the second Amy on the street) and she has two kids. She has also moved a lot but is hoping that this is it. They've been here two years. They also lived in Indianapolis (she says 5-10 minutes from Carmel) and in Joliet (Plainfield). The family on the corner (they've been here 4 months) is from South Bend, Indiana. We were laughing about the small world it really is when she happens to drop Jackie's (three doors down) husband's name. I stopped her and said, "did you say her husband's name is Todd?" Amy says, "yes." I explained to her that we had neighbors, Jackie and Todd, in Virginia. It just keeps getting wierder and wierder. Jackie and Todd, Cindy and Larry. Several of the girls are trying to get a playgroup together and I told her to definately put me on the list. She also gave me the name of a preschool for Hannah. I guess all of the kids on the street go there. That's handy.

After they get the new beds and stuff in, I'll take some pictures of upstairs and post them. We've actually gotten the upstairs pretty much done now so all that's left is the basement. Then, we have to hang all of the pictures.