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So my Love has joined the ranks of 40+ In order to honor this accomplishment, we had a party at the house. We invited many close friends and musician types. The house was crowded and loud and “rockin’!” Rich got a small keg of one of his favorite beers, we had tons of food, and of course a cake FULL of candles. (The smoke alarm miraculously did NOT go off!) The old college buds cranked out many of the old set list and obviously had a fun time doing it. Here’s to another 40! Today we all had cabin fever so bad that we piled in the van and ventured the road. We knew the neighborhood would be the worst of it. We packed the shovels and went for it. We did NOT get stuck! We had a nice lunch out and made a few errands. It took most of the afternoon since everyone else was in the same boat. The roads were O.K. Many lanes suddenly ended because of the piles of snow. Intersections with stop signs are tricky–the high snow blocks view of oncoming cars… We got home just a new snow flakes made their appearance! Schools announced they will stay closed Wed. thru Fri. They were already closed for President’s Day on Monday… Guess I have a good chance of getting the puzzle done!
Then tonight. The bulldozer.
We got a clear street. And it began snowing…again! Snow. That’s all that anyone is talking about. We had a blizzard. We got around 30 inches of snow. The good news is that it was forecast correctly. Starting mid/late Friday morning and snowing until late Saturday. Friday morning I went to the store. The produce section was barren. There were no eggs. The shelves looked ransacked by crazy people… The school system decided to open on time, but to close early. The kids came home as the snow fell hard. It snowed constantly. Friday. Saturday. We were among the lucky few who did not loose power. Many of our neighbors and friends were without power all weekend. The temps were only in the 20s! I am so grateful! Sunday true to it’s name= SUN. Digging out began. The kids have created a constant stream of wet snow clothes to keep the drier and I working overtime! Rich took the kids on a two mile hike to the middle school for sledding. (Backpack with provisions) They met friends (who were able to drive) and got a lift home–well–to the top of the hill a couple of blocks from home! On our street…No plow has come by. Still. It’s Monday night! Cars and trucks are getting stuck in front of our house. Rich has helped push many free. School is closed, but they have only committed to being so thru tomorrow! AND we are forecast for 10-20 MORE inches Tuesday night! So… I have been working a 1000 piece puzzle in between meeting all the needs. Food. Clothes. Dishes. Clothes. Shoveling. Clothes. Do I get paid time and a half for all the overtime?!! (the pix have letters in front of them because of my sort filter–and I don’t even think it worked!) The snow continues. It began last night and closed schools this morning. It was wet this time and hung to every surface. The early morning was beautiful and quiet… Then the kids had snowball fights for hours this afternoon. The trees dripped off the blanket and the yard became rumpled and dirty. I prefer to remember the morning! Kate continues dancing. This is her Hip Hop class which is her least favorite. I think it doesn’t come as naturally for her as Ballet. The thing she loves is the shoes. We ended up getting her a pair for “street wear” too! Her class is a mix; some new to dance, others just new to Hip Hop. This week is “observation” for parents. I will post more pix at the end of the week after her Ballet/Tap and Jazz classes. We live in an area where there are not only panhandlers on the corners of most busy intersections, but also “mobile florists”. Guys holding about a dozen bunches of roses in various colors strolling up and down the median while you wait for the light to change. Coming home from a usual weekly appointment, at a light that last week contained a familiar woman with a “please help” sign, a man holds his arms toward my sweet hubby’s car. We are in two cars since he meets me at the appointment. I am waiting behind him in line. I expect to have to shake my head “no” to the flower man as he moves on, but to my surprise, I see hubby put down his window! He hands the bills to the man who looks at me and back at him. He walks to me smiling. I put my window down to “pick one”… What a romantic surprise! The Stay-at-Home-Mom (SAHM) role is always loaded. I mean that in both senses of the word. Loaded with things to do and loaded with controversy. Many people can’t imagine how we must be able to afford for me “not to work”. Others simply state “It must be nice”! Yeah, I sit at home and eat bonbons all day! Then in the newspaper recently, an article about how much “leisure time” moms have… This included exercise and other things that are just time fillers… Today, after my walking Shadow, I ate breakfast and dressed to go get James out of school for a dentist appointment. It was the second trip to the dentist in a week, because the first time, when I took the younger two sibs, James had exams. (The newspaper article says time in the car with kids counts as childcare.) After the dentist and re-deposit at school, I came home for lunch and bonbon time. I consider the early afternoon “down time” since when the kids get home starting around 3pm, I am hands on with work. Back to bonbons. I made my lunch on a tray and went to sit in my big comfy chair to catch up on recorded TV. Two hours. Including a slice of lemon meringue pie! Hate me if you must. The phone rings shortly thereafter. A good friend ill and needs me to care for her young (almost 2yrs) one. Of course I will. The work begins. As soon as I have her in and settling, James shows up from school with one of his buddies. SO, zero to three in less than 30 minutes! Snacks for the boys. Toddler exploring and climbing. Less than an hour later, buddy leaves and the revolving front door shoves in Kate and Alexander from the school bus. More snacks this time including Toddler. Maybe 30 minutes later, Toddler’s big Sis comes over to “help”. Can you say “bonbons”? Dinner time is fast approaching. I set them all around the table to snack and do homework. Not much focused work gets done, but I snapped the pic above. The homework is merely an excuse to contain the mayhem so I can get the chicken and brocoli chopped and the pasta water to boil. Ill momma calls feeling somewhat better after her rest. We share dinner, some silly banter, quick kitchen clean up,and hop into the van for church. We actually made it there on time! Home again and marching orders are issued for PJs and teeth brushing and bedtime. One hour later. I sit. Full from all my bonbons. Kate performed her winter concert with band and chorus last night. She was nervous, but she had fun. It was hard to get pix of her behind the music stand playing… the room was full! This was the first performance of clarinet for her. The squeeking has moved on to notes already. We all have them. I guess it was my turn. Plumbing–Homework–Sickness–Broken Car… We have had a long standing plumbing problem that finally got fixed yesterday. The county has snaked our drain about every 6 months for a few years now. Then they took down the tree that was causing root interference. Then dug up our front yard to replace the pipe. Our drain was still backing up! The plumber snaked out our main basement drain and our tub. Now I can do laundry without having a flood… The afternoon brought with it grumpy kids. James is sick. Kate and I had communication breakdown. Homework help turned into tears… Leaving the house for dance class I was not “feeling the love”. We have all been there—distracted and emotional. It led to me sideswiping our (open) van door into our friends’ car. Now it won’t close all the way… Yep! I broke the car. Humbled, I explained to Rich. We wait to see if a salvage replacement door can be found. The whole situation reminded us of this video. At church today the band, Levite, was praising God with songs like “Hosanna” and “By Faith”. These pix are the only ones I took…I don’t really like taking pictures during church. I feel like I am distracting to others–even if I don’t use a flash. But in this auditorium with very poor lighting…flash is required and pix are still dark! Rich, Rich, Scott, Fran, and Katy sounded fantastic and I enjoy singing along! Thanks for the worship! |
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