Snow Days - Part Three

How many of you knew that there was a “Winter Storm Warning” from 6:00 pm Monday to 6:00 pm Tuesday here in Rochester, MN? Ooo, ooo, I did!! (Picture me jumping up and down waving my arms in the air)

I watched the weather throughout the day yesterday. I was getting so excited about the approaching storm. I love snow. I love the quiet that it brings. Go outside while it is snowing and it is almost silent. Then everything is so white. Makes me think of that song “White As Snow.”

Yesterday I worked from 8:00-5:30 at Olmsted Medical Center and then had to get right over to Target by 5:30. I didn’t think that I was going to make it because the roads were covered and getting slick. I did make it just in time without having to drive dangerously.

My shift ended at 9:30 pm last night. I got my coat on, bundled up in my scarf and mittens. It really snowed while I was at work. I had all of my gear on and was heading across the parking lot. Didn’t I learn anything the other day? Immediately my t-shoes were filled with icy snow. I FORGOT MY BOOTS!

So this morning I thought that I was really on the ball. I got dressed for work and put on my snow boots with my pants tucked in the top of the boots. Pretty smart don’t you think? I was so on it!! I grab my things and headed out the door for work. I got to my car and wiped all of the snow off of my car door and window. See I did learn something from the other day. I sat down in my car and grabbed on to the wheel. It was then that I realized that I only had one mitten on and no coat. Grrrrrrrrrrr!

I got out of the car, went up the steps, went in the house and grabbed my coat and mitten off of the railing. While I was back in the house I yelled at Cole to grab my cell phone (I hadn’t had it for three days and people were asking if I had gotten their messages.) Back out to the car I went and off to work. I got to work and just put the hood of my coat over my head. Thankfully it wasn’t cold out.

This is going to be the last post on my snow adventures. From now on I am going to remember my gear and all the things I am supposed to do for winter driving.

Also, was that really a winter storm last night? It hardly snowed and I was very disappointed.

Snow Days...Part Two (by RR)

Growing up in Southern California, my exposure to snow was limited. I would "go to" the snow up in Big Bear once or twice a year, if at all. My Uncle John taught me how to ski at Snow Summit Ski Area and a couple of years I would go with friends, family, or church groups to a rental cabin and enjoy the cold temeratures and pure white landscape. But still, snow exposure: limited.

Over the past five years of living in Minnesota, we have had plenty of exposure to snow. And I have to say...I LOVE IT!!! I love it when it falls from the sky. I love it when it blankets the ground. I love bundling up to go out in it. I love how quiet it is when you go out at night or early in the morning. I love how when the sun is out and the wind blows, it makes it look like the air is sparkling. I love sitting in front of the living room window with a hot cup of coffee and watching it collect on the trees. I love how it ushers in the holidays and the holiday spirit. I even like driving in it. Snow is amazing.

I will admit that snow does have it's downsides; shovelling it is probably the main one. And by mid-February it has out stayed it's welcome. But overall it is awesome.

Tell me what you like about the snow.

Snow Days

For as long as I can remember I have always deleted from my head any information I needed from my previous address. I am good with phone numbers but once I move and the information changes I figure I don’t need it anymore so I delete it from my mind. This is a pretty bad habit when you are trying to give someone a history of where you have lived (ie. the phone company, elect. co, etc.)

I realized today that I have also deleted from my mind information on what to do on snow days. We moved to North Myrtle Beach, SC in August of 2007, and I didn’t think that we would live in the north again. We moved and I deleted information.

This morning we woke up to about 1½ inches of snow that had fallen over night. Well I was excited. I love snow. I did remember to ask Hunter to go out and start the car. He remembered to turn on all the dials for the defroster, car seat warmer, and back windshield defrost. That is where the remembering stopped.

I walked out the front door with “slip on” shoes that were immediately filled with snow. Ugh…I need boots. So I go down the stairs to my car. I flung open my car door…before scraping off the snow around the top of the door and windows. Plop…my seat was then covered with snow. Ugh….I need a scraper.

After getting the snow off of the seat I got in and pulled out of the driveway. Down the hill I was going. Aaaaaaahhhhhh…I need to pump the breaks on my car when going down hill on a slippery road. I went sliding down the hill, but thankfully stopped before hitting Elton Hills Rd. Remember I didn’t think that we would be moving back to the artic northwest. I bought my car in May of 2007, moved in August of 2007, and didn’t have to drive in snow last winter.

I think after this morning that all the information for snow days in back in my head. I was trying to remember our address in North Myrtle Beach, but that is gone now. Guess the snow info replaced it.

Happy (Belated) Birthday Cole!!

Happy 10th Birthday, Cole!!

I am 2 days late with this. I just didn't remember to put it on the blog. Never-the-less here is our baby boy. Double digets this past Sunday, November 30th.

Photo Programs

Veronica has been goofing around with a photo computer program lately. I think that her pictures are amazing!! She took them all of them except for the ones of English, Hunter and Cole.

Web sites

I am always wondering where to go on the Internet. Where are the cute things? What can I look up? There is a world of information out there. What do I look up?

Well I thought that I would list some of the sites that I like to go to so others can check them out. If you have some favorites, please leave me a note so that I can look at those.

www.sierratradingpost.com (discount…everything)
www.cccrochester.org (my church)
www.etsy.com (handmade items from jewelry, or knitted items, to paintings)
www.originalgood.com
www.sevensmooches.com (adorable stuff)
www.mayoclinic.com (I am a hypochondriac)
www.readmywalls.com (I love these signs)
www.allrecipes.com (even though I don’t like to cook)
www.copykat.com (this is where I got my cheese potato soup recipe from)
www.knitpicks.com (I love yarn)
www.knitty.com (I want to be a great knitter one day)

So there are some of my favorite web sites. Let me know what yours are.

Note to Self: Remember others before self!!

I have been thinking about a friend of mine a lot lately. I don’t really know why, but I have. I do know that I miss her a lot. I miss the special place she had in my life. Always praying for me…even when I didn’t ask her to…some how she just KNEW!

My friend is Kelly. She is the wife of my husband’s cousin (Scott). Unfortunately she passed away almost 5 years ago. The story of her passing is a long one, and I really don’t feel like rehashing it. The one thing I will write about is that the funeral home said that there were more people at her visitation than any other they had ever had (at least that is what one of the workers told me). That was how special she was to so many people.

The weekend that she passed away I rushed to Smith’s Grove, Kentucky from Rochester, MN in record time. They told me to get to the hospital in Nashville, and that there were already a few people there. I made it in time to say good-bye. They took her off of life support the next morning…Good Friday. Her funeral was on Easter Sunday.

My family arrived the day after I did, and we stayed a couple of days after the funeral. Sometime between my arrival and my departure I lost all sense of what is right and what is wrong. One of those days (I really can’t remember which one) I became so stinking self-centered, and started doing things that I shouldn’t have. See I was actually supposed to be visiting Kelly and her family the weekend after she died. I was going to go help her go through her children’s clothes and organize a little. We were going to have a “girls” weekend and just visit, laugh, organize, watch movies, and hang out. It was going to be the first time we were able to spend some time together since we had moved to Minnesota.

Anyway, I went upstairs and started going through the girl’s clothes (Kelly and her husband have 6 children), and putting aside things that they were no longer able to wear. After bagging things up I went on the hunt of what else I could do. Laundry…check…dishes…check…straightening up around all the people in the living room…check!! So so selfish!! Not once did I stop and think about the pain that her husband and children were going through. I was only thinking about myself. That I got there too late. I didn’t get to talk to her or visit with her. That I wasn’t going to ever see her again. Who was going to pray for ME?

Not once did I stop and think that these 6 children had just lost their mother. That Scott had just lost the best wife ever! I didn’t think that they may feel like I was “getting rid of Kelly”. I didn’t stop and think that I could have learned something from Kelly and pray for her 6 family members. Pray that the Lord would hold them tightly and take away some of their pain. Nope! I just thought about ME ME ME!!

I am sorry about how self-centered I was during that time…I really am. What I am most sorry about is that I was so selfish that I didn’t stop and pray. I am going to try and finally learn something from my good friend and pray for people before I get so into myself.

Even though the time was short I am so blessed to have had Kelly in my life. I think that I will pray right now that I never ever forget that!

Poor Veronica!

I will set the scene for you...

Veronica and I laying in my bed watching TV last night. We weren't feeling all that good. Ronnie came down stairs to sit with us for a little bit. As we were talking the phone rang. Unfortunately for Veronica, Ronnie got the phone. After picking up the phone he looked at the caller ID. He then said:

"Special Olympics??"
"Oh, here Veronica. It's for you."


**This is in no way making fun of the Special Olympics ... just our 16 year old daughter.**

Random photos

Good Friends

Last Sunday afternoon our friends Wayne and Jennifer, Brandon and Heidi, and their children all came over to our house for dinner. While we were eating the subject of a Girls Night Out (GNO) came up. We decided that we were going to some how get together this past Friday night. Well it worked out that we were all able to get away from our husbands, children and responsibilities for 2 hours.

I didn't know that my friends had gotten together and decided to surprise me with our destination. We ended up going to a new sushi place here in town called Sushiitto. It was so good! Better than the food was the company. I hadn't realized how much I needed to get out and have a GNO. Not only did we eat good food, but we laughed so hard that Heidi was worried that we were bothering the other diners or we were going to be asked to leave. Jennifer and I didn't care so we kept laughing (by the way so did Heidi).

Thank you ladies...I needed that. Below are the three of us at Sushiitto.

me, Heidi and Jennifer

Jennifer and Heidi

Now I probably shouldn't include this, but I can't help myself. Here is Jennifer with her new Blackberry. I WANT ONE!!

I had such a great time, and can't wait until we can do it again. Knowing that we were moving back here to you and your families help us make our decision to come back to Rochester. Thank you for blessing me with your friendship.

By the way...I have been meaning to ask Heidi if Brandon got fed Friday night? Just curious!