Blizzard 2 of 2009

This is what 14 inches of blowing snow looks like when the wind dies down...

My parents propane tank...


The path down to the propane tank... you would never know it by looking at this photo but this is about a 4 foot drop in grade down to the tank....


Taken where the speed limit changes on the way out of Tabor to the north...


Just south of the Hunter School House/Randolph road...


Second hill south of the Hunter School House/Randolph road right before Bell's house...

I know that by looking at these photos that you probably think the snow plow had a good reason for not plowing us out sooner but let me tell you, this is a state highway taken care of by the state road department... We were on a county east/west gravel and those county had no reason as to why they hadn't gotten to a road full of elderly peole... Oh elderly people and ME!!

Bah Humbug

Thanks to the BLIZZARD of 2009 I didn't end up getting to go over to my mom and dad's for Christmas or the day after for that matter. Not until Sunday afternoon did we manage to get out.

Sunday afternoon we spent over at my parents house. All five of us kids was able to make. Thanks in no part to the snowplow that didn't go down grandpa's road...

It was a good afternoon. The kids played and us adults talked like regular human beings. No harsh words were shared or gag gifts given. On whole a rather successful Christmas.

Naturally no Christmas celebration is complete without the emergency vet visit. Hyde ran into something and punctured his eye on Sunday before we left for mom and dad's. My mom has worked for the vet clinic for 23 years and so she was able to get us in to the on-call doctor. Bonus: This visit was so so so much cheaper than our last e-vet visit that happened up here by the tune of around $300. A week of antibiotics and we should be good to go.

Monday the snowplow finally went by!!

We were so glad to see it finally!! Monday night we went over to Austin's grandma Elaine's and had another turkey supper with her and his Uncle Blaine and his girlfriend Ann.

After supper we headed home. I slept almost the whole way and it was so wonderful. I don't get to do that very often...

Now I have to get my butt ready to hit the road again. I leave tomorrow for mom and dad's for Christmas on my dad's side on Friday and then Sunday for my mom's side up at grandma Shirley's.

That means another 3+ hour drive with grump butt.

Cabin Fever

We are still snowed in at Austin's grandpa's house. We've had around 14 inches of snow and have yet to see even one snowplow go by...
I am really hoping that by tomorrow night we can get out of here...I am not holding my breath though.

Merry Christmas

Happy Birthday Jesus!!

Merry Christmas from my family to yours!! May you be safe, warm, loved and surrounded by those you love!!

(even if you are snowed in with your husband and child and both are driving you nuts... wait that is just me...)

Well We Made It...

So, I left it up to my husband on wether or not to brave the weather and head south.

I know he one crazy guy and would choose to make the drive... I mean crazy as in C~R~A~Z~Y... Gotta love a guy like that!! He always says he likes to make my life difficult but then he would move heaven and earth to make me happy.

Almost makes up for getting me a crockpot for Christmas... Nothing like a gift that says "make me some dinner woman".

Anyways I digress...

So we start out bright and early at 10. The roads weren't too bad starting out. We stopped in Boone to get gas and it is there that I asked Austin if he took our toiletries bag to the truck and got the big negatory. After a 'quick' $60 stop at WalMart for toothbrushes, shampoo, toothpaste, slippers, etc... we were back on the road.

The roads to Carroll were just wet, south of Carroll the drive got interesting so I just let him worry about the roads and read my book. It really was safer that way.

We got down to around Elk Horn and I made Austin decide if he wanted to continue along to Grandpa's or if he wanted to give up the fight and stop at my sister, Marianne's house and wait it out.

True to form we drove right past Mare's road and it suited me fine. Turns out I'm just as crazy as he is...

Amazingly the roads got a little better the farther south we went. That is until we started having to drive through drifts...

The next couple of days should be interesting snowed in with my husband, son, two min pins, and my husband's Granpa.

If you see my photo in the news you'll know it was justified...

Austin doesn't know it yet but I'm going to trick him into taking me over to my mom's tomorrow... I know he won't be able to refuse going for a drive to see all the drifts...

Oh and did I tell you that as soon as we got to Grandpa's Austin got the truck stuck in the driveway. Yep! I'm just glad it happened in the driveway and not somewhere else...

Now I think I'll go have me some ice cream since it is 82 in here...

Well I Lived

So much to say so little time...

We are waiting out a snow storm... We haven't decided if we are going to attempt to make it to my parents house Wednesday or not... I think it is safe to say I am not happy about it...

On to other news...

Really, what does it matter where we get snowed in at? I think we will just wait it out here and go down Saturday or Sunday... Maybe Wednesday...

So my dining room is painted... almost... We have two coats of the pink, Austin calls it red but it is pink, below the chair rail and one coat of country white above the chair rail. Sometime before Austin goes back to work on the 4th, I know that is way too long and one of us will be crazy by the end, we will get the stripes painted on the bottom. The main catch there is that I have to decide if I want them 6 or 8 inches apart. Mainly because Austin has informed me that we are not painting it a second time.

But then again what does he know...

We had Christmas with his family here Sunday. The day went okay. My turkey was delicious, my rolls were done to perfection, Austin's deviled eggs ended up in the trash, mine were wonderful. Mason was relatively well behaved. Raquel kept her big fat mouth shut (there will be a whole separate post on this later, probably next week). Austin and I argued all morning but pasted on fake smiles when everyone got here. He later apologized because he was in fact WRONG!!

Oh and he got a crockpot... I don't think anything else needs to be said about that. He is dead to me!! Dead I tell you!!

Mason got a spring horse named Lucky. He absolutely loves it!! I on the other think that it is annoying.

Austin got overalls and a shop vac from his parents and The Simpsons Scene It game from Mason and I.

I got a remote shutter control for my camera and a macro lens from his parents... I doubt I will ever use either one... Not because I don't like the idea of them but the quality is shoddy... o'well...

Raquel got me a learn to knit kit. She did good this year because I have been wanting to learn how. I was just so thankful that it wasn't clothing... I have yet to take the tags off anything she or her mom have ever gotten me...

Raquel got a sewing machine from her parents and I almost fell out of my chair! I have never seen anything so funny!! I still chuckle about it whenever I think about it.

Austin got some tie down straps from Dan and Raquel. I was so glad because he needed some new ones and he is too cheap to buy any.

Mason made out like a bandit!! So many new toys and books that we emptied his toy box and only his new ones and the little cars are in it.

I am still not done Christmas shopping for my side of the family but it is all women so I will just raid my PartyLite collection for them. Lord knows I have enough of it.

I know by this post it sounds like I may be just a little gift centered but I truly am not. The holidays to me are about family. It is just so unfortunate that I don't really care for Austin's family so the gifts help. That is why I am so upset about not getting to spend the holidays with my family. (I will also be speaking talking writing more about this in the week to come when I have some time to put my thoughts in some kind of order.)

I think that is all there is to tell at the moment. I have to go clean my kitchen and do some laundry for the just in case we leave tomorrow.

Agenda

My agenda for today was fairly simple and straight forward. I was going to get up and shower before Mason decided to grace me with his presence. We were going to eat breakfast and watch Curious George. Mason was going to play and I was going to finish editing some photos. Then I was going to finish scrapping some wallpaper border off the dining room walls. I was then going to get Mason dressed and freshen myself up and we were going to go to town and do some mailing and then finish up some Christmas shopping. On the way home we were going to stop by Menards and get some paint and painters tape for the stripes in the dining room. On the way through Stratford we were going to stop at the store and get some milk, bread, and lunchmeat.

Do you want to know how much of this actually happened?
I have not showered...
We did watch Curious George...
I didn't get all my editing done... Sorry Tabe I will get it in the mail tomorrow I promise!!
I have yet to step foot on the ladder and my spray bottle ended up being a toy that a certain cute little 2 and a half year old used to 'clean' my windows... all while I was busy being sick in the bathroom... (I think it is the stomach flu, I have been exposed to nothing else but pink eye)
I will not make it to Menards today but for sure will tomorrow because the dining room has to be done by Sunday... As in this Sunday the 20th... I'm crazy!!
Austin is stopping at the store on his way home because I played the sick card and told him if he didn't stop then to not come home....... I'm really hoping he comes home...

That is how my Tuesday has gone... Now I'm going to go get in the shower and get the stink washed off of me. I plan on leaving the house as soon as the husband pulls in the driveway. I don't care if it is midnight.

I do not get sick days at this time of year or any time of year for that matter. Maybe I'll get to sleep in once during the week Austin has off between Christmas and New Years. I can dream!!

We Are Down One Outside Dog

About a week ago Austin's red heeler passed away. We don't know what happened. Austin was working late one night out in the garage and Red and Buddy were out there with him. He said something to me about Red not having as much zip as usual but I laughed it off as it was 11:30 at night.

The next night when Austin got home from work and went to check on the dogs Red was laying at the end of the dog kennel covered in snow as it had been snowing for a good portion of the afternoon. He came back to the house a little flustered and told me that Red was barely breathing. We knew at that point that it was too late to do anything. Red passed away before we went to bed that night.

There wasn't a whole lot we could do in the way of burying him until the next night. The next night we spent over 2 hours digging a hole large enough and deep enough to fit Austin needs...

I say Austin's needs because he wanted to make sure it was perfect. My heart was breaking for him. That is why I froze my butt off out there in the wind and snow and didn't complain once. That is also why I cannot pull that time out of my 'I did this for you...' bank of guilt.

After we got him placed in the hole I went to the house and let Austin be alone. When I looked out the window to check on him after I'd been inside about 20 minutes Austin was still standing there leaning on his shovel staring down into the hole.

I know his heart was breaking because he hugged me close all night...

A New Family Member

Over Thanksgiving we got a new little doggie. Her name is Tootsie and she is a 3 yr old female min pin. Hyde and her get along well enough and have been caught sleeping beside each other a couple of times. She tolerates Mason's playing and is completely house trained.

She is my dog. It has taken her a couple of weeks to warm up to Austin and I am fine with this. It is nice to have someone on my side once in a while.

WE???

Austin and I have decided to 'host' his side of the family for Christmas. Basically that means that they will come over and eat turkey and the fixings and then we will open gifts and they will all go home. Simple enough.

We really didn't want to have to go to Ames to his sister's house and we knew if we didn't host it then she would. Thus we are stuck.

They actually wanted to do it on Christmas. I know can you believe it? Christmas!

I had to put my feet down on that because there was no way I was going to be stuck 3+ hours away from my family on Christmas when the rest of his family lives 10 minutes from my mom and dad's.

Then it came out that they wanted Grandma Fisher and Grandpa Hansell to make the 3+ hour drive up here. The whole time they are telling me this I am thinking 'What BASTARDS!! Too lazy to make the car drive when they have the whole week off anyways. Instead they want two eighty year olds to make the drive.'

Somehow it escaped there minds that I run the show...

We are doing Christmas on the 20th. The grandparents can make the drive if they want but we will be down there the 24th, 25th, 26th and 27th.

I may have mentioned that if it was that big of a deal maybe they, sister and her husband and Austin's parents, could carpool. Needless to say I have not been well liked for these past couple of weeks.

I'll Never Be Lost Again

Merry Christmas to me!!

I'll never be able to use the "I'm lost" excuse again.
Yes that is snow on the windshield. Iowa in December....

Thanksgiving

So this years Thanksgiving festivities started out with a funeral...
My brother's uncle passed away from H1N1. Double lung, heart transplant recipient I think qualifies as previous medical condition...

On the Tuesday before Thanksgiving Mason and I found ourselves on the way down to Tabor for the visitation followed by the funeral on Wednesday. We found ourselves in the back row at the funeral seated next to Jen Charon. I was taken aback by the animosity she showed towards me and my son. Never have I said anything bad about her or to her. I've never had anyone treat me that way. Can't say as that I liked it.

After the funeral and luncheon and obligatory family obligations we all headed back to mom and dad's to get ready for Thanksgiving dinner. As with I think about any family we painted the bathroom. I know my mother is crazy... I love her though so I had to humor her and go along with it. I even got paint on my new sweatpants. Awesome!! If that isn't love I don't know what is...

Before we went to bed Mom and Gma put the turkey in the oven and told me they would set an alarm to get up and check on it. RIGHT!! Just to be safe I set the alarm on my phone and got up and checked on it. Thankfully it was done and so I turned the oven off and then went upstairs and turned off my mother's alarm and went back to bed.

Thursday morning started with the making of the pies, cutting of potatoes, noodle making, salad tossing, and turkey carving. Somehow we had dinner on the table by 1. I'm still shocked.

My husband naturally didn't drive with me because he had to work. He filled the truck with wood on Wednesday night and drove down Thursday morning. I thought he was going to stay until Saturday morning because that is what he told he was doing on the way down.

And we all know that my husband cannot tell a lie.........

About 2:30 he unloaded the truck grabbed the dog and told me he was going home. Yep, I guess it is hard to stay the night when you don't have any clean clothes. The turkey butt. He had no plans to actually stay the night and just said he was going to to keep me happy.

And we all know it made me just as happy to see him drive away... If only he would have taken Mason also... I should be happy though that he took the dog.

Like I would have really cared. I didn't care. I still don't care. Why? Because he is easier to get along with if I don't try to trap him somewhere. So... he went home after Thanksgiving dinner and Mason and I stayed.

Darin and Jamie timed coming out just right so that I didn't have to share Paityn. She is so cute and sweet. Darin is so so sooo in love with her. It is so sweet how he holds her and kisses on her. I've never seen him behave this way over one of his kids. Don't get me wrong I'm sure he would have over Emily also if A hadn't been such a big B over the whole deal. (And that is all you will see written about that on here)

That night Mason and I stayed at Cammie and Ricky's so that they could get up at 2:30 to go shopping. I slept until 7 when the nephews woke me up. Mason and I stayed until Ricky got home and then we went to mom and dad's to watch two of my nieces.

Friday night Mason and I went over to Austin's grandma Fisher's for supper. Um... there are no words to describe that event... None. Absolutely none...

Saturday Mason and I went to my Grandma Shirley's and did a little shopping. I actually spent my b-day and Christmas money on myself for once. I know what a novel concept.

So... I've adjusted

So I have adjusted to being 29... Oh, you don't believe me? Well, your right.

I am not fond of 29 so far. Especially when I hear my husband referring to me as 'the old lady' to a friend. I know he didn't mean it so much as old but as in 'ball and chain'. I think I'd rather it was the old.

Then my stupid old self had to prove to him that I wasn't old. Yep, I tackled him in the yard. Now my poor abused body hurts whenever I move. Worse yet I can't complain about it because then he would have some fodder on me and that just isn't acceptable. I don't care if I do hobble around here during the day I am sure to force a spring into my step when he gets home.

But seriously my back is killing me and I think I have arthritis in my knee. Also there is a weird bump on my big toe that prevents me from wearing my favorite little wedges. Oh and this cold weather makes my hands ache.

Yep 29 is great but I am determined to make it the best year of my twenties... If anyone is wondering I would love Aleve for Christmas. Lots of Aleve...