We are on another "snow" day today - think that's our 3rd already this school year. This time it is for ice in the southern part of the district. We had sleet and freezing rain last night - I have no idea how long it went. The dividing line seemed to be the major east/west highway that is south of where I live. At least when I went to pick the boys up from church last night roads were clear and dry north but as soon as I hit the church parking lot (which is right on the south side of the highway) I could see the ice on the surface. Anyway I was glad to get them safely home - Squirrel drove home so he could get some more of his required practice time in. I just checked the deck out the back/front/main door - it is coated in a skiff of ice and it is currently precipitating. Squirrel has gone back to bed and Dipstick has not gotten up yet - except when he first found out he was delayed. (Just for the record - Squirrel and I are in one school district while Dipstick is in another. We technically live in Dipstick's district but didn't before B and i got married. Boy that's a convoluted enough explanation isn't it??)
Just got off the phone with a guy that works for B part-time. He said that a buddy of his took 90 min to get from the road we live on to Arcola - it is usually no more than a 30 min trip. Maybe roads are worse than I thought. Think I'm beginning to be glad I'm not driving the bus today.
Linds asked where I'm finding "story-starters" after my last post. Over the years I've purchased several books on scrapbooking, journaling, and writing your family/personal history. It's not because I have a burning desire to write a published book - but I do want to record as much of Mom and Dad's story as possible. I can't write about their best friends but on my last visit north Dad and I talked about some of the family stories we have and I learned new stuff. Anyway...the story-starter I worked on earlier this week was from the book "Scrapbooking Your Family History - The Ultimate Workbook". It was published in 2007 by Creating Keepsakes. You can check out their website at www.creatingkeepsakes.com. There is a place there you can download the family history worksheets.
Well since I started this I've spent time in the shop office working on stuff for the shop and made sure Dipstick did his chores correctly. Squirrel is still asleep...I could tell he was really exhausted. Anyway...I guess I need to scoot and do some laundry and tidying up around here before I have to go back out to the shop office. Still haven't got my stuff re-installed. That will keep for the next time I sit down at the computer.
To leave a word picture: One rather wet cat wanted to come into the house. On not being allowed to she turned around and attempted to scamper down the ramp - only to slip and fall twice!
Thursday, January 26, 2012
Tuesday, January 24, 2012
Just stuff
I am sitting down to have my 2nd full cup of coffee today. I had one before bus route and part of a 2nd one. Really hoping it helps my headache while not upsetting my stomach. Think there is a flu bug going around here. B's sister was ill over the weekend. Last night B was ill - currently he's asleep on the couch. I'm hoping this is only a 24 hour stomach bug and more importantly that the boys don't get it.
The weather is still doing totally crazy things. It started snowing near the end of last week - Friday I think and by Saturday morning we had over 6 inches on the ground. Now the great majority of that has melted away - yesterday temps were in the high 40's and we had a very cold rain most of the day. Today it is just below freezing (31') and cloudy. More snow is predicted by the weekend. I saw on the news last night that so far this winter we've had 24 inches of snow - that equals to 75% of what we get all season. Overall this moisture is a good thing as it will refill the ponds and streams.
Having said that I do wish the snow would stay around for more than a day - the only snow pictures I've taken this year have been on my cell phone.
I've not been particularly creative this week - unless one counts some extra journaling. I found a story-starter asking about best friends from childhood last night and worked on that. It was kind of fun. I still want to get my slide/negative scanner re-installed hopefully today. Need to wait until I can turn on a light out here without disturbing B.
Bus route is going well overall this week. My noisy little girl from last week has done much much better. Am hoping that will continue.
Guess I've rambled enough. Kinda missing having comments but reminding myself that is not the reason I write.
The weather is still doing totally crazy things. It started snowing near the end of last week - Friday I think and by Saturday morning we had over 6 inches on the ground. Now the great majority of that has melted away - yesterday temps were in the high 40's and we had a very cold rain most of the day. Today it is just below freezing (31') and cloudy. More snow is predicted by the weekend. I saw on the news last night that so far this winter we've had 24 inches of snow - that equals to 75% of what we get all season. Overall this moisture is a good thing as it will refill the ponds and streams.
Having said that I do wish the snow would stay around for more than a day - the only snow pictures I've taken this year have been on my cell phone.
I've not been particularly creative this week - unless one counts some extra journaling. I found a story-starter asking about best friends from childhood last night and worked on that. It was kind of fun. I still want to get my slide/negative scanner re-installed hopefully today. Need to wait until I can turn on a light out here without disturbing B.
Bus route is going well overall this week. My noisy little girl from last week has done much much better. Am hoping that will continue.
Guess I've rambled enough. Kinda missing having comments but reminding myself that is not the reason I write.
Wednesday, January 18, 2012
Wow...twice in a month?
Tried to blog last night but it would not save let alone post. So I gave up. However since I've waited until tonight it will probably be a much more cheerful post.
It is cold out tonight. We've got snow on the ground again - just a dusting. It started yesterday afternoon about route time and continued into the evening. Yesterday morning temperatures were in the 50's (F) and we had thunderstorms. To go from that to freezing and below and snow was quite the shocker. (I know it's an old wives tale but am certain we will see a lot more colds and that sort of stuff going around.) We are scheduled to have more snow during the day tomorrow - guess it's supposed to start about bus route time in the morning. We will get the kids to school...I heard on the news tonight that by this time we normally have about 8 inches of snow. This year we've had something like 18 inches already. But we get snow followed by melting followed by rain followed by more snow. It is odd to say the least.
Bus route this afternoon went so much smoother than yesterday afternoon. It was so much nicer. My one very loud elementary child who sits directly to my right was quieter today after a brief chat with the principal before she got on. I did not have to have defroster, all heaters and fans going - that always helps with the noise level. Students overall were quieter. To top it off - as I was standing outside the bus as students were loading another of my elementary girls wrapped her arms around me in a hug - completely un-urged. (That's not the word I'm looking for) Anyway...as she's been in trouble with me before and was initially not at all happy with the fact I was friends with her mom that was an unexpected very pleasant surprise.
B has been at a farm show since about 3 pm. He just walked back in the door - said the directions I printed him were absolutely crazy. And he got lost coming out of town. I'm laughing as I usually am the one getting lost. Dipstick is watching a movie. He was totally furious that I did not consider him getting his grades from F's last week up to D's this week enough of an improvement to allow him to go to a skate party at youth group. It would be different if he was not capable of getting A's and B's - but he is and has shown us this before. He is very capable - just gets lazy (his description) and does not bother to do the work. So he continues to be grounded from extra activities and from riding his 4wheeler and the snowmobile he was recently given. (Not that there's enough snow for that at the moment). Personally I want to see him get his grades up and maintain them. I had a meeting with his principal, guidance counselor and a couple of his teachers last week after B and I found out how poorly he was doing - he'd built himself an excellent reputation at his school so we are now hoping he will maintain that with the renewed focus.
Squirrel is at youth group at the skate party. He's busy most evenings but is doing very well in school. He's also growing and maturing spiritually - I love watching this.
One other really exciting thing that has happened is that Mom will be transferred from her current nursing home to one that is in the same retirement center as Dad is living (where they lived together before she got sick). This move will be much easier on Dad as he won't spend so much time traveling and will be able to be home during the day. Also it means that while a replacement vehicle would be nice it is not nearly as important an issue as it was before. Mom has declined alot the past several months but will hopefully do well with the move.
B will want the computer and I would like to go stitch so will wrap this up for now. Hopefully by this weekend I can get some pictures back on - and software back on to allow me to scan in old photos.
It is cold out tonight. We've got snow on the ground again - just a dusting. It started yesterday afternoon about route time and continued into the evening. Yesterday morning temperatures were in the 50's (F) and we had thunderstorms. To go from that to freezing and below and snow was quite the shocker. (I know it's an old wives tale but am certain we will see a lot more colds and that sort of stuff going around.) We are scheduled to have more snow during the day tomorrow - guess it's supposed to start about bus route time in the morning. We will get the kids to school...I heard on the news tonight that by this time we normally have about 8 inches of snow. This year we've had something like 18 inches already. But we get snow followed by melting followed by rain followed by more snow. It is odd to say the least.
Bus route this afternoon went so much smoother than yesterday afternoon. It was so much nicer. My one very loud elementary child who sits directly to my right was quieter today after a brief chat with the principal before she got on. I did not have to have defroster, all heaters and fans going - that always helps with the noise level. Students overall were quieter. To top it off - as I was standing outside the bus as students were loading another of my elementary girls wrapped her arms around me in a hug - completely un-urged. (That's not the word I'm looking for) Anyway...as she's been in trouble with me before and was initially not at all happy with the fact I was friends with her mom that was an unexpected very pleasant surprise.
B has been at a farm show since about 3 pm. He just walked back in the door - said the directions I printed him were absolutely crazy. And he got lost coming out of town. I'm laughing as I usually am the one getting lost. Dipstick is watching a movie. He was totally furious that I did not consider him getting his grades from F's last week up to D's this week enough of an improvement to allow him to go to a skate party at youth group. It would be different if he was not capable of getting A's and B's - but he is and has shown us this before. He is very capable - just gets lazy (his description) and does not bother to do the work. So he continues to be grounded from extra activities and from riding his 4wheeler and the snowmobile he was recently given. (Not that there's enough snow for that at the moment). Personally I want to see him get his grades up and maintain them. I had a meeting with his principal, guidance counselor and a couple of his teachers last week after B and I found out how poorly he was doing - he'd built himself an excellent reputation at his school so we are now hoping he will maintain that with the renewed focus.
Squirrel is at youth group at the skate party. He's busy most evenings but is doing very well in school. He's also growing and maturing spiritually - I love watching this.
One other really exciting thing that has happened is that Mom will be transferred from her current nursing home to one that is in the same retirement center as Dad is living (where they lived together before she got sick). This move will be much easier on Dad as he won't spend so much time traveling and will be able to be home during the day. Also it means that while a replacement vehicle would be nice it is not nearly as important an issue as it was before. Mom has declined alot the past several months but will hopefully do well with the move.
B will want the computer and I would like to go stitch so will wrap this up for now. Hopefully by this weekend I can get some pictures back on - and software back on to allow me to scan in old photos.
Saturday, January 14, 2012
Time Flies
Well hard to believe it's already the 14th of January. Time is flying by as usual. The house is quiet this morning...B, Squirrel and Dipstick have gone to cut down a large tree for wood. We won't use the wood - S's husband C is along and he will take the wood for their outdoor wood burner. Stretch is back at college - he went back last Sunday evening. Classes started Tuesday for him.
Inside the tv is on, the dishwasher is going, the wood furnace is going and it is snowing lightly outside. It is already warmer this morning at 16' F then it was all day yesterday but still pretty chilly. The snowflakes are actually bigger than they were yesterday as well - maybe they aren't as cold??
I was very thankful to have an unexpected day off yesterday - we all had a snow day though it didn't snow as much as was predicted. Having said that I'm thankful we didn't have to have school kids on buses - many do not dress as warm as they should for the weather and my bus at least does not warm up well. Guess the roads were pretty slick yesterday morning - and the wind was howling. I used my time to get the Christmas tree down and put away - ornaments also this year! Also inventoried both freezers and left one unplugged. I need to go down this morning and clean that out so it can be used again. Squirrel helped alot with both those jobs - probably would not have accomplished either one without his help.
Do have some goals for this year - will try to post them next time. One of the key ones is to spend more time being creative - whether that is blogging, working with my pictures or working on one of my other hobbies. In order to accomplish those however I have to also become more organized. Yikes! Guess I've got a start though as getting an inventory of the freezers was part of one. Now I just have to figure out how to keep an inventory current.
No pictures on the computer at this point in time as we had a computer crash already this year. It's back up - we had to set it back to factory settings! However I've still not got it back totally set up the way I want it. Step at a time.
Inside the tv is on, the dishwasher is going, the wood furnace is going and it is snowing lightly outside. It is already warmer this morning at 16' F then it was all day yesterday but still pretty chilly. The snowflakes are actually bigger than they were yesterday as well - maybe they aren't as cold??
I was very thankful to have an unexpected day off yesterday - we all had a snow day though it didn't snow as much as was predicted. Having said that I'm thankful we didn't have to have school kids on buses - many do not dress as warm as they should for the weather and my bus at least does not warm up well. Guess the roads were pretty slick yesterday morning - and the wind was howling. I used my time to get the Christmas tree down and put away - ornaments also this year! Also inventoried both freezers and left one unplugged. I need to go down this morning and clean that out so it can be used again. Squirrel helped alot with both those jobs - probably would not have accomplished either one without his help.
Do have some goals for this year - will try to post them next time. One of the key ones is to spend more time being creative - whether that is blogging, working with my pictures or working on one of my other hobbies. In order to accomplish those however I have to also become more organized. Yikes! Guess I've got a start though as getting an inventory of the freezers was part of one. Now I just have to figure out how to keep an inventory current.
No pictures on the computer at this point in time as we had a computer crash already this year. It's back up - we had to set it back to factory settings! However I've still not got it back totally set up the way I want it. Step at a time.
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