I have spent a good part of the morning in front of my television. A lot of that time was also spent trying to get my two little boys to sit and watch with me. They don’t understand that they are watching history as it is made. Finally, I just tell them to just sit and watch so tomorrow when your teachers ask you can say that yes you did watch Obama.
I do understand that they don’t see the importance of today. After all I don’t ever recall any president being sworn in either. I couldn’t even tell you if I have ever in my life sat down and watched the event.
I try and explain to the kids why it is important and I think all that I managed was for TanMan to understand that today is Obama’s first day on the job and that Bush is no longer the President.
I have never been very involved in politics. When the Mad-Sci held a position on a local city council, I hated it. Never was it more obvious that people are really only out for what will better their own lives. Even on a much smaller scale it is all still the same. People have their own agendas and that is what motivates them. I can't be sure that people really do care about their neighbor-and sometimes not even their own family.
So anyway, today as I watch history, I wonder will it ever really change. Obama may be a new face in the crowd but every one around him is still the same. Career politicians. It is great to hear the speeches about love and unity and fighting on as one nation but me ever being the pessimist wonders…..
Will the man sleeping under the bridge be led to a warm bed tonight and wake up able to work tomorrow?
Will the families here waiting from someone to come home from Iraq suddenly be given the finances they need to continue on?
Will our new crew of leaders suddenly sprout halos and be honest, law abiding citizens?
Will the poor old couple suddenly get relief and have their much needed prescriptions filled and have their refrigerator full at the same time?
The people you see in front of you at the store buying groceries with food stamps, tomorrow will they find a way to start supporting their family?
The poor abused or neglected children of our nation-will they suddenly be saved from the horrors they endure?
No, none of those things will change. The bad guys will always be the bad guys, the good will always be good. And the politicians will always be just that. I have a hard time imagining that President Obama is going to change the world. I also don’t think it really matters what color his skin is. That never did play into how I felt about this whole election thing. I already knew that the times had changed. That no matter your color, you can be what you set your mind to. I watch my children, especially my 8 year old. He doesn’t even know what racism is. Good or bad-he doesn’t know it. Because I don’t let him know it and neither do our schools.
I work hard, my family and friends all work hard. We sometimes struggle, sometimes we struggle a lot. Do I think the new President or any of the old really have an impact on my daily life? Not so much. I think that they are all so out of touch with the real world that it is hard for me to even imagine them making a difference anywhere-except in their own pockets.
I will say it is an awesome thing to see though-that so many Americans come together to hear about peace and unity. That as a nation we are getting back to it. Maybe there is a change in the works…I just know that it will be years, and that I still need to feed my own children, figure out how to purchase the next load of fuel for my home to keep the babies warm. Will our health insurance be enough to keep us safe and healthy? Then, in my mind, I see some bank executive lying on the beach letting MY government bail his sorry butt out.
Tuesday, January 20, 2009
Tuesday, January 13, 2009
My neck of the woods....
thought I would share a article from our local news station...you there, laying on the beach...think of me....
Jan 13, 2009 11:59 am US/Central
Schools Close, Cars Crash In Blistering Cold
MINNEAPOLIS (AP) ―
The thermometer said it was 38 degrees below zero. The National Weather Service said the wind chill was negative 58. But Robert Cameron and Keith Anderson still left their homes in the far northwestern Minnesota city of Hallock on Tuesday to meet a group of friends for a morning coffee at the Cenex service station."It's really not so bad," said Cameron, 75. "We've got clothing that goes with the weather. ... We're ready and rolling, no matter what.""It's so beautiful," said Anderson, 66. "There's not a cloud in the sky."Bone chilling temperatures were recorded throughout the state Tuesday, thanks to a combination of clear skies, light winds and a pool of Arctic air and fresh snow that fell in the area a day earlier, said Tony Zaleski, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service.At about 8 a.m., the temperatures were minus 40 in International Falls, negative 35 in Roseau, negative 34 in Bemidji, minus 29 in Crookston and negative 23 in Duluth. Rochester had an air temperature of minus 18 and a wind chill of negative 41.The mercury was at 18 degrees below zero in Minneapolis, with a wind chill of minus 32.Several schools throughout the state started late or closed due to the cold. And the National Weather Service advised Minnesotans to bundle up -- exposed flesh can freeze in 10 minutes when the wind chill is 40 degrees below zero or colder.Up in Hallock, people were scurrying to their vehicles a little quicker than usual, and the gas pump at the Cenex station froze up at least once.Terrie Franks, assistant manager at the station, had the brutal chore of going out to unfreeze the pump for a customer. But she took it all in stride, saying she experimented a little earlier in the year and found that good old de-icer spray -- the kind you use to unfreeze a vehicle lock -- worked like a charm and made her runs outside about 10 times shorter than they used to be."Within minutes it thaws up and it gives you enough give in the trigger itself to pump gas," said Franks, who spoke to The Associated Press by phone just minutes after helping a customer with a frozen pump."You definitely have to have gloves on because touching the cold metal -- your hands are frozen," she said, adding that she often has to run outside quickly. "You don't have much time to be dressing up to get out there. You have customers waiting. They have places to be."Inside the warmth of the Cenex station, Cameron, Anderson, and others in their group gathered for their daily brew."We try to stick each other for coffee," Cameron said of the morning gatherings. He said he met his breakfast group earlier in the day, and most of the regulars showed up, despite the cold."Everyone's driving with caution. It's a little slippery. ... We're all survivors."Anderson found a different way to survive -- he's leaving town at the end of the week, escaping to Las Vegas, then Yuma, Ariz., for a couple of months."The cold doesn't bother me," he said. "But it's nice to get away, too."In the Twin Cities metro area, black ice was a problem during the morning commute. The Minnesota Department of Transportation urged motorists to use caution, after a morning filled with crashes, rollovers and spinouts. One crash, on Highway 212 near Cologne, involved a snowplow, said Kent Barnard, a MnDOT spokesman.He said MnDOT had 204 snowplows in the metro area on Tuesday. The plows were laying down sand and granite chips to provide traction for vehicles -- because it was so cold the salt usually used on roadways won't melt the ice.Barnard stressed it's time to "slow down, quit tailgating, watch out for our plows."Back in Hallock, Mark Johnson, vice president of Johnson Oil Co., said the extreme cold isn't too bad, and once it gets to a certain point, the degrees don't matter. For example, he said, 38 degrees below zero isn't much different than 24 degrees below zero."We're kind of acclimated to it up here up in this country," he said. "Each year, sometime during the winter, it's going to get to this point. Just as long as it doesn't stay like this for a whole month, you can deal with the day-to-day getting through it."The forecast calls for a little reprieve from the severe cold on Tuesday night, with temperatures climbing above zero on Wednesday. But by Wednesday night, the cold temperatures are expected to return.
Jan 13, 2009 11:59 am US/Central
Schools Close, Cars Crash In Blistering Cold
MINNEAPOLIS (AP) ―
The thermometer said it was 38 degrees below zero. The National Weather Service said the wind chill was negative 58. But Robert Cameron and Keith Anderson still left their homes in the far northwestern Minnesota city of Hallock on Tuesday to meet a group of friends for a morning coffee at the Cenex service station."It's really not so bad," said Cameron, 75. "We've got clothing that goes with the weather. ... We're ready and rolling, no matter what.""It's so beautiful," said Anderson, 66. "There's not a cloud in the sky."Bone chilling temperatures were recorded throughout the state Tuesday, thanks to a combination of clear skies, light winds and a pool of Arctic air and fresh snow that fell in the area a day earlier, said Tony Zaleski, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service.At about 8 a.m., the temperatures were minus 40 in International Falls, negative 35 in Roseau, negative 34 in Bemidji, minus 29 in Crookston and negative 23 in Duluth. Rochester had an air temperature of minus 18 and a wind chill of negative 41.The mercury was at 18 degrees below zero in Minneapolis, with a wind chill of minus 32.Several schools throughout the state started late or closed due to the cold. And the National Weather Service advised Minnesotans to bundle up -- exposed flesh can freeze in 10 minutes when the wind chill is 40 degrees below zero or colder.Up in Hallock, people were scurrying to their vehicles a little quicker than usual, and the gas pump at the Cenex station froze up at least once.Terrie Franks, assistant manager at the station, had the brutal chore of going out to unfreeze the pump for a customer. But she took it all in stride, saying she experimented a little earlier in the year and found that good old de-icer spray -- the kind you use to unfreeze a vehicle lock -- worked like a charm and made her runs outside about 10 times shorter than they used to be."Within minutes it thaws up and it gives you enough give in the trigger itself to pump gas," said Franks, who spoke to The Associated Press by phone just minutes after helping a customer with a frozen pump."You definitely have to have gloves on because touching the cold metal -- your hands are frozen," she said, adding that she often has to run outside quickly. "You don't have much time to be dressing up to get out there. You have customers waiting. They have places to be."Inside the warmth of the Cenex station, Cameron, Anderson, and others in their group gathered for their daily brew."We try to stick each other for coffee," Cameron said of the morning gatherings. He said he met his breakfast group earlier in the day, and most of the regulars showed up, despite the cold."Everyone's driving with caution. It's a little slippery. ... We're all survivors."Anderson found a different way to survive -- he's leaving town at the end of the week, escaping to Las Vegas, then Yuma, Ariz., for a couple of months."The cold doesn't bother me," he said. "But it's nice to get away, too."In the Twin Cities metro area, black ice was a problem during the morning commute. The Minnesota Department of Transportation urged motorists to use caution, after a morning filled with crashes, rollovers and spinouts. One crash, on Highway 212 near Cologne, involved a snowplow, said Kent Barnard, a MnDOT spokesman.He said MnDOT had 204 snowplows in the metro area on Tuesday. The plows were laying down sand and granite chips to provide traction for vehicles -- because it was so cold the salt usually used on roadways won't melt the ice.Barnard stressed it's time to "slow down, quit tailgating, watch out for our plows."Back in Hallock, Mark Johnson, vice president of Johnson Oil Co., said the extreme cold isn't too bad, and once it gets to a certain point, the degrees don't matter. For example, he said, 38 degrees below zero isn't much different than 24 degrees below zero."We're kind of acclimated to it up here up in this country," he said. "Each year, sometime during the winter, it's going to get to this point. Just as long as it doesn't stay like this for a whole month, you can deal with the day-to-day getting through it."The forecast calls for a little reprieve from the severe cold on Tuesday night, with temperatures climbing above zero on Wednesday. But by Wednesday night, the cold temperatures are expected to return.
Wednesday, January 7, 2009
Happy, Happy Hump Day!
Happy Hump Day! Boy, the days are just flying by, the first week of January complete. And let me just say, today is a happy day for me. Remember, it is always the small things that make my day.
I spent the day working, making cold calls for our business. Doing cold calls is my least favorite thing in the world to do. It was a long day with both boys off to school. Our morning went pretty well, no running like crazy people to meet the bus. Both boys got up with pretty good attitudes. Both agreed on oatmeal and bacon for breakfast and I pinched myself to make sure it all wasn't a dream.
I stood waiting at the window for the bus to drop off the boys. Our driveway is long so I always watch to make sure they both get off. Today I saw that TDog was carrying a paper. Uh oh I thought, what is that??? Bad news? Did he get in trouble?? As he came closer I could see by the two sheets he was carrying that it was his spelling test. When he noticed me standing in the window he waved that paper in the air and ran up to the house. I breathed a sigh of relief. I yanked open the door and asked how many????? Only one wrong!!! Hooray!!! It was the word scientists and after closer inspection he had the word spelled scientis -he left off the two last letters! I am not ashamed (although TDOG probably is) to say I had a big lump in my throat and tears in my eyes.
So there you have it. The power of Wii. TDog took this same test on Monday and had 8 out of 15 wrong. The deal is - no Wii unless he has 1 or less wrong on his tests. He now gets to rent a Wii game for the week. It cost me $5.99 per game for 5 days. It feels a little like I am buying him off, but man, I'll take it. I know the kid has the capabilities to do well he just needs motivation. The Wii is the first video game I have allowed in our home and I only did that because it is an active game. Although after this last week end, when I foolishly allowed him to rent a WWE Smackdown Wrestling game, I was second guessing myself.
Now that TDog only had 1 wrong, Friday's test puts him up in the challenge word category. Much harder words but he is at this very moment working on them! Maybe only a Mom gets this, but when you see your child take on a challenge and thensucceed it makes everything so worth it. Any mom reading this will also know what I mean by "everything"! Dad's might get it too, I suppose. However, here is the conversation between the Mad Sci and myself when I called to report the good news:
Me: Guess what!!??
Him: What? What happened now?
Me: TDog got off the bus holding his spelling test.
Him: How bad this time?
Me: It was great, I cried even.
Him: WTH? You cried? What are you talking about??
Me: He only got 1 wrong and it was scientists
Him: Oh yeah? That's great, let me talk to him.
Me: OK...finally something good in my life.
Him:okkkkkkkk but just between you and me, I couldn't spell scientist if my life depended on it!!
Me: I know- but he doesn't need to know that!!
I need to explain.......the mad scientist, he can fix or build just about anything. He is an inventor and creates things that make you shake your head in wonder. He knows geography (which I suck at) and is very good at both history and current events. He is one of those crazy people with a genius mind but cannot spell because it just isn't important to him- which we are both doing our best to keep from the kids. LOL
Reading this you may be thinking that I have crossed a new line as far as being just out right lame. That's what my 8 year old will say. But I'm feeling pretty dang proud and I take those when they come...and then let em make my day!!
I spent the day working, making cold calls for our business. Doing cold calls is my least favorite thing in the world to do. It was a long day with both boys off to school. Our morning went pretty well, no running like crazy people to meet the bus. Both boys got up with pretty good attitudes. Both agreed on oatmeal and bacon for breakfast and I pinched myself to make sure it all wasn't a dream.
I stood waiting at the window for the bus to drop off the boys. Our driveway is long so I always watch to make sure they both get off. Today I saw that TDog was carrying a paper. Uh oh I thought, what is that??? Bad news? Did he get in trouble?? As he came closer I could see by the two sheets he was carrying that it was his spelling test. When he noticed me standing in the window he waved that paper in the air and ran up to the house. I breathed a sigh of relief. I yanked open the door and asked how many????? Only one wrong!!! Hooray!!! It was the word scientists and after closer inspection he had the word spelled scientis -he left off the two last letters! I am not ashamed (although TDOG probably is) to say I had a big lump in my throat and tears in my eyes.
So there you have it. The power of Wii. TDog took this same test on Monday and had 8 out of 15 wrong. The deal is - no Wii unless he has 1 or less wrong on his tests. He now gets to rent a Wii game for the week. It cost me $5.99 per game for 5 days. It feels a little like I am buying him off, but man, I'll take it. I know the kid has the capabilities to do well he just needs motivation. The Wii is the first video game I have allowed in our home and I only did that because it is an active game. Although after this last week end, when I foolishly allowed him to rent a WWE Smackdown Wrestling game, I was second guessing myself.
Now that TDog only had 1 wrong, Friday's test puts him up in the challenge word category. Much harder words but he is at this very moment working on them! Maybe only a Mom gets this, but when you see your child take on a challenge and thensucceed it makes everything so worth it. Any mom reading this will also know what I mean by "everything"! Dad's might get it too, I suppose. However, here is the conversation between the Mad Sci and myself when I called to report the good news:
Me: Guess what!!??
Him: What? What happened now?
Me: TDog got off the bus holding his spelling test.
Him: How bad this time?
Me: It was great, I cried even.
Him: WTH? You cried? What are you talking about??
Me: He only got 1 wrong and it was scientists
Him: Oh yeah? That's great, let me talk to him.
Me: OK...finally something good in my life.
Him:okkkkkkkk but just between you and me, I couldn't spell scientist if my life depended on it!!
Me: I know- but he doesn't need to know that!!
I need to explain.......the mad scientist, he can fix or build just about anything. He is an inventor and creates things that make you shake your head in wonder. He knows geography (which I suck at) and is very good at both history and current events. He is one of those crazy people with a genius mind but cannot spell because it just isn't important to him- which we are both doing our best to keep from the kids. LOL
Reading this you may be thinking that I have crossed a new line as far as being just out right lame. That's what my 8 year old will say. But I'm feeling pretty dang proud and I take those when they come...and then let em make my day!!
Monday, January 5, 2009
Back to school
Lord, please forgive the happy dance I did this morning in my driveway.
I am here writing, two days in a row. That is a bit different for me but since my boys are both off to school today and this house is so quiet, I just couldn't resist plopping down here with my coffee for a little "me" time.
It was not an easy morning, neither of the boys were too excited about getting up at 6 a.m. and they didn't make it easy for me. Plus, I overslept which I never do on school days. I woke up at 6:05 and I hit the floor running. I hate waking up like that, in a panic mode. Lucky I had the back packs all ready and the boys clothes laid out so it was just a matter of dragging the boys out of bed and dumping them in a warm shower. TDog threw a fit-which I knew would come, I just didn't know for what reason. Today it was because of the way I re-tied his tennis shoes. Yes, I have a cool kid-not that I know what cool is anymore (according to my beyond cool 8 year old son). Wearing snow boots even if we have 3 feet of snow is NOT cool. Oh, the boots get packed in his bag for school. A requirement if he wants out for recess. I wonder if he gives his teacher as much grief about this as he does me. The fit he threw this morning was because when I re-tied his shoes I did it totally wrong. And why couldn't I just leave them alone?? Because they were untied and I was trying to help-since he was behind schedule this morning. The whole shoe thing with this kid drives me nuts. He has to have his shoes laced a certain way, which I totally don't get or know how he did and then the tongue has to flop forward. Or something. If I had a nickel for every time in the last two weeks I have said "pick up your feet" I'd be a rich women. I suppose I knew the day would come that I wasn't cool anymore but I just wish I could make this child of mine realize that he wouldn't be cool if I hadn't taught him to be cool.
TanMan is pretty easy in the morning and just gets up and gets himself ready and tries to steer clear of Tdog. This morning, however, his oatmeal was not right. O.K. I admit it- I don't actually cook my oatmeal (hanging head). I open the package, pour some milk in and microwave it. Today the blueberries in the oatmeal were not right according to TanMan. I tried to explain to a 5 year old that the blueberries are the same as always. Probably even the exact number of berries in each packet. Instead, I poured a little more milk in his bowl and said "there, now try it". And he ate it. Wonder why there is always one easy child and one that is....well...not as easy.
The bus arrived at exactly the scheduled time and TanMan and I ran ahead as Tdog ran with his jacket flapping open in the wind followed us. Minus 15 temps here today. I ran up to the bus with my winter jacket over my pajamas and Mr Bus driver said, "by the way, thanks for the Christmas gift" To which I replied; "No problem, I had to do something to make sure you returned today" We both laughed and TDog turned around and scowled at me. "Have a great day boys, I love you." Oooops...way un-cool to say you love your kids in public.
The bus pulled away and I am not kidding I let out a "yahoooo" as I started the walk down my driveway to the house. Then the neighbor guy across the street waved...and I thought maybe I really am not cool anymore. I have pajamas on, tucked into my snow boots (which I think ARE pretty cool by the way), and my hair well my hair I hadn't really had time to look at it much less comb it, but I am sure it wasn't good, The Mad-Sci's big camo winter coat probably finished off my look. On the upside, that coat has a hood, so part of my hair was covered!
Today, I have big plans. I need to put all of the Christmas stuff away. And it is everywhere-every room I go into I see more Christmas stuff-even both of my bathrooms. Why, oh why does it always seem like such fun in November to put all of that stuff out??? I need groceries, 3 loads of laundry to do, bills to pay, customers to call and I hope to sneak in a trip to the beauty salon for a hair cut (for my kids sake I keep telling myself).
I have not even posted a picture of our Christmas tree. It is beautiful or was. I have had it up since the day after Thanksgiving and whole branches are starting to fall off now. Time for it to go and I cannot put it off any longer. I will miss sitting in the dark with the glow from my tree. It is hard to get started on the whole task. I know that once it is complete I forget all about the glowing lights and am just glad it is done. This year the Mad-Sci chose a huge tree-probably 16 or 17 feet tall. And it is FAT. Last night before he went to bed he warned me to not attempt taking the tree out of the stand by myself to haul outside because it isn't going to fit through the door..he said something about a sawz-all...or something. Which is one of the reasons I label him the mad scientist. When we brought that tree in the house it was wrapped in a netting, nice and skinny. Who would have thought?????? Now, I am trying to not think about what kind of mess I will have as the mad-sci cuts a tree apart in out living room??
And he wonders why I sit and drink coffee half the morning just planning my day.
I am here writing, two days in a row. That is a bit different for me but since my boys are both off to school today and this house is so quiet, I just couldn't resist plopping down here with my coffee for a little "me" time.
It was not an easy morning, neither of the boys were too excited about getting up at 6 a.m. and they didn't make it easy for me. Plus, I overslept which I never do on school days. I woke up at 6:05 and I hit the floor running. I hate waking up like that, in a panic mode. Lucky I had the back packs all ready and the boys clothes laid out so it was just a matter of dragging the boys out of bed and dumping them in a warm shower. TDog threw a fit-which I knew would come, I just didn't know for what reason. Today it was because of the way I re-tied his tennis shoes. Yes, I have a cool kid-not that I know what cool is anymore (according to my beyond cool 8 year old son). Wearing snow boots even if we have 3 feet of snow is NOT cool. Oh, the boots get packed in his bag for school. A requirement if he wants out for recess. I wonder if he gives his teacher as much grief about this as he does me. The fit he threw this morning was because when I re-tied his shoes I did it totally wrong. And why couldn't I just leave them alone?? Because they were untied and I was trying to help-since he was behind schedule this morning. The whole shoe thing with this kid drives me nuts. He has to have his shoes laced a certain way, which I totally don't get or know how he did and then the tongue has to flop forward. Or something. If I had a nickel for every time in the last two weeks I have said "pick up your feet" I'd be a rich women. I suppose I knew the day would come that I wasn't cool anymore but I just wish I could make this child of mine realize that he wouldn't be cool if I hadn't taught him to be cool.
TanMan is pretty easy in the morning and just gets up and gets himself ready and tries to steer clear of Tdog. This morning, however, his oatmeal was not right. O.K. I admit it- I don't actually cook my oatmeal (hanging head). I open the package, pour some milk in and microwave it. Today the blueberries in the oatmeal were not right according to TanMan. I tried to explain to a 5 year old that the blueberries are the same as always. Probably even the exact number of berries in each packet. Instead, I poured a little more milk in his bowl and said "there, now try it". And he ate it. Wonder why there is always one easy child and one that is....well...not as easy.
The bus arrived at exactly the scheduled time and TanMan and I ran ahead as Tdog ran with his jacket flapping open in the wind followed us. Minus 15 temps here today. I ran up to the bus with my winter jacket over my pajamas and Mr Bus driver said, "by the way, thanks for the Christmas gift" To which I replied; "No problem, I had to do something to make sure you returned today" We both laughed and TDog turned around and scowled at me. "Have a great day boys, I love you." Oooops...way un-cool to say you love your kids in public.
The bus pulled away and I am not kidding I let out a "yahoooo" as I started the walk down my driveway to the house. Then the neighbor guy across the street waved...and I thought maybe I really am not cool anymore. I have pajamas on, tucked into my snow boots (which I think ARE pretty cool by the way), and my hair well my hair I hadn't really had time to look at it much less comb it, but I am sure it wasn't good, The Mad-Sci's big camo winter coat probably finished off my look. On the upside, that coat has a hood, so part of my hair was covered!
Today, I have big plans. I need to put all of the Christmas stuff away. And it is everywhere-every room I go into I see more Christmas stuff-even both of my bathrooms. Why, oh why does it always seem like such fun in November to put all of that stuff out??? I need groceries, 3 loads of laundry to do, bills to pay, customers to call and I hope to sneak in a trip to the beauty salon for a hair cut (for my kids sake I keep telling myself).
I have not even posted a picture of our Christmas tree. It is beautiful or was. I have had it up since the day after Thanksgiving and whole branches are starting to fall off now. Time for it to go and I cannot put it off any longer. I will miss sitting in the dark with the glow from my tree. It is hard to get started on the whole task. I know that once it is complete I forget all about the glowing lights and am just glad it is done. This year the Mad-Sci chose a huge tree-probably 16 or 17 feet tall. And it is FAT. Last night before he went to bed he warned me to not attempt taking the tree out of the stand by myself to haul outside because it isn't going to fit through the door..he said something about a sawz-all...or something. Which is one of the reasons I label him the mad scientist. When we brought that tree in the house it was wrapped in a netting, nice and skinny. Who would have thought?????? Now, I am trying to not think about what kind of mess I will have as the mad-sci cuts a tree apart in out living room??
And he wonders why I sit and drink coffee half the morning just planning my day.
Saturday, January 3, 2009
And so it ends............
Today, the final day of Christmas vacation. You cannot see, but I am here, in my bathrobe, jumping with joy. It has been 16 days of time well spent with my boys. It has been a good vacation, a good holiday and now I am ready to greet the bus driver tomorrow morning. The excitement of new toys has wore off and we have moved into; "Mommmm, I'm bored". I hope the bus driver doesn't think I have totally flipped my lid if I greet him with a big hug tomorrow!
The picture I have added here is of my front yard, where you can see the snowman family the boys and I built. The poor things have taken a beating. We have had warm temps, then freezing, then inches of snow, some sleat and rain, with that process repeated over and over. They kind of look how I feel. When my folks were here my Dad found great amusement in the fact that each snowman had a carrot, almost a foot long, for a nose. I usually only buy the baby carrots and when I made a special trip to the grocery store so our snowmen would be complete with noses I bought the regular bag of carrots. I don't think my boys have ever had carrots like this and they were pumped!! Yes, it is the small things that make life fun! So we have four snowmen with giant, wilted noses that greet you when you come to visit us. They are overlooking our driveway. The driveway. UGH. Since the Mad Scientist has been busy putting many hours in at his job it has become my job to rid the driveway of snow. Yes, at 44 years of age, for the first time in my life, I have now taken over the snow blower. It is a battle that I don't take lightly. Since, after all this is Minnesota and it seems that the snow has been falling at least every other day. Somewhere I have read, 79 or so more days until spring. C'mon Mother nature, bring it on!! I am so ready. I am anxious to see our new homestead in the spring with the trees and grass green. Then I will be here to write about (complain) the mud, the grass cutting chore and planting flowers! Now, it is just a dream and I am spending time gazing out the windows mentally planning what I will plant and where.
I have been doing my best to get along with ole Mother Nature. I have taken time to go out exploring in the woods with the boys. On Christmas day we made a family trek through our land, in snow that when I stepped was up past my knees. Not so easy for my little TanMan. His little legs are short and it is hard work for an adult even. It was fun though and we even walked through the frozen swamp, guessing what animals would live where in natures habitat. At some point the Mad-Sci and TDog got way ahead of the TanMan and me. Those two go like crazy men through the woods. I took my time and listened to TanMan complain about his tired little legs. By being the slowpokes, we were able to find deer tracks, turkey tracks and tons of bunny tracks. Somewhere along the line we found a clearing in the woods and we both sat down for a break. It really was an awesome spot, with the sun shining through onto completely untouched land. It was then I had the great idea to make snow angels. I told TanMan, only the wild animals would ever see our snow angels and wouldn't that be cool. Whatever, Mom can you carry me is how I believe he replied. But my mind was made up and I flopped in the perfect snow to make my snow angel. It was then that I became very worried. While I laid flat on my back making the perfect snow angel I felt a pain I had not expected. Yep, way up there in my groin area I felt something pull. Ouch.....the snow was deep and apparently I am out of shape and trying to push all of that snow is a lot more work than I recall. It was a long journey back to the house. Old Man Winter is giving me a run for my money. I am not giving up easy though and 79 days til spring really isn't that long.
Now only 22 hours until I see the shining bright lights of the big yellow bus coming down the road. And then the old battle of dragging TDog out of his bed and pushing him into the shower starts over. Only 5 more months until summer vacation!!!
Thursday, January 1, 2009
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