Saturday, March 28, 2009

snowy saturday

What's a girl to do? It's just another lazy Saturday morning, me and Lola on our own while Matt brings home the bacon. On Saturdays when Matt works, I find myself with hours of nothing-to-do-ness. I wake up at the same time he does, to give us some time together + with Jesus and to fix him breakfast. By the time he leaves, I've been up for over an hour and am too awake to go back to bed. So it's like 8:00am, rainy outside, and there's nothing to do but spend a few quality hours slothing on the couch, listening to Jason Upton and catching up on some serious blog-stalking. It's 'stalking' because by and large it's people I don't know. You see, most of my real-life friends (or even semi-real-life friends, or blogs I regularly stalk) I keep up with all week long. There's no need to spend a few quality hours catching up on their lives. Saturday mornings are ideal for finding a new blog and reading months worth of entries. You know, catching up, bringing myself up to date! I assume everyone does this...if not, ignore me and please don't tell me how lame I am. I already have a pretty good idea.

Anyway, while I'm wasting the day away on the sofa, what's a lonely Lab to do? Poor baby, stuck inside due to the backyard being a muddy swamp. Remember the new toy I mentioned yesterday that we just got her? The new super-durable (I mean, I bought it at Academy. That has to mean something) toy? Right.
I look up from my laptop. Huh? Did it snow...in my living room? Oh, no. That would be the entrails of Coleman, the new toy. Poor thing didn't last a day.

This is actually a frequently occuring phenomenon in our house. Lola really likes to murder her toys. She pulls all the stuffing out of them, spreads it all over the house, and more or less frolics in it. Apparently she's re-living her memories of the snow day. Matt and I gather up all the "snow" and toss it, but don't worry-- she will still enjoy carrying around the toy carcass for months. We have at least 4 empty toys (essentially scraps of fabric) still in her toy basket, and they get frequent play. So, whatever.


What she hasn't figured out is that every time she goes beserk on a toy and spreads cotton batting all over the house it causes something Very Bad to happen: I vacuum. And if there's anything scarier (to Lola) than the vacuum...well, never mind, she's never found anything scarier. Empty paper bags are about the only thing that come close (why????), but that's another story for another day. As for me, I need to go vacuum, and while I'm at it I think I'll dust, organize, and do some other general cleaning as well. I need to catch up on my housewifely duties!


(P.S. When I went to upload the pics of Lola's destruction, I noticed I'd never uploaded our 4 pictures from Gatlinburg a few weekends ago. Here's Matt and I goofing off in a tacky gift shop.)


(Another new post below, keep scrolling!)

Friday, March 27, 2009

survivor (and a history lesson)

I have officially survived this week. That may not seem like much of an accomplishment, but it really is. Someone should make me a t-shirt or something. I Survived March 23-27, 2009. Health and energy-wise, it's been a rough two weeks. Although I ended up going back to work on Tuesday (and the rest of the week), I have had absolutely NO energy. I can't figure out why. I had some hopeful suspicions, but alas I was wrong. So now I still don't know why. My sinus infection/allergies/asthma are all gone or back under control though, so hopefully the energy will come back soon, too. In addition to not feeling well, I had two days of "professional learning" at work this week...which means 5 hours (per day) of sitting in meetings. In toddler-sized chairs. Writing on toddler-height tables. Ow. Come to think of it, maybe I just need a serious visit to a chiropractor and masseuse!!

Have I ever described to you where exactly I work? I'm not talking about what I do, I'm just talking about the physical school building I work in. Let me paint a picture for you.

The year is 1953. Athens is an up-and-coming, progressive-type town, so they decide to build a high school for the "colored" students. (Hey, I'm painting a picture...a historically accurate one. I read this in the paper a few weeks ago.) Wasn't that nice? (Heavy on the sarcasm here) So they built Athens High School. In 1953. Using the finest of materials and workmanship, I'm sure, because we all know that separate-but-equal was just that. Fast forward to integration...at some point they stop using the building as a high school and Burney-Harris-Lyons Middle School was housed in the building. People I know that are in their mid-thirties now attended middle school in the building. After they decided that the building was too run down to be used as a middle school anymore, BHL got a new building. And the county decided not to put any more schools in the building because it was just. plain. old. And they'd just rather build new schools than fix the old ones. So for the next however many years they simply used the building to house various offices and departments, and it still does. The Office of Early Learning (whom I work for), the Technology Department (except they got the heck out of there a few weeks ago and moved to a new building), the Head Start offices, etc....they just converted the classrooms to offices and voila-- a great (free) place to keep a bunch of people. A few years ago, though, the county needed a place to stick the Bad Kids...you know, the S.O.A.R. Academy-- the punitive alternative school. The place where the kids too young to drop out bide their time until they drop out. Last chance to learn how to read. Well, no one was using the upstairs of Athens High/BHL Middle/H.T. Edwards...they can have it. So the bad kids move in upstairs. Around the same time, the state starts funding pre-k programs (yay!). Now the county has lots of money to start pre-k classes, but there is very little classroom space in the schools...they built enough classrooms to house their K-5 populations, and didn't plan on suddenly opening up a new grade. What are we going to do with all these pre-k classes, the county wondered? Oh, I know!! H.T. Edwards!! That's still around! Stick them there!! All those empty (save the roaches, rats, and bats) classrooms are wasting away...put the four year olds there!

And so you have it. The building I work in has been "too old and run down" to house students for like 20 years...but it has been given new life. Not physically, mind you. Au contraire. We're still chillin' with the asbestos, lead paint, holey roof...the whole nine yards. As an added bonus, we're teaching the students how to commune with nature. They get lots of opportunities what with the rampant mold, the roaches that freely roam the building, and our most recent, most adorable infestation of bats. Oh, bats. Aren't they precious? Sure...but have you ever smelled their droppings? For 8 hours a day? No wonder I'm sick all the time. Don't bats carry rabies?

Anyway...the good news is, the county finally voted to spend like $50 billion or so on renovating (read: demolishing and rebuilding) ol' H.T. and it will start this summer. Those of us who work in the building enjoy looking at the floor plans and "artists' renderings" of what the building will look like, and we drool. It should be pretty sweet (whenever they finish it in like 2 years). In the meantime, I guess I'll do my best to protect my students from the environmental hazard that is their school. I've seriously considered buying about a million of those face masks construction workers and doctors and stuff wear. I think it would be a good investment.

But I'm home now, and happy about it. It should be rainy all weekend, which is bad if you're Lola, and also bad if you're her mom and dad...because a cooped-up Lola is a crazy Lola. We did get her a new toy yesterday, though, and she seems to love it, so maybe that will distract her a bit. We're going to look at another house tomorrow afternoon, but that's about our only plan so far. Matt's birthday is next weekend, so I need to be a good wife and start thinking about that. Any ideas?

Happy Friday!

Friday, March 20, 2009

gone crazy...

I can't even think of words to describe how exhausted I feel. And I'm a wordy person. They don't usually escape me. But I guess I'm not usually this tired. I went to bed at 9:20 last night and slept until 6:50 this morning. I slept WELL. And I've been so tired I can barely move all day. Throw in a super runny/sneezy nose, a headache, an earache, and a constantly tickle-y throat, and you have my day. It was just incredible. But I survived, and here I am sitting on the couch, doing anything I can to not fall asleep...because if I nap, I fear I won't be able to sleep tonight, and tonight I have every intention of sleeping for about 15 hours. I may just keep on sleeping til Monday morning at 6:30, actually. Then maybe I'll feel rested.

But on an unrelated note (or perhaps it is related)...I just went over to the sink to rinse out my cereal bowl. Our house is up on a hill, so I can see the tops of our cars from the kitchen window. I happened to glance out the window, as I do probably 50 times a day, and notice my Pathfinder, parked exactly where it is always parked. Only this time I noticed something strange on the roof. Luggage rack-- that's normal. Duct tape permanently adhered to luggage rack-- normal since my brother decorated the car at my wedding. Brownie pan-- wait, why is there a metal brownie pan (without brownies, sadly) on my roof?? That doesn't belong there...

And then I remember a few weeks ago...when it snowed. Matt and I wanted to "sled" down our hill and took out a bunch of different sled options to try out. I seem to recall the brownie pan being one of those options...and I guess when we were done (since it actually didn't slide very well) Matt just stuck it up there. And now I know what that strange sound has been in my car. I've heard what sounded like something sliding on my roof for a few weeks now, but completely dismissed the idea, because what could possibly be on my roof sliding? It would fall off, right?? Well, apparently not. That brownie pan had a will to survive, I tell ya. And I have clearly gone crazy since I never a) bothered looking to see what the strange noise was, and b) never noticed it just by walking by or looking out the window.

And please don't judge me now, but I am really not going down there to fetch it. I'm too tired. I plan on calling Matt when he gets off and asking him to bring it up when he gets home. I would absolutely die if I had to go all the way down there right now. And it's been there for 20 days...a few more hours won't hurt anything, right?!

Wednesday, March 18, 2009

sick-o

Bleh. The Bates family is experiencing an all-too-familiar bout of sickness. I swear, we've gotten sick more this year than in our whole lives...combined. Apparently the AJC wasn't lying a few months ago when they listed "pre-k teachers" and "bankers" as the #1 and #2 (respectively) germiest jobs. We spend our days marinating in germs, then come home and spread the love. Ew. Matt has the flu this time. I was doing good, but have felt really tired and headachey all afternoon. I fell asleep as soon as I got home from work (probably could have fallen asleep AT work if it hadn't been SUCKING so much today)...when I woke up, I didn't feel any less tired, but I did go to the bathroom to notice that my EYE IS BRIGHT RED. Can I even count how many times I've had pink eye this year? No, I cannot, because the number is TOO HIGH. It is beyond my ability to count. I bet my doctors really love me though. The Bates family is personally responsible for ensuring that no one at Athens Associates and Family Practice feels the hurt of the recession. They can treat themselves to new Beamers every month with the amount of money we lavish on them!

So we opted to skip out on home group tonight, which is sad because I miss my friends. However, I also love my friends, which is why we will not go and contaminate them with our diseases. Actually now that I think about it, among our little 3-couple group of people we hang out with the most, I can see that none of our careers support the group remaining healthy. 6 people: 3 bankers, 2 pre-k teachers, and a vet. No wonder we are never all healthy at the same time!

We did have a good time last weekend in the mountains. I think I took a total of 2 pictures, neither of which have been uploaded yet. It seems like way too much effort at this point. But we had a good time eating, playing dominoes, and dodging raindrops. Also, Lola picked up a tick somewhere (could have been there, could have been at home) that we found on Monday night (and removed). Actually, when Matt woke up Tuesday morning burning up with a fever, I was convinced he had contracted Lymes disease from the tick. I made him ask the doctor about it. The doctor told us he couldn't have contracted it in 9 hours from only touching a tick. So that made me feel better. But I really am a first-class hypochondriac and compulsive WebMD diagnoser.

This post is so pointless, but I am just sitting here on the couch not waching Iron Man with Matt, but not really having anything else to do. I can now check "create some kind of ticker-thingy" off my to-do list...I get jealous of seeing everyone's little pregnancy countdown thingies on the top of their blogs...and then I noticed people making them for all kinds of other events! So I thought my blog needed one, too, and celebrating days of marriage is as good a reason as any. Added bonus: maybe tons of people will send me anniversary cards this year. Ha.

Friday, March 13, 2009

mountain-bound

In a last minute weather-related change, we are not going camping at the beach, we are going to my family's cabin in Gatlinburg for the weekend! Suits me fine-- I'm a huge fan of staying dry and warm and sleeping in a bed. Oh, and eating in restaurants and going shopping. :) So we shall depart in a few hours for that adventure. Pictures and stories to follow, I'm sure.

In house-hunting news, we went back to Statham yesterday and I am in love with no less than 4 houses. Ironically, none of them are foreclosures...which also means all of them are (slightly) above our price range. Ha. So we are having a fundraiser...if any of you would like to contribute to our cause, just let me know. We'll be happy to wash your car, watch your baby, walk your dog, scrub your tub...whatever your heart desires. Just gimme the CASH!!! If all this fails, we will be having a tele-thon, and then a tele-marketing campaign, and I have your number. So don't let it come to that. :)

Have a wonderful weekend! Happy Friday the 13th!

Wednesday, March 11, 2009

hammock weather

What snow??


Newcomers to Georgia are probably perpetually confused at the weather. Us natives think this is normal...blizzards last week, sunshine and 80s this week. Just another week. While I must say I enjoyed the blizzard (perhaps most of all for the free vacation time), this is my favorite weather. Unfortunately, the school district has never realized that this weather is not conducive to learning, either. Who can focus when there is sunshine and a breeze outside? Not me for sure. Yesterday when I got home from work I hung up my hammock and fell asleep until Matt got home. I didn't put it back inside, so when I got home from work today and opened up the window, this was what I saw. Beautiful. Although it's usually sunny here in Athens, there really aren't that many perfect days for hammocks. Clearly if it's cold, it's out of the question. But really, if it's above about 80, it's just too hot to enjoy a hammock. So we have a narrow window of opportunity in March and October to enjoy our hammock. So enjoy it I will.


Luckily our superintendent is amazing and has lots of pity for the 12-month staff that were stuck working this week. He declared all days to be "casual dress" and said all offices would close at 3 (as opposed to our usual 4:45). Today my direct supervisor told us (as she left for lunch at 11:00) that when she returned from lunch she would not be looking in our office to see whether anyone was there. She did not expect to hear anyone, either. With a few winks of the eye, we got the message: GO HOME, NOW! We were more than happy to oblige. Although the idea of working this week when so many don't have to kind of sucked, in reality it was pretty good. I got a lot done, wasn't bored too much, and feel like I'll be more efficient for the rest of the semester since I took care of some serious organization and planning. Plus I didn't spend days on end sitting at home alone, waiting for Matt to get home. That's never fun.


Matt took Friday off so we are going to go camping in Charleston with his family! I hope it will be fun...we are taking Lola, who will have to be on-leash at ALL TIMES...so hopefully that doesn't end up being a huge pain in the neck. And hopefully the weather will be nice.


As for today, I have to bake some bread (Amish friendship bread is a demanding master) and enjoy the beautiful weather. Lola may get lucky and get a walk...only time will tell. Oh yeah, house update: we went on Monday and checked out a few of our favored houses in Statham. Our favorite one was already under contract, dangit. The other ones were varying degrees of scary: people being foreclosed on like to take our their anger on the house. Bashed in walls, mirrors, and windows...ruined carpet/tile...the works. So while the homes may be excellent prices, they need a lot of work...plus they just seem creepy. So we haven't found anything yet that we're sold on, but will continue looking. We're just praying for something very inexpensive that doesn't need too much work-- a little is okay, but the amounts of work that those other houses needed was overwhelming. So we'll see. We're scheduled to meet with our realtor and look at other houses tomorrow.


And I'm off to enjoy this weather...

Saturday, March 7, 2009

defenseless

I generally consider myself to be a person of good self-control. Of all the virtues I struggle to possess, self-control seems to come more easily than the rest. I'm excellent at holding my tongue, going the speed limit, and delaying gratification. I live on a budget like a champ and have never put more on a credit card than I currently had cash to pay off. I don't say this to brag-- I say it to demonstrate that I really do think I have a measure of self-control.


But God help me when I walk into a pet store.


All that discipline flies out the window. Or it's checked at the door, right next to the adorable kitties positioned next to the Humane Society donation box. Wherever it goes, it's not with me anymore. I fall off the self-control wagon.


Why must they make so many wonderful things for pets? Why, oh why? Why is everything so darn cute? Why does every single product seem like it would really and truly make Lola a better, happier, more obedient dog, while also making her fur shiny and her breath fresh? Why? Why do I fall for every marketing ploy in the book? I am surely the person the people in the pet-product-advertising industry have in mind when they create junk...and it works. Those people are good.


Anyway...with all that said, what began as a quick trip to Kroger this morning turned into (yet another) hour-long extravaganza in Pet Supplies Plus. What can I say, I'm just doing my part to get the economy going again. You're welcome.


But Lola's collar really was getting too small, so she was due for a new one. Her last one was purple and I loved how girly she looked. All her previous collars had been green (like her leash) or black and at the dog park people would always call her a "him". Come on...look at that beauty. She is all girl. With the purple collar, 90% of people chose the correct pronoun. And the other 10% are just stupid. So this time I decided to make her gender even more apparent by going with the pink polka-dot collar. It's totally adorable.




Who could say "no" to that adorable face? The new collar also matches her pink-heart rabies tag and name tag. She really likes when all her accessories coordinate. The other thing I got was something that will hopefully help us with walking her on a leash. She still pulls a lot, and 300 Dog Whisperer episodes later, we still aren't having consistent success with US being the walk-leaders. I've seen a lot of people with labs using these leads, so hopefully it will work for us too.


It comes with a DVD, too!! How exciting. Anyway, so our weekend is off to a solid (though self-control-less) start. My parents called this morning to see if we were busy today, which we're not, so they're coming up for a quick visit! So we're going to run back out to Statham to show them what heaven on earth looks like...haha. Enjoy your Saturday!

Friday, March 6, 2009

free at last

It feels so good to be Friday. Even though this week was kind of a joke (no work at all Monday, only 2 hours and no kids Tuesday) due to the snow, it was still too long. And the weather is just too weird, even by my standards. A blizzard on Sunday, freezing temperatures nearly all day Monday and Tuesday...and by Thursday it's 65 and today it's in the 70s?? We're playing outside on the playground in t-shirts while there are still piles of snow melting in the shadows. Strange. But whatever. It's officially spring break now, and unlike MOST school-system workers, I do not get a break. As a 248-day employee, I am lucky enough to get to work when no one else does. What do I do? A whole lot of nothing. Especially next week, since they've chosen to do a bunch of "network maintenance" which means we will have no internet, no email, no phones, no access to our data...nothin'. There will be much twiddling of thumbs and rearranging my filing system. I do get Thursday and Friday off, so that will be a nice break. And the rest of the week won't be bad, just boring. But I'll have a few co-workers around to commiserate with, so we shall survive.

In more exciting news-- Matt and I were pre-approved by TWO banks for a mortgage!!! Yippee!! It's been a wild ride the last few months (and year) as we've dreamed of buying a house this summer...tried to get our ducks in a row...prayed for guidance and peace...saved, saved, saved...watched the economy crumble...decide we shouldn't buy and would wait another year...debated whether to move to another rental house or stay put...wow. But in the last two weeks, honestly, it has become quite clear that we should be buying! One factor in our deciding to not buy was that we really couldn't find any/many houses in Athens/Oconee that were affordable and not ugly and in a safe neighborhood. I mean, I really wasn't trying to be a brat-- but most of the houses we could find that were in our "price range" were 1950s ranches, which is not my favorite but I could live with, that were in neighborhoods that felt realllly sketchy, which I can't live with. With really small yards. It just wasn't gonna work. But we're not willing to spend more than we can afford, so we decided to just spend another year saving. And we were okay with it. Then one day, sort of out of the blue, Matt started finding all these houses that were CUTE (not just do-able) and REALLY cheap!!! What? I mean, we're talking $40-60 thousand cheaper than our old "price range." As it turns out, what had been our price range was still right in the range of people who are trying to sell their homes and not lose money. You drop down to the sub-$100k range and you have a bunch of nice houses that are past that point...they've been foreclosed on and are bank-owned. And they're NICE! So we did some quick number crunching and found that (big surprise) we could definitely afford one of these super-cheap houses!! So...long story kinda-short (nothing's ever really short with me, is it)...we spoke with two banks this week and find out that we have really good credit scores, which neither of us had any idea about, and both banks were more than willing to finance us (for way more than we're willing to spend. Thanks but no thanks, we're still going cheap!). Last night we looked at 5 houses, all of which I am in love with. They're all in Statham, which is a small town right outside of Athens (15 minutes away) and I really really really hope we can get one of them!!! We will be meeting with a realtor soon to get the ball rolling...however, our lease for the place we're currently in goes through July, so we can't really do much until summer, most likely. But I am SO EXCITED!!!!!

We don't really have any plans for the weekend. Matt has to work tomorrow morning, but hopefully we will get a chance to drive out to Statham sometime and look at houses and walk around. I mean...it's this tiny little town with an elementary school (with a great reputation) right in the middle of 'downtown'...and 3 of the houses we looked at are easy walking distance from the school. How fun would it be to walk my kids to school?!! Statham does have one little problem though. It's zip code. 30666. I mean, seriously?? Did they run out of numbers?? What a downer. :) Maybe if we move there we will just have to use a PO Box in the next town, Bogart, which has a much more respectable zip code of 30622. I mean...good grief.

Monday, March 2, 2009

overflowing

Subtitle: Gymnastics, Wii Domination, and a Blizzard

The last weekend of February/first weekend of March 2009 came and went with a bang. I'll try to be heavy on pictures and short on words, but we all know it's tough for me to be stingy with my words. So bear with me as I document the last 3 days!


Saturday after the rain walk (where I took the photos of the daffodils in the post below...and it's a good thing I did it then!) I went with Mollyanne to the GymDawgs meet! It was my second meet of the season (both times compliments of the Gurleys) and we had a lot of fun without our husbands. Mollyanne actually managed to make it like 3 whole hours without throwing up, which I took to be a huge success...especially since we were way up high smack in the middle of a crowd, far from a bathroom. It wouldn't have been a pretty situation. Anyway, so I guess the meet was also a huge success in the sense that UGA won big time!! I always enjoy any event where we beat Florida.
Our score is the one on the left!

Here we are post-meet. Please forgive my bangs for having a stupid gap in the middle, and please forgive Mollyanne for not pointing this out to me.

After the meet and sitting in traffic for like an hour, I re-joined my husby and we spent the evening at his parents' house. Two uncles were visiting from out of town (Pennsylvania and Florida) so it was cause for a get-together. We enjoyed dinner and then I took the liberty of beating not one Mr. Bates, not two Mr. Bateses, but THREE Mr. Bateses at Wii Bowling. The entire older generation! And I've beat Matt many a time before, so let's just count that as all 4 Bates menfolk. There was some serious domination going on, and more than just a few tears. After my last winning game, though, Mom Bates wanted her chance to uphold her generation's bowling reputation. I was pretty tired and sore from my 3 intense games (seriously, when you're this out of shape, Wii Bowling can do you in), so I didn't play my best game and I let her win. May the record state, though, that her winning score from that game was lower than my lowest scores in any of my winning games. And I promise I'm not just a sore loser. :)



Action shot of me bowling as Dad B. contemplates his impending doom.






Me, Dad B., Uncle David, and Uncle Terry.

Sunday morning we enjoyed spending time with God and friends at Vineyard. We had post-church lunch plans to meet back up with Matt's family for another meal before the uncles left town again. We were super excited when, near the end of church, the raindrops on the metal roof turned into something a bit louder and more distinct-- ice!! We left church to drive to the restaurant as it sleeted, and we received text messages from friends driving through Atlanta telling us they were in a blizzard and it was coming our way!!! Like any other person who has spent the entirety of their life in Georgia, I get really excited at the prospect of snow. It is equal parts excitement due to the actual snow itself and then the chance of school and life shutting down for a time. Midway through lunch, the sleet had turned to big ol' snowflakes, much to the delight of everyone at Rafferty's! Everyone was cheering and staring out the windows. We finished up quickly so that we could drive home before the roads got too treacherous.

Here's Matt in the parking lot...it had snowed this much in only like an hour!!! This is unthinkable in Athens!! We drove home on the Loop at a brisk 10 mph...we couldn't see anything!!
I have never seen this kind of snow around town...mainly because the few times it has ever snowed before it's been in the middle of the night and it's done by morning. So you only see the aftermath (as it quickly melts) and you CERTAINLY don't drive anywhere!! Anyway, we made it home safely and wasted no time introducing Lola to the winter wonderland. At first she was kind of scared and uncertain, but she quickly discovered that snow is the best thing EVER for a dog!








I took TONS of pictures, but to be honest, posting pictures on here drives me crazy!! Maybe I'm just an amateur blogger, but every time I put up a picture it makes all these weird spaces elsewhere in the post and I have to re-center and re-left and re-size my text...it's a pain. Maybe I'm doing it wrong, or maybe other people are just way more patient than me. Anyway, they announced last night that schools were closed (YAAAAAAY for me!) and we figured Matt's bank would be delayed at the very least. Lots of people had lost power and ours had been flickering off and on all day, so we spent the evening with candles lit and flashlights nearby in case it went out for good (it didn't). We slept in our guest room...due to all the snow and ice, trees and limbs were falling left and right. Since the two trees in front of our house had already fallen down (sad), there was nothing left to threaten our roof. The back of the house, though, is surrounded by tall tall trees and we'd already spent the night listening to them crack and crash down (timberrrrrr!)...Matt figured we'd be safer in the front room. If a tree did happen to crash through our roof, it would most likely end up in the bedroom where we normally sleep. That thought doesn't help a girl sleep peacefully, so the guest room it was. As it turned out, nothing crashed into us, but there were a TON of branches down in our yard this morning!

Matt needed to be at work by 10:30, so at 10:00 we began trying to dig the Pathfinder out of the snow. We live in a cul-de-sac at the bottom of a (rather steep, as it turns out) hill. Funny how you can live somewhere for 3 years and never notice what a steep hill it is. We found out today when Matt tried to drive over snow and ice and it just wasn't happening. Poor two-wheel-drive baby SUV. Anyway, it turned out to be a great opportunity to meet and bond with our neighbors...we all had a common goal of getting out of our neighborhood on this day. Many ideas and tries and an hour and a half later, a team of menfolk succeeded in pushing the Pathfinder and Matt up the hill, and he was able to get to work.
So it's just been me and Lola holding down the fort and watching the snow melt. Left with only a lightweight Civic to drive, we've opted to lay low here at home...I don't care for driving even in the best of circumstances!! So I've gotten some chores done around the house and done some serious regretting that I didn't go grocery shopping on Saturday. Oh well. Matt should get home soon and it will be on to our next great adventure!!