P is for...

P is for phone!  Well, folks, it's that time of year again.  When your cell phone plan is coming to a close and you start looking at your current phone... and you realize that you hate it.  Haha.  Don't get my wrong, I love my Blackberry in comparison to the Windows Mobile phone I had before (mainly because the BB would actually WORK consistently without crashing!).  But since I have seen John and his Droid.... I has the phone envy!  :(

Mom reminded me that our plans are renewing soon, so I am looking at the new Android phones.  Sadly, I am torn between two options:  1) get a phone that is a little bit better than what you have now, but is not expensive, or 2) pay an arm and a leg for the coolest phone out now, knowing that it will last longer before becoming totally obsolete.  Hmmmm.... decisions, decisions.

And yes, knowing me, I am making lists and comparison charts and reading up on all the reviews out there.  For some reason, I have a VERY hard time buying electronics / appliances without some serious research done first.  Maybe it's because they always cost so darn much and I have little understanding of what they're all about.

Wish me luck!

O is for...

O is for overtime!  Ain't Summer Camp great?  Where else can you easily work 55hr weeks and only get paid for 37.5hrs?  At least they compensate us with "comp time" when we work more than 40hrs per week (yes, your math is right, we donate 2.5hrs for free).  For our department, you can save up all that extra time from Summer Camp and use it as vacation time in the weeks between Camp and school starting when we have very little to do.  The catch is, you can only use it in August and you lose it if you don't.  But it's REALLY nice to have because there is no possible way to run Summer Camp and do all our paperwork if we only work 37.5hrs.  And since the overtime is "mandatory," it's nice that they compensate us for it.

This summer, I earned a whopping 45hrs of comp time!  That's six full days off from work without having to take annual leave!  Yay!  I am using it to visit the Florida Family for Granddad's 90th birthday party. 

ABC Catch-Up

I is for... I don't know!  Rraarrrrg!  I don't have anything for I!  Epic Fail!

J is for... John, of course!  :-*

K is for... knitting!  So sue me, I went for the cheap and obvious choice; I have no excuse other than that I am behind on my alphabet.  But, I do have a bit to say that's new and interesting:  I am aiming for "12 projects in 12 months" this year.  I noticed that I was churning out finished projects this spring, so I decided to set myself a goal.  Admittedly, I have gotten a little sidetracked, what with having to pull out Mom's copper sweater and then Summer Camp giving me no free time or energy.  BUT! I am decided and determined.  I have so many half-finished project lying around that I think I can whip a few of them into shape and still meet my goal.  (And if all else fails, I have a 24hr round-trip car ride coming up next week. That should definitely give me time to knit!)

L is for... lifting weights!  I know, technically I am bragging when I report my lift successes, but I don't really care.  The other day, we were doing deadlifts and the guy resting behind us actually applauded me after I lifted 185lbs-- it was not even my personal best!  Score one point for tiny girls everywhere!  And if you combine the magic of Deadlift Fridays and the euphoria of No-More-Summer-Camp, you will get me rocking out multiple reps at my max weight (225lbs, thank you very much).  PLUS, after establishing that my calves are freakishly strong (my back starts to crumble under 315lbs, but my legs don't feel it), I felt even stronger when a muscle head stereotype was working 315lbs on his calves, too.  Me and the muscle heads!  Haha! ... I'm sorry, it's just too funny.

M is for... Martin!  Martin the new kitty has settled in quite well and is developing a personality of his own.  He is very twitchy and always seems to be mobile; I call him our little tap dancer.  He is very different from Winks, but they still get along.  They make me laugh at least once a day with their stereotypical "brother" attitudes.  For example, one kitty can be on the floor ignoring me, but if the other jumps up and starts purring because he is getting attention, then you better be sure that floor-kitty will soon become "He's getting loving, I want loving too!" kitty.   :)   Such brothers!  Though Martin meets my criteria for defective kitties: he has herpes.  No, cats don't get the genital kind; the feline virus lives in their eyes (ewwwww! gross!).  Soon after we got him, he started losing weight and had the worst eye-goop discharge I had ever seen.  The vet recommended oral antibiotics, eye drop antibiotics, then eye drop anti-virals for more than three weeks.  She said that cats, like people, will have the virus forever, but may only have outbreaks every now and then.  So, to date, I have chosen a cat with Feline AIDS, a cat with one eye, and a cat with herpes.  I am apparently the protector of medically defective cats.  Go, me!

N is for... new games!  This summer has seen the release of a much-anticipated sequels for both John and me.  John (and 99% of Korea) have been WAITING for Starcraft 2 to come out for over a decade and they all squealed in fanatic joy last week when it was finally released.  I didn't play video games back in the day, but apparently Starcraft is a real-time, war-strategy game where you command various troops and support units.  The original game has such a cult following that it is still sold in stores... 12 years after the initial release date!  So needless to say, there was much excitement when the sequel was released.  John has turned me into a video game widow this past week... but I don't care because my Puzzle Quest 2 was released too!!  Yay, PQ!  Puzzle Quest is basically Bejewelled with a plot line.  The battle mechanics are just a Bejewelled board, where matching the different colors charge up various attacks.  It's pretty stimulating because you take turns with the enemy, so you don't want to set up a great move only to have him steal it.  I LOVED the first one and was very excited for the sequel.  :)

H is for...

H is for Hammock Man!  Not very dear to my life, but funny nonetheless.  The story:  We had a few warm & gorgeous, picture-perfect spring days in a row and one of our back-door neighbors decided to hang out in the ditch between our streets... in his hammock.  John and I laughed at his enjoyment of the awesome weather when we saw him napping outside, and then, just like that, Hammock Man left our lives as suddenly as he had come.  We may never know more.... 

(dramatic and slightly sad violin music)

G is for...

G is for Great Ideas (said sarcastically) !  Recently we have had a spate of great ideas ... and I am at a loss for a "G" item, so this post might seem a little weak.  I apologize.  Moving on.

John and I have had two Great Ideas recently, and they are both coming back to bite us in the butt.  A few weeks ago, we looked up and said, "Why are we both paying for personal training sessions with the same trainer on the same day?  Why don't we go for a partner session, which is cheaper (per hour) than the individual sessions?"  Well, Fletcher said he would do a partner session with us, but he'd want to bump it up to a full hour.  We've been at our full-hour sessions for a week now, truthfully, the thrill has worn off!  Monday was a leg day, so I easily outpaced John in endurance (he felt bad and wondered why we signed up for a full hour).  Wednesday was arms & abs, and I hated every minute of it because I admittedly have no ab strength and the upper body power of a hamster.  Then, with my triceps still in searing pain from Wednesday ("It burns & stretches!"), we moved right into dead-lift Fridays.... with the added bonus of Fletcher purposefully trying to hurt us because he will be out of town on Easter Monday and we will not have a session.  Take it from me, you do NOT want your trainer to go out of town; he will only hurt you!!!  So, I sit here on Sunday, back in pain & arms still hurting, wondering who's crack-headed idea was it to move up to a full hour work-out session!

The other Great Idea we've had was John's, and I have no idea what prompted it.  Anyway, John went out and got us a chin-up bar.  Having a chin-up bar in your house means you have to use it!  ... 'Nuff said.

And if that doesn't cut it for you, G can also be for gray face.  A sleepy gray face.

F is for...

F is for FATTY! and FELINE FETCH!

So I took Mr Winks to the vet today for his "new kitty" checkup to make sure he's healthy and all that.  The vet confirmed that he is a heifer, but not by much.  She says that he's not too fat, since he is larger-framed cat; but since he is a young kitty still, it's best that he lose a little bit of weight.  If he's a fat kid, he'll be a fat adult. (THE OBESITY EPIDEMIC ACROSS AMERICA IS SPREADING TO THE KITTIES!!! EEK!!)

The vet said to cut back his food a little bit and to make sure he gets his exercise.  She suggested that I take his dinner portion and toss it across the room .... kibble by kibble.  She said that her kitties like to do that every once in a while for dinner.  Kitty gets his exercise and eats slower, so it diminishes the chunk-belly in two ways!  (Now, I just need someone to do this for me!  Toss bites of steak across the room and make me chase it.  Haha)



We've been doing this most of the evening, and I can assuredly say that the kitty knows when the camera is out & running.  He's quite boring when I am filming him, and AS SOON as I put the camera away (LITERALLY the next throw) he will do something crazy and spastic.  Boooooo!

Above: The perils of the bouncing kibbles.

E is for Eulogy

 

Mr. Harvey Jones, Jr., my fluffy boy

2002? - 3/5/2010

It is with a heavy heart and red, puffy eyes that I blog today.  I sadly inform you that we had to put our kitty to sleep this morning.  I came down to make breakfast, and he wasn't there waiting for me.  I found Harvey stuck in his litterbox because he no longer had use of his back legs.  John rushed him to the emergency vet and I soon followed.  The vet told us that Harvey apparently had a heart murmur, and his age had caused his heart to fail.  This threw a blood clot into his veins that lodged in an artery and shut off blood to his back legs.  The prognosis wasn't good and they said it was painful for him as well.  With strenuous fluids & medicine, he had about a 5-10% chance of recovering the use of his legs.  If the treatment didn't kill him, and if he recovered, he would need lots of physical therapy and home care for the rest of his life.  It was a lot of "ifs" and a lot of pain for him, so we made the hard decision.  We buried him in a sunny spot so his old bones would be warm.

(L) The Men-folk are bonding.  (R) "What? You mean you didn't get this extra bed for me?"

All I can say is that we will miss him terribly.  He was *MY* cat, not my family's, and I love him.  I only got 18months with him, but he will always be the one for me.  Two summers ago, just as I moved out here to the mountains, John's family found one of their outdoor cats badly beaten up and infected.  They took him to the vet, saw the worst case of earmites ever, and found out he had FIV (feline AIDS).  The vet was reluctant to treat a "stray," but John's parents insisted that he get well again.  If you remember, 2008 was the release of The Dark Knight, and John's family laughingly said that the cat looked like "Old Two-Face" Harvey Dent because his face was split open on one side.  Somehow the name stuck.  Harvey was recuperating in the garage when I moved in.  I instantly saw a kitty that need loving and introduced him to the wonders of head-rubbin's and a brush.  I spent a lot of time in that garage that summer.  When he no longer smelled like a toilet (he was pretty infected and gross), I moved him into our apartment and refused to release him back into the yard.  John would open the door for him and try to shoo him back outside, but my feminine charms were too strong for Harvey.  He would sit and look out into the yard, sometimes he'd go visit with the other kitties, but he always came back (I might have called him back a few times).

 

(L) Grey Momma, Handsome Kitty, Mangy Kitty, and Harvey.  He's so pretty compared to the outdoor kitties.  (R) Harvey officially deciding he likes it inside!

Harvey quickly adapted to life in the apartment, developed a love a strings, and added a little something to our lives with his squeaky purr and bald spot (the fur never grew back fully on his face from his original injury). We laughed that we had to keep him because he was so defective, no one else would want him.  But the truth is, I would have him no other way.  Every little thing about him was special and made him mine, from his missing teeth, to his toe fluff, to his curly tail.

Oddly enough, for a knitter I had little trouble convincing him that he had "his strings" and I had mine.  I made him several "yarn monsters" that he was allowed to chase around the house, and he was content with them.  He also knew that when I was playing with my strings, he was not allowed in my lap (but he sure could squeeze into the small area next to me on the couch, see below).  I have yet to meet a cat that can differentiate between his strings and mine and won't make a mess of your knitting.

And let's not forget the itchy skin episode where he was put in a t-shirt for several months.  What cat do you know would tolerate being in a shirt?!?  I told you I had the best cat ever.  I think he knew how lucky he was living inside with me, a self-proclaimed Crazy Cat Lady.  He just wanted to be with you and to share some loving.  That was enough to make him happy.  Even John slowly came over to Team Harvey, though he was not initially up for having a cat in the house.  He was my mellow, cuddle-boy, and he could worm his way into your lap and your heart fairly easily. 

(L) "Fine, don't move over on the couch.  See if I care.  I'll sit up here.  No, really, I'm fine.  I like it up here."  (R) "Ooooooh, I love belly rubs! More please!"

 If you are reading this, turn around right now and hug those that you love.  Harvey was fine (if underweight) these past few days, and we had no idea that our time with him was so short.  Not to sound trite, but life moves quickly and we don't really know how fortunate we are to have somebody that loves us, whether they leave the seat up, shed on your clothes, or dig in your flower garden.  Be nice to the people and the fuzzies you love; you don't know how long you have with them.

R.I.P, Mr. Jones.  I will always love you.

D is for...

D is for DELAYS! and DIATRIBES!  **ANGRY RANT WARNING**  **ANGRY RANT AHEAD**  In case people haven't heard, John and I applied for the New Home Buyer Credit ... since we bought a new house and all that.  :)  Needless to say, dealing with the IRS has made me a HUGE proponent of small government!  I mean, these people take forever to get anything accomplished!  And I am not whining because da gub'ment aint givin' me my moneys... I am irate because the government organization says that it can accomplish X in given Y time, but then it fails.  Miserably.  Let me give you the timeline:

• June 11, 2009 - Bought House
• July 10 - Amended 2008 Tax return to get New Home Buyer Credit

                   Tax forms said wait "8-12 weeks" to get the credit
                   .... waited ....

• Oct 22 - called IRS hotline for the 2nd time to check on status

                   Was told the wait was now "14-16weeks"
                   Told to call back after Nov 13 (which would be 16 weeks since our submittal)

• Nov 20 - The IRS wrote us a letter...
• Dec 1 - The IRS put that letter in the mail and we received it on Dec 3 (really? how does it take 10 days to put a piece of paper in an envelope and send it to the post office?)

                   The IRS requests documentation proving that we 1) bought the house and 2) it is our primary residence, but they only accept certain forms:  driver's license, car registration, bank statement, or paycheck.  Now, as the rude man on the hotline informed me, "Well, don't you want your W-2 to come to your new house?"  No, dipstick, I want it to go to my "old" address which remains our mailing address and is where we get all our important papers.  Same with the license and registration-- I paid $10 to get a new license and (drumroll, please) tada! the address that appears on your license is your mailing address, even though the online form delineates between "mailing" and "residence" addresses.  I paid money to get a card that looks exactly like my old one.  What a load of crap, DMV.  Then I called my employer, who is outsmarted by their own payroll computer system and can't print anything unless it's a paycheck.  No re-prints, no year-to-dates, nothing until the ONE time a month we get a paycheck.  All I have left is the bank statements, and I still have to wait until the end of the month for those to clear.  (sigh)  Why don't they ask for things that are TRULY based on your residence?  Like utility bills?  Or maybe your voter card?  No mailing address accepted on voter cards, and they can force people to register to vote... and don't you hear the government fussing all the time that no one is registered to vote?  Get two birds with one stone, IRS!
                   Needless to say, it was a long few weeks waiting for all my monthly statements to finalize and for us to gather the necessary documents to mail off.  (Did I mention that the man working the hotline was as spiteful and rude as I-can't-think-of-something-without-reverting-to-profanity? Yeeeeahhhhhh, he made the whole process really smooth and stress-free)

• Jan 1, 2010 - Mailed needed documents back to IRS within the 30day request 
• Jan 5 - IRS wrote us another letter....
• Jan 22 - We received that letter (Did you notice their mail system is getting slower?).  

                   Letter states that we have been rejected due to us not mailing the necessary documents, please mail back this form if you agree with this rejection.

• Jan 25 - Called IRS to question why we were rejected when we HAD mailed them the forms and to definitively state that we did NOT agree with the rejection.

                   Was informed by a much nicer hotline lady that ...(are you sitting down? you need to be sitting down for this)... that the IRS takes 45-60days to process incoming mail!  Did I hear that correctly? That means that my mail from Jan1 won't even be seen until after Valentine's Day?! Maybe not even until March1?!  This does not mean that it will be read and we will get a response, just that someone recognizes that we mailed something.  Sheesh!  I am glad to report that by this point, I was just "done."  No longer angry or upset, just tired of fighting and D.O.N.E.  So, I ask the lady what I can do.  She says to fax a letter stating why we reject their rejection... and for good measure I re-submitted the 15pages of documents just to prove my point.

• Feb 8 - IRS wrote letter: "Thank you for your correspondence, which was received 01/04/2010.  We will review your response and you should receive a reply from us in the next 30days.  If we are unable to complete our review of the information you sent within that time we will contact you again providing a date when to expect a response."

                   They wrote us a letter telling us to expect a letter within 30days... and if we don't get a letter, they will send a letter with the date of when they will mail a letter. As weird as that sounds, I do appreciate the communication.  I would be a stressful wreck if I had to wait this long with no word from them.

• Feb 16 - IRS wrote a letter: "We are reviewing your response dated 01/04/2010. You should receive a reply from us by 03/20/2010."  WOOHOO!

And that is where we are now... still waiting... We are at 32 weeks currently, on a process that was originally supposed to take 8-12 weeks.  And we still have 6 weeks to go.  (quiet sobbing to myself)  The real kicker came from a college friend who was visiting.  She and her husband bought a house the April before we did and they filed for the New Home Buyer Credit on their original 2008 taxes.  We were talking about it, and she very seriously tells me, "Oh, just be prepared to wait 12 weeks for the money."  Sigh.  I wish it only took 12 weeks.  I'm not sure if tons of people falsely amended their taxes just before we truthfully applied, and now the IRS is super-bogged down.... or if they just hate me.  :(

C is for...

 The Ref had to step in-- possibly for a "foul" play or Unnecessary Ruff-ruff-roughness.

C is for CUTE!!  Brace yourself for the adorable-overload!! Iiiiiiit'ssss PUPPY BOWL!!!  Animal Planet started a show to run on Super Bowl Sunday that would be just too cute to be ignored.  The premise is part silly, part humanitarian:  Animal shelter puppies playing in a football "arena" in order to raise awareness of adopting puppies from shelters.  It is a starting line-up of cute!  As Animal Planet describes:

About the Game ...
If your favorite team is on the bench instead of in the playoffs this year, it’s time to forget that post season slump. Some very special rookies are ready to take the field with a winning combination of tackles, fumbles and even a few tumbles, for their shot at the end zone —or a tug toy—in Animal Planet’s PUPPY BOWL VI. This annual canine battle is back as a new pack of pups mix it up on the grand gridiron of Animal Planet Stadium.

On Sunday, February 7 from 3-5PM e/p an all-star lineup of rambunctious, rescue pups competes in the ultimate showdown full of dogged defense, puppy penalties and fido first downs. Animal Planet has also booked a bevy of frolicking felines for an all-new edition of the Kitty Half-time Show. 

This year, they say there will be Bunny cheerleaders and a "rogue hamster" camera crew providing aerial shots from a blimp.  HAHAHAHA!!  What is better than the Puppy Bowl?  Mom and I stumbled across the Puppy Bowl a few years ago, and have been hooked ever since.  It's totally ridiculous and totally cute!  (and it repeats itself all afternoon in case you miss some of the action!)

If you want video clips from past years, go here; I can't embed anything due to copyright concerns.  Do a little browsing yourself and check out the cuteness if you can!  :)

B is for... Part 2

After shoveling out our cars before the over-night freeze makes it very hard & icy, B is also for the Bucket Brigade (we have no snow shovel, so we used a bucket and a dust pan), blisters (dust pans chafe!), and yes, my Batman Band-Aid.  :)

B is for...

B is for BLIZZARD of 2010!  Eek! The Snowy Death is upon us once again!

Soooo I might be a little late in my B posting, but I was having difficulty thinking of a good topic.  Then the Snowy Death came for our faces, and all my problems were solved.  I <3 snow because I am from the beach and never see it, and also because I don't have a full driveway to shovel out!  Yay, for townhouses and maintenance crews to shovel the sidewalks for us!!   :)

That is my little pot of mint (that was totally buried and killed in the last snow, back in December).  I think we will get about as much snow, if not more, than we did before Christmas because that mint was buried back then... but today (this picture was taken 1.5 hrs ago) the pot is pretty much buried, and the snow is still coming down pretty hard.  I scampered out to put bags over my window boxes of herbs and the snow is so light and fluffy... and coming down sideways blowing into your face!  This will be a great weekend to snuggle up and be happily snowed-in watching Netflix movies and catching up on our TiVoed shows.   :)

 

John is eagerly watching the snow come down from the comfort of his snuggly blankie.  

The only bad part about this weekend is that our annual Girl Scout caving workshop, Cracks, Crevices, & Crawlways, was canceled.  I was undecided about driving back to Williamsburg to help staff the event, and as much as I no longer feel guilty about not going, I am sad that the event had to be canceled altogether.  Apparently, Tidewater is going to get about as much snow as we are getting out here in the hills, and they are even more easily spooked by snow.

A is for ...

A  is for arrivals!  Arrival of the new kitchen island!  When we were looking at the townhouses in this neighborhood last summer, one up the road had an kitchen island, and I just fell in love.  It immediately went on our "to do" list for the new house when we moved in.  We put our tiny side table from the old apartment in the middle of the kitchen as a pretend kitchen island (we called it the "sandbar" because it was not quite a full island, haha, a little beach dorky humor there), but I have been longing for the day when we could get a full island of our very own....

John's parents were so nice to us this Christmas: they ordered us an island from a friend, and it has been so exciting!  Mark came by a few weeks ago to measure our space and talk to us about what we wanted, but he delivered the monstrosity today.  It's so huge and awesome!  He made us a wine rack on the one short end, even though I am still not sold on the idea of it (we really don't go through that much wine!), and a spice rack on the other short end by the stove (above L & R). 

And the far, long side is just swing-open doors with adjustable shelves inside (above).  We are thinking that may be a good place to put all my baking supplies, but we haven't decided yet.

But the "piece de resistance" is the long side nearest the sink:  While planning with Mark, we talked about making the island a place to stash our recycling bins so that they are out of the way.  Well, what I was thinking and what happened were worlds apart... in a good way!

We had three tiny bins for the recycling, but Mark totally up-graded the bins and made custom-designed spaces for them in a big drawer!  How cool is this?!  They are as big as our regular trash can (13gal) and are organized and awesome.  :D  Though, the first time I went to put bags in the bins, I was struggling with a way to balance the bin without having to pull it all the way out.  I laughingly told John that we need to go back and request a pneumatic lift system that would elevate the bins 6-12inches so I could bag them and then lower them back down into the drawer.  John said that if we told Mark... he would probably do it!  He makes fancy (FANCY!) motor coaches and uses a lot of lifts for TVs hiding in cabinets and bunk beds.  John said that Mark would think the idea awesome and most likely put one in for us!  (Mark has a tendency to make things bigger & better than originally expected.) 

New Year, New Alphabet!

Yay! It's a new year and I am proud to say that I made it all the way through 2009's ABC-along.  I dropped off in 2008 around V, but 2009 was the strong finisher!  Woot woot for me!  (Unlike my sister, I did not hook up with a "Zach" to make the end of my alphabet any easier. She cheated!)

So, if you are unfamiliar with this ABC thing, it started on Flickr and Ravelry when someone realized that there are 52 weeks in the year and 26 letters in the alphabet - making for an easy 2weeks per letter.  The original design is that the blogger / photographer / knitter takes a picture of something relating to that letter (A is for animals, B is for Batman, C is for College, etc.) and posts it every 2 weeks throughout the year.  It's harder than it looks, especially with the time constraint of posting during the appropriate two week period!  Besides, how many things start with X or Q?  A real brain-buster sometimes.

Well, I'm not doing a "theme" this year like some, but I am aiming to make it through the year again.  So let's get started!

Jan 3 - A                 July 4 - N

Jan 17 - B                July 18 - O

Jan 31 - C               Aug 1 - P

Feb 14 - D               Aug 15 - Q

Feb 28 - E               Aug 29 - R

March 14 - F            Sept 12 - S

March 28 - G            Sept 26 - T

April 11 - H              Oct 10 - U

April 25 - I              Oct 24 - V

May 9 - J                Nov 7 - W

May 23 - K               Nov 21 - X

June 6 - L               Dec 5 - Y

June 20 - M              Dec 19 - Z

Z is for...

Z is for ZE ZNOW!!  Or, if you re-name it based on how the area reacted to the weather, ZE ZNOWY DEATH!  If you live under a rock, or just don't watch the weather channel / news AT ALL, then let me fill you in:  The East coast just had a butt-load of snow.  There.  That pretty mcuh sums it up.  Lynchburg got over a foot of snowy death, which is the record for snowfall ... ever. 

At around 3:45 on Friday.  The snow had been falling for 15-20min.

Now, John and I had been planning on going to Durham (~3hrs south) on Saturday to see The Phantom of the Opera as a birthday / Christmas present.  With the snowy death coming, though, we decided to leave Friday ASAP and try to beat some of the winter ick.  John snagged us a hotel in Durham, and we just holed up to avoid traveling in the worst of the weather.  It was a good idea, too.  We were going to meet friends, but they called us Saturday morning and said they were not physically able to leave Lynchburg due to the snow.  Go us!

We picked up a truck from work to help us drive in the snow... but the windshield kept icing up.  Solution: turn the heater on "turbo" to melt the ice... but that roasted us to death.  Solution: crack windows to cool off... but that let the sleet bits hit your face.  Solution:  John found a pair of safety glasses to protect himself.  (I might have been laughing a little bit at him wearing the glasses inside a car.)

The show was delighful, and we got to stay in bed and be lazy the rest of the day-- best birthday present ever! We drove back home on Sunday, noticing about 2 dozen abandoned cars on the interstate.  :(  But also noticing, as we got into town, the extent of the snow accumulation.

SNOW HATS FOR EVERYONE!

Our road on the left, my poor forgotten /buried car on the right.

For some reason, John's spot was mostly cleared when we got home.  It was either nice neighbors, or a very direct sun beam all afternoon.  Either way, it made our job a LOT easier.

John was very good at shoveling snow, but one thing I learned it that you cannot hit snow-clumps away from you with a broom.  Trust me, they just explode in your face.  I am being nice and not telling you HOW the snow came flying at me (glares at John pointedly).

My first job was to clear off my car.  VERY DEEP SNOW!  It ate the broom!

Harvey says, "What are you crazy people doing out there?"  (John throws snow at him) "What was that?!"  (John throws snow and hits the door) "OMG! Run away!"

This being our first winter in the new house, we did not have our own snow shovel.  We borrowed a regular shovel from a neighbor and used our mop bucket.  Needless to say, we were slowly creating a bucket army in our front yard as we moved the snow. (John would like you to note the size of that clump of snow he is carting and be impressed)

Left: the corner of our back deck... where there USED to be several gallon-sized pots.  Everything on our deck was completely covered in snow.  Don't beleive me?  On the right is the ruler that I used to test the depth.  We had over a foot of snow.

The kids had already gotten out and had their fun by Sunday afternoon.