We've still got snow

and lots of it!

I wish I could bottle some and sell it.

Hayden (Lee's grandson in Texas) rarely (if ever) gets to see snow and he really, really wants to play in it and slide down it and build a snowman and make a snow angel. I'd give him free samples.

Then, when he was hooked, I'd make his doting grandmother buy it for him.

heeheehee

It snowed again

It snowed again.

This time it did it up right. A foot of snow. The biggest snowfall for 10 years. Tied for 4th place with 6 other snowfalls (or 6th place with 4 other snowfalls).

For some reason, the news and weather reporters were having a lot of fun with it today.

One of the on-location reporters made a snow angel and got snow down his pants. A burgandy car was filmed going the wrong way down a major boulevard then it got stuck in the median trying to correct the mistake. A guy was out riding a bicycle without socks. It took an hour to drive a mile to work. They thought it was all hilarious.

I think they were spiking their hot chocolate.

Now this is some serious snow:

Bird Brains

The weather forecasters were off by 1 days with the spring-like 40+ degree weather so I'll let it go this time. Unfortunately, it only lasted 2 days just like they said.

I think the birds are migrating already. I saw a large flock of robins and one of geese last week. (And maybe one of white ducks. They were in the pond with the geese but I don't know if they were traveling with them or just visiting the same sites.)

It's hard to tell if these are just crazy fowl or if they know something I don't know and spring is already on it's way.

Sometimes you think it's all over, but ...

it's not.

I took my car into the dealer yesterday and they said I needed a new engine or I needed to repair the old engine. There wasn't much difference between the two pricewise so I got a new engine.

It was suppose to take till Tuesday but they called today and said it was already done. They called 15 minutes before their office closed which didn't give me enough time to get there tonight so I'll have to go in the morning. They said they washed it for me. Considering what I'm paying them, they could have waxed it, too.

Some times .........

This has been some day. I have a pounding in my head and it feels like somebody buried a fist under my left shoulder blade.

When I went to work this morning, my car started with no problems but ...

the oil light was on. I'd just had my oil checked & it was ok and there was no puddle under the car so I decided it was just cold, but ...

about half a mile down the road, my car started to make squealing noises and the oil light was still on. I decided I'd take it to Goodyear or JiffyLube as they were next to each other but ...

before I'd got there the light had gone out and the car had stopped squealing so I went into work. For the first 2 miles everything was fine but then ....

the car started making funny noises again. I made it to the office OK, but ...

the computers were down again so I decided to take my car into the shop, since we couldn't get any work done and one of my coworkers volunteered to go with me and drive me back in her car so I put my coat back on and went back to the car, but ...

it wouldn't start. We thought it was probably the alternator so we called a tow truck and arrived at the car repaid shop that way, but ...

it wasn't the alternator. It was just the battery. The mechanic didn't hear any squealing noises, but ....

he heard a knock in the engine and they don't repair engines there so ...

I called the dealer and I'm taking it into that shop in the morning, and ...

the computers at the office still don't work.

Baby, It's Cold!

The weather forecasters are promising me it will be over 40 degrees on Wednesday. You know if they're lying I'm going to be out there looking to kick some butt.

Lucky for them, if it's still below 30, I'll be wearing so many layers of clothing I won't be able to lift my foot as high as their knee.

I took the garbage out to dumpster today. As I was putting on my coat, I realized that if I fell and broke something and went to the hospital they'd think I was a well-dressed bag lady. I had on a pair of funny looking gray sweat pants rolled up to the calf so I wouldn't trip over them, and over that a pair of blue jeans. On top I wore a green oversized t-shirt that came halfway to my knees and a red knit top over that. At least it matched my red coat. Too bad my hat didn't.

What was now is now then

I got to thinking about my horror-scope for 2008 and how accurate it was so I went back through my posts to January 6th and found the forecast for what was then my future but is now my past.

Several forecasts said I was supposed to be more mobile in 2008. Well, I did travel to Los Angeles twice on business which is twice as many times as usual.

One site said I wouldn’t have many good times in 2008. They were right – I didn’t.

Another site said it would be a good year to go on a diet. I did – several times and lost at least 25 pounds, if you add all the lost pounds together. I still weigh what I did at the beginning of the year, but it didn’t say I’d lose weight on the diet so I guess they were right again.

A third site said "You should strenuously avoid antics involving iron, sharp edges, blunt objects, firearms, machinery or verbal exchanges." Well, I did that. At my age, I don’t have many antics left in me and certainly not with anything that could be classified as a weapon.

That makes four out of four. That's not too bad. I just wish somebody had forecast more money.

The Worst Part of Winter

It snowed in the Midwest today. I drive slowly in the snow. I figure I'd rather get there late than not get there at all.

I realize that not everyone embraces this philosophy. Like the driver of the SUV that followed me into the subdivision between work and home this evening. He must have owned the road.

He was about 2 inches from my bumper through the curves and the round-about, but then he passed me. It was a no-passing zone, but he owned the road. He sped past me, spitting ice and snow, straddling the middle of the street, because he owned the road.

When I got to the stop light at the end of the street, guess who was there waiting for the light to change? Let's see how much time did he save? I'd estimate, oh, Zero minutes.

I don't turn at the light so I was in the lane to go straight. The SUV was beside me in the turn lane, but when the light switched to green, it didn't turn right. It went straight across the street because the driver owned the road. To make things more fun, the car coming from the other direction tried to turn left in front of us. Apparently, he owned the road, too.

2009

The New Year is over a week old now. Still too young to indicate if it’s going to be better or worse than 2008, or just the same old day-in, day-out grind. As usual, I looked to the stars for answers. I’m not saying astrology is accurate, but I like to keep an open mind - especially when it amuses me.

First I checked out Yahoo astrology

It started by telling me “Brilliant ideas come easily into Libra's awareness throughout 2009.” (Well, that’s a given.)

Then it claimed I would have “a new spiritual perspective of feeling fully supported and loved.” (That will be a nice change. I’ve never felt fully supported. Not even by my favorite bra.)

And it ended by suggesting that I “trust and allow [my] struggles to be released”. (I learned a long time ago that only suckers fully trust anything or anyone. Given enough time, even the most beloved blue jeans will split at the seam at an inopportune moment.)

Not much substance in that one. Mostly ‘touchy, feely’ stuff.

So I tried the Jonathan Cainer site for more in-depth predictions.

It said I’ll be wiser in 2009 (like brilliant?) and more mature. (At least older.) It also said “Everywhere you turn now, you are seeing chickens coming home to roost.” (If that happens, I hope I’m wise enough to realize I need to adjust my medication dosage.)

He said I’d have “financial stability”. (Maybe that’s what Yahoo meant by “fully supported”. I think there’s finally a Sugar Daddy with my name on it.)

It ends by saying that I’ll feel conflicted – the “little angel” me will be arguing daily with “the little devil” me. (As I will be wiser, I should have no problem deciding to whom to listen. I’m rooting for Little Devil.)

And I’m looking forward to a fun and exciting year.

Memories

I found a set of sheets in my closet the other day that I'd forgot I had. I put them on my bed and their scent reminded me of the sheets stored in my Grandmother's linen press in the back bedroom. Or my Grandpa's old shirts that I would sleep in sometimes when I stayed overnight with them as a little girl. As one of 6 kids, being an only child with my grandparents for a few hours was pure heaven.

It's been 40 years since I smelled those sheets, and at least 50 since I slept in one of those shirts. Maybe I can't really remember how they smelled, but that scent that seems so familiar brings my Grandparents and their memories so close to me.

Multi-tasking

I'm currently taking 2 on-line courses. I'm behind in the lessons of course.

This morning I was trying to download the lessons for one of the classes, checkout the websites recommended by the instructor, read my classmates messages and do laundry, wash dishes, clean the bathroom, read personal email, and play Solitaire - all at the same time. Show of hands - who's surprised that I only made it through 1 lesson?

By the way I'm doing the second lesson right now.

You know how odd it is to see a shoe along a road? You know I don't see that as often as I used to. I always wondered why just one shoe. Wouldn't you notice if you were walking along and lost one shoe? Wouldn't you notice if you were driving down the highway and lost THOUSANDS of shoes. Yesterday thousands of shoes were strewn across a Floridian highway for several miles. The news reports said "miles". Thats a lot of shoes. I heard it even included a pair of roller skates. So far nobody has admitted to being the owner. It's hard to believe that (1) someone had thousands of shoes, (2) they dumped them on a highway, (3) nobody saw nothing. Do you suppose some trucker is going to get to his destination, open the truck doors, and find it's empty? Do you think it's a terrorist plot? Imelda Marcos gone wild? One analyst suggested that we can expect more shoes to turn up in other sites.

The shoes, by the way, are being donated to Soles4Souls. Check them out if you want to protest shoeless people by donating your own old shoes.

I bought gas today on my way to the grocery store. Gas was up 20 cents since I last noticed the price which was up 20 cents from the time before that. Somebody that really knows should explain why gas went up 40 cents a gallon when the price per barrel is still falling. My explanation is GREED.

Speaking of GREED, you know the world economy won't fully recover until CEOs stop thinking that they deserve their inflated paychecks.