Snow? Did I ask for snow? Uh, I guess I did...

We have had 2 weeks of crazy amounts of snow and ice. The first round gave Sky 4 days off from school in one week and kept our car securely blocked in on the street for days covered in a nice sheet of ice that was oh so much fun to scrape off. I had decided to call my work the day it was really coming down and our main office was closed so it was very difficult to finally get a hold of the nurses. They had no clue whether or not the doctor would cancel clinic so I got ready to go in. John had to go to the restaurant so we walked up to the bus hoping it would be running. It came and we got on then my phone rang. It was the one nurse saying they just called a level 3 for the city so clinic was canceled because you are not supposed to be on the roads. Ugh. I decided to stay on the bus to downtown with John and walk to his work so I could pee. Keep in mind walking on this amount of snow with an ice layer was not easy and I was soaked. John walked me back to the bus and I went home. It was a fun adventure. We got a couple sledding sessions in and a bit of snowskating here and there. Almost a week later, we had finally dug a trench out to the street so we could get over the huge snow barrier the plows created and into the car fairly easily. The next day the forecast said maybe 2 inches in the afternoon. By the time I got off work it was about 4 inches with 4 more still coming down. The roads were terrible and John had the car with a flat tire. Luckily a co-worker of mine said she’d drive me home after her doctor was finished. We slid all over but made it and John had gotten the donut tire on the car. We decided it would take us 2 hours to drive to the tire place in the traffic so we stayed put. I’m glad Sky walks to school right now because buses were taking hours to get the kids home and some were getting stuck or in accidents. It was a mess. Sky was off school yet again the next day. John drove me to work because it was so sketchy. Since the snow pile was even taller now, we had to once again dig a trench to the street to get in the car.

Now that it is a week later and we have had some 50 degree days, the snow has melted to reveal about 20 piles of dog poo in my yard and the realization that for 2 weeks we were parked about 2 feet from the curb. Please please, I beg, no more snow!

Onto the Christmas season...

We had a nice Thanksgiving. The restaurant John works at was serving dinner at the Ronald McDonald house so we signed up to help. Sky did minimal work but was happy to play with the kids there and I’m sure that helped in its own way. It was a lot of fun and I was so amazed at how appreciative the people were. They are going through a difficult time that I cannot even imagine and they are thanking us? I nearly cried. We ate there then went over to Dawn & Jeff’s to eat some more and play Rock Band.

Last night we attended the holiday party for my work. It was pretty cool and at the Reds stadium. Good food, open bar and a small bonus check. No complaints here. I am so amazed at how many perks I get at this job for being just a part time employee. I think I really lucked out because everyone is so nice and it’s a good place to work.

New stuff for free? Can't beat that!

Halloween came and went without too much excitement and minimal decorating. We took Sky and Jonah around our new neighborhood. Josh joined us for his baby’s first trick-or-treating. The new neighborhood rocks. Everyone is rich and nice, the kids scored with candy and Kali even got some doggy treats for being dressed up (and tons of compliments).

Another thing I am enjoying about the neighborhood is the fact we are walking distance to the library and that makes my MP3 collection grow at an amazingly fast pace. John has been enjoying checking out DVDs to watch at his night job on the portable player we got for camping. Oh, books? Yeah I suppose I get some of those every now and then too.

We sold the Wii. I know, that didn’t take long. It never even left the box since we moved here so I sold it and all the controllers/games we had for enough to get a PS3. I love Craig’s List…I have been selling off most of the stuff we own. Well the PS3 is awesome and it was a must for the new Rock Band. The version for the PS2 is so watered down and there is no capability for downloading any music content. It’s great now and we are loving it.

We only bought a new TV 2 years ago when the other one went out but it was already fucking up and getting annoying. The warranty I bought was in-home so we had the guy out a couple times trying to fix it with no luck then he got the parts and they were the wrong ones. I was irritated at best then the repairman said the magical words “I can make it so you can just get a new one.”. Uh, ok, no arguments here. We had a flat screen but it was still a tube TV and they don’t make those anymore so I knew we’d end up on the winning side of this deal. He called later to give me the go-ahead and I did some LCD TV shopping at the store where we bought the original one. The also don’t make 27”s anymore and the more I eyed the 32” ones, I knew that’s what I wanted. I really don’t know how I pulled this off but the salesman ended up offering me a 32” that was $150 more than what we paid for the other one. No one knew how to find a comparable to a tube TV so the manager got involved and said that flat screen was good enough. Hell yeah. FunkyB came over to help us get the old TV back to the store and hook up the new one and the Bengals were playing. We turned it on and sat in awe as the Bengals made an awesome play and it was so so pretty. We got the HD cable box when we moved in here so the picture looks absolutely amazing. I still can’t get over it…I just sit and stare. I am convinced the new TV is what made the Bengals win their first and only game of the season.

Cars are for losers...

We are bowling again. Our league started for the season. We did have one Sunday off due to the hurricane and whole “Blackout 2008” chaos with no one but us having power for a week. I don’t bowl all summer then knock out some crazy scores the first week. This always happens so I start with a high average, something I can never back up the following week. So far I have the top women’s scratch game and John and I have the top team scratch game and are in first place but I’m sure that will change as the weeks go on. I am happy to be bowling again. We are a bit more isolated in the new house and I am in need of some socialization.

Speaking of socialization, we have hosted quite a few home poker games so far. We sold our bulky, dark wood dining table and bought a more suitable table at Ikea for the breakfast nook area. It works out well for poker. We managed an 8 person one week and a few smaller ones. I won 2. These silly, unsuspecting boys just don’t know what they’re up against.

To say we needed a car repair like we needed a hole in the head would be an understatement but we are lucky enough to have gotten one anyways. It couldn’t be some small issue either could it? That would be too easy. Apparently the power steering rack was fucked and the pump was leaking power steering fluid all over. Just a little $1200 repair, no biggie. It’s not like we need to eat or pay bills anyways huh? Superficial luxuries these days. The only funny part of this whole mess is that they gave us a rental car for the day. We are cruising home in the 2008 Focus and I get excited over the MP3 capability which our older model doesn’t have. I whip out my MP3 player but then realize a cable I don’t have is needed. I figure there isn’t one in the car but I open the glove compartment to look anyways. I can’t believe my eyes but pull something out and hold it up toward John asking “Um, what is this?”. He looks over and casually and states “Well, that’s a bag of weed.”. I guess they don’t clean out rental cars between clients or possibly an employee had to do a quick stash on their lunch break? Whatever the case, we turned it over to the proper individuals. Unfortunately, the car is still making the funky vibration when turning right or going straight until it warms up so I need to call the shop with my bitch pants on. I’m not too into paying $1200 for an alignment and oil change. I think I could get that done cheaper on a damn Lamborghini for crying out loud. I mean, nothing is too good for the Ford Focus but really?

Just call me "Big Pappa"...

First off I'd like to give a shout out to the newlywed, FunkyB and add in a "Happy Birthday".

The first photo is of course FunkyB and his best man, John, trying out their gangster pose. I probably didn't get the caption exactly as FunkyB requested but he's on his fancy honeymoon anyways so he won't know. Congatulations go to the happy couple.

The second is me and John. Even with those heels, I am still not taller than John? I don't get it. Yes, the shoes were the most torturous thing I have ever done to my feet but you have to agree that they rocked.

The third is Sky contemplating the idea of marriage. All he was really concerned about was that he'd get cake and get to do the "Thriller" dance that he'd been practicing for days prior. His dancing skills got him a little wedding reception girlfriend that told me to not let Sky know she wanted to be his dancing partner that night. Being the cool mom that I am, I let him know.

Home sweet home...

Oreo has adapted quickly to life in the new home as you can tell. He loves sitting in the window on the 3rd floor. Don't worry, there is a screen.

We are more relaxed as well after the hellish move. To save money, we did not hire movers this time. We will never make that stupid mistake again! Not having enough help, we ended up having to rush the packing of the truck in order to get it to the new house and unload in time for the truck to be returned. We had 30 minutes to unload it and no help at that point. We desperately called around and found 2 people to help. You can sort of notice the intense hill we are on so the truck could not go up the steep driveway. We had to unload onto the sidewalk then quickly get the truck back. Poor Ted had to fight off numerous leeches trying to take our stuff until we got back then it was hours and hours of carrying stuff up that hill. It was a nightmare. Next time I say we just sell all our stuff and buy new stuff. No more dragging washers, dryers and refrigerators up steep hills.

It is nice to be done.

Bear feet...

We made it to the zoo last week. I really liked this photo of Polar Bear feet.

Ahhh, peace and quiet...Sky went back to school today and hopefully took his preteen attitude with him. Oh, did I mention how nice and quiet it is here today?