Rain Rain GO AWAY!!!

It POURED rain ALL DAY yesterday! And I mean P.O.U.R.E.D.

It stunk. Our basement flooded. Hubby spent a bunch of time outside chipping away at the ice around the bulkhead (where all the water was coming in) trying to dig a trench.

We went into "town" today to pick up Hubby's rental car and get the rest of the stuff out of his work car and most places were closed. Nanni & Papa, Auntie D and WW all were out of power from about midnight until 1 this afternoon. Surprisingly enough up here in the boonies we just had a flicker and that was it :) Hubby bought a wet/dry vac while he was out today so clean-up will begin when he gets home. I picked up the grocery necessities we needed to last through the weekend and we're planning on staying in for the next few days since it's supposed to keep RAINING! Ugh!

What a storm.

On a lighter note...Wednesday afternoon S stopped by to pick up the baby sled we have to take Ellie out X-Country Skiing on their several acres of land. I stole this ADORABLE picture from L's FB page :)


Ellie just keeps getting cuter and cuter! L said one lap around the yard and Ellie was asleep :)

I'm going to batten down the hatches...gonna be a looooooong weekend!

It Could Have Been Worse

5:24pm last night my cell phone rang. It was Hubby.

"I've been in an accident. Come get me."

Now, I know that I shouldn't have panicked since he was the one that called me and he *sounded* fine, but still...my heart stopped for a moment. Then I grabbed Iz....stuffed her (quite unceremoniously) into her boots, coat, hat and mittens and we headed out.

The accident only happened about 4 miles from home, but we waited at the scene for about an hour while Hubby transferred things from his work vehicle to the van and for the State Trooper and Tow Truck to show up.

This is what happened.

Coming down a hill he hit an icy spot, started to slide and just about pulled out of it when the wheels gripped and shot him the other way...he ended up on the left hand side of the road, wiped out a bunch of the fence/guardrail thing and was on top of the snow bank, straddling the fence/guardrail thingy.....if the car had gone another couple feet he would have gone over the banking.

Yipe!

I'm sure the undercarriage of the car is ripped apart from going up onto the fence and then being dragged back down by the tow truck. The frame may very well be bent in which case the car would be totalled. Hubby mentioned last night a concern about losing his job because of the accident (his boss has since reassured him that all is well). Dinner didn't happened until almost 8pm last night and our bedtime routine was thrown out the window.

I.COULD.CARE.LESS. Hubby is OK.

Could have been a LOT worse...

Storm Update

Well....it's 5pm...it's been alternating between snow and rain and freezing rain pretty much all day which has resulted in a couple inches of wet, HEAVY, messy and slippery slush.

I spent the day down at Nannie and Papa's prepping for Papa's return home from rehab (Tomorrow!) and when I got home it took me FIVE tries before I got the van up the driveway!!!

The Slushy Walkway

The Slushy Deck

The Slushy End of the Driveway

(Notice the mound of slush at the end where the plows pushed even MORE slush off the road!)

UGH! Enough. What a mess! Luckily, I don't think temps are going to dip low enough tonight to freeze everything into a solid rock....thank goodness for small miracles.

A Storm's A-Brewin'

From the Channel 6 Website:

Weather Notes: Our stretch of nice quiet weather has officially come to an end. Through the rest of the afternoon skies will be cloudy, and we will have some scattered rain/snow showers. The steady precipitation will make a slow progression north and east through Wednesday. Tonight after midnight steadier snow will move into the mountains and foothills. Early Wednesday morning snow/rain will start to move into SW Maine. Through the morning the rain/snow line will continue to move inland. Even the mountains may see a brief change over to sleet or rain, but they are still expected to get quite a bit of snow. The precipitation finally moves north and east by the afternoon. That is also when the heaviest precipitation is expected. I have posted predicted snowfall totals in the graphic below. Rain/snow continues into Wednesday night. Thursday will feature still some light rain and snow. A second storm system brings us another round of heavy precipitation late Thursday into Friday.



I'm kind of expecting this storm to be more rain than anything else. However, there is that possibility of a bunch of snow getting dumped on us over the next few days.

Really? It's the end of February and Winter is *just* deciding to make an appearance?

It's too late, Winter! You're just going to have to wait for next year!!!


*Now, don't get me wrong, I'm NOT a fan of winter, or snow or cold weather. It's just that there are a lot of people who DO like the snow and rely on it for their winter fun, like skiing, snowshoeing, snowmobiling & ice fishing and I feel bad for the people who haven't been able to enjoy it that much this year. Yes, Auntie D, I mean YOU :)

De-Cluttering and Shredding....an Update

Jillian's 30-Day Shred is kicking my BUTT! It's been a week and I've done the Level One workout every day except Saturday.

The result? Down 7 pounds :)

I'm not one who likes to exercise but I've forced myself to do it and once I start I follow through to the end. It's only 20 minutes, after all, and I'm definitely seeing a difference in my endurance. I think I'll be ready to try Level Two in another week or so!

I *almost* want to be disappointed in myself for not working out on Saturday but I spent ALL DAY cleaning and de-cluttering around the house. I cleaned out the closet in the bathroom, the linen closet, the Master Bath vanity and the walk-in closet along with sorting through both my clothes and Iz's to donate. Hubby barely had enough room for all the trash when he went to the dump Sunday!!!

It was SO nice to finally go through my clothes and get rid of stuff I will never wear. Why I insist on holding on to things is beyond me but it's a habit I am desperately trying to break. In the few days since I've cleaned I've made a HUGE effort to maintain all the hard work I did and make progress in little areas.

Baby steps.....

Soooooooo Exciting!

What could possibly be so exciting that Iz actually stops moving (and, more importantly, stops TALKING) long enough for me to snap a couple pics???


Why, Olympic Curling, of course :)


"Mom! Don't bother me....I'm watching Curling!!!!"


Totally enthralled


Crazy girl :)


We let her stay up until the end of the match....So exciting, since USA WON!!!!!!!

This family....dancing and being crazy all because of Curling :)

20 Days!?!

I just took a look back. Has it REALLY been 20 days since I posted pics of Iz? Seriously?

Well. Looks like I know what I'll be doing tomorrow :)

Currents

Saw this on another blog several months ago (can't remember whose) and tucked it away for the future.
Well, the future is NOW :)



Currently: Blogging :)

Current Book: Ashes in the Wind by Kathleen Woodiwiss (a cheesy romance I've read several times....sometimes a girl just needs some cheesy romance in her life!)

Current Album: When Everything Breaks Open ~ Matt Morris (LOVE the song "Bloodline)

Current Film: The Time Traveler's Wife (Hubby got it for me for Valentine's Day!)

Current Colors: ORANGE...always orange!

Current Favorite Links: Hulu

Current Drink: Kiwi-Strawberry Flavored water

Current Food: Tuna sandwich

Current Wish List: A Wii....hoping to convice Hubby to buy one with our tax return :)

ENOUGH With the Excuses! *Updated*

Last winter I started working out with Jillian's 30 Day Shred. This is a great DVD and I was pretty successful while I was using it, spending Iz's nap time to do the 20 minute Jillian workout and then ride my stationary bike for another 20 minutes or so.

Then Iz and I got sick (Remember?) and she stopped napping and I stopped working out because she wasn't napping and then I wanted to start again and here we are almost a year later and I'm not working out AT ALL!

Why?

Well, because I've been telling myself that the 20 minute workout on Jillian's DVD isn't enough. That if I can't get a full 45 minutes to an hour than why bother?

Ridiculous, really, that I have been justifying it in my head that not working out at all is better than working out for 20 minutes. It's not an easy 20 minutes either...it's 20 minutes designed to be the only workout you do. It's 20 minutes that will kick my butt today :)

So, enough is enough. I was reading Laurie's blog the other day and she's started back up with the 30 Day Shred and I'm grabbing her coattails and starting back up too*! No excuses! There is ZERO reason why I can't take 20 minutes a day and work out. Iz is perfectly content to play in her room or on the computer for AT LEAST 20 minutes and Hubby is easy enough to shoo downstairs or to the spare room if I need 20 minutes alone :)

No more excuses. I'm getting SHREDDED!



*It's 1:12 pm...just finished my workout :) Probably won't be able to MOVE tomorrow!!!

Progress

Baby steps....that's what I'm taking....baby steps.

The hardest part about de-cluttering is realizing that it's not going to get done in a day. All this stuff didn't come into this house in a day. The closets/drawers/cubbies/cabinets/shelves did not accumulate mountains of useless stuff in a day.

So, I can't expect it to all go away in a day. But....I'm making progress.

Hubby had today off for the holiday so I was able to go grocery shopping ALONE :) I also stopped at Wallyworld for a couple non-food things and I got a good deal on a couple organizational items. For the coat closet in our living room (which is packed with stuff and unable to hold any coats!) I got an over-the-door shoe organizer and a set of small totes for the shelf....I got another over-the-door shoe thing for the closet in the master bedroom to store things like belts, bandannas, and other odds and ends since we don't use dressers. The best part? The organization stuff was on CLEARANCE! My favorite!

I took about an hour tonight (while watching The Bachelor) and cleaned out the drawers in the living room. The bottom two are Iz's and hold coloring books, crayons, stickers and craft stuff. The top one is mine and holds odds and ends. They tend to be a catch-all so I cleaned everything out, organized and actually managed to make enough room in the top drawer to hold all of Iz's hair stuff so it isn't floating around the house driving me mad!

Tomorrow's task....Coat Closet!!! I'm DETERMINED to be able to actually hang coats in it!!!!

Happy Birthday...

Valentine Girl :)

I can't BELIEVE you're 15 already!!!!

It's Been QUITE a Week!

It started out normal enough....Monday and Tuesday Iz and I stuck around the house. We did some cleaning, some de-cluttering, some movie watching, some Princess Yahtzee playing....you know, TYPICAL.
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Wednesday STARTED normal with a trip to the library for story hour (Valentine's - CUTE!) and then we picked up Auntie D to head to the rehab center for a Family Meeting regarding Papa. This was a follow-up meeting to the first one we had a few weeks ago.
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The GOOD News? Papa is doing VERY well - responding very well to all his therapy, he's off the oxygen they had him on, he's moving better, he's vocalizing things better and as even lost a little weight :) They expect him to be able to come home in a couple weeks.
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Screeeeeeetch! WHAT? Two weeks?!? As wonderful as that sounds it sent us into a bit of a mad flurry. See, before Papa can come home we need to put in a shower on the first floor of my parent's house AND set up a bedroom on the first floor.
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That's what yesterday was all about. Auntie D and I headed up and started packing up Nannie's belongings to make way for Uncle P and S to start demolishing the closet in the front room and the wall surrounding it in order to expand the bathroom.
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We started at about 12:30 and left around 6:30....I was dirty, smelly, and READY for a shower, my comfy pants and bed.
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Iz had ballet this morning then we headed BACK to Nannie's for more of the same. Unfortunately, by the time we got there Iz was feeling rotten and I ended up doing absolutely nothing before heading home so Iz could recuperate.
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Whew! What a week!
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Thankfully tonight is LADIE'S NIGHT at HC......Yippee!!!
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"FLY"ing By the Seat of My Pants

So...I want to de-clutter this house.
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We're one week into February and my progress has not been good, but I have made some baby steps. I purged magazines the other day and also clean out one of the junk drawers in the kitchen.
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Not a lot, but progress IS progress.
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Today I checked out a website that Laurie recommended - FlyLady - and fell in love with her tips and tricks and motivations to get your house/self/life in order and be able to just enjoy day-to-day instead of stressing or constantly worrying about all the little things. I signed up for her emails and spent about an hour this morning poking around the site. Now, I could have easily spent that hour de-clutter, but....nah! Poking around online is MUCH more fun!
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We'll see how well I "fly" in the coming weeks :)
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Superb Owl

One of my FB friends posted this:

EB ...wonders what is so great about this bird? I wonder what exactly makes it a Superb Owl?

Made me LOL!!!! :)
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Just in case you live under a rock, though....he is talking about today's BIG game!!!!
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We're headed over to SnL's soon (which means I'll get my Ellie fix!) to hang out with friends and family, eat lots of yummy food and, if there's a chance, we'll watch a little football!
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We also do a big Yankee Swap among the adults (in lieu of exchanging gifts at Christmas) so I'm looking forward to presents too!
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The only thing that would make today better is if the Pats were playing today....maybe next year?
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153 :)

Auntie D and I always play Scrabble "Upta Camp" after Iz goes to bed....it's tradition :) This past trip up was no exception....though I'm not sure Auntie D will want to play with me again after what happened.
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Auntie D 's turn: FACES...42 points
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My turn: SURF...11 points
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Auntie D's comment, "Why didn't you put the SUR in front of FACES to make SURFACES?"
We then had to figure out how many points that would have been....um, 153! *slap hand to forehead*
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Auntie D's turn: JAUNT...12 points (I think)
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My turn: SURFACES...153 points!
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Yep! When Auntie D pointed out that I had missed my opportunity for a 153 point word she had no idea that I had another "S-U-R" on my try to use on my next turn!
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Thanks, Auntie D, for helping me WIN!!! :)
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New Years Resolutions!

I've heard on a couple news shows and read in a couple magazines that most people have abandoned their New Year's Resolutions by the 1st of February (or sooner!) so I decided that I wouldn't make any resolutions UNTIL the 1st of February...pretty clever, huh?
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Actually I don't really make "resolutions" but I do have a couple things I want to change this year...a couple goals I want to achieve....a couple improvements to our life that I want to work on achieving.
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I'd like to de-clutter this house, get back to working out regularly and use less processed foods.
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I'm going to work on these goals all at once but, for blog purposes, I'll focus on one at a time. This month's focus is on the clutter around this house. Every day I want to find a box of stuff, a pile, a drawer or a nook and clean it out. I'm going to sort things to be sold, donated or tossed out - if I don't have a place for something, I need to get rid of it!
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Um, yeah....I'll keep you posted on how that goes :)
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