It's certainly white out there! I could barely get the deck door open this morning with an 18" drift there. The dogs were not amused. Disney was disgusted but Jazz just girded his little loins and went right through it once I'd broken own the drift with my trusty shovel, which I keep inside for just that sort of thing.

Yesterday was a wonderful day despite the crappy drive home from Brockville in the storm. I have a guy to plough! Richard is a local contractor who ploughs out the Fair Office for us. I don't know why I didn't think of him earlier as one phone call is all it took. Now I don't need to hibernate for the winter.

On the agenda today? Finish the "baddie" baskets, make some tortilla chips (why do I have three packages of tortillas in the freezer?), make more dog cookies in the dehydrator and start thinking about clothes for the West Coast where it's been cold and snowy all week.

I am off to a Christmas dinner party tonight if Claire's back road is ploughed out. Otherwise, I may get there by snowmobile if I can hitch a ride. Just kidding! Horse and sleigh, yes, but snowmobiling is just too darn cold!

Find yourself some "me" time today. "

Good morning Chicks. Off to count birds. I'll see you all later (after dark) if I have any energy left

Enjoy the day, Cyndi. You're a better "man" than I am! I hope you spot something really interesting. Want me to send my Pileated south?

Good early morning ladies!

Ruth & Cyndi you be careful out there today!

I have to take the kids to meet up with their dad today in Indianapolis (I am seeing way to much of that place lately). After that I am off to the outlet mall for some last minute, or in my case most of my christmas shopping! Hoping this weather cooperates!

Have a great day ladies!

Now we are waiting to be picked up. We'd set up an emergency plan just in case our plow guy was, umm, what's that word? Oh yeah, unreliable! And sure enough we're totally stuck. Luckily other counters have 4 wheel drive and can pick us up. I've got warm layers (the hardest part is getting in and out of the car all day) and healthy snack foods because there is constant nibbling through the day. I've also got lentil PB soup in the crockpot for the reporting potluck.

Ruth - Have fun basketing! Dp enthusiastically accepted your offer

Pacer - safe drive

Off to clear the porch.

Cyndi, have fun watching the birds! I love birds, but never thought to go sight seeing of them! And what are all your plow guys thinking? um, don't they know you need to be plowed?

Pacer, I'm so glad that portion of my life is over, traveling to get the son to or from the ex! But now he still owes arrears in child support and hasn't paid since October. I'll give him till Jan to start paying then I'm slapping him with another violation! I'm tired of his crap!

Ruth, trade you the 18 inches for the two plus feet of snow we got! I had spent a good hour last night shoveling before heading back out to get my son to finish the job for me! We stopped and had a fish fry on the way home. The restaurant closed early (just after we left). He spent another hour onmy drive, and a good hour and half on neighbors drive. He'll have to shovel before we can take off today!

As I was saying to Ruth, we got socked! I thought I posted it inyesterday's thread, but it's not there.! We got over two feet of snow yesterday. Where I work didn't get a foot! They let us out early due to the road conditions, which was a blessing. I left work at 3:30 and didn't get home till 5, and thats without stopping! I normally take 390 or 490 home, but a neighbor had told me in bad weather she found 15A to work better. I started outon 390, but got off on another exit of 15A, and boy, was she ever dead on, 15A was much easier to trek!

So I told Joe if he shoveled I'd buy him a battery for his Ipod, it will cost me $35, but it has instructions and tools to do it with.

OK, on to make my coffee!

Morning, everyone!

Ruth: Brrrrr! You and your poor puppies; you three stay warm. I'm so glad you found a plow guy. I do wish I was on your "baddie" basket list!

Cyndi: Good morning! I'm glad we'll probably never be in a snowed-in situation. I hope you have a wonderful birding day and stay warm!!

Stephanie: Be safe driving and I hope that the weather cooperates for your shopping trip! Have fun!

Loriann: I'm glad your son was able to help you out with the shoveling. I hope you have a nice day inside planned. I can't imagine trying to get around in two feet of snow!!

Me: Well, I finally feel like I have time to breath. My coworkers and I made it home from Austin Thursday evening. We all passed our exam, so that was a big relief. I actually got my highest grade on this exam. Only 6 more of these things to go!

DH and I have quite a bit planned for the weekend. I'm baking Kisses Peanut Butter Blossoms today and DH's gingerbread tomorrow. I've got some frozen CC cookies that I got from a fundraiser and I'll just throw those in the oven to get rid of them. I'm going to take half the baked goods to work and the other half is going with us to the in-law's. I've also got a fair bit of cleaning and laundry to do so that we'll be ready for next week. Sunday we're going to church, planting our tree, driving around to see Christmas lights and then heading to the Live Nativity at the park. It's supposed to be in the 70's today and 19 by tomorrow night. What a difference!! There will be thermoses of hot chocolate going to the nativity with us!

Well, off to browse a bit while DH gets breakfast going. Hope everyone to come has a great day!

~Kim

Today is going to be another weird weather day. We're at 59 now and they say we may get to 72 before the cold front hits. The low tonight is 29 and we may not get out of the 30's tomorrow. I am so glad that we are staying in heated cabins tonight. I hope the talent show the Scouts have planned is indoors. Brian and I still need to pack but we don't need much. We'll leave around 1 this afternoon and I won't have internet access until tomorrow afternoon.

My allergies are really bothering me. I think it is all the dust that I've stirred up packing up Robert's stuff. Hopefully I'll sleep okay tonight. I'm not sure how many women will be sharing a cabin with me. I'll need to make sure I pack my earplugs.

Good morning ladies.

Ruth, glad you were able to find someone to clean your driveway. Have fun at the party tonight. You are one busy lady.

Cyndi, have fun today and stay warm.

Stephanie, have fun shopping. We went on a girls camping trip last Spring and had to drive through Indianapolis. Not fun.

Lori, wow, 2 ft of snow. I remember those days, all too well. Stay safe and warm inside today.

Kim, have fun baking today. Congratulations on your best grade ever. I'm confused. What are these exams? For your job?

Me: I think my daughter and I will be shopping for our baking extravaganza. She has a Pillsbury Bake Off recipe book and there are some favorites we like. We are having a houseful on Christmas. In addition to my family and grandkids, my daughters inlaws will be here too. We are making a ton of goodies. There goes the diet.

Have a safe and warm weekend.

Barb, have fun tonight and stay warm

Morning!

Ahhhh...curled up on the couch with my jammies and a cup of coffee. Great way to start my break. The only thing on our menu for the day is a trip to the gym and some cleaning. This is the first weekend in a very long time that we don't have anything but church planned. LOVING IT!!

Barb Stay warm! This weather has been nothing short of wacky. I am going to plan our Christmas Eve dinner today.

Kim Glad to hear that you made it back safely. Sounds like you and DH have a fun day planned. Are you travelling for Christmas or staying home?

Pam I need to plan some baking with my girls as well. A couple of simple things and they would be thrilled.

Loriann and Ruth I miss many things about living up north, but the snow is not one of them. I could handle it every once in awhile, but my word!

Stephanie How long are your kids with their dad?

Cyndi Have fun today.

I am so happy to be on break. I have been exhausted and stressed the last few weeks, so this is going to be lovely. I haven't done much Christmas shopping, but we tend tokeep things simple, so it shouldn't be too bad. I am hosting dinner at my house on Christmas Day, so I need to plan a menu. I plan on taking that as a "Free Day" from dieting. Other than that and New Year's Eve I plan to be spot on with my eating and exericise!

Love ya girls!

I haven't had the opportunity to check in until now. It's been an extremely busy day. We were out early to get our running done, and had the grandkids the rest of the day. Now that I can finally sit down, I'm having trouble keeping my eyes open!

We didn't get any snow from yesterday's storm, just buckets of rain and some ice. The roads were fine this morning, and everything looked just breathtaking, all coated in ice. Another storm is due in overnight tonight, but is supposed to change to rain in the morning. We're supposed to go to my brother's tomorrow for a big family Christmas party, so I'm hoping the forecast is right.

Evening, girls...or morning is more like it. I guess I'm the earliest one in today.

Today has been interesting to say the least. We woke up early this morning to go finish out Christmas shopping. We split up because DH had some shopping to finish for me. I bought my mom a really beautiful 4 strand freshwater pearl necklace and my dad is getting a Rabbit corkscrew. Picked up a few things for DS' stocking as well.

This evening was DH's graduation. It went well, albeit a bit longer than expected. DS was so tired but was really on good behavior. Ended up going out to eat afterwards with FIL and SIL/family. FIL was really acting strangely - very aloof....well, he's always aloof but a lot more than usual. I thought that he was upset with us about something. Turns out that he is planning to leave tomorrow morning for Gulf Shores. He hadn't told anybody....he's just up and leaving. When asked when he would be home, he said the 28th or the 29th...he's skipping Christmas! Apparently he thought that since no final plans had been made that we were just all doing something with our families and didn't want to do anything with him (something that definitely could have been remedied by making a darn phone call and confirming). He will also likely miss the birth of our son on the 29th. He said that he wanted to have a Christmas celebration with the family while SIL (from Idaho) is in town (29th - 3rd)...only there is one problem. I'm going to be in the hospital for most of that, and unable to move much for the rest. He said that he wants to take the family out for dinner on the 29th to celebrate his birthday....problem again is that I'm going to be in the hospital. He suggested to DH that just DH and DS come to dinner - DH refused and said that he would not just leave me in the hospital suffering on the first day of our son's life to go out and celebrate. He suggested bringing food in and celebrating in the hospital instead.

During dinner - which ended up being really late - DS was very tired and clumsy. He knocked a plate off the table (nothing on it) with his elbow. FIL gave him a very disapproving look and it made DS cry. I felt horrible and was so flabbergasted at the situation that I didn't know what to do or say but just comfort DS. I kept telling DS that it was just an accident and accidents happen, but he just kept crying and pointing to the plate saying that he broke it and GP was mad at him. DH confronted him about it later and FIL said that he was just tired and crabby....not a great excuse for making a child cry, jerkface.

I really feel like the birth of our son is taking a backseat to all of this drama. It makes me really miss my parents and thankful that they are both so involved in their grandson's life despite the fact that they are 1300 miles away and only see him 3-4 times a year. I'm glad they are coming down in a few weeks - hopefully it will make the pain of going through this drama a bit easier to deal with for a few days.

*sigh* I miss the time when my in-laws were just a messed up family instead of two messed up families. It is easy to see how they were good for each other now that they are apart.

oh, and it is also our 5 year wedding anniversary.

It's a snowy morning out there for us today. But it's supposed to change to rain before it ends around noon. We have our Pollyanna gift exchange and dinner at my brother's this afternoon, so I'm glad the roads will be OK. We're going to surprise Carley with a birthday cake, too, since she's turning 4 on Tuesday.

Zeff, a belated Happy Anniversary to you!

So how's everyone going to spend the day today on this first official day of winter?

Good Morning. The first day of winter is going to bring another snow storm, I'm staying inside and doing some much needed cleaning.

Zeff, happy anniversary.

So a friend brought joe to the mall for christmas shopping. My son picked up a leather jacket and put it back on the shelf when he noticed the price tag. His friend took it back out, looked at the tag and asked if my son liked it, and if it fit, .... a leather jacket that normally cost 225, on sale for 99, and 20% off of that, our friend bought it for him! My son is psyched! UM, where do I sign up for that? sheesh!

Anyway... I've got the turkey thawing and am hoping to cook it up today, bought some sweet potatoes to go with it, and butternut squash, not sure which I'll cook with the turkey. I also found an awesome green bean recipe I'm going to try, I posted it in p1 side dishes.

We are getting snow later this morning according to the forecast but according to me it's happening right now! I wish those guys would look out the window more often!

Lovely evening at Claire's last night. It was just family and it's great to be considered part of her crew. (They call me Cousin Ruthie.) In keeping with our new philosophy of "keep it simple", she served a terrific meatloaf with loads of veggies and salad plus mashed potatoes which I skipped. Her daughter Heather brought fruit and dark chocolate for fondue so I was able to eat pretty well.

Today I have Church, need to find Donna to gift her and take wee Jazz back to the breeder for the holiday week. I'll miss my little puppy but he'll have fun playing with his brother who still hasn't found a home. This breed is just not well known but I'm working on it.

I'm crossing my fingers that the weather doesn't impact my travel plans. I need to go to Ottawa tomorrow afternoon to drop off Disney at the Pypers' place and hate driving in blowing snow.

Lots to do today so I'd better get at it. Hope your Sunday is peaceful.