Cold and Snowy Day

Burrrrrrrrrrrrr. The high today was about 30. It started snowing at about 7:00 p.m. last night. A mix of freezing rain, hail and snow. Continued with snow and thunder and snowed all day. Girls had fun in the cold white stuff with friends.
Sid took the top picture of the trees, I think it turned out beautiful.
Bob's work party is tomorrow so I had to brave the elements and go to the grocery store. It went fairly well till I got home and couldn't get into the driveway until Bob came out and shoveled the driveway. So now I have two casserole dishes full of chicken enchiladas. One for Bob's party and one for us. I got a new Cuisinart and it was a great help. The girls will have another snow day tomorrow I am sure. No official announcement but its still pretty snowy and the roads will get icy tonight as it is supposed to be in the mid to low 20's. Supposed to get my hair cut tomorrow morning but am thinking that probably wont happen. I can survive another few days with my thick unmanageable Pantene like hair. If it isn't vital then I don't need to be out, nor do I want to. The news was full of footage showing the freeways looking like parking lots, transit buses stranded, people stranded in their cars, etc. I'd rather not be a part of the evening news.
My cold seems to be packing it's bags and hitting the road. I have been sleeping downstairs on the couch because it has a recliner and I can sleep sitting up. I tried to cough up a lung the other night and it's just not pretty.
One really bright spot of my day occured quite early. I had the pleasure of talking to my dear sweet Beth for about an hour. She is in theater and gets home late so she is wide awake in the wee hours. I was too, having just put my lung back where it belongs. That made my day today.
My oldest daughter is sitting next to me on her laptop and she has her pet Gopher snake wrapped around her neck. I am hoping the snake doesn't become a Boa Constrictor and decide to squeeze the life out of the 14 year old. Even tho she is a teenager, I still like her and want her around.
Off to finish the dishes from my culinary excursion. Stay warm everyone.

Riley's Winter Holiday Concert

Riley

Snow Days, Flutes and Colds

We were lucky enough to attend Riley's first concert. She has played the flute for two years now. She has to be at Sid's school an hour early three days a week for practice. When she attended her school in Calif. it was mandatory that each child play an instrument. Here in WA it is a choice and we strongly encouraged her and bought her a flute. I told her last night that these concerts mean even more to us because she does this voluntarily. Well let me tell you, the Jr. high jazz and concert bands rocked the house. I felt like I was at some sophisticated concert(if I shut my eyes and didn't see the school gym). The fifth and sixth grade bands did great. When you can tell what the song is that is a good thing. We are experts at this, having had two children play piano, violin and flute and watching countless recitals and concerts. It was cold tho... Everyone left their coats on during the concert. Lots of great Christmas lights on the way home from school.
We are having a snow day today. I woke up about 4:30 a.m. with a KILLER sinus headache and could not sleep. I turned on the news and after about 15 minutes they announced that our school district was closing today. We haven't had any measurable snow but it is due at anytime and that was the basis for the district's decision as it may become difficult for parents to pick up their kids in snowy weather. I think we may tackle sugar cookies today if Sid agrees to it. She doesn't want to be a part of the family any more. She is officially the teenager that your parents warn you about. We embarrass her and she would rather be with friends than us. She now resides solely in her bedroom and only appears to take in a meal. She informed us last night that the only reason she was going to the concert was to support her sister.
I now have the upper hand on the sinus headache. I have had a cold since Sunday. I think once the sinus crap leaves I will actually feel better.
Bob is home as well today. He got officially bumped yesterday. Because of the weather today he will not do Costco. Oh happy days... crabby teenager, chatty husband and you can figure out the rest.
I will upload some pictures of last night and some video as well.

Sore Throat vs. Self Inflicted Strangling

I am not sure if the picture is of a woman with a sore throat or if she is trying to strangle herself. Either way it fits perfectly for me. It is freezing here. No, really it is. It's about 24 degrees right now. The high today will be 30. When we lived in Kansas City this was not considered that cold in the winter but by Calif. standards this is cold and pretty chilly for Seattle as well. It's supposed to stay like this all week. I also have a lovely cold, I think in a previous post I threatened my children with bodily harm if they got me sick... Ugh...
Lots of vitamin C, Airborne and Tylenol.
Bob is getting bumped today. That means he may not work til January, depending on what goes on. That also means he'll be home all week except for his time at Costco. I think I am voting for strangling herself, screw the sore throat.

Snowy Sunday

This is what we woke up to this morning. At Costco, Bob's job was to de ice the parking lot. He said it was pretty cold. Riley was up and out the door with her friends and sleds. The streets in our neighborhood were a bit icy and perfect for sleds. She came in the house feeling like a Popsicle. It's beautiful but cold. We may get more this week, the girls would love a snow day but I remind them that this is the last week of school til Winter break.

This just in from the weather service

THE LONGEST STREAK OF COLD WEATHER SINCE DECEMBER 1990 IS ON THE WAY...

WHILE THE POSSIBILITY OF LOWLAND SNOW SHOWERS IS IN THE FORECAST AT TIMES OVER THE NEXT FEW DAYS... IT IS THE FRIGIDLY COLD TEMPERATURES EXPECTED OVER THE NEXT WEEK THAT COULD HAVE THE GREATEST IMPACT ON WESTERN WASHINGTON.

AN ARCTIC AIR MASS WILL STREAM INTO WESTERN WASHINGTON TONIGHT AND SUNDAY... IN THE WAKE OF AN ARCTIC FRONT MOVING SOUTH THROUGH THE AREA THIS AFTERNOON. TEMPERATURES WILL FALL BELOW FREEZING ACROSS WESTERN WASHINGTON TONIGHT WITH MANY SPOTS DIPPING INTO THE LOWER TO MID 20S. MOST OF THE REGION WILL REMAIN BELOW FREEZING ON SUNDAY WITH AFTERNOON HIGHS ONLY IN THE MID 20S TO LOWER 30S. IN ADDITION WINDY CONDITIONS WILL ACCOMPANY THE ARRIVAL OF THE ARCTIC AIR MASS TONIGHT AND SUNDAY... ESPECIALLY IN THE NORTH INTERIOR OF WESTERN WASHINGTON.

SNOW SHOWERS TONIGHT AND SUNDAY COULD PRODUCE LOCAL ACCUMULATIONS OF 1 TO 3 INCHES... CREATING SLIPPERY ROADS AND SIDEWALKS. ROADWAYS AND OTHER SURFACES THAT ARE ALREADY WET WILL QUICKLY BECOME ICY AND DANGEROUS. THE FRIGID WEATHER COULD BURST OUTDOOR PIPES AND ENDANGER PETS AS WELL. WIND CHILL IS ANOTHER THING THAT CANNOT BE IGNORED. IN THE NORTHWEST INTERIOR THE COMBINATION OF SUB-FREEZING TEMPERATURES AND WINDY CONDITIONS WILL CREATE APPARENT TEMPERATURES NEAR ZERO DEGREES FAHRENHEIT... LOW ENOUGH TO CAUSE FROSTBITE TO EXPOSED SKIN.

Lots and lots of rain but no snow yet... There is about 2 feet in the mountains but nothing here. It may not happen but damn it's cold. Part of Bob's daily commute is to take a highway that is over Lake Washington or on Lake Washington, it is a floating bridge. There are two of them that you can take. Tonight on his way home a wave came up onto the bridge and completely drenched his truck. I was very glad to not be in his truck. I have a hard time with high elevation bridges or bridges on water or over water. There is the very high bridge over the bay in San Diego that takes you to Coronado Island. I could never ever drive on that bridge and I have to close my eyes when I am a passenger. I am okay driving on the floating bridges here when the lake is calm but a wave crashing up over my car would have sent me into a nervous breakdown. We are not sure if Bob will work next week or not, he doesn't know if he's been bumped yet. He informed me that his railroad Christmas party is next Friday in Seattle. It is a potluck and he asked if I would make chicken enchiladas. Here is the reasoning behind his request... A lot of the guys are single or are up here working and have families in another state. They exist on fast food and Bob thought that they would appreciate a home cooked dish. His other point was that those same guys would probably bring things like a bag of potato chips and a liter of Mountain Dew, so if there was to be edible food, Bob would save the day. He also said that it will be a "white elephant" gift exchange and they will do a game with it. Bob can't relate to any of this, when he was in construction and worked for a small company, the party was small and just for the office staff. I told him I would go to Rite Aid and get him a Chia Pet for his white elephant. Chia Pets are the go to white elephant, except for the Chia Herb Garden, that has some substance and seriousness to it. I can't imagine clipping some fresh basil for a pesto from a terra cotta Scooby Doo head.
Riley's band concert is Tuesday night, I am excited to watch her play her flute. It's been a while since she has had a concert. I think the last one was in May in California. They don't have as many performances up here. I shopped for some new concert clothes for her, she will be lookin' and soundin' fabulous and of course I will post a picture or two...
It is after midnight and as I look out the big window in front of me, a street light illuminates the falling rain. It is still rain, it hasn't started to fall from the sky in a frozen state yet, so that means it is still above freezing. Funny, I am freezing and my warm Tempurpedic bed of wonderfulness is beckoning me and begging me to sleep in on a cold and cloudy Saturday morning.

Things are Speeding Up

Busy, busy, busy... I spent waaaaay too much time shopping today, got a few more gift items and stuff for Christmas day. I had gotten that cool new Blackberry last week. I had some issues with my account so spent 40 min. on the phone with my provider and then over 2 HOURS at the provider's store. I will say that everyone that helped me was so nice and professional and I never had to lose my temper. That usually doesn't happen when dealing with cell phones, utilities, credit card companies, insurance companies, the list goes on. So the final outcome was that I ended up getting to keep my new wonderful Blackberry BUT had to change my phone number AGAIN and change my whole family's as well. Now we all have WA cell phone numbers. That was a huge accomplishment. I guess that the house will get all the attention it needs tomorrow and this weekend. Still talking cold and snow, we shall see...

Being a Parent Means Being Fair

Since I did such a bang up job on Riley's tree for her room, I had to give the same attention to Sid's tree. As you can tell by the photos it turned out great. She and I had fun painting ornaments together. I am glad that my teenager still likes me, she is a fun and funny person to be around. So both girls have pretty freakin' cute trees in their rooms. I am pretty much done with the decor on the house now and it just needs a good cleaning from top to bottom. I will work on that this weekend. I am listening to the 10:00 news and they are saying we are in a "storm watch" now. From what I can gather it is going to be cold and perhaps some snow. They are calling for 60 mile an hour wind gusts and three feet of snow in the mountains. Um, 60 mile an hour winds are like a breeze when you come from the High Desert of So. Cal.!!! This will be a good weekend to stay in and clean this place up. I will buy groceries tomorrow and hole up like a mole. Chatted with my sister tonight. She had a spectacular time in Las Vegas. She wasn't there very long and didn't sleep at all. She was there for a meeting, etc, for work and got to hang out with the Dodgers and other sports notoriety. I am so impressed with her and her job and love to brag about her. I know she works like a maniac but her job is really tailored to her and her personality. Sports, negotiations and all that. Plus she has the cutest daughter who happens to be my favorite niece.
Making plans for Riley's birthday. Will be forthcoming with those plans once we formulate them and confirm the date, etc...
Off to bed, will study a few pages of my cosmo book and then call it a night.

Nothing Earth Shattering

Happened today. The best part of my day was that my dear sweet friend called me to tell me she is buying a house. This is a HUGE thing for her. I am excited for her and the improvements she will make on it will be great. I know the love of her family and support of her (our) friends will turn it from just a house into a home in no time. The only thing I can say for sure to her is that the thought of moving makes me throw up in my mouth a little...
We were supposed to go to Bellevue tonight to "Snowflake Lane" but it's really cold and really rainy and our little cousin Nat is not feeling well. We will postpone for another night. I finished more of the house holiday decor today, it's coming along. I am just having a little bit of a hard time getting motivated. I am looking forward to Christmas in WA but so much of everything that I normally do for the holidays is a non issue now. The clients at the shop, their holiday headache stories, the gifts, the baked goods that I don't need but love and more important than anything is my family. I will miss them beyond belief. So, a little holiday, sun deprivation, beauty school blues. I always love decorating for Christmas but since this rental is not my dream home by any stretch of the imagination, that has me slowly walking in circles. The time I spend on the computer is my escape as well as my connection to all that is familiar. I miss lots of things I guess. I try not to dwell on what I miss and stay focused on all the blessings. I need to get out and make some friends but that will not be easy. They will just be filler or faux friends because NO ONE can replace the ones I am already so lucky to have. I have a pile of laundry that some may mistake for Mt. Rainier that I am avoiding, sheets that need to be washed, dishes in the sink, floors littered with debris and I can't find anything. Blah, bah humbug. I did study my cosmetology book tonight tho. The things you forgot that you used to know 25 years ago. It's slowly coming back to me and the book I am using is a couple of years old and talks about all the new diseases, etc that we have to deal with now that weren't an issue in 1983-84. Sad...
The news is predicting SNOW for the weekend. That will be fun, maybe even spark some Christmas spirit! The Christmas cards are trickling in and Bob & I look forward to opening them each evening. Everyone's kids are getting so grown up and the pictures are fun. I have mine done and ready to go except for the labels, otherwise they are ready. What little shopping I am doing is done except for about 4-5 small things and stocking stuff which is fun and easy. I had to order some stockings for Santa to put the stuff into. They should be here any day. For those of you that know me and have been to our home for Christmas, we do two trees with two different themes. One is more formal and one is country down home, home made ornaments, etc. I am only doing the formal one in this house and don't have stockings or some other things. The good thing is that the tree is fake and easy. I still have boxes and bins everywhere with Christmas crap strewn everywhere...

A Crafty Christmas

Here is a picture of the tree I decorated for Riley's room. I feel I must put up this disclaimer. I am not Martha Stewart nor do I portray myself to be Martha.
I threw in a picture of our tree, I made the tree topper, got it off of Martha Stewart.com. It's a good thing...

New Technology

Many of you got an email from me in regards to my new cell phone number. It was a very anxious hour for me that I spent in the cell phone store. Thankfully the two people helping me were very understanding. For those of you that got that email you may skip this part of the post. For those that don't know, I have had the same cell phone number for 14-15 years. Bob and I got OUR first mobile phone by way of buying a used SUV from his boss that came with the mobile phone bolted to the floor of the car. You had to sit in the car to use it and you could set it up to honk the horn when it rang so you could hear it if you weren't in the car. My parents had a friend that had a mobile phone like that in the late 70's. I remember thinking how cool that was. Our next phone(I say OUR because who could afford two mobile phones back then?)weighed in at around 8 or 9 pounds and came in it's own zippered bag. It was as big as a laptop bag but at least you could carry it around if you wanted and weren't held prisoner in the car to talk on it.From there it has gotten easier. The usual progression of smaller, smarter, more colorful, trendy cell phones. I am now the proud owner of a Blackberry. I should have done it long ago. It is the best invention ever and so good in fact that my NON techno savvy husband wants one. He has never been jealous of any new tech gadget I have but this lil BB has him all stirred up. He used one for work a couple of years ago and really fell for it. Anyway, back to the new cell phone number, it's so bad that our children haven't memorized our new house/land line number yet but now they have to purge mommy's cell phone number from their brains and learn a new one. I will keep my old number for a few more weeks to help with the transition and am forwarding all old cell number calls to the new phone. It will take me a month or two to figure out how to do everything on it. Sid and Ri both have it all figured out already so they are tutoring me and will have to help the dad when he transitions.
Got our Christmas cards yesterday so need to get those in the mail. Have some errands to run, it is dark and rainy. Rain...hmm... haven't seen any in a while so it is nice. Bob is actually at the railroad job today, not sure what is going on but he might have a "truck" job since he is cleared for that because he has a class A license. If he gets bumped from that he will be home sooner than later. Costco has kept him busy and according to Bob there is no recession when you see the volume of people and merchandise going in and out of there. Tree is decorated and now will finish decorating the rest of the house, it kinda made me a bit tense last night. Everything I tried to do either fell on to the floor, broke, wouldn't work, it was annoying. It did nothing to get me into that holiday spirit. I even turned of the Johnny Mathis Christmas CD and blasted some Rage Against the Machine to clarify my mood to everyone. Johnny was beginning to look a lot less like Christmas and sounding like he had sucked helium, where as RATM had that angry, angst ridden charm that I needed at that moment. The cats are no help either, they attack every freakin' thing you put on the tree, eat fake greenery and chew on every plastic bag they can find. They may find themselves wrapped up for Christmas gift giving at the local animal shelter if they don't leave my decor alone. I am sure some nice family would love to get a live cat for Christmas. I ended up staying up late and finishing a Christmas tree for Riley's room. It turned out adorable. We painted decorations and put them on a little white tree and I strung a short strand of battery operated white lights on it. It's all in pinks, blacks and silver and matches her room. I will try to post a picture that I took with my new phone!
Okay, enough... I will rise from the chair and go get ready to tackle my day, or I may see my bed and just crawl into it and pull the covers up around my head...

Putting up the Lights

Here are some pictures taken by Riley yesterday. They are of Bob, who is up on the roof with the Christmas lights.

Pearl Harbor

Today is December 7th. It is the day we recognize Pearl Harbor. We have Patriot's Day now to remember 9-11. Pearl Harbor is just as significant and should be acknowledged. To many Americans, Pearl Harbor is the ultimate symbol of treachery and our nation’s official entry into World War II. My great Aunt Adeline was an officer in the Army. She was a nurse and was working in a military hospital there. She could look out the windows of the hospital and see Japanese pilots in their planes as they flew over the island. She retired and was one of the first woman in the U.S. Army to retire as a Major. She declined an offer to stay in the Army and become a Lt. Colonel. Needless to say, her history is significant to our family. She saw many, many American soldiers injured and many deaths. Her strength and courage was admirable to say the least. So just take a moment to remember what must have been a grim day for much of the U.S. 67 years ago today. Many of those who fought in WW II as well as Pearl Harbor survivors are long gone. Bob was fortunate enough to become friends with a few of the Pearl Harbor survivors and even had one of them come and speak at a Veteran's Day ceremony at Sid's elementary school back in 1999. The photo above is of my great Uncle Gordon, his sister Great Aunt Adeline and my grandpa Elmer. I think it dates at about the late 30's early 40's.

Learning or Relearning

This is a picture of my new best friend. She is a mannequin head for cosmetology students. They are okay for learning but they generally tend to pretty much suck. Their hair is human but it isn't very human like. You just can't replicate a real head of hair that well. I spent 4 hours with her (not really this one, but a reasonable facsimile)the class went well. I had two major things working against me. I did things like a stylist not a student and I don't remember things from school or the boards since it was 1985 when I did this last. So, my instructors said that I did well but I know and they suggested that I practice. So my two darling daughters will replicate that lovely mannequin head shown above. You use color, perm solution and straightening solution that are simulated. That means COLD heavy conditioner mixed with thick styling gel applied to the hair, they are not gonna love me. Plus fake perm wrapping. Anyone would think "You have done 40 million perms and color applications and been a hairstylist for 10 thousand years, you will be fine". WRONG. You gotta do THEIR way. They don't care how your haircut looks or anything aesthetically speaking. It's about safety and sanitation. You have to cut a certain way that is safe, you have to wrap a perm safely, blah blah blah...SO that is what I will work on, not to mention the FACIAL and the MANICURE. I haven't done those since the last boards. So I will busy practicing. I have to say overall, I did do okay. When I was finished, I went and did some Christmas shopping and met my cousin for happy hour at Bellevue Square. That was fun! It's soooo pretty in downtown Bellevue with all of the lights and decor and skyscrapers. I love it. We had such a nice time.
While I was gone yesterday, Bob and the girls got the outside lights up and the girls set up the tree. Today we will work on that some. Riley has a family heritage project due. She is doing England. She finished her family crest and family tree and now we will work on the flag. We are supposed to show the family name "motto" which Sid translated from Latin for us. It was much more dignified than the family motto I thought we should have. I wont go into detail...

A Day Just Like Any Other

Bright and sunny, beautiful day! Yesterday, Riley and I went and sold a bunch of books and then to Ben Franklin's. We got some Christmas stuff. Getting a few chores done today. It's hard because Bob is home today, no Costco. It's hard to get things done, he is a chatty sort. Haven't talked to my parents in a while, talked to my sister this morning. I am such a bad phone talker. I am so hot or cold with the phone. Depending on my mood I can chat my guts out or barely speak at all as if it is painful. I thought it was because of my job. The amount of talking I did everyday made me not want to talk on the phone. Now that I am not talking everyday, I still am not a phone fan. I will bring this up with my therapist someday. Maybe my blog is my way of talking on the phone? It's so one sided though....
Oh well, enough self analysis for one day. I have tons to do...

Blog in a Fog

I don't mean the weather either. I have ALWAYS suffered from headaches. I think I was in grade school when I recall the first one that really hit me. I am lucky in that they only hit on occasion and not some people who suffer chronic migraines. Yesterday was a doozy. It lasted well until midnight. We now have our health coverage so am going to make an appointment soon to get some meds. Bob is not working at the railroad for a couple of weeks but he is working at Costco. He went in yesterday to let them know he was available and they asked him to stay right then and there. That is a big help. Sid is going home with a friend today, she is in a "Lord of the Flies" re inactment at school and has to rehearse with two other girls from her class. I will pick up the youngest girl and we are going to a book store to do some trading. Bob has to be at work at 3:00. Clouds today, not too cold. Nothing much to report. Wanted to send a greeting to my friend in Claremont, CA. She might be hard at work at the sign co. right now and I know she is gearing up for the holidays as well. Not that this is a busy time or anything but she also gets to look forward to her 29th birthday on Christmas eve. You knew 29 would get here eventually. Hope her girls are adjusting to their new school and new digs...
Off to pick up my kid, I swear I am going to paint the Yukon bright yellow with black checks. No meter installed tho, they couldn't afford me....

Yes, I woke this morning with a headache. What else did I wake up with? A sick oldest child again today, a husband that did NOT go to work. He got "furlowed". I don't know if I used that in the right tense or what it means exactly but it means he may not work( or get paid) for a month. Yipee... One good thing, Christmas decor needs to be done and he is a big help. He still has Costco (this is why he stayed there) and maybe can do some handyman stuff for people. He always finds something. I refuse to fret or worry at this point, it wont do any good. He has his truck driving, equipment operating endorsement with the railroad too and he may have something next week. So you see, why freak out now.
I sent my testing materials in yesterday. It's not so simple. Notarized, money order only, etc. I also went to the place that I buy all of my hair color, shampoos, etc. They have locations all over Calif. and Wash. Sid went with me and we got red hair color for her. I had to get some supplies. It actually felt good to go in and act like a stylist and talk to people like me. When we got home I colored Sid's hair. I haven't actually seen it yet. That sounds strange but the lighting in the dining room isn't that great and she went to bed early but she told me she loved what she saw in the bathroom lighting while she dried it. As long as she is happy. It's only a semi permanent 4 week color so we are not obligated to it.
Chores today, Tylenol will be my friend and hopefully that will be all I need. Hopefully Sid feels better by tomorrow...

Happy First Day of December

Does my title sound cheerful? If it does, I apologize. I don't mean for it to. No, it really is okay that it is the first of December. You know, December. The twelfth month of the year that puts dread into the hearts of all. It's just like having a phantom lead foot on your accelerator. I have a birthday to plan and Christmas. No big, first time EVER that I am not working, so I have no bitching to do. Just a note, I probably will bitch throughout the month anyway. No one wants to read a Pollyanna blog anyway! Who could relate to the fluffy load of crap? We want misery, it loves the company! To add to my list of December things to do, I am going to take a 4-6 hour class on cosmetology state board testing next Saturday. This will help me pass the practical portion of the state boards, the hands on stuff.

Oldest daughter home feeling sick, warmish. She really has to not feel well to not go to school, she is fast asleep. Riley is at band then school then volleyball, Mondays are busy for the kid. Today is "Camp Fog Alot" around here. Starting to burn off but who knows into what.
Got some cyber shopping done this weekend, it's always a good feeling to get some done, have some stuff for the girls done too. There wont be much in the gift giving, exchanging department this year. Tough times for a lot of people.
So that is my rant in a nutshell for today. Happy Cyber Monday and Dec. 1st and all that jazz...