Smile!

Banquet planning is underway.  Hunter made it through a rough week of studies and classes and found his way to a movie.  Will's getting a good nights sleep in preparation for BPA tomorrow.  Jeff's making plans to sleep in all weekend to rest up for his trip to Texas next week.  Me...I'm just thrilled it's Friday.  I'll tackle tomorrow when it arrives!

Happy Friday, everyone!

Throwback Thursday!

There are always pictures that make me smile when I stumble across them.  I don't know if it's the carefree times or the warm, summer sun.  I'm pretty certain it's a combination of the two. 

I hope the boys will look back at pictures of the lake - jumping off the docks, catching fish, making lint fires and remember all of the wonderful times they had together as kids.  Actually, I hope they're still jumping off docks and making new memories.

Ahhh, a little warmth!

It's hard to complain about another snow day when it means I get to have a lunch date with Will.  He picked the place and I picked the table.  The one in the sun.  It's not around much lately, so I thought we'd enjoy it for a bit.  Little did I know that it was so warm that Will would begin to melt.  Me, I was just so excited to be warm that I couldn't have cared less if the soles of my shoes burst into flames.

Thanks for obliging me, Will, but hopefully our next weekday lunch date won't be until June.  No more snow days!

Brain Freeze....and not the ice cream, good kind!

Apparently the sub zero temperatures are freezing my brain!  I totally forgot to blog last night!  Pleae forgive me and chalk it up to Mother Natures last round of bitterness.

Speaking of bitterness...is anyone staying warm?  I don't mind the snow, the school delays or the crazy husky that thinks cold weather is a gift.  But I do mind the below zero temps that are chilling our house.  I've added blankets to our bed, a heater in Will's room and draft busters in front of all of the doors.  And we still haven't broke 67 degrees...inside.

The only warm place is my seat in front of the fireplace.  And I can't work from that seat!

So wish I may, wish I might get the wish I wish tonight.  All I wish for is to be warm.

Thank you!!!

Thank you, Will.  It was an awesome breakfast!

Thank you, Lowes.  With a little bit of help, the shelves fit perfectly!

Thank you, Deals.  Your toy aisle kept me laughing all day long.

Thank you, Meijer.  Your seasonal section showed signs of Spring!

And a special thank you to Mother Nature.  You provided temperatures in the low 40's.  A heat wave just in time to usher in the bitter temperatures we're supposed to have this week.

Yep, snow again.

It's been a long winter.  We found ourselves snowed in yet again today with more of the white stuff on the way tonight.

I'm not fond of winter.  It tends to bring out the worst in me.  I'd much rather be raking leaves than blowing snow.  I'd rather pull weeds than load firewood.  I'd rather sunbathe than shiver.

But sometimes you have to make the best of it.  So instead of complaining about the cold and the snow, we took time to catch up on a movie, have a yummy supper and I spend the evening crocheting new dish clothes for the camper!  

So if I have to suck up a few more snow days, crochet a few more towels, watch a few more movies and eat a few more fabulous meals...is it really so bad?  Not at all.

How do you know?

How do you know when your baby is all grown up?

It could be the scheduling of his ACT test for college.  It could be choosing the schools that we plan to visit in the next 90 days.

But in this case, it's his first W2.

But you know he's still a teenager because he's anxious to file his taxes and get his return.  When he's "all grown up" he'll know that's not the way it works, lol!

Way to go!

Yiiiiipppppeeeeee!

I know that it's not going to come as a huge surprise to anyone, but this is the letter that Hunter received today.

Way to go, kiddo!  

Time to Power Down.

Funny story.

Ok, not so funny given my last few weeks.  But I know that the boys would like to see the picture so I'll tell the story anyway.

If you've been anywhere near me the last few weeks, you know that I'm a disaster waiting to happen.  Not by choice, I just appear to be more accident prone than normal.

Just after Christmas, I juggled a full glass and it poured all over my laptop.  Just a week later, my cutting system died.  Ok, that one was just from over use, but still an expensive (but necessary) replacement.

Fast forward to today.  I spent hours today searching the house for my Bluetooth.  It's the one little piece of technology that I can't live without.  I had it when I left for the post office and then POOF!  It was gone.  Hunter helped me look for it for over an hour (yes, he can be very helpful by phone).  Jeff spent another hour helping me once he got home.  It had completely vanished.  We tipped furniture, scoured every room (bathrooms included).  It just had to be here.  I checked every pocket, even in clothes I haven't worn in days.  Jeff even dumped my purse.  No Bluetooth.

By the time we had upended the house, we'd missed dinner.  Seeing the tears starting to form, Jeff offered to take me out for dinner...with one little detour.  The post office parking lot.

Voila!

My Bluetooth.  He spotted it in the snow in the parking spot I was parked in earlier.  Apparently I dropped it.  And some nice person ran it over.

So I have officially decided to go tech free for the next few days...or weeks...or months.  I'm afraid to touch anything with a power button.  Truthfully, we can't afford for me to.

Please stop.

Guess what?  Yep, another snow day!  We're officially entering shortened summer vacation time.  At this rate, Will may be taking his finals in Blue Ridge!

With wind chills of 10 below and 5 inches of snow, I didn't even bother to bring out my camera.  It'd froze about 2 minutes after I did.

So instead, I thought I would borrow a picture that summarizes how we all feel.  And Will...if it's you praying for it so you can go to Perfect North, please have mercy on the rest of us!

More snow?

Alberta Clipper.  Substantial snowfall.  Rush hour.  Subzero windchill.  Delayed start.  Cancelled due to inclement weather.

Oh man, those are all phrases I'm tired of hearing.  I just keep reminding myself that Spring is just a few short months away.

Stay warm everyone!  And stay in!  It's already snowing here...so much for 2-4 inches.  

Toys

Boys and their toys.  Although this is one "toy" that I endorse!

I know the boys think that Jeff and I will be young and cool forever.  Unfortunately, as they get older, so do we.  And sometimes, this house and yard can be overwhelming.  Especially when there used to be four of us to work and now there's only two.  Yes, Will is still home.  But with school, work, band, a girlfriend, friends, etc....I'm lucky to see him a day or two a week for dinner.

So if we're going to continue to get older and the kids are determined to bring grandkids to this house one day, we have to find a few ways to make things easier.  The Christmas decorations were my first thing to tackle.  This is the second.

Now we can plow the drive in 1/2 an hour with 1/2 of the manpower.  Maybe less!   It doesn't make the snow any more tolerable, but it does make a 400ft driveway appear to be a little shorter.

Thoughts?

Everyone has an opinion and tonight I'm asking for yours!

We've been in the house for almost nine years (I know, can you believe it?!).  For eight years and approximately 270 days, I've stood guard in front of the windows.  Every time someone mentioned window treatments, I cringed.  I could miss a deer, a rabbit, a coyote, the sunshine...well, you get it.  

Then we moved the kittens to the back porch.  And we've spend the last 90 days trying to distract Toccoa.  She spends hours each night running from window to window to window, chasing the kittens and licking her lips.  She has a nervous condition.  I now have a nervous condition and Jeff's ready to kill us both.

The solution?  Find Toccoa a new home, invest in Valium (for me and Jeff) or put up blinds.  

Little did I now that the living room would be a million degrees warmer too!

Jeff loves them.  I'm still on the fence.  But the quieter the puppy is tonight, the more in love with them I am.

What do you think?

Oh, and disregard the pile of camping supplies covering the door...I'm anxiously awaiting Spring!

My Kind of Night.

I know that I missed last night.  I won't blame it one anyone....although I was waiting and waiting for these pictures!

I'm so glad that they had fun!  I'm only sad that I couldn't be there to enjoy it with 'em.  Because lets be honest, I wouldn't have wanted to be anywhere else.

Hmmmm.  Luke Bryan.

Does it get any better?  Looks like it was my kind of night :)

That's what he said.

He said it was because it was cold outside.  He said it'd just be for a night or two.  Then I found this.  He just smiled...and didn't say anything.

This is a test.

It's finals week!

Will's not nearly as excited as I am.  He has to take tests, but I get to have lunch with him every day thanks to exam scheduling.  Yay for me!  So today was my pick and we stuffed our face with yummy bowls from Hot Heads.  Tomorrow is Will's pick.

I promise you, if he picks Gold Star, I may keel over before I get a chance to blog!

Thank Goodness!

All I can say is I'm back to work!  I'd love to chit chat, but I'm a week behind!

To Will. From Ronald.

I just love birthdays!  We try to make them last as long as possible!

So tonight we ate a few more pieces of cake...compliments of Ronald McDonald!

They were nice enough to send a cake home with Will to celebrate his birthday!   I'm so happy that he has a great group of friends, coworkers and managers.  Going to work every day is sometimes hard when you have school, band, homework, etc.  But when you love the people you work with, it's a little easier.

Happy Birthday!

Roses are red.

Violets are blue.

I was willing to eat Goldstar for lunch.

Now you know how much I love you!

It's Will's birthday!  Can you believe he's seventeen?  And birthdays in our house are treated like national holidays.  So from the minute he woke up (which at seventeen was close to noon!) the day was his.  Lunch at Goldstar, an afternoon shopping with Miranda, hibachi dinner and a movie.  Sounds like a great day, doesn't it?  

I know it wasn't his original plan, but I'm hoping he had a wonderful day.  I know that I have.  Truthfully, he's made each day of the last seventeen years wonderful.  

Happy Birthday to my baby boy!  But please don't make me eat there again ;)  

TGIF!

All I can say is thank goodness it's Friday.  It's been a crazy week.  And not crazy good.

So how do you celebrate the end of a not so great week?

You head out for coffee with the birthday boy!

Thanks Will for our short but awesome coffee date!

The Joys of Boys!

This is what it's like having boys!  Nothing is off limits!

But in fairness, the proceeding text from me asked Will how he felt after his first day of snowboarding this season. 

You just never know what the response is going to be.

Yay for me!!

Look Hunter, I did it!

I'm terrible at pulling the trigger, especially when it comes to spending money that I cut a million tags to make.  But you have to spend money to make money so here's my new cutting system!  It'll be weeks before I can use it, but It looks gorgeous!

And Hunter didn't think I could do it.  Wonder if he'll come home to help me learn how to use it?

The Big Softy!

When the wind chills dip, we all congregate in front of the fire an enjoy the warmth it provides.  You'll always find me in front of it...and generally I'm surrounded by the puppies who soak up all the heat.

But last night, we weren't worried about keeping the puppies warm, it was all about the kittens.  Technically, they're cats.  But when the temperatures and wind chills are below zero, they're just cold.   The warming mats, the heated bowls...we'll were worried all night that they may not work.  

So to put my heart at ease, Jeff came up with a solution.  And he says it's me that has a soft spot for them!  And this is what they looked at all warm and comfy this morning!

 

Dang, it's cold!

It's amazing the things I let Will talk me into!  Going out shopping in -7 degree weather is just one of them!

The news was reporting that these are the coldest temperatures we've seen since the winter of '96.  Funny enough, I remember that winter like is was yesterday.  I was waiting to meet Will.

Classes at Ohio State were cancelled.  Little Miami used their fourth snow day.  But Hunter enjoyed his extra day of break and Will and I ran (literally!) a bunch of errands to get him all set to go snow boarding on Wednesday.  Lets just hope that Perfect North has reopened by then. You know it's cold when the slopes are closed!

Stay warm, everyone!  And remember, a cold winter should take care of all of the bugs at camp this summer :)

What a let down!

After I fought my way thought Kroger last night, elbowing people for loaves of bread, trampling small children to get the last jug of milk and pushing and shoving my way to the express lane so I could get home and crawl in the storm shelter to avoid Snow-mageddon.....it never came.

Nno that wasn't me.  But those were the people we encountered when we did make a trip into Kroger last night to get coffee that I was about to run out of (and no one wants to see that!!).  

But either way, no bread, no milk, no snow.

But I did find something to keep me occupied while the temperatures dip.  As wholesome as Little House, but something that we both haven't seen.  And we don't have to leave the house to enjoy it.

Stay warm, everyone!  Its bitter out there!

It's officially over!

Dashing through the snow...

in two cars, packed down with Christmas presents and everything that Hunter could fit back into his dorm for the next semester.

It was my goal to get a family picture while we were there.  Here's the one I captured!  OK, so there's a few people missing.  Some where hiding in the kitchen, some were behind furniture and some of us hid behind a camera..for a few minutes anyway.  It was much more fun to dive into the middle of the action.  Or crawl through the middle (like Will!).  Anyway, I'd much rather remember the "snowball" fights than the kids all staring at me like I was crazy when I asked for a posed family picture!

After a wonderful afternoon, we headed to Ohio State to get Hunter all tucked into his room!  It was hard to say goodbye and I did a pretty crumby job of it.  But we're all back were we belong for a few more months.

Bring on Spring...I'm so ready to spend a few more days at camp with these two!

A few moments.

I've been sitting here, fighting back tears, trying to find the right words to describe our evening.  Who knew that a quote from Charlie Sheen (I know, can you believe it?!) was exactly what I needed.

The infamous Charlie Sheen said "Life comes down to a few moments.  This is one of them."  Of course, he was probably referring to something nutty crazy he did.  But either way, it rang true in my heart.

Here is my "moment".  Sharing Oreos with the boys before everyone heads their separate ways tomorrow.  We've spend hundreds of nights at that table.  Most of them laughing and giggling.  And of course when Jeff tried to capture it...the boys put on a show.  But that's what our life always looks like.  

Thank you to the three most amazing guys in my life.  The last few weeks have been wonderful and I'm while I'm sad to see them end, I'm so very thankful that we had them.  You guys rock!

Bring it on!!!!

Well, Mother Nature sure knows how to see in the new year.  The weathermen, not so much.  Our snow totals topped 6 inches and the temperatures are bitter cold.  But we made it o Mexican to make sure that Hunter got a dinner out before he has to head back to school.

Normally, I would complain about the weather.  Instead, I'm optimistic that Mother Nature is just getting the nasty weather out of her system early in the year so that Spring will spring a little early.  I can hear the campsite calling my name so I'll take all the snow the big lady can throw at us...with the hope that March is beautiful!

Stay warm everyone!

Welcome 2014!

Happy New Year, Everyone!  Can you believe that this is the fourth new years day blog I've written?  I certainly can't!  I would love to say that I have something thoughtful and eloquent prepared.  But I don't.  I don't have a funny story of the day or a throwback to make you smile.

What I do have is an image that I saw posted early, early this morning that grabbed my attention.  It's not one I took.  But it is one that has provided my inspiration for the upcoming year.  So instead of resolutions (that I'll never keep), I'm just planning to be happy.  More kindness and less fretting.  More hugging and less worrying.  It's a new year, full of hope and promise.  And I just want to be happy!  Anyone care to join me?