Sheesh!

Stupid snow.  Stupid winter.  Stupid stupidity.

Whatever.  I want March, OK?  Can we skip February?

Thanks.

More Snow Coming

If the predictions are right, we could get another 8-14" by Tuesday afternoon.  Tomorrow morning's commute will start us off with freezing rain.  That makes me sangry.  Perfect attendance is very important to me, since it means a good bonus at the end of the year, that we usually use for Christmas for the kids.

I pride myself in driving the 40 miles each way regardless of the weather.  I have a car that can do it, and I allow extra time and drive smart, making it in when those who live fewer than 10 miles away don't.  It's a pride thing in many ways.

Still, I'm not stupid.  I won't risk leaving my kids motherless because I have to prove a point.  For that reason, I've packed a bag to take along tomorrow and Tuesday.  I think I'll be able to get there just fine tomorrow, but getting home may be tricky.  If the roads are impassible and wrecks are everywhere, my butt is staying at work.

I don't want to stay there, but I also don't want to die.  I have diet Coke and emergence groceries packed.  I'll have everything I need to stay put, but I sure don't want to.  I love where I live, but in times like this, it can be a pain in the butt.  Worth it in the long run, though.

One last complaint:  I don't want the kids to have any more snow days.  This week could potentially bring 3 or more, keeping them in school past Memorial day.  With Monica's job starting in June, that would cause conflict.  I'm trying not to borrow trouble, though.

I'll just take my suitcase, and hope to bring it right back home tomorrow night.  Where I'll sleep in the house with my family, as it's supposed to be.

Yogurt Time!

I know I posted this on Facebook, but here it is again.

Who's Grounded?

When you ground your child, who is really grounded?  It's a week this time.  That's a LONG time to be grounded.  For me, that is.

I've already faced the "I thought a week meant 5 days" argument.  I've also dealt with the "But it wasn't TOTALLY my fault!" argument.  *sigh*

Yes, folks.  I'm grounded.  Until Monday.  Please send wine.  (Not "whine."  I have plenty of that.)

An Early Birthday Surprise!

I'm going to Texas for my birthday!  Woohoo!  Brooke tried to surprise me, communicating only with Kevin and a friend or two.  It wasn't working.  How can I leave for 4 days without knowing until the time comes?  What if my vacation had been denied?  LOL  She tried hard, but finally had to tell me.

I quickly arranged for a couple of days off and a 1-hour early knock-off and it was all set.  I'm going to TEXAS!  I get to spend four glorious days with my Texas buddies, Brooke and Susie.  Oh yeah, and David.  LOL  Sorry, David.  There is going to be a lot of girl-business in your house.  I'm so excited I can't contain it.

Yes, my dear friend bought a round-trip ticket on Southwest for me to fly down and visit.  Yes, I have some cool friends.

Is it March yet?

Weird Saturday Evening

We left around noon yesterday to do some errands.  I dropped the girls off at the mall and met Kevin (he worked a few hours) at WalMart.  We got what we needed there, and then he went to Oak Grove and I went to Aldi for groceries.  Kevin beat us home, and as I pulled into the drive, he came out onto the side porch and announced that we had no water.

I posted to Facebook, wondering why, and sure enough, I got an answer.  Works every time.  Turns out there had been a water main break in town, and they turned off the water to fix it.  *sigh*  Mom lives 2 miles away and has a well, so we have access to water, but we thought we'd wait it out and bring some snow in to melt.  Things like that become an adventure around here.

I walked away from the kitchen, leaving Tim alone with a cooler full of snow.  When I came back, I found this:

I laughed and took a picture, and then walked toward the bathroom to find out what I was hearing:

It was Natalie, using the hair dryer to melt snow.

When I started wondering what was taking the snow on the stove so long to melt, I got my answer:

Yup, Tim was watching the pot!  It'll never boil, now!

So now our water is back on, but we're under a boil order until further notice.  I guess they do that when the lines have been drained.  I thought we'd go to mom's this morning and get some water, instead of boiling, until I looked out the door at my car.

Another 2 1/2" on top of my car?  How long 'til spring?

Drama. Always With the Drama.

There is, once again, drama on the message boards that we frequent.  There seems to be drama from time to time.  The majority of us get together once or twice a year and have a grand old time.  Some feel the need to beg for or DEMAND the attention that drama brings.

I suppose that's true for any large group of people.  If you work outside the home, you know who the drama queens or kings are.  If you attend church, there are likely drama-driven people there, too.  Remember high school?  Drama.  A large group of people = a bit of drama.

How do you react?  At first, I get defensive or mad and spout something off.  Then, I realize that I've been baited and I just shut up.  Shut the heck up.  Watch it play out.  Why get involved?  Hate and anger sucks up a LOT of energy.  I'm too lazy for all of that.

In the last couple of days, I've insulted friends of two different acquaintances.  Not on purpose, mind you.  It was me being honest and not knowing the level of friendship that was there.  One person handled it perfectly.  She told me that she was fabulous friends with the other person and hoped that I would understand her point of view.  I did, and I appreciated the candor.

The other decided that she was all done and couldn't be around people who disagreed with her friend.  She just couldn't read any more about her friend being bad.  I'm sorry.  You don't have to like all of the people that I like, and I don't have to like all of the people that YOU like.  We are ADULTS!

It would be laughable if it wasn't so sad.  I pity folks who have no interaction (or so it seems) with other humans, outside of the internet.  Get out of the house.  Go to work.  Meet people.   Go to a coffee shop.  Go enjoy McDonald's free internet.  Take a walk.  Say hello to neighbors.

Seriously!  Let's all move along.  I love my online friends VERY much.  You don't have to like my friends or my family.  It's OK.  My IRL friends and family, though?  Yeah, I have to say that I love them more.  You don't have to like them for us to communicate.  I like them just fine.  I love them.

How Long is my Commute?

I have no idea how long to allow for my commute lately.  Tuesday morning, it was icy so I left at 6:30, since I have to be at work by 8:30.  I was late.

Last night, it dumped 17' of snow on us.  OK, it was more like 8", but whatever.  I set the alarm for 4:30 and planned to leave at 5:30.  Kevin cleared my car off and I hit the road at 5:20.  I pulled into the parking lot at work at 6:40.  Are you kidding me?  That's only 20 minutes longer than usual.

Here I am, at work, ridiculously early.  Oh well.  Better than late, I suppose.  There's a chance of a bit more Friday, and some accumulation on Sunday.  This is the most winter-like winter we've had in a while.  What happened to global warming?

I'm SO Mad at my Mother!

I can't take it anymore.  I can't hold it in.  She's just gone too far this time.

I had a REALLY rough day and needed to blog about it.  I needed this, and she didn't even take my feelings into consideration.

What did she do?  Oh, how could you even ASK me such a question.  She's just beyond help this time.  I mean, how DARE she?

As I came to my blog, I didn't know what all I'd say, but I was certain that the title would be *sigh*.

Dangit, Mom!  That was MY title!

*sigh*

Most Depressing Day of the Year

I read that today is the most depressing day of the year.  I know that January is always the hardest for us, and this year is proving the same.  We have to buy propane this week and my $6 car problem turned out to be a $140 problem.  Surprise!

It's like this every January.  That helps, in a warped sort of way.  Knowing that it's "normal" for things to feel like they're falling apart keeps us from feeling like they won't get back together.  They will.  It's just miserably cold and the days are short and the money is, too.

As long as we recognize this and keep chuggin' along, it'll be fine.  The days are getting longer and the cold can't last forever.  Right?  It'll be warm again one day, right?  When I'm having a rough time, though, trying to keep my spirits up, I spend a Sunday like this:

Yup.  That'll raise your spirits!

Technology Today

I am amazed.  I don't have a huge house, but my wireless router is at the other end of it.  I am at THIS end of it.  I can go into my room, shut the door, crawl under my electric blanket, and surf the internet.  It amazes me.

The door is shut.  There are two walls and a bunch of people between me and the router.  There is furniture, TV and sound system signals, cell phone calls going on...all between me and the router.  Yet, I can surf the internet, annoy people with my games (You DO know how to hide the games, right?) and check on my friends and family.

Don't laugh too hard that it amazes me.  I still don't understand how an old-style, wired telephone works.  I talk into this end, and someone across the country (or in another country) can hear me in real time, and I can hear them, too.  I don't get it.

I can plug a tiny little ear piece into my ear and place my phone above the sun visor of the car, and talk to my friend Brooke all the way home from work.  I don't have to take my eyes off the road.  I don't have to worry about holding the phone to my ear.  I just talk, and she answers.  It's so cool.

I have a dish shaped thing on my roof.  It points SSW, and it fills my house with TV, movies, music, and almost any entertainment I could ask for.  How does something THAT far away in space offer me an escape after a long day's work?  I don't get it.

For that matter, how do I put my debit card (just a rectangle piece of plastic) into a gas pump and have the gas pump tell me that there is, indeed, enough money in my account to put gas into my car.  I don't have to go inside and talk to anyone, or freeze and slide on the slushy, post-freeze parking lot to offer some form of payment.  I insert my debit card, pump some fuel into my tank, and get on my way.

Do NOT get me started on instant messaging!

I am amazed and thankful.  Shout Out to all of my out-of-state friends.  I haven't paid long-distance charges for a phone call in YEARS!  The cell phone minutes, instant messaging, email, message boards, and facebook as taken care of THAT.

I'm happy.  Amazed and happy.

No New Pets

My phone rang as I was driving home from work.  Thank goodness for bluetooth.  I answered...

Monica: "You know Bubba's friend Danielle, who goes to KU?"
Me: "Yes?" (only barely remembering the name...)
Monica: "So, she has a hedgehog that she's looking for a good home for."
Me: "No. We're not getting a hedgehog."
Monica: "But he's cute and I'll do EVERYTHING to take care of him."
Me:  "We're not getting a hedgehog."
Monica:  "He's nocturnal, so I won't have to do ANYTHING during the day!"
Me: "No, We're not getting a hedgehog."
Monica: "But, Mooommm!  He is SO cute!"
Me:  "Ask your Dad.  I am driving and I gotta go."
Monica:  "OK, thanks Mom!"

LOL.  I'm evil.  Still, I'll sleep fine tonight.  Hedgehog free. Kevin's new (later) shift may work against him.  BWAAHAAHAAHAAA

Winter Wonderland - Bah!

The roads are finally mostly clear.  Of course, I had to start taking an alternate route to work, since the George Brett Bridge is being redone.  This really messes with my mojo.  I guess I should have spent part of the last 7 1/2 years checking out alternate routes, but I didn't.  For you local folks, 50 (350) hwy is the logical route to take, but there is ALWAYS a wreck and a backup that way, so no thank you.

But I got here, and the new route won't be too bad.  I think our temps will actually make it up to 30 by Saturday, so if the sun shines, the roads will finish clearing off.  I know that everyone is sick of hearing about weather, but it is SO miserably cold.  Wind chills around -20º this morning.  That is just stupid cold.

I hate cold.  I'd rather be sweating in the middle of August than cold in January.  I get cold and can NOT get warm again.  I love my electric blanket, but I don't think it would be wise to bring it to work.  It would be nice, but customers may look at me funny, trailing my power cord around with me everywhere I go.  Makes me giggle to picture it.

Anyway, if it has to be miserably cold, at least it's pretty.  The snow makes everything look so clean.  It's bright and cheery.  When it melts, everything will be brown and dead looking again.  I wouldn't mind if the snow stayed on the ground for a while.

I had a laugh out loud moment on the way home, yesterday.  I got in the car and headed out, snaking my way through Raytown, looking for my new route.  My windshield was filthy, so I hit the sprayer.  The spray came out and arched over the hood ahead of me!  What the heck?  I pulled over into a parking lot and saw that there was ice over the nozzle, deflecting the spray in the wrong direction.  I hit the ice patch and removed it and all was well.  Still, the moment that it happened, my jaw dropped and then I started laughing.

OK, that's my check in.  My commute is almost down to a normal time now.  No more 2 hour drives.  Oh, and a word to the wise:  If you are going to be stuck in your car for 2 hours in traffic on bad roads, do NOT drink a huge mug of coffee followed by a Diet Coke.  Bad.Plan.

Hi Ho, Hi Ho

It's back to work for me tomorrow.  It's been a great four days off, in spite of the coughing.  I still don't feel bad, and the cough is getting less frequent.  Only thing that "hurts" is my diaphragm from coughing.  LOL We were totally lazy today, and ended the day with some junk food.  Left over chili on fried tortilla's.  Yum.

Kevin and Tim changed the oil in Tim's car yesterday.  It's ready to roll, now.  He can start looking for a job in nearby towns.  Monica spent the night last night, and will again tonight, at Brett's house.  She's enjoying extra time with Kameron.  The Chiefs game was disappointing, but the Colts/Titans game was exciting to the end.

Now, we'll watch some Undercover Boss and my Sunday night shows on ABC.  Back to normal tomorrow.  No more paid days off until May.  *sigh*  The first weekend in February will be my annual trip to South Carolina for a convention.  It's the only one I'm going to this year, so far.  Something may get added later, but for now, just the one.

I hope you all have a wonderful week!