Just Another Day In My Life...

It's fair to say that I'm under a fair amount of stress. Not the kind of stress that makes your stomach turn and keeps you awake at night, but the more subtle kind that just leaves you second guessing and waiting for the other shoe to drop, like a stiletto, impaling your head.

The three day cycle of snow-ma-geddon seems to be breaking up, and leaving in it's wake lots of black ice and melting issues.  The husband has not been to work in three weeks since tweaking his back shovel from the first storm.  His fifteen year herniated disk issue has turned into multiple herniated, deteriorating disks and a narrowing of his spinal column.  While he has plenty of sick time, his being home unnerves me, and his boredom annoys me to no end.  His being home means that my days off need to be a bit better coordinated, errands need to be communicated, and common sense doesn't always prevail.  I have resorted to asking him to not do anything "ridiculously stupid" while I'm at work each morning.

Work is fine but monotonous.  It's cold. Everyone is complaining about delivery, carriers, customers and management alike.  I appreciate that I have it better than most, as I am not as effected by the weather, it's grates on the soul when everyone around you is a miserable bastard growing weary.

Regardless of Tony likely needing surgery, and his mother's health is again questionable, last weekend I had the thought, as fleeting as it may have been, to plan a get away.  Nothing big, just 2 or 3 days, to relax and escape for a bit.  So there I am in the basement, running the pre-storm "drill", before Saturday night's ice storm, catching up on the last load of laundry when I hear a POP, click, and then...nothing.

Twelve years we got out of that old washing machine, twelve years of faithful near daily service.   About the only thing I am more grateful for is that I actually have the cash right now to replace it.  But of course, the inconvenience of not having a washing machine also comes at a price.

Sunday morning the basement door had to be completely dug out along with the area around it so that we could get the new washer in.  This means moving piles of icy snow, six feet high, then scraping the stairs and landing down to concrete so no one slips and cracks a noggin.

Then I had to research.  Consumer reports, customer reviews, various retail establishments. I found coupons for each store.  I checked availability for shipping, which quickly eliminated two more stores since their earliest ship dates were in April because after spending $12 on only three days of laundry at the laundry mat already, waiting 2 months was just NOT happening.  Lastly, Tony had to finagle a favor from his brother to get the washer from the store to our house because there is no way even a small box truck is getting down our icy, one lane dirt road until (wishfully speaking) May.

Confident in my choice, I strolled into the store ready to check out my selection and promptly realized that the new baskets are so deep that I may fall in, never to be found again.  *sigh* Bye bye front panel control and 5.2 capacity.  My second and third choices were not available until March 18th.  In the end I went with a 4.8 capacity, 20 something option washer with steam.  Whatever that means. And connection hoses, which we don't need, but have to buy and then return later.

So the husband and I arrive home and I opened my email to find that the connection hoses, that I don't need, but had to order, are on back order. Not swayed by the irony, I went down to the basement and started to clean the cobwebs and GAWD knows what from the laundry area. Tony came down a bit later and pretended to find dead things in corners and crevices. (Yep.  He's a keeper that one... and he's all mine. ) He shut off the water, and disconnected the hoses which of course leaked all over the floor and made the basement smell like a$$.  Literally.  It smelled like septic. *gags*

Then I moved all the boxes of sports cards and collectible matchbox cars that Tony had moved in front of the doorway in an effort to avoid water damage if we had a big meltdown of snow. Once the washer was removed and stowed in the garage, I finished cleaning, rid the basement of the horrid smell, and assessed the cluster puck of plumbing in the basement. While following the white mess of PVC, attempting to figure out how much of it was from the old bathroom and what was still needed, we looked to the right where the old shower had been.

And then we saw it.

Sitting there, right next to the deep freezer, with a small bag of donation clothes sitting neatly on top, was not in fact a "spare" dryer from a few years back.

It was a WASHING MACHINE.

It was then I began to think maybe I really do need that vacation.

And someone to do my laundry.

Three Weeks Of Winter...

There's been much said lately about how much snow the Northeast has gotten in the last 3 weeks. I'm not going to go into this big "this is just what we do" thing, because honestly, it's been a giant pain in the a$$. But here's the thing, it's all relative.  Just like *we* chuckle at the south shutting the city down over 3 flakes and some ice, central Canada is likely laughing at us from their second story windows since you know, their first story windows have been snowed in since December.

In fairness, we've had a great winter.  Snow started early (Nov. 1st) and then quickly gave way to 30- 50 degree days until the end of January. 50 degrees in December, folks.  It doesn't get any better than that.  Of course we've forgotten that completely as we dig out of (to date) 87 inches of snow and creep around corners saying a quick Hail Mary that no one is coming in the other direction.  But despite near record breaking snowfall, and the coldest February on record ever, let's be honest.... it really just comes down to how it effects me.

And it really doesn't.  We are fine.  After the fortuitous purchase of the snow blower for Christmas this year, there's not much to complain about here. Yes, it sucks that Tony hurt his back not long after the first blizzard and has been home for two weeks, but hey, it's just one less car to dig out, right? It sucks that I spent two hours on the roof last Wednesday shoveling it clean so we wouldn't become another collapse statistic, but to be honest it was quite peaceful.  I wanted to have a picnic up there, until Tony hit me in the face with a salt filled nylon and I came to my senses.  Turns out those nylons didn't do as much for the ice dams as they did for keeping me on my feet as he hurled them up there one at a time.  They'll be quite the conversation piece this summer I'm sure, as the wind blows them down into someone's pasta salad. *sigh* Good times, good times.

Where was I?

Oh yeah... the roof...

...which won't be caving in on us like so many others.  Nor will we be suffocating from whatever poisonous gas was being trapped in our house via that tiny six inch vent pipe that I forgot all about on the far edge of the roof. (I think it's the kitchen vent, so all things considered, not so bad.) Our ice dams are looking relatively good as well, melting down to half their size today.  Our gutters will not be ripping off  the house, taking fascia boards with it, exposing lots of warm pink insulation for homeless squirrels to nest in.

With any luck we will avoid any new roof leaks, and flooding in the basement.  Items of worth have been put up and away just in case, but being that much of the yard is sand and we are at the top of the hill on the street, we should be in relatively good shape for flooding.

We even managed to get out and clear the basement stairs some more, as the washing machine picked last night to finally die and there's only one way to get the new one in. Fingers crossed we don't have to clear it again before it can be delivered.  I debated just going to the laundry mat for a month and saving myself the effort, but we had been slowly chipping away at it every storm, so cleaning it up was all of a 30 minute job today.

I'll be shopping for a new washer later this week, as well as grocery shopping.  Apparently having the husband home  for 2 weeks and the kids home for winter break near doubles the grocery budget.... and the electric bill which has miraculously stayed on during every storm. Thank God.  Because without power,  *shudders*  we might have had to talk to each other.

And THAT would have been something to write about.

Everyday I'm Shovelin'....

This was the view from my bed this morning.

The result of the second blizzard in 3 weeks, the timing of which could not be better.  The snow started late Saturday night so there was plenty of time to get out of work, find boots for Oldest, and get things done around the house.  Fast forward to today when the snow finally stopped around 2 pm, which left plenty of daylight to clean up the additional 12+ inches and put it... um, where exactly?

We are fast approaching the snowiest winter on record, the bulk of which has fallen in the last 3 weeks.  And with morning temperatures like this....

...it's not going anywhere fast.  And while we've had a few days above freezing, the sunshine is causing lots of icing, and some of the best icicles I've ever seen.

The big one there is about 4 feet long and 4 inches thick.  But alas, they needed to come down before I shoveled the basement door out, because according to Myth Busters, they can actually kill you if they fall. So I'm out there hitting them with the shovel, completely unsupervised, and got hit on the head by a stray 6 incher.  Looking for sympathy, I mentioned it to Youngest who simply looked up from his book and said, "Well that's unfortunate." and went right back to his reading. Oldest didn't even know since he hasn't left his computer since, forever. *sigh*

At least the turkeys seem to be having fun.

The wildlife is struggling around here.  Squirrels can only smell their acorn stash 1 foot down, so they will likely starve, along with the cardinals, turkeys, rabbits, etc. if they don't scavenge for food.  Our neighbors at the end of the street have taken to throwing cracked corn down, which is nice, but I wish they'd stop throwing it in the middle of the street. That's taken through the windshield of my car by the way, they had no interest in moving for me and what you can't see is the additional 15 turkeys off to the right.

So, yeah... this is what a 3 day snow event looks like around here.  Shovel, de-ice, stock up on storm supplies, and shovel again.  Luckily this marks the beginning of Winter break and Youngest ensured he hit the library before the flakes were a'flyin'....

Thankfully tomorrow is a holiday so I have an additional day to stock up, as I'm out of Cadbury eggs. I do still have power (thankfully) so I was able to put this together for prospective....

It's a before and after picture taken in August and October, and then today.   The bottom of the windows in the sun room are about 8 feet off the ground, and the slate patio goes down into stairs for the basement door.  The pile of snow from the basement door to the top is nearly 12 feet up now, so I have no idea how I'll get that snow out tomorrow, but I'll figure it out somehow. I also have to do the paths for the propane guys, which should be F-U-N.

OH, and remember the fence we put up?  The far end just shy of 8 feet high. I don't think we'll see it until May.

So... that's what I'm up to these days.  Fingers crossed we don't lose the power as the winds are expected to kick up tonight and the wind chill will be -25. Brrrr.... Sunshine's on tap for tomorrow, and then 6 more inches Tuesday night.

What can I say?

Every day I'm Shovelin'....

Admitting You Have A Problem...

...is the first step.

Youngest has gone from an Honor Roll student to failing 2 of his classes.  Failing as in, a 53 and 46 kind of failing.   To think I used to take this child to the grocery store at five to be my human calculator.  He has a knack for numbers, ratios, problem solving... my own little Einstein.  When the school made an error and neglected to put him in the honors class, I let it go.  I figured it could be his gimmie class, the one class he wouldn't need to worry about.  And yet, he's failing Math.  Math!  It's all in the details folks, details like homework assignments and computerized tests taken online that he forgets all about. Details he never forgot when he stayed after school with his specialized teacher twice a week. Details he never neglected before he become addicted.

He races home to get to it, waits until I go to bed, and sneaks it into his room. He stays up all night and lies to me about it.

He forgets to eat.

He chases it all over town, shipping it from location to location, scheduling personalized pick ups.  He's coerced a team of adults to custom order it for him so he can spend all weekend long in his boxers, hardly leaving his room.  He's completely lost to it, as if nothing else exists. Most kids just pop in their ear buds and drown out their parents with unholy music and inappropriate lyrics, but not this kid. Nope. He's found a fix with an intensity all his own.  He's even taken it online, into the underground, finding others like him.  Snow days, Holidays, weekends, doesn't matter, he's got it waiting for him... a steady supply ready to soothe his weariness of the mundane everyday world he lives in.

He's become... a reader.

Thousands of pages in a weekend. It's all he does.  And while most parents would love this new found addiction, I am not.  He has an intensity for things that is not like most kids.  He throws himself in with such exuberance that he often loses sight of everyone, and everything around him.  He's conning the librarian into buying multiple book series for him, and allowing him to check out more than the allowed amount of books. "Meet James Patterson" was number 2 on his Christmas list.  He's using my computer to check release dates from his favorite authors, and he transfers books to our library via the internet.  He even made Tony get a library card so he could check out books for him while I am at work.

And the irony of it all?

The other class he's failing?

Strategic Reading.

*sigh*

This Is Forty ~ January

I kind of like the idea of a photo collage for the highlights of each month. Of course, now that I look at it, it seems we didn't do much in the last 31 days. And, upon further inspection I realize that I've forgotten this little gem from the very start of the month...

New Year's Eve at the Great Wolf Lodge. Because nothing says good times quite like balloons in the bath tub.

Moving on...

I did a whole lot of waiting in the parent pick up line (1.) this month because temps dipped into the -10 wind chill area and my kids are not hearty.  God forbid I have them walk the half mile home from the bus stop when I can stress myself out to get out of work in time and pick them up as the bell rings instead.  And when the icy, wet stuff (2.) starts to fly, they'd surely be frozen solid since neither one of them will wear anything heavier than a sweat shirt to school.

When I wasn't picking up kids, I got all crazy like and Youtube-ed how to clean the dishwasher (3.).  I dismantled it, cleaned it all out, and put it all back together... with no extra parts!  We won't go into what I found in there.  You're welcome for that.

(4.) Should really be (5) as it happened first, but because I was distracted by all things boys I didn't realize I put them in the wrong sequence.

Anyhoo....

We saw Garth Brooks on the 25th.  It was the last on our concert bucket list, and it did not disappoint.  Floor seats, 19th row.  The only down side was that we had to stand the entire show and the people behind us were subject to my dance moves.

The real number 5, (4) is of course the blizzard last Tuesday which dumped an official total of 30.1 inches of snow on us.  The post office closed down and Tony finally got to use his new snow blower on the driveway, the neighbor's driveway,  and two of the other neighbor's driveways.  The door is from the first pass outside about 7 hours into the storm. The 7th picture is Tony preparing to go out again.  The winds were 50+mph and bitterly stung any skin that was exposed.  Number 6 is how I prepared for the snow-ma-geddon, Cadbury eggs and candles.  Turns out, we didn't need the candles at all as we never lost power. When it was all said and done (8.) we were left with mountains of snow everywhere 4-5 feet high.  It was beautiful but a real pain to deliver mail in. Then of course, the plow drivers slept off their 2 day plowing marathon and were sent out to widen the paths, scraping mud and dirt up everywhere, making it not so pretty.

We wrapped up the month with report cards.  Youngest just missed honor roll with a 78. He was not happy, but again that is a story for another day though.  The real story is that Oldest made straight A's for the first time ever.  Considering that his math is an advanced class and he's got a full course load, we couldn't be prouder.  For all his efforts, he wants new sneakers.

So, February is sure to find me out shopping for some new kicks, and eating nachos at the Superbowl party tonight.  Just as soon as I restock the storm supplies for tomorrow's storm...

*sigh*