Home again

Well, we made it home from our latest travels last night and now, we're not going anywhere for the rest of the year! Except maybe to exchange some gifts. And to the grocery store. And the library, probably. And maybe to the Madison Children's Museum, if the girls are especially squirrely. But nowhere else!

The weekend before Christmas, we traveled to central Illinois to visit Greg's family. It was a wonderful visit, marred only by the intense cold and horrific wind we experienced driving back home. It was one of those trips where you have to hold the steering wheel at an angle for the entire time to try to counteract the sideways action of the wind, only to weave a bit when you go under a highway underpass and the wind is blocked. On top of that, there was blowing snow across the highway for the entire portion of the trip that took us across prairie.

Trust me, you haven't lived until you've driven three hours straight through with snow blowing across the freeway that's been flying for ten miles or so, there being nothing to stop the snow out there in mid-America. That trip was only topped by our adventure last night.

This weekend, we traveled to visit my family and to attend the 50th wedding anniversary party of my Aunt Carol and Uncle Jim. I was insistent that we were going to my party, since I'm ashamed to note how long it's been since I've seen these relatives. Let's put it this way; Julia was almost a newborn. I very much wanted my girls to meet the kids of my first cousin Ken (their second cousins).

So despite truly dense fog, we traveled about 1/2 hour north of my parents' house for the party, then drove home in really, really dense fog and darkness for almost three hours. We took the interstate again (a different interstate) because it seemed safer to not have all of those intersections to deal with. But it was bad, really bad. So bad that I didn't feel very comfortable unless I had someone's tail lights to follow. So bad that Greg suggested stopping at a hotel and going the rest of the way home in the morning.

But I persevered, and we made it to Milwaukee, where the fog dissipated. We ate some dinner, then drove the rest of the way home, about another hour. When we stopped to eat, the temperature was an amazing 49 degrees. By the time we pulled into our driveway, it was 34 degrees. We were very glad to see the house still standing and to be welcomed home by the cats (and a pile of dirt from a tipped over plant--hey, you had your holiday and they had theirs).

And now, it's home sweet home for us. Ahhhhhhhhhh.

Merry Christmas

"My favorite part was when we got to hold FIRE!" (A quote from Allie about going to church last night and having a section of the service that was lit by handheld candles in the congregation.)

I hope you and yours are having a wonderful holiday season. Merry Christmas!

Cold? Oh, yeah.

Yes, I'm reduced to blogging about the weather. Well, have patience. Yesterday, it was in the 40s and rained. This morning, it was 1 degree and very windy, wind chill of -10 or less. Surely that's worth at least a note.

In other news, we had a relatively quiet weekend. On Saturday morning, we got out of the house early and took the girls to see Santa at the mall. We love this particular Santa--his name is Tom something (I know because he's been featured in our area newspaper) and he has a real white beard and he always says, "Have a blessed holiday," as the girls hop off his lap.

Unfortunately, we don't have any pictures because the company that provides Santa decided to go hardball on not allowing any parent-taken photos. We've purchased the (incredibly overpriced) photo package in the past but chose not to this year. So no photo with Tom. Trust me, the girls looked adorable.

Hah! Off the hook--

It snowed today. Actually it started snowing yesterday and it's not supposed to be done until tomorrow, but most of it landed today. So much, in fact, that the school district called it's first snow day. The girls were thrilled. I figure we got about 6 inches so far and it's wet, icy stuff.

So 4:00 came and I'm thinking, all right. Time to get outside and at least snow blow enough of the driveway so Greg can get his car in the garage. The snowplows have been busy, so there's a considerable pile of icy junk at the end of the drive.

The girls and I get bundled up (it's about 20 degrees out) and I get busy. OK, I successfully get the thing started (only two tries). I make one path down the driveway, gnaw away at the snowplow pile, gnaw some more, wrestle with the snowblower, gnaw some more, tilt it this way and that, gnaw some more and phew! Made it through to the street in one little place.

Okay. Now back the other way, gnaw, gnaw, gnaw (I'm shortening this process in prose, trust me, it took a lot longer)--and then through. Up to the garage. Back again, start gnawing when I get to the end of the driveway and the snowblower dies. I try restarting it by hand. No go. Haul the snowblower back up to the garage so I can plug it in and try the electric start. Nope. Gee, I wonder if it's out of gas. Oh look. It's out of gas.

About this time, our neighbor, Charles came over to see he could help. What a sweet man. He wondered if I could put in regular gas or if I needed a gas-oil mixture. Greg and I didn't cover this in our lesson the other day, so I send Allie in for the cordless phone and called him.

No, he says, you don't need a gas-oil mixture. And I just got gas the other day. Fill it with the gas in either of the two gas cans on the top storage shelf. Hmm, the top storage shelf that has just a big enough gap to fit two gas cans but is empty? Those imaginary gas cans?

Yes, he still has the gas cans in his trunk from the other day. And I get out of snowblowing for today. Aww. I'm so sad.

Snow queen

On Friday, Greg and I took the girls to a local production of the above-mentioned play. It was about 80 minutes long and featured all youth performers. Some of the singing we heard was quite good and there was an attempt made to entertain adults by including some references aimed at adult humor. Nonetheless, when Allie asked me afterward what my favorite part was, I said the end. Not the ending, the end. She got it after just a moment.

Yesterday, Greg taught me how to use our snowblower. It was cold and quite windy and we tackled the 3 or so new inches of snow in the driveway. Allie and Julia came outside with us to play but Julia only lasted about 5 minutes. She's such a fragile flower. I didn't really enjoy my lesson. That was partially because the wind blew a LOT of snow over my body and especially in my face. It was also because the snowblower is considerably heavier than the lawnmower and I found it tough to maneuver and turn around.

Then I blew snow off the sidewalk and didn't do a good enough job for Greg. While I was coming back down the block (and getting pummeled with an avalanche of light blowing snow from the chute and the wind), Greg took pity on me and showed me how to adjust the output. He went over the sidewalk again and we were done. At least yesterday, snowblowing doesn't take as long as lawn mowing, that's a good thing. And now I have a new skill for my resume.

Snow and school

Yes, Dan, it has been snowing where we live. And snowing. And snowing. There was a Winter Weather Advisory yesterday because we were projected to get up to 5 inches of snow, but our eventual result was about three inches. Nonetheless, Greg got to use the snowblower. Oh, what fun. And today it got cold--I think the high was about 20 degrees. I went out to shovel a little leftover snow on the sidewalk and my hands (in thermal gloves) were quite numb in only about ten minutes. When will spring arrive, again?

This week at school, Julia is her class's Student of the Week (SOTW). This honor means that we had to come up with a box of things that are special to her so she could show them to her classmates, we had to make a poster with photos, and we were encouraged to bring a special treat for the class. Yep, it's all about the food. Yesterday afternoon, I made cupcakes and last night I frosted the cupcakes and the girls decorated them.

This was, by the way, the first year of SOTW celebrations where we actually made the special treat. For the last three years, we've bought cupcakes when Allie was honored. Now, I know why that was a good idea. Folks, there were enough sprinkles, nonpariels, candy pieces, and colored sugar on these things to light a neon sign. At my suggestion, the girls left two of the cupcakes plain, just frosting. And when two leftover cupcakes made their way home tonight, what were they? Yes, they were the two plain frosted cupcakes. Shows what I know about the tastes of kindergarteners.

I also went to Julia's class for a visit today. I brought two books from home to read aloud to her class, which went well. I tried to use my dramatic voices and ask a few questions along the way (did you know that 30 percent of kindergarteners have piggy banks?). It was fun, except that Julia cried for fifteen minutes when I had to go. Ah, the travails of school.