$1.75, But It's Not My Fault!

Ok, it is my fault. I agreed to pay myself a quarter every time I say a bad word, but at the time I didn't know that I would soon be dealing with the effects of winter and my own stupidity. *Sigh* My minivan is sitting in the middle of a parking lot right now, waiting to be towed to the car dealer.

At 10am this morning, the snow started coming down and I thought I could get up to school in time to collect the dinner ticket money before it got really bad outside. I loaded Chloe into the van and away we went - until I wrecked the van going a wimpy 20 miles an hour. Just kidding - I didn't "wreck" it, but I slid making a turn and we nailed a curb. The wheel and rim were dented, but it seemed fine, so I continued on to school.

Ten minutes later, I was leaving school and noticed that alignment was way off and there was a rubbing (I'd say grinding - but it wasn't that loud) noise coming from that area of the car. I pulled over into a parking lot and called my husband. (I am so in the dog house right now!) Remembering that the warranty included road side assistance, I called GM and put in a request for help. I probably could have driven on it, but with my luck the wheel would have fallen off and we'd be *#$@ a creek. Or in a ditch.

So, I'm sitting in a parking lot with an 18 month old in the car who is crying and unhappy while I'm trying to figure all of this out. I have no car seat to transfer over to another car because she is in the car's child integrated seat, so requesting a loaner is not an option. (We don't have coverage for that anyway.) I have no diaper bag - because I'm an idiot - so all I have to bribe her with is my iPod. This makes her happy for awhile and we sit and wait for my friend, Teri, to grab a car seat and diaper bag from my house and pick our butts up. The tow truck wait is 3 hours and I am so not sitting there for that long with a toddler who hasn't had lunch or a nap yet.

We're home now and I'm really wishing that school would dismiss early because it's getting considerably worse outside. I should receive a phone call when the tow truck gets there. Hopefully the van will still be there since I had to leave a key inside. I'm really not looking forward to getting the bill for this.

Potty Mouth

It's recently come to my attention that I have a potty mouth. I never thought too much about it, but over the last week, I've noticed that Chloe is starting to repeat words I say. Since neither of her parents use that kind of language, I better get it under control. I'm sure that in a matter of days she'll be repeating everything I say and the last thing I need is for her to go home and drop the F Bomb. I'm kidding. That's the one word I rarely use. I just thought it sounded good.

So, I will now be paying myself a quarter for every naughty word that comes out of my mouth. (Creepy googlers are going to go nuts with that one.)

No more bad words that start with D, S or H.

****

My cough that I picked up over the course of today has gone from midly irritating to downright annoying. I'm starting to feel it in my chest and back. I'm hoping it's just my asthma and suffucating fog that's doing it, but we'll have to wait and see.

For now, here's a picture of what I had to (dumbly) brave to go get toilet paper and cough syrup tonight. I swear it's just getting worse out there.

Apocalypse

I'm fairly certain we're looking at the beginning of the end here. The fog here has only gotten worse. Last night we got 3 inches of snow along with some crazy thunder and lightning. It's pretty much all melted away now. Tonight we're suppose to get rain. Tomorrow? 6 more inches of snow. What?

In fact, I feel like I have smoker lungs again. Ever since I woke up this morning, I've been coughing like crazy and am pretty sure it's got more to do with this fog than it has to do with smoking. How am I so sure, you ask?

Because today is my TWO MONTH anniversary as a nonsmoker. However, it really feels like it should be longer. Like 6 months or something. It feels like such a long time ago - like a lifetime ago - that I quit smoking. Kind of like something you would hear a new mom say a couple of months after having her first child.

So now I shall go celebrate my milestone with a box of mac & cheese for dinner. What, you don't want that for dinner? Too bad, the kids out numbered us.

Oh, Lovely Day

It's suppose to warm up here, but it's not looking like the kids will get to go outside and play anytime soon.

Chloe and I ran to school to take care of some school carnival stuff and then ran to the craft store to get more supplies. Let's just say it was slow going...

...and wasn't much better on the way back to our neighborhood - where the road drops a good 6-8 feet off the side of the road. Hmm.... Fun....

....at least Chloe thought so anyway.

How To Know You Can Expect A Snow Day

• Your kids will wake up at the crack of dawn because they're excited to see if school will be cancelled, but on a regular school morning you have to drag their butts out of bed.
• Your son was scared by all of the racket that the plows were making at 3am this morning and climbed into bed with you. So, you've been up since 3am, but you can't crawl back into bed because it's a snow day and your kids are home.
• Your daughter will have stayed up late the night before trying to get her homework finished, only to have 3 days to get it done now.
• Your son knows his spelling words as well as he knows his baseball card collection, and will now have to wait three days to take the test.
• You have an important school newsletter that needs to go out, now it will have to wait until Monday.
• You were going to go to the gym for the first time in two weeks since you did God know's what to your knee, now it seems you may never get back there.

These are just a few of the signs that made me pretty sure that we would actually get the 6-8 inches of snow that they were calling for over night. Since Bret works for the city, his work cell started going off at 6am this morning. He's been pulled off of his normal work load to supervise the plows. He's relieving the guys that have been out there since 7pm last night. At least he got a day shift, but it could be really late before we see him back here.

Chloe is staying home today with her mom so it's just me and my kiddos today. I think I'll go throw some soup mix in the crockpot and watch last night's episode of Lost while curled up under my big fluffy warm blanket.

(By the way, what is up with blogger and their awful formatting lately? My paragraphs are all over the place. It's making me want to scream!)

Must. Get. Warm.

Our power was only out for three hours this morning, but it has yet to warm up in here. The thermostat reads 69, but it lies! My toes are like ice and I'm just plain cold.

.

I had my appointment to get re-established with our old doctor from 3 years ago and was rather disappointed. I don't find him good looking anymore. Stop laughing - that's not what I was really going to say. While he's not quite so eye candyish anymore, that's not really the problem.

.

I was a bit put off by his not so great bedside manner. The kids and I loved him 3 years ago and were crushed when we had to change doctors. We thought he was great. But today he didn't seem very friendly. He seemed stressed out, unfriendly and kept asking me the same questions repeatedly. Isn't your doctor suppose to be smarter than you?! No, for the second time - I don't need any refills. And no, for the 3rd time - I'm not having any problems. (Or does he have me confused with a different patient with short term memory loss and chronic problems?) (Quiet now, Bret.) Anyway, I was disappointed.

.

I kept trying to talk to him about how I quit smoking and am taking Chantix and he couldn't keep the number of days I have been quit straight either. He also told me that I can only take it for 12 weeks. When I asked him about weening off of it, he said that usually people just stop taking it. Um, that's not what I've heard. Sigh. I was really hoping to stay on it for a bit longer than 3 months, but we'll see. It was my OB/GYN that actually prescribed it and I have my yearly appointment (sorry, TMI) in two weeks, so I'll bring it up with her instead.

.

So, is my new (actually old) doctor on drugs or maybe he was just not feeling well? He did seem a little congested. But, seriously? He wasn't even really laughing at my jokes and I'm funny. Really, I am.

.

Both Ashley and Ryan have their appointments with him tomorrow. Hopefully, I'll get a better impression then. Maybe it's just me he doesn't like. Humph. My little innocent crush is so over.

Yaaawwwnnnn

Single digit temperatures + power outage at 4am = NO SLEEP.

It's Getting All Exciting Over Here

Update: Nothing like getting us a little overly excited to wake up to rain! Where's this big storm that's suppose to bring me a day of relaxation? Well?

.

.

Whoo hoo! An Ice Storm Warning is in effect for Peoria County through tomorrow evening. I just can't stand the excitement. We're talking big time ice here, folks and a day or two spent lounging in my pajamas in front of the fire place with a good book and a hot cup of hot chocolate.

.

But just a little note to mother nature - I may be tired of the ice thing after this one. You might want to start working on the snow aspect of things.

.

And we can't forget... it's will be 7 days as a non smoker as of 10:30pm tonight. Happy One Week Anniversary to me!

Ice Storm Warning Deja Vu

"THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN LINCOLN HAS ISSUED AN ICE STORMWARNING...WHICH IS IN EFFECT FROM 9 AM TO 9 PM CST SATURDAY...

A MIXTURE OF FREEZING RAIN...SLEET...AND SNOW WILL BEGIN ACROSS THE AREA SATURDAY MORNING...WITH THE PRECIPITATION CHANGING TO ALL FREEZING RAIN BY AFTERNOON. ICE ACCUMULATIONS OF ONE QUARTER OF AN INCH OR MORE ARE LIKELY...

IN ADDITION...INCREASING SOUTHEASTERLY WINDS...GUSTING UP TO 30 MPH AT TIMES...MAY CAUSE TREE BRANCHES TO FALL INTO POWER LINES...CAUSING POWER OUTAGES.

SIGNIFICANT AMOUNTS OF ICE ACCUMULATIONS WILL MAKE TRAVEL DANGEROUS OR IMPOSSIBLE. TRAVEL IS STRONGLY DISCOURAGED. COMMERCE WILL LIKELY BE SEVERELY IMPACTED."

Oh, joy! Is it not a coincidence that tomorrow will also be one year ago to the day that we got 14 inches of snow dumped on us, stranding us at home for 4 days?

Unpredictable

Two days ago I was sitting outside in the sun with the kids, enjoying the mid 70 degree weather. My checks and chest were a bit red when I went inside for the day with the faint glow of an unmistakable sunburn approaching. Now, it's 40 degrees outside and snow flurries are blowing around like little annoying white flecks of nothing good to come in the next week. Will someone please bring spring back to me?

It Just Keeps On Coming

We got 4 more inches of blowing and drifting snow Friday night and Saturday morning.

* * * *

There's nothing like shoveling the street when your tax dollars are suppose to do it for you.

Ryan in the cornfields behind our neighborhood.

Snow Day Number Two

If the school bus doesn't come tomorrow, I will personally go get it and take the kids to school myself. Enough is enough. The kids are getting sick of each other and actually want to go back. I think I hear the house itself begging the kids to go back so it can purge itself of the numerous toys that have littered it's floor.

Here We Go Again

Is anyone else over this winter stuff just as much as I am? The kids were off of school today due to the snow that's been falling and blowing all over the place. How much has fallen? I don't know - too much! (My guess would be 6-8 inches, but it's hard to tell since it's blowing everywhere.)

Like an idiot, I kept my 9am appointment this morning at the car dealership because I was desperate to get my CD player to stop eating CD's and figured the Service Vehicle Soon message that kept showing up probably wasn't a good thing. The kids went over to Teri's today while I delt with that. Supposedly a few updated downloads later, the SVS message was taken care of and the monster spat my CD back out. We'll see about that - I'm not convinced. The drive home wasn't too bad but it was quickly getting worse outside.

Then Ashley decides she wants to go down the street to her friend's house to play, so being the nice mom that I am, I drove her. Despite Bret's advice that I not attempt to drive anywhere, I, the stubborn person that I can be, drove her down there and got stuck in the middle of the cul-de-sac right in front of her friend's house and had to be shoveled and pushed out. (While my daughter was wearing my boots because she left hers at school.)

My toes haven't warmed up yet, but we're now getting ready to head out to Bret's parent's house for my niece's birthday. And no, I am NOT crazy and going to go out there and drive in that again. Bret's brother is picking us up in his 4 wheel drive truck. So, if we get stuck - he can be the crazy one.

I guess it could be worse, like this! Whew.

How's About A Break?

They are saying that 6-8 inches of snow is predicted for tomorrow - on top of the 3-4 inches that we just got last week. Makes it pretty much impossible to go anywhere with two infants. (Guess that gives me an excuse to spend the day in my jammies, right?)

The kids don't have school tomorrow and Teri has to work, so I'll have 6 kids here tomorrow. I'll be sure to take some pictures of the pandemonium, including one of myself pulling my hair out. (Just kidding, Teri...LoL) Honestly though, it should be a fun and busy day, but I'll probably be in bed for the night by 6pm.

Future Hockey Player?

After viewing this video of Ryan on the ice yesterday, I'm not so sure he has much of a future in hockey.

Making The Most Of Winter

I'd much rather be sitting in the warm sun sipping Margarita's with my friends, but since that's not likely to happen soon, I took Ryan out to play in the snow with his friend in our neighborhood this afternoon instead.

Ashley missed out on some frozen creek stomping (and wipeouts) since she went over to a friend's house instead of braving the winter elements with us.

Isn't he a cutie?

Notice how far behind my friend and I were from her husband and our kids? We were the ones who were trying not to fall. It looked pretty painful when the kids did.


Maybe Bret and I will take both kids down there tomorrow. (There would be sure to be some really good camera footage from that since it's a much steeper climb down to the creek behind our house.)

Booked Solid

Throughout the day today, I've felt the same cold that both babies and my two kids have had slowly creeping up on me. I don't have time in my busy schedule for this! I can possibly schedule a cold in for a brief time on Friday evening, but it'll have to be gone by the next day so I can get my house cleaning done on Saturday and join everyone over at Kelly and Dan's (baby Cecelia's parents) for the Bear's game on Sunday. Ugh. I hate colds.

So in my foggy headed state I must have lost my mind today because I packed up the babies and attempted to make a quick trip to the library. Normally that would have worked out fine, but I just had to decide to go to one of the older libraries on the other side of town because the online card catalog said that they had my book in stock. Halfway there, it starts snowing again. Really snowing. Once I got there I loaded them up in the double stroller and pushed them through the snow accumulating on the ground and up the icy ramp towards the door without falling down. So far so good. They had a ramp so one would think the building would be stroller or wheel chair friendly, right? Wrong. Once inside the doors I found there was only a small landing that then went up about 7 or 8 stairs. Bummer. Since I couldn't bring the babies up with me, I just had the librarian look it up for me. Turns out the book wasn't there after all. Figures. Two minutes later, with a hold on the book we were out the door and heading home. I should have just called.

May The Force Be With You

So much for crippling winter weather - even if it knocks your electricity out for over 12 hours. This huge ice and/or snow storm was predicted for Peoria over the weekend and while we did get some icy conditions and about an inch of snow, it wasn't nearly as bad as they were warning. At 11:30pm on Sunday night, our power went out (yes, again!) and didn't come back on until after noon on Monday. It was pretty darn cold in here when we woke up Monday morning. Why can't the power ever go out when it's in the 60's or 70's outside? It's always in the 90's or bitter cold.

Everyone was suppose to go back to work and school today, but then Ashley woke up this morning with a really bad cold and stayed home from school. Bret stayed home to help out since I had both babies here today. She's feeling some better even if her nose doesn't seem to be working yet.

So, anyway. Ryan has a new fixation. After spending some time over at Teri's house over the weekend in her husband's Lego room, he now is very much into Star Wars. (Just when I thought he already had any toy out there by now). He kept Bret from leaving his room at bedtime last night because he wanted to "talk about Star Wars". This morning when we woke him up, he picked up the conversation right where they had left off last night. (Think maybe he was dreaming about it all night?) When he got home from school today, he and Bret plopped down on the couch for a Star Wars movie marathon. From the time he got home from school until 7pm tonight, he managed to get the first two of the older movies in. He now hates Darth Vader with a passion and says that he's a "poop head" for cutting Luke Skywalker's hand off". Guess what they'll be doing tomorrow night?

Common Sense

They are saying we're going to get hit again. The weather maps are all predicting a horrible storm of ice and snow. Snow I can do. Ice? Forget it. We woke up this morning with about a quarter of an inch of ice, but it doesn't seem so bad yet. We'll see. So, what is on my agenda for today? Cleaning my carpets. Right before a winter storm. Makes sense, right?

Update: My carpets are now clean and I'm moving on to my kitchen floor. (And thinking that a cleaning lady would really be nice about now!) I've been watching the weather channel (Yes, I'm a weather channel junkie.) and it looks like the meteorologists just might be 2 for 2 this winter. Most of it looks to be coming tomorrow, which works for me since Bret and the kids are already off on Monday. But what, you ask? Lord, please let there be school on Tuesday. While I can most certainly do it, being home with four kids all day might just put me through the ringer and into a mental facility .

Poor Confused Dog

The snow has finally almost all melted outside and Daisy is more confused than ever. The section of grass that we've trained her to do her business on is still pretty snow covered even though almost everywhere else has melted. When she went out to go tonight, she walked around confused (or very ticked off) and then finally settled on a very tiny section in her "territory" and did her thing. I actually laughed out loud, watching her tip toe through the snow to that very small spot. OCD or just confused?