My Excuse

I totally stole this picture, because I'm too lazy to go take one myself. But this, my friends, is what it looks like outside our house at the moment, with more white glory coming down as I type. *sigh*

It's the stuff that's keeping us from traveling down to Utah this weekend. We were supposed to visit a friend that's moving, a friend getting married today, and lots of family. But alas, we'll have to postpone the trip for later, like when we wouldn't be risking our lives sliding around on the freeway.

I'll miss seeing you, Steph and Linds!

Bob the Snowblob

Meet Bob the Snowblob, ravage crusader and guardian of our backyard:


He started his long and glorious life as a Snowman, put together lovingly by Nat and her three boys. However, he knew he had a higher calling, especially when the three boys thought his base was big enough and were done helping Nat roll. He then proceeded to grow by clumps being thrust upon his base, complete with machine-like noises emanating from Brock. His arms were found by Jakob, where he took mere sand rakes and turned them into raging claws of death. His mouth is sharp, like a pencil, literally. And his basketball eye, monster-like, a la Mike Wazowski.


More snow now covers his form, camouflaging him from unsuspecting passers-by. And as long as the cold weather holds up, he will as well, remaining vigilant day and night. Raaarrrr.

Thank Goodness for Voom!

Behold, the Voom. A beautiful sight, right?

(Thanks for the snow blower, Mom and Dad! You rock!)

Stuck

Sometimes my life seems to be like the movie "Groundhog Day", where Bill Murray lives the same day over and over, but with little variations every time. For instance, my little pregnancy countdown thingy on my blog by Lilypie.com. Isn't it supposed to move down? Although today I had the epiphany that I think it's moving UP, counting weeks finished instead of days left. But still, I kept looking at it, thinking, "MOVE, you silly thing! I want this pregnancy to be progressing one way or the other!" Okay, I'd prefer it progressing just one way, but you get the idea. Stuck.

Or cleaning my house for example. I'm continually looking at things and I'm like, "I JUST cleaned that, didn't I?" Last night I had the boys clean up their toys downstairs, and this morning at about 9:30 ALL of the toys were ALL over the floor. What's up with that?!?!? So instead of organization and cleanliness, I have chaos and messes. Always. Stuck again!

And my doctor totally hasn't helped the "stuck" feeling. Last week at my appointment I got checked for any progress. And he said, "Yeah, there's nothing. Looks like your due date will be right on." Huh? Come on! How about throwing a poor girl a bone? Like, "Well, nothing yet, but you never know, eh?" Although, I don't know which is worse: Comment A, as mentioned above, where you leave the office depressed, or Comment B: "We'll see you next week, if not before then in the hospital!", and then you leave all hopeful and come back the next week depressed. Maybe tomorrow he'll have better news for me. Like, "Well, you've done your misery time. How about we induce you right this second?" I know, I know-in my dreams!

To top it off, Mother Nature seems to be stuck as well. Just when I notice my cute little tulips getting ready to bloom, BAM!-we get snow. None of this get warmer, hopeful, springtime crap in Idaho, oh no! We need MORE winter, because this last one wasn't long enough! But, for all that, my kids decided they wanted to play "Snowball Fight" outside today. Eh, my freshly mopped floors weren't going to last much past lunch anyway, why not? They had a blast!

So, we can cross "stuck inside" off the stuck list! Thanks, boys, for showing me that we're still moving forward, even when it doesn't feel like it!

VOOM Revisited

Yesterday started out to be one of THOSE days. Tears from my oldest about preschool. Running away from my youngest when I say "Come here". Dawdling from my #2. Grrr. And of course, we were in a hurry. It snowed AGAIN, and the people that plow our road just push a huge lump to the sides of the roads, meaning huge lump in front of our driveway. By the time I saw said lump, I was stuck in it. The plow guy was working on the other side of the street and saw me, and I scowled and said naughty words in my head about him. But he stopped, and my neighbor came out too and they pushed me out. Then I was on a quest for my own personal Voom, a.k.a. a snowblower.

And guess what? Apparently everyone else wants this brand of Voom, because EVERY store in our entire city is sold out. There's not one snowblower to be had. I said more naughty words in my head at the people I saw that already owned snowblowers and were making snow removal so easy for themselves. No off-roading, please let me make it to my garage praying, carrying my kids through the now three foot deep lump because there's no way to even enter my driveway experiences for them. More naughty words.

BUT...Voom came to me yesterday, in four different forms. #1: fudge. Okay, it doesn't remove snow, but it boosted my mood considerably. I've been craving a specific kind found at Sarah's Candy Cottage called Black Dutch chocolate fudge. Oh, mama. This is the best fudge to be found. I bought a pound of it, knowing it wouldn't last very long in my household of chocoholics. Okay, so I always cut the biggest slice for me, but the boys and Pete have helped to already deplete the supply.
#2: my neighbor Arin. She's so stinking cute! She and her kids came out and started shoveling the lump for me. I came out and said she didn't have to, and she said she "needed the exercise". Yeah, right, the skinny thing! Mostly she's just a good neighbor, and we're very lucky to live next door to her and her family. I don't know if they feel the same way about us, but I'm pretty sure they'll get sent straight to heaven with all the service they've performed for my family.
#3: Mom and her snowblower. She heard my sob story and came to the rescue with her machine. And even though she had a major surgery 4 weeks ago, she insisted on snowblowing my entire driveway while I tried to look like I was helping. I did provide ear muffs. But she got our driveway cleared to the ice layer. Thanks, Mom! I've realized that, even as an adult, you'll always need your parents, and I'm so lucky to have such amazing ones.
#4: Ice Melt. This stuff works pretty good. I sprinkled this salt-like stuff over our whole driveway after the snowblowing, and it lived up to its name and started melting the ice. Of course, it will take a lot more of it to get rid of our rink, but it made a slight dent. I was pleased as punch by yesterday afternoon.

Of course, today the snow has returned and drifted. But at least I've combatted the elements (with a lot of help) once; maybe doing it again today or tomorrow won't be so bad.

I Wish I had some VOOM

Last night we got about six inches of snow. Driving out this morning was fine, but when returning to my driveway I got stuck. Granted, six inches normally wouldn't make a minivan high center, but since both Pete and I have been shoveling slackers, we had about a foot of fresh snow on top of the foot of ice. So I had to shovel all around my minivan. YEE HAW! I tell you what, I'm ready for spring. Or Voom.

Have you ever read "The Cat in the Hat Comes Back"? The Cat had smaller cats in his hat, one of which had a thing called Voom inside his hat. The Voom made the snow sparkly white, and cleared their driveway and sidewalks so the kids didn't have to shovel. I definitely need some Voom. Or stronger arms for my shovel.

Cabin Fever

Because it's been 20 degrees below zero outside, we've been cooped up for the last couple of weeks. My road looks like a skating rink, we're out of coloring pages, and I don't know how many times "Winnie the Pooh" has been playing in our DVD player. The boys have reverted to primeval ways: Crayons were found (I can never seem to find them when it's time to put them away), and cave drawings were made on all sorts of surfaces in my house-the walls, the chairs, and yes, the bottom of some box springs currently residing in our living room. According to our artist, it's a picture of a snowman. I've GOT to battle the elements and get to the store for some coloring books!