Not much to say...have to go play wii

I just wanted to check in quickly, say hi, let you know that we had a great Christmas, other than one of us being sick (me) and are gearing up to welcome in the New Year tonight...

And with that said, I'm off to play Mario Kart on the Wii and see if I can open up another level of fun!!

Catch you in 2009.

Snowstorms and a lesson (learned the hard way) in Preparation

OK, so we've had this fantastic snowstorm... in fact, it's still dumping buckets and buckets of beautiful cold fluffy snow all over New England. The roads are icy and nasty, so it's really better just to stay indoors watching TV, drinking hot chocolate and playing games... BUT, some of us have to work, celebrate anniversaries, finish Christmas shopping. That leads me to the lesson learned this week.

Kendon is a stickler for getting the snow off the driveway and NOT driving on it (can't be packing it onto the driveway now, can we?) So Saturday morning we went out to shovel the walk and use the snow blower on the driveway. We had stuff to do. Ever heard of shear bolts aka shear pins??? Anyone? Well, they are a necessary part to have in order to have a functioning snow blower. Without them, the auger won't turn, the machine won't blow snow which will result in having to MANUALLY REMOVE THE SNOW (aka shovel it yourself, buddy!) Suffice it to say our shear bolts were gone. And we didn't have any extras!!! DUMB MOVE, I tell you!!

Now remember that we can't drive on the driveway while the snow is on it... three hours later and several hundreds of pounds of snow, and thousands of shovel loads later, the driveway was sort of clear (understand, it hadn't stopped snowing). Kendon and I drove to Home Depot, got some shear bolts, headed out to run errands, celebrated our 19th anniversary by going out to dinner, and came home.

Fast Forward to Sunday morning... we'll just pop in the shear bolts, clear the snow off the driveway (sort of, still snowing folks) and be on our way. I wonder how much pressure it takes to get these shear bolts in... this leads me to my "lessons learned the hard way":

1. It's a good idea to know what shear bolts are, when they are missing, and how they should fit in the snow machine. This little bit of education can save you several hours of hammering, cussing, and frustration trying to get the jammed shear pin out of the appropriate place on the snowblower...

2. You shouldn't have to hammer in shear bolts. They may take a little tap, but if you have to apply more than just a little tap, you HAVE THE WRONG SIZE AND SHOULD STOP IMMEDIATELY!!!

3. Don't assume that the guy from Home Depot knows what the hell he is talking about... chances are, he doesn't have a clue and will tell you what you want to hear so he can move on to the next customer. Don't trust said HD guy, even when you provide appropriate model and serial number AND he uses the computer to look up the lot number for the parts. He's clueless.

4. When you finally get that shear pin out and replace it with the RIGHT ones, it's okay to celebrate, do a dance of joy, hug, kiss, and THEN go out and clear off the driveway.

And last but not least, in fact, the most important lesson learned...

5. It's probably a very good idea to check said snow machine BEFORE the worst snowfall of the season hits New England. Making sure said snow blower works properly will alleviate several hours of frustration, several trips to Home Depot, and hours of back breaking labor. Oh ya, and one last thing... always keep several extra shear pins on hand so you can replace immediately when needed.

Ice, Ice Baby!

Talk about crazy ice storms... I woke up middle of the night with my bedroom lights blaring which was weird because I KNOW I turned them off when I went to bed. It was pouring rain, hitting the house so hard it sounded like little stones on the windows and roof. At the time it didn't register, but now I realize it was ICE rain (not hail or sleet really, but frozen rain -- don't know what else to call it) making all the racket. Kendon, of course, was out of town and I was a little unnerved, so of course, I got up, checked the kids, did a walk-through of the house and checked all the doors to make sure everything was secure. All was well and I turned off my bedroom light and went back to bed. This was somewhere in the 3am ballpark.

Fast forward to 5am... I woke to loud cracking sounds and again bedroom lights that were on. Thinking Madison must have gotten up and I didn't hear her over my obnoxious snoring, I got up and checked her and Todd... they were sleeping and didn't stir. It was still pouring ice and was REALLY LOUD. But there were other sounds I hadn't heard earlier. Creaks and cracks, moaning... kinda weird and scary. Then the phone rang... school cancelled in the morning because of the ice storm, power lines down and roads flooded all over the place. No sooner did I hang up the phone then the lights dimmed, flickered and went out.

NOT COOL! So what's a girl to do? I went back to bed.

When I woke a couple hours later, the house was still dark, ice pouring from the sky. I looked out the window and was amazed by the sights... trees down all over the place. Huge limbs broken from the weight of the ice. The trees were encased in ice -- and I don't mean a thin layer of ice, either. It was beautiful in a cold "I'm completely covered in ice" sort of way. I got ready for work in the dark -- Madi and Todd went to a friends house (thanks Lisle -- you are truly awesome). It was pretty wild driving. Some roads were impassable, trees down everywhere, power lines down, and flooding... quite a nasty combination.

Our power was out for about 12 hours which really wasn't too bad considering the possibilities. There are still families and friends around the area who are still without heat and light. Not good when it's 30 degrees outside. Northborough declared a state of emergency and the town set up a shelter in the middle school. We're blessed to be warm, dry and safe. The kids had their first "snow" day and will enjoy a long weekend. Kendon got home safely and all is well.

Comments...what to do?

So I have a bit of a quandary (awesome word, eh?) that I thought I'd post about in case anyone reading wants to share their thoughts with me re: particular problem. This quandary is related to comments in response to my blog posts, which I LOVE to read, by the way -- comments make me feel HAPPY! I love to get em, love to read em -- they make me feel like someone cares! Silly, I know, but true just the same. Anyway, back to my quandary -- because the comments definitely aren't the problem, well at least not directly.

I'm still pretty green at this blogging stuff -- clueless, really. So much about blogging is new to me and I haven't come close to figuring out all the ins and outs... which, in a very round about way, leads me once again back to the quandary to which I keep referring. OK, here it comes... just about there... wait for it...

THE QUANDARY: when someone makes a comment on my blog, and I want to respond to that comment, do I respond back to them beneath their comment in my own blog? Or should I be sending an email? Or do I post something randomly on their blog? How does that work exactly? WHAT SHOULD I DO??? Because it seems to me that if I respond in my own blog beneath their comment they may never see said response.

I'm just thinking about me and my own brain and lack of retentive memory function (I blame the kids, of course), but if I comment on someone' blog post, first off, I don't always remember that I made a comment and second, I don't remember to recheck said post for a response to my comment.

I'm thinking I should send an email. But then it looks like I ignored the post all together. Is there Blog Etiquette? Is there a right way to manage this issue? Am I just being stupid? Nevermind, don't answer that last question. Just help me out with my little blog quandary...

Slowly going digital...

So I'm slowly moving from paper scrapbooking to digital and it's really fun. I'm pretty retarded when it comes to using Photoshop, so I'm taking a class from Jessica Sprague (she has a website and offers several different classes). The first lesson starts with providing the most basic of basic info related to PS and the lessons progress gradually once a learning foundation has been established. There are lots of downloads and freebie kits to start my digi-stash. It's a fabulous class and I highly recommend it to anyone who is considering making the switch from paper to digi. Mind you, I've only done one layout. Here it is. No criticism, please. Eventually, I'll learn how to do drop shadows, make brushes, papers, etc. but right now, this is enough. And now I'm going back to play.

I LOVE CHRISTMAS!!!

Just had to say it... I love the Christmas Season. I love the lights, the smells, the excitement, the games, the fun, the tree, the Nativity, the music, etc.. I don't know about your family, but we have a lot of fun this time of year. Todd is done with Football and so we actually see him. It's nice. Anyway, just wanted to give a little shout out to Christmas cause I LOVE IT!!

I have recently discovered a little gem that promotes my personal sanity and peace of mind while also saving me TONS of time. It is something I never knew existed until I got a flyer in the mail which included a $20 coupon as incentive. The coupon advertised a grocery delivery service. I thought, what the heck? Why not try it. I abhor grocery shopping, nearly as much as I despise ironing -- it's always been one of those unpleasant "have to's" that I do as infrequently as possible. So this little coupon was a delivery of hope and I definately decided to give it a try.


What I am talking about is the Shop n Stop "Peapod" grocery delivery service. It totally rocks. I planned my meals for the next two weeks, shopped the website -- you can shop by aisle or product / brand -- set up my account and voila! C'est fini! It took me 15 minutes to put in my grocery order. Delivery costs were $6.95. I set up delivery between 4pm and 6pm for the next day and promptly at 4pm my doorbell rang. There was a grocery delivery person holding bags of my groceries. He brought them in and put them on the cupboard, went out for the second load -- isn't that awesome? He brought them right in to my kitchen! That's another part of grocery shopping I dislike -- hauling in the bags.


Anyway, I put the groceries away, checking my list as I went, making sure I got everything I needed. It was all there. No muss, no fuss. My produce was fresh, the bread wasn't squashed. Everything was as it should have been. In my opinion, this is a fantastic service... one that I will definately continue to use on a regular basis.


Oh ya, and another thing, I just checked my email and I'll have free grocery delivery for the next 60 days -- how cool is THAT? You ought to give it a try if grocery shopping is something you hate, or you have to drag the kids along and it is nearly as painful as dental work without Novocaine... try it, you'll like it!