The Weather Outside is Frightful

Another ice storm is moving through the area this weekend. I'm having flashbacks to January, when the last storm knocked out power and paralyzed the area for about a week. It was hardly a fun time. Back then, they said it was a freak thing that hadn't happened in over 30 years, so who thought it could happen again a second year in a row? So far we have been lucky. Warmer temperatures have kept the freezing rain to a minimum and most of the really nasty stuff has hit my family a couple of hours north of here. We have a little bit of ice out there, but nothing like they do. They are losing trees and branches right and left. We moved since the last storm, and we are now on county power. That isn't a good thing because they were the ones who went a week or more without electricity last storm. If we had known that before buying out here, we might have reconsidered, but it's too late now. Anyway, we were freaked out enough by the forecast that we decided it was time to invest in a generator. Only one store in town sells them and we picked one up the other day. After reading the user's guide, John decided it was way too small for our most basic needs, and he set out on a quest to find a larger model. The closest store with one in stock was about 3 hours away, so off he went yesterday morning. He was tired when he got home, but at least we have backup power. We won't have TV or internet, but we'll have heat and hot water (if the city water pumps still work!), and that's what matters. When is spring, anyway? Bring it on!

And in other news, Katy has her Christmas band concert at school today. She is all dressed up for it. I think she looks lovely, it's just amazing how long it takes her to get ready. Ah, teenagers! Speaking of which, I'm off to the show.

The Trouble with Photo Shoots

OK, girls, I need to get a good photo for this year's Christmas card. It should only take a few minutes, so get along, smile nicely and sit up straight.
Not terrible, but it's too dark. Darn flash. Let's try again.
Yeah, yeah, cute. Stop goofing off and let me get a picture, would you?

No, REALLY, STOP goofing off and let me get a good picture.

Can you two stop picking at each other for five minutes and stop the goofing off long enough to just get a picture?

Let's move inside and try by the tree. Shona, did you get my memo about NO FUNNY FACES!? One picture. Just one picture. Is that too much to ask?!

You DO know I will keep at this all night, right? I'm not going anywhere until I get a decent shot.

Not bad. We might go with that one, let's keep trying.

For Pete's sake.... STOP ARGUING! This light isn't working for me. Let's try outside once more. Yes, I KNOW it's cold and it's going to be freezing and dark out soon, so if you don't want to be out there getting your toes frostbitten, I suggest you pretend to like each other for two minutes, smile nicely into the camera and let me get ONE good shot. I mean it, girls, I do have all night to do this!


Bingo. Thanks, ladies. Same time, same place next year. Just don't bring the attitude.

Decking the Halls

I finally feel like it's Christmas time. Before we got the house dressed, it felt like just another blah week, but the lights have put me in a holiday mood. I went a little crazy in the dining room because it had the most empty space to decorate. I've never had this much space to play with before, and that's sad since my house is not that big. I'm thrilled that I finally have somewhere to put the little "It's a Wonderful Life" houses my cousin has been sending me, too. That mirror we picked up at a garage sale this summer really enhances that end of the dining room. The only problem is that tall, dancing and singing Santa in the corner freaks out my dogs. It took two days for them not to bark at it standing still and I don't dare turn it on with them in the house.
I have a "new" Christmas item this year, but it's an antique. You light the candles, the heat from the flames rises and makes the top thing turn, which makes the angels spin around and when they go fast enough, they strike the bells. We tested it out the other night and it works great. I'll have to get a shot of it in action. That's about it in Anita world. I'm still plugging away at my classes, getting ready for finals in about a week. I can't wait to have a month off to do what I want...which is scrap!

Catching Up

So I've been pretty darn busy. Halloween came and went a little too quickly, then, before I could even blink, Thanksgiving was knocking on my door. How do days go by so slowly, yet years zip by with astonishing speed? I've never understood that. Maybe we're so focused on the day to day things, the big pictures slides on by when we aren't paying attention. In any case, this has been an unbelievably fast month.

My Mother-in-law came down and spent two nights with us over Thanksgiving. I can honestly say it was a wonderful visit, but that could be because I hardly spent any time outside my office. I had a monster of a term paper to write, one that required books and books of research, complete with citations, so it wasn't something I could try to blow off or fudge. It took many long hours at my computer, but I managed to finish that darn thing. Now the only thing standing between me and finishing this semester are about two weeks of classes and finals. I say bring it on. I'm ready to end the classes I'm in and move on to something else. I am carrying a 14 hour load next semester, plus I'm going to try my hand at substitute teaching a couple of days a week. Time to make a few dollars and get out of the house. Did I mention Katy went on her first date this month? The first official un-chaperoned, out with a boy evening. Of course, he had no car, so we picked them up and dropped them off at the theater, so it wasn't too stressful, but she was happy. Then the guy stood her up on Thanksgiving, so I suppose they have broken up. Such quick relationships these days. At least Katy doesn't pine over lost love. She goes through boyfriends like I go through socks.

The big excitement last weekend was the Christmas parade. Why they insist on having it before Thanksgiving, I'll never know, but it always is. This year, Katy and Shona both marched in it. Katy was in the band, as usual, and Shona carried a flag with the Girl Scouts. Both were very excited, but I must admit John and I were a little lonely without the girls on the sidewalk. It is harder to get into the spirit of the parade when there are no kids to scream and get excited with. The other problem was it was so incredibly hot outside, we kept getting overheated. Two days later, we hit the freezing mark. Gotta love Missouri weather.

This weekend we have been putting up our Christmas decorations. I'll update again if I ever get finished. Of course, tomorrow will probably be Valentine's Day if I blink.

7 Random Things

I've been tagged by Catherine to tell seven random things about me. I have a hard time with this because I already feel like everyone knows everything about me, but I'm giving it my best.

1. I cannot stand open kitchen cabinets. I think it's because my grandma used to leave hers standing open most of the time. Not all of them at once, just random ones always seemed to be standing open whenever I'd stop by. It bothered me, I've never been able to figure out why, and now it really annoys me in my own house. Just shut the doors, please.

2. I hold my breath when I walk past another person or they walk by me. I'm not sure if I'm phobic about breathing their scent or what, it's just something I've done since I was a little girl.

3. I complain about how much time my husband spends watching the History Channel, but when I have control of the remote and no one else is home, I often find myself watching it without him because I enjoy it, too. In my defense, though, I never ever watch anything to do with Nazis without him there. I still have my standards.

4. I used to be mortified when teenagers would call me ma'am. Now I wish more would.

5. I color my hair to keep the gray at bay, but I look forward to the day I let it go natural. I'm waiting until it's all a lovely shade of silver, like my mother's. Sadly, I don't think it will take as long as I hope.

6. I am seriously rethinking my college major, but it might be too late!

7. Sometimes I feel guilty with the amount of trees my scrapbook paper has killed. Then I pull out my scrap supplies and get over it surprisingly easy.

Life rolls on

I've just about given up blogging. It seems like it, anyway. Time just isn't my friend lately. At least I'm past mid-terms, but the second half of the semester seems to be flying by faster than the first. Right after Thanksgiving I start cramming for finals, and life will be interesting then. I'm looking forward to the week after next when I have a three day school week. I am going to luxuriate in my days home with no husband and no kids. Just me and the dogs and my scrap room. I want to get something accomplished because I haven't seriously scrapped anything but my assigned kits in months.
Tonight we had parent/teacher conferences, where Katy was mortified to discover she has a B in two classes. It's just the end of her world. She is a straight A student and doesn't want to be known for anything less. Her teachers had wonderful comments about her, too, as they always do. She's definitely my studious one. Shona had mostly B's and a couple of A's. The funny thing is, the subjects Katy is struggling with are the ones Shona is doing well in. Shona is my science and math whiz, Katy is my English and Social Studies brainiac. How two children reared in the same household can be such polar opposities in every conceivable way just floors me and reminds me that sometimes nature wins out over nurture!
As for my schooling, I have to register for my next semester in a couple of weeks and I am stressing out over what to take when. Looks like I'll be stuck taking Biology. John thinks it's hilarious I am going to have to take a class similar to what he teaches, because he knows my strong suit is NOT science. I informed him that he will be recruited as my hostile tutor for the duration of next semester and I'm blaming whatever grade I end up with on him!
Wow, I just realized next week is Halloween. Now THAT is what's scary. Wasn't it Easter just last week? It seems that way....

October Already?

I feel like I have all but dropped off the face of the Earth lately. All I do is eat, sleep, study, do laundry, walk and keep up with the kids' lives. On the rare occasion I get to scrap, it's for assignments, which is great since at least it nudges me to do that much, but I want more time for me. I knew it would be this way once school started, but the reality of it can be a downer. I just got through mid term exams this week, and it's a huge relief to be past that point. The good news is that when December rolls around, I will have a full month off school and everyone else in the house only gets two weeks. That leaves me with two weeks of ME time to do what I want. I am turning off the phone and computer and I am scrapping myself silly!
Let's see...since last I wrote, Shona has quit karate because it wasn't social enough for her (typical girl), Katy is doing practically nothing but marching with the band. Every weekend this month and most of next is taken up with competition. That's all part of the high school band experience, though, and I know she's enoying it somewhere under all that exhaustion. I feel bad for her when she gets home at 2 a.m. like she did this morning. I'm also reminded at those times how wonderful cell phones are.
The biggest news, though, is that we wound up adopting another dog. One of the paraprofessionals at the school John works at had a dog she couldn't keep. Her apartment is just too small and they were both miserable. He was being crated about 20 hours a day/night, which I just find cruel. Poor thing. I never would have even agreed to it except that one day in my stupidity I told the girls that IF we were ever to be given a jack russell terrier, we'd take it because that's their favorite type of dog. I felt completely safe in telling them this since no one gives away a purebred dog. No one. Ha. Wrong. I was afraid he wouldn't get along with Bailey and I knew that breed tended to be hyper, so it was with great trepidation that we took him on. For a while we thought we were in the clear when two other people expressed an interest in the pooch, but in the end it was us or the pound, and I just couldn't let him go there. It took a week, but now Pedey and Bailey are buddies. We did have to have him neutered, so there's no such thing as free, but it was a lot cheaper than having Bailey fixed. Pedey now is a sweet little wiggleworm who loves to snuggle with us. True, he's a little high strung, but he fits in well with our household and he keeps Bailey very happy as a playmate, so overall it was a stroke of great luck to add this little guy to our family. And I have learned my lesson when it comes to saying those "what ifs" out loud.