I love snow. Really, I do. I love it more now that I don't work, but still- I love snow.
I woke up yesterday morning to see that they had canceled school (woohoo!), and we spent the day inside, enjoying each other's company (which we probably would have enjoyed a lot more, had the boys not been sick all weekend and stuck inside). We watched the snow blow, and Cody and I laughed when we realized that we couldn't open our front door.
This morning- no more snow, but all the snow from yesterday's blizzard was still there. No school again, but at least we'll be able to get outside today (yay- no more cabin fever!).
I sent Mike to the store (hey- if you drink the last can of pop, you better replace it), and he had to dig his car out. I stood there and watched (I consider it my wifely duty to 'supervise' (read: tease the heck out of him)). I threw a snowball at him, and before he could throw one back at me, I ran.
I ran directly into a drift that came up almost to my knees (no joke). I had snow in my boot (not a comfortable feeling). Mike missed, so I suppose the snow in my boot is worth it, but still- there's snow in my shoe.
Shortly after that, the shovel broke. There was just too much snow for our shovel, and it died in protest. Mike is going to buy another one while he's out.
I took Rosie out this morning, and lost her in a snow drift. Normally, she loves snow. If it's warm enough (she doesn't like cold), she'll play in the snow. I figured that she'd be out there, playing her little heart out today. But, nope. She tried to play, but once it was over her head, she stuck to where the wind had blown the snow almost all the way to the grass.
12.17.2006
Christmas Trees Or A Trip To Menards With A Group Of Males
Mike decided that this year, we'd get a 'real' Christmas tree. I had always had artificial ones before, so this is something completely new for me. I had hoped to get our tree up the weekend after Thanksgiving- but that didn't happen because of a death in the family. I had hoped for the following weekend, but because of that death in the family, I ended up snowed in in Oklahoma. I again hoped for the weekend after that, but we decided to wait (I don't remember why at the moment).
So- finally, FINALLY, we were headed to Menards to get our Christmas tree. I don't know if Menards is a national chain or not (is it?), but just in case- it's a home improvement/hardware store. A new one opened up not far from here in October. This place is huge. It's like man heaven. Or maybe man hell, because I saw the fence that I want, and light fixtures that are to die for, and closet organizers (I could use a couple of those), and Christmas decorations (they have a giant inflatable peppermint arch! Dylan shouted 'I want that!' when he saw it and it was all I could do to remember that I'm an adult woman and screaming 'ME TOO!' in the middle of a store is unbecoming).
So. We walk into Menards and the boys' jaws just drop. Oh, I can just see the little gears working in their little heads! Cody- the child whose first real word was 'LIGHT!', which was repeated over and over and over, either with finger pointed towards the light or hands flipping the switch off and on- he spotted the lights first. Dylan saw the inflatables, and Evan pointed out all the gloves on display. For them- Menards is a little boy's idea of heaven.
Mike's reaction was pretty much the same, which doesn't really surprise me.
We head off for the Garden Center (after I steer Mike in the right direction, he was drawn to the lights like a moth to a flame, I swear), I made Mike stop when I realized that we had lost one of our members (to the gloves, of all things). On the way, we passed the toys (had to steer the boys away from those), saw more inflatables, steered Mike away from the timers (for his fish tank, so that he doesn't have to reach down and flip a switch to turn the light on), noticed the sheer abundance of chocolate at the register (ya know, for the husbands to give to their wives when they spend too much money at Menards), and looked at the stuff used for shelving (I'm female- don't ask me what it's called because I don't know), and finally- we reached the Garden Center.
Those doors opened, and the boys were in heaven. Trees! Christmas trees! Everywhere! We looked at them all, felt the needles, decided that we want the biggest one, even if it won't fit in our house and we have to cut the top off, no, we want that one, with the brown needles (yeah, I vetoed that one quickly), oh, look, if you shake the branches just right on this one the needles fall off (another veto), and so on. We looked at them all, Dylan voting for the ones with the netting still on, Cody wanting the biggest one, and Evan nearly speechless by all the trees. Finally, we narrowed it down to two white pine trees. We had the boys vote- Cody picked one, Dylan picked the other, and Evan was the tiebreaker.
At which point we realized that we needed a tree skirt and lights, so we went back into the store. When we reached the automatic door leading into the store, Dylan threw his arms out and said 'Open Says Me!' That was the end of them being cute- and the beginning of them being little terrors.
It was like a free for all! I do not recommend going to Menards when the estrogen is outnumbered by the testosterone 5 to 1. Our $13 Christmas tree ended up costing us a whooping $90. We had the tree skirt, the lights (3 sets of LED lights, which apparently are all the rage among 27 year old men), two ornaments (those were my fault- they're for Cody's teachers), a handsaw (because I don't let my husband near a hardware store often enough for him to have a handsaw already, even though I'm pretty sure that there's one in the garage that belongs to my dad), and a timer (for the fishtank).
We got home, got the tree up, and now when you walk by, my living room smells pine fresh.
So- finally, FINALLY, we were headed to Menards to get our Christmas tree. I don't know if Menards is a national chain or not (is it?), but just in case- it's a home improvement/hardware store. A new one opened up not far from here in October. This place is huge. It's like man heaven. Or maybe man hell, because I saw the fence that I want, and light fixtures that are to die for, and closet organizers (I could use a couple of those), and Christmas decorations (they have a giant inflatable peppermint arch! Dylan shouted 'I want that!' when he saw it and it was all I could do to remember that I'm an adult woman and screaming 'ME TOO!' in the middle of a store is unbecoming).
So. We walk into Menards and the boys' jaws just drop. Oh, I can just see the little gears working in their little heads! Cody- the child whose first real word was 'LIGHT!', which was repeated over and over and over, either with finger pointed towards the light or hands flipping the switch off and on- he spotted the lights first. Dylan saw the inflatables, and Evan pointed out all the gloves on display. For them- Menards is a little boy's idea of heaven.
Mike's reaction was pretty much the same, which doesn't really surprise me.
We head off for the Garden Center (after I steer Mike in the right direction, he was drawn to the lights like a moth to a flame, I swear), I made Mike stop when I realized that we had lost one of our members (to the gloves, of all things). On the way, we passed the toys (had to steer the boys away from those), saw more inflatables, steered Mike away from the timers (for his fish tank, so that he doesn't have to reach down and flip a switch to turn the light on), noticed the sheer abundance of chocolate at the register (ya know, for the husbands to give to their wives when they spend too much money at Menards), and looked at the stuff used for shelving (I'm female- don't ask me what it's called because I don't know), and finally- we reached the Garden Center.
Those doors opened, and the boys were in heaven. Trees! Christmas trees! Everywhere! We looked at them all, felt the needles, decided that we want the biggest one, even if it won't fit in our house and we have to cut the top off, no, we want that one, with the brown needles (yeah, I vetoed that one quickly), oh, look, if you shake the branches just right on this one the needles fall off (another veto), and so on. We looked at them all, Dylan voting for the ones with the netting still on, Cody wanting the biggest one, and Evan nearly speechless by all the trees. Finally, we narrowed it down to two white pine trees. We had the boys vote- Cody picked one, Dylan picked the other, and Evan was the tiebreaker.
At which point we realized that we needed a tree skirt and lights, so we went back into the store. When we reached the automatic door leading into the store, Dylan threw his arms out and said 'Open Says Me!' That was the end of them being cute- and the beginning of them being little terrors.
It was like a free for all! I do not recommend going to Menards when the estrogen is outnumbered by the testosterone 5 to 1. Our $13 Christmas tree ended up costing us a whooping $90. We had the tree skirt, the lights (3 sets of LED lights, which apparently are all the rage among 27 year old men), two ornaments (those were my fault- they're for Cody's teachers), a handsaw (because I don't let my husband near a hardware store often enough for him to have a handsaw already, even though I'm pretty sure that there's one in the garage that belongs to my dad), and a timer (for the fishtank).
We got home, got the tree up, and now when you walk by, my living room smells pine fresh.
11.01.2006
Post Halloween Candy Hangover
We went, we got candy, we survived.And now comes the real fun of Halloween- the arguing with Mommy over how much candy they can have on a daily basis. Oh joy.
I have a ton of candy- leftovers, as well as what the boys brought home. When I can get a minute alone, without the candy monsters, I'm going to get a picture of what is left of their haul.
I'm one of those moms that encourage the candy feast on Halloween night- because after that, the candy is being put up and they'll only get a few pieces a day, for as long as they remember we have it. And, of course, Mommy has been dipping into the treats (although, to be fair, the boys were more than willing to share the chocolate and the orange and black peanut butter things with me).
I tried to keep Cody's costume as gore-free as possible (but you have to have a little gore, he was a zombie, ya know). We saw some cute costumes last night- one little girl was a cowgirl, complete with horse (her legs were the horse's back legs), we saw some cats, some witches, a Dumbo, a really cool alien costume, and lots of vampires and ninjas.
We saw some cool pumpkins, as well. I didn't take my camera, otherwise I would have gotten a picture- but this one house had turned their pumpkins into black cats. They painted the pumpkins black, and glued felt cat ears to the tops. I am so doing that one next year. I also have an idea for headstones for the front yard- a house down the street just made theirs, and I'm pretty sure that I have some plywood in the garage that I can use to make headstones next year.
Today, I'm taking down our decorations and throwing our pumpkins away. I don't have any Thanksgiving stuff (although I might have some out in the garage), but I'm not going to look for that stuff until this weekend, and besides- whatever I have are indoor decorations. It looks like my house will be holiday decoration free until after Thanksgiving, when I can start putting out our Christmas stuff.
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