Still snowing

Sort of. We've had "snow showers" off and on since last night. Our street is covered as is the driveway and the car is even more buried. Officially at the airport we have had 11 inches in this particular storm. I think I can believe that report. And with the wind, at times we do have white-out. I think all the schools in the area were closed today, but as of 1 a.m. they weren't. Since Cincinnati Public was closed, and Ft. Thomas was closed, and because it got so icy overnight, I'm just thinking all the schools were closed. I guess my grandchildren are having a ball today slipping and sliding.

We did get dug out, having our driveway cleared and around the car was cleared, but they didn't clean it off (not their job). Tomorrow, I'll have to get out, no matter how rotten I feel, and get the car cleared off and mail some cards.

I know what I'm about to write will sound like complaining, but it's not. It's just for information.

I had a terrible night. I hurt so bad even the tips of my fingers and toes couldn't stand to be touched by the blanket, which was definitely necessary because of the cold, cold weather. Add to that a deep, mucous-filled cough, which when I wasn't coughing caused me to wheeze so badly the noise was keeping me awake. I never knew that you could wheeze a melody. You can. Don't try it. It's annoying as well.

So, at noon Alan finally made some noise to waken me. He had been very, very quiet up to that point. I did get some sleep between 9 a.m. when I decided to get out of bed, and noon. I didn't get out of bed at 9 a.m. I tried, but I was so tired, I decided to try one more time to get some sleep. And I did.

So, I'm up, writing in my journal of record and my finger tips which are typing this report are feeling not to bad. I guess the fibromyalgia flare-up has flared down for now. I do wish I knew what causes these set backs. Is it something I ate? Did I forget to take a pill? Did I do too much work? Is it because I didn't drink enough water? I don't know. But to all the questions above, except for the eating one, I can say "no". And I didn't eat anything that I haven't eaten in the last week, so I don't think that's it.

Continue to pray for Bob (my best friend's husband). They don't know what is wrong with him, but he's had several tests. He is feeling terrible. I guess we all would if we had our abdominal cavity drained of fluid three times in two weeks.

You know when I don't sleep I think of all kinds of topics for my various BLOGs, but I don't write them down, then I frustrate myself trying to think of what I was thinking about throughout my wakeful time. I had several I thought of last night, but this afternoon they're gone from my mind. Oh well. If they come to me and I'm near a pen and paper (all the phones have paper and pen nearby) I'll make notes.

So, to all your 3 readers out there, I say, TTFN.

It will, yes it will

I was hoping you could see the snowflakes in this picture, but you can't. They were pretty big ones. This is just a picture to let you know that we do have snow.

That lump down there is our car. Next to it is a dogwood tree, obviously not ready to bloom yet.

It will snow. It has snowed. It started around 1:30 a.m. And now as I look out the window and it is barely snowing. When I looked out the window a minute ago it was snowing so hard I could barely see across the street. I like the second scenario much better than the first. A full day of snow will be nice. The plow just went by our home, but didn't get down to street level yet. You can't see the black of the street, but you can tell that it was plowed. I suppose they will have to treat what the plow missed.

Now, I know my DIL isn't happy about it. But my other two daughters are. I also know that the men are probably grumbling because they will have to remove the stuff from walkways and drives. Well, our annual snowstorm is here and I'm glad. I'm praying that it doesn't change over to freezing rain, as predicted. Ice on top of snow, or layered in between snow is not fun for anyone, including me.

Another topic: I woke up with a scratchy throat this morning and my voice is three registers lower than normal. I haven't been eating lemons as regularly as I had been. I guess I need to go suck on a lemon and get me some good old vitamin C (without popping a pill).

It's so quiet. I love the quiet of a snowy morning. I think I'll go brew a pot of German chocolate cake coffee. It's the best ever. It tastes of chocolate and coconut, sort of like a Mounds bar.

So, ttfn.

Will it or won't it

Another snow day tomorrow? Who knows.

The weather channel says we are under a winter storm warning. So far, no snow. But they say it's coming and we should be ready to dig ourselves out. We won't get anything like what they've had on the East coast, but another few inches on top of what is still on the ground from Saturday will insure a white cover for a few more days. And cold. It's supposed to dip down to 4 degrees on Friday night. That's cold!

So, if I'm really snowed in, maybe I'll get some of the things completed that require that I make a phone call. The list is getting longer every day.

I don't like to use the telephone. First, it cricks my neck, or if I don't crick my neck, my shoulders get sore from holding the phone. Also, I'm not good on the phone. If it's answered by a machine I'm tempted to hang up. I never know what to say into those things. So I just leave my name and number, no cutesy messages to go with.

Second -- there is no second. I just don't like to use the phone. That's first, second, and third.

So, tomorrow, if we get snowed in, I shall make those phone calls I've been putting off making.

One is to my doctor. I need to get in for my 6 month check-up and blood draw and get my prescriptions renewed.

Another is to our travel agent to set up a place for Alan and me to visit before we go back East.

Another is to our travel agent to deposit our time share weeks, and perhaps withdraw one from last year that we haven't used yet.

Another is to my cousin in Florida to see how she is doing and try to cheer her up a little. Undoubtedly, I'll be the one cheered because she is funny and she always makes me laugh.

Another is to Alan's doctor to find out why his cancer medicine is still on hold. We ordered it a month ago, and we still haven't gotten the prescription renewed. Why?

I have to call the MRI place to find out how to get there. Alan has his full-body MRI on Feb. 22. Poor thing. At least it's an open MRI this time.

I have to call my DIL about some personal matters.

I need to call my best friend to find out how her vacation went, and how the drive home was. Did she have to go through much bad weather on the trip back? Etc.

I guess that's it for now. I think I'll call my sister if we get snow, just to let her know that we get snow, too.

ttfn

Snow

We didn't get as much snow as was predicted. I think we probably got about 3 inches, max. But it did look pretty when I got up this morning around 8 a.m. You can see how the wind has pushed the snow into the screen on the northeast side of the sun porch.

The snow is blowing which makes it look worse than it is. The driveway/walkway shovelers have arrived which means the storm is almost over.

When I got up this morning the streets in our community had not yet been cleared, at all. I noticed some tracks on the street, weaving tracks, indicating that we did, in fact, get some ice. Now that the street out front has been cleared, I can see a layer of ice under the snow.

This is about what it looks like now. It's still snowing pretty hard, but the flakes are small, not big like yesterday. And the wind is really blowing out there, but not at blizzard strength. The trees are so pretty because of the ice under the snow. The ice has grabbed onto the snow and isn't letting go.

This is the view at 8 a.m. before they cleared the streets. It's still snowing and blowing and I'm loving it.

ttfn

I didn't mean to include this picture of Rachel in her valentine's dress -- I think the father/daughter dance is next weekend. She has gold shoes to go with the dress and a new hair cut. She'll look beautiful.

ttfn

Rain!

Rain, rain go away, snow, snow, come my way.

Why can't they ever get a weather forecast correct. All we're getting is rain. Rain! It was supposed to snow. We were supposed to get a rain/snow mix. The snow is not in the mix, sorry to say, so all we're getting is rain, which will turn to freezing rain and ice and that is not good. Snow is good.

Yes, I'm a bit disappointed. Friday is the best day for it to snow because Saturday is a stay-at-home day for most people anyway, and then streets are clear enough so that church isn't cancelled. But, it's not to be.

Oh, I know, they are still saying we'll get snow overnight, but I'm not believing it. Not at all.

Well, I got up at 4 a.m. to watch the Kathryn Hepburn version of Little Women. I still prefer the June Allison version. I think that is the best. However, I'm getting so I can almost iterate the dialog word-for-word. That would indicate that I've seen that movie too many times, I think.

Alan has become a old, black-and-white movie fan. I don't mean he's old (which he is), but that he likes the old movies. He watches them a lot. The other night we watched Amelia (not an old movie), which I thought was a chick movie. It had no four-letter words in it, and no bare skin. She had an affair while married, but reconciled with her husband and dropped the man with whom she was having the affair a couple of years before she disappeared. This was mentioned but not dwelt upon. I think Richard Gere did a fantastic job as her husband, George Putnam. If I could I'd vote for him for an Oscar.

I love my son. He came over yesterday. I fed him steak for supper (his favorite), and he linked up my computer to the laser printer, the color (picture) printer, and the scanner. I know I could have done it myself, but he is so much faster at doing that sort of thing than I am. We had a good time together while we worked on another project. We're all still praying that he finds a job soon.

He told Alan and me that he now realizes that God had been holding him up (supporting him) when he had a job, and now that he doesn't have a job, God is holding him higher (supporting him in more ways). He put it much better than I'm putting it, but you get the picture.

It's just after noon and it's getting darker. Does that mean it's going to snow? I certainly hope so.

UPDATE: Around 3:30 this afternoon it started to snow. It stopped at 10 p.m. We were supposed to get snow overnight. But radar seems to be showing the storm moving just north of the Ohio River, and we're just south, so I'm guessing our "big snow event" "winter storm warning" is over. Bummer. But, we did get one inch of snow, just enough to cover the grass.

ttfn

I'm hoping

We may a little too far south, but it looks like we might have a snowy weekend starting tomorrow night into Friday morning. Right now it's cold enough, but it was pretty warm out there yesterday. Tomorrow may warm up too much so that we just get rain and ice.

I think I need to call in the prayer group -- grandchildren and me -- on this one.

ttfn

I've been busy

I know all you BLOG readers have been anxiously awaiting the next episode in the life of Alan and Judi. I've been busy.

Last night I had a great scrap meet at the house. We had such a good time. I was running between the scrapers and my supply closet selling off many of the items I have collected from my time as a Creative Memories representative. I think I mentioned that I was "downsized" in December. It was my fault, I suppose. I didn't meet the deadline for an order (which I wasn't aware was due) and they said they sent me an e-mail to remind me. I still don't have that e-mail in my in-box. But that reminder would have reached me when Alan and I were on our cruise to nowhere, and I didn't take a computer with me on that trip. After all we were only gone 10 days.


When we got back, I had a order ready, but by the time I dumped it into the computer I received a message back when I tried to send the order that I had been terminated and if I wanted to get back in I could do that by placing a $500 order and add $50 to reinstate me. I don't think so. I'm through. Alan's happy. I'm still wanting to get new products, but don't want to pay full price.

Anyway, I'm selling off what I have -- I over ordered on items that I knew were being discontinued. And last night we had fun scraping and the ladies buying at huge discounts.

I've also been working on another project which is private and personal, but as a reminder to me I'm writing it down. Remember? This is supposed to be my daily "journal" for all the world to read if they want. After all, if I were writing it down in a book, when I die someone would read it. So, I let them read it now instead.

I'm still inputting names and addresses into my Contacts file. Why does that take so much time? And why do I hate doing it so much?

I found out that my cousin Micki isn't doing well. She's in a nursing home in St. Augustine. There is no phone in her room. And I'm wondering if I should go down to Florida after all for a week or so just to see her and tell her in person that she is loved. We have a couple of weeks in our time-share bank that I could use if I can get the transfers. Alan is thinking about it. I'm not really sure I want to drive down there, but I really want to see Mick one more time.

Today is my first grandchild's 16th birthday!!!! Sixteen years ago by this time of the day he had been born. His name is Shandon Matthew Stamper. That's him in the picture. It was taken four months ago.

We used to call him little Shandon, because his daddy is big Shandon. Now little Shandon is almost six feet tall, so we call him Shandon 2.0. Cute? He's a handsome lad. I love him dearly. He has a wonderful disposition. He is caring to me and his pop-pop. And he's wonderful with the little brother and sister. He'll make a great daddy. Of course, he has a good example to learn from.

I am often awed by the love poured upon my grandchildren by their fathers. I have always loved to see fathers and sons doing things together. I recall a Congressman from Ohio who, every time I saw him in Cincinnati or at some political function (back in the days when I was in politics, sort of) he was carrying his two-year-old, then three-year-old, then four-year-old son. I loved seeing that. And I love watching fathers play with their children in parks.

I guess I haven't written so much about my busy-ness but I'm ready to be busy again today. Today I get the house cleaned. Of course, I did a bit of cleaning before the ladies came yesterday, so there's not so much regular cleaning to do. I have a couple of special projects, though. And today is shopping day. I don't go, but I send my cleaning lady to Krogers with a list. She's very good at getting me the brands I like and if I forget something she calls to ask if I need that item this shopping cycle. I wish I could do my own shopping but the legs won't stand for it (pun intended).

So, readers, I must say ttfn.