SNOW in OCTOBER

There was an earthquake in August, a hurricane in September, and now SNOW in October! We are expecting 6-10 inches tonight. This is the special weather statement:

... EXTREMELY DANGEROUS TRAVEL CONDITIONS... WITH WIDESPREAD DOWNED TREES... TREE LIMBS AND POWER OUTAGES...

HEAVY BANDS OF WET SNOW WILL CONTINUE TO AFFECT THE AREA THROUGH 8 PM... WITH SNOW FALL RATES OF 1 TO 2 INCHES PER HOUR. EMBEDDED THUNDER WILL ALSO BE POSSIBLE. EXTREMELY DANGEROUS TRAVEL CONDITIONS WILL CONTINUE DURING THIS TIME WITH SNOW COVERED ROADS AND WHITE OUT CONDITIONS AT TIMES.

WINDS WILL ALSO BE INCREASING THIS EVENING TO 15 TO 25 MPH WITH GUSTS 30 TO 40 MPH. THE COMBINATION OF STRONG WINDS AND HEAVY WET SNOW ON TREES WITH PARTIAL OR FULL FOLIAGE WILL CONTINUE TO PRODUCE WIDESPREAD DAMAGE AND POWER OUTAGES.

THIS IS A DANGEROUS STORM... WITH NON ESSENTIAL TRAVEL NOT RECOMMENDED. MONITOR THE NATIONAL WEATHER FORECASTS FOR THE LATEST.

This is the craziest thing ever.

These pictures are from 1:30pm. The snow started coming down quickly.

It's so weird to see trees full of leaves covered in snow. The branches are HEAVY.

These normally huge bushes are totally weighed down with snow.

This is October 29th, and Michael went out to play in the snow!

Even crazier, Mike went out for a run! But it wasn't snowing when he left.

The Highlander didn't make it up the driveway :(

Thank you, Collin, for filling the buckets with water!

The boys went out again around 4pm.

I made them come in right after that though because
of all the branches you could hear falling all over.

The neighborhood kids came out for a bit, so I let them go out again.
But I yelled out to them, "If a tree falls on you and you die,
I'm not planning your funeral!" Michael yelled back, "Thanks, Mom!"

I am NOT ready for the power to go out. As of 5:40pm, we still have power. Lots of people don't, and I'm sure we will be included soon enough. We have no wood, so it's going to get cold!!! But we will have water.

If we have power tomorrow, I'll post more pictures.

Mike's Birthday & A Halloween Party

Yesterday was Mike's birthday.
We were super busy, but we did have time to open presents.

We got him a Raiders of the Lost Ark card.

My big surprise for Mike was a box of olives. Yes, olives. When we were in California, Mike bought a jar of Ranch Style olives from a place near Mineral King. Special olives made by a family there in California. When we lost power because of Hurricane Irene, Mike and I assessed what was left in the fridge. What should we throw away and what doesn't really need refrigeration and should be fine (like the mustard)? I thought Mike said to toss the olives. When he came home and I proudly showed him how clean the fridge was, he asked if I kept the olives. I said, "No! You told me throw them out!" Oops.

So, I searched and searched for a couple of weeks and finally found a place that sells the special olives. I think I bought him 10 jars. Ha ha ha!

Mike is saying, "How much did you pay for shipping?" (only $20)

He loves his olives!!! Believe me, it's hard to surprise this guy.

There was a little handwritten note included in the package. Mike read it:
"You are a freak for buying so many jars of olives and paying that much for shipping."
I totally believed him. It really said: "Sorry for the delay. I was waiting for
the Ranch Style olives to come in. I included an extra jar. -- Jennifer"

Lauren got Mike this motion activated candy dispenser for work.
She was thinking he could put nuts in it since he's always eating nuts.

He said she can keep it in her room. Ha ha ha!

I left to take Lauren to a party, and Mike helped the boys carve their pumpkins.

Matthew's is on the left, and Michael's is on the right.

After that, we went to the Halloween party at church.
Michael only wore his mask for the Trunk or Treat part outside.
(Mike took Michael shopping for a costume this year)

Is Jack scared? Or is he just plotting to kill us?

Carrie showed me this.

I think Jack is totally plotting to kill me.

Totally.




Lauren's Halloween party for the youth at church
was supposed to be tonight, but it was cancelled
because of snow.

SNOW.

More on that in the next post....

Stupid Left Side

I can't sleep. I blame the left side of my body. Who wants to hear the details? It must be getting old. Bottom line is.... Nothing seems to be helping my left shoulder. I did 4 weeks of physical therapy. $35 a pop. Don't think about it or you'll be as upset as I am. We are trying Celebrex as a last ditch effort for two weeks. I already have a surgery consult scheduled for November 7th since both the doctor and I know he is going to have to go in and repair that dumb bicep tendon that has the partial tear. I'm hoping to do it during Christmas break. Merry Christmas to me.

My left knee has been getting worse. Way worse. I actually started Celebrex for the knee on Tuesday since it's been so bad and I know Celebrex has helped in the past. I asked my shoulder doctor for the prescription for my knee, and that's when he said we should see if it helps the shoulder. Anyway, Dr. Depuy already told me a few months ago to lose weight and see if that helps. Well, I haven't been able to walk or go up and down the stairs very well the last few days. The pain and swelling have been horrible. I called yesterday morning to see if I could get a last minute appointment with Dr. Depuy, and I actually got in. It was awful. All he talked about was surgery. Surgery, surgery, surgery. Are you crying yet? I was barely keeping it together. He gave me a cortisone shot in the knee which he said should help tremendously. It's not a permanent fix, but it will help to settle it down. He said I should continue with the weight loss (of course). It could help my current state. If I do need the mosaicplasty, less weight on the knee would increase the chances of success.

By the way, that shot really hurt. Like REALLY hurt.

We talked about my shoulder, which I see another doctor in the practice for. I said, "I can't be on crutches with this partial tear, RIGHT?" The last thing Dr. Depuy said to me was that I should get my shoulder fixed ASAP if it needs to be fixed. He said, "When do you plan on doing it? Right after Thanksgiving would be a good time." That soon? He's freaking me out! I told him I have to visit my sister in Utah first. It was like my dying wish. I said I could do the shoulder during Christmas break, and he said that would be fine.

Yes, I got in the car and cried. It's so depressing.

I don't want to talk about it.

I just want to eat, but I can't. That's even more depressing.


- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Location:Lying awake in bed

BHS Cabaret 2011

Last night was Lauren's choir performance at school - Cabaret 2011. The theme was Broadway. It was so much fun!!! I really think the Chamber Choir is the best group we have seen so far since Lauren has been in the high school. Both the girls AND the boys sang so well, and they were awesome together.

They started with "Let Me Entertain You."


There were a bunch of fun solos. One of my favorites was
"I Can Hear the Bells" from Hairspray. It was SO cute.

The girls sang "My Favorite Things" from The Sound of Music.

The little girl next to me said in a dreamy voice,
"I wish I had a big sister . . . " It was soooo sweet!

And then came our FAVORITE solo!

Lauren's first choice was a song from Mama Mia which probably would have
fit her voice better. "Maybe" was Lauren's 2nd choice. She wasn't in love with it,
but her choir director was. Lauren did a super good job with it! I could see
though how it wasn't the best fit. She has a mature sound and style which
wasn't quite Annie-esque. But I still loved it! Lauren is awesome.

The last song we saw was
"The Ballad of Sweeney Todd" which I loved.




We only saw half of the show, so we'll see the rest when it's on TV.

Great show!!!

Another New Quilt, part 2

Here is a closeup for Mom:



And, CARRIE, how dare you agree with Mike?!

My green pillow is NOT scary!

Another New Quilt

You might remember from THIS POST way back in June of 2009 that I was super excited to get a new quilt. And I looooooved it. Jack loved it too. Ugh. But that's beside the point.

One day about a year ago I was looking at my gorgeous quilt and said to myself, "WHAT was I thinking? This quilt doesn't go in this room!" First of all, the walls are blue. There is not one speck of blue in that quilt. Really? Seriously?? I looked at again, and there still was no blue to be found. The second offense is that the predominant color of the quilt is red. Is there any red in my room? Anywhere?? NO!!! Once I discovered this, it drove me batty. I had to get a new quilt!

I found the perfect solution online. Our room is blue, and everything on the walls has green and yellow. I found a really great quilt . . . that wasn't available. I waited at least 8 months until it was finally available for purchase. And then I waited a few more months for a good deal. I couldn't pay full price! So, the coveted quilt finally arrived last month. I would have shown it to you then, but I needed to find pillows first.

It took a few weeks, but I finally found some pillows I like.

Don't you love it??? I do!!!
It is so absolutely perfect for our room.

I knew Mike wouldn't like the green pillow. I found that one first at
Home Goods. Mike said, "That's scary." I didn't care though. I love it.
I could have gone crazy and bought a bunch more pillows so they would
go across the entire width of the bed, but I'm happy with how it is.

As for Jack, his behavior has not changed. He still loves any quilt I put on the bed. I found this great fabric in my cupboard (actually an old valance I had in the bathroom) that I thought Jack might like. I folded it up nicely and put it on my side where he likes to sleep. He was such a good kitty and slept on there every time until a couple of weeks ago. It's like he discovered all of a sudden what he was missing out on. He would not stay on the blanket! I even unfolded it and spread it out along the foot of the bed. Oooooo, that cat! I fought with him for about a week. I don't know what changed, but he has finally given in and is going on the blanket/valance.

Looking at these pictures now I am reminded of the real impetus for the
purchase of a new quilt. It was the area rugs!!! I totally forgot. We used to have
blue rugs. I loved them. Mike hated them. I finally gave in and let him pick
something else. I absolutely loved the new rugs, but the old quilt didn't go at all.
That's when I discovered the whole "no blue" thing. Funny! I forgot about that.

If you read the post I referenced at the beginning, you know that I
wasn't sure about valances to go with the new red quilt. I never found
anything I liked. Once I chose the new quilt, I got these pretty ones right away.

My life is now complete.

THE END

Pumpkins!

Today we made the annual

trek to Stew Leonard's to pick

out some pumpkins for Halloween.



It was a beautiful autumn day!

After choosing some awesome pumpkins,

it was time for the hay ride through the muddy

field behind Stew Leonard's. They had a sign that

said you might have to walk out if the tractor gets

stuck. They also said it was very bumpy.

Michael used to always to beg to go on this hay ride so he could see the vampire.
But then he would have nightmares for weeks about the vampire! It looks like they
removed the vampire and put in some more kid-friendly "happy" characters.

I stayed behind to guard the pumpkins (and avoid
the bumpy ride), so I got this shot of them returning.

Lauren & I had to go to the mall,
so we left the boys to do the maze alone.


It was a fun and successful trip!
I can't wait to see how everyone carves their pumpkins next week.