One of those days...

... meant to be spent curled up in front of a warm, cozy fire, slurping a hot cuppa coffee, and catching up on old episodes of Survivor while the snow continues to cover the surrounding fields, hills and valleys.



This is what 1-2 inches would look like in my corner of MD... if I believed the weather man. It's actually about 4 inches and still coming down.

Lots better than December's storm, and yes, it's pretty and fluffy and all that stuff. But I still want spring. Now. Today.

Winter is not my favorite season... ya think?

I'm keeping him...

So, that shingle Lew found in the street after Monday morning's o'dark thirty storm did come from our roof. I'm surprised (but thankful) that it was only one. Luckily, we have extra shingles in the shed (that didn't blow away) from when we replaced the roof several years ago, so it was a relatively quick repair job.

Howsomever, the man is pushing 70, and I'm not too crazy about him climbing up and about on the roof! Must be something in his genes though; his dad was still climbing up on his roof, cleaning out gutters, when he was 75! *sigh*

At any rate, I so appreciate his expertise and handiness at times like this. He take such good care of our home... and me. :)

The gods were angry...

Oh.my.word!! I don't know who tinkled in Mother Nature's Cheerios, but what a storm she threw at us last night!!

There was lightning. There was roaring wind. There was bazillion gallons of rain. I fully expected to wake up this morning and find us and our house floating down the road!

It was truly awful. Kept me awake off and on all night. I had visions of our shed ending up in pieces in the farmer's field. I expected to find half our roof gone. I just knew the family room floor would be wet by the patio door, but I was afraid to go down and look! How dumb was that?? Even the cats were restless. But Lew? Oh, not a problem... he slept right through it all!!

This morning there was a variety of dead branches in peoples yards and Lew found a shingle (presumably from our roof) in the road, but other than a full creek/river and some flood warnings, that looks like the extent of the damage. Our bird feeder didn't even fly away! Amazing!

Another year, another test...

Phew, glad that's over! Had to go for a routine breathing test yesterday and had not been looking forward to it at all.

I so dislike this thing! Not that it hurts or anything, it's just majorly uncomfortable. All that huffing and puffing and blowing out air makes me feel like I'm going to pass out, not a good feeling in itself. Not to mention that pinching contraption on my nose. Just unpleasant.

Anyway, it's done til the next time, I'm still breathing, and none the worse for wear except for a slight headache after the fact (which I remedied with a sugary cinnamon crueller when I got home!)

Ah, the perils of shopping at a different grocery store! ;)

Staredown

My excitement for the day came about when the two beasties below spied each other through the patio door. Initially, there was the required amount of hissing, spitting, and display of alpha cat bravado as they went after one another behind (or in front of) the safety of the protective glass door.



I calmed things down so the outside beast wouldn't tear my screen apart, but neither one gave an inch as they gave each other the evil eye afterwards. Haven't quite figured out whether my Zoey girl wanted out or the outside cat wanted in, but they kept at it until the outside cat got bored and wandered off, probably to chase the squirrels.

Kids!!

Joining the 21st centrury...

Oh lordy, I am in such trouble! As if I didn't have enough problems keeping up with mine and other blogs, I've gone and done something else equally as time-consuming and addicting. Under much pressure (aka NAGGING!) from family and friends, I caved and crossed over to the dark side... I joined Facebook!

I can already see that my days, nights and life will no longer be mine. In less than 15 hrs or so, I've already been contacted or initiated contact with umpteen people! Family, real-life friends, blogger friends, international friends - they're everyewhere!! Well, actually they're not... they're all on Facebook!!

Now if I can just figure out what I'm doing! Stay tuned... this is going to get interesting.

Simple pleasures

Mmmmm, mmmm, mmm! Earlier last year, I broke down and joined the reed diffuser lovers crowd. I bought a scent at Target, Lavender Lemongrass, and have been loving me one of the the yummiest aromas I've ever sniffed. What a treat!



As this totally intoxicating aroma wafts about my desk, it's almost enough to make one swoon! Not overwhelming or cloying like some of these things can be, but more of a delicate, clean, fresh scent. Delicious stuff!

The only problem is you can't get refills. Erg! For some strange reason the company (Method Home) makes all kinds of refills for their other products, but not a one for the aroma sticks. Very puzzling... not to mention frustrating.

Hopefully they'll rectify the situation soon cuz my last bit of supply is about to run out and while it may be the manufactuers strategy, I won't be buying a new diffuser every time the scent fades, no matter how much I like it. I'll just enjoy it while I can, then write a letter of complaint or reluctantly try something else.

*sigh*

What the heck is going on?

Okay, I'm really starting to get a complex now. I'm convinced the powers that be in the skin care industry are out to get me! I don't use a whole lot of creams and lotions and stuff, I'm just not disciplined enough to slather up every day and night, but I do use something when or if I remember and when I get out of the shower.

So anyway, my body lotion of choice for the last couple-three years has been Aveeno, specifically this one:

Aveeno Positively Smooth moisturizing lotion. Great stuff, non-greasy, gently fragranced, and keeps my bone-dry skin relatively moisturized for awhile. I really like it and keep a bottle on my desk for my hands and one in my bathroom for the rest of me.

Used to be I could just pick it up at the drug or grocery store. Not anymore! The damn stuff seems to have gone underground and is becoming impossible to find. Their regular daily moisturizing lotion is all over the place, as well as the positively smooth shaving cream (uh, no thanks) but not the stuff above.

So, I checked out Amazon and yea! they had it! I quick put a 3-pack in my cart Friday night and don't you know before I could buy the stuff yesterday, the seller no longer had it!! Grrrrrr. Okay, so I found another seller who said they had it in stock so I quick grabbed three and ordered them. We shall see what happens.

But wait, there's more.

I'm also picky about the lip balm I use. Years ago Vaseline had a stick-type product that was wonderful. Creamier, smoother, and not as dry as Chapstick was at the time. Anyway, guess what? Yes, of course... they discontinued it. Okay, so then I used Chapstick for awhile but I never really liked it. Then I discovered Neosporin LT about three years ago:


Lovely stuff. Comes in a tube, like regular Neosporin, but it's specifically for the lips and works great for healing chapped, dry lips, especially in the winter.

Think I can find it in my neck of the woods anymore? Oh, nooooo. It too seems to have disappeared (though still listed as a current product on their site) and all that seems to be available is their Lip Health hydration SPF product, which is fine if you're gonna be frying in the sun. i want my Lip Treatment for chapped lips!

So, while I'm doing the lotion thing at Amazon, I also found the lip treatment and put a 3-pack of it in my cart. Would you believe the same thing happened?? Another notice from Amazon that that listed seller doesn't have it anymore!! Okay, so now I'm getting crazy! Why does this keep happening? Fortunately, I found another seller and quick ordered the stuff when I ordered the lotion. I really don't expect to get either one, but maybe I'll get lucky, we'll see.

Talk about your conspiracy theories. How come everything I like abruptly disappears? Why can't the manufacturers just leave a perfectly good product alone? They're out to get me, I'm telling ya...

Holy ice cube, Batman!!

Brrrrrrrrr. Jeez, it's cold! The heat is on and we light a fire in the evenings. I have my handy-dandy little oscillating heater spreading its warmth beside me while I'm at my desk. So how come I'm still freezing my tush off? Along with a good bit of the rest of the country, winter has arrived here with a vengeance and with more snow expected tonight, things aren't looking very promising
anytime soon.

Why I'm sitting here in frigid MD, moaning about the cold instead of lying on a sunny beach somewhere in the Caribbean, I do not know. Piss-poor planning on my part, I guess. I should have me my own A-frame cabin on my own private beach sipping my own pina coladas and soaking up my very own rays! Where's my millionaire??

I know... I should be grateful I've even got heat, and I am, really I am. But all that gratefulness doesn't alter the fact that I'm still bloody cold. *sigh* The only good thing about winter is Christmas!

Where's my nosewarmer??

My baby girl...

... is going to have a baby!! My first-born grandchild is going to be a mommy! Lord, how did she grow up soooo fast??? I know I was just singing her a lullaby and rocking her to sleep not too terribly long ago and now -- she's making me a great-grandma!!

when my baby girl was a brand new baby girl...

Baby will be making an appearance on or about the 2nd of July and needless to say, I've been having a grand time poring through and drooling over all the baby stuff out there.

She's chosen neutral colors... greens, yellows, browns, tans... in an animal theme so almost anything goes. This seems to be the year for greens and browns so the choices are endless! 'Course I'll be sneaking in a few blues or pinks, depending on what we discover later on, but in the meantime I've got my eye on an array of monkeys, giraffes, froggies, elephants, kitty, and puppy dog goodies (with a few things already tucked away, jes' waiting.) ;)

We are excited!

Slowly, but surely...

... the Christmas decorations are coming down and making their way back into their respective storage boxes for another year.

In spite of the lists Lew made last year that itemize what each box held, the living room and downstairs are still an array of filled and partially-filled containers, along with numerous "where the hell does this go?" items. The lists have definitely made it easier, but still, 'tis a mess.

Back in the day, when all I could afford was an additional ornament for the tree each year, it was all a lot more mangageable. In succeeding years, however, I became one of those kind who had to add to our Christmas collection of decorations each year. (I'm especially fond of on-line after holiday sales.) This meant more containers to hold stuff in, which meant finding more room in the back basement to store said containers and... well, you get the idea. Things were getting out of hand... and, we were running out of room!

So, while we were at it this year, we decided we really needed to purge some of this stuff; outdated, unused or unusable, "where did this come from?" stuff. So far, we've managed to empty one whole container to donate, dispose of, or recycle. Things are getting rearranged as we go, which will, or course, necessitate new lists. It's a slow process, but we're getting there.

On the plus side, I've only added one after-Christmas sale item this year!

Now to find a place to tuck it away.

Oh, so cool...

Have you checked out the Google home page today?? It's Sir Isaac Newton's birthday... soooo clever! They really have the most talented artists on their staff!


It's the little things...

A little kitty humor...

One of my favorite sites to visit on the web is LOL Cats, aka icanhascheezburger.com. It's always good for an out and out chuckle, or at the very least, a lot of smiles. In addition to the classic "i can has cheezburger?" photo...





that started the whole thing, there are thousands of really funny (and not so funny) photos of cats and captions.

These are two of my all time favorites, ones that crack me up every time:


wait for it...




... you smiled, didn't ya?? ;)

Wishing all (2) of my readers a most happy, healthy, and reeeally good New Year!!