checkin' in

I have been taking a break from the old blog because I have been feeling rather uninspired.  It is so wintery around here, and not in a fresh and fanciful way, but more in a humdrum problem-causing situation.  Also time has been moving right along and I am now 27 weeks pregnant, which means that during my afternoon blog time I've been falling asleep more often and spend my awake time mulling over baby things.  Babies apparently need a lot of things.  I am a little confused but I'll hit on that later.

I know winter has its perks and I'm glad to be living in the north for a few years and after this, I think I'll be done with it.  I think it was the combination of canceled flights and running out of oil that have caused me to dread every snow and the potential problems it might bring.  I haven't told the oil story yet because at the time it was a major stress, but in retrospect it was a bit humorous.

Background: Most of the houses here are heated with oil.  Every so often a big truck comes and hooks up to our house and pumps a bunch of oil into the side of our house and into a big tank in the basement.  We have a love/hate relationship with that truck, because while we're thankful for its service, it always means big money.  I think the 'oil' is similar to diesel so if you imagine filling up a 200+ lb tank with the current gas prices - yikes.  At our old house the landlord had us on a schedule so the truck would top us up monthly, but for this house we opted to call when we needed it.  During our December blizzard the day after Christmas, we realized we needed it.

Timeline:
Sunday - settle in while the blizzard starts.  Matt realizes we are low on oil.  We plan to call the company in the morning.

Monday - blizzard leaves us with a foot of snow.  Oil company plans to come the next day, as long as we plow the driveway.  After being quoted some ridiculous prices by local plowers, we chase down a rogue plow man and he plows away.  Later that night, I find out that my flight for the next morning has been canceled.  There seems to be no hope that I'll be able to travel.  I cry.

Tuesday - I wake up at 4am distressed about my travel situation and find a flight that leaves Wednesday night.  I buy it.  I feel cheered.  At 5am Matt realizes he can't hear the radiators and after checking on the basement, it is confirmed - we are out of oil.  No worries, the truck is coming today!  I am leaving to see my family tomorrow!  It's all good!  Matt goes to work and instructs me to stay put and wait for the tuck so that we can make sure our boiler turns back on.  He brings in logs and Moose and I hunker down by the fire and it's fun and feels like Kijabe, only colder.  I call the oil company at 9 am and tell them we're out of oil, they say they'll come soon, and I can put a few gallons of diesel in to hold us over.  Well, that's not going to happen, as I don't have a can to put diesel in and wouldn't know how to get it in the tank if I did.  Matt calls every few hours to see if the truck has come yet and insists I get out the space heaters to keep warm.  We are FINE, I tell him!  By noon I get a little impatient and call again and twiddle my thumbs for . . . four more hours.  At 4:00 I hear the oil truck lumbering its way down our long and freshly-plowed driveway.  Cheer!!!  A minute later I hear the beeping of the truck backing up and leaving our driveway.  I throw on my boots, grab the phone, and rush outside while dialing the company.  I explain to the woman that the truck is driving away and we have no oil!  She gets on the phone with him and tells me that the driveway isn't plowed enough and that he got stuck.  That is baloney, I tell her, he didn't even try, get him back here before I freeze to death.  I watch the truck pull out into the road and drive off.  She talks to him and then asks me if I have some salt . . . I run to the basement and grab our bag of salt and run back to the driveway, proclaiming that I'll salt it myself.  She talks to him again and then to me and says he's out of area and he won't come back until we salt and sand the driveway.  Since I have been up since 4 in the morning waiting for this oil truck to arrive, I don't take kindly to this news.  I burst into tears on the phone with the woman, standing forlornly in the driveway, clutching the remains of a bag of salt.  By the time I get ahold of Matt I am practically in hysterics and he thinks something happened to Moose . . . of course when he gets home he is a bit more rational about it, calls a different company, and we vow never to use the first company again.  Later that evening the new company comes and pours a little diesel in . . . I guess what I should've done in the first place . . . and they hook up the next day and pump our tank full and our wallets dry.

This is why I'm over winter.  It's inconvenient and expensive.  I am prone to overreacting under normal circumstances, but lately I've been even more emotional.  Lucky Matt.

So that was a couple weeks ago . . . and I'd like to say when I came to work a few days later, they had also run out of oil in the night, so it does happen to other people, not just us.  This week brought its own joys.  After getting my car stuck on ice on Monday, I was almost glad to see it rain all day on Tuesday, thinking it would melt some of the snow down.  It did, but it also made a big mess of wet slush everywhere.  It was so slick I couldn't get the car home on Tuesday night, and after spinning out for a few minutes, I got out of the car to walk home.  I didn't get too far, as I stepped in snow up to my knees and slush up to my ankles.  Fortunately Matt had been home all day studying, heard my dilemma, and was coming to the rescue in his pajama pants and tennis shoes.  After a good 15 minutes of reversing and revving and spinning and sliding, he got the car home.  We were cold and wet and I was cranky and I still had dinner to make.  Matt suggested I call the family I work for and ask if they could pick me up in the morning in case I couldn't get out.  At that point I realized I couldn't find my cell phone, and I imagined it in pieces in the slush, having fallen out of my pocket when I got out of the car, and then run over 20 times as we tried to get home.  Matt threw on some boots and headed to the car to see if it was there . . . and returned a minute later, triumphant with my phone safely in his hands, but his toes screaming for mercy.  I didn't realize he'd thrown MY boots on, my little ladybug spring galoshes.  It took the two of us to pry the boots off.  Which is why I had occasion to take this picture:

It snowed again this morning, causing a 2 hour delay and another occasion for me to be picked up to get to work . . . I am not a fan of sliding around on snowy roads!  So now we have quite the accumulation here with temps in the "very cold" and "frigid" for the next week.  But now that I've gotten that out of my system, I'll do my best to refrain from complaining about it.  :)  Stay warm, friends! 

winter weather

Snow day!  We woke up to a world of white and a blustery morning of snow still falling.  I was surprised to see how much we got - about 18 inches, more than out big snow right after Christmas.  We spent the morning lounging around and might have been in PJ's all day if I hadn't got a call from the family I work for asking if we had any hills in our yard.  Since our driveway hadn't been plowed yet, they had to hike about 100 yards through the drifts to get to our door, dragging sleds all the way.  So fun to have kids to enjoy the snow with!  

And of course Moose was in on the action.  Despite not wanting to leave the house this morning, he overcame his aversion to snow when he saw KIDS.  He played hard, constantly getting in the way as the kids tried to sled down the hill, and climbing onto the sleds to get out of the snow.  What a booger.  But the snow was so deep, he often needed a little boost to get back up the hill, as you can see below. 

I got one little ride in, too.

It's all fun and games until somebody gets a face full of snow. 

 Time to get out of the cold and take a break at home with some hot chocolate.  

We walked them to their Jeep, and then stayed inside for the rest of the day.  

This is the long walk that the four kids did to get to our house.  Imagine the two year old in his "I do it myself!" phase, up to his chest in snow.  Matt is marking our driveway so the truck knows where to plow.  It's quite long.  

And of course little old Moosey, who stuck to the tracks we had made, or else turned to the last-ditch effort of eating himself out of the predicament he was in.  

So even though this was a massive amount of snow, I'm told the kids will have school tomorrow.  Which makes me laugh, because I heard Charlotte was on their third snow day.  Sweet Carolina, I like how you do things.  

NYC for NYE

As it's a new year, I don't want my posts to be centered around disappointment . . . so I'd like to share all the details of our rockin' New Years Eve.  Which is a joke, because I actually fell asleep before midnight.  But I was in New York City.  Woohoo!   We headed in Friday morning in time to meet our friend John Black for the Kentucky game.  We decided to watch it in the comfort of JB's apartment and ordered up some tasty lunch from S'Mac, a restaurant that only serves macaroni and cheese.  Yes, mac n cheese.  Of course mine was made with brie, rosemary, and figs, and it was tasty.  And no, I could not finish the whole thing.  And yes, Kentucky won. 

After we were filled up with cheese and carbs, we headed out to see what was up in the city.  We tramped about from Union Square up to the theater district and as close to Times Square as we could get, which was not very close as they had it blocked off already at 4pm.  That is kind of a nuts, not really sure why you'd want to stand up there all night barricaded in with all the other loonies.  So we walked around the square and headed on our way.

It took us a while to get hungry for dinner but when we did, we ended up at a place that serves only meatballs.  I know, only in New York.  Matt had heard of the place and was pumped to try it out.  They had a special corned beef and sauerkraut meatball so one could get their new year's meal taken care of in just a couple bites.  After dinner we wandered about and ended up at JB's place with thirty minutes to go before the ball dropped, so we watched that from the comfort of his living room.  Or, they watched it, and I fell asleep, and woke up as they were counting down the last minute to midnight.  Perfect timing.

So, welcome 2011!  This year is sure to be an exciting one!

disappointment

I think of all the emotions, disappointment is one of the worst.  If your parents tell you they're mad at you, you don't feel bad at all because you're probably mad at them, too.  But if they tell you they're disappointed . . . that's the worst.  And that's how I feel about my air travel experiences.  Sad. Crushed. Disappointed.

Because of two canceled flights, I never got to Colorado.  I missed our family Christmas and my cousin's wedding.  The first flight was canceled the day before I left and I was able to stay home and search for a new flight out the next night.  But the second flight was a more painful experience that robbed me of 12 hours of my life, chewed me up, and spit me out on the other side.

Train and shuttle to JFK: 2.5 hours
Waiting in line to check baggage and security: 1 hour
Waiting at gate for delayed plane: 3 hours
Hearing plane was cancelled because they were missing a crew member: 5 seconds
Waiting at JetBlue service desk while on hold with JetBlue on the phone: 1 hour (no open flights this week)
Waiting in line at baggage services for taxi voucher whilst watching for my bag to come down the ramp at baggage claim: 2 hours
Waiting for taxi: 15 minutes
Taxi ride home: 1.5 hours

I admit I was trying to work every angle to my advantage to try and get the airline to take care of me . . . so I thought a little tummy rubbing and exhausted flopping down in a chair behind and employee's desk would help get the message across, but really I'd say this was the first time I felt uncomfortably pregnant.  I'm not huge or anything, but all of the standing around coupled with the fact it was 1:00 in the morning just made me achey.  And cranky.  And in the end the airline only paid half of the taxi home, even though I shared it with another girl from the next town over.  Jokers.  So I got back at 3:15 am and after all that I was so thankful to just be safely home.

It's been a couple days and the wedding is over, my family has dispersed and are all safely home, the morning brunch that I would've had with my friends is passed, and I'm able to be thankful for the time at home I've had this week.  The Christmas tree is outside and I made another pillow case on my NEW sewing machine (so far I'm sticking to what I know!).  I am relaxed and recharged, which doesn't often happen during the holidays.

Also I took this picture:

Seriously, Moose?  You want to sleep with your tongue hanging out like that? 

blizzard 2010

If you've been anywhere near the news, I'm sure you heard about the snowy conditions we've experienced up here on the east coast.  

snow = beautiful

snow = childhood joy

snow = major pain

snow = crippler of hopes and dreams

I should be in Colorado right now but my flight out this morning was cancelled . . . for a while I thought I wouldn't be going at all, but managed to get the last seat on a flight out tomorrow night.   Not quite what I'd planned, but it made me so thankful for even a couple days with my family after imagining I wouldn't be there at all.  The snow also caused us some driveway problems and some oil truck problems, but those are stories for another time.  When you're still living them out, they're not as fun as retelling them later.  We can wait until the pain isn't so fresh. :)

Anyway, our snow adventures afforded some photo opportunities.  

Letting Moose out in the morning to a world of white: 

Walking through the woods on a snowy afternoon.

We parked on the street as our house is at the end of a shared driveway . . . here's a shot I took walking back home after seeing Matt off to work.

And our favorite shed door. Frosted windowpanes.

Hoping you are safe and warm across the country - and the world!

Christmas!

Happy Boxing Day to you and yours.  We are in the midst of that storm they keep talking about . . . so I guess it's a great time to settle in and get some pictures up from Christmas.  The frosty winds may blow, but we're snug for now!

On Christmas Eve we went to our little church's family service.  We enjoyed the live nativity and Christmas carols, so familiar and welcome the day before Christmas.  We took a couple pictures on the way out the door . . . in most of them I looked ready to go into labor.  It must have been the top?  Sheesh.

Not to be left out . . .

After church we had lovely little dinner, just the two of us and some pork tenderloin. :)  Of course this was followed by our traditional Christmas pj's and a picture so the Andersons could see how much we love them.  

Then we went to sleep and waited for Santa to come . . . 

And in the morning enjoyed a wonderful Christmas together.  

All three of us. 

I'm so thankful for Skype . . . we had fun chatting with both sets of our parents.  I caught up with my brother for a second, who was all alone in Houston since he works for a church and had to be around for Friday and Sunday.  He's headed to Colorado to meet my parents tomorrow but until then, I've been enjoying his Christmas card. 

We had breakfast with the family I nanny for and then headed out to . . . 

the city!  Since it's our last year just the two of us, we were free to jump on the train and head in for dinner and a show.  We saw West Side Story and it was a good choice!  Such a great show, and it goes off Broadway in a couple weeks.  Matt's friend sent us his keys so we could use his apartment while he was home for the holidays, and he is a great source of ideas on where to eat and what to do.  Dinner at a restaurant near his house was excellent.

We caught a train back to Long Island this morning and arrived in Stony Brook just as the snow started to fall.  And fall.  And fall.  They are predicting 15-20 inches for our area and I'm not sure whether to be excited or afraid.  It's really coming down. We've got the car parked in our neighbor's driveway since our driveway is a million feet long and gravel and not plowable.  I took this picture as we walked home from the car . . . and then slipped and fell a few feet later.  Whoops!

I took the following from inside the warm comfort of our own home.

Snug as a bug, with a load of firewood ready just incase we lose power.  There's enough cookies in the fridge to keep us fed for a day or two.  :)

Moose's Christmas Visitor

We had the privilege of dog-sitting for Divot, a friend's bulldog, for a couple nights so that they could go into the city.  It was pretty hilarious.  Divot is a bit older and breathes really heavily when he gets excited - almost as if he has doggy asthma.  Also they ate each other's food the first night and it made Divot sick so he threw up in the night.  But other than that, he was a gentleman, and didn't even get on the couch.  Matt was in doggy heaven but I'm not convinced that two dogs are better than one.  Moose is kind of used to being an only child.  But walking the two of them was so hilarious.  And the SNORES.  Oh, my.