Check out this view!!!!

It has been awhile since I have blogged. I've been busy. Joe and I are always looking for good deals in the real-estate market here in North Idaho. I think finally we found one. This is a house that we are buying in Hauser Lake. I am super nervous, but also super excited, because a couple of years ago we had a lake view lot in Hauser and we sold it, and I have always wished we would have held onto it. But, the good news is....I think this view is BETTER. And, it is over an acre of land, and a bigger house then we have now. So, we did good. It all works out for a reason. Now we just have a few loose ends to tie up and we will be good to go!!!! Here are some pics!!!!

View of the lake and mountains in summer...


View of the lake (frozen) and mountains in the winter...


Front of the house....


And last but not least, the front porch!!!

Guess where I'm going......

Joe bought me a great gift for Valentines Day. If you can believe this, I forgot that Dierks Bentley is coming to Pullman in April. Well, my extra nice husband remembered. When he handed me a "piece of paper" for my gift...I was thinking....."what the heck is this...?", and as I looked closer, it was an email confirmation of the tickets he bought. Yeah!!!! So, he bought 3 tickets, and I immediately wondered who the 3 tickets were for. Cause let me tell ya, I am not sure how much fun Joe will have watching his wife screaming in awe over another guy. But, I am sure he will understand. Thanks honey!!!!

How are your typing skills????

Here is a fun little test that I found online. I have been looking at job openings for Kootenai county mainly for my mom, and all of the applications wonder how many words per minute you can type. She has absolutely no clue, and I didn't know how my typing skills were holding up....12 years after I got out of college.... and the only thing I can remember about typing class in high school, is Mr. Dufresne saying..."Ready...Type." So, I found this test. All of you should take it. My first try was 68 words per minute. I don't think this is exceptional by ANY means, but most of the jobs I have looked at require 40...so I think I would be good to go!!!

free typing test (c) CalculatorCat.com

Workforce Housing in Coeurdalene....How DARE they......

There has been some P-O'd CDA residents out and about lately. 80 of them showed up at the city library yesterday to discuss a "workforce housing" development that WAS in the works. The developer of the project has 11.5 acres that he was going to build "affordable" housing on, in the price range of like...125K to 175K. Sounds great. So what is the riff, you ask??? Well, it seems that none of the eighty people who showed up for the meeting want this development to be near THEIR beautiful homes. It would be a major inconvenience for them to have people who are making moderate incomes in THEIR back yards. OMG people. What is this world coming too??? There are tons of jobs around here that are just NOT paying a livable wage. So, these people who work at these jobs, they kinda need somewhere to live. Have some compassion please. I can understand the fears that the residents currently living in this neighborhood have, kind-of. But, Coeurdalene desperatly NEEDS some affordable housing. They are going to have to put it somewhere. No matter where they plan on putting this workforce housing "tract", some people are gonna be ticked. Plain and simple. Can't we all just put ourselves in the "less fortunate" peoples shoes. It doesn't look like that is gonna happen anytime soon, because the development was denied last night. It doesn't suprise me.

(sorry about my spelling, my spell check quit working.....)

I love this website....

www.toothpastefordinner.com is a website with daily comics. There are some that are not so funny, but some of them are super funny, and I could literally roll around and laugh....I have a wierd sense of humor though....so beware...

Pennies for Leukemia

It is strange sometimes how things work out. Danielle was telling me yesterday, as we were walking out of a store, that her school was having a penny drive, and asked if we could go through our change dish and contribute all our pennies to the drive. Of course, I said. Then she said, "Mom, I am pretty sure that the penny drive is for the same kind of cancer that uncle buddy had." And I said..."Oh, Leukemia?". "Yes," she said. So, I told her it was, and I was a little suprised that she still knew that, and so we started talking some more about it. She wondered what they do with the pennies that are donated, and I said that I think alot of the money goes to scientists that are trying to find a cure for the illness. She then said.."Mom, I wish they would have found a cure for it before Uncle Buddy got it.". "Me too." I replied. Then my eyes filled up with tears and somehow they were tears of sadness, AND Joy. Sadness because it has been 2 years since I took the trip down to California to see my sick uncle before he passed away. It actually seems like it has been longer than two years, and I am sure it is because I miss him so much. And I am joyful because Danielle still remembers him. Even though she was 7 years old, and we only got to see him a couple times a year, she still remembers. And that is what I had hoped for all along.

HILLARY!!!!!

If you're wondering what I was up to today....well....I was at a town hall meeting in Spokane with the one and only next mrs. prez-hopful....Hillary Clinton!!! Wow. Everything about it went just perfect. Here's the scoop...

My mom and I got ready and drove over to Spokane early, in order to get a great place in the long line. Since the building would only hold approximately 500 people, we knew we couldn't mess around and be late. So, we got there almost 3 hours before the meeting was scheduled to start, and as they counted the people in line, we were # 77 and 78. WOW. Just what we had hoped for!! So then, we waited. In the cold. Then our good friend Kim came to the rescue and served us with hot chocolate and coffee. YEAH!!! We were feelin' good now!!

So, Kim, my mom and I were finally let inside, and we happily stood in the second row back, just feeling good to be a part of it. But as we were standing there, a nice campaign worker picked us out of the crowd...(must be because of our good looks.....lol...) and asked if we wanted to go sit in the reserved area on the top of the stage that was currently chained off. "Absolutely" we said. So Chad, (the name of the nice young gentleman) lead us up on the stage where we felt super privledged. Then, the secret service came up and gave us all specific rules to follow, to ensure a pleasant stay. Mostly, they wanted us to know that Hillary would be walking right past us, probably shaking hands and signing autographs, and we needed to stay in our assigned "spots". No lunging forward, no reaching into pockets, no nothing, or we would get forcefully put back in our place. OK. We were mildly freaked. But we were REALLY ecstatic to be a part of the "important" section.

So, when she entered the building, we all screamed and clapped and waved our signs, and then she got to the podium and spoke for nearly 45 minutes, and she looked great, she sounded great, we were super impressed, and I nearly lost my voice. After she finished up, we all applauded and she went on to sign autographs and shake hands and do some small talk with the citizens of Spokane. Oh, AND, my mom got her campaign sign autographed. Yep, we were THAT close. Thanks Chad!!!! You're ALMOST as awesome as Mrs. Clinton!!!!

Change.........

The Post Falls School District has some overcrowding issues. So, a new elementary school will be opening this fall, and therefore, new boundaries are needed. The superintendant for this district has said that his goals are to reduce overcrowding at the most populated elementary schools, move as few students as possible, develop boundaries that will be sound geographically, to allow some students the opportunity to walk to school. Let the controversy begin......

The district has had about 3 meetings about these boundary changes. The district came up with a proposal, and in these meetings they are showing the new boundary proposals, and allowing feedback from parents. Joe asked me if I was going to go to these meetings. No. Here's why.

Of course it would be nice if Danielle stayed at her current school, but it would also be nice for ALL the students to stay at their current schools. Why would my needs and wants be any more important that anyone elses? With the current proposal, Danielle would stay at her current school. But the proposal is just that, a proposal. So who knows what could happen before the final draft is drawn. The district in Post Falls is an "open enrollment" district, which means that you can enroll your child in any school in the district, BUT, you as a parent would have to figure out how to get your child to and from school. The bus will NOT pick up your child and bring them to any other school than the one stated on the final boundary map. So, why are parents mad?? Who knows. One lady was quoted in the local paper as saying..." I specifically bought my house because it was in "this" school's boundary..." Ok. Then either walk your child to that school, or drive your child to that school, if you wish to stay at that school. There ARE solutions to this problem, lady. They might not be as convenient to you as the bus picking up your child, but there ARE options. Why do these parents go to these meetings and make their "issues" more important than anyone elses. Maybe it is because some people think they ARE more important than others. Are they? There is really no easy solution to this problem. Some students WILL have to switch schools. It is just part of life when you live in a growing community like ours. Deal with it.

I LOVE Winter Sports!!!!!

Who said their aren't any democrats in Kootenai County??

Who??? Because last night at the North Idaho College gym there were about 2400 of them, including me. It was time for the democratic caucus in Idaho, and even though the state police were warning people to stay off the roads because of the weather conditions, we all braved the weather to go out and stand in line to vote for our favorite candidate. Obama ended up getting the majority of the vote, but Clinton took enough of the vote and was able to take home some of the delegates. It was awesome to know that I was there with my fellow Kootenai County democrats. So all went well, and I learned alot, and I would definately do it again.

Super Bowl Party the North Idaho Way

I took an idea from some relatives that always seem to be having so much fun. The idea was an "ugly" sweater party. We all went out to thrift stores and picked out the ugliest sweaters we could find. It was super fun looking through tons of sweaters, and let me tell you 90% of the ones in the stores were REALLY bad. So, enough writing, I'll just get down to business. Here are the pictures. (oh, danielle decided not to just wear the sweater, but to also act the part with her friend Nate) Thanks for being such good sports guys!!!!

Got Snow???

We do. Not just here in P-Falls, but OMG, Joe and I went up to the river to check on the place, and we were astounded by what we saw. Actaully, what we didn't see. We couldn't even see our place from the road, the burm was so high. Higher than his pickup even. Wow. Here's some pictures. And keep in mind, our porch is about 4 feet off the ground at the highest point, and the snow is probably 3 to 4 feet over the porch. Enjoy.....

This first one is the view looking toward the trailer from the driveway...





The second one is from our driveway to our stairway.....





The third one is from our porch, to our stairs......

I Need To Vent.......

Last weekend was the annual Invent Idaho regional finals. How did Danielle do, you ask??? Well, she didn't. Here's why......

For some strange reason (that I will go into later) her school decided NOT to participate in the Invent Idaho program this year. Yep, they blew it. But.... then why do I feel like I blew it? I am just so ticked off. I had the whole weekend to vent about it, and think about it, and think about it some more, and I still woke up this morning irritated.

You know, Danielle has participated in this program for the past two years. Her first year she made it through her school portion, and then on to the regionals. The second year, she made it all the way to state. We happily traveled down to Boise to take in this awesome experience with our daughter, who was mesmerized. We had a great time, and it was such a great opportunity.

So, this year, as you can imagine, Danielle had multiple ideas of inventions that she was looking forward to creating. She literally talked about it all year long. Then came the article in the paper, and we all looked at each other in disbelief. "The Invent Idaho regional final took place yesterday......." What??? Why weren't we aware of this. It can't be. It must be a mis-print. Nope. It was true. So Danielle and I traveled to the mall, where the inventions were being displayed, and we talked to the regional coordinator, and we asked her if she knew why a particular school WOULDN'T participate in the competition. She just said that she wasn't sure, and she knew that we were from Post Falls, and she said she hoped that next year we would be able to participate again. So, Danielle and I left, and she was still bummed out, and I was really trying to find a way to help her through her disappointment.

When I woke up this morning I called the school. I spoke with the principal, and I tried to get an idea of why this would have happened, and I guess what I came away with was this. A small committee decided that since there were so many "enrichment" activities going on at this particular time at the school, they made an executive decision not to be involved with Invent Idaho this year. Huhhhh. Nice. So, all that I could really express to her was how disappointed we were, and that if it was a staffing issue, or a volunteer issue, I would have loved to have known, as I volunteer at the school on a regular basis, and I would have been MORE than willing to help coordinate the whole thing. But, I was not given that opportunity, and the PTO was not given that opportunity, and so it was left at that. Done.

So, the end of this story goes like this...... I have learned a lesson. I have learned never to "expect" something will just stay the same. Now I know that if we want to participate in something that is school related, I need to take charge and try to do everything I can to make sure my opinion is heard, and then maybe, just maybe, she will be able to invent away next year.

Just to let ya know....

If you happen to call me on my cell, be patient and let it ring for awhile. It takes me a couple of minutes to find it in my purse underneath all those snickers bars.
:-)

That's what I'm talkin' about!!!!!

What gets me up before 9:00am on the weekend??? A Gonzaga game, of course. But, it wasn't just ANY game, it was against #1 Memphis....In Memphis!!! Our boys hung in there like the big boys!!! At half time they were 1 point behind the Tigers. 1 point!!!!! I haven't screamed that loud since Danielle's game last weekend. :-)
Anyway, they ended up losing, but I believe they did an awesome job today. They had the Memphis Tigers sweating it, for sure. I mean, they could have lost to us, a team that isn't even ranked. So, I am hoping that they are happy with their effort, because they really did great. Go Zags!!!! Oh, and for what my opinion is worth, I think the tigers are overrated. There.

My New Occupation.....

is.........getting the five finger discount on snickers bars at the local grocery store. Atleast that is what the whacko-checker-lady thought yesterday. Yep, she thought I was helping myself to the chocolate in the candy aisle. Here's the story....
I was finished shopping, and I went to the check-out counter and put my groceries up on the conveyor belt thing-y. I put every last item in my cart up there, except my Coach purse, and after I did the rude checker lady goes "Is that everything?" "Yep". I replied, happily. Then, she says "What about the snickers bar?". "What Snickers bar?" I said, confused as hell. "Oh, the one inside your purse."... The Bi*** says. So, I look in my purse, and I remember that there is a empty Snickers WRAPPER in my purse, as I just came from a hockey game, and Danielle scarfed one down and I didn't want to just leave the wrapper for some poor guy to have to pick up later, so I shoved it in my purse. So, I looked at the lady in disbelief as I took the WRAPPER out of my designer purse, and I say "Oh, we just came from a hockey game and my daughter ATE it there, so it's just a WRAPPER.". She gets pretty quiet from there on out. Nope, doesn't even say sorry, NOTHING. So, I wander out of the store with my bags and I am a bit confused and in some sort of weird daze. But, as I thought about it more on my drive home, it really started to tick me off. I mean, I probably spend nearly 500 buckaroos in that store a month. I am in there almost every fricken day. This lady has the gall to insinuate that I am stealing a snickers bar. A fifty cent candy bar?? Hey lady, for your information, if I am shopping in the candy aisle, and I get a bit hungry, I'm just gonna chow down on whatever I feel like, because hey, I deserve it. And you can just mind your own darned beez-wax. OK, that is a bit harsh....I guess, but if I want a snickers bar, I will go buy 50 fricken snickers bars, I don't NEED to get a five finger discount on ONE. Christ. Plus, if I was gonna steal one, I'd put it at the BOTTOM of my purse, where she couldn't see it. :-)

Gotta love them hoops!!!!!

Today was Danielle's first basketball game!!!! She stayed at her grandma's house last night with 4 of her cousins, and let me tell ya, there was not a whole lot of sleepin' going on. I warned Joe about it, but he was like...."Oh, my mom will make them go to bed cause she'll be tired too...". Ok, NOT!!! Danielle and her older cousin happily stayed up till 4am. Woo-hoo!!! They had an absolute blast, and she can't wait till her next trip to Grandma Sherry's. But, all is good with us, because it didn't seem to effect her at all!!!
So, we got to the gym, and she was raring to go. They pair up the kids before the game, and the girl that she was playing defense against was like twice her size. AND, Danielle isn't a small fry by any means. So, I took a look at the match up and nearly got sick to my stomach. I was sure that Danielle didn't have a chance of making a basket against this girl that stood about 12 inches above her. But, not to worry, because she played AWESOME. I don't know why I even doubted it??? Duhhhh. I think that other girl maybe scored 4 points against Danielle, but Danielle scored 8 points off of her, so I was screaming so loud I nearly lost my voice. After the game I asked Miss D. how it went, and she was like..."It was super fun, I loved it. But, I wish everyone would stop screaming." So I looked at my mom and I was like...."yeah,(in my barely there voice due to my extra-loudness...) grandma was really cheering you on, wasn't she..." Oops. Note to self.......Try to keep my mouth shut at next Saturday's game. This might be nearly impossible. :-(
Oh, and the score isn't supposed to matter, because it is all for fun, but the mighty "filling station" (D's team) girls won, 18-14. That's what I'm talkin' about!!!

Bumper stickers that irritate me....

First of all, you never thought you'd see an image like this one on my blog, did ya??? But, this is something I have been noticing on some of my fellow North Idahoan's cars lately that is driving me absolutely crazy. I am sorry, but if (and those of you who know me know I would never be caught dead with one of these...) I HAD put a bumper sticker like this one on my car a few years ago, I would be out at my car as we speak frantically trying to remove it with goo gone and a razor blade. But, obviously, I must be the only one who thinks this way. Who knew????

She Knows "What's Up"....

As Joe, Danielle and I were driving to her basketball practice yesterday, Danielle informed us that she would be tested today for her AR range. If you are wondering what this is, here's the jest of it.......
Each student in her school takes a "test" by reading a portion of a book, and some pre-selected words, to a teacher or trained reading volunteer. The person who is giving the test keeps track of how many words per minute they read, if they pronounce the words correctly, if they are able to retain the information, and so on. So, Danielle was tested a few months ago, and her range was 4.5ish to 6.2ish. These scores mean, fourth grade, (4), and half way through 4th grade (.5). Sixth grade (6), and 1 fifth into that grade (.2). So, if I have not confused you already, she was reading at a 4th grade to a 6th grade level. We should be happy. She is only in the 3rd grade. And not even half way through it. Hooray!!! All seems well, but it isn't.
Here's the reason. She has to take weekly tests according to her tested range. She is responsible for picking her book to read (it must be in the 4.5 to 6.2 range) and she has to get a certain number of points per week to meet her goal. These points vary, depending on the difficulty of the book. A month ago, she picked out a 6.2 book, and she brought it home, and she started to read it. It was super long, and it was about a family traveling from the east coast, to Idaho, by wagon train in like the 1800's. She was super interested in this. So, she read this book every night for over a week. She couldn't take any tests in the time she was reading it, because she wasn't finished with it yet. So, she didn't meet her reading goal that week, because she was still reading, not taking tests, because she needed to finish her book first. So, if you are not at your goal, you have to stay in at recess until you have met it. So, she had to stay in for most of the week.
Joe and I helped her get through a number of words in the book that WE found to be hard even for us. So, she read, and she read, and she read. Finally, she finished. She went to school that day, hoping to take her test and to get enough points to meet her goal, so she could go out to recess again. Well, she took the test, which, by the way, was a 6th grade test. When she got home that day, I asked her how it went, and she said she got a 50% on it. She was nearly in tears. She earned ZERO points, because she failed the 6th grade test. So she had to start all over. She had to go pick out another book, and start fresh. How frustrating is that?? I was not happy. And it wasn't with HER, it was with the system. She tried and tried and tried to finish the book, and retain the information so that she could go to school and take the test made for 6th graders. My question is...."Why can't she take a test intended for a THIRD grader. After all, she IS a 3rd grader. But, since she is ABLE to read at a higher level, never mind if she can retain some of it or not, she has NO CHOICE but to pick books within her tested range. How frustrating is that. Now, I have seen Danielle read well very at a fifth grade level. She reads even better at a fourth grade level. So, I have talked to her about picking "easier" books. But she is required to pick books within her range, and some of them HAVE to be 6th grade books.
So, now that I have confused you all, my original reason for posting this is because of what Danielle said in the car yesterday. She said..."I am going to take my AR range test tomorrow. Should I just miss a couple questions on purpose so my range won't be so high anymore?". WHAT?? It is totally ridiculous that Danielle should even be considering that. But she just wants reading to be "fun" again. Not so demanding. And she just doesn't see an end in sight. Some of the kids in her class are reading at fist grade levels, the range that they have been tested at, and they are breezing through these books that have like 20 words in the whole thing. Don't get me wrong, I am happy that the school has a system in place that challenges these children that are reading at above their grade level. But why on God's green earth should Danielle be "punished" because she reads exceptionally well??? Crazy. I am going to have to address this issue with the school, again......

Something you might not know about me.....

My mom cooked my brother and I pancakes every single morning before school for like three years. (Mmmmmmm, pancakes, what a surprise, mom....) If Joe reads this he will probably puke. He hates pancakes. I guess I should just be grateful I had a mom that cared enough to cook me breakfast. Thanks Ma!!!!!!

10 things I should do for 2008.......

1. Quit copying Lynsey's ideas for blog posts. (I am sure she would appreciate it....) But she has such good ideas!!!! Love ya Lyn!!!

2. Be a "funner" mom. Do you know how goofy Joe is with Danielle?? Well, he is putting me to shame let me tell ya. How can they laugh so hard about dumb stuff??? How can they be so silly all the time?? I am gonna have to start working on my "crazy" side.

3. Exercise. Yep, I should do it, I suppose. But it just doesn't sound like fun. I did buy a fitness ball, and I was ready to work out with it after I blew it up with a hand pump, but then all the pumping made me tired, and so I called it a day. Pathetic.

4. Tell people no. I am not good at it. I will find every single excuse in the book, just so that I don't have to tell people no. Why can't I?? I have definitely had people politely (and maybe not so politely) tell ME no. What gives???

5. Organize. This is what I was supposed to do last year. Where has the time gone?? I guess I just kinda spaced doing it. Oops. So, I am adding it to my to-do list again for '08

6. Remember things. I need to find a pill that makes my brain a little bit sharper. Oh, who am I fooling?? It needs to be ALOT sharper. I have the hardest time remembering where I put the groceries anymore. Gosh.

7. Do my part in keeping the garage clean. Yep, if Joe is reading this, his eyes just lit up. Either that or they rolled. He absolutely despises the fact that I am not doing my part of spiffying it up. He is a firm believer that come spring, we could just open up the garage doors and let the hard core "yard-salers" have a free for all.

8. Cook something new for dinner. I really have gotten in a rut with this cooking dinner business. I really like to cook, but I also really like to cook what I know how to cook. Mostly because I know I LIKE what I know how to cook. I probably rotate about 20 different things every month. That's all we get. No new stuff. Joe and Danielle probably dread coming home for dinner anymore. They are like...."Oh, spaghetti, what a surprise....". I need to step outside the box a bit. I vow to try out some new cuisine this year.

9. Save. Now that we have our fixer rented, it's time to put some moolah in the bank for a rainy day. I am not saying we don't save already, but more is better!!!! At least that's what I hear..

10. Last but not least.....
Spend. More time with our family, that is. I know it seems like I spend alot of time with our family, but the truth is, we have been really busy, and now that the fixer is done, we need to have some major get-togethers at the river this summer. I can't wait!!!

FYI...........

Just in case Y'all didn't know .........It's still SNOWING. Yep, it's currently "coming down". Gotta love it!!!!
:-)

Back to School

It's back to school for Danielle after two weeks of Christmas vacation. What happened to the girl that couldn't wait for school to start? I don't know, because she really wasn't excited about it yesterday or this morning. I am convinced they put to much on these kids at a young age. I don't think as a child I had homework until like 4th or 5th grade. Back then, we always had time to finish it in school, and if we chose not to, we would have to take it home. Well, those days are long gone. As a first grader, she had homework. As a third grader, she has alot of homework, that she truly dreads a lot of the time. What happened to school being fun? Yes people, I understand that school isn't for "fun", and that kids must learn things, but while they are still little, they should still look forward to going there and actually want to be there. I really have got to give it to the public school system here in Post Falls, though, because they will challenge your child till the cows come home. But still, as a third grader I believe that school should be fun and exciting. I think some of the demands on kids these days makes school a little less exciting. And I think it is really too bad. While the teachers are busy making sure Danielle is reading books that are at a 6th grade level, because she can, and she is capable of it, and don't get me wrong, Joe and I are super proud of her for excelling in her grade, Danielle is wishing that she could just have fun and read a regular old 3rd grade book. What gives????

"That Was Easy...."

I have always known that I gave birth to a "polar bear". Seriously, Danielle has been the first one in the river come spring, and the last one out of the lake come fall. She could care less if it is cold. She just loves the water. Danielle and I have been going to my moms and using her hot tub in the evenings, and my mom and I are not surprised that Danielle gets out of the hot tub and wanders around in the snow. We want to tell her to get her behind back in the warm water, but we know there is no use saying it, because she won't get back in till she is ready, and she doesn't get cold very fast. I know that the minute I have to get out of the hot tub, I am running as fast as I can in the house, while Danielle is calmly putting the cover back on, not worried that it is FREEZING!!!!
So, when this years annual Polar Bear Plunge in Coeurd'Alene arrived, we knew she would do it. She was ready, and she really didn't even hesitate. Their were TONS of crazy people waiting around to jump into the freezing water. Joe, my mom and I tagged along and none of us even considered doing it. So, we just watched, while everyone ran into the ice cold water, and as Danielle ran in at first and then DOVE all the way in. Yikes. It looked so cold. There was even snow on the ground. I think the temperature was in the 20's. Nuts. She is definitely nuts. I wonder if she will do it again next year?? Probably!!!

This is a picture of some of the crowd.....







This is a picture of us as we got there, brrrrrrr....





This is her (with her arm out in the middle....) as she was going in.....


I am so proud of you Danielle, you are one of the bravest girls I know!!!

It's a beautiful day in the neighborhood!!!!!

Does anyone miss that song that Mr. Rogers sang at the beginning of his shows?? Yeah, me neither. But....... looking outside at all the snow in my neighborhood, I really wanted to sing it. Shout it at the top of my lungs. I am sure my neighbors would appreciate it. :-/ Weird. I know. But that's how much I LOVE snow. We are getting more tonight, too!!! Yeah me!!!

Catching some air!!!!!!!!

Yesterday, my mom, Danielle and I decided to enjoy the snow piling up outside, and go sledding. We got all bundled up in our warm winter clothes, grabbed our sleds, and headed for a golf course in CDA that was filled with snowy hills. We parked and found that it really wasn't that busy, and so we got started. Danielle went first, of course, and we got a good laugh as she slid quickly down the long hill. It was so fun. When I slid down the hill I laughed the entire way. Couldn't stop. The same went for my mom, and so on.....Danielle caught some awesome air on some "jumps" that some kids made before we got there, it was great!!!
So, if you want a good laugh, try out sledding. It's not just for kids, ya know!!!
Oh, the picture doesn't do it any justice, but Danielle was just hitting a jump as I took it. The hill was steep, and she was actually just getting some air, but you can't really tell. :-(

HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!!

Hey everyone, I hope you all have a safe, healthy and happy 2008!!! Time really flies, doesn't it???

We Finally Got It!!!

Snow. We woke up to snow. Ok, we HAVE had it on and off here this year, but mostly just a couple of inches here and there, and then it melts. But, today as I looked out the window this morning, I was like...."Damn...", We got like almost 8 inches. And I can confirm it because I shoveled myself out of the driveway so I could hit the "after Christmas sales" at Wally-World. I know, I am crazy. But I just couldn't miss it. The suspense was killing me. And, Danielle had a couple of gift cards that she couldn't wait to spend. She ended up buying a really cool and kind-of expensive telescope. It takes pictures and everything. she can't wait to use it. Not tonight though, because it is still snowing. Yeah!!!

Peanuts.......

It is an ongoing "joke" around here that I get Joe peanuts for every gift giving occasion. I thought peanuts were a thoughtful gift for a guy who likes peanuts. But, the rumor is out.....he is kind of getting sick of them. Birthday..........peanuts. Anniversary......Peanuts. Christmas............peanuts. Heck, I thought he loved peanuts. I thought I was being nice by buying him something so "personal". I have bought every flavor of peanuts they make. You know, honey roasted, salted, beer flavored (those seemed to be a huge hit...), hot and spicy, ranch, cajun, you name it. I am the queen bee of cheezy Christmas gifts, and I just don't have the heart to skip this year. Oh, and Joe, don't you worry, because this year I got you something OTHER than peanuts (unless they come out with an all new exciting flavor right before the holiday...). I know, the suspense is killing you.......

It's Beginning To Look Alot Like Christmas!!!

On Nieko's head, that is. Thanks to the groomer, he came home with festive red bows with little green trees in his hair. Joe wonders if the groomer forgot that he is a BOY???? Just to put my two cents in.....I think they are CUTIE-PIE.


Oh, this is what Nieko did after looking in the mirror.......

The Stockings Were Hung by the......

.............Gun Cabinet????? Talk about a Red-neck Christmas. Do you think Santa will be to scared to fill them??? I hope not!! Don't even ask me why we don't have a mantle to hang them on. That is Joe's department. Hint, Hint....honey!!!!
:-)

Strike A Pose........

Danielle just loves posing for pictures. Thank god for digital cameras. ....And cute kids!!!
:-)