I'm dreaming of a white Thanksgiving, woopsy...

I just have to say, horizontal snow is just NOT OK in my world. We are having massive wind which is now accompanied by snow. Good news is if the wind keeps up, this white stuff will blow into neighboring states. The power is off more than on today, but this too shall pass.

I apologize for the lack of posting recently. Our little clan is having some drama issues right now that have us all feeling a bit self centered and down. Know I am blog hopping every day as it does help to immerse myself in all your inspiration and uplifting posts. I hope everyone has a joyful, relaxing weekend wherever you may be.

I'm late for a very important date....

OK, I have no idea why these are all showing blurry on the blog, but too busy to worry. Work is wild, laundry piling up, baking to do, presents to wrap, more presents to track that are now lost in UPS black hole, still no word if my son is coming, stocking stuffers to buy.......................

My most treasured ornament, a bell no larger than 1 inch, metal with glitter flakes. Was my Mom's at one time. Always loved it.

A very blurry nest, but oh well, a nest just the same. Went with all of Prince's ornies this year so only snuck in a few of my own touches just to annoy him, worked too!

OK, off to resume the labors of love. Stay warm and safe!

I'm dreaming of a White Christmas....

OK, have I told you lately how much I hate winter? Seriously HATE winter. Cold, snow, wind, ice, etc. It is just downright cold folks which makes me a cranky gal. Below zero kind of cold. Just plain nasty. Yet, it appears we will have a White Christmas this year after all. Mostly because there is no warmth in sight to melt what we already have, but also chances of snow next week. So, let's just hope on 12-26 it all melts and life goes on, ok?

Time is going way too fast this month. So much remaining to do and so little time. Half of the packages I ordered aren't here which makes me very nervous indeed. We have scaled back massively this year as so many are, so am pretty much counting on the remaining items or it will look like the Grinch came instead of Santa. My son is supposed to come, but has run into some tough times and will not be able to afford the trip unless the elusive Christmas bonus comes this year. I was so looking forward to him being here, but at this point it is looking like a miracle will be needed for it to happen. Will make for a sad Mom indeed if he can't be here as it has been too many years now since he was. At least my Princess and her "finance"-ya, don't go there, will be here. Somehow she managed to invite the "future in-laws" to my house for dinner on Christmas. There go the plans for an actual sit down fuffy Christmas dinner this year as my table is not big enough for everyone. Back to the old ham on the floor in your lap kind of deal. Oh well, it isn't like there isn't always WAY too much food to go around. Just had my heart set on a fancipants kind of dinner for a change.

Lucky we got the outdoor lights up before the weather hit. The inside is decorated too. Went with my mom's old tree which is literally like the top 1/4th of my regular tree. Just put on the Prince's ornies this year with a few of my sentimental ones. Looks cute but not quite the same. Downsized 4 large boxes of stuff for the Princess and another big one for the younger Prince from all my years of collected crap, I mean priceless treasures. Still have WAY too much but love it all too much. Will post pix if I get a second soon.

Anyway, stay warm and have a great weekend!

Projects, chaos, and more snow

Gosh, this blogging thing takes more time than I can even begin to find these days. Recovering from a bout of stomach virus that knocked me flat for a couple days. I detest being sick. I have so many pressing things to complete and things like this just really mess up my best laid plans.
We again received over a foot of snow this weekend, and my back is suffering from shoveling the heavy, wet mess. Now they claim it could be 60 degrees by the end of the week. Just let it be summer already because I am fed up with snow.
Prince Charming is struggling to get a grasp of his mom's financial status. Her declining mental status is making it a real challenge to get a real picture of things. It appears worse than he originally believed and I have no idea where to begin to settle this mess when he isn't willing to push the issue. Waiting for him to come to the acceptance of the whole issue is going to be the end of my rope I am afraid.
My Princess girl is turning 18 in a few weeks. Exciting, rewarding, and depressing all in one for me. I am beginning to feel old this time around for sure. Her idea of the perfect gift changes every 5 minutes, so haven't officially decided what to get her yet. Then comes the whole graduation issue in June, so still trying to figure it all out. When my son turned 18, I made him a scrapbook of his life which he just loved. I had hoped to do one for her as well. I sat down this week and started and before I knew it I had completed one whole book of just the first couple months of her life. Not what I had planned but I couldn't make my self cram 18 years in one book. So, I hope to call it volume 1 instead. I would like to do another of her childhood years, and then hopefully just one of high school so there is a series almost of her life. I have already done a couple for her in the past of things, but want these to be for her to keep. I have so many boxes of "crap" that I would also like to do one of just momento kind of things like report cards, birthday cards, award certificates, homework examples etc. My usual state of procrastination however will likely never complete all this in time. I may end up with 3 more blank scrap books with IOU coupons inside! That would tick her off for sure.
She has it in her head that she is going for a tattoo and tongue ring for her birthday. We have battled this fight for years, but now she will be 18 and can do it without my permission. I personally don't care for tattoos. See, with my job I have seen what they become in your older years and frankly even the best tattoo is not something you ever want to see when you are old and wrinkled. Imagine silly putty with cartoon strips like I used to do, ya know how you stretch and wrinkle it to distort the image, exact same thing with the tattoo. Plus, visible tattoo art can be a huge barrier to professional careers regardless of what some may think. Now to be fair, I have seen some that are true works of art done in tasteful and very professional manner that I admit are spectacular. My ex has a couple and my son was up to two the last time I checked. Whatever. I just refuse to participate in this in any way. No way, no how. She will legally be able to do it if she wants, but Mom isn't going and I won't pay for it. Period. Same goes for a tongue or lip ring. I can not tolerate this on anyone at all. Trying to talk to someone who has a tongue or lip ring (or any other form of facial piercing) is totally not something I can even do. It is too distracting and I am instantly annoyed. I have not met one person with a tongue ring that doesn't "play" with it, click it against their teeth, or some other annoying form of irritation while they are talking or just sitting there. DRIVES ME CRAZY!!!! Again, completely unprofessional for work and completely disgusts me to see it. Again, she will be old enough to do it, but I won't have anything to do it. One of her former boyfriends had two and he knew before he came to my house he better take the damn things out or I wouldn't even talk to him. Am I weird? Likely as it seems to be the cool thing to do, but damn it I don't care. I can tolerate a lot of crap, but no way no how can I tolerate this facial stuff. She is a beautiful girl and hanging crap off her lip, tongue, eye or anything else is just going to kill me. Her other option was a belly button ring, which I would pay for that if it would keep the crap off her face. Had I not had a horrible experience with infection/rejection of internal sutures following an abdominal surgery and had puss running out of my belly button for 3 straight months, I might even consider doing that one with her just for a bit of bonding. Just not willing to risk another run of green pus to look cool to the kid. I digress, at least a belly ring can be covered up for work, etc. I don't have to see it click against her teeth with every word or breath. OK, now that I have offended everyone with piercings in blog land I should stop this tirade. Hey, if you have one, good for you. I have two holes in each ear and that's good enough for me. You want it, do it, fine. Just don't wait for me to do cartwheels with joy ok?
Have a good week everyone.

Will it ever be spring?

It seems that there is no end in sight for this endless snow piling up around the house. If it isn't snowing, its blowing, or just down right cold. Winter has never been my favorite for I am afraid I am a big wimp and hate to be cold. That and our power bill more than doubled in the last month which did not make me a happy girl either.
Good news is, Prince Charming's mom doesn't need hip surgery since it was her back like I had told everyone months ago. They were able to do an epidural injection that has helped dramatically and she hasn't even needed a pain pill since Friday night. Such a blessing as they really do a number on her declining mental health.
Bad news, she finally let him review her bill status that we have been battling with her about for a year now. It is even worse than we feared, into the thousands now on credit cards, late fees, and general charges for things the woman doesn't need. She has terrible hearing and will agree to anything the pushy salesman or bill collectors tell her on the phone. This is the third time we have had to "fix" the mess. She did finally agree to sign a power of attorney for Prince Charming to be able to help deal with the bills, banks, etc. which is a good start. It is so difficult to have to step up and become the adult in the parent/child relationship and he is taking it very hard indeed. She is such a sweet, loving woman who has been completely independant her entire life and is just not ready to turn over her problems to her child.
Anyway, it's just a start on what I am sure will be a long, painful process that will not be easy for any of us. Lucky for me, she knows I'm just a pushy ol' bitch that won't take no for an answer and I can usually get her to swing to our side.
So, better get back to work and make some money to support this mess. Hope everyone has a good week.

It's getting deeper

Sorry for the very poor photo quality, but the best I could do after dark in a blizzard. The first photo is my front yard about 2 hours after the snow started. The dark photo is the back yard steps leading to the pool. I've had at least 5-6 more inches since then and it is still coming down. At 4pm today there was about 6 inches of water literally racing down the street in front of the house, and now it is ready for the plows. We had rain (hard) from about 4am until 4pm today and many areas are flooded, then here came the snow they have been warning us about.

The worst is the 40 mph winds blowing sideways with some of the biggest flakes of snow I have ever seen. Can't wait to see what it looks like come morning. We still have 2 more days of this to go, so who knows how it will end up.

I've stocked up on groceries, doing laundry like mad, found the flashlights and candles, and now sit holding my breath waiting for the power to hang on here. So many areas are without power between the wind, rain, and snow it is just wild. Many area roads are closed and the ones that aren't should be for all the fools driving around getting stuck. I have gel fuel for my "fake fireplace" that actually heats up the living room about 5 degrees if you burn two cans at a time, so between that and blankies, we will stay warm no matter what.

Hope everyone has a safe, warm, and restful weekend. Please send any extra sunshine and warm weather my way if you have some to spare.

All is calm, All is bright

At last, Prince Charming has returned home. He had a very hazardous drive, but lucky for him only slid of the road once and was able to get out easily. 500 miles of snow and ice can really take a toll on his old bones. Had a nice warm pot of Turkey Taco Soup waiting for him and got him tucked into bed. Now maybe I can begin to enjoy this Christmas season.
I believe tonight will have to be the deadline for decorating our poor tree. The on to the wrapping and cooking. Now that the weather is just plain cold, will be nice to relax in our warm home and enjoy spending some good family time together.
Not sure if I'll have time, so want to wish every visitor a very Merry Christmas. May you be surrounded by family, friends, and love. Best wishes to everyone! Happy Holidays!

I'm dreaming of a White Christmas

Well, it appears in spite of my denials to the contrary, winter is finally here. At least for now. Now, will someone please make it stop? I've already shoveled about 6 inches this morning and it is still coming down. Enough already. Have I told you how much I really hate snow? Well, I do.....