Let It Snow!!

It's nearly December here, and technically, it's still fall, but we have had a couple of big snow storms that have made it very winter-like. I love the snow and am really happy when this time of year rolls around. A lot of people grumble about the cold, or the road conditions when it snows, but I don't mind a bit. Kevin says that he's the same way. As long as we all just slow down and give each other plenty of space we'll be fine. Our first big snow that stuck was last week. A few days before on the news, the weather-man was forecasting a huge blizzard-like snow storm with lots of high winds and snow. It didn't disappoint, at least at my house.

I happened to be working my "sometimes" job that week (figures) and had to stay a little later that night the storm was supposed to hit. My boss pushed us all out at 5 o'clock, at which time the wind had picked up, but wasn't really snowing at all. Since I only live 10 minutes from work, I though, "good, maybe I'll make it home before the craziness starts." I was wrong. I was on the road for no longer than a couple of minutes and BAM! Tons of snow was swirling around my car in the wind and I couldn't see more than a couple of feet in front of me. Over the next few minutes it just came down harder. Once I got onto the surface streets, visibility had decreased even more, so I slowed down and took my time getting home. Like I said, I don't really get anxiety driving in the snow, but the other drivers who think they are exempt from same driving make me a little nervous.

The rest of the way home I had some jerk right on my tail swerving left and right, to see if he could get around me?? Are you serious? I can barely see a few inches in front of my car and this guy wants to pass me? It's not like I was at a snail crawl or anything; I was going 25 or 30 mph. (I checked). When I finally got to our street, the guy blows past me (I knew he would) so I honked. Take that, tailgating guy! Well, what else was I supposed to do to express my frustration to that bozo? Anyway, the moral of my story is slow down and give each other plenty of space and we should all be fine. That that extra time in your car to enjoy the beauty of the snow.

So, that was the first big storm. Here's what our street looked like the next, morning.



We are right in the middle of the next storm, which seems like it's bigger. It's not as windy, but we have had tons of snow. Kevin and I went out this afternoon when we thought that the snow was dying down to shovel the sidewalks and driveway. Even though the snow had slowed, we still couldn't keep up with it. I'll take picture tomorrow morning to see how we fared this time.

You want to know the best part of this whole chilly, snowy time? Or water heater broke and has been leaking water under the wall to our new carpet downstairs. Yay! The carpet had been wet for a couple of days, but we have a toddler and a dog, so I thought that one of the two spilled something or was licking the carpet. Then, last night, I put a towel down to soak up the water, and the towel was sopping wet after I stepped on it a couple of times. I didn't think there was something leaking from the ceiling, that would have been obvious, so I checked the storage room on the other side of the wall where the furnace and water heater were and sure enough, water was coming out of the top of the water heater. A valve on top was all corroded and leaking. One of the many great things about Magna water. It corrodes all of your appliances if you don't have a water softener.

Anyway, Kevin and his dad are going to get a new water heater tomorrow, but I think we may have to run over to my parents' house to take a shower tomorrow morning.

Christmas Projects

A couple of posts ago I shared a picture of a Gromit doll that I had decided to undertake myself as a Christmas gift for Abi. I'm happy to say that I have finished it. It actually has been finished for some time. I was surprised how easy it really was. The hardest part was probably assembling the whole thing. Now, this was my very first attempt at crocheting a doll, so here are some of my flaws that I noticed right off the bat. First, my stitches probably should have been tighter. I say that because when I began to stuff it, you can sort of see through the stitching to the batting underneath. That's probably the main thing, but the limbs aren't exactly symmetrical, and his neck is a little weak, but I think that it turned out cute and would like to share.



Ta-dah! What do you think? I changed the ears a little bit. The ears for the pattern I used were a little too small so I tweaked it to make them bigger. Here's the difference.



The completion of this project made me feel good, and a little ambitious. I decided that if I could make Gromit, I could probably do Shaun the Sheep as well. (One of Abi's other favorite shows) So I used the Gromit pattern as a base and made up the rest. I'm proud to confess that I have finished that one as well and it turned out just as cute, if not more.

This picture kind of looks funny.

He has a little bit better posture when you look at him from the back. And yes, his tail really is that long, see.


Trust me, I know. I watch the show enough.

Being crafty these past few weeks has made me feel really good and accomplishing something has made me feel even better. I'm really excited for Christmas to be here so I can see what Abi will think of her new friends.

Halloween 2010

This year, since Halloween was on Sunday, we celebrated on Saturday. I opted for the homemade costume again this year for Abi. My mom made her's last year, and I was just planning on buying one this year, but I was looking and couldn't find anything that I liked that was her size. Besides, everyone wanted too much money for their costumes anyway. I don't know why, the material on them is usually paper-thin or mostly foam.

Anyway, I was thinking of what Abi could dress up as, when we took a trip to the dollar movie to see Toy Story 3. I thought that Barbie would be kind of cute and pretty easy. So, I searched online for legwarmer patterns for babies (she ended up dressing up as "Workout Barbie") to get some ideas and made up a sweatband pattern to match. The result: one pretty cute baby who wouldn't leave the sweatband on for more than a couple of minutes. (sigh) Why do we parents even bother? Oh, yeah. Because it's cute. Anyway, here's what she looked like.

...and a back view

Abi is still a little young to really understand Halloween (but really, how many people know the "true meaning" of Halloween, besides dressing up and getting candy?) but Kevin took her trick-or treating anyway to a few houses. While she may not understand Halloween, she does understand candy and when people start giving it to her by the handful, she thinks it's a pretty sweet (get it "sweet") deal. So, needless to say, she really enjoyed herself.

Kevin and I weren't as festive. He threw on a Red Sox shirt and was a Red Sox fan and I wore normal clothes and went as Barbie's mom.

Another fun thing about Halloween is the time Abi gets to spend with her cousins. Savannah and Karina came over to our house to visit dressed up as a horse (yes, it's a horse, not a cow) and a white tiger. Uncle Aaron thought they all looked so cute he wanted a picture with them.

Uncle Aaron, great with the kids, and yes ladies, he's single! (wink, wink)

Savannah the "horse"

Abi has a hard time keeping her hands (and face) off baby Karina.

Later we went over to my parent's house where all of my siblings and Abi's other cousins were. Mel found a cute little pumpkin princess costume for Riley and Rowan was "Woody" from Toy Story.



We all wanted pictures of the kids and thought it would be cute if they each sat with a pumpkin, but since they all can get up and walk on their own, it didn't quite work out how we would have liked. This is what I got.





Not exactly what we had in mind. The only way to get them to hold still for a few seconds was with candy.

Riley was concentrating SO hard to get that last piece of candy out of the box.

Angela came over to my parent's house a little later so my mom and sisters could see Karina. Abi was excited to share her "daddy-side" cousins with her "mommy-side" cousins.

Rowan wanted a turn holding the baby (love that face).

Abi introducing Riley and Savannah to each other.

Riley's pretty happy about it.

All in all, I think that everyone had a great time. I hope this will become a tradition for us every Halloween!