For Michele and Louise

This post is just for Michele and Louise, my lovely UK friends who so desperately want the snow I so desperately want to get away from. lol I went to bed two nights ago with the last of the snow melting away into the ground. I noticed the temp outside was 42 F and thought it was odd, but being tired, didn't think much about it. Had I had my wits about me, I would have realized yet another snow storm was setting in. You see, we haven't seen the sun here except maybe two times since Christmas morning. It has been overcast every single day, and it snows almost every single day.

Here is the pattern: cloud cover, snow, warm to melt the snow, snow, warm to melt the snow, five minutes of sun, cloud cover, snow, warm to melt the snow, snow, snow some more, snow even more, warm to melt the snow.... But I digress; I went to bed with the last of the snow melting away. I awoke the next morning to 6" of fresh, new snow. I thought of all of my friends who wanted snow and don't have any, so I took a few pictures for you. Enjoy! (Someone should. lol!)

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I sit under this tree in the summer to make phone calls at work.

This is the parking lot at my work. Notice how the snow comes up to the tummy of the cars.

My backyard. Yep, the fish are frozen inside their winter wonderland. :(

The stairs out my back door. Maggie had taken her coat off in the middle of the yard. I had to wade in snow shin deep to go get it.

P.S. Hubs said that he saw a few of the fish last time he was able to get through the ice. If our fish survive the winter, which they should, we are planing on taking them with us to Texas.

Back to Life

I hope everyone had a wonderful Christmas. Ours was pretty nice even though it got off to a rough start. We were supposed to go to my parent's for Christmas Eve dinner, but a nasty snow storm set in a couple hours before we were due to head up. After talking with my parents we decided it was best that we not brave the roads and just wait to come up until the next day. I was really disappointed because I really wanted to go. (I cried.)

After it was determined we wouldn't be going, Hubs and I decided to start our own Christmas Eve tradition by getting "Christmas Eve Taco Bell." We bundled Maggie up in her pink winter coat (she's an inside dog who lounges in front of a fire place, and therefore has ZERO winter coat of her own), and headed out on icy roads in pursuit of some type of dinner. Before snagging a bite to eat, we stopped off to return some movies at Blockbuster, where we could plainly see that Taco Bell was already closed for the evening. We had a quick discussion and determined we would run down to Wendys and see if they were open. Its not exactly nachos, but french fries aren't at the bottom of my favorite foods list either. ;p Luckily for us, Wendys was open! And so started our new tradition, Christmas Eve Wendys.

Christmas morning we woke up to 3 new inches of glistening, white snow! Maggie couldn't get out fast enough to romp in it. Once again, we bundled her up and loaded the car with Christmas presents before heading to my parent's house where they had 6-8" of snow compared to our 3. We spent the day opening presents, sitting around talking, watching my dog bolt from one end of my parent's yard to the other in snow that came up to her tummy, and watching movies. We rounded out the evening with a nice steak Christmas dinner. Once the sun went down, we grabbed the very freezing Maggie (my mom won't let my pup inside her house) and went back home to have our own Christmas.

For Christmas I got a vacation to St. Kitts, a vacation to Scotland, some much desired square dishes, wonderful gift cards that I can't wait to use, and some sheep skin slippers (from who else but the Border Collie, Maggie?!). Hubs got a new hot tub. (I think someone really loves him.)

I hope you all had a wonderful, safe holiday. Can't wait to see you all back blogging!

Christmas Pictures

I have spent the last two days finishing up my Christmas shopping and wrapping presents. I did 99% of my Christmas shopping back in April when Hubs and I went to the UK, but I still had some friends and Hubs to shop for. One of my cousins drove a couple hours just to go shopping with me yesterday, and we had a blast. I think one of my favorite parts of the Christmas holiday is buying things for people I think they will like. Since Hubs and I don't have kids yet and we both have good jobs, I am able to splurge a little bit on everyone, including myself. ;) I'm just glad its all done and I can spend the rest of the week relaxing and taking it easy.

Here are a couple of pictures that make it all seem even more like Christmas at my house.

Mags, chilling by the fire, sporting some doggie red eye. (She's the only kid I've got for now, so she's spoiled rotten [or whiney, if you ask Hubs].)

The mountains out my back door. It just might be a white Christmas this year. Hubs can't wait to hit the slopes!

The Christmas stockings hung on the mantle. There are already some chocolate reindeer in the socks. YUM!

Our modest Christmas tree. Its only about 4.5' tall. The monkey is a stuffed animal for Maggie for Christmas.

Its Snowing

It snowed about a foot and a half here today. I was just glad that today was not on a weekday when I would have to wait until 5:00 to head home on less than fun roads. I took a few pictures of the backyard and Maggie in the new snow. First are some pictures of the new backyard Hubs and I put in over the summer, and the way the yard looks now with all of the snow, including our poor little fish pond. :)

The south side with our failing Jackman Clematis vine, hostas, and some other plants I don't remember the names of. Maggie was being camera shy.

The west side with Hubs' favorite Concord grape vine, silver mounds, strawberries (not shown), carnations, little purple flowering plants, and my favorite delphiniums.

All the green is now covered in a sheet of snow, with the brim of Hubs' hat visible as he shovels the pattio.

Maggie, feeling slightly tortured that her pampered self has to sit outside in the snow for this Kodak moment instead of inside on the sofa, next to the fire place.

The fish pond before we lost the battle against algea for the year. It used to be so beautiful with its multi-colored stones.

The fish pond con masive algea and covered in snow. If you look closely, you can see two of our larger fish in this picture. We have 17 fish total, but we've only been able to find 7 since it got cold. The sand dollar-looking item is our winter heater.