Disbelief

We were in shock yesterday over the tragic events at Virginia Tech.

Many years ago, Lee and I lived in Blacksburg, just a couple blocks from campus, and I worked at Virginia Tech for a while. Even though we missed our real "home" and moved back here to WV, we've always kept such fond memories of the two years we spent there.

Our hearts and prayers go out to everyone forever changed by this horrible event.

wishin' it was spring already...

I hate winter. Have I mentioned that lately?

Yesterday and today has been "freeze your butt off" cold. School was cancelled. Yesterday's coldest temp was around -8 F. This morning, my sweetie was nice enough to walk Skye for her first potty of the day, and it was -14. Yes, that is a minus sign in front of the number. UGH!

Today we spent the better part of the day dealing with a frozen water situation. We get our water from an old spring house at the edge of the woods. The water then goes into two different holding tanks, then continues down to us as needed. Well, the main gate valve was not covered properly (for whatever reason) and it froze. Lee and Daddy made a reflector around the valve and had a Coleman propane heater on it for many hours. Meanwhile, we were doing our best to scrounge up breakfast and lunch that did not require lots of pots/dishes/etc. And of course, no toilet flushing. Thank God for baby wipes and hand sanitizer. Hours passed and then finally....water!! So now the gate valve is really super-duper insulated.

Then later tonight, after washing up most of the dishes, we noticed that the tub had begun to collect water. Yep...another problem. The main drainage pipe was frozen. Luckily, the toilet has a seperate drain directly to the septic. So, the water in the tub was just handwashing water and dishwater. Anyway, now that's been taken care of, too.

And....we're getting lots and lots of snow as I'm typing this. School is already on a two-hour delay, and I'm guessing they will decide to close it for tomorrow, too. We've been hearing 1-3", other forecasts say 2-4", and we even heard a forecast earlier that said up to five in low-lying areas and up to 12" in the mountainous regions.

Winter sucks.

Here are some fabrics that make me think of spring, sherbert, and warm sunshine. The colors are actually a little less intense in person, but you get the idea.

that #@^$ white stuff

We got some of that horrid white stuff on Sunday...and someone had lots of fun!

Being that I hate snow...and I certainly didn't want to get out in it, or take a chance on slipping and hurting my back again...I chose to take these photos from the safety of my living room window!!!

Lee built a fire, and they stayed warm in between sled rides. Of course, Morgan came to the door to get the obligatory marshmallows for roasting. And faithful Ben kept them company. They had a great father-daughter afternoon.

yes...I'm weird

I've been tagged by Jhoanna at One Red Robin:

Rules - People who get tagged need to write a blog post of 6 weird things about them as well as state this rule clearly. In the end, you need to choose 6 people to be tagged and list their names. Don’t forget to leave a comment that says “you are tagged” in their comments and tell them to read your blog.

1. I eat popcorn with a spoon, ever since I was a little girl.

2. I fold clothing before putting it in the dirty laundry hamper.

3. I have fingers that are crooked/twisted. Especially my left index finger . (Caused from cracking my knuckles sideways for years when I was growing up. Don't let your kids do this!)


4. I absolutely, positively hate to get dirty, especially my hands. (When I was little, an elderly neighbor bought me a sandcastle playset and told my mother that he needed to see me play in the dirt at least once - and no, I never did. He swore that I was the cleanest child he'd ever known.) I guess this is why I'm a terrible gardener!

5. I stir corn into my mashed potatoes. Now Morgan does the same.

ok...and number 6...I almost didn't put this....because it's really weird....
I shave my toes. Yes, bizarre, I know. (Because Lee teased me endlessly for years about how my big toes were so hairy.)

Now...I'm not going to follow the rules *exactly*...so, if you haven't done this yet...consider yourself tagged!

On the mend...

First of all...thank you for the well-wishes!

My back is not the greatest yet, but it is healing and feeling much better...considering the pain I was in at this time last week. I can move now without wanting to scream. Still using the heating pad, still taking the Flexeril (at night only now). Continuing with the chiropractic, too. No more Percocet needed, thank God. It's good if the pain is unbearable, but it makes me so space-y and "out of it", and I really hate that feeling.

Then yesterday, I had another migraine complete with vomiting. Fun fun.

Yesterday, we also had something happen that set our tiny corner of the world on end, but I don't feel like going into it right now...maybe never. (I always struggle with how personal I should get here in blogland.)

So...as promised, I still have several projects to share, and they are coming soon. Please bear with me!

OUCH!!!

Double OUCH!! And that's putting it mildly. Here's the scoop:

Yesterday, we'd had snow overnight and school was on a 2-hour delay. (Lee always takes Morgan to school on his way to work.) So I needed to take her to school. I went out to sweep the walk, continued down the driveway, and cleaned off the car and let it warm up. Then I made sure I could get the back door open - the latch is messed up and it's tricky...and of course it was mostly frozen, I had a hard time with it. Well, as I turned around to head back to the house....walking was excrutiatingly painful...I couldn't even stand up straight. But I *had* to fight through it and get the Mo to school.

When I got home and walked into the house I was completely in tears, yelping in pain. I called Lee and told him I needed to go to the chiropractor.

Long story short - I have a severe sprain/strain to the lumbar and sacral regions and a displaced tailbone. Yikes!!! My chiro could barely adjust me because my muscles were in such spasms. His office is closed on Thursdays, so I have to go back tomorrow for more adjusting.

I'm not real hip on taking a lot of meds, but I must say that I'm quite thankful for my left-over percocet from my kidney stone last year.

finding my groove again...

Hello! I'm still here....really, I am.


I guess that break was just a little too enjoyable, because I'm finding it hard to get back into the groove. I've been reading the same thing from some other bloggers, too, so at least I'm not alone in my post-holiday laziness!


Our Christmas was so wonderful. I hope all of you reading this had a wonderful one, as well. I found myself enjoying it more after it was over though. Not in a bad way. What I mean is that I just felt so pressed for time and so busy in the days before, that after it was over and the dust had settled, that's when I had time to relax and enjoy the tree, and the bits of Christmas beauty all around me. So much in fact, that we just took down the all the decorations and the tree yesterday...January 7th! We've never left the tree up that long. In fact, I'm usually tired of it and want it down on the 26th. Hmm...so different for me this year.






I love this picture of Morgan. The joy and excitement on her face! She had just started to open a gift from her Grandma and Papaw that she had been really, really, really wanting. I'm so glad Lee was able to capture that moment!


*****

As some of you know, I'm a massage therapist, but haven't really been too active in many moons. This past Friday and Saturday I worked at a resort spa. It's mostly an on-call situation at the moment, so they don't even know when they'll need me again. Boy was I sore yesterday!! As you can imagine, bodywork is physically demanding...and let's just say that I'm not in the greatest shape lately!! That needs to change!

*****

Stay tuned...I have some things to show soon...

Hello 2007...