hanging on by a thread

By March I'm getting desperate for some sunshine and fresh air.   I do not enjoy a snowstorm that was supposed to be 6 inches turning into 48 hours of non stop snow that dumped 2 feet on the ground.   On the bright side,  it was close to 45 degrees once it stopped snowing and I got both sunshine and fresh air this weekend.  At least snow doesn't stay on the ground too long in March!

My brother and I The kids made a giant snowman on Saturday.   We They are so talented!

He's an Irish snowman,  natch.  There's actually quite a lot of Irishness in that picture.   I'm not sure how much Irish blood my niece and nephew have in them but they are at least half Irish and my Baby Girl is also half Irish.   So among the three kids at least 1.5 of them is Irish.  There's an interesting fact for you.

Also, by "Irish",  I do mean "American whose ancestors hailed from the Emerald Isle".   I'm not sure any of them know what or where Ireland is.   Though their grandfather is an Irish citizen who has been to Ireland exactly once.   Who knew that was even possible? 

And on that topic,  if someone says "top of the morning to you" on March 17,  please respond  "and the rest of the day to yourself".   Drives me crazy that no one ever responds appropriately.

March 8th

We are so done with this. I bet Andrew is happy to have over a foot of snow! I'd love to help, but someone's got to watch Sesame Street with the kids!

(sorry, I always forget to hold my phone sideways when I take video!) 

Monday is supposed to be 58 degrees.   Think over a foot of snow will melt in 72 hours??  We hope so! 

Blizzard 2013

More to come later, but a during video and an after video:

I took this one around 11:30,  right when the wind seemed to be at it's worst.  We didn't lose power, but I have no idea how we escaped that! 

Just a video of people starting the clean up effort.   This is my least favorite part,  it will be a week before the parking lot is actually clear from snow.

for REALZ

She said I can't go back to America soon
It's so goddamn cold it's gonna snow until June
Yeah, they're freezin' up in Buffalo stuck in their cars
And I'm lyin' here 'neath the sun and the stars.

~ Jimmy Buffett
Manana

I really think it is going to snow until June. For all of you not stuck in 3 feet of snow, I took some pictures to try to show you just what we are dealing with up here in the arctic circle.

close up of the tree outside of our door

snow, snow, so much snow!

The view from the back door down the walkway. That's my car at the end

Icicles! There are bigger ones on another building, but I had the wrong lens on when I was outside and couldn't zoom over there.

The people who live in this unit go to Florida for the winter. They may not be able to get back into their house when they come home....

Huge Giant Snowbanks. I'm willing to put money on the fact that there will some remnants of these snowbanks on May 1.

The snow on our porch - it wants to come in!

My car, dwarfed by the snowbanks

And finally - the huge bucket of ice melting pellet thingies. I have no idea what this is actually called, but doesn't the color remind you of tropical island water? Don't you just want to fly to the Carribean after looking at this? It's not so nice when it gets tracked into my kitchen, but I love the color of it in the bucket.

oh the monotony

Did you hear? We're getting 6-8 inches of snow tomorrow. Yeah, there's a winter weather advisory in effect.

Did I move to Buffalo and not realize it?

Oh, wait, no I didn't. Hello climate change. Don't worry, I'm sure the republican party will stop denying your existence one of these years.

Oh snap! Yes I did!

Guess I'm getting up at 5 tomorrow to get to work before the worst of the storm.

I'm getting really sick of this...

ow...

My friend let me borrow her copy of the Gold's Gym Dance Workout for the Wii. Let's just say it's not the workout for me. The dance part of the workout is Latin Dance. I'm not a Latin Dancer... I have no rhythm, I can never find the beat, and my limbs are flying everywhere. I'm a danger to small children and animals. At one point I was suposed to be doing the salsa, and I was seriously doing an Irish jig. I tried really hard to mimic what the game was doing, but it came out like a jig. I still don't know how that happened.

The jury is still out as to whether or not I will be buying a copy for myself. There was some kickboxing that I did enjoy, so I'm going to give it another shot tomorrow night and see if the kick boxing can make up for the Latin Dance. Kick Boxing requires much less rhythm. Less chance I will knock over a lamp. (I would like to point out that I did gymnastics for 8 years and figure skating for 14 years. STILL NOT GRACEFUL)

Why is there a Short Chubby Girl dance? I should create one - it will involve the jig and waving your arms over your head. Really, as long as your hear rate is up, who cares if you can salsa?

Also... I left work on time today, which I hadn't done in quite a while and it was light out when I left!!! Granted, I leave work at 4, but I swear the week before Christmas it was already pitch black when I walked out the doors of work. Not the case now! Whoo hoo! Winter has barely started, but I'm already seeing signs of it ending!

On that note, we are supposed to get another storm on Friday. I am going to work on Friday. Please pray to whatever deity, spiritual being, alien overlord, or whatever you believe in that A) I make it home Friday afternoon and B) my little Carolla also makes it home Friday afternoon!

I didn't want to admit this, but I haven't started my scrapbook yet. Feel free to yell at me.

stir crazy

Fear not, dear readers. I did not trek into work today! Though I totally could have gone in this afternoon if daycare had been open. The roads are fine. We only got a foot of snow, so the storm wasn't as bad as predicted in terms of actual snowfall. But the wind was really bad and there are crazy snowdrifts.

Baby girl is DONE with being stuck at home, and it's only been a day and a half. She literally had a 20 minute temper tantrum where she stood in the corner, put her hands on the wall and hysterically cried. If I tried to go near her she would get so upset that she'd start to shake and scream " NO MAMA NO MAMA NO MAMA".

Did I get that on tape? Obviously. I did feel badly for her though, she's sick and teething, and is sick to death of her 881 SF of living space. We did take her outside yesterday to give her a few minutes of running around, but it's really cold and windy today and she's still too little to really enjoy it. So inside we stay...

Let it snow!

Mama! It's NOMING!!

Ready to go outside Baby Girl?

This blizzard could not have come at a worse time. I simply cannot call into work tomorrow, with it being the week after Christmas, everyone who can take vacation did take vacation and those of us that are left need to keep everything running. Me not working tomorrow is not an option... but we're foretasted to get around 18inches of snow. 18 inches in itself isn't the end of the world (though it is a huge pain in the neck), but the blizzard conditions that are coming along with it mean I really shouldn't be driving 130 miles in a teeny tiny Carolla. However, as long as daycare is open tomorrow, that is exactly what I will be doing. Yuck.

Christmas has come and gone. Baby Girl got so many toys! She has a snazzy new ride on Elmo Bus which she loves and a million other things. I've already gone through her toys and put an entire trash bag of them away, and I still do not have enough room for everything she got. We really need a playroom for her. It's going to still be a few years before we can get out of this place, and I honestly don't know how we are going to do it. This house will be overrun with toys before we can get out! But she's a lucky girl, she has a lot of people that love her.

Everyone think good thoughts... please let daycare be open tomorrow, please let the blizzard conditions decrease before 6am Monday, and let's all REALLY hope my Carolla does not spin off the road!

snow

Dear Massachusetts, and more specifically BG's daycare:

It's winter. It snows in the winter. We are only getting about 10 inches.

Stop. Freaking. OUT.

I'm all about not driving if you don't have to do so. The less cars on the road, the better. I'm also in favor of companies allowing employees who have the ability to work from home to do so. But is there really a need for everything to come to a screeching halt? And for BG's daycare to close at 2, right in the middle of a 2 hour conference call that I can't miss? I don't think so!

love,
the person who is not afraid of the snow, even though I don't have 4 wheel drive.

lousy Smarch weather!

We are supposed to get up to 15 inches of snow by tomorrow at 5pm. I am praying to every deity that I can think of that UMass Boston will cancel all classes tomorrow. This is my 4th winter at UMB, and I have never had a snow day. Fate has never brought a snow storm on the same day I have had class. Tomorrow is probably my last shot at a snow day, and I'm hoping against hope that it will happen. I'm already checking the UMB website every 10 minutes - nothing yet. Come on UMB! Do something for me before I graduate! Unfortunately, the storm is supposed to completely gone by 5pm tonight and night classes don't start until 6pm, so I don't think my chances are that good. But that will not stop me from checking every 10 minutes until I leave work tomorrow.

Apparently March is coming in like a lion, so I really hope it goes out like a lamb. I am so not feeling any more snow. Right now I'm only tolerating the storm because there is a small chance of cancelled classes tomorrow. Other than that small chance of a school free week, snow does nothing for me in March. I'm so done. so. done.

In other news, I have 16 weeks left in this pregnancy. Where does the time go?

Should Old Acquaintance Be Forgot...

Happy New Years Eve! It will be a quiet night for me and Andrew, as I'm still fighting fatigue and can't stay up much past 11pm anyway. I was hoping to have a glass of champagne tonight, but due to the driving snowstorm, I didn't stop to pick some up on my way home. If Andrew doesn't stop either, I'll just have to have a glass another time!

Yeah... about that snowstorm. It took me an hour and a half to get home. That's no record, but it's still extremely frustrating. The snow is pretty though, and it's covering up the nasty dirty snow that was left over from the last storm.

So have a happy new year everyone! Stay safe and warm!

37 hours of snow

Well, it really was a Winter Wonderland from 2pm Friday afternoon through 3am Sunday morning. I don't know the official snow amounts, but I'd say my area got in the 1.5 foot range. It's kind of hard to tell because the wind created some pretty big snow drifts. It was a crazy storm - it just wouldn't end. It must have been powered by the Energizer Bunny, because it literally kept going and going and going.... I enjoyed the storm. I really do like snow, and in December I'm not sick of it yet. It was another slap in the face, reminding me that I can't ski this winter, but I'm starting to accept that (okay, no I'm not, but I try to tell myself that I am)

These pictures were taken about 2:30 on Friday afternoon. It looks like any other dusting of snow.


Then we fast forward about an hour and a half to 4pm

You can see the plow has already been through. The plowing company would return many many times.

Now we fast forward again, this time a few hours to about 7pm. Andrew and I went outside to see what we could see (and also to take the trash out). We waked around the complex a bit, and by that time, the snow was halfway to my knees - or depending on where we were walking, all the way up to my knees.
And then we went inside and watched Fellowship of the Ring, and watched the snow fall from inside. The next morning, around 9:00ish we went outside to clean off the cars and move them to already plowed sots. I had to shovel my way around the car before I could get near enough to it to get off the snow.
And this morning about 8:30, 5 hours after it had finally stopped snowing, I took these pictures of the total snowfall. We might get more snow later tonight, some stations are saying wintry mix and some are saying straight snow. We'll have to wait and see!

Oh Come All Ye Faithful

A few weeks ago I wrote that I was going to try my hardest to enjoy Christmas this year. And I really am trying. It's extremely hard because I am so stressed out with school stuff around Christmas, and it's really all I can think about or focus on. So I'm trying the best way I can to get into the Christmas spirit, but I really think it's a lost cause for me until Christmas 2009.

What would help me now is some snow. I don't want another commute from hell, but I do want maybe 3 or 4 inches on the ground. I enjoy snow, as long as I don't have to drive in it. As long as the plows have time to get on the roads before I do, I really have no problem with it. So a little bit of snow would go a long way towards me becoming more jolly and less Grinchy. Being done with my Innovation paper would help too (yes, my class is called Front End of Innovation. Biggest waste of time ever, and the professor has never had a job in the real world. You can guess how much I have learned from this class).

So bring on the snow, as long as it falls from the hours of 10PM thorugh 3AM or 9AM through 3PM. Preferably 9Am through 3PM because I love nothing more than to watch snow fall. I used to get all decked out in my snowsuit (loved the one piece ones as a kid!) and lie on my back in the backyard and just stare up at the snow falling. There's nothing prettier!

winter wonderland

Our last storm was this past Monday. I'm pretty sure every school disctrict in the Commonwealth canceled school that day. The metro-west area got about a foot of snow! I'd say we got about 5 inches in our neck of the woods. Today is Thursday, so we are 4 days post snow. It doesn't look like it though. Here are some pictures I took today.

well I had a few more pictures to show you, but blogger doesn't seem to want to cooperate. Which is a shame, because these are not the best ones I have. I'll take more next time it snows. I'm hoping to take the camera to Okemo this weekend, maybe I'll have some super pictures from that!

I've done 2/3 of the first week of c25k. So far so good - I'm worried about next week, as the intervals move up to running for 90 seconds with a 2 minute rest. I still don't think I need a 2 minute rest for 90 seconds of running, but I have to go with the program. I don't want to do it my way and then not be able to do it. We'll see how next week goes.

are you kidding me?

BOOOO

Canton Club was closed due to a "power outage". I'll point out that there were lights on inside. Guess c25k will have to start tomorrow.

Also, driving to work in a snowstorm sucks. Snow is fabulous because it leads to skiing, but driving in it sucks. Especially when you have a Carolla.

That's all I have for today, are you all anxiously waiting for me to go back to school so I don't have time to update daily? Fear not my friends, I start two weeks from tonight.

10.8 miles

Just 10.8 miles from where I work to where I live. It can take as little as 15 minutes without traffic (as most of those miles are highway) to about 35 with traffic. But any more than 35 minutes to get home is extremely rare and means a LOT of traffic.

Today? How long did it take me to go those 10.8 miles today?

three and a half hours. 210 minutes.


Yes. It took me three and a half hours to get home, thanks to this hellish storm. I actually have an appreciation of the blizzard of 78, because I seriously debated leaving my car at a dunkin donuts about 3 miles away from my house and walking. I'm still wondering if it would have been faster to do so.

At hour one I thought "yeah, this is about normal for a really bad snow storm".

At hour two I thought "Oh my god I want to go home"

At hour three I was crying. Big huge alligator tears.

At hour three and fifteen minutes I got into an all out fight with a car who tried to cut me off. He swore at me and I reminded him to mind his manners. Thank god I was in Canton.,, I probably would have been shot if I had been in other places. I mean, I rolled down my window and got into a screaming match with a douchebag who actually thought he could cut off traffic. "I HAVE BEEN IN THIS CAR FOR THREE HOURS AND YOU THINK YOU CAN CUT ME OFF????" came out of my mouth. he yelled back something nasty and I said "DID YOU JUST SWEAR AT ME??? WHERE ARE YOUR MANNERS???" Because mine were present and accounted for as I was screaming bloody murder out of my car window. But come on. Who do you think you are, cutting off a line of traffic in that hellish commute? People were calling into the radio talking about how they had been in their cars for hours. And this douche thinks he can zip up the breakdown lane and someone will let him in? Ummmm.... in his words, go fuck yourself.

At hour three and 20 minutes I made the best decision of my life and went home some backroads that hadn't been plowed. It was a huge gamble because there was a foot of snow on the ground and the streets had not been plowed, but I guess the Almighty had pity on me, because at hour three and thirty minutes I pulled into my driveway.

Thank god for cranberry martini mix.

Oh the weather outside is frightful...

So the title of today's blog comes from a song that is today a popular Christmas carol, but it really shouldn't be a Christmas Carol anymore. It doesn't snow in December now, and the weather is hardly frightful. Fast forward to March, however, and it is a different story. Maybe someone should record the song in an Irish brogue and re-sell it as a St. Patrick's Day song. Everyone knows the old adage, which I believe is from Mark Twain, if I am not mistaken, "If you don't like the weather in New England, wait 5 minutes". So damn true. It was 70 degrees two days ago. Today we are getting slammed by snow. It doesn't make any sense, but mix New England's unstable weather pattern with a powerful El Nino which is being fueled by global warming, and you have this year's ridiculus winter.

This is the view from our front window - notice that you can't clearly make out the building across the street. That is not due to a camera issue. This is because we currently have white out conditions. Notice the street isn't plowed either. I don't know why, it's not like we have used all our plow money this year, but apparently the town of Canton SUCKS at plowing. I saw a bunch of cars that got stuck on my way home.

This is my car, taken from our balcony (which is why you can see all the snow spots from the lense getting wet). I point out my car for a few reasons. One - just pointing out that our management company has not yet plowed our driveway even though it has been snowing for almost 6 hours. Two - my poor little car just sat in traffic for over an hour to go 19 miles. :( It wasn't so happy about that trip. Normally it takes anywhere from 10-15 minutes with traffic. So that drive home sucked ass. I don't understand why we can't work from home on days like this, but we can't

This is the snow on our deck. Those of you who have been to Casa de O-G know that our deck is high up and covered. It's not easy for snow to accumulated on it. Yet there is a good couple of inches in mini-drifts in all 4 corners. Yeah, it's been snowing sideways for a while (hence the white out conditions!

So the good news is we are only supposed to get about 10 inches and then it is going to turn to rain and rain for another 10 hours... which will cause flooding, but I personally don't have to worry about flooding. So by noon tomorrow there should be no percipitation falling from the sky! Until then, stay warm and dry!