I'll take one snowblower pill, please

When we were looking for houses in Michigan our realtor showed us a home with a heated driveway. “That’s the dumbest thing I’ve ever heard of!” I cried. “I’m not paying a premium for that!”

Oh, if only I could go back and buy that house…

Today I’m later with a post than I wanted to be because I’ve been shoveling the driveway. Yes, we’re back in Michigan and a driveway full of snow was our greeting as we pulled in at 10:57 last night.

This morning Sean said he’d shovel before he left for work. I was reading a book (a novel! Not something for anyone’s lessons – a book for fun!) but after a few minutes I couldn’t enjoy it anymore because I realized the shoveling was taking longer than Sean expected and he was going to be late. So I put on my hat, gloves and boots and went to help. My husband, ever the optimist, said, “You’re supposed to be reading your book. You’re on vacation! But you look so cute with your hat on!”

I quickly clarified the situation. “I am not on vacation. What about shoveling the driveway says ‘vacation’ to you? I have this hat on because it’s cold and I want to help you so you won’t be late. The only time this hat should signify vacation is if there are skis strapped to my feet.”

He smiled, kissed my cheek, thanked me for helping, and we went about our shoveling.

I was still concerned he was going to be late but he assured me, “It’s okay. I’m my own boss today.”

“Then fire yourself and get a two year severance package with a relocation plan.”

He just laughed, got in the truck and drove off.

This is our fifth winter here. I am sick of shoveling. I am so buying a snow blower today. I’m going to bill it to our health savings account under the mental health category. Because it will help my outlook on life in Michigan’s winter more than any pill ever could.

Glad there was a bathroom nearby

Bowling went well yesterday. And for me to say that is quite remarkable because I am not a good bowler. On the Wii I generally score over 200. Funny thing is that doesn’t translate to real, actual bowling with the fancy shoes and heavy ball. But today I scored over 100 with an amazing final frame.

My twin sister, Heather, her husband, David, Sean and I were on one lane; the kids were on another. Heather and I were neck-and-neck through the entire game. We both had a few strikes and spares, but she was a few points ahead of me the whole game. We got down to the 10th frame and Heather bowled a strike, which meant she got to bowl twice more. She threw another strike! We were going crazy laughing and cheering, amazed she threw two in a row. But at that point I thought, “Well, there goes the game. I’ll never be able to throw two strikes.”

Never say never.

I rolled the 11 pounder down the center of the lane and what do you know? I got a strike. I couldn’t believe it! Then I threw another and really couldn’t believe that one! I jumped up and down while David and Sean clapped for me. Heather and I were laughing hysterically, and for two girls who’ve had incontinence issues since the births of their children, that was a scary proposition. We desperately attempted to get control of ourselves just long enough to cross our legs and stop laughing.

I had another turn as a result of my second strike; that one wasn’t so hot. I think I knocked down seven pins, not enough to beat Heather. She won and with her showing in the end I was not at all upset to lose to her. She was, of course, glad to beat me but was most pleased to best her husband, who came on strong in the last few frames and threatened to overtake both of us. Sean made a decent showing, too, but was unable to overcome the dynamic duo that was his wife and sister-in-law.

Of course, Sean and David could both claim to be the ultimate winners since they didn’t nearly wet their pants during the end-of-game celebrations. Obviously, though, Heather and I were the true winners because we had the highest scores despite our slight but moderately debilitating bladder issues. So we’re definitely the champions. Especially since we had to endure taunts from our husbands afterwards.

It’s the in-between time

So Christmas is over but I’m still in vacation mode. That’s not entirely true; I’ve been planning thinking about planning our school work but so far I’ve just freaked out over the logic material and found myself channeling Scarlett O’Hara: “I can't think about that right now. If I do, I'll go crazy. I'll think about that tomorrow.”

One bit of school that I am excited about is the new Dave Ramsey personal finance course for high schoolers. Both Michael and Amy will take it and while they aren’t thrilled to have another something put on their assignment pad I think they’ll come to enjoy it. How can you listen to Dave Ramsey and not smile? Well, I guess if you’re a credit card executive you wouldn’t.

We’re still in Atlanta, visiting both my family and Sean’s. Today it’s an all-day affair with my sister, her family and my parents. Much is planned, including bowling and lunch at The Varsity. I do love a chili dog from the Varsity, but my stomach can only handle it once a year. That’s a lot of grease. But oh, boy, is it ever good grease that one time a year.

Enjoying family is not the only benefit of visiting Georgia in December; warmer weather is also a plus. It’s not hot by any stretch of the imagination, but temps in the 50’s feel a lot warmer than the 20’s we left in Michigan. I went to church yesterday without a coat! Of course, my mom wore her nice dress winter coat with scarf; perspective is an interesting thing.

I’m looking forward to enjoying a few more coat-free days before heading back north. We still have several relatives to see, including my cousin Dawn, who is a riot. I can’t remember the last time I saw her… Her side of the family hosted our grandmother in North Carolina for Christmas so they’ll stop by for lunch on Tuesday on their way to drop her off at her house. Sean’s aunt is flying in from Pittsburgh later that day and we’ll enjoy seeing her as well. Plus, Sean’s sister and her children will come on Tuesday so it will be a great celebration. All told we’ll have visited with 17 relatives on this trip. Seventeen relatives and no fights! Well, none thus far. I’ll keep you posted.

Merry Christmas!

Here's hoping you're enjoying a wonderful Christmas day, remembering this is the day salvation came to earth. Praise the Lord!





Merry, merry Christmas!

What's a girth unit?

If you still have packages to mail, just wait. Don’t go to the post office. Please. It will only put you in a grinchy mood. Well, maybe it’s just my post office – I have yet to go there and leave with a smile on my face. Seems whenever I enter the building it’s break time and no matter how many people are in line someone’s walking away from the desk.

And people think that won’t happen to health care?!**

But I digress…

My mother-in-law sent this funny clip she got from her very funny sister, whose husband retired from UPS. It made yesterday’s time in the post office seem much less difficult. While I’ve heard Brian Regan do this routine, the cartoons added a little punch. (I do wonder, though, if the author knows he spelled girth incorrectly, or if that’s part of the joke?)

Happy Christmas Eve Eve!



________________________________
**Sorry, Ruth! I know you don't like that comparison but it seems apt to me.

You just never know

Sean occasionally passes along PR stuff from the plant. What he sent yesterday caught my eye and made me think, “You never know who you’re going to meet!”

Deborah Kyles-Williams, Quality Systems manager at Powertrain Toledo, ran into someone who was very interested in her new Camaro. The following is an article she wrote for PowerLine, the plant’s newsletter:

This past weekend I was driving one of GM Powertrain Toledo's test vehicles - 2010 Chevrolet Camaro that is HOT! It is dark blue with white racing stripes on the hood. You can imagine the number of looks this car attracted.

Saturday morning before 9 a.m., I stopped into the Arborland Starbucks off US 23 in Ann Arbor, Michigan. There was a gentleman in line directly in front of me that seemed to know all of the Starbucks personnel. I didn't pay attention to the person then, but when I came out of the Starbucks, he was standing beside the Camaro. I asked him if he liked the vehicle and he emphatically stated yes.

The gentleman and I started talking about vehicle response times, design and general car talk for about ten minutes. He stated he was with the competition and gestured toward a red Ford pick-up beside the Camaro. I told him I did not view Ford as the competition as we are all in the same boat - trying to stay solvent in this economy. I made a couple of statements concerning Ford's positive financial status and said I hoped both Ford and GM continued to improve.

The gentleman leaned into the Camaro and I asked if he would like to sit in it. He looked surprised and said, “Really?” I replied, “Sure,” and offered to hold his coffee. He got into the vehicle and we talked about what was really working and he stated the only thing he did not like was the blank space on the dash and the type of plastic used (he thought a softer plastic would have looked better).

The gentleman got out of the vehicle and asked me my name. I introduced myself, stated I worked at the Toledo Transmission plant as Quality Systems manager and was proud to say, “Toledo produces the transmission for the Camaro along with launching a front-wheel-drive.” The gentleman said, “I know.” We shook hands as I asked him his name, to which he replied, “Bill Ford.” I was visibly taken aback when I asked, “The Bill Ford?” He smiled and answered, “Yes.”

Bill Ford, Jr. and I talked another five minutes. When parting, he stated, “I hate to say this, but you guys (GM) did good!”

Now that’s just flat-out cool.

(I still dream of bumping into Amy Grant like this, despite my unfortunate blogosphere run-in with her manager this summer…)

Natalie? No way!

I was all set to write something lovely, holiday-like, something to ring in the week of Christmas. But I just watched the Survivor finale and I am not happy. Not. Happy.

Yes, I’m aware it’s just a television show and doesn’t add up to a hill of beans in the real world, but for an hour each week I didn’t live in the real world – I lived in Samoa with Russell and Mick and Natalie and the others. And I had a definite favorite to win tonight: Russell. But he didn’t. Natalie did.

Did she deserve to win? I suppose so, considering the jury gave her their votes. But did she find the hidden immunity idols with no clues? Nope. Did she mastermind amazing votes that caused the game to shift in her favor? Well, once. Every other time Russell was in total command. Did she win individual immunity? No. But she was pretty and nice and completely flew under the radar. And for that she won a million smackers.

Russell so should have won. He found not one, not two, but three hidden immunity idols with no clues. He played hard from day one and made it to the final day, plus he won the final immunity challenge. He was nasty, nasty, nasty, but his whole goal was to outwit, outlast and outplay his opponents. And he did. They just didn’t like the way he did it.

Russell said on the reunion show that he thought his fellow players would respect the game and vote for him because he honored the game. I did, too. They should have had a modicum of admiration for the guy, even if they hated him, which, admittedly, I did for the first few weeks. But after seeing his determination to play the game every second he was out there, I fell in love with his game play.

He said he isn’t nasty in real life. I don’t believe that. But his attitude disorder served him well in the game and those he ousted should have given him points because he outplayed them.

I guess the jury couldn’t bring themselves to vote for someone so despicable so they voted for his accomplice, who was sweet but carried out all Russell’s plans. I’m usually on the side of the good girl, but in this case, the bad boy most certainly had my sympathies. Don’t get me wrong; I think Russell’s mean and I wouldn’t want to spend a lick of time with him. But he loves Survivor and took the game seriously. I think he should have garnered votes for that.

None of this matters in the grand scheme of things. Heck, by the time I wake up tomorrow this will be a faint memory. Believe it or not, I do have a life and lots to do before we leave for Atlanta on Wednesday. This isn’t going to make or break my week.

But it is a bummer tonight.

Oh, well. At least there’s Survivor’s Heroes vs. Villains to look forward to, February 11, 2010. Make a note of it.

Now, back to the real world. Where being nice matters. Russell should make a note of that.

Skiing Bloopers

In honor of our successful ski trip - and by successful I mean none of us visited the emergency room - I present a few skiing bloopers. There are some serious biffs and ragdolls in the pow.

Molly had a near-miss like this that ended in her total yard sale (does anyone know what the guy says at the end?!):



We had such a great time at Breckenridge - here's a video from the slopes we skied:



Have a wonderful weekend - and remember, only six days until Christmas!

So tired...

We are beat. Completely exhausted. I feel muscles I didn't even know I had. But it's such a good tired.

The skiing today (Wednesday) was fabulous. A little more cloud cover and more wind, but certainly manageable. We covered a lot more ground and I was so pleased that I remembered how to ski! I just wish my kids could have seen me so they'd know Mom's good at one sport. It was hard to believe I hadn't schussed down the slopes in 17 years.

A few pictures tonight and full-blown report will follow next week. But tonight I've got to head to bed so I'm ready for our 7 am drive to the airport where we'll catch our plane from DEN to DTW and, Lord willing, get to give our kiddos great, big hugs. It's fun to get away but it's always good to get back to their beautiful faces.

Heading down for run #2 of the day.

We looked like we knew what we were doing!

Skiing, Day 1

Good news – no broken bones, no major spills, no problems whatsoever on our first day of skiing. It was a beautiful, sunny day!

Wednesday's forecast is more of the same and we are looking forward to another great day of skiing. We just have to concentrate on not falling or colliding with other folks. I do not want to take a ride down on the Ski Patrol's nifty little gurney...

Hope we don't break a leg

Two months ago Molly and Jeff asked us to go to Colorado with them the week before Christmas. I laughed. “There is no way we can make that happen,” said I. Sean will never be able to get the time off and who’s going to watch the kids and it’s the week before Christmas! The practical side of me was screaming, "You cannot do this!"

The impractical side of me, however, was dying to go. Skiing in Colorado is a dream! Plus, hanging out with Molly and Jeff for three days would be a blast. How could we not go?

I don’t know what came over us, but the horribly practical Christy and Sean decided to say yes and go. And everything fell into place: Sean got the time off, my wonderful in-laws flew up to watch the kids and I finished my Christmas shopping. And we are in Colorado. I can hardly believe it.

(Hi to my Colorado friends Rachel and Ruth!)

When we got married Sean wanted to go to the beach for our honeymoon; I wanted to go snow skiing. I had (mostly) fond memories of skiing in Colorado and Utah with my family and I wanted to share that with Sean. But he’s a committed beach bum and doesn’t think a vacation is a vacation without sea and sand. That thought turns my stomach (difference #52). I hate being sandy and there are sharks in that there sea… But being a young girl in love I said, “Of course we’ll go to the beach!” And Sean promised our next vacation would be on the slopes.

But life got in the way. We had babies and we got busy and going to Colorado isn’t an easy venture. We never made it. Until now.

I believe the correct phrase is, “Better late than never.”

We got in Monday afternoon and enjoyed looking around the resort. But today we’re heading out for our first day of skiing. We’re all taking a beginner lesson. Molly and Jeff have skied before but not much; Sean has skied once. And I need a refresher course because it’s been 19 years since I strapped on a set of skis.

Sean may hate skiing. It may not be the joy I remember it to be, either. Heck, even if all we do is drink hot chocolate in the ski lodge and enjoy the company of dear friends it will be a successful trip.

Actually, I’ll consider the trip a massive success if we don’t break anything.

We're going for the "expert skier" look but I'm afraid it's more of a "bank robber" vibe...

Love this!

I forgot - there is a holiday movie I adore: Elf. I guess that makes me pretty low-brow, but that movie is hysterical. Here's one of my favorite scenes:

Now, I'd gladly see a Broadway musical based on Buddy the Elf!

Friday Dancing Fun

From Irving Berlin's White Christmas:



A few dancing bloopers:



And for my friend Carissa, who loves tap dancing (I'm aware this is actually called Irish dance and not tap, but they've got tapper things on their shoes so it works for me):



Happy Weekend!

Christmas movies and songs and musicals, oh my

Some folks don’t consider December complete without a viewing of It’s a Wonderful Life, A Christmas Carol, Miracle on 34th Street, or even Home Alone. I am not one of those people. Of those movies I’ve only seen a student production of A Christmas Carol; I’ve seen bits and pieces of the others but I’ve never watched them through.

Along those lines, it appears I am the only person who didn’t know the song White Christmas is from a movie of the same name. Well, not only is it a movie it’s now a Broadway show. A Broadway musical. And the touring company for that musical made its way to Lansing this week. And last night, I saw it.

A friend invited me to go. I really like this friend. Really. A whole lot. Which explains why I spent my one night a week without kids at a musical.

If you’ll recall, I’m no fan of the musical. However, just because I don’t enjoy the genre doesn’t mean I can’t appreciate the skill and craftsmanship and talent of the cast and crew. The sets were flat-out amazing. The costumes were fabulous. The singing was excellent. But the reason to buy the ticket is to see the dancing. I’ve never seen so much tap dancing in all my life. It was fun and beautiful and masterfully performed. Made me want to pick up where I left of in 1977 and take a few lessons again.

(Oh, I had to take a break from typing to stop laughing. I can just see me taking tap lessons!)

I was surprised I knew so many of the songs. Obviously White Christmas is a classic, but I didn’t know Blue Skies or Count your Blessings instead of Sheep was from that movie, or any movie. (The only reason I know the Blessings/Sheep song is because Amy Grant put it on last year’s Christmas EP.) There’s also a song about sisters that I’m sure I’ve heard somewhere before. The song about snow made me laugh: “Snow, I long to clear a path and lift a spade of snow…” Sung by someone who hadn’t just done that twelve hours earlier.

Even with all its charms, it didn’t take over Wicked’s spot on the list of, “Only Musical Christy Likes.” Still, when you haven’t had a chance to hang out with a good friend in a while, going to a musical is worth it. Especially when she shows you how to use the nifty little locked coat racks in the lobby.

Hey, Heather, how come we never danced around with feather fans proclaiming our devotion to one another?

Gingerbread houses and Christmas lights

We had a great Totally Terrific Tuesday Family Fun Night (TTTFFN) last night; we made gingerbread houses. No, I did not bake gingerbread – surely you know me better than that. I bought a kit from Walmart. It had enough gingerbread for five small houses as well as the frosting mix and an assortment of candy for decorations.

The first thing we had to do was figure out how the houses fit together. My lack of spatial reasoning made me wholly unfit for the task, but thankfully I married an engineer who’s really good at putting stuff like that together. Sean whipped out the directions and began showing Michael and Rebecca how to assemble their houses.

Amy and I focused on making the frosting. We tried this activity a few years ago and the frosting was a huge issue. It was too runny and our walls wouldn’t stay together. This time, though, Amy made a perfect batch of white and red frosting and expertly transferred it to the piping bags. That girl constantly amazes me.

We had the design down and the frosting was perfect, so Michael, Amy and Rebecca started building their homes. Michael, in classic Michael style, planned for a garage, and fashioned a car out of the frosting and four pieces of candy.

Amy meticulously placed each decoration in exactly the place she planned. She wrapped tissue paper around the base to make it look like her house was sitting on a blanket of snow.

Rebecca decided to put a candy garden in her backyard. So we had a summer house, a winter house and a garage.

We finished the houses and went to look at Christmas lights, which is my favorite TTTFFN activity. We rate the light displays, but our rating system has been haphazard. No more. Amy made a rubric where each house starts at a score of 5. Does the light display show creativity? Add a point. Lights on the roof? Add a point. Bushes blanketed with a light net? Subtract one point. Icicle lights on the roof? Subtract a point (Rebecca hates those for some reason). Nativity scene? Add five. The new scoring plan made the judging more uniform but we had a few disagreements on how many points should be added/subtracted for each item, plus my attitude took a dive when I realized the snow flurries were turning into a full-blown snow storm.

Even with the snow and minor disagreements, it was another great Tuesday night with the fam. TTTFFN makes Tuesday my favorite day of the week.

Reading the directions

I got the hang of the piping bag

Notice the car in the driveway?

Amy, cutting the tissue paper to make a snowscape

Rebecca and her garden and flowers

And a Batmobile in a Pear Tree

Tree #2 is up and decorated with glass balls and all things automotive. Sean is thrilled. Amy tried to put a non-transportation-themed ornament on the tree and was informed by her brother that this tree was for ornaments with wheels only. Those boys are hard-core about this being a car-only tree. With little glass globes and balls. I don’t see how those two go together, but it’s not my tree.

Rebecca doesn’t remember having a real tree. We moved up here when she was five and every Christmas since we’ve had a fake one. She loved picking it out and smelling the pine scent. Once we got it in the stand she decided we shouldn’t put any lights or ornaments on Herald (yes, she named him for, "Hark the herald angels sing") because he looked perfect just like God made him. You should have seen what happened when she learned we wouldn’t be keeping Herald forever, that he would end up in the trash… She was moderately pacified with the thought that we'll recycle him.

I think we just stared a new family tradition. Although next year Rebecca would prefer we get a tree we don't throw away.

Rebecca and Herald

Chevy pickup

1957 Chevy Bel Air

Pontiac GTO Judge

Olds Cutlass 442

The much-loved Star Trek ship. It actually has Spock's voice saying, "Live long and prosper."

Amy getting into the spirit with a pink Cadillac.

The Batmobile

Sean and a Pontiac Firebird

Friday Fun

Thanks to Meagan for this fabulous little clip! (Caution - one naughty word.)

I saw this on a high school friend's Facebook page - too sweet!



Thanks to the Chef for passing this one my way:



Have a great weekend!

P.S. Only 21 days until Christmas!

Don't use the "S" word!

I heard the weatherman use the “S” word yesterday. He was forecasting snow for today and Friday and, I suppose, the next five months. Which is unfortunate because I do not enjoy snow. Not on Thursday or Friday or every other Tuesday; I do not like snow. And for the last four winters I’ve been in denial, thinking it wouldn’t come or, when it did, it wouldn’t last.

Here are a few of the conversations I’ve been having with myself over the past several years:

“Oh, winter can’t last too long.” Yes, it can and it does. Snow in April? Check.

“It can’t be that cold.” Um, yes it is. For a pickin’ long time (see above).

“I don’t want to spend all that money on warm clothes. Surely the fleece that I wore as a winter coat in Atlanta will suffice.” You mean that fleece that you now wear around the house from October through May? No, it won’t do. Open that pocketbook and spill some coin on warm clothes.

Not sure how it happened, but something in my brain clicked last week; I realized we’re heading into our fifth Michigan winter and will experience a sixth and seventh and eighth, since we are, apparently, staying in Michigan indefinitely. And since that is the case, I have to buy some warm clothes.

Lest you deem me an unfit mother, please know I bought warm things for the children. They have snow pants and jackets and sweatshirts and sweaters and boots. My denial wasn’t going to keep them warm. And, quite honestly, it wasn’t keeping me very warm either. So I ordered another sweater (when we moved here I owned two – I’m now up to six, but one is sleeveless so it probably doesn’t count) and a pair of boots. I have a pair of ankle boots but I’m tired of cussing each time snow gets in them – if enough snow falls that it could potentially get in the new boots I’ll just stay home.

The real struggle I have with dressing for Michigan’s weather is I don’t like to layer long sleeves over long sleeves. I’ve always worn sweaters or jackets over short sleeve shirts because there’s no bunchy factor. The thought of having a long sleeve shirt under a sweater under a coat give me the shakes – it’s just too much. However, after being cold for the last four winters I’ve realized I have to attempt to change my attitude about layering. So yesterday I wore a zip-up sweater over a long-sleeve oxford. I had to fight the urge to shiver and shake and pull on the shirt sleeves in an effort to feel “unbunched,” (please tell me you know what I’m talking about) but all day I wore them. And, surprise, surprise, I was toasty and, for the most part, comfy.

Such personal growth...

I feel like this winter I may, actually, stay warm. Well, inside the house, anyway.

Buckle Up!

I have several friends whose husbands travel for business. One goes to California, another to Rome, another to Germany. When my husband travels for business he goes to Detroit or Flint. Not exactly a perk.

However, working for GM does offer one major benefit for a car enthusiast like Sean: being around new cars all day, every day, smelling that new car smell. And sometimes those new cars end up in our driveway, if only for one night. That’s what happened a few weeks ago.

Sean’s boss is driving a brand new CTS-V, a four-door Cadillac that is not only gorgeous but is get-up-and-go fast. It's the fastest production V8 sedan ever. The speedometer goes to 200 MPH and there’s a G force monitor that actually registers on curves and turns. And it is fast. Really, really fast. (Did I mention it’s fast?) And Sean's boss loaned it to Sean for a night.

To say Sean was thrilled is an understatement. But Sean wasn’t the only happy camper; Michael was beyond thrilled. He and Rebecca sat in the parked car for almost an hour just trying out all the gadgets and pushing all the buttons. And when he and Sean took it out for a spin let me just say they came home looking as happy as hogs in slop.

His business trip locations leave a lot to be desired. But if Sean had to chose between an exotic destination for a business trip and the opportunity to drive a sweet car every once in a while, I’m fairly certain I know which he’d pick.

All buckled up and ready to go!

Finding a new look

Apparently finding a new blog background is as difficult as finding a new hairstyle. Seems I have to try a few before finding the right one.

So I'm trying a few looks out – I loved the one I got from Template Mama but it doesn’t work with my BlogHer banner over there on the right. (I’m pretty pumped to be a BlogHer blogger, so pleasing them if pretty important to me.)

I’m sure I’ll find something soon. Until then, if you see a different background each time you check in, don’t be surprised. It’s sort-of like the weather in Michigan – if you don’t like it right now just wait a bit and it'll change.