Febuary 2014 Flickr Upload

Ah this was a busy month!  I repainted both the bathroom and the kitchen when I was working the maintenance shift at work (0400-1300).  I had to do something to keep me awake in the afternoons!  Also lots more snow.  And Gadget loaned me one of his snowblowers.  It was the best thing ever!  Not only did it do a much better job, I just felt so much more empowered to be able to take care of myself!

As always, you can check out the entire upload here, and I've included some of my favorites (warning: there are a lot, I couldn't choose!)

 012 helping 010 with his homework.  This makes my heart happy!

 For awhile, my bed seemed to be the fun place to do homework.

 All geared up to blow some snow.

 Beautiful sunset God painted for me while I was blowing snow.

 Science Olympiad at Goshen College.  012 getting some advice from the guy who ran that competition.

 He did not win a medal for the wheeled vehicle, we found out later we were not up to spec, but this was for his Simple Machines entry.

 

The entire team, they placed 4th overall and won a wildcard spot in the semi-state down at Ball State

 

Me painting the bathroom

 The boys helping me scrape the wallpaper off of the kitchen walls. All our arms were sore!  It was a lot of work and they had just done some things that I thought were very weird.  Check out my new gas can in the background!

 Getting the last coat on...

 Double-decker closets are cool, apparently...

 Oh, poor Stretchy, he has been through so much!  This was 010's favorite toy when he was 004.  He would whirl and twirl him everywhere.  Sometimes accidentally letting go.  And then he would be lost.  The worst was spending 3 days out in the cornfield wondering if he would be massacred by the combine.  And then there were the what seemed like hours hanging in a tree until being rescued.  Now he has a much safer place to stay.  There were a lot of tears when he would get lost.

010 with one of his all-time favorite teachers, Mrs. Yenna.  She is amazing! 

January 2014 Flickr Upload

Good morning!  As usual, you can catch the whole upload here...

This was a very snowy month.  We had a blizzard.  I got snowed in at a hotel because I could not get to my house.  I got within 1/2 mile, and could not go any further.  I would not say we got as much snow as 78, but the wind and drifting were bad.  And we are just not that prepared with road crews as we used to be.  I was hard-pressed to find someone who would come clear out the driveway, and then I can't say as he did a good job.  We had gravel everywhere!

 This is where I stayed for 3 nights/2 days.  I was somehow able to get turned around and head into town.  Don't ask how, don't even ask how I managed to get that close to my house in the first place.  It is scary to think about now, and what could have happened if things went wrong.  They took care of me.  I was bored out of my skull.  I had a few magazines that I read through, did some crossword puzzles, wished I had a book!  Ran the battery down on my phone watching NetFlix.  I now make sure I travel with a charger and plenty of reading material!

 Someone from the kitchen must live downtown as they were able to get us some food.

 The next day we were still under a snow emergency but I needed clean underwear and a charger.  I ventured out to Wal Mart, and then tried to see if the guy had my driveway cleared.  He did not.

 The next day, he did.

 One of the many snow days.

 This makes it go easier...  From the new machine...

 And once it started melting, this is what I saw.  It broke my heart.  I did not expect him to know where the edges were, I didn't get a chance to mark them.  But I also did not expect him to push half the driveway out either.  Maybe he didn't have skids.  I told him a couple or 3 inches on the ground was OK to leave behind.

 And then one day I got to work and discovered this.  The blue spot is just a shadow, not sure why it did that.  I couldn't figure out why I kept feeling the seat cushion directly on my backside.  Hum...

And then we got more of this.  Always more of this.