Adventures on the drive

The daily drive to and from Grammy and Papa's takes very little awareness on my part. I've done it every day for the last 4 years. The last few days with I-5 being closed, it has taken a lot more patience and some slick maneuvering to be in the lane I want, without having to drive 55 (instead of 70+).

For the kids though, the ride is always an adventure. There is a house on State Route 821 that we pass with sheep, goats and a horse or two out front. So every morning as we pass the car becomes filled with Baa Baas. Mo is really quite good at this, and from an early age his baas earned him the nickname "little lamb." During the spring and summer we can see the peacock and his hens as we leave Grammy and Papa's although now that it's winter, I'm the only one that gets to see him strutting his stuff on the shoulder of the freeway.

In town there is plenty of excitement too this time of year. Every house Kaia sees is a gingerbread house. The lighted ones are decorated gingerbread houses. We always slow down as we drive past the house with the leg lamp in the window. I have noted this year (as they have done in the past) that they decorate their tree to look as much like the tree in The Christmas Story as possible. They use the great big bulbs and hanging tinsel.

I'm thankful that the kids remind me that every day can be an adventure.

Frugal Debate

There is a little debate running in my head this afternoon. I worked at a benefits fair and the table next to me was a spa. I grabbed on of their menu of services to see what they offered. Some are definitely out of my price range, but others I would really like.

Now everything I've said I wanted for Christmas has been practical. A new set of pots and pans, a coffeemaker because I will get a lot of use out of them, and be thankful for them every day. A facial isn't very useful, and I know the effects won't last all that long. The cost of one is only $60, but when put in perspective, that's one week of food for our house. Finances aside, should I really want to put money into something just to make me look better for a short time? I don't expect one of their facials to make me look 19 again, but to have my skin look good would be nice.

So I have their menu, and while I may scoff at the $150+ for botox, or some of the other treatments, I'll still be thinking about that facial...

Lost post

Ok now I'm really upset! I went to correct the html link in my post Hiatus and now half the post is missing. I was able to view it, and had I been thinking I would have done a copy and save really fast before making the change. Now my entire rundown of Mo's hospital experience is gone. Just the first 2 days. Anyone have it saved somewhere?

"Ah Gone"

As Mo would say our snow is "ah gone." Sunday stayed cold and rainy, and Kaia's snowwoman began to melt. Yesterday felt warm in the upper 40's to low 50's with wind and light rain. This morning Kaia's snowwoman was 3 carrots in the grass. Grandma Mike from next door gave her the carrots when she saw that the snowwoman was nose and eye-less. She and Grandpa Carl had helped this weekend by feeding and watering BigDumbDog for us.

He is still big and dumb. Preferring to lay in the snow and rain, over his dog house and shelter we put up. I have to believe if he were really cold, he'd take shelter though.

The weather is supposed to get cold again though, so we may still have a white Christmas, although you'd never guess it looking outside today. Due to my parents bathroom being out of order, and not a single contracter willing to even come out and give a bid on it, Christmas Eve festivities will be held in our home. Dana looked at me and said "Guess this means we had better start cleaning." Yep, there is plenty of that to be done. I also need to find a way to keep the Christmas ornaments on the tree. Currently they are around Mo's neck, in the tv room, and propped up all over the front room. The miracle is that Mo has not pulled the tree down on top of him, YET.

I am excited though. I love having people over. We don't host many parties or guests, but when we do I have so much fun. The wheels are already turning in my head as to what we'll eat this year. Our Christmas Eve get togethers are typically non-traditional. We used to fondue every year, but that was before all the little ones joined the family. Then it was soups and cold cuts. Another time it was Mexican, which was good, but made for a gassy Christmas day. (and there is plenty of gas at my house without eating beans) Last year it was cold cuts and dungeness crab. YUM. Any ideas?

An eventful weekend, and it's not even over

We had yesterday all planned out. We'd sleep in, get ready for our trip to Seattle and drop the kids off with Grammy and Papa on the way. Didn't happen that way though. I got up about 6:50 a.m. which is technically sleeping in. I put clothes in the dryer, and did some dishes. I went to get Dana up at 8:30 a.m. and discovered that he had low blood sugar. I tried giving him some paste candy that Kaia had, and then attempted to get his blood sugar. When I finally did it was a 36. I know from experience that at 55 I get sweaty, shaky and start having numbness in my lips. I called 9-1-1 and we had the paramedics here in minutes. Mo was scared at so many strangers in our bedroom. Kaia was mad that I'd taken her candy, but very excited at seeing the firetruck and getting a sticker shield from them. She told them immediately that her daddy was very sick. The firemen and paramedics (5 of them in our small bedroom) gave Dana an IV of glucose and he was back to life quickly. Unfortunately you can't be that low, and then go high without some reprecussions. He didn't feel good, and our trip was up in the air. By 3 though we were on the road.

The pass was good and we found our hotel easily. We checked in and found a full kitchen. Complete with a full-size fridge, 2 burner range, and mini dishwasher. Plus all the dishes, a steamer, coffee pot and toaster. A little more than we needed for one night, but it was a good price. We had a nice dinner and slept in a bed without kids!

Today we went to the International Motorcycle show. I screwed up on the directions to get to Qwest Field though. Took us off into no where. I won't type any of the conversation that followed. It took quite a bit of driving to get us back onto I-5 and onto the exit again. This time I got us on the right ramp, but then the directions were wrong. We made it though. It was fun. Quite a few dealers and vendors, although we didn't get to see the black Yamaha ATV we were hoping to see. We left about noon and visited Aurora Suzuki. Took a look at the ATV's that Randy had in stock, and then headed for home.

We stopped in North Bend for lunch. It was surprising to see snow as we left Seattle. It was falling good in North Bend and very cold. We called Gordie to have him check the pass report and it looked good. Apparently we called about 15 minutes too early.

We were going 70 when the truck started to go sideways. Shortly after this sign. It says 35 MPH. And that's what we did most of the way over the pass. Unlike our last trip to Seattle (last December) we didn't see any fatal accidents. Just one fender bender that involved 3 vehicles. None looked seriously damaged. We made it home safe though. The roads in town are just as bad. The kids are wound up now that we're home and I need to go help Dana change the bed sheets and pillow cases that have sugar on them.