In my life there have been a few moments that have taken my breath away. As I write this I know I will miss a few, but here are some of those moments.

Graduating High School, Marring my husband, the birth of my eldest daughter, all of the firsts with her, The birth of my second daughter and all of the firsts with her, Earning my degree, Getting my masters degree, Seeing both daughters graduate high school, Having both graduate College. Getting serenaded by a Sousaphone, Walking both daughters down the aisle when they got married, Watching both of my grand children come into this world, Watching my husband wake up after his second back surgery,(we didn't think he would), and yesterday I got to watch both grandchildren get their very first hair cuts.

It has been said that life is not about the number of breaths you take. It is the moments that take your breath away. I count myself as one very lucky woman because I have had so many moments that have "taken my breath away"

Ramblings.

Here is a picture to start off with because the rest of this is depressing!

A woman I know has fought and beaten stage 4 reproductive cancer. However she is back in the hosp. She has been having stomach problems and they are doing more tests. 1/3 of them come back neg. 1/3 come back positive and the last 1/3 come back inconclusive.
To make things harder, her partner is pregnant and due in 5 weeks. It breaks my heart for them to be at both ends of the emotional spectrum at the same time.

On another note, two people I went to high school with are getting married next Friday. I am very happy for them! They reconnected a few years ago. They were going to wait a couple of years before getting married. But, they found out he has stage 2 prostrate cancer. They decided to get married now "in case". Another roller coaster of emotions there.

My daughters hand is healing from her burns. The Dude is trying to get potty trained. Miss Mim is regressing a little. I think it's because he is getting a lot of attention. So, I have been helping out over there. ( I think my daughter would like her house back and her Mom out for a little while)

State testing in school is coming up. So my other daughter is stressed. It all seems strange how we judge teachers on how well kids do on one test. Do we judge a dentist on how many cavities the patient gets?

It is also tax season. Hubby is very busy. So, the state in it's wisdom has decided now is a good time to call him for jury duty. They do this every couple of years. It's not like his clients can wait until, I don't know June, to file their taxes.

I am up to my eyeballs in dyed yarn. I think maybe I will take a day off this coming week and do NOTHING!

I have been busy. I guess I say that a lot. But, it's true.

Becca burned her hand. So I have been helping out at her house quite a bit.

The little guy is trying to get potty trained. It's kind of funny. He runs to the bathroom and almost makes it on to the potty. Sometimes he doesn't make it. Then he cries and cries and cries. It makes him mad. (I think he is mad because he is wet, but also because he doesn't get M&Ms when he doesn't make the bathroom.)

I have also been working 2 days a week at the Museum. It keeps me busy.

Let us not forget that I am dyeing yarn for a yarn festival the end of next week.
At the moment I have 16 skeins of yarn in process. That's just in the last 2 days.
That's about half of what I have to get dyed.

But all in all life is good. Now if someone would just leave me tons and tons of money everything would be wonderful.

Wed. in Chicagoland

We still have quite a bit of snow on the ground. But, the snow has stopped. Now we have bitter cold. I hope for only a few days.

I worked at the Museum again today and got to ride a Segway. It was really fun. Foe the most part the Museum was quiet. We had a few school groups. I'll bet most people stayed home because it was so cold. We have single digit temps and wind chills in negative numbers. This is the second set of neg. wind chill this winter. but it will all be over in a couple more weeks. SPRING will get here if we can just hold on!!!!!

Today's picture is the "Dude" reading. That isn't so unusual. What is different is that he is sitting in the toy basket. Notice all the toys are out and only he is inside the basket. And of course that is his Fav. book, Tomas the Train.

Super Bowl Sunday was great. We did watch some football. BUT.... Uncle Nate, Joey and Deglan made an igloo in the back yard.



That's Miss Mim's back.



That's Deglan coming out of the igloo.



Joey is coming out.



And let us not forget the little Dude.

I great time was had by all!

Super Bowl Sunday

I have Chili cooking, guacamole,spinach dip, onion dip, ranch and vegi dips made. Vegies are cut up, chips are ready. Pizza rolls to go in the oven. The girls are bringing Salsa, corn bread and deserts. A good friend is bringing her clan and another desert. We have beer, wine and soft drinks. There will be too much food (LOL)and lots of fun. There is snow on the ground for little people to play in. Who cares about the game.

Kick back, relax and enjoy yourself.

We made it through the storm no problems. Everything was closed down for one day. That's not the weeks everyone talked about. We still have snow drifts. Not all of the streets are cleared completely, but there is no problem getting anywhere. Stores are open, banks are open, garbage is being picked up. Life is back to normal. We survived the STORM of 2011

Storm Part 2

This is early in the storm on Feb. 1st 2011, about 4:00.










Not too much different an hour later.








Of course by morning.......





Most of this is blowing and drifting snow. I did try to shovel and use the snow blower. I was out about 45 minutes and cleared a path about twice the width of the snow blower out to the street. Hey, that's not too bad considering our driveway is about 80 feet long.
For now I think I'll just stay in. It's 11:00am and it's still snowing. I think we will get one of hubbies clients to come plow us out. At least we still have power.

Stay warm and dry where ever you are.

The Storm" part 1

In about 3 hours, we are told, the Big Storm will begin. They say we could get up to 20 inches of snow. People are frantic. They are rushing to to stores to get food and snow shovels.

Ok, back in 1967 or '69 there was a big storm that dumped about that much snow on our area. Schools were closed for 4 days. People had problems getting around. But, back then they were not prepared for all that snow. They expected about 8 inches. This time all the cities are ready. They have more snow removal equipment. They have more salt to put on the streets. We have more technology to help identify problem areas.

We are ready for this storm! Still people are in an almost panic mode. So, keep reading here, I will try to keep everyone updated on "The Storm of 2011" (maybe I'll add pics too) So far we have about 1 inch from last nights snow. Pretty, but no big deal.