Blogger Makes Me Want to Throw Things!

And we're back.

Please read the last post before this one. Good grief, Blogger makes me mad! It stopped uploading pictures (I'm used to that) and then it stopped taking instruction on what to do with the spacing. It was ignoring the return key. I am soooooo ready to put my blog on our website. I just have to figure out how. Also, for whatever reason, I can't upgrade to the new Blogger. The message boards are suspisciously quiet.

Actually, now that I'm thinking of it, there is a good chance that this will be a "Middle Blog". Think of my blogs like siblings. The post just before this (the oldest child) set up the general format and will have grand aspirations of literary genius that didn't come to fruition. This post (the middle child) might get lost in the reading, or be the point where my language lets go, but it will hold its own and will be the most stable. The post I assume will come later (the youngest child) will be the one that stands out because it will be the most visible- but by the time I get there, I'll probably be less concerned about the format - and the language.

So anywho, this post is about old event number 2 - The Snowstorm.

Gene, snow-mo-blowin' with no hat. I am a knitter extrodinaire (in my own mind) and my husband is not wearing a hat. What's really wierd about this is that Gene almost always wears a baseball cap. The snow is coming down in increments of feet and Gene thinks, "Snowpants? Yes, I should wear snowpants. Boots? Absosmurfly. Hat? Naw, there's no reason I should cover my head." *boggle*























The neighborhood was so snowy we couldn't even see where the street started.


I am, by the way, thrilled that I am able to present these pictures to you (Blogger can go...to a warmer place). I have spent some time picking out *just* the right ones - this blog must be pretty, after all! I wanted to convey the awesome feeling of being caught at home in a snowstorm. It's one of my favorite feelings. I love being warm and bundled up in turtlenecks and woolen socks, sweaters and looking out at the snow that is falling quietly outside my window. And actually, the quiet might be the part I like the most. I love the muffled sound of everything when it is covered with snow. I love the evenness of the landscape. I think I was meant to be in Alaska, or at least further north from here. Snow just makes me happy.











The dogs all loved the snow, too. You can see them romping - romping, I tell you! - in the fun fluffy stuff. Pelli played for a bit, but then got tired of walking through cold wetness that was as tall as she was. She walked in the other dogs' footprints for a while, then decided she'd had enough and that I should let her in.

















Sasha is entertained by...well, just about anything. Snowflakes that move? Wow! Fluffy stuff in the backyard? Neato! The other dogs want to run amok with her? Fantastic! She is completely oblivious to cold and wet (I'm guessing because she is a long-haried German Shepherd) and also because she is Sasha, and Sasha is not affected by trivialities such as cold and wet. Not when there are things to do, and watch, and play with and alert everyone to. If ever a dog could be ADD, this dog would be their poster puppy.


















Emma is a dog that was created for the snow. I think in terms of evolution, she is the pinnacle of the snow dog. First of all, she's the same color as the snow (a problem when she escapes in the winter and we have to catch her and we can't find her until she turns around and we see her black eyes and nose). Then she has all that fur. So. much. fur. Wait until the spring and the pictures of all her fur floating around my house like fluffy tumbleweeds. You simply will not believe it. Finally, she loves to dig. Typically, we discourage the digging - it is really not that great for our backyard to have the mulch distributed evenly throughout the yard, rather than in just the beds. But when it's snowy - she digs, she burrows, she lays in the snow and kicks her legs up. She becomes one with the snow. To see it is to believe it. She makes herself a little bed in the snow and does not want to come in the house. She is completely content.

The final snowstorm image for this particular post - the view of the backyard. Everytime I look at the woods, I know that this house was worth every penny.

Old and New

I have so much to say – and I’ve tried to say it a few times, but Blogger and I are having a disagreement. I think that I should be able to upload my blog, save drafts and include pictures. Blogger, for whatever reason, does not agree that I have these priveleges.

ANYWHO…

I’ve decided to sum up the last two and a half months in a single post. It may (nay, will) be lengthy. Get a snack. I’ll wait.

Ready? Let’s start with the old, shall we?

The last real post I made was just before Halloween. That’s quite a while ago, and there are several major holidays in between then and now.

To wit:
1) Thanksgiving.















All hail the Celebration of the Dead Bird. Which I cooked. Which was apparently tasty. (I didn’t have any until about 4 days later, then it was just…leftover dead bird.) We also had friends and family in the house.

Dad in the brown sweater on the left, Sasha the German Shepherd looking for food in the front, Kat at the island, Adam eating snacks next to her, Mom behind Kat at the sink and me cooking - COOKING, people! - next to the stove.

And in this photo we have Dad, still on the left and still in the brown sweater, Adam entranced by Finding Nemo, Travis on the Man-Eating Chair (if you’ve sat in it, you know), less than entranced by Finding Nemo, and Taylor, almost 2 in this picture, who thinks Finding Nemo is the pinnacle of American cinema.

The table nearly rivaled those previously seen at Sharon’s Thanksgiving Events ™.

Yes, those are menus on everyone’s plate. No, there was no ordering of what folks wanted, but if you didn’t want a thing, you didn’t put it on your plate. If you look very carefully in the middle left, you will see Nemo Orange on Taylor’s plate. Quite the hit.

Speaking of hits, how cute is this:

2) Snowstorm on December 1st.

Looking back, now, I realize Chicago got all its snow at once. Since that storm, which shut everything down, especially in Lake County, we have yet to see a single flake. In fact, it was in the 60s a few days ago – January! 60s! Global warming, anyone? But I’m jumping ahead, so let’s stay at December 1st for the moment.

The dogs were thrilled to see the snow. Even Pelli got into it for a minute or two. Emma did not want to come in. She lay down and made Emma-shaped snow angels and buried her head to make tunnels in the snow. (Ok, total aside. I hate the verb ‘to lay/to lie’ – I don’t even know the infinitive. The conjugation is horrible and I can never remember it. It’s sad, considering I just yelled at a piece of paper from a vendor at work who put an apostrophe after DVR to indicate the plural – DVR’s [sic] - *shudder* and I hollered, “It’s your native tongue, learn to write it.” Forward 5 minutes later and I don’t even know how to conjugate a verb. Feel free to comment with the rules you use and my apparent OCD approach to the English language.)