Old man Winter can take a flying leap off a high bridge.  And he can take that damned groundhog with him, too.  I am SO over this ice/snow mess that we have been dealing with.  Yesterday it snowed on me all day long.  Today it was sleet.  Trying to get home was treacherous...lots of traffic crawling along at about 20 miles per hour.  I must have passed half a dozen fender benders.  I was gripping the steering wheel and trying hard not to panic.  That kind of stress just makes me tired.  No idea what tomorrow will bring.  West of us will still have ice, east of us looks warmer with rain.  We are right on the dividing line, so....??  A little sunshine would be so welcome right about now....

Stay safe and warm and help me wish up some nicer weather!  :)

We have snow in the forecast again for the next couple of days.  That is rough, and I'm really tired of it.

We have had snow, ice and rain for what feels like a year now.  Damn that stupid groundhog!!  But anyway, we spent the weekend in Wilmington with the Overcashes.  We had fun and lots of good food.

I can't remember the name of the restaurant we went to for dinner, but they had excellent crab cakes!

Yum!  

And now we are back in Gville.  We are in the middle of some house renovations.  New flooring, paint, and general updating.  And while I know it needed to be done, and that it will all be worth it in the end....the mess is insane.  There is some heavy duty sorting out to be done.  I want to get rid of as much stuff as I can.  It is amazing, or maybe more like horrifying how much stuff there is to move around to get all of this done.  I hate this part of the process.  

Anyway, have a great week and stay safe and warm wherever you happen to be!

I felt elated driving home from work on Friday.  But it feels like I barely blinked and now the weekend is already over??  What the hell, seriously?  Granted it HAS been a pretty low key weekend.  It's been so cold not even the dog wants to go out.  I got some laundry done and that really is about it.  We have stayed in, watched movies and didn't even run any of the usual errands.  Which means that errands will now have to be done after work one day during the week.....and I kind of hate that.  Oh well, it will be fine.  I hope you all have a good week ahead.  Stay warm!  Do you think we are really going to have snow again on Tuesday?  

We had snow today.  It started about 9 last night, just an inch or so.  Enough to be pretty but the roads were basically fine when I drove to work this morning.  Things are even wetter, and more slushy than ever.  We have had a LOT of rain since, well since this summer really.  It's so crazy.  California is in a huge panic of drought and we have river flood warnings a couple of times a week.  I'm ready for things to dry out a little here.  And it's cold right now too.  I think our high today hovered around freezing and it's about 20 degrees tonight.  Brrrrrrrr....

Anyway, Bruce had another tooth pulled yesterday.  He has had the roughest time over the past few months.  2 teeth, the flu, bronchitis, sinus infections....oh sweet Lord I know he is hoping to catch a break here soon.  This one wasn't quite as painful as the extraction he had in October, but still.  It is never fun.  Hopefully he is on the mend now.  

Nothing exciting is going on besides that.  All the kids are fine.  Really busy, but doing well.  I talked to Erica and Stephen both this afternoon and they were both in good spirits.  Erica misses Penny, our dog.  They really bonded over Christmas.  Stephen was a little disappointed that ECU did not get a snow day today. The public schools did.  It doesn't seem quite fair, does it?

Also?  Speaking of Penny...she did NOT approve of this snow thing.  Not at all!!  Erica was sad we didn't get pictures of her playing in it, but there was not much "playing" going on.  She stood in it frozen like a deer in headlights and then tried her best to do her business while levitating over the evil white stuff.  Maybe I need to get her some boots or something...LOL!  

So, Bruce's stepmother passed away this week.  And although things had deteriorated between us after Bruce's Dad passed away, and I mean seriously deteriorated to the point that she was no longer speaking to any member of this family, I was saddened when I heard the news.  I didn't expect to be happy, of course.  But after the issues over Dad's will and how she treated all of us, I guess I wasn't expecting to feel anything.  It could have been different.  It should have been different.  But it was what it was and there is no changing that.  

I suppose that really set the tone for the whole week.  Everything just seemed a bit out of kilter.  It was 25 degrees on Tuesday and mid 70's today.  It's been gray and rainy for so long that I can't remember how many days in a row it's been. I felt out of synch at work, and just couldn't quite hit the right stride after my holiday time off.  Bruce is better but not completely well yet.  I still miss Erica after having her here with us for 3 weeks.  It will all work itself out, of course.  Bruce will eventually shake off this crud, and work will find its rhythm.  I will still miss Erica but everyday life will mute the sting.  I guess it's the post Christmas blues.  Or the winter blahs.  Whatever.  It's grating but I know it won't go on forever.

Spring is just around the corner........

I'm back to work now and it is sadly like my wonderful 3 weeks off never happened.  Poor Bruce is still sick although he is bravely still trying to work.  He is getting really tired of feeling exhausted and coughing all day and night.  He decided to see a Dr this afternoon and found out he has a bad sinus infection compounded by bronchitis.  He came home with a bag full of meds, so hopefully he can kick this thing to the curb soon.  He hasn't been well in over 2 weeks now!

Erica made it safely back to England.  She was pretty much well by the time she left but this flu had her down for at least a week, too!  There were places she wanted to shop, like Target, to stock up on a few things. But we had to go just one place or so and come home because she would get exhausted and need to rest.  So we would hit it another place the next day...and another the next.  I think we managed to acquire everything she needed even if it took awhile.  She went home with a decent amount of new clothes and shoes so she should be set for awhile.  

Hannia has recovered from her bout of flu, which is a good thing.  She managed to fit in seeing her cousin who was here in Gville for just a week.  It was the end of their visit before she was well enough, but she got to see her cousin and family before they left...yay!  Now school is back in session so she is teaching again, and Stephen is back to work after his vacation time, too.  I say "vacation", because his lab was basically closed, but honestly I think he still had a ton of work to do while he was home.  I think this is going to be a pretty busy semester for both of them, but everything seems to be going well.

So we are saying good-bye to 2013 tonight.  Since we are still in flu recovery our celebration is quiet family time here at home.  I made homemade pizzas and tried my first ever batch of cannolis.  My recipe needs tweaking but cannoli is something that takes practice.  I will get it eventually, I hope. 

Anyway, 2013 was a decent year.  Good things happened.  The kids are all happy with what they are doing, and that makes me happy.  We accomplished the monumental task of selling and cleaning out the house in Danville.  Everybody was healthy not counting this awful Christmas Flu.  We have so much to be thankful for.

As for 2014...I think it's going to be an awesome year.  Let's make that thought a reality!  I hope all of you are blessed with love, happiness and good health over these next 12 months.  Oh, and sometime in October would somebody here please remind me to get a flu shot.  Please!