Another lovely day in Oklahoma. . .

[NFLDERS]

Just checking in. I thought there would be a lot of catching up, but I see that everyone has been as busy as we have been. First brrr... I'll get that out of the way. As life would have it our geotherm furnace went down on the 30th of Dec. It couldn't happen before Christmas shopping, NO wait until we've got that out of the way.

So... one of my last posts was on the Government Shutdown thread. My empathy ongoing for everyone affected. This is totally trivial, but we were slightly affected by our furnace part being held up at the Niagara Falls border. It sat there waiting to clear customs for days... sigh.

Our furnace repair is suppose to happen tomorrow, and I sure hope it does it's -8 here today, and my husband is tired of feeding our woodstove every 3 hours day or night.

The woodstove is used mostly to keep the pipes from freezing, or in a total hydro loss (storms) which fortunately has not happened this winter thus far.

Before I forget my thoughts go out to Kitty in her Insurance dance. I'm only all too aware of how that can go, being retired from the Industry many years now there are still times when I find it difficult to sleep at night recalling some of the decisions that were made by corporate... sigh.

How are you guys?

 

[Twilight Sparkle]

Hi, Jane! So sorry to hear about your furnace problem. I hope it does get fixed tomorrow. That's way too cold to be without your main heat source!

I haven't seen Kitty's post about insurance issues, but I hate to hear she's having more trouble on top of being out of her home. I'll have to keep an eye out for that thread. Sending good thoughts your way, Kitty!

We've been a little cold but now have a mild stretch of 50s during the day. Saturday, it's supposed to be 60 dropping to 25 with rain turning to snow. Then we stay cold forever it looks like - teens, 20s, tiny venture into the low to mid 30s. The southerners are going to be miserable, and the stores will need to restock milk and bread due to the threat of snow. Why does everyone go for the milk and bread? I want dark chocolate, prosecco, fancy cheese, fruit, and toasted walnuts. Okay and maybe a baguette to go with the cheese, so I guess I understand the bread. Oh, and I'll take some yummy smelling bath bombs, a good book, and lots of candles. If I'm going to be trapped by a dusting of snow, I want to do so in style!

In other news, we saw Waitress (musical, not movie) last night. It was incredible. I laughed, cried, felt anger, feared for someone's well-being, gleefully imagined a character's demise, and then cried happy tears at the end. What a great show. It has moved into first place on my list of favorite musicals. If I had the time and money, I'd buy tickets for the rest of the run here and see it every night.

Hope everyone else here is doing well. Let us know when your heat is back on, Jane, and until then try to stay warm.

 

[NFLDERS]

Hi, Jane! So sorry to hear about your furnace problem. I hope it does get fixed tomorrow. That's way too cold to be without your main heat source!

I haven't seen Kitty's post about insurance issues, but I hate to hear she's having more trouble on top of being out of her home. I'll have to keep an eye out for that thread. Sending good thoughts your way, Kitty!

We've been a little cold but now have a mild stretch of 50s during the day. Saturday, it's supposed to be 60 dropping to 25 with rain turning to snow. Then we stay cold forever it looks like - teens, 20s, tiny venture into the low to mid 30s. The southerners are going to be miserable, and the stores will need to restock milk and bread due to the threat of snow. Why does everyone go for the milk and bread? I want dark chocolate, prosecco, fancy cheese, fruit, and toasted walnuts. Okay and maybe a baguette to go with the cheese, so I guess I understand the bread. Oh, and I'll take some yummy smelling bath bombs, a good book, and lots of candles. If I'm going to be trapped by a dusting of snow, I want to do so in style!

In other news, we saw Waitress (musical, not movie) last night. It was incredible. I laughed, cried, felt anger, feared for someone's well-being, gleefully imagined a character's demise, and then cried happy tears at the end. What a great show. It has moved into first place on my list of favorite musicals. If I had the time and money, I'd buy tickets for the rest of the run here and see it every night.

Hope everyone else here is doing well. Let us know when your heat is back on, Jane, and until then try to stay warm.

Great to read your post. The thread 'I hate' is where I think I read Kitty's dilemma with adjusters. Waitress sounds interesting. Thanks for thoughts regarding our furnace, and personal comfort. My Dh keeps reminding me of the platitude: Cold hands, Warm heart. If the furnace isn't up and running soon he may have to visit me at our local Comfort Inn.

You stay warm too.

 

[NFLDERS]

CRAP!

The furnace part arrived damaged... crap!!

You thought I was going to say... sIgh, didn't you? Come on you know you did.
CRAP!!

 

[Twilight Sparkle]

Oh no! I'm so sorry, Jane. That has to be so frustrating. And then there's the cold. Do they sell these in Canada?

We have some large, drafty rooms in our house, so we use these when it gets really cold. They help. I don't know if they'd do the trick with no heat whatsoever, but might be worth a try on the highest setting. To me, they seem safer than the old space heaters. I just make sure they have plenty of clear space all around.

 

[Kitty 34]

Thank you for the well wishes you two.

I'm back in the house;

And yes, we were expecting a final $15,000 check to pay our contractor. So when we only got $1,500 we were a bit shocked to say the least especially when we double probably triple ask our adjuster to repeat the amount back to us last November. Our adjuster said he must have misquoted us when we asked him this past Monday about it......reallly?!?!#$%$$#^^%#. Don't worry guys, those aren't swear words, just capitalized numbers!

I know it's only money blah blah blah, but that $15,000 we took out of saving for one could have help my youngest son and family who have been a part of the whole furlough thing.

I really do hate to complain but I do appreciate your concerns.

Good luck with your furnace, Jane.

Twilight....I like your list for a snowstorm; I'll be right over.

 

[NFLDERS]

View attachment 376055

Oh no! I'm so sorry, Jane. That has to be so frustrating. And then there's the cold. Do they sell these in Canada?

We have some large, drafty rooms in our house, so we use these when it gets really cold. They help. I don't know if they'd do the trick with no heat whatsoever, but might be worth a try on the highest setting. To me, they seem safer than the old space heaters. I just make sure they have plenty of clear space all around.

We have this in the LR, as well as a Dbl sofa bed, and modern heaters in other areas.

 

[NFLDERS]

My mistake, fixed it.^

 

[Twilight Sparkle]

Kitty, you're back in your house! What great news! That is a huge difference in insurance money, though. I'd be very upset, too.

Jane, I now feel much more at ease knowing you have multiple heat sources. Thank goodness! It's still a bummer your husband is missing sleep to feed the woodstove, though, so hopefully this damaged part gets sorted out soon.

 

[Mackenzie Click-Mickelson]

I'm back from one of the longest, most difficult weeks of my life, that of laying my MIL to rest. Thank you all for your condolences and kind words; it does help to have the support of my virtual friends at a time like this. We were in Ohio from 12/4-12/11, tending to all the business associated with the passing of a loved one (including transport from IN, where she died, to OH, where her home is located). The entire family was present for the long weekend, and I was in charge of lunch and dinner for ~40 people for four days. It kept me busy, and kept my mind off the situation. Things didn't always go smoothly, but there wasn't anything we couldn't work out. It was wonderful to have the entire family together, even though there will now always be one person missing from the table, but not from our hearts. We were lucky; we got permission from the city and the township to bury my MIL at home, so she now rests among the trees on her property, overlooking the house and gardens she so loved.

Now I am back for the last week of classes, and have 3 sets of lab reports to grade before 12/19 as well as a final to help give and grade. Oh yes, I suppose we need to think about making it look like Christmas, too. This weekend we'll put up the tree, decorate the house, and start shopping. That's not really true; everything for DD and her fiance was purchased and wrapped before Thanksgiving, so they could take their stuff back to CT with them and I wouldn't have to pay for shipping. I have a couple of things for DH, but there isn't much we really need. We will spend Christmas morning here at home, then leave around noon for southern ME, where my sister and brother (and their kids) live. My other sister and BIL, who live in New Orleans, are coming for Christmas! They haven't been home in 14 years!! On the 27th we'll all go to a hotel in Portsmouth NH, and my cousins from Mass will come up for 2 nights, and we'll have Cousins' Christmas. We spend the days doing things in small groups, but dinner and the evening are spent together, making merry and sharing. These are the cousins from my father's side of the family, with whom we lost contact in the mid-70s (my dad died in 1970 and my mom managed to drive them all away over the next 5 or so years). We thought they were lost to us, so it's especially wonderful that they are still there, and still love us. First cousins range in age from 81 to 52, second cousins range in age from 60 to 40, and then there's the "younger generation" from 18-30. Sometimes we are all there, sometimes it's a smaller group, but it's always a scene of merriment and love. I can't wait... I need it this year, more than ever. WE'll also have the opportunity during one of the days to go over to DD's wedding venue, to take measurements and start planning decorations!!

I admire your strength truly. Busy work can def. help keep your mind off things still that's a lot of people to be in charge of for food and for that amount of time .

What a beautiful place it sounds for your mother-in-law to be laid to rest at.

NO SNOW NOW, BAH HUMBUG...

Here are a few Christmas past pictures of Eb.

View attachment 371390

View attachment 371391
AND LASTLY,

View attachment 371393

Aww cats and Christmas. Something about it. We still miss Fuzzy (in-law's cat--considered my husband's cat growing up). He was such a joy to watch at Christmas with tissue paper and wrapping paper.

Boxing Day anyone? These are our 2 Dgds before heading out for the bargains!

View attachment 371802

Cute picture!

No Disney gifts for me, but I did get these beauties!
View attachment 371804

I love getting socks for Christmas..seriously ..I think I consider fuzzy socks like a treat or something

A picture speaks 1,000 words...

View attachment 373153

Home safely and loved the trip! Here are a few pics of the Christmas decorations:

View attachment 373171 View attachment 373172 View attachment 373173 View attachment 373174 View attachment 373175 View attachment 373176

I'm so jelly now! What beautiful pictures you have. Glad you had a great trip!

our furnace part being held up at the Niagara Falls border. It sat there waiting to clear customs for days... sigh.

CRAP!

The furnace part arrived damaged... crap!!

You thought I was going to say... sIgh, didn't you? Come on you know you did.
CRAP!!

Ugh I didn't even think about issues with getting things through Customs for you guys and to add insult to injury the part is damaged. That's no good.

I really do hate to complain but I do appreciate your concerns.

Oh no maybe I need to go check out that thread

I'm glad to hear you're back in your house but not about this recent issue. If I have anything to add about the insurance stuff I'll comment on that "I hate" thread.

 

[Mackenzie Click-Mickelson]

Merry Christmas...very late..and Happy New Year..very late

We're bracing or another storm though I don't think it's expected to be like last weekend...though last weekend they weren't expecting it to be as bad as it was. It is going to be cold though that's for sure. It's starts tomorrow afternoon/night. Aaron is taking tomorrow off from work so we can take down our outside lights-it was a sad day when I turned them off outside the other day. Inside stuff is still on and up at the present moment.

The snow was just so darn beautiful last weekend. I took this picture of my backyard:

We got around 7inches of snow total. The picture above is before we got a bit of additional snow during that day.

Boy I tell you I get reminded sometimes of how lucky I am where I live in terms of snow removal. We went to sister-in-law's boyfriend's place on the other side of the state line to watch the football game last Saturday and we couldn't even get into his neighborhood . Mind you yes they did get probably about 10inches but around 3pm they hadn't cleared the roads at all..not even the highways were fully clear. Meanwhile I had a big plow come through my cul-de-sac (which only does that when it's bigger snows because of cul-de-sacs being tighter) around 8:30am and they cleared one lane. Then around 10:30 pick up trucks came through with plows attached and clear the rest out. The highways were clear and whatnot. I'm not saying the whole area was completely clear because my mom in another city hadn't gotten plowed as early as we did. But all we had to do was cross state lines and the roads became bad. Step-father-in-law's F350 even had issues in the boyfrind's neighborhood. We parked our car at a high school and was picked up and driven into the neighborhood and then taken back at the end of the night to our car.

We've also been going through a bit of medical issues. My uncle went in for colon surgery and his heart stopped during the surgery. They got it restarted and ended up doing heart surgery where they did a quadruple bypass on him (my uncle smoked and smoked and smoked until he quit 8 weeks ago). Then one of his legs was swelling up and causing him a lot of pain and they found he wasn't getting blood flow. There was a short time where we had been advised he could have lot his leg because they didn't know if they could get the blood flowing. Well they took him into surgery and added stents to his leg and now he's ok there and up and walking a bit. He'll be going to the rehab center once he leaves the hospital.

 

[PollyannaMom]

t was a sad day when I turned them off outside the other day

Same here! I took mine down yesterday (also to beat the snow) but I was definitely pouting on "unplugging day". I just find the winter so much more cheerful with them on.

Boy I tell you I get reminded sometimes of how lucky I am where I live in terms of snow removal.

For some reason, I can't see your picture, but I agree with you about the snow removal. My cul-de-sac itself doesn't get great treatment, but my town in general is very good. (DS always wishes it wasn't, so he could get more snow days from school!)

Hope your uncle is feeling better soon!

 

[NFLDERS]

Merry Christmas...very late..and Happy New Year..very late

We're bracing or another storm though I don't think it's expected to be like last weekend...though last weekend they weren't expecting it to be as bad as it was. It is going to be cold though that's for sure. It's starts tomorrow afternoon/night.

We've also been going through a bit of medical issues. My uncle.

So very sorry my attempt to tweek your post cut off the sentence about your Uncle too short.

Great that your Uncle was saved, that was an imminent life threat.

We are going to be experiencing the same storm, suppose to get up to a foot of snow. I'm hopeful that it creates a blanket around our house foundation though. Temps for Sun., Mon., & Tues. forecasted to be -12C, -15C, & --14C and these are daytime highs! -20/-30's at night!!

Stay warm and safe Mackenzie, and those whom will also be affected by this winter storm.

 

[Mackenzie Click-Mickelson]

Same here! I took mine down yesterday (also to beat the snow) but I was definitely pouting on "unplugging day". I just find the winter so much more cheerful with them on.

I know! I just love that glow of lights outside. We're normally the first to put them up outside and the last to take them down (careful attention to the HOA rules of course). Now it's just plain 'ole winter outside

For some reason, I can't see your picture, but I agree with you about the snow removal. My cul-de-sac itself doesn't get great treatment, but my town in general is very good. (DS always wishes it wasn't, so he could get more snow days from school!)

It's probably because I copied it straight from my Google Photos.

Here's another way:


Snow days were such fun when I was a kid lol. Now as an adult it's like "ugh do I really have to go out in that" haha.

Hope your uncle is feeling better soon!

Thank you so much! I hope he's well soon as well.

 

[Mackenzie Click-Mickelson]

So very sorry my attempt to tweek your post cut off the sentence about your Uncle too short.

Great that your Uncle was saved, that was an imminent life threat.

No worries at all!

Thank you for your kind words. I was internally worried for a bit of time about my uncle's health but I'm a lot more optimistic right now.

We are going to be experiencing the same storm, suppose to get up to a foot of snow. I'm hopeful that it creates a blanket around our house foundation though. Temps for Sun., Mon., & Tues. forecasted to be -12C, -15C, & --14C and these are daytime highs! -20/-30's at night!!

A foot . The predictions here are so over the place anywhere from 1-3, 2-5 and 4-8 inches and probably some I haven't even heard yet.

We're supposed to be very frigid this weekend too; I have to kind laugh a bit anytime I see Canadians talk temp I assume it's C so then I go google a converter to F . I heard it may not be quite as cold as originally thought especially for Sunday. Saturday will be something like feels like -4F or so I *think* but Sunday when we have the football game here it's was supposed to be extremely cold but now it won't be as bad--good for all the fans that will be at the stadium.

Stay warm and safe Mackenzie, and those whom will also be affected by this winter storm.

You stay safe and warm too!!

 

[NFLDERS]

My pre-storm treat! Brrr... ahh!


AND,

Reading material, Leafs Christmas socks, Netflix!

 

[Mackenzie Click-Mickelson]

My pre-storm treat! Brrr... ahh!
View attachment 376276

AND,

Reading material, Leafs Christmas socks, Netflix! View attachment 376289

Our breakfast wasn't picture worthy lol

Sounds like you're def. ready. I like that blue crochet blanket though it looks like it could also be just a fuzzy blanket either way it's pretty

We've got a few errands to run today-

~Get to Home Depot to get lumber for the garage shelves (super excited about this honestly)

~Then onto the grocery store. I'm guessing it was in anticipation of the storm but last night when we went to set up our Wal-Mart grocery pick up for today all the time slots were completely gone and the earliest was for Noon Saturday (with the first available being 7am). That's never happened to us. We've always been able to do an order the night before and have it picked up when Aaron is on his way home from work. He's not looking forward to grocery shopping after having done the pick up enough times recently haha.

~And then finally we need to get the lights down from the outside and bring our cherry blossom light up tree taken apart and put in the basement.

After that I'm going to relax probably work on my Disney puzzle and read and watch some tv.

 

[NFLDERS]

Mackenzie, you reminded me of a phone conversation wth Dh, he went to get staples for the storm lol... He called home because he'd left the list here. After I told him what to pick up I said hmmm.. it reads like the Sesame Street list, sans butter!

 

[Mackenzie Click-Mickelson]

Mackenzie, you reminded me of a phone conversation wth Dh, he went to get staples for the storm lol... He called home because he'd left the list here. After I told him what to pick up I said hmmm.. it reads like the Sesame Street list, sans butter!

 

[Twilight Sparkle]

@Mackenzie Click-Mickelson , what a beautiful snow photo! Dealing with 7 inches of snow wouldn't be fun, but it is definitely pretty. So sorry to hear about your uncle's health but thankful everything seems to be heading in the right direction now.

@NFLDERS , your Tim Hortons looks pretty tasty. And I agree with Mackenzie, love that blanket!

I, too, think it's sad when all of the Christmas directions are taken down. Our tree, outdoor lights, and most decorations came down after Three Kings Day (or Epiphany), but I just put the last few items away yesterday. It's so dreary and blah without the cheery decor now. I saw an Anthony Bourdain show about the Philippines celebrating 100 days of Christmas. They start mid-Sept and go through Epiphany. I think we should do something similar here. Start Thanksgiving weekend - or maybe the weekend before - and go through Valentine's. By then, we'd have a bit longer daylight hours and the valentine's chocolate would provide a temporary mood boost. If we had a big enough box of chocolates and only ate one a day, it might get us through until spring.

Wishing everyone warmth and safety over this weekend. Hope the storm won't be as bad as they think.