Another Unofficial Chatterbox Thread- Everyone is Welcome!

[funnygarcia]

I do believe that the National Weather Service has my forecast confused with Bernices!

We had our adventure of driving thru snowstorms to Duluth and back this weekend.
Heavier snow in the metro when we left, highways were okay but gradually got better the further we got away from metro area. Got outside of Duluth and highway was not as nicely cleared.

I forgot that Duluth cheaps out on snow removal compared to the "cities". They do a once thru with plow and dump sand.. and that's about it until the snow system stops before they do another clear run thru. Skipping the streets that are not "snow emergency routes" for another week.

We tried going up one of the steep hills on the east end of town (not a snow emergency route), got halfway up and started to spin and slide. There was someone's driveway across from us, we used it to turn around and ease back down the hill.
Had hubby go up one of the main avenues instead, gradual slope. It was a designated snow route, but even that was not plowed clear.

Once we got outside of town the country roads were actually better than the ones in town.

Heavy snowfall on all the trees, watched the snow fall in big plops when it got too heavy on the pines. Creaing little poufs of white clouds. Very pretty.

We parked onthe upper area of my parent's road.. thinking we didn't want to slide on their hill.
Later at night, tried to get out of the parking area and onto the road.. spin spin spin.. slide slide. reverse.. try again.. spin spin spin.. sliding dangerously close to my sister's car... reverse try again.

Finally convinced hubby that YES we can push and it will be okay. My teen nephews were out walking the dog, they helped my boys and we got our car onto the road. I could feel that there were big ice patches under the snow from the last time it was plowed (day before).

Away we went back to town to stay at the waterpark. Drove in the middle of road, sides were not plowed very well and we would slide to the edges on occasion.

Slow and steady wins the race... however, some jerk in a red pick up truck decided we were too slow.
Passed us VVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVRRRROOOOOOOM , leaving us blinded by clouds of loose snow. Zero visibility. Once it cleared.. the truck was gone. No trace that it had even been there- spooky!

 

[eatmypixiedust]

Good Morning Hyenas,

I hope you all had a great weekend. : I wore the Minnie Santa Hat to work today and my co-workers are loving it. They were like: "ooooh....where'd you get that??" Someone baked Christmas cookies with frosting and sprinkles and brought them in. I'm debating of I should bring in gifts later to give them. We have a christmas party on the 24th-we're having a potluck. I signed-up for a sushi platter (the cooked rolls such as california rolls or shrimp rolls). One co-worker said: "Ooooh...sushi rolls! Whose going to make that?" and I said: "Costco!" and she started laughing.

*Alex- your Seattle rain has made it's way to California.

 

[funnygarcia]

I got such a kick at watching my boys and their cousins interact.
Three of them are almost the same age, all very smart and love to talk about what they are learning at school. They launched into a big discussion about math and how many decimal points of pi that they can recite. BIL laughed and said it was a "nerd fest".

Later as we were eating dinner, J remarked on a movie he watched in science class. It's part of the planet earth BBC series. This particular one was about caves, he said something about bats and cockroaches living in the same cave as part of an ecosystem..

Being a boy.. surrounded by boys of the same age group....
He had to share the gruesome part where a bat died and the cockroaches ate it. Getting good feedback from his cousins "eww, wow that's cool!"

My dad, not as impressed by the discussion says "Cockroaches are not a good dinner topic", forwning and glaring... to which my sis replied with a smile and straight face... "It's the perfect topic for a 15 year old"

Dad glared HMMPHED and went back to eating his dinner.



I was dying!! Trying hard not to laugh.
Hubby missed the whole thing, it's a story to add to our collection to laugh over. Sorry dad, but it was dang funny!

 

[eatmypixiedust]

I got such a kick at watching my boys and their cousins interact.
Three of them are almost the same age, all very smart and love to talk about what they are learning at school. They launched into a big discussion about math and how many decimal points of pi that they can recite. BIL laughed and said it was a "nerd fest".

Later as we were eating dinner, J remarked on a movie he watched in science class. It's part of the planet earth BBC series. This particular one was about caves, he said something about bats and cockroaches living in the same cave as part of an ecosystem..

Being a boy.. surrounded by boys of the same age group....
He had to share the gruesome part where a bat died and the cockroaches ate it. Getting good feedback from his cousins "eww, wow that's cool!"

My dad, not as impressed by the discussion says "Cockroaches are not a good dinner topic", forwning and glaring... to which my sis replied with a smile and straight face... "It's the perfect topic for a 15 year old"

Dad glared HMMPHED and went back to eating his dinner.



I was dying!! Trying hard not to laugh.
Hubby missed the whole thing, it's a story to add to our collection to laugh over. Sorry dad, but it was dang funny!

Ack! You just reminded me of a Mythbusters episode I watched yesterday. It was one where they tested to see if Cockroaches could survive radiation and they did! Very creepy, gross and scary!!!

 

[funnygarcia]

yep, that was another factoid brought up by the boys, they were impressed and marveled at such a creature.

My dad was not impressed.

 

[eatmypixiedust]

I need to make rice krispie treats tonight for one fellow co-worker. He has been bugging me non-stop for MONTHS to make them. I told him I would give it to him for christmas if he promised to stop asking me. Surprisingly, he is trying to be really good so I will make them.

I brought them in once for everyone a couple months ago and they said that the store bought ones don't taste the same as home made and he said he can't make them himself.

 

[funnygarcia]

really, they are so easy!

silly men, what would they do without us?

 

[eatmypixiedust]

really, they are so easy!

silly men, what would they do without us?

Oh I have quite a list of answers for that question. My bf still thinks that my uterus is a tracking device to find all his belongings that he misplaces.

 

[funnygarcia]

My bf still thinks that my uterus is a tracking device to find all his belongings that he misplaces.

yeah, what is UP with that? Apparently it makes me the qualified person to fuill out all his paperwork too.

I have no clue about some of this stuff....it's YOURS you do it!
I need to hand him a pen and the papers , sit him down with no distractions (TV off) and not let him get up until it's DONE! grrrr.

 

[Alex2kMommy]

Good morning, hyenas!

Good grief, I have no idea how much more of the white stuff we got last night, but our tiny little backyard is making DH nervous with all the snow butted up next to the house. So guess I'll get to go out there and shovel this afternoon. Since the snow was already near the top of my boots yesterday (they're a tad taller than ankle boots, would they be "shin boots"?), I am sure the snow will be well over the top of the boots now. Makes for wet jeans and snow inside the boots, brrrr!

*Alex- your Seattle rain has made it's way to California.

Rain? What rain?
We have snow!

We were going to take our kids and my friend's kids to an indoor playspace today, but apparently they have a foot of snow in the parking lot and are not likely to open. Bummer! So... more sledding!

 

[eatmypixiedust]

Good morning, hyenas!

Good grief, I have no idea how much more of the white stuff we got last night, but our tiny little backyard is making DH nervous with all the snow butted up next to the house. So guess I'll get to go out there and shovel this afternoon. Since the snow was already near the top of my boots yesterday (they're a tad taller than ankle boots, would they be "shin boots"?), I am sure the snow will be well over the top of the boots now. Makes for wet jeans and snow inside the boots, brrrr!


Rain? What rain?
We have snow!

We were going to take our kids and my friend's kids to an indoor playspace today, but apparently they have a foot of snow in the parking lot and are not likely to open. Bummer! So... more sledding!

Oooh, sledding sounds like fun! I wish we could do that here but if we had snow we would have chaos! We honestly would not know what to do. I hope you have fun!

I gave my co-workers presents along with a small chinese take-out box filled with chocolate liquor bottle shaped candy. Inside each one it has about a half teaspoon of liquor in it. They were all excited and thought the take-out boxes were cute. I tied a colorful ribbon around each one. I gave a few co-workers other things as well because I've known them longer.

It stopped raining <for now> but I believe it will start up again later.

 

[eatmypixiedust]

Here's some photos I took of Sleeping Beauty's castle last night:

 

[MotoXPrincess99]

Hello everyone. I can't believe it's almost Christmas. I am so not ready. On Friday DBF and I went to Disneyland. It was the last day this year that his cousin could sign us in. I was stuck at home on thursday due to the snow. Friday morning I tried (not that hard) to go to work but my tires just spun in the snow so we hopped in DBF's truck and went to Disneyland. It didn't get crowded until the evening. We left around 8:00pm.

 

[sameyeyam]

Ack! You just reminded me of a Mythbusters episode I watched yesterday. It was one where they tested to see if Cockroaches could survive radiation and they did! Very creepy, gross and scary!!!

Yes, but did you notice that the fruit flies and the flour beetles fared much better than the cockroaches.

So good morning Hyenas! I've been getting up at 4:15 am so I can ride into work with DH. We do about 30-40 MPH the whole way. Some idiot in a little car yesterday zipped across 3 lanes of traffic doing about 60 in the ice and proceeded to spin in circles in front of us. DH had to veer off I-5, into the ditch with about 2 feet of snow and somehow managed to save it! I'm quite impressed. Behind us cars were plowing into each other.

Portland has a mandatory requirement for chains, but Washington does not. So every idiot in a little front wheel car thinks they can drive in this stuff.

Yesterday I had to climb a 4' snow drift to get to the office mailbox. It's crazy here I tell you! But it looks like our temps will get up above freezing on Friday and then up to 45-50 over the weekend. So hopefully it will melt...of course where does 3-4 feet of snow go when it melts? I have a feeling we'll be talking flooding next week!

Oh and the most beautiful thing yesterday morning...as we were headed down the hill a herd of elk (about 20) was in the middle of the road. As we come around the corner elk were scrambling everywhere. It's one of those beautiful sights that you know will remain in your head forever. They looked so beautiful and majestic in the deep snow. It was still dark and I think with the headlights on them it was so much prettier.

 

[sameyeyam]

I would like to rant for a moment about grocery stores...Safeway in particular.

This weekend we went to Safeway (the only store in our podunk town). Now I only purchase soda pop once a year, around Christmas time. I normally only purchase potato chips maybe 2-3 times a year (Christmas, and then again if we have bbq parties in the summer). So I guess mainly I buy them for guests and they are a treat for us.

Anyway...a bag of Ruffles costs $3.99, but their "special" is buy 2 bags, get 2 free. Which brings the cost down to about $2/bag, about where it should be. I only wanted 2 bags, but instead the frugal in me obviously had to take the other 2 free bags.

It was the same thing with 2 liter soda pop. Buy 3, get 3 free. I only needed 2-3, but it was way cheaper to get 6.

Of course my kids are in 7th heaven this week gorging themselves with all of this extra junk food.

I don't know it just made me a little upset that the stores encourage that type of shopping for junk food. It's already disturbing that the potato chip section is now an entire aisle long, yet the nut & dried fruit section is barely 2 feet wide. The soda pop aisle now covers both sides, yet the milk section is about 5' long.

Yes, I know it's all about choices...and typically I don't even go down those aisles. But it was just crazy to see people there loading entire carts full of soda pop. I did do the buy 2/3 and get the same amount free, I shouldn't have, but I did.

So why don't they have specials like...buy 2 pounds of apples, get 2 pounds free? Buy 3 cans of mixed nuts, get 3 free? Buy 1 bag of boneless, skinless chicken breast, get 1 free?

OK, rant done.

 

[tinkermell]

Ok................have not had time to catch up, but wanted to post these before I forgot how.
My tree and aprons. Woo hoo!

[/IMG]The pic on the table is of my son Derrick, his wife Sarah and my first grandson Rowen. The tree has alot of homemade ornaments with alot of sentimental value to me.

[/IMG] Done and wrapped!!

 

[staley7580]

Omg... So we go out this morning.. with a list a mile long of crap to get done before out NEXT snow storm.. You know. TOMORROW... Our van wont start. not even a little. I have already had one complete breakdown this morning.... about the babies coming and such.. To go out to the car and THIS. Seriously. I dont think I can handle much more.

ANyhoo.. I call the dealership, and they said to call a tow company. Guess what?? We dont have any money for this!!! We get a jump from a neighbor, and now we are headed down to the dealership to get it checked out. The service guy was really nice... I think he could hear the complete hysteria in my voice.

If you all dont hear back from us.. its because Im in th elooney bin.

 

[tinkermell]

Omg... So we go out this morning.. with a list a mile long of crap to get done before out NEXT snow storm.. You know. TOMORROW... Our van wont start. not even a little. I have already had one complete breakdown this morning.... about the babies coming and such.. To go out to the car and THIS. Seriously. I dont think I can handle much more.

ANyhoo.. I call the dealership, and they said to call a tow company. Guess what?? We dont have any money for this!!! We get a jump from a neighbor, and now we are headed down to the dealership to get it checked out. The service guy was really nice... I think he could hear the complete hysteria in my voice.

If you all dont hear back from us.. its because Im in th elooney bin.

Hugs to you!!

 

[eatmypixiedust]

Ok................have not had time to catch up, but wanted to post these before I forgot how.
My tree and aprons. Woo hoo!

[/IMG]The pic on the table is of my son Derrick, his wife Sarah and my first grandson Rowen. The tree has alot of homemade ornaments with alot of sentimental value to me.

[/IMG] Done and wrapped!!

Melody, I love your tree! The aprons are adorable! Nice job!

Omg... So we go out this morning.. with a list a mile long of crap to get done before out NEXT snow storm.. You know. TOMORROW... Our van wont start. not even a little. I have already had one complete breakdown this morning.... about the babies coming and such.. To go out to the car and THIS. Seriously. I dont think I can handle much more.

ANyhoo.. I call the dealership, and they said to call a tow company. Guess what?? We dont have any money for this!!! We get a jump from a neighbor, and now we are headed down to the dealership to get it checked out. The service guy was really nice... I think he could hear the complete hysteria in my voice.

If you all dont hear back from us.. its because Im in th elooney bin.

Staley- I'm so sorry you have car trouble. I hope it gets fixed.

Yes, but did you notice that the fruit flies and the flour beetles fared much better than the cockroaches.

Yes! That was creepy as well! Then following that episode I watched Dirty Jobs where he worked on a maggot farm.

 

[Alex2kMommy]

Good morning, hyenas!

Whew, lots of fun sledding last night. This time we tried a steep dead-end street that was covered with snow and ice. Our foam board and my friend's wood sled with the metal runners worked MUCH better here than at the park, like greased lightning! WOOHOO!!!

DS8 and my friend's DD8 flipped over a hump on the wood sled, and one of the metal runners bonked the back of his head, so he was down for the count for a bit. Scared the you-know-what outta me, and I went running/sliding down the hill to check him out. The girls told me he was hurt, but when I got there he'd slowly gotten up and told me he was OK. (I think if the girls hadn't been there he would have cried, but he "manned up".)

Oh, and while I was running down the hill to DS8, some teenage girls sledded into DS4 who was walking up the side of the hill. Totally took him off his feet like a little rag doll!

I reached him first, and thankfully he wasn't hurt at all. The teenagers apologized profusely, but I just hollered that he was fine and turned him over to my friend's girls and ran on down to DS8.

DS4 tuckered out first, and just as I was about to walk him home DH arrived in the 4Runner like a knight on a white horse! It was so hilariously perfect timing! He had come down to watch the kids sled, and parked in a perfect viewing spot at the top of the hill, so DS4 climbed in and warmed up. Daddy had the tunes cranked, so next time I looked he was rockin' out to La Bouche!

We finally headed home about 5:30 to get some dinner going. The sledding is really wearing the kids out, and ya know what? That steep hillside is quite a climb back up, so it wears 'em out even more!

Yesterday I had to climb a 4' snow drift to get to the office mailbox. It's crazy here I tell you! But it looks like our temps will get up above freezing on Friday and then up to 45-50 over the weekend. So hopefully it will melt...of course where does 3-4 feet of snow go when it melts? I have a feeling we'll be talking flooding next week!

Oh and the most beautiful thing yesterday morning...as we were headed down the hill a herd of elk (about 20) was in the middle of the road. As we come around the corner elk were scrambling everywhere. It's one of those beautiful sights that you know will remain in your head forever. They looked so beautiful and majestic in the deep snow. It was still dark and I think with the headlights on them it was so much prettier.

Oooo, I wish I'd seen that! And the elk, too!

Tinkermell, you have a beautiful tree! And the aprons are so cute!

Pixster, love the castle pics! I got some nice ones while we were there, too. I was going to try to do a photo TR, but not sure I'll get to that anytime soon. Besides, I'm not sure anything really riveting happened this trip, so maybe it wouldn't be so entertaining to read.

We are still scrambling to get the tree decorated (lights are still in storage, but hope to get that done this evening), house cleaned and presents purchased and wrapped for tomorrow night. We're down to the wire now, scrambling still to get a present Ds4 asked Santa for, and are resorting to gift cards for darn near everyone else. It's just too hard to get out and about now, so whatever we don't have already on hand we'll just have to do without.

Hope you're all keeping safe and warm! We've got another snow storm coming in tonight, and allegedly another one the night after that, so looks like today's the day to get while the gettin's good. I'm going to attempt to make a photo calendar for DH and the grandparents, like I've done in the past couple years. They love them and go on and on about them, but I just haven't had a chance to get out by myself, so we'll see. Guess worst case I could give an IOU for one?