Winter Walk

It is actually 37 degrees right now.

I decided to take Louie for a walk, he has been cooped up for many days. The wind is still quite cold but when it stopped blowing the sun felt good. A couple of times Louie would get his feet in the snow for too long and then look at me with this pitiful

look with his foot in the air until I used

my mitten to warm up his Stimpy foot.

Watched a few movies this weekend. Good Luck

Chuck with Dane Cook, it was pretty funny,

then Ratatouille which I thought was

cute, Brooke said it was stupid. Then Saving

Sarah Cain about a girl whose Amish sister dies

and leaves her 5 kids to Sarah. It was good, Brooke was bored by it. I used my Roomba today, so not impressed with that thing, I

swear I could do a better job if I swept the rug with a broom.

Gary and I went to MA yesterday to sign the camper papers. It was a long drive, and it sucked up $60 worth of gas in Gary's truck, but we couldn't take mine because my lease is almost up and I can't waste the miles I have left. And who gets lost when they have a navigation system telling them every turn to take? yes, we do. Here's what the conversation usually goes like: Gary: " did it say to turn right here?" (he is on his work phone 95% of his day off and is not listening to the directions). Me: "yes, i think it said turn right" (that is my way of it not being my fault, I think it said that!). As the car is turning the nav comes alive again with the pleasant British man telling us he is re-calculating the route. Gary: " Where is this thing taking us, this doesn't look right". Me: "Watch out there's a cop, get off the phone." Gary:!@##$%^& cop pulls over right in front of us!". heehee. We could get lost in our own little town. Anyway, that is done, I saw the camper myself in person, and it was as cold a tomb in there so it was a quick look-see.
Weigh in was yesterday morning. Gary lost another 1.6 pounds and I lost my same old 1 pound. Not sure about Brooke as I was still in bed when she left for school. Today is a wasted Saturday. I did some laundry, and the dishes from last night. And I was reading my book and could not put it down, so even though I was awake at 6, I did not get out of bed and shower until almost 10!

New Camper

We bought a new camper! I am very excited that we found one the right length, and it was only in MA so not too far to drive. Gary stopped in on his way to the CT auction and took pictures. The inside pictures are not our camper, but they are the same design and show it better because the slide-outs are out. Ours are still in so looking at the inside is not as pretty right now. I think Gary and I have to drive down there tomorrow and sign papers.

Still cold here, only 12 degrees right now. It's almost better when it snows than this day after day cold cold cold. Brooke has finals today in Spanish and Economics. She will be glad to be done with Economics after this, she didn't enjoy it much but she has an A- in that class. She has decided (at this point) to pusue a career in nursing. I am beyond thrilled about that, I wish I could have done that. She is thinking maybe a neo-natal nurse.

A side note to Hamster Chick: You didn't need to get your knickers in a twist about your blog. I was on CK with all of you, just quieter, and carried on reading your blogs after I left. No harm intended, and yes, I will gladly delete you from the blogs I read.

Camping Show

We went to the camping show in Boston yesterday with Gary's brother and his wife. These pictures are from a camp that were thinking of getting. It is one of the possibilities anyway. We did a lot of walking and climbing in and out of campers but it was fun. We ate breakfast at the Cracker Barrel on the way down and I had yummy pancakes and turkey sausage and an iced mug of apple cider. On the way home we stopped at Dunkin Donuts and I had a hot chocolate and a glazed donut. :) We got home just in time to catch the end of the game and see the Patriots win. Yeah! Brooke wanted to make me something for supper and she surprised me with banana pancakes, and oh, I forgot the nachos and cheese Gary and I split at the show. A not so stellar eating day. Friday night we watched Resident Evil: Extinction, I thought it was good, I gave it 3 stars, and then Saturday night we watched Death Sentence with Kevin Bacon, that definitely got 5 stars, it was awesome!

When outside the icy rain
Comes leaping helter-skelter,
Shall I tie my restive brain
Snugly under shelter?
Shall I make a gentle song
Here in my firelit study,
When outside the winds blow strong
And the lanes are muddy?
Robert Graves 1918

I don't know why, I just like that poem. Today was weigh-in day again. Gary was the big winner, he went down 4lbs 2 oz. this week!! Yay for him! So far he has lost 4 lbs. 6 oz. I was down another 2 pounds exactly this week for a total of 3 pounds so far. For me that is huge, I usually lose in little bitty increments of 5 oz. at a time. Brooke slept over her friends house last night so she has not weighed in yet. We got more snow last night, looks like about 4 inches, and I think it is still freezing rain. Blah. Then we get the joy of "frigidly cold air" coming in. I hate when the weatherman says that. It makes me cranky. So today I will be staying around the house again, shoveling, doing laundry, all kinds of fun stuff.
Gary called the camper place yesterday, they kind of gave him the run around. I just want them to send us back our deposit so we can a new camper somewhere else. I don't like the "not knowing" what we are going back to in May.

I Want to be the Next American Idol

Louie Henry of Sanbornton auditioning to be the next American Idol. Simon said, "that was absolutely dreadful". Paula said, "oh, your so cute, I say yes!" and Randy said, " Yo,yo,yo dawg, so check it out, it was a little pitchy, it was just aight for me.". Louie was not discouraged by the judges comments and vows to wow them next time.

The Darkest Evening of the Year

I could not put this book down. I read it so fast and did not even try to slow down. If you like animals and dogs in particular then this story is a must read. There is definitely a hefty dose of Dean Koontz strangeness but I like that kind of thing. There was one part where I cried like a baby, thank goodness I wasn't reading it in public.

We went to my parents house yesterday for their birthday lunch. They were born on the same day, the 12th of January. Mom is 67 and Dad is 68. We had a nice lunch, and a nice visit as always. Today it is snowing again, and there was no school. All the blinds are down so we don't have to look out and see how much there is going to be to shovel. :) I can't believe that on Saturday I was walking Louie and the sun was out, it was in the 40's, and so nice. Oh well. Spring will be here before we know it. Watched a movie called Skinwalkers Saturday night. It was a werewolf movie and kind of low budget, but not too bad. Would it be weird to say that the bad werewolf was hot? :)

Blood Brothers by Nora Roberts

This was an excellent book. I may be bias because I love all of Nora Robert's books. :) I can't believe I have to wait until May for the second installment. Some people do not like the supernatural turn that robert's books have taken, but I adore them. There is still her trademark love story involved, and it never gets boring. Shell, you better grab this first on Sunday!!

Isn't this picture the cutest? I love Boston Terrier puppies. Weigh in today was good, one whole pound for me! Two pounds for Brooke and 4 ounces for Gary. Don't know what happened there, could have been all the bread and butter he ate with his dinner last night. :) There was a 2 hour delay today, no snow just sleet and freezing rain. Brooke's friend Rachel is spending the night tonight, they are going to a varsity basketball game because Brooke has to write an article about it for Journalism class. Tomorrow I will be doing a little cooking, we are going to my parents on Sunday to celebrate their birthday (both of their birthdays are Jan. 12th) . And I am sure we are going to watch and root for the Patriots tomorrow night. :)

Winter in Maine

This picture was taken in Maine yesterday. It is around the area where our new site will be. This was taken moments before the sky opened up and sent Gary and I running and slipping back to the truck! We are not allowed to drive through the campground in Winter so we were parked way out by the entrance. We went to the rest area on the way home to use the bathrooms and I dried my arms and legs standing underneath the hand dryers. We drove up yesterday for my hair cut, which looks the same only shorter but I feel like it is different because it has been so long and nasty lately. I have been sneaking on the scale for the past 2 mornings because I can already feel a difference in the way my pants are fitting since cutting out a lot of the junk. By the looks of things, I may be able to say I have lost a pound tomorrow at weigh-in. How do the people on Biggest Loser cringe when they "only" lose 3 or 4 pounds. I would be thrilled!!

One Nation Under God

It is 36 degrees here this morning. But the sun is not out, if the sun was out the snow would be melting so fast. The picture above is out our back door, Brooke took it a couple of years ago, isn't she an awesome photographer?

We seemed to have fixed our dryer problem, and our washer is behaving now too. But alas, now the coffee maker is acting up, and my new treadmill? The console had a big crack across it when we took it out of the box yesterday. Now I have to wait up to 10 days for a new console.

Brooke is going to Florida during Feb. vacation with her friend Rachel. They are staying at Rachel's grandfather's house in New Port Richey. Brooke was beside herself last night with excitement when we said we would buy an airline ticket for her, she was already making a list of what she was bringing. :)

I am having a problem deciding who to vote for tomorrow. There is too much information out there right now and it gets very confusing. One says they would get the troops out right away, another says they wouldn't, it would be bad now that they are already there to withdraw them. I wish things were spoken in simpler terms for some of us to follow, I don't get into politics because it can be so confusing. And I wish one of the candidates would bring God back into our country, in schools, everywhere. This country was founded "One Nation Under God" and that seems to be fading away.

Get out the Shorts!

Well, the dryer was fixed. Gary put the new parts in on Thursday night and it now works lovely. Then yesterday I was washing a load of laundry and I hear that irritating beep that tells me something is wrong with the washer. again. I could not get it to drain or spin, Gary fiddled with it all last night and he did get it to drain, and then go through a whole load. I don't know what we are going to do. Gary said he is done messing with it.
Have I mentioned how I hate Whirlpool?
Some good news, it is going to warm up here for a few days, at least until Wednesday. In the 40's!! Get out the shorts!
Gary also brought home the treadmill last night. I think we got all our exercise just getting it down in the cellar, that thing was heavy! It is still in the box, in front of the tv, I swear it won't stay that way.

I Burnt My Fingers On My Sweater

It is -2 here this morning. I am not sure which weather pleasure I would rather have, bone-chilling cold or a foot of snow. How about both? Supposedly it is going to warm up, the forecast for Sunday-Wednesday says in the 40's. That should get rid of a crapload of this snow.
Gary is buying us a treadmill. We ordered it from Sears last night. Yes, we probably should have waited to see if we actually will need to buy a new dryer first, but...hey, maybe we could hook the treadmill up so that walking on it would make the dryer run! :)
Last night I cooked such a healthy dinner: fish, brown rice and steamed broccoli. Then we had chocolate cake. Hey, we have to finish this stuff and get it out of the house. Today I made Gary and Brooke salads for lunch, they probably would have rather have had soup on such a cold day, oops. If I don't use the salad mix, it will rot in the bottom of the vegetable bin, so the quicker I use it the better.
The dryer parts will be here today. I have been tracking them and they got into Laconia this morning. We paid through the nose for overnight shipping, and then realized they are only coming from CT. Oh well. Gary is going to put the new parts in tonight after work and we are praying that it works. Yesterday we had to shlep all the wet laundry into the laundromat and dry it there, and man the clothes come out of the dryer hot at the laundromat! I burnt my fingers on my sweater!
I am not going anywhere today, I am just staying home and cleaning, and of course, exercising. I am going to do the Denise Austin workout I have recorded, and probably go on the elliptical machine and watch the millionaire show at 12:30. That is the only way I can stay on that thing, not my favorite piece of exercise equipment.

Don't Scream

I gave this book 3 stars. It was not a bad story, but a lot of times I felt like I was just trying to get through the story. Now that could be because I got new books for Christmas and wanted to hurry so I could read them, even so, it did plod quite a bit in the beginning. It got a lot more exciting towards the end, and I have to say, that I did not guess who the killer was in this one, it took me by surprise.

Happy 2008!

HAPPY NEW YEAR!

Party animals that we are, I think I was asleep by 11 last night. Oh well. That's what happens when you get old :) Gary had to work until 6:30, he stopped on the way home and got us KFC for supper. Ugh, why do we eat that crap? Because it was quick and easy that's why. Hey, what's so bad about a little chicken, mashed potatoes and corn? and potato logs...and biscuits...and chocolate cake??? Our resolutions for the new year are not unlike a million other people's. We need to start eating healthier, and we all want to lose some weight before the summer. Gary and I are aiming for at least 10 pounds each. I wish I could install a laugh track right here. While we were eating we watched "Reign Over Me", the Adam Sandler movie. Don Cheadle was in it too, it was really good. Weird to watch Adam Sandler in a serious role, but good, and a great soundtrack. 5 thumbs up.
Today Gary is outside snowblowing yesterday's 7 or 8 inches. Then we are driving to Newfields to have dinner at the Gilbert's. We are getting another storm and the clouds are already gathering, it should be fun to drive home in later. Newfield's is an hour and a half away from here. They are saying that we are getting another 6 inches at least. sigh. One good thing, I said a prayer to St. Anthony yesterday because I could not find the good shovel and so I had to break my back with the big crappy one, and I looked everywhere for that good one! Well later on my sister asked me for a bread machine recipe and I went down in the cellar to my bread machine to get my recipe book, and there was the shovel, over by the door. Gary had left it down there. Such excitement in my life, and who would have thought I would be beaming at finding my shovel???