Here We Go Again

Another foot of snow. This has got to be the last of it. I

am sure it is! Just when I was seeing ground in front of

the mail box too. :(
Brooke landed safe and sound in Florida last night.
She sent a text message this morning telling me how
the sun was beating in the windows and she saw some
herons flying by. Eh, so what? I got to see white as far
as the eye can see. And I get to go out and shovel the deck again, and the front walk. She can't possibly have more fun than that right?
Gary doesn't get home from CT until tonight so the driveway will have to wait, good
thing I don't have to go anywhere. Good thing it is
school vacation or they definitely would have had another snow day.
Watched American Idol last night, I have to say
I did not like David Noriega (aka "Rachel", he looks like a male version of Brooke's friend!) at all last week, but last night he wasn't too bad. Not my favorite though, I thought David Cook was the best.

A Last Resort

This book is a murder mystery set at The Balsams Resort Hotel in NH. Since we try to visit here once a year I wanted to see how this book was. It definitely was better than I thought it was going to be, I didn't actually figure out "whodunit" until right near the end. The author is from Plymouth, NH.

Yesterday we went to Maine, they have a lot less snow than us there. Our campground really looks desolate in the Winter, Gary took the picture in the campground because I didn't want to walk in the snow. I think it was around 40 degrees yesterday and was pretty nice out. I might have considered walking the beach but the tide was in and the sidewalks were snow covered. We took Brooke to the Fox Run Mall afterwards to get some summer clothes for her trip to Florida. They are supposed to be flying out tomorrow, I don't know, the weather is looking really crummy. Anyway, she got some shorts and tops at American Eagle and Hollister. $40 for a pair of shorts??!!
We ate lunch/dinner at Bugaboo Creek Steakhouse, where I had salmon. I don't really like ordering steak in a restaurant, it always seems tough and chewy. My salmon was delicious though and not tough and chewy at all. :) My stomach is feeling a little funky today, Brooke had this a few days ago so I am not going to blame the salmon just yet. :)

Where's Louie?

This happens every morning while Gary eats his breakfast. He looks around like he can't see Louie and says, "Where's Louie?" and every morning Louie jumps up and down barking like he is saying, "here I am!"

Did she eat a mad lobster?

http://www.seacoastonline.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080220/NEWS/802200339/-1/NEWS15&sfad=1

The Good Guy

This was a great book. Very intense and suspenseful. I like Dean Koontz as much as I like Stephen King. In this story a man is mistaken for someone who wants a woman dead. He outsmarts the hit man and is then on the run with this woman who had no idea why someone would want her dead. The hit man is as evil as can be with no qualms about taking any lives or hurting anyone in his quest to finish the job.

Louie had a blast playing with Madison on Saturday. He just loves to visit. She was happy to see him, racing around the house in excitment. Madison is my parent's dog, they adopted her from my bother and his wife, they already had another rat terrier and a big yellow lab but they took Madison because she needed a home. So my parents took her off their hands and she just loves them to pieces.

We had another 2 hour delay yesterday for school. We had a lot of rain and there were some icy roads in the morning. It got up to about 41 degrees yesterday and it felt like a heat wave. I was even inspired to go out on the deck and get rid of some more of the snow. Unfortunately it melted nothing in front of my mailbox, that hump of ice will be there until May.

Snowfall at Willow Lake

This is the 4th book in this series. Susan Wiggs is a great writer, I enjoy every book of hers that I read. "Snowfall at Willow Lake speaks from the heart about all the loves that fill a woman's life, and all the ways that love is tested and made to grow. It's the story of what comes after a woman survives an unspeakable horror and finds her way home, to healing and redemption and a new chance at happiness.

Happy Valentine's Day!

We had a lot of freezing rain yesterday. The power went out as we were eating dinner, and stayed out until a little after 10. Just long enough for us to miss American Idol, and other shows I had set to record, Deal or No Deal, Supernanny. sigh. Maybe I can watch some of these on the computer. At least we were able to have our fireplace going, and we had plenty of candles. I have a battery operated book light so i could read and was happy with that. This morning the sun shining on the trees was so pretty, they looked like crystal, I tried to capture it but the picture does not do it justice. Unfortunately, we probably won't get our mail today. Although Gary made sure he went out and cleaned up all the snow as the freezing rain was starting, the town plow went by at some point and pushed a big gloppy mess in front of the mailbox and it is now a frozen lump. Not good.

I give up. As you can see from the before and after pictures, I am down to one little path from the door to the stairs. We got about a foot of snow, then freezing rain, then rain. That crap was heavy! So if anyone wants to go in the hot tub, they either have to wait until July when the snow melts, or run real fast! :) Today is being spent very lazily, Gary has today off so he got the driveway cleared before all the rain started. We exchanged Valentine gifts since Brooke's school is closed and we are all here, Gary got us heart shaped boxes of these totally decadent chocolates, (not going to be good for my weigh-in Friday morning) I have already eaten 2 and I know I am not done. Gary won $34 on the scratch tickets I put in his card. yea!

Robin's??

I seriously think these birds were robins in my tree yesterday. I don't know much about birds, but I do believe that robin's have red on them like this. They were big fat ones too, and there were a whole lot more around but by the time I got the camera and tiptoed to the window, Louie had run over and scared most of them away. It was a cheering thing to see in the midst of the blowing snow yesterday. We spent some time clearing the driveway and deck and steps and in front of the #$%! mailbox. If the mailman can't get to it today then I don't know what to do. Maybe attach a chute to it so he can slide the mail right into the box from the middle of the street?

Movies watched this weekend: Invasion with Nicole Kidman, good movie, very intense. And Waitress with, I don't remember her name but she was Felicity. I thought it was also a good movie, Gary and Brooke did not like it.

Secrets of the Highlander

I know. A sappy love story, but this is the 6th in the highlander series and I have read all the others. It is a time traveling romance series set in modern day Maine. The author Janet Chapman is also from Maine. She has other series that I have read too and you can check them out on her website www.janetchapman.com

So even though I have been trying my darndest to clear out in front of the mailbox, I can't get the hump in front to go away. I sprinkled it with a bunch of ice melter and that did nothing. I could only scrape off the top layer after that. For 3 days in a row I have had notices in my mailbox about "snow removal reminder". I was thinking, maybe my mailman won't get a Christmas present next year. Then this morning he rang the doorbell, I had to sign for an envelope from our accountant. He was very pleasant, gave Louie a bone, then when I looked through the mail there was another notice, and this time it had a little add-on: "Your mail will be placed on hold until this box is cleaned out, entry and exit. Thank You." sigh.
Last night Brooke went to her friend Rachel's house. Gary actually came home early so we went out to eat at a new restaurant over in Belmont called Vineyards. It had a very nice atmosphere, warm decorating, nice booths. I had a caesar salad, baked haddock (totally delicious) and rice pilaf, and a glass of Pinot Grigio. Gary had a house salad, filet mignon , french fries and a glass of merlot. He was complaining to me about the filet, he said it was tough, but he ate it anyway. We split a dessert called Death by Chocolate, OMG it was soooo good. Screw the scale. :)

My Mailman Loves Me, I'm Sure of It.

More snow. More shoveling of the deck. As you can see from the photo I have resorted to little pathways on my deck. Just enough to get to the hot tub and unlatch the cover and get in, and just enough for Louie to get down to the yard. I think we have got around 9 or 10 more inches in the last couple of days. Brooke had no school on Tuesday and today was another 2 hour delay. She will be going to school until July 4th, or around the same time the mountains of snow around here will finally melt. I had a subtle sign from the mailman today, he threw my mail in to the box and left the door open to the snow, and also left my nephew's birthday card sitting in the mailbox because I assume he did not want to reach for it. In my defense, I had the front of the mailbox cleaned out before I left this morning, (at 10:15) the town just hadn't bothered to plow my side of the road yet, they were lurking around the corner waiting for me to leave, then they raced down the street to plow a big pile up in front of it as I merrily drove away, confident that my mailman would not be PO'd because I had cleaned out in front for him. So I went down there with my shovel and cleaned it up. again. cursing under my breath. And as I sit here, the snow is coming down hard again, looks like a blizzard. lovely.

We Still Love You Patriots

Oh my goodness that was unexpected. I thought the Patriots could pull it off. I don't know if I felt worse that they lost, or that Brooke made chocolate chip cookies yesterday and I ate 4 of them. at least. I also made clam chowder in the crockpot and it was delicious. I did really enjoy seeing Tom Petty perform during the half time show, I have always liked his music. Watched a movie Saturday night called Lucky You with Eric Bana and Drew Barrymore, it was pretty good.

The Pillars of the Earth

This book was fabulous. It is a sweeping epic spanning from 1123 to 1174. It has everything in it..murder, arson, treachery, torture, love and lust. 973 pages that I could not put down until I was finished.

Today is beautifully sunny out and already 36 degrees at 9:20 am. Yesterday was a different story, we had cold and gray all morning, the school called to say they were letting everyone out at noon and good thing. By the time Brooke would have been driving home we had already had snow and the freezing rain and sleet had been going for a half hour so the drive would have been slippery in her little car. It continued until after we went to bed last night. Gary stayed home yesterday since he didn't have Wednesday off. And we spent the day with the fireplace going and watching TV. We watched Hairspray too and it was really good. I didn't think I was going to like it that much. Weigh in yesterday was not good. I had gained 6 oz. but lost an inch at the waist. Gary had lost 4 oz. but also lost an inch and a half around the waist. Brooke gained 4 oz. and lost one inch around the waist. Glad for the inches lost but ugh, I hate seeing the scale go the other way after working so hard at it.
Today I am going with my sister to Salem. She has to bring back some pants she bought for one of her sons at Christmas. I am just going along for the ride! We might go to the Christmas Tree Shop too.