Enough Already!

Well, here I am stuck in my house again for yet another winter storm. You all know I love winter and I love snow, but this is getting old. When you can't get out to enjoy it, it's not worth having, you know? I guess the last time we had a "1-2 punch" as it's being called, was in 1990 and the total snowfall from the 2 storms was only 24 inches. We're up to about 40 I'd say and the snow hasn't stopped yet.

My parents made it home yesterday. They were incredibly lucky getting here and getting out just as the cancelations started.

At least I've been exercising. Yesterday I did the eliptical and a "big ball" workout. It's a 35 minute tape with one of those big exercise balls. Doesn't look like you're doing much, but I feel it today. The biggest challenge for me is to stop myself from eating since I'm bored. At least I mostly have healthy stuff - but there's still a lot of sugar here...

I just hope it clears up a bit so we can still go out for New Years! We have fun plans and it'll be nice to finally get out of the house.

Merry Christmas!

Hope everyone had a Merry Christmas yesterday! I had a pretty good time. My parents came in from Erie on Wednesday, and had an unexpected stay overnight here with me. They made it up to the mountains the next day. I went up Saturday and stayed until this morning. Unfortunately, I have developed a small cold. Nothing too bad, just stuffy and groggy, but sick enough that I didn't get to go snowboarding at all. (Jenny, I think I caught it from your blog!)

Christmas itself was good. My mom and I made pierogies the day before and so I was happy about that! They are so good, but I don't make them often. I'm happy to be home - and now the exercising must begin! I'm proud I hopped on the eliptical today while watching some South Park that Dave and Joanna got me. It's time to shed a few pounds so I can fit into my clothes again. I did break down and buy some "fat" pants, but I don't want to have to buy a whole new wardrobe, that's for sure. Oh well, it was all worth it - the food was pretty great!

We are slowly digging out - all the main roads are fine, but the side streets are still bad. Deep ruts that your tires get stuck into and so you slide about a bit and hope no one else is coming in the other direction. It was like 50 degrees today, though, so hopefully it'll be gone soon.

The Morning After

Here are my last pictures. If you want to see a video of my dogs running around playing in the snow (or trying to), let me know and I'll send it to you individually. Can you spot the firepit in the first picture?

My parents left for the mountains. I don't know how long it will take them. The roads are better now, it's just the side streets are pretty horrible. This morning my dad and I shoveled out the driveway and their car. My neighbor was out too and he helped us a little bit. It's funny how blizzards bring the neighbors together...

I'm trying to think of things to do - it's getting boring now. I don't mind being stuck in my house normally, but when you don't have the option of leaving it's a little frustrating. Most businesses are closed today. The mail isn't being delivered, I can't even take a little walk to the mailbox. I think I'll give the dogs a bath. I already rearranged the guest bedroom now that my parents and I got the sofa bed downstairs this morning. That was fun...

Blizzard Update

Geez, I'm glad I quit my job and didn't have to travel today. My parents were lucky to get to my house. Their plane arrived around 10:30 this morning and they got to my house at 5:30pm. It's only a 25 minute drive from the airport to my house, so that gives you an idea of how horrible this storm is. It doesn't help that Denver's snowplow efforts SUCK. Of course, when you grow up in the snowbelt, you are surprised at how other places are bad at snowstorm preparation.

Here's some pictures before bed - the dogs were very amusing, I thought I'd have to rescue Pacey a few times. I had to shovel an area for them, but they still tried to make their way through the drifts. I'd say we're at about 21 inches here. The pictures aren't really doing it justice...

The 2nd Blizzard of the Season

Today starts the second blizzard this year. The last one wasn't too bad. This one is worse and should last about 36 hours. At 3 hours into it, I took the above picture. I guess I should shovel soon...

The part that sucks is that my parents flew in today. The interstates are HORRIBLE and they were planning on driving up to their townhouse in the mountains. Something tells me that won't happen. I need to go get my guest bedroom ready as well as shovel. And my house is so not guest-friendly right now since I went on my cleaning out the crap rampage. I have a huge pile of stuff and my house is dirty. Oh well. I'm sure they will understand. At least they got here - most afternoon flights have been canceled. Too bad they didn't come yesterday, it was beautiful and sunny.

Everyone with kids has these cute Christmas cards with pictures - so here's my version:


Pacey has a Christmas ruffle on too, but his hair hides it! I don't do the decoration thing anymore - way too annoying with cats and dogs trying to play with everything, so I just hang all the cards I get. They don't look so amused to me, but they put up with it!

I also updated the picture album, so check out some Thanksgiving and snowboarding pictures!

Sorry...

Yes, I know it's been a while. And I'm sorry. Let's see, the last we left off was Halloween. I'm still seeing that guy Jonny that I met at that party. Not very often, but we still hang out. I'm not sure where that's going. When I don't see someone often, I get bored and we're certainly not an official "item" or anything. So, I'm just taking it as it comes. I like him, but I'm not sure I'm excited about him, or that he's excited about me. We saw Apocalypto the other night. Very good movie, but very violent and bloody. And certain parts were very fake (the animals especially) that sort of took you out of the moment, but all in all, worth seeing.

My friends Lara and A and I had Thanksgiving at A's house. We did a sort of pot luck thing, I brought my dogs over to play with his dog, and we watched The Chronicles of Narnia. It was a very calm and relaxing Thanksgiving.

After about the last 3 months of thinking about it, I've decided to quit my job and look for something closer to home. The commute and the hours were hard on me and my animals. I worked 4 10-hr days, but since my commute was about 45 minutes each way, I'd be gone from my house for 12-13 hours at a time, and Greta was getting bored and started to destroy my house. It started out with her dog toys and ripping up her dog beds. Annoying, but at least she wasn't hurting my stuff. Then she started chewing on the wicker thing I have. Then the rocking chair that I've had for many years. Then the staircase wood, and then the kitchen cabinet! That was the last straw and I've had to crate her for all the time I'm at work and that made me feel bad. She loves her crate, but 13 hours of being locked in a box with no water or access to the outside? Not a good situation.

Also, the long hours away from home and lack of sleep was making me lazy and not want to do anything. On my days off I found myself trying to catch up on sleep, and the lack of activity is making me fat. I'm not fitting into my clothes and that's making me depressed! The job itself was stressful and, let me tell ya, specialty vet clinics draw in crazy people. They are demanding and clingy and mean. Ok, not all of them, but a lot more than in general practice. Also, I'm a little bored with only dealing with dogs w/ diabetes, Addison's or Cushings disease, post-op dogs and dogs with vomiting/diarrhea. I miss seeing the healthy animals and puppies/kittens for their shots and annual exams. It will be nice to not come home with disgusting bodily fluids on my scrubs every single day.

So, I have a probable job lined up - I just have my working interview with them tomorrow morning. I'll get to see how they practice medicine, and if we work well with each other. It's only 7 minutes from my house and that means I get to sleep in a little, go to bed a little earlier and go home for lunch to let the dogs out. A much better situation....

AND, now that I hopefully won't be so exhausted when I'm home, I'll update this thing a little more regularly.

Already, I've gone on a clearing out the crap in my house and reorganize the closets rampage. I'm leaving the guest bedroom for last - that's going to be the hardest, and the one that most needs it! That's where all the junk ends up.

Anyway, I will try to be a better blogger - if I were the type to make New Year's Resolutions, that would be it...