surviving the blizzard of 2010.

The inside of my house is looking a bit like lego land. Santa brought one good little 10 year old boy lots of legos. Legos are a boys best friend when your going to be hit with a blizzard that keeps you trapped inside for nearly 2days. This evening is the first time my husband and my son have ventured out to finally tackle the shoveling and snow plowing, now while my son will consider legos a his best friend, today my husband will consider his new snow plow his best friend. Luckily we have not lost power so the heater in my chicken coup has kept my chickens nice and cozy. My son got a head lamp for Christmas and he just went out to feed the chickens excited to try it out. I myself have been enjoying a good book and lots of warm coffee. The only ones really disappointed are the dogs who normally love to play outside in the snow, they have decided its just to cold and windy and would rather stay snoozing by the fire. Maybe tomorrow we will go out and play, but not today, we will stay inside and wait it out.

Butterfly

So now are we not only a home to 2 dogs, 6 chickens, a house cat, ( and also currently feeding a stray and her kittens) we are now also home to two monarch butterflies. My son and husband recently spied two caterpillars which they claim they rescued. We then had the joy of watching these caterpillars spin a cocoon and eventually hatch to, two beautiful monarchs. From what I understand they usually fly south for the winter, but its now to cold and they would never survive the journey. So now my husband and son have taken them under their wing (pardon the pun) and have become caregivers feeding them nectar and what ever else they need.

no bones about it

no bones about it that's one humongous raw hide my Girl Oreo has. Took her a few tries to get it out the door, and then she went into the back yard and buried it. One day later my other dog unburied it, and today Oreo buried it again, its one vicious cycle but amusing to watch nonetheless.

Happy Halloween

Gone trick or treating:)

blue eyed kitten

So as I mentioned before we had a stray cat have kittens in my wood shed. It is so fun to watch them! We plan on trying to tame them and find them good homes, but as of yet they have been hard to catch as they are to afraid and wild. Last weekend we rented a have a heart trap and were able to catch one of the kittens, only to later let her back out with momma as they evidently are younger then we originally though and are still nursing. The one kitten we caught was a beautiful little kitten but sadly I believe she is blind in one eye, she has a one big blue eye with no pupil. She is playful and does not seem effected or bothered by it, although to look at it, it first appears a little disturbing. It was a good conversation to have with my son about why we are sometimes born different or with birth defects. He has fallen in love with little unique beauty and I am not sure how we are ever going to give her up. My goal was to not name them thus not getting attached but we have found ourselves affectionately calling her "gum drop", I guess because she is sweet like a little gum drop:)

fairy houses

When I was a kid I loved to play in the woods behind my fathers home. He lived on a little peninsula on a lake so you didn't wander to far before you hit water. What I loved most were all the old trees growing in unusual shapes up from the edge of the lake or into the damp boggy woods. It was an enchanted land I would imagine. One time my sister and I found two dead twisted tree roots just laying in the woods, we imagined that a unicorn had shed its horn. We took turns taking those twisted roots to school show and tell, and tried to convince our classmates it was a genuine unicorn horn. We would take old ply wood and build forts around trees that grew in a cluster, then we would sit and wait watching for wildlife or better yet fairies to emerge. Like I said it was an enchanted land, that was long forgotten once we lost our youth. we are now preparing to sell my fathers old home and have had to spend a lot of time out their renovating. Today my little one wanted to go for a walk in those woods, feeling a bit nostalgic I took him up on the offer but I told him we had a mission to see if the old fairy house was still out there. He rolled his eyes at the thought but as we walked through the woods amongst those twisted tall trees he turned and said to me "you know this could be a magical place". And sure enough right where I remembered it was the little "fairy house", but sadly no-one was home they must of all been out enjoying the fall foliage;)

While we are knee deep in tomatoes from my sons garden, not a single one of his pumpkins grew. Growing his own pumpkins might have provided him with some pride and bragging rights, maybe not having any pumpkins is a good thing. If we had grown more of our own vegetables we might miss out on going to some of the local farm stands, one of my favorite places to go in the fall. All the variety of local grown veggies, the homemade baked goods, the colors and the smells, it is certainly a New England must! Now excuse me I am off to make a stew from all the yummy veggies I either grew or bought at my local farm stand:)

stray cat strut

A little over a month ago, we suspected we had a visitor of the critter kind, there were signs. Then one day she showed herself, this tiny little malnourished cat peered out from under our shed. So cute and so ridiculously underweight we took pity and left out a bowl of food. she was far to shy and skittish to let us near her. So every evening for the past few weeks we would take turns sitting outside with her while she ate. we have become attached to this little visitor, so much so we had to give her a name, and hence "pudding head" became part of our life. I was obsessed with this cat and worried about making this cat comfortable so she would learn to trust us so we could bring her into our warm abode this winter. Little by little we earned her trust, enough so she would let us pet her and love her but not enough for her to want to come into the house. Today my husband found her shivering and starving (did I mention this cat eats like a horse) so in she came. She made herself comfortable, that is until anyone went for the door in which case she would try to get out. I tried to convince her it was better in here then it is out there, but there is just no reasoning with a cat:) deafeated I let her out, but followed her because there was something that bothered me about this tiny little cat, her belly was full, could it be full of milk, I asked my husband. I followed "pudding head" out to our backyard and to our woodshed and in a flash I saw the little kitten run out from under a wood pile latch on to his momma, aka "pudding head" and then spy me and run back under the pile. "Pudding head" has kittens! So alas I am running a Maternity ward for cats out in my woodshed. I have no idea how many kittens as I am to afraid to move anything, so as not to cause an avalanche of wood onto the wee ones. So now I will sit and patiently wait for "Pudding head" to trust us enough to introduce us and while I wait I will wonder what to do with all these cats.

"would you, could you, eat them on a train"

We recently took a train ride up Mount Washington, simply beautiful, and so much fun. The Bonus was that we booked a dinner on the train, while not cheap it was a blast. Nothing like a nostalgic train ride an someone else doing the cooking!

???

Where did summer go? It feels so much like fall today, and as much as I love fall I am not ready to embrace it! The leaves are still green, there is still plenty of veggies in the garden to be picked, my geraniums in my window box's are a blushing pink. There are lots of birds in my feeders that have yet to go South. So what gives? Leave it to my kiddo to come up with the answer... "Mom it is just a dress rehearsal for Fall, the big show comes later" :)

Its an Egg!

We are so very excited this weekend, not because its a three day weekend and we are having so much fun. We are excited because yesterday my son went out to feed the chickens and he found an egg. Finally, our beautiful hens have started laying! Seems like such a mundane thing to get excited about, but around here you would think we just won the lottery!

My girls

"Until one has loved an animal, part of their soul remains unawakened."

my new love!

I have been stalking my new love for months now. I would go and just stare at my love, wondering if it was meant to be, wonder if I could make the commitment. After all its been a long time for me. yesterday I told my husband about my new love and surprisingly he was supportive and agreed that I should go for it. So today we went and got my new love and brought her home, isn't she just beautiful! I have been out riding most of the day with my son having a blast,(I don't think its possible to forget how to ride a bike), I definitely can commit to this new partnership.

What to do when boys have had to much sugar?

Went to the fair, and my son had his once a year treat of "Fried dough". I know lots of sugar, lots a fat, but what fun is a fair if you are not going to indulge in traditional fair cuisine? He only ate half the dough and by the time he was finished he was bouncing of the walls. So whats a mom and Dad to do? Well the answer was just around the corner, the "hamster ball" as my son called it! Brilliant!

My husband and Son attended Star Wars in concert this week. Not me, not my thing, but I did enjoy the energy from their excitement. Before the show there is a small display of original movie props and characters to pose with. All night while I sat home my husband kept texting me these random pictures of my son at the concert.

Deluxe Accommodations

This past spring we took the plunge and got some baby chicks. While they grew under their heat lamps, my husband and son set of on a "father/son" project building the coup. Well its nearly finished and the chickens are all moved in and my son who somehow thinks he is the "chicken whisperer" says "They LOVE it!". It is beautiful, my sister jokes and calls it the chicken mansion. It looks more like a little potting shed or cottage, but its just perfect. Its still minus a few details, we are scouring flea markets this summer looking for the perfect vintage light to hang above the door, and the fence is still not up, (although when left out on their own the chickens don't roam far from the safety of the coup). Anyhow we are loving raising our chickens and expect them to be mature enough by the end of summer to start giving us eggs!! Looking forward to future breakfasts in our little home.

I'm here, just been busy! So much to do and so much going on this summer. I suppose being busy is a blessing. We unfortunately will not be traveling far this summer related to appointments and commitments that have to keep us close to home. That being said, it has been great finding adventure in our own back yard. This weekend, totally unplanned, my husband and I both ended up with the same day off. We vowed not to spend our day surrendering to home improvements or running around doing errands getting nowhere fast. It was to be just a day for our small little family of three. We debated all week what to do. We are in the midst of a heat wave so whatever it was would have to be cool. The obvious choice was the beach, but this morning we woke up and decided that's where everyone would be! We tossed around a few ideas not finding any that stick, then my husband through out "how about lobstering". I thought he was crazy dreaming and my response was a sarcastic "yes, lets get on our imaginary boat and go Lobstering". Trust me he said and he was off to the computer with phone in hand. A few calls later and he was hollering "pack up and get ready we're going lobstering". So a day trip it was, we piled into "big red" (that's my husbands truck) and off we went to beautiful Boothbay Harbor Maine. We boarded the lobster boat "the sea swallow" and went out as they pulled in their catch, participating and learning a little about the lobster business.

zip

took my cutie to the new Zip line park. Shy, but fearless he tackled the zip line. I thought I might loose my lunch watching him take that first jump... I'm very excited about this new park, I hope its a success!

first concert

My sister and I took my son to his first concert this weekend, we had so much fun! It was pouring rain and our seats at Gillette Stadium were out in the open but that did not dampen our spirits(pardon the pun). Keith Urban, Dixie Chicks and top it off with the Eagles, not a bad first concert for a kid!

the view from my bathroom

In my bathroom there is a small window way up high, not quite sure when the house was built why this odd window was put in? When you look out the window you only see another wall of my home. As of late I would look out the window and sigh a depressed sigh thinking about all the painting that needs to be done this summer. Recently a pair of birds started building a nest up on the exterior light outside this window. They built the nest months ago and seemed to abandon it, however much to our delight they are back! They are back, they have nested and now we fight for the first class seat of looking out my tiny bathroom window and watch mamma bird come feed her little flock. This picture was taken from the bathroom window, enjoy the view and pardon the peeling paint!

Gardening

We are having fun getting back to basics around our house. The chickens are getting big, to bad it will be a while before we see any eggs. We are gardening this year after taking a break last year. My son has requested to plant his own garden. This weekend he started it, and has been out there every evening watering it and checking its growth. Sadly or maybe happily I must report that the garden looks better then mine, maybe he has his grammies green thumb, it must evidently skip a generation??

Beautiful Music

I love that my son chose to play the violin. He came home one day and asked if he could learn to play. He has a wonderful music teacher who has taken on the task of teaching any third grader who wants to learn the violin. Like most parents I was skeptical about his choice, certain it would loose its appeal in weeks...however much to my surprise and poor dogs ears the violin endures. A few weekends ago my son participated in a music camp fundraiser where kids (who play string instruments )from area schools all got together for a day to rehearse and then put on a concert at the days end. There were 5 different orchestras and depending on your level of experience determined what orchestra you were in. My son obviously participated in orchestra I. Let me tell you, when you hear the few kids in his class play they clearly sound like beginners but their hearts and best effort is there. when you put 140 beginners together something different happens, the music blends and is magic. They seem to feed and be inspired by one another and there was a beautiful harmony that made for a beautiful concert that I was proud to attend.
I am thankful for music teachers who often have to fight to keep the music in schools alive. Music programs are often underestimated, overlooked and usually the first to get cut during budget cuts.
What I saw at that concert was confident, inspired, dedicated and well behaved kids and the value of that is priceless..

cooking up conversation

I love to cook, but not a forced lets make dinner cook, I sometimes get inspired at bizarre moments/ hours. Tonight I was putting away dinner when I discovered some ground sausage in the fridge quickly approaching its use by date. so at 8pm I decided to cook up an awesome breakfast for tomorrow, throw it in the fridge and heat and eat in the am- LOve it! My son in his PJ's comes strolling in ready for bed, (after a chaotic morning when I could not get him out of bed we had agreed tonight he would be in bed by 8pm.) My son waiting for his tuck in, sees the culinary chaos going on in the kitchen and says "can I help, i love to cook"? I overlook the time and allow him, he gets his old step stool and starts sauteing the onions. As he sautes and I chop, he tells me about his day, about how the new kid made a bad choice and pinched so and so, about how he is learning all about Einstein and a little know fact that Einstein played the violin. We are Deep in the throws of conversation and good cooking when dear hubbies nose gets curious and leads him to the kitchen, he samples the cuisine, adding spice not only to the pot but to the conversation. A moment meant to be thrifty, and creative turns into a great family moment. No rushing to feed hungry mouths, just cooking up some food and conversation!
*** (On a side note my son promises to jump out of bed in the morning because he is looking forward to eating our breakfast!)

highs and lows

Its been two long weeks full of highs and lows. Why is it one can go for months with nothing uneventful, or remotely interesting happening and then all of a sudden bam, it all hits you at once like a speeding train. No secret my father died 5 months ago to the day. As if his passing wasn't difficult enough it has been a painstaking task trying to settle his affairs. Finally getting the courage to clean out his house, sort through his things, fix up his home to sell... it just goes on an on making closure next to impossible. This week we sold his beloved boat- his dream, it was to big and massive for either my sister or I to keep and maintain, so up for sale it went and with in a week someone else bought his dream. I have mixed emotions about this, while it is one step closer to closure, I cant help but feel that I just lost a piece of him all over again. Tonight out to dinner with some family I mentioned we sold the boat, forgetting that I had not yet told my son, I watched him also loose all over again. He cried as he told our company about all his good times on the boat with his grampie. Tonight when I tucked him he asked if he would ever stop missing him, I told him it is a blessing that he even has the memories that make missing him possible...
So I will continue on this journey of mourning, enduring the highs and lows.

To my Nana who worries about me putting such 'personal stuff out there"- its cheaper then a therapist. ( Gonna go now, I am very excited Betty white is on SNL- who doesn't love Betty White)

Victory

Every year my son competes in a local fishing derby held for kids 15 and under, its a lot of fun and holds a lot of history for me as my father used to take me to the same derby when I was a kid. This year preparing for the derby we discovered my sons reel was broke, so last night we quickly ran out to replace it. Very emotional when he picked a red reel "just like grampies". My father passed away 6 months ago, when he was alive one of his favorite things was to take my son fishing, he talked with great pride about his own pole he had nicknamed "big reg". somehow after my fathers passing big red has come up missing, we figure its sitting at a friends but its bitter sweet as he had bequeathed his pole to his only grandson. So that being said it was somewhat of an honor when my son picked a red reel like his grampies, and just like grampie he gave the reel a prominent name, he named it "Victory".
So today my son took Victory to the Derby, he cast his line... I was prepping my camera for pictures when I heard my son holler "V-i-c-t-o-r-y" He with no assist from his mother or father had hooked and reeled in his first fish! Beaming with pride I snapped picture after picture, all the while thinking he didn't do it alone, his grandfather was there!

for goodness snakes!

My son has been learning about debate in school. One of his recent tasks was to write a convincing letter to mom and dad convincing us the pros of getting him a snake for a pet. My son is a smart cookie though and knows that his mother is a tad bit freaked out by snakes. So he told the teacher "SNAKE was a bad word in his house" and could he instead try to debate with us the pros of getting another dog.---- boy do I love that kid!!
If you could see me you would see that I am smiling from ear to ear:)

chicks

We live in an old farmhouse that has been a labor of love. What our little farmhouse has been lacking though is the creatures that make it a farm. Well I am happy to say that this week we took a small step and got some baby chickens. I am so excited! I know nothing about raising chickens, so my nose has been buried in books learning all that I can. Right now the little peepers are in the house keeping warm, I love wakeing up to their little "peep,peeps"! Soon as they are strong and big enough we will move them outside. My husband and son are getting in some father son bonding over building the coup and you cant argue with that! I do think they have had about enough of me though, all week I have been going around the house sing "green acres" or yelling "I don't know nothing about raising chickens" (basically mocking the line from Gone with the wind "I don't know nothing about birthing no babies" ). Oh well, stay tuned for updates in our adventures in raising chickens!

The conversations of boys and Their Mom Troubles

This week by chance I had the fortunate experience of overhearing one of my sons conversations with a friend. It was by accident, my intention was not to eavesdrop but alas I had the joy of overhearing one of the funniest conversations..
This week my son had a concert at school, he had to arrive an hour early so I took him into school, I went to hug and kiss him goodbye in a room full of kids and he instantly got embarrassed. I left him, but realized I forgot to tell him where to meet me after the concert, I went to go back to the music room and I overheard him with his friend.
Friend: "Hey friend, you got 'MOM TROUBLES" dont you"
Son: "You said it dude"
Friend: "Boy, you don't have to tell me about mom troubles, I got the worst mom
troubles there ever was, my mom made me wear this tie"
Son: "Yikes!, mine is not that bad, I just think she loves to embarrass me"
Friend: "Yeah, I think they are all like that"

I still laugh about it it. "Live to embarrass him"! He just better wait until his next baseball gave, I'll give the boy "MOM TROUBLES".

"singing in the rain"

Its cold, damp and raining today, however My heart is warm and I'm smiling at watching my little one put on his fathers galoshes and raincoat to take the puppy out. There is something so wonderful and whimsical about seeing little ones in bright "sunshine" yellow raincoats on the grayest days. I'm channeling Gene Kelly and thinking about joining my little one and go "singing in the rain"

Wordless Wednesday

Holy Cannoli

Spring, Spring, Spring! Love spring, if I made a list separating my likes and dislikes of spring my likes would run on for pages and pages, but... there would be a few dislikes. Number 1 being ROAD CONSTRUCTION. Currently the road I live on is under going a 2 year road expansion thanks to the governments great stimulus Package. I am happy for the jobs it creates and the money/revenue it generates into the local economy, but good golly do I hate the tie up in traffic. Let me explain, I work locally and often between clients I use my home as an office, so I am in and out all day long. I travel anywhere from 50-100 miles a day. So when I approach a construction site and the flagger turns that slow sign to a STOP, I cringe thinking about the precious time. I have for the last month thought there was a conspiracy (yes I know that make me sound like I have a big ego), that every time they see my vehicle approach they get a good laugh at making me stop. I stop and I wait, and I wait and I wait. If the flagger was a lip reader I'm sure he/she would not be impressed with what I am saying in the privacy of my car. This week the construction tripled with three different work sites set up along the road. I would get through one ,and was convinced that the flagger I had just left called the one a mile down the road to alert "she is coming turn the sign to stop". Sometimes I have to laugh at my paranoia, Im sure its all coincidence that every time my kia approaches they make me stop, but yesterday as a good faith gesture I tried my hand at bribery...
A busy day in store, schedule tight, I approached the first site and bam.. the dreaded flagger Stops me. I laugh thinking "oh yeah this is how its going to be", then I look over at the seat next to me, ah a box of cannolis. Thats when I did it, in good humor, I rolled down the window and offered my "enemy" (the flagger) a cannoli, surprised and impressed he took the bait, but alas the sign stayed on stop, and every time that day I approached it turned to ... STOP. So the lesson of the story is "Don't waste a good cannoli on bribing construction flaggers" :(

almost spring!

This weekend has been a perfect weekend! We got a small sampling of whats to come with spring. Everyone has spring fever including my old lazy dog Oreo who has traded in her warm seat next to the wood stove for sunbathing in the warm sun. The TV has been left off, traded in for bike riding and tossing the baseball back and forth in the backyard. Winter coats and boots remain in the hall traded in for fleece hoodies and sneakers. My husband is even considering firing up the grill, I believe burgers are on the menu. Next week we spring ahead and I cant wait!

The Blahs...

Today I have the Blahs... It started yesterday around 2pm when my body decided to tell me that It had caught the stomach bug going around. I believe Im over the worst but today as I recover I feel like a mac truck ran over me and then backed up and did it again. Its pouring rain out, and I mean pouring.. it could be worse and I can deal with the rain but today it just doesn't help. My husband is off to work and my little one off at school. On any ordinary day I would cherish my time alone, but today on this rainy lousy feeling day I wish they were here. I keep watching the clock waiting for it to strike 3pm when my little one comes home and recounts his day. Im thinking about baking him some great after school snack but Im not certain my stomach can handle the smell. In any case I just long for his company, his little smile to pick me up from my Blahs..

"over the river and through the woods..."

This past weekend we attended a fund raiser, not only was it for a good cause but the price of admission got you a beautiful horse drawn sleigh ride through the woods. While I have no pictures of my family and I, these are some of the beautiful horses that carried the sleighs.

Nothing says I love you like Whale Wellies...

See my Valentines day gift I got from dear hubby. They are the cutest, Wellies I have ever seen. They have little whimsical whales on them. They just make me smile. What is even better is the man picked them out himself!! I was so shocked and excited, they are 100% me. When everyone elses flowers wilt and waistlines expand from chocolate I will be "singing in the rain" in my cute new Wellies. He has come a long way from our first Valentines day (almost two decades ago) when he bought me on of those enormous balloons with the stuffed animals inside, he went and opened the car door, and out the balloon drifted, up, up and away.... I can can guarantee the only place these boots are going is walking.. I love them! Happy Valentines day hope your feet and you heart are warm and happy!

"Winner, Winner, no chicken dinner"

A quick run into the store the other day before a meeting at work. I was in a big rush, but had to stop and buy dish detergent so I could tackle the growing mountain of dishes after work.
The lines were crazy long with only two lines open. I waited, my agitation and fear of being late growing.
Finally my turn, the clerk scanned my item and went to hit the total button on the register when the red light above her began to flash... "now what" went through my head when the clerk and the nearby manager began to holler "We have a winner, We have a winner". All eyes in the crowded store were on me......."What did I win" I asked excited. The enthusiastic manager pulled my receipt and like a game show host announced "You have Won a free bag of Cotton balls"............. As much as my spirit was crushed in that moment I think I truly crushed the clerks spirit when I asked her if "I could instead choose door number 2"........ And my husbands thought on this "Big Win" is that I now can at least say "I have won something" !

The Dream is gone.........or is it??

When I was little I worshiped "Wonder Woman", I wanted to be "wonder Woman". That awesome ? figure flattering corset, the gold bracelets the knee high boots and top it off with the crown/headband. "Wonder Woman" was a fearless hottie, and that's what I wanted to be. Well reality is I'm short, my butt is big, my boobs sag, my thighs chafe, I am not the size 2 beauty that Miss "Wonder Woman" was. I can be insecure, grumpy, short tempered and sometimes even confused, defiantly not the secure go-getter "Wonder Woman" was. Alas I am no Wonder Woman, it is a dream I must forget... Or Do I???
On a recent trip to the park with my son and two dogs, We walked a long distance, we returned to my vehicle and my 12year old BIG dog decided she ached to much from the walk to be able to jump into the car to go home. My son began to panic when she stubbornly lay on the ground letting us know she had enough. Getting dark and cold she would not budge. We pulled, we bribed and we coaxed but she just could not do it. Then with super human strength (or maybe it was my starving stomach driving me) I went over to my 100lb four legged baby and started to lift her up. My son began to cheer, "you can do it Mom, your a super hero", and with that I did it, I lifted my poor aging dog into the vehicle and off we went. So there it is, Some have their 15 minutes of fame, but for me its my 15 minutes as a super hero!
**as a side note no animals were injured, My sweet dog is fine, we have just made her walks a little shorter and thanks to a good vet she is on a good arthritis med that seems to help her weary bones***

Happy birthday New england Bloggers

Happy Birthday New England Blogger s! (http://ebogie.blogspot.com/2010/01/happy-birthday-new-england-bloggers.html) Part of the celebration is for each blogger to write something about their New England experience or State. Like a kid with a looming homework assignment I have been struggling with what to write. I am not computer savvy to download a slide show of my state or upload pics from the internet.So I will do what I do best and thats ramble on and on, and maybe just maybe I will contribute a little something.
I live in Maine where it snows and it snows and its cold in the winter. I hate winter! Every winter I beg my husband to move to warmer climate then he says "if we move then in summer you will hate the heat, or be worried about Tornadoes or hurricanes" (why is it husbands have an excuse for everything?). I am a home care nurse, I drive to some bad rural areas, and you see this is another reason why I hate Winter, driving! I have family in the the South, they like to make fun of us hicks up here, most recently a friend in the south was shocked that I was able to see the movie Avatar in 3D, her reply was "you actually have 3D all the way up there? (its a good thing she is far away to avoid my pummeling her). I digress, anyhow these relatives in the South recently got some snow and ice, and guess what, their world ended. Schools shut down for days, no one went to work, and they dont have people who plow their driveways or snow blowers they HAD TO SHOVEL!! I loved it and it has made me think that winter is not so bad here, because us Mainers have learned to keep going, adapt, survive. Without winter there would be not spring, no contests to see who spy's the first Robin, no apple blossoms, lilacs, No Mud which is a vital rite of passage for every toddler to run throght the mud with his/her goloshes. There would be no need for LL bean or sleigh rides, no appreciation for hot cooco, or wood stoves.....all of these things that in our coldest season bring feelings of warmth and happiness. So I think I will re-evaluate my hating Maine winters they are not so bad in fact "they are 'Wicked' good"

?preteen

Love my mailbox. Love to open it everyday excited to see what it holds, usually disappointed to find bills, but occasionally there is a jackpot of fun catalogs to drool over, a letter or card from a friend and sometimes that anticipated book I ordered from amazon. Today however shock of all shocks.... I got something about dealing with "my preteen". Stop the presses, I don't have a preteen do I? Making dinner the brochure had me rattled. A million little things to do, I had to stop all and Google preteen and sure enough the defined ages for preteen is age 9-12. Gulp, that's a hard reality to swallow. Going to stop this post now and go hug my "tween" before you know it he will be a "teen".

Aloha!!

Trying to embrace the snow this weekend, although truth be told I'm dreaming of warmer climates. Went out and built a snowman with my son which was a blast, my son named him "Jake".

So far so good.....

Last night my husband wimped out and decided he was to tired to ring in the new year so off to bed he went. My son and I being the brave, fearless adventurers we are vowed to stay up and help "Ryan Seacrest" ring in the new year. Snacks in hand all cozy we took our places..... Then somewhere around 2am my son wakes me up and says "Mom wake up, we missed it", both of us had fallen asleep before the clock struck midnight... Oh well got to give us credit for trying!
We currently are in the midst of a three day snow storm (the jury is still out on the severity). This morning we surprised our son and took him snowboarding. I was certain before the trip was over we would end up in the emergency room with someone breaking something. I had to close my eyes as my son descended down the hill for his first run, It was only once my husband started jumping up and down cheering that I learned he had amazingly made it to the bottom of the hill without a single fall. Yay!! I started watching, each trip down he got braver taking on the jumps off to the side! He made it look so easy my husband decided to give it a try. Taking his place at the top of the hill snowboard locked on his feet, my husband slowly started down the hill, his knees buckled and his arms began flapping like some crazy bird, then smash... Down he went on his derriere. No harm, no injuries except maybe his pride. He made his way back up the hill then watched as my son "showed him how its done". Poor hubby... thanks for the laugh. 2010, So far so good!