It Snowed Again, must be leaving town...

This is a quick insert, if anyone is even reading this, to say that we left town for a few days of R&R, and of COURSE it was SNOWING as my friends drove me out to the airport...same old same old...we are doing a quiet version of Las Vegas, no Celine Dion for this girl, because we didn't check the schedule, and she's on VACATION after tonight for a month, so oh well, maybe we'll check out something else. For sure a trip to Hoover Dam, and a walk around the casinos to see all the funny people who play to lose.
We don't anticipate adding much to the economy down here...and we have no email access at the time share we are staying at (if you are wondering how I can do this it is because I came early to the airport for this very reason) I am picking up B after his seminar trip to Phoenix ended today and he is flying in so we can do the tourist bit for a few days.) We will get back home on Friday (ANOTHER STORM is in the forecast, so what else is new)

anyone want to make a bet? we're in the right place for it...this airport is a happening place, I don't think it is ever quiet around here.

More Snow, even Tucson got Hit!

This has truly been an interesting winter. We have a circular driveway in front of our house but it has about three feet of packed snow, so there is a little path from the street to the front door for the paper to get delivered, and a shoveled driveway to the garage. This makes it a LITTLE tricky to park cars when we try to come and go, as there are four drivers and only room to place three vehicles without blocking someone. At the moment my car is parked in Michelle's garage at her condo, and she and I are using her little car which was actually CLEAN for half a day on Saturday, then more new snow hit overnight, and Phil drove her car because she has decent studded snow tires, and he needed to get to work so he could sell snowblowers to OTHER PEOPLE. We were only supposed to get a few inches, but the weathernen were a little mistaken about the total.

White is getting a little too bright. At least the sun is supposed to be out for the next week and we should get some serious melting. Pretty soon people will be complaining about the flooding from all the snow melting too fast. We always need to have an excuse to complain. Talking to my sister last night, they were getting a few inches of snow in Tucson. I guess El Nino is for real this year.

Kristen has some great ice pix on her blog, they are getting snow finally, winter is here for real. We are ready for some warmer weather. I sure appreciate days over 50 degrees when we get them. That seems really warm right now.

New Year, New Stuff

Well I had great intentions of getting our holiday epistle written early and sent out in a timely manner, as well as the handmade gifts (which will be great next year, provided I get started on them soon while the ideas are fresh in my memory banks) The birth of our wonderful grandbaby changed a lot of my plans, as well as the delay in getting home because of the snow in Denver. Everybody was saving the put-up-the-tree and decorations for me to do when I got home, so we looked like the Grinch house, no tree, no lights outside, no foo-foo dust catchers, although Brian did snatch a tree from his office decorations, and they set up an olive wood nativity. Even without decorating for it, Christmas came anyway, and we had a great time; best of all was the fantastic meal prepared for us by Debbie and Jeff --they give the BEST Christmas gift I can think of each year when they make Christmas dinner for our family. This year it was doubly appreciated, as I didn't even get home until 4pm on Christmas Day, so the welcoming aromas and delicious food were even better than usual.

The day after Christmas was very educational and somewhat traumatic, as we found out that Michelle has Type 1 Diabetes, and spent four hours in the ER after learning that her blood sugar and ketones were at toxic levels. The two weeks since then have been filled with nutrition data/blood glucose monitoring/insulin training/ pharmacy runs/ and grocery shopping. We all have a lot of information overload to deal with, and doctor visits/ dosage management training/ low blood sugar scares, etc etc. (I used to look at nutrition labels just for calories and fat grams; then for sodium and cholesterol bad stuff; now we are focusing on carbs, carbs vs fiber, and protein, as well, so we are pretty much looking at the whole label, which makes for a slow go at the grocery store.)

Last weekend I was able to attend my nephew David B's wedding in Corona CA. It was great to get together with some of my sibs, and see several nephews and nieces and their kids. The trip out there was filled with adventure, as Denver has been afflicted with even more snow, not the nice mild winters we are used to, but blizzardy storms, round 1 was just before Christmas, 2 hit just before New Years, 3 was in full swing as Brian drove me toward the airport (it took us 90 minutes to make the 45 minute trip at 4am, and my plane had to be de-iced before we could take off, then we sat for over 30 minutes before we could leave---I missed my connection in Phoenix, and had a two+ hour layover before the windy, rocky trip to Ontario) The trip back on Sunday was pretty smooth, except for the drive home in GROUND BLIZZARDS and gale-force winds that were category 1-3 hurricane force, and caused many accidents because of drifts. Round 4 is coming this weekend with sub-zero temperatures. So much for the drought around here, at least that is one blessing from the snow. (Brian suggested that I should look for a house in Phoenix during my unexpected layover, and he was only partially kidding...)

Despite maybe sounding like a DebbieDowner, we feel greatly blessed. We are all looking forward to having good things happen in 2007. Chase is already a month old (today) and brings joy to my heart every time I see a picture of him. Also, we have a wonderful family and friends right here to enjoy, and loved ones all across the country. Life is truly good. Plus, I have a great craft project to make in my spare moments, courtesy of my sister Deb.