Slip Slidding Away

The weatherman was a bit off in forecasting this weekend weather blast. As of yesterday we were supposed to start getting snow about 10pm last night (didn't) and by noon today it was going to change to sleet/snow combo (didn't) and then get accumulations of 4-10 inches (haven't yet).

At 11am when we headed out the door to grab breakfast at Jimmy's Egg and do some shopping, it was raining... a nice steady rain. Not downpours... just gentle steady rain. There was sleet on the ground from earlier in the morning. About 4pm-ish we noticed that some snow was starting to fall and the rain had ended. So far, nothing major has accumulated, however it is a watery, slushy mess outside and tonight it's going to be well below freezing which means snotty slick roads again.

Speaking of the watery slushy mess.... today Richard and I headed out to do some shopping for the house. We needed to pick out fabric for window treatments, paint for the bathroom, a wine cabinet, and decor for the fireplace. We spent hours upon hours dashing in and out of stores scoping out our options... and found ourselves in the heart of the city on The Mile of Furniture. It's not really a mile, but close enough. Its an area of the city where there are tons of furniture stores... one right after another.

I was jabbering on the phone to my mom about whether I should hire a seamstress to sew the curtains or should we attempt to do it when I realized that the parking lot we were turning around in.... wasn't letting us out. We were stuck. Richard looked at me... I looked at him... I told mom "gotta go... I think i'm going to have to drive and Richard is going to have to push". It wasnt ice or snow, but we were stuck in deep watery slushy mess. The car wouldn't go forward nor would it go backwards (we probably should have taken the MM cause it will pull thru all that mess... but who woulda thought!)

I tried to go in reverse - it made sense because we'd just pulled in that way and knew we could get out that far and I had no idea what was ahead of me or if I could get through it... but the car would not budge. Richard was about to pop a vein trying to push with everything he had. I have to say he looked so sexy pushing the car in the cold rain and his muscles buldging and me going about 35mph but sitting still, and nestled safely in the warm (and dry) inside... smelling rubber and seeing smoke from the tires and then only picturing $$$ because i'm probably shortening the tire life by about ohhhh..... a year. lol

I tried to go forward, no cigar... I tried reverse again, nothing. Back in drive he pushed me from behind. One inch at a time (really it was about that much movement at a time) we finally got the car out of the parking lot and I pulled onto the street. This is where I gave the 'stay on the cleared streets and don't try to drive through the crap anymore' speech.

We finished our shopping and a few hours later we head home. We pulled down our street at a snails pace because it's still watery slushy too and its really easy to slide around. Richard turned to pull in the driveway and got about half way in when the car just stopped. He gave it more gas and the all too familiar rubber aroma filled the car. Dammit, we're stuck again. He put it in reverse and we couldnt even back down the driveway. We're stuck half way up our driveway! We knew the routine. He got out, I climbed over, threw the car in reverse and he pushed me back into the street. We have to park the little car in the street for now. He's going to have to get a faster running start to get up over the ice and slush to park the car in the driveway.

I can't wait til all this crap is gone.

This was a long post! I don't normally write this much.... !

Snow Time

Happy camper

Patio view


Got pulled on the sled attached to this rope.

Winter Wonderland

It’s been another busy week and I am once again guilty of blog neglect. Hope there isn’t a severe penalty for that. Fifty lashings with a frozen, sleet-encrusted noodle perhaps? ;)

Wednesday found me battling the downstairs vending machine. Those large, blinking rectangular behemoths rarely cooperate with me as they sense my timidity and hesitation. Nevertheless, tasty Nacho Doritos called my name that afternoon and zombielike I descended the stairs to the area where the goodies reside. Rummaging through my change, I inserted the correct amount of nickels and dimes only to have the bag crawl to the very edge of the precipice and stop. Resignedly I once again dug through my purse and repeated the process. Much to my astonishment, both bags chose to obstinately remain with their fellow snacks and refused to budge. Given no choice but to briskly backside butt the machine, I finally released the first one but Bag 2 ignored my invitation and remained hooked in position. Miffed at my audacity, the machine immediately lost power and shut down. Oops! Though the finance office now owes me money, I haven’t mentioned the human vs machine showdown seeing as I’m the guilty party who assaulted the willful contraption. :)

Last Friday, Saturday, and Sunday, we received quite a bit of white stuff covering the ground and it has tenaciously hung in there as we eagerly wait in expectation of the next predicted wet and white round. I wasn’t crazy about the frozen pellets that piled up and resembled snow as neither hefty humans nor weighty vehicles could make a dent in the mixture. It made for treacherous treading and precarious driving. However, I positively relish the thought of plentiful, fluffy flakes. *happy dance* At this point, we are expecting 5 to 7 inches and I have promised myself at least one outdoor recess where snow is used to its best advantage. Most here are complaining but not this transplanted Buckeye. I’m thrilled to pieces and trying very hard not to let my jubilation express itself on my smiling countenance and considering I have a very transparent face, I’m doing a lousy job hiding it. Ker and I will keep you posted on deteriorating conditions in Okieville.

Snowfall Circe

Icecycle Pop

A friend of mine from the eastern part of the state sent me this picture from her hometown. She is one of the lucky ones... they got their power turned back on after hours... most of the town has been without power for days! The ice is breaking power lines, trees, caving in roofs, etc. Although it was the same storm system, they got more ice than we did. Ours was a combo snow/sleet. This weekend its in the forecast to get more snow/sleet and even more intense than this last storm.

Be safe Kristen!

This is Just Slickening!

Another day gone by with very little ice disappearing...
You can see from the pictures that the snow/ice is pretty tough (and slick). With all of us trampling the stuff.... there are very few foot prints to show for it! We've given in and dug out our sleds...

Here are a few of the neighbor kids sliding down our front lawn into the street... across the street... and back up into the neighbors yard. It's that slick.

And it's very cold.

Ice Ice Baby

Ok. I'm sick of the ice.

Today is way worse than yesterday. The highways are clear, but the side roads are total hell. What kind of melted yesterday and sat as water on top of the existing ice/snow, turned into a solid sheet of snotty looking ice and is slicker than snot! It took me 25 minutes to get out of our residential area and get on a major highway to get to work this morning. It normally takes me 5-10 minutes depending on traffic. The maximum speed was about 10mph which absolutely drives me nuts, but there is no way you dare go over that... you'd wind up in the ditch just like the little Pathfinder, Mustang, some sort of little 4-door sedan and truck that I saw.

Rumor has it that we're getting another dump from dear ol Mother Nature this weekend. Hopefully the temperatures will get high enough to melt some of this off!

A Forgotten Miami Story!

Because we are iced in....
Not really, we can get out and about a bit, but it takes so flippin long because you have to drive too slow, so we've been doing some projects around the house that we really intended to do ages ago. Anyways, that's not important. The important part is, Richard was trying to find some pictures on his computer and in the process he came across some pics from our Miami trip that I had completely forgot about and then realized I'd never shared! Shame on me!

One of the nights we ventured down to Naughty (but, oh so fun) beach (which is South Beach to most of us), the adventurous us headed for the more questionable part of the area and stumbled onto a little 'store' that said World Erotic Art Museum. We walked inside, and entered just a little (nasty) entryway with one door to an elevator. Keep in mind this area looks dirty and drug infested and scary and dirty and there isnt proper signage and it's dirty - you get my drift. We hop on the elevator and take the ride up a few floors without having any idea what we are really getting ourselves into. The doors fly open and whhaaalllaaaaah! Nudity everywhere!!! We stepped off the elevator... our jaws draggin the floor. We are stunned.

The little girl waiting the counter greets us 'Welcome to the World Erotic Art Museum. $15 to enter'. I'm like 'WHAT?!?!?' Seriously. They cannot be charging that much! I look at Richard... he looks at me... I said 'well, let's pay her!' haha 'We're going in!'

I'll share a few of the photos here... most are too graphic to post I think!

Here's the famous Penis bed. Photos of it have been passed arond in emails for year, but we saw it here! On the wall was a serious of photographs and the history of the bed: how it was made and by whom, where, why, etc.

This is a chair. In this picture you can't really tell the details, so I followed up with a few closeup shots so you'd see why it was so intriguing. *giggle*

They wouldnt let us sit in it....

Some of the art was so graphic! Like... the picture of Marilyn Monroe in all her glory! I've never seen a picture of her in that position before....