Still snowing!!!

I'm sitting in my office looking out at our beautiful white, fluffy neighborhood covered in still falling snow. It's very serene out there right now, now that all of our loved ones are back in the cul de sac and off the roads. Poor Sam the snowman is leaning a bit from the weight of snow upon his head - I feel like I should go outside and help him out a bit, but that would involve...well...going outside again!

M's school officially declared itself closed for the remainder of the week and her Winter Celebration cancelled for tonite. This is working out well for us, however, as she's getting extra time with D's parents and gives more time for her cough to ease up. She has been on antibiotics most of the week now, but the cough seems to be getting worse. I'm hoping it's a speed bump and it'll look better tomorrow. With all the excitement of the Grandparents visit, and Mom was off work today as well, she had 2 Grandma's, 1 Grandpa and 1 Mom around all day, with Daddy joining us after he returned from work. There was a lot going on and we definately noticed that the more she was doing (talking, eating, playing games, visiting, etc.), the worse the cough got as opposed to when she was just laying on Mom's bed watching TV. She told me tonite, after asking permission to say a bad word (which I assumed would be "crappy" as I often say "crap" and other derivations of it), that she just felt shitty tonite. Hey - at least she asked permission, right? AND, we all know that there are some times when those are the only words to accurately tell how we're feeling. I'm debating giving her the new sleepytime cough syrup during the day tomorrow to keep her from over doing it. That said, there's also a part of me that thinks that being cooped up in a warm, dry house isn't helping much either. SO - maybe we'll venture out on a walk in our Winter Wonderland tomorrow...that is, if we can sneak past 2 Grandmas and 1 Grandpa (Daddy will be at work again).

As for me, I'm still not 100%, but feeling better each day, which is good. Today in between trips across the street between the houses, I got the pattern cut out and pinned for M's Christmas PJ's. The negative now is that I have to do the next several parts in my sewing room, unless I want to re-locate a sewing machine over to Mom's house. Not a horrible idea, but it would just be easier to work on it here. SO - why am I typing a blog instead of sewing you may ask? Well, it's easy, I try not to sew after 10pm as my eyes begin to get too weary and mistakes get made. OK, that and I really want to curl up in the chair and watch the next episodes of Sex and the City on DVD! After watching the movie with my cousin a few weeks back, I decided that I'd been missing out and slowly catching up on the DVDs - I'm on the 3rd DVD of Season 2 already. So weird to be seeing the same characters (other than the women) appear/disappear/re-appear that are in the movie.

Tonite I did get to engage in a lovely game of chase when Mom's dog escaped from my house and decided to run home across the street. The funny part of this is that we often have the opposite problem where she escapes from Mom's house and runs over here at night. With Mom working, the poor dog doesn't know where she truly lives as some nights we just keep her here, especially if Mom is working late, and others we leave her at her house. SO - I open the front door and am wrestling both dogs back (D had brought Pasha over to Mom's house earlier in the evening for a visit as she is significanly less underfoot and therefore hazardous than the other 2 when around his father's unsure footing) when they both run out onto the porch. I tell them to get back inside and Romeo, ever obedient except when told not to kiss us anymore, runs back inside. Sally, on the other hand, decides to go home and makes a beeline for Mom's house. I'm chasing after her telling her to get back to my house and she's sitting firmly planted on Mom's front porch. I finally got her to run back across the street to my porch, where she apparently decided this was some sort of a shuttle run game from elementary school PE class, and headed back over to Mom's before I could catch up with her. I chased her once around the vans before giving up and deciding to call in the reinforcements (Pasha, of course! The little dogs do anything she leads them to...thank goodness she's too old to really use her Pied Piper ability and lead them off a cliff like a couple of lemmings!). Mom opens the door and Sally runs in, then begins the chase around her house trying to get Sally back out the door. I get Pasha out the door, and Sally firmly sits and refuses to move. At this point I was wanting to say "screw it all" and go get a 3rd wine cooler, but held my own and eventually got Sally to follow Pasha home by bribing both of them with Greenies (if you don't know what Greenies are, they are essentially "doggy crack"...I'm still searching out a 12 step program for them...they are THAT addictive apparently!).

FINALLY, all are home, M and I listen to Chapter 18 of The AutoBiography of Santa Claus (WAY COOL! I would definately recommend the book to all, the book on CD to all with kids in the 8ish range - 24 chapters, you can see where that's handy at this time of year...it covers a lot of history as well as answers several questions that are bound to arise, if they haven't already). During Santa M sketched Christmas ornaments off the tree and I tried not to be taken over by the 3 dogs all wanting my attention, since I was on the floor and obviously wanting to give it to them. After that, we headed up to M's room with her brand new matress (OH SO COZY!!!!! Hope it helps with the insomnia that's been going on recently), and read The Christmas Kitten, by James Herriot. Such a great story! Hugs, Kisses, and lights out.

NOW, with the hopes that sneaky little feet won't carry a not sleepy body into the family room during a compromising moment in Sex and the City (there are a few of those...I'm always on the lookout for M during them), I shall sign off and head to my comfy green chair for the remainder of the evening.