Super Bowl Ads

The only part of the Super Bowl that I ever watch is the commercials. I am sure that in a few weeks time I will be quite tired of them! Tuning in to watch commercials is just somehow wrong but millions of us do it. Here are the commercials from last year and supposedly the ones from this year will be added after they air.

Snowy Day

The storm that has been marching across the country arrived here today. The news forecasters really did a great job getting everyone worried about it! None of the schools in my county closed but all the rest of the area closed. It was an unpleasant day but certainly nothing we couldn't handle. This is Regents week in New York and all of the kids that had plans to take their tests today will now have to wait until June. Yesterday was Part 1 of one of the English tests so I feel doubly bad for the kids that took that yesterday and will now have to take it again.

As much as I hate snow I am very glad we didn't get the sleet and ice that so much of the country got. With the technology we have now why don't we require the electric companies to switch to underground lines? It's going to be days if not weeks until power is restored in some places. Maybe the government could use some of the billions it is throwing away around to create jobs that will benefit an entire region. I guess that would make too much sense.

There really hasn't been much going on here. We went to Mom's on Friday and Monday and she seemed OK. The kids were here Monday evening as usual. Liz has missed riding with me in the afternoon so this week she did and we went together to pick up Pizza. They gave her a little bag of cookies for being so cute and I felt really bad that I had to take them away from her because they had a nut warning on them.

In the GOOD NEWS department we're planning to go to Florida over February break. We weren't sure that things would work out but things have all fallen into place and I'm really looking forward to leaving the snow behind!

Blues

Mom seemed to be in much better spirits on Tuesday. She made herself a cup of coffee even though we were there and could easily have done it for her. County Girl visited last night and she seemed fine when she first got there but after dinner she complained of being very tired and seemed depressed. She has an appointment with the doctor next week so I'll add that to the list of things to talk about. We'll see how she seems when we get there in the morning.

I took my written test today so all my testing is done until next November. I didn't stay to find out what I scored but I must have passed as they let me drive this afternoon ;-) I don't know what is going on with both groups of kids this week but they have been LOUD! Today was just an all around bad day. One of those days where I think about buying a stack of lottery tickets and glance at the help wanted ads. Everyone is laying off here so I guess I just need to be happy I have a job.

Hopefully tomorrow will be a better day but I'm already looking to the weekend.

Catching Up

I was spoiled by the guys at work last week, they started my bus for me three days in a row. The temperatures never did get as cold as they were calling for but it was still plenty cold! I'm hoping we don't see temperatures that cold again for the rest of the winter.

They were calling for us to get 1-2' of snow Thursday into Friday but it stayed north of us. Starting just 5 short miles to the north they got hammered. The dentist had rescheduled my appointment from Wednesday to Friday. I started for Oswego after work, got about half way there and turned around and rescheduled again! I'm not a winter driving wimp but when the truck in front of me and the car behind me both disappeared I figured it a wise decision.

Friday turned out to be my lucky day! I won the raffle for this throw. If you look carefully you can see how far the snow is piled outside the window - we don't need anymore but there are two more months to go. (A lot of what you see is what has been raked off of the roof.)



We've decided to try and get to Mom's on Monday's and Friday's but with the dentist appt. (that I didn't get to!) we ended up going on Saturday. We got her take out from an Italian restaurant she likes. She was a bit more relaxed and seemed more "herself" than she had the last few weeks. We didn't get there today because of the holiday so we will go tomorrow. This is what the deer have done to her shrub.


Because there was no school we had the kids in the afternoon today. The idea is that they have a chance to play together. John's been working on fixing up some old computers so he had one for each of them and they were thrilled. Maybe we'll play a board game next week.


I was beat at the end of last week but the foot is finally not hurting much at all. I pulled a chest muscle on Sunday but it is a lot better today. How do you pull a chest muscle!? I have no idea what I did. Hopefully there won't be much snow to clear in the morning.

Only One Test Left

Yesterday we had our January refresher, in the cold garage. (The garage does have heat but you can only warm it up just so much.) The good news was the announcement that we'll be moving to the new garage over vacation next month. It looks like they still have lots to do on the outside of the building but word is that the interior is looking great. The new building will have a large meeting room in the office end of the building. And we'll have our own fueling station so no more trips to the truckstop!

Immediately after the meeting I had my behind the wheel test. We have to take it every other year and it is the same test you take to get your license, including a full pre-trip, railroad crossing, highway travel, backing and parallel parking. I passed but the pretrip portion wasn't pretty. I kept thinking I'd turned switches on only to get outside and discover I hadn't. I don't know what my problem was, I do an excellent pretrip twice a day! (I have never tested well but if an examiner observes me without her clipboard I never have a problem. Maybe they just need to stop telling me it's the offical test!)

This morning I had my defensive driving test and that went well. We take that test annually and it is just the examiner riding with you on your regular route.

I took my physical performance test back in November so all I have left for this year is the written test which I'll take (and hopefully ace!) next week.

I am not loving my new bus since my return. It does not like cold weather any more than I do. It is so darn big that I'm having trouble reaching things. I can barely reach the lights to clear them of snow and grime with the broom. I can't reach high enough to scrape the side windows or upper portions of the door. I can't reach the handhold and even if I could I doubt I could get my leg up high enough to use the toe-step. My window keeps freezing shut as does the fuel door. Today the temperatures were the coldest we've seen so far this year. I am extra grateful for the mechanics this week for helping me out without complaint!

Mom's Ghost

We went to Mom's yesterday and found her a bit out of sorts. She said that she had been awakened about 5:30 by someone banging on the front door. They were not knocking politely but just, well banging on the storm door.

So she got up to see what all of the noise was about. She opened the interior door and looked out the storm door and there was no one there. No only that but there was a fresh coating of snow on the front steps and there were no foot prints! She closed the door and went back to bed.

Mom has a very large picture window that reaches almost floor to ceiling. After she got up again she opened the drapes and noticed that the bird feeder had been turned.

As she was telling me her tale I was sitting on the couch, which is in front of the picture window. When she mentioned the bird feeder I turned and looked outside and saw critter tracks out in the yard. I stood up and looked down at the shrubs right in front of the window and sure enough the tracks came right up to the window.

Mom's house June 2007

Mom was quite relieved to learn that she she wasn't loosing her mind. Deer roam her neighborhood at night. She's seen a pair walking down the center of the road. We figure they were trying to raid the feeder and maybe munch on the shrubs and banged up against the lower part of the window. Because the noise woke her she just assumed it must have been the door because who would bang on the windows?

2 Down, 3 To Go

We used our second snow day yesterday and I was quite relieved as we had an ice storm. We waited until it switched to all rain and went and picked up my car at the shop. Lately I feel like the mechanic has it just as much as I do :-( Hopefully we are done with this round of repairs.

This morning started out ok. The drive to work was tricky because the plows were behind but it wasn't snowing, at least not here. On the radar you could see it coming down very heavily less than ten miles north. I had trouble scraping the ice off of the bus windows and after getting one of the guys to help me open the side windows I left and had to drive with the window open so I could use my mirror and see traffic. It was a very cold morning for me! (It finally melted enough that I have it all scraped off now.)

Just as I got my first group to school the snow started to move in. It came down at about 2" per hour. I had to take the long way home because the plows were still behind. Then we had a break for a while, so John raked the roof. It's now coming down again so I'll be leaving early for work.

The district the boys go to took their high school kids in and then closed the elementary when it started coming down really hard. Angie has to work so I'm guessing that John will have the boys for the afternoon.

Hopefully this won't degenerate into a snow-blog over the next three months!

Happy Birthday John!

John's another year older today, although he doesn't feel any older than he did yesterday ;-) We had kid's night yesterday and we frosted cupcakes and sang Happy Birthday. It got a little confusing at the end as the boys call him grandpa and the girls call him papa.

I've mentioned that he is hard to buy for. He said he wanted a new wallet and I finally found one this morning. There must have been a lot of wallets under the tree last month as several stores were sold out. I also got him a couple of CD's and a visor holder for his new car which he seemed to like. I think I've neglected to mention that while my big gift was windows and siding, his was a new Buick Lucerne. He got his in October too so we really did our part to try and spur on the economy that month!

Tonight we went to our favorite local Italian restaurant and got the Platter for two with cupcakes at home for desert :-)

Do You Hulu?

We have basic cable, basic being about 10 channels and we rarely rent movies. So I was quite pleased to discover Hulu. They have full length movies, episodes of various shows and clips from other shows. They stream them to your computer in short segments so you will need a high speed internet connection. A whole lot of what they I have I can certainly live the rest of my lifetime without ever viewing but they have some things that I'm happy to be able to see. The movies do have commercials but they seem to be shorter than those on TV. Over vacation I watched A River Runs Through It and there was only one small section where the feed seemed to bunch up.

You can also use the embed feature to place things on your blog. I think this is quite funny. Enjoy!

99 Things Meme

This is flying around the genealogy blogs so I thought I'd move it over here and send it along. Feel free to play along.


THE 99 THINGS MEME

Things you’ve already done: bold
Things you want to do: italicize
Things you haven’t done and don’t want to - leave in plain font

1. Started your own blog.
2. Slept under the stars.
3. Played in a band.
4. Visited Hawaii.
5. Watched a meteor shower.
6. Given more than you can afford to charity.
7. Been to Disneyland/world.
8. Climbed a mountain.
9. Held a praying mantis.
10. Sang a solo.
11. Bungee jumped.
12. Visited Paris.
13. Watched a lightning storm at sea.
14. Taught yourself an art from scratch.
15. Adopted a child.
16. Had food poisoning.
17. Walked to the top of the Statue of Liberty.
18. Grown your own vegetables.
19. Seen the Mona Lisa in France.
20. Slept on an overnight train.
21. Had a pillow fight.
22. Hitch hiked.
23. Taken a sick day when you’re not ill.
24. Built a snow fort.
25. Held a lamb.
26. Gone skinny dipping.
27. Run a marathon.
28. Ridden a gondola in Venice.
29. Seen a total eclipse.
30. Watched a sunrise or sunset.
31. Hit a home run.
32. Been on a cruise.
33. Seen Niagara Falls in person.
34. Visited the birthplace of your ancestors. At least some of them
35. Seen an Amish community.
36. Taught yourself a new language.
37. Had enough money to be truly satisfied. It's been awhile though!
38. Seen the Leaning Tower of Pisa in person.
39. Gone rock climbing.
40. Seen Michelangelo’s David in person.
41. Sung Karaoke.
42. Seen Old Faithful geyser erupt.
43. Bought a stranger a meal in a restaurant.
44. Visited Africa.
45. Walked on a beach by moonlight.
46. Been transported in an ambulance. As the mom, I rode along.
47. Had your portrait painted.
48. Gone deep sea fishing.
49. Seen the Sistine chapel in person.
50. Been to the top of the Eiffel Tower in Paris.
51. Gone scuba diving or snorkelling.
52. Kissed in the rain.
53. Played in the mud.
54. Gone to a drive-in theatre.
55. Been in a movie.
56. Visited the Great Wall of China.
57. Started a business.
58. Taken a martial arts class
59. Visited Russia.
60. Served at a soup kitchen.
61. Sold Girl Scout cookies.
62. Gone whale watching.
63. Gotten flowers for no reason. It's been a very long time.
64. Donated blood.
65. Gone sky diving.
66. Visited a Nazi Concentration Camp.
67. Bounced a check.
68. Flown in a helicopter. Once was enough!
69. Saved a favorite childhood toy.
70. Visited the Lincoln Memorial.
71. Eaten Caviar.
72. Pieced a quilt.
73. Stood in Times Square.
74. Toured the Everglades.
75. Been fired from a job. Never fired, I have been layed off.
76. Seen the Changing of the Guard in London.
77. Broken a bone.
78. Been on a speeding motorcycle. Never again!
79. Seen the Grand Canyon in person.
80. Published a book.
81. Visited the Vatican.
82. Bought a brand new car.
83. Walked in Jerusalem.
84. Had your picture in the newspaper.
85. Read the entire Bible.
86. Visited the White House.
87. Killed and prepared an animal for eating. The prepared part, someone else had to do the killing.
88. Had chickenpox.
89. Saved someone’s life.
90. Sat on a jury.
91. Met someone famous. Define famous?
92. Joined a book club.
93. Lost a loved one.
94. Had a baby.
95. Seen the Alamo in person.
96. Swum in the Great Salt Lake.
97. Been involved in a law suit.
98. Owned a cell phone.
99. Been stung by a bee.