GOODBYE 2008

So what am I doing while the last sands of the year trickle through the hourglass? I'm curled up in my bed with Sierra and we are watching the Project Runway marathon all day long. Yeah, I think I'll make my resolution list later, maybe tomorrow. Procrastination elimination should probably be at the top of the list. Aaahhh, we'll see.

OOOOOoooo!!! I forgot to tell you!! I got my boots!!! They are soooo comfortable, warm, soft, and woolly. I love sheepskin!

O Holy Night!

It is the night of our dear Saviors birth.

We Made It!!

I woke up this morning in my own bed! Finally! LOL! We drove like maniacs on Friday all the way from North Platte to Knoxville and arrived at 3:30am EST. Losing time zones while you travel doesn't help with the drive time. LOL Oh well, we made it. It was shocking how many cars were in the ditch along the way. But the funniest was the cop who lost control of his cruiser just behind us. He recovered control just fine. We fell into bed for about 4 hrs and then had to jump into the minivan to get Jon up to his duty station in Quantico, VA. It was an 8hr drive so we knew we had a few hours to spare and decided to make a stop at Monticello, Thomas Jeffersons home. It is amazingly beautiful and fascinating. If you are ever in the D.C. area it is a must see. We had Jon to his duty station by 8pm. We decided to make the best of the situation and stayed overnight to tour Washington D.C. the next day. Hey why not make lemons into lemonade, right? It was great to be able to show Hunter such rich history. Now we are back home again and happy to be together. Sierra flies in in about 3 hrs and then we can get this Christmas started. I'll be popping in the Canadian Brass Christmas CD in no time. And yes, it was all worth it to be together again.

The White House decorated for Christmas.

Attack of the Killer Squirrel. This thing climbed up my arm to get my hotdog.

Hunter in front of the National Christmas Tree.

Jon holding up the Washington Monument.

Hunter in front of the stands being errected for the Inauguration of Pres. Obama. He was not happy about pictures, the cold or the lack of bathrooms. Poor kid. LOL.

Update!! And it's good for once!

Ok, so I left you all hanging, I know. I haven't had an internet connection for a couple of days. My husband was able to pull some strings, after I went to bed in tears, early yesterday morning with our insurance company and miraculously got me a rental car out of Great Falls. I don't know how they found one. Priceline was telling me there was nothing available. They are even putting up most of the cost since they still hadn't decided what to do about my accident. By the way it is now officially TOTALLED. My very kind sister, Kali, the one with MS, drove me down to GF in her rental cause her car had been smashed up by a drunk. We left GF about 2pm and made it to my other sisters in Sandy by 11pm. Roads stunk but who cares? Jon is on his way out to his next duty station in Virgnia and has to be there by Sat at midnight so we decided to travel together. We left at 6am. By Parleys the roads were a nightmare and poor Jon had just bought the car he was driving. He bought a suped up, turbo charged, rear wheel drive. Ever tried to drive a rear wheel drive car in the ice and snow? Not an easy task. And when it has been suped up there is too much power for those kind of conditions. We chained him up in Coalville and I took off ahead to get to Evanston to buy him some snow tires or studded tires. Hard tires to find and when we did find them the techs at the tire store told him snow tires still wouldn't help him. Too much car for too much weather. The tires would cost about $1000. He as panicked after his 4 hour trip to Evanston (should have been just over and hour) and wasn't sure he could do it. I don't blame him. We looked at the Wyoming DOT cams and said 'scrap it'. We hired a transport company there and then. The kind boys at Plains Tire are letting him store it there for free until the transport comes. Too bad we left half the Christmas presents in it. Hope the get it to VA before the big day. Ok, so we grabbed what we could and stuffed a few of his necessaries into the little 2door Pontiac G5 that I am renting and headed out again. Well, lets just say that it's been a very long day. We have only made it to North Platte, NE. Not exactly very far along the road for the time spent on it. We travelled most of the way at 40mph but made it this far safely. I think poor Jon is about panic stricken at this point. We hit a lot of white outs and slick, snow covered roads but were blessed mightily along the way and had not one real problem.
Thank you all for your concern, love and prayers on our behalf. I know they made a huge difference in finding a way for us to be a family for Christmas. Thanks again!!!

Surely this is a joke, right?

I was supposed to leave for TN first thing in the morning. Guess what? Not gonna happen. Imagine that! So, my car's totalled and I had planned to take Mom and Dad's instead. Well, the fates didn't like that idea. When I got home from taking Dad to Lethbridge to see Grandpa Q the car was making a funny noise. Not just a little noise either, but a banging, rattling noise. I turned off the engine and walked around the front and found a river of oil running out of the engine. Oh lovely! We've lost the engine. Yup, that's right. Engine kaput! So, there goes Christmas. All of my presents are down in TN cause that's where we were planning to be. We can't get them shipped up in time unless we lay out all sorts of dough and that may not even be enough to get here on time. But really that's not all that important. I wanted to see my husband. I wanted to sleep in my nice bed and play games with the kids. I wanted to walk my puppy and just be a family again.
I've checked the train, renting a car, and flights. The train is sold out. Renting a car is obscenely expensive, and the only flight out is tomorrow morning at 8 am and there is no way I can get there without a car. This is ridiculous! I give, already. I give! Just stop the insanity!
Ya, whatever!

Freakin' BBBRRRRR!!!!!

Holy, stinkin' pile of crap! It's soooooo cold outside! I mean really, really frigid. I just logged on to The Weather Network and it says we have a wind chill factor of -35C out there. Say what? It's not even Christmas yet! It normally isn't this cold this early in the season. I was so cold this morning I broke out the knitting needles and started on a cute wool scarf. I've gotten more than 2 ft done on it already. I'll need it. The forecast says we are going to get to a high of -16 all week! What?!?!?! No Chinook? Where is this again? Where is my nice warm if not blistering westerly wind? Hmmmmm?
UPDATE: as of 9am the weather warning states that Cardston is under a wind chill warning and many areas are currently reporting near or actual -40C wind chill. YIKES!!!!!

Hunting up a Christmas Tree

For 7 years now we have had a nice, pre-lit but fake Christmas tree. It's easy to decorate and looks good in no time. This year we don't have any of our belongings with us at our home in Canada so we had to go the old fashioned route. Hunter, Dad and I piled into the little Toyota truck and headed up to our ranch land in Beazer. Luckily we had a Chinook blow in the day before so the roads were nice and clear until we got to the dirt roads and fields. Four wheel drives are a must have up here. Otherwise we wouldn't have made it through the drifts. Once we made it to our property and the cabin we had a heck of a time getting to the saws and axe. The key to the tool shed was missing. But then, I'm a handy girl. Dad had tools and I had and idea. We had that lock off in a few minutes got the saw and popped the lock back on without a noticable trace of the B&E. Off we traipsed through the woods to find the perfect tree. When I was growing up the trees usually looked like they had come straight off the Charlie Brown Christmas Special. I kind of like the spindley look in an old fashioned Christmas but I wan't going to just jump on the first tree in my line of sight. We didn't have to hunt very long before we found one we really liked. Weeeelllll, that is, we really liked the top half of the tree. It was about 14 ft so we cut of the top 8. LOL! It looks pretty good decorated in our dollar store baubles and tinsel.

My feet are cold!

Winter finally showed up! It's been snowing off and on for more than a day now. The roads a slick and my toes are cold.
Last night I went out to Leavitt to do family photos for the ward Christmas party. The snow was deep enough that it kept getting into my shoes as I traipsed in and out with lighting equipment. I've decided I need some warm boots for my poor tootsies. I've scoured the internet for what I truly want and here they are. The Warmbat Flurry!

I want the these in Chestnut instead of Tan. I think it will show less dirt and wet. I love the look of these; stylish, warm, good grips for the bad weather and I love the extra swatch of leather on the toe and heel. These should hold up better than comparable boots. The other feature I really like is the fold down top. Wear them high or wear them lower and show off the fleece. Cute, eh?

I have wide, short feet so I need to order a larger size than I wear, wear 7 order 8, and that seems to sell out the fastest. So, Santa, please, bring me warm feet for Christmas but order them quickly!