Ol' Man Winter 2009

Ol' Man Winter dropped a bunch of ice, snow, ice, and more snow and ice on us this week. The result of that left tens of thousands without power and heat for some time. Some are still without power. Our power went out around 2:30 a.m. on Wednesday. Neither Shawn nor I went to work that day. We both stayed inside (well except for a few minutes when I went outside to play around) and bundled up to try to keep warm. As night fell, so did the temperatures outside and inside the house. Shawn and I tried to call every hotel in the phone book, but they were all booked by others seeking shelter and warmth. We did manage to find one hotel that would have a room available Thursday evening so we booked that through Sunday. No one knew when the power would be on, so we booked it for a few days. We could always cancel the room for the days we wouldn't need it and hoped that we wouldn't need to book it for a few more days. Wednesday night we removed everything out of the freezer/refrigerator and placed it in a coolers either outside in the snow or in the garage. That night we bundled up in layers and put lots of extra blankets on the bed and went to sleep. Or at least try to sleep. It was hard because I was cold and worried about the cats and the dog. We knew we were taking the dog with us to the hotel, but we couldn't take the cats. We made sure they had lots of food and water and left the extra blankets on the bed for them to get under.


Thursday morning I got up and got ready for work. Because we have a gas water heater, we were able to have hot water to shower with, just no electricity to dry my hair. I had some nice, crazed hair that day for work. But I didn't care. At least I was able to get to work and warm up. Shawn and I packed our suitcases and things and loaded them in the car. Shawn didn't work that day but ran some errands. After work I went to check into the hotel and Shawn went home to get the puppy and a few more things we needed from the house. I checked into the hotel and got to the room. I took a few pictures of the room and then unpacked everything and put it away. At home, Shawn loaded the car and then stopped at the neighbors to give them our phone number so they could call us when the electricity came back on. As soon as he wrote the number down, he said the electricity came back on. That's our luck! Shawn called me at the hotel to tell me. I was like you are kidding right? I JUST put everything away. We decided to go ahead and stay the night in the hotel just to be on the safe side. Cause some people that have had power all along, were starting to loose power now. I called Beth and Tommy to let them know that we had power, because they didn't, and told them they could stay at the house with us.


So we are all nice and toasty in the house here. Shawn, me, Hershey, Molly and Clifford, Tommy, Beth, Rebel and Wiley. It's a house full, but it's been fun.


Here are a few pictures of the week's events...

Poor Hershey

Hershey went to the vet yesterday to have some procedures done. He was neutered (no little Hershey's for us please), had his dew claws removed (do you like his purple leg warmers? LOL!), had the rest of his baby teeth removed, and had a microchip put in. He's doing great overall though. I thought for sure he would be moping around all night and this weekend, but he hasn't. Rebel and Wiley are staying with us and all of the dogs have been playing and getting along great. I've been getting onto the dogs some though, cause Hershey isn't supposed to have any rough horse play for a few days and he's the one acting up the most and aggrevating the other dogs. I have such a bully.

The Pup Pups

Hi Tootie....the pup pups miss you Beth. They want you to hurry home from work today.

A Collage of our Amaryllis Plants

Here is a collage of each of our plants. It's been four weeks since I gave the girls their plants and I have taken a photo once a week of the progress of their growth. It's amazing how each of them is growing differently.


Tiff's plant...

My plant...

Pam's plant...

Lisak's plant...

Laura's plant...

Cara's plant...

Amaryllis Plants - Week 4

Here are pictures of our plants that I took this evening before leaving work.

Laura's plant...

Pam's plant...


Tiff's leaves (hee!)...



Lisak's plant...

My plant...

Cara's plant..

A Baby Shower for Beth and Little Gavin Lee

Beth's baby shower was this past Saturday and a great time was had by all, including the mystery man (more about him later). I want to give a HUGE THANK YOU to Angela and her girls Allesha and Alexandra, Mom, Tina, and Heather for their help in getting the shower set up so quickly Saturday morning. I couldn't ask for better friends or helpmates!

I got up early that morning to finish up some last minute things and by the time it was time for me to start getting ready, I was completely exhausted. I got ready and headed out of the house around 11:30 a.m. I knew it would only take me about 10 minutes to get to the church, but I still had to stop at the little store and get some ice, and I figured I would spend the rest of the time just sitting in the car relazing for a few minutes before the craziness got started. I wrote a thank you card for the Pastor and included some money in it for the use of the gym. The shower was to be held in the gym at the Bethel Church in Hatfield. Pastor Wilson was supposed to meet me there at noon to let me in and that would give me about an hour and a half to set up before the guests started arriving for the shower at 2:00 p.m. Noon rolled around and no one was there. 12:05 p.m., still no one. 12:10 p.m., not yet, so I called the two phone numbers I had for the Pastor. One was for the church, no answer. The other was for the Pastor's house. I got the answering machine, but it was full so I couldn't leave any messages. Be patient I told myself. He'll be here. 12:15 p.m., there is still no one here. I'm starting to get belly cramps. It's obvious to me that he's forgotten. I know he lives down the highway, or used too. I figure I could just drive down there and see if he's home. But I don't want to leave cause I have a friend on her way to help me set up. 12:30 p.m., no Pastor yet. I called my friend Tina who just lives down the street and I'm freaking out. What am I going to do? No one is here to unlock the doors, people are going to start showing up soon and I can't get ahold of the Pastor. Tina reassured me that everything will be ok. She has a key to her church and if all else fails, we can move the shower there and can have her husband direct people to that church. I'm a little bit calmer at this point, although not much. Tina tells me she's on her way. My friend Angela shows up and I tell her what's going on. I try the Pastor's house again. Someone answers. YES!!! I ask to speak with Pastor Wilson or his wife. I have the Pastor on the phone. I tell him my name and that I am having a shower at his church today and he was supposed to be there at noon to open the church. He forgot and was apologetic and told me he was on my way. Shew! I can finally breathe now! He shows up and lets us in and we bust a move getting everything ready. The car had to be unloaded, tables and chairs had to be set up, decorations hung up and layed out on the table, punch made, candy melted into the diapers, etc., etc., etc. before guests started arriving. I was running around like a chicken with my head cut off. Finally everything was in place and guests started showing up.

We had cake and cupcakes from Piece of Cake (who by the way makes the BEST and CUTEST cakes and cupcakes EVER), nuts, mints and orange punch. We played baby bingo, guess what's in the dirty diaper, and had a purse scavenger hunt. And Beth opened up lots of presents and got LOTS of great gifts.

There was 32 people in attendance and one mystery man. I'm not sure who he was either. While Beth was opening gifts, I saw an older gentleman come into the building on the school side. I just figured he was with the church and was doing some church business. The next thing I knew he walked into where we were having the shower and scooped him out some punch. I'm not the only one noticing him because as you look around the room, everyone is looking at him and then looking around at everyone else wondering what's going on and seeing if anyone knows him, and there is silence in the room. He then gets a piece of cake. I'm wondering if I should say something, however I don't like confrontation. He goes and sits at the end of a table where no one is at. I'm still asking if I should say something to him? Then my aunt states that he isn't hurting anything. And he wasn't. So we all went on about our business while he enjoyed his cake and punch. I never saw him leave, but he must of left when he was finished eating cause after the shower was over, I never saw him.

Below are some pictures that I took throughout the day.