Snow, Sleet and Sunshine

One week from today I will be on board the cruise ship and sailing away to St. Thomas, San Juan and the Grand Turks. I am so looking forward to a week of sunshine, warm breezes, calypso music and fruity umbrella drinks. Not to mention the wonderful company of my brother in law Ray and his lovely wife Diane, who by the way, has become the sister I never had. We are flying to Florida on Saturday and staying in Miami overnight, then boarding Sunday morning. And no...the recent Cruise ship disaster in Italy does not scare me nor will it stop me from going. If I worried about things beyond my control, I'd never leave the house. While my heart goes out to those who lost their lives and their families, I am confident that a repeat incident will not occur.

A couple of weeks ago we had a very nice post Christmas brunch with the Ferland Family. We had about 14 people here and served scrambled eggs, bacon, home fries, muffins, pancakes, Swedish meatballs, ham and tuna salad rolls and fruit. It was nice to have the entire family together and I think everyone enjoyed themselves. Next year it will take place at Ray and Diane's house and I am looking forward to that.

Last week was probably the stormiest week we've had weatherwise, all winter. With temps in the 50's most of December and very little snow up until recently, I guess we were a bit spoiled. None of the storms last week were big in snowfall totals but more like nuisance storms. It seemed like every morning I had to deal with some kind of precipitation on my way to work. On Tuesday, we had 4 inches of snow to drive through that changed to rain by afternoon. Of course, the temperatures dropped during the night, making the roads completely slick. I had a very difficult time getting out of my driveway. I actually slid sideways down the driveway on my first attempt to get up the driveway...which was a little scary. Once my car came to a stop, I pulled out my cell phone and called George, who was inside asleep, and asked him to come out and help. He put down some salt and after a few more attempts I got up to the main road and was on my way. 90 minutes later, I pulled into the parking area at work, only to find out that there was no power and everything was completely in the dark. I sat in the car debating on going inside but the thought of making that return trip home on ice covered roads was not appealling to me so I ventured inside. Everyone that had managed to make it into work was sitting in the cafeteria waiting for someone to make a decision. Do we stay or do we go? No one wanted to leave unless we knew we were going to get paid and that decision had to be made by someone from the front office and of course, no one of that level was at work at 5:30 am. 2 hours later, the lights came back on and we all headed upstairs to get to work. I was a little out of sorts all day but managed to get through it. The drive home was much more pleasant with clear roads and no rain or snow for a change.
We've been in a strange weather pattern and had annoying snow showers Friday morning and all day yesterday but today the sun is shining and it looks beautiful outside. It is very cold though, it was -9 when I got up this morning at 7. I hear we will be having more snow/sleet/rain crap to deal with in the morning. Wonderful!

Eric invited Sara to be his guest at his company's after Christmas Holiday party which took place last night. They were having a ball, it was a dress up affair and Sara sent me this pic of them.


I am so glad they are close and look out for each other. These types of pictures put a huge smile on my face. Eric looks good...he's lost a little weight in recent months and I love seeing the smile back on his face.
And we all know how much Iggy loves Sara's bright smile!

Well I guess I should get moving and get some chores done. George has taken Hunter down to Petco for a pedicure and I have a couple loads of laundry to deal with. Later we will be watching the Patriots/Ravens football game (Go Pats!) and then I imagine we'll watch the Giants/49ers after that. I can't believe football is coming to a close...the season is so short. But that just means baseball spring training is not too far behind I guess!

Have a wonderful Sunday.

Random Thoughts

A week into the new year and all is going well so far. I've had this week off and pretty much got the house back in order, except for the Christmas tree which we have left up until Sunday. We are having George's family over for an after Christmas brunch on Sunday and once that is over, Christmas will be in the books for another year.

Eric is all moved into his new place and he seems to be handling the pending divorce ok. I think at this point he will be happy to have it over with so he can move on with his life. I thought at first, that he would have a hard time getting through this but Jessie has made it very easy by being the witch that she is. She has truly shown her true colors by running up a whole lot of bills and taking all but $100 from their joint savings account. She asked her parents for some financial help and when they turned her down, she just helped herself. Thankfully, Eric had stopped the direct deposit at work several weeks prior and was able to keep his paycheck from her grasp. No doubt in my mind she would have drained that account too.
Jessie's parents have been very gracious to Eric and they still wanted Eric to live in their house but it was just too awkward. Jessie's father still calls Eric 'son' and he invited Eric to attend a hockey game with him this weekend so I assume they know that this whole thing has been all Jessie's idea.

The other good thing that has come out of all this is Eric took George aside on Christmas Day and apologized for all of the BS that went on before the wedding. He explained that it was all Jessie and he went along with it all to keep the peace but he knows that doing so was hurtful to George and his kids. His family is here to help him and we've stood by him, even if he didn't stand up for his family when she would bash us. I'm not a vindictive person but I really do hope that she gets what's coming to her. I firmly believe in karma...and she has no good karma surrounding her.


I am really not looking forward to going back to work on Monday. Don't get me wrong, I am very grateful to have a job but these two weeks off have been wonderful! I like staying up at night and getting up when I want to in the morning, I like cooking nice meals for dinner and not rushing or cooking something fast to get a meal on the table. Definitely not looking forward to a more regimented work day and going to bed at 8:00 because I have to get up at 3:30 in the morning.
Good thing is I only have to work 3 weeks and then I am on vacation again. George and I are going on a cruise to St. Thomas, San Juan and Grand Turks with my brother in law and sister in law. I am so looking forward to spending time in the tropics and with them. We always have a fun time together and this should be no exception.

It's about time for me to head to the kitchen and start dinner. I hope everyone is having a great New Year so far. Stay warm and safe...catch you all soon!