I went to get my hair cut today...
Me: Who was that woman?
Dobri: That was Nick's wife, you know, Nick who's in jail. (insert heavy eastern European accent)
Me: She's not what I expected.
Dobri: Why, because she's fat?
Tim: (snicker)
Dobri: He son has leukemia, he's dying, he has the cancer.
Tim: He has alopecia.
Me: You don't die from alopecia do you?
Dobri: Yes, he's dying, he has leukemia.
Tim: Alopecia.
Dobri: The cancer, he'll die.
Tim: He's not dying he has alopecia.
Dobri: He die.
Tim: No, he's bald.

This morning there was a sheet of ice covering absolutely everything. We have been parking in the driveway this week because our garage door opener is broken so I had to venture across the ice to get to my car. It was hysterical! I slid into the car where I set my coffee on the hood. Then I shimmied around and slid down to the door handle. Once I got the door open I pulled myself up toward the hood, grabbed my coffee and slid into the car.

This evening I took a bath. While I was in the tub Snofie was in her room singing "Feeling Groovy". It totally made me smile.
Me: Hey, Snofie, do you want to get in the tub with me?
Snofie: Yes... you know, your butt sucks up all the water. There's always a lot when you're in the tub but when you get out your butt sucks up all the water.

Snofie: My dog (stuffed) swallowed a shoe.
Me: Remember when you swallowed the Polly Pocket shoe... laugh... laugh...
Snofie: Mom, it's still not funny!
Me: Yes it is... laugh... laugh...
Snofie: ...cough... I can still feel it, it's like stuck in my throat... cough...
(She swallowed the shoe about 6 months ago.)

Kiss my grits... when was the last time you heard that phrase? Jeff sent a nasty email to Ron and Ron was all set to fire an equally nasty email back when Carla stopped him. The first line of Ron's reply was: Kiss my grits! I can't stop laughing! He had a few other good ones in there too... about Jeff doing a job any blue collar maintenance worker could do and how Jeff has no idea what real sales people do. Oh, it was so good. I wish Carla hadn't walked around the corner until after Ron hit the send button.

Snofie and I have been so into watching the Nora Roberts movies on Lifetime: Angel Falls, Montana Skies, Blue Smoke and Carolina Moon. We watched the last one tonight, it was so good. I love sharing times like these with Snofie.

We were watching HGTV:
PoPo Pop: Is that guy blind?
Me: No, he's Lebanese.

Snofie didn't have school today, President's day. After work she, Tara and I went in to see Rose's new puppy named Maggie. She's too cute all wobbly on her feet and all. She chased the girls around and will no doubt be very tired this evening. I took the girls with me to the grocery store. I love to listen to them talk about the things in each aisle. They talk about what food they like and what they don't. Then they got tired and thirsty. Tara wanted root beer and Snofie wanted lemonade. We looked in every single one of those coolers at the end of the check out aisles and couldn't find either one. Tara looked really disappointed and Snofie was in tears. Luckily there is a Subway in our Wal Mart which had both. I tried to exchange both girls for a sub but the guy wouldn't go for it. I dropped Snofie off at Tara's and then I went in and met PoPo Pop for dinner. He is training one of the new officers so she went to eat with us. We had Panda Express. Panda is PoPo Pop's favorite, he has is about 4 times a week, he's turned into a panda!

Today we had a totally technology free day, it was lovely but I wouldn't want to do it all that often.

Today was clean the house from top to bottom day. Snofie helped too. She was in charge of cleaning anything glass, shiny or mirrored. We also shoveled the driveway. Snofie did a really good job on the path and looked so cute with her sweat pants tucked into her black knee high boots, her pink hat and her Mickey Mouse shovel. It snowed last night and most of today. I was a light fluffy snow so it was fun to shovel. When PoPo Pop came home from work we ordered pizza and watched Cops together.

Snofie had another 2 hour delay at school today so PoPo Pop took her. She said: Daddy, no talking to my jelly sandwich again please. She cracks me up.

After work & school we went to purchase the carpet for the basement. This time I was very careful not to fall on the ice again. Then we went to O'Charley's for dinner. I decided to be daring and try something new. This is a big step for me because I am typically the kind of person who once I find what I like I don't vary from it ever. I got a grilled chicken thing on flatbread. It was okay but the most flavorful part of it was the cucumbers. Our waiter, Paul, sensed I didn't care for it too much and he took it off our bill. That was so nice. Then Snofie and I went to see a play: "Freedom Is My Middle Name". It was quite good even though it wasn't a comedy like Snofie is used to. It was about 5 teens who travel back in time to see "average African Americans" who made a difference in the history of our country and how their actions weren't so much about race but about freedom for all. I don't think Snofie got the whole message but she did get most of it. Afterward we went to Cup-O-Joe for coffee where she told me: that it didn't matter what color your skin but what was inside you that matters most.

Getting to the play was quite an adventure. I guess I didn't think about all the snow. They removed it from the street and did I think that it just mysteriously vanished? No, it is all piled on the side of the already narrow streets. Luckily I am an expert parallel parker and we found a place right in front of Cup-O-Joe. Walking the several blocks to the theater and back was a little challenging but fun. We had a good laugh about the snow chunk that found it's way into my shoe. Snofie asked why I wasn't wearing sneakers. I told her I wanted to look cute. She rolled her eyes.

We made friends with a girl at Cup-O-Joe who totally got the cute shoe thing. She was on her way to a blind date with a guy she met online. There was also a couple next to us who were so odiously on a first date. After they and our new friend left I told Snofie how thankful I am that I found PoPo Pop who I want to spend the rest of my life with. Then she had m tell her the story of how PoPo Pop and I met. It reminded me of when I used to ask my mom the same thing. I would ask her to tell me about when she was little.

I put the DVD "An Inconvenient Truth" on reserve at the library. I am #875 on the waiting list.

I got a raise, yeah me!

Snofie brought home all A's on her progress report, yeah Snofie!

We had a nice Valentine's Day. (Well, except for PoPo Pop staying home from work with a migraine.) When we woke up Snofie and I found the kitchen table full of flowers, cards and chocolates. Roses for me and carnations for Snofie. It was the first time she has received flowers and she was thrilled. We are NOT sharing our chocolates either!

We met Kelly, Tim and the kids at Skyline for kids night. Kelly and I both brought cookies for Ciera and James. It was the perfect day to do so because they had a CEO and all the managers in there so it looked really good, look how much we love our Skyline servers. At the end of the meal Snofie got mad at me because I wouldn't let her order ice cream.
Snofie: Please, I haven't had ice cream since like December.
Me: You just had 2 frosted cookies, a red velvet cupcake, oreos and a lolly pop, NO NO NO you may not have ice cream!
Snofie: sniffle... cry... sniffle
Me: 2 choices here kid. 1. sit down and shut up and no ice cream or 2. we go home now and no ice cream.
I know, I am probably committing some huge mommy sin by telling her to shut up but hey, I wasn't drinking when I said it. And again now by letting her sit next to me and read over my shoulder while I type...

We turned the TV on... the end of the Lifetime show, "Gay, Straight or Taken" was on.
Snofie: I watched that the other night and picked them all right, the gay one, the single one and the taken on.
Me: ...

Schools were closed again today because of all the ice. The news said our county was under a level 2 snow emergency where you shouldn't drive if you don't have to. I called Lynn and she said she wasn't going in to work so I decided not to go in either. But when I called in to work Kim said the roads were fine so I decided to go in. The roads were not fine. They were a sheet of ice with snow blowing over them along with big chunks of frozen stuff that fell off of cars. It was a mess. Ellen said that Kim had told her the same thing and she was a little mad too that she had ventured out. So, it was a typical day where I got into it with Ron and defended Jeff. Well, I will never defend Jeff again because he made me so mad today that I actually cried:
Jeff: Where's Beth?
Me: The schools are closed and the roads are really bad so maybe that's why she's not here.
Jeff: Must be nice to be able to take a day off because of the weather... no one ever considers the weather when they schedule my trips... I go out and work my butt off in all kinds of weather...
Me: .....
Jeff: Like next week...
Me: Um, you're going to Florida next week.
Jeff: Yeah, but through Charlotte, NC... no one ever considers me when they book flights... no, it's what ever is the cheapest.
Me: I do consider you when I book your flights but I have to have the flights approved by Carla before I book them.
Jeff: I'm sick of this shit... somethings got to change... I shouldn't be subjected to this shit week after week...
Me: (What the hell is he bitching about?) Jeff, if you have a specific issue you need to speak to Carla about it, you know she will do what ever she can to meet your needs.
Jeff: And is my trip going to be done by Friday?
Me: Um... yeah, you leave Monday so, yeah, it has to be done on Friday.
Jeff: Nobody ever thinks about me an has the trip done early, no, no one ever considers me.
Me: I will have it done as soon as Ron confirms the last two appointments.
Jeff: Oh, well if it's a bunch of stop-bys for Ron he can forget about it, I'm not doing his work for him.
Me: ....
Jeff: He had to fill every bit of the trip this week with his shit... I've been to Toronto General before but no, I have to go back to do his work for him...
Me: Actually the customer called in and requested that you come by and look over their units, so this is at the customer's request.
Jeff: No, he needs to tell them no.
Me: ...
Jeff: I certainly hope they are charging them for this.
Me: ...
Jeff: And the directions are wrong, the unit is in the basement not on the 11th floor.
Me: No, I was standing right there when Diane gave Ron the directions for you to come to the 11th floor so that is absolutely correct.
Jeff: Well, it's wrong just like the information you gave me for Racheal's account. The move is in 2011 not 2008... there she goes again giving me misinformation.
Me: I doubt Racheal would make that up and I doubt Racheal would have any reason to question something like that that her customer told her.
Jeff: Well I am sick of this... some things have to change.
Me: Fine, talk to Carla.
Jeff: Well, if that's the way you are going to be then I won't talk to you about any of this anymore and you just have a really nice day! (Click)

Oh my god, he hung up on me! I listen to him bitch and complain and moan and groan day after day about the same stuff over and over again and he has the nerve to hang up on me! I listen to him basically say the we all are incompetent, me included and he expects me to look forward to talking to him. Well, no I do not like being emotionally dragged down into the same gutter he feeds out of. He is never satisfied with anything. He bitches about Ron but won't say anything directly to Ron. He complains about Ellen but not to Ellen about what she does that makes him annoyed. I now he must complain to someone about me well, hello, tell me, I'm the one who plans his trips. His trips so they should be the way he wants them but no, he won't say anything to me... just complain complain complain. It gets really old really fast. Let's see if I continue to book him anything special when it comes to car rentals or hotel reservations.

There was a huge storm over night and school was canceled today. This morning Snofie and I sat at the kitchen table with our coffee and watched the birds. Snofie put a plate of bread out on the deck for them. It was amazing to see how quickly her footprints filled with snow until you could barely tell she had walked across the deck.

PoPo Pop: I wish my work had a snow day.
Me: Heroes don't get snow days.
Snofie: And you're our hero.
He didn't think we were all that cute...

It snowed half of the day and then started to rain. While I was watching it out the front window I noticed Joy shoveling her driveway. I figured if she could do it then so could I. Ugh, what a mess. The snow was covered by a sheet of ice and it was still raining. It was so heavy but I got most of it done. I was totally exhausted yet totally amazed because Joy had shoveled her entire driveway while on the phone! She is always on her phone, but come on, in the rain while shoveling snow, totally amazing.

Wow, I chipped a plate this evening while doing the dishes. It was one of the set we got for our wedding. Pretty good, first plate chipped after almost 12 years of marriage.

There is an orange cone out by the road at the entrance of the school and I am here to say: I didn't do it! I am quite pleased to see that someone else has run over and dragged a cone. The parking saga continues. Today in the papers sent home was a 2 page with diagram letter detailing the parking procedures. The opening paragraph states that nothing has changed in the procedures and that it is a reminder of the existing procedures. In other words: we had to put up cones and barricades because you all are idiots. If signs, then cones & barricades and finally a guy out in the parking lot don't work, I doubt a note will. But it was quite amusing especially after today when I watched a guy in a pickup back into the barricaded area as though it were a special little parking space. It was hysterical, he was all catty wampus and hanging out.

Oh my god, I am sitting here watching Headline News and Nancy Grace. I like her. Anyway, they are talking about Anna Nicole Smith. 1. They are questioning Howard K. Stern and his possible involvement in her death. 2. There are men coming out of the woodwork claiming to be the father of her baby, the funniest of them being some prince who is married to Zsa Zsa Gabor. And 3. the video tape of her baby's birth has been stolen. I find it amusing to listen to Nancy say "Bahamanians", it makes me giggle. I can't watch the medical examiner dude they have on because he is bald and has this giant dent in his head. I can't look because of the crater, not the bald part. I actually like bald guys, PoPo Pop is bald. (Shaved head kind of bald.) Now they have a peek inside her fridge which had a lot of methadone in it, hhmmm. Nancy also mentioned it had a lot of Slim Fast as well.

I considered listing Snofie on Ebay, leaving her at Wal Mart or buying and drinking a 4 pack of green tea wine coolers this afternoon. First of all, yes, green tea wine coolers, I am totally intrigued. After school Snofie and I went grocery shopping. Down the coffee aisle is when the incident happened. I am shocked that Snofie would choose to misbehave in such a sacred aisle, oh the horror. Anyway, a little boy who was with his mother and grandmother says, "Hi Snofie, do you remember me?" Well, Snofie takes one look at him, turns around and walks away! The look on the little boy's face was so sad. So, there I am talking to this kid. turns out he was in Snofie's first grade class and moved this year. In the next aisle I told her how disappointed I was in her. Then we get in line. Snofie keeps messing with the cart which is pissing me off and then there is this guy behind us who, every time I step to the side of the cart, he pushes his right up against mine. Ugh! Everyone take 2 giant steps back and leave me alone! Then the little boy appears at the back of the line. There he is waving with a big grin on his face at Snofie and the little troll does it again. She turns her back on him! I laid into her about how rude she was being... how would she feel is someone did that to her... and I'm not asking you to have a conversation with him, just say hi. Then Snofie caught me making the "hands around her neck, shaking" gesture. She did not find it amusing. The guy with the cart behind us did but I was not amused by him and his cart.

Snofie had a basketball game today. That is absolutely all we did.

Our bedroom is painted a very dark blue. It's not quite a navy blue, just a very dark true blue. And, there is a spot of blue paint on the ceiling. It looks like a bug. I have been saying for years that I will scrape it off but never quite get around to actually doing it. At first scraping the bug spot was on my to do list. Everyday I would transfer it to the next days list. Somewhere along the way I got tired of writing: scrape buggy paint spot off ceiling and started a short hand approach: scraping. Then finally it dropped off the list altogether. I often forget about the buggy paint spot until I am lying in bed and am startled by it, "oh shit, there's a big bug up there!" Maybe I'll leave it up there.

Back to the basketball game... Snofie made the first basket of the game. Yup, that was the highlight of the day.

Snofie: OOOOHHHH, here I go, heading off to bed... even though I don't want to.... because it's sad.... and I don't want to..... OOOHHHH... (sound of the door shutting not once but twice in case I didn't hear her the first time.)

PoPo Pop painted the basement today before he went to work. Tara came over to play with Snofie for a while. She brought her Webkinz monkey, Tom and she left him here. He is sitting on the coffee table watching me type. When Kelly dropped Tara off she brought a piece of Alaska sheet cake over. oh my god, it was so so good. It was so amazingly rich and you could taste the butter it was made with. After Tara left Snofie and I alphabetized her books. She has the greatest collection of books. I love that she enjoys the books that were mine when I was little. Then I cleaned the hamster cage. We couldn't get Hally's cage open. It was the petting zoo part where she sleeps and we couldn't get Hally out of there so I had to try to get it open with her in the petting zoo. It was a piece of poo that was stuck in the opening part. Poor Hally, I had to turn the petting zoo upside down with her in it. I love a clean hamster cage.

Ouch, my whole body hurts from falling on the ice yesterday. I wore sneakers today. They felt totally weird because I never wear sneaker, usually just heels.

PoPo Pop had the day off today. Snofie had a 2 hour delay at school because of the weather again so we decided to let her have a day off. So, I didn't have to leave at any particular time. It's easy when I have to leave to go pick Snofie up from school but on days when I can stay indefinitely it is so hard to leave. Every time I thought I was done something else would come up. I finally left close to 4pm.

We went to Las Margaritas for dinner. It was really good. When we sat down I noticed a woman at the table next to our drinking a cup of coffee. Usually I get a coke when we eat out but something hot sounded really good so I got a cup of hot tea. It was nice. When we were done eating Snofie and PoPo Pop played hangman and I drank my cup of hot tea. There is something so soothing about a cup of hot tea. I love wrapping my hands around the mug, holding it close and breathing in the lemony warmth.

About 11pm PoPo Pop and I were not tired so we watched a movie on Lifetime Movie Network called "Oxygen" with Adrien Brody. I love him, he's a hottie. In the movie he played a really creepy bad guy who buried a woman alive. Of course I had trouble falling asleep afterward and didn't sleep well. But right before I woke up instead of a nightmare I had an odd sort of dream. PoPo Pop, Lee, Mike Dillon, Adrien Brody and I were at an ice cream place in the mall. The place was really cool, you put together your own mixes but they weren't all blended like a Blizzard at Dairy Queen. Instead there were big chunks of each of the ingredients. First you chose your cookie option, like a chocolate chip cookie or a brownie. Then you got to choose a couple scoops of different ice creams, then, syrups and other options like chocolate chips, marshmallows etc. Anyway, Lee and PoPo Pop had made their decisions and had gone to sit down. I was talking to Susie, who worked there, and was leaning against Adrien, sigh. My feet were tired so Mike Dillon was holding one of them. i kept thinking, I hope my stinky feet don't ruin his ice cream. Then when it was my turn to order I told the guy to make whatever, "surprise me", I said. Anyway, Adrien Brody is totally hot.

PoPo Pop had the day off. After school we all went to look at carpet samples for the basement. On the way out of the carpet store I fell on the ice. There I was, in heels (stupid winter shoes) and my giant down coat. I've got to get a picture of me in it so you can see what I am talking about. So, there I am lying there, stunned. PoPo Pop came over and as soon as he realized I was ok he started laughing and said I looked like Mr. Hankey lying there on the ground.

It's not good to talk to your mom on the phone after taking a sleeping pill:
Mom: What are you watching?
Me: Ummmmmm..... something....
Mom: You don't know?
Me: No, I know.......... it's..........uuuummm.... Oh, Criminal Minds, yeah, Criminal Minds.
Mom: It's cold here and the lake is finally frozen...
Me: Snofie didn't have school again because..... um...... um......
Mom: The cold?
Me: No.... it was........ um....... snow.
The conversation pretty much ended there.

Snofie told me she wanted a day planner just like mine. So, today we went to Wal Mart to get her one. This evening we sat on the couch and I helped her set it up. Then she made name labels to put on the front since they are exactly the same so we can tell them apart. I love spending time with her. While we worked on our planners we watched the end of Montana Sky since Snofie hadn't seen the end. In the end the "bad guy" is the bastard son of this guy who died and he seeks his revenge and want to take the ranch. Snofie asks if the dead guy was his father. Yes. Then she asks why the 3 sisters didn't know he was their brother. "Well, because his mother was a hooker." And of course she asks, what's a hooker. "An icky woman who has sex for money." "So why didn't his father want him?" "Because his mother was an icky hoe." "Oh." Snofie is getting quite the education from Lifetime. Now, i understand that some mothers out there may not agree with my allowing her to watch shows with such adult content... but... I have a reason for this. Growing up I was not allowed to watch TV except for The Wonderful World of Disney and things on PBS or nature programs. My mom believed that TV rots the mind. We also did not discuss any adult topics ever. So, when I went away to college and then the real world I was in for a shock at all the violence, sex and heavy stuff out there. It is a miracle that nothing bad ever happened to me in college because I was so naive and trusting of everyone because I didn't know what was really out there. Like the cute frat boy who wanted to show me his record collection in his room. When we got there I actually said, "where are your records?" So, I do not want Snofie to be shocked at disturbing stuff or naive to the evils that lurk behind every corner out there in the world away from mommy. I hope that in viewing these shows together and then discussing them she will learn what not to to when she is in a difficult situation like being persuaded to have sex, do drugs, steal from the mall, drink, be mean to a girl at school, cuss at her parents, and the list could go on and on... And, I want her to know always, that she can come to me and talk about anything. Oh the road that lies ahead... I am looking forward to it but am totally terrified.


Now, back to the moms mixing drink and playing with the kids. Every time I visit Melissa at www.suburbanbliss.net I am shocked at the big deal everyone is making out of a drink or two and I have a few more thoughts:
1. They serve alcohol at Chuck E. Cheese, the place where a kid can be a kid.
2. How many Super Bowl parties went on this past weekend? How many had the kids there too? And how many said, "Oh, the kids will be her, we can't have any alcohol"?
I am surprised that I feel so strongly about this one since PoPo Pop and I don't drink. It's not that we are opposed to it or despise it, we just don't do it. I think the last time we had a few drinks was this fall at one of our fires out in the fire pit with a bunch of friends. But oh wait, that was okay because there were men there.

Snofie did not have school again today. It was really cold this morning but it sort of warmed up in the afternoon. Last night PoPo Pop got a call for an estimate on having the dry wall done in the basement. He told the guy that he had attempted to mud and tape it himself but it didn't go too well. The guy told him that it is a lot harder than it looks. He said they fix stuff like this all the time and told PoPo Pop that it would only be $100. That sounded great to us. The guy and his friend came out this morning, Daniel and Conception, and when they saw the drywall they said it would be $140 instead of $100 because it was really bad. Poor PoPo Pop. Tim said he should have said his mother did it. You should see it, it looks beautiful, all even and smooth. I think PoPo Pop is excited to be so close to completion on his new room. When we get our tax return money he is going to have the carpet done and then all that will be left is painting. Snofie and I are excited to move into our new play room. PoPo Pop thinks it's funny that we are making all kind of plans and he isn't even moved out yet. We go into his room, sit on the floor and discuss what we want to do. We picked out our colors for the wall. The carpet is maroon and we can't change that so we found a great butter yellow and rich pink to paint with. The colors are based off of these great curtains we found at Wal Mart. The window in the room is in the corner and the closet is right next to it on the adjacent wall so we want to curtain the window and the closet instead of doors. Kelly had something like this in her old house so I'll have to ask her how she did it. We are so excited!

When Snofie and I got home form Skyline there was a message from Gute:
Hey, Butter Bean, Butter Bean, just calling from sunny warm Florida to say hey Butter Bean and that it's warm and sunny here. You might want to shovel out the driveway at our house cause we're making our way back from sunny warm Florida.
It went on and on like this with many more "Hey Butter Beans" as well as references to how warm it was. Gute cracks me up!

Ok, thank god, I got the memory card out... but now I'm totally confused, it came out twice as big as it was when it went in.... hhhmmm, looks like some sort of adaptor thingy... Ugh, I need to go do YOGA now...

OH NO OH NO... this is the first time I have downloaded pictures directly onto my lap top and not the other computer and OH SHIT OH SHIT the memory card is stuck in the F*#?*ing computer and I can't get it out...

The hot chocolate I made for Snofie with marshmallows and shaved green M&M's on top...

Note: the odd shapes in the drawing are marshmallows!

If you look really carefully, right in the middle, you can see PoPo Pop "blowing" the driveway. I took the picture from the front window which wasn't the best place, through the glass and at an angle in the dark and all but you'd have to be nuts to think I'd go out there in this weather. Not to mention the fact that PoPo Pop has a leaf blower which, like the hose, he finds amusing to turn on me.

Here is Snofie, she came in a few minutes ago because her fingers were frozen...

This was two weeks ago... now they froze in below zero temperatures and then got buried in the snow.

After dinner it was snowing. Everything was covered in a blanket of white. I had the blinds on the kitchen window up so I could watch the snow fall in the neighbor's yard. The kitchen window looks right into their back yard and it is beautiful. They have 3 giant spruce trees, you know, the good ones that have the big thick needles and are not Charlie Brown tree-ish. I suppose tomorrow it won't look as pretty once their German Shepard hit it. I wonder if Snofie knows to stay away from yellow snow? So, there we are after dinner and Snofie looks outside and says, "It's pretty. It's amazing. Oh, hey, it's pretty amazing."

So, here I sit, watching TV above the whir of the leaf blower. Yup, I said leaf blower. PoPo Pop wondered what would happen if he shoveled the snow with the leaf blower instead of the shovel or the little snow blower we have. Oh, he was so excited and there was Snofie jumping up and down asking if she could come too. Well, they've been out there for about 15 minutes and no one is crying yet. I can't believe we have that big of a driveway or that much snow... OH GOD, what is he out there doing!?!

Today I am feeling so thankful that when I book flights each week for Jeff that he is NOT in the office, standing over my shoulder, hovering. Today I had to book a flight for Ron and one for Ellen. Having to book flights for anyone other than Jeff only happens twice a year and thank god. Ron complained about the layovers, why were they so long and why did they have to go through that particular airport. Well, when you are working on a budget that the company says you have to stick within you can't choose direct flights. Then I booked Ellen's flight. She stood over me while I typed everything in. "Do you want an aisle or a window?" "Aisle." I entered that and went on tho the next screen. "OH wait, no a window." I went back to the previous screen and reentered it as a window seat. "Are you sure?" "Yes." About 3 screens later she says, "Wait, change it back to an aisle." "Are you serious?" "Yes." "I'll have to reenter all the credit card info and bill to info if you make me change it so, no." "Please, Kate, please, do it now, please." Oh my god, I am so thankful to usually not have someone hanging over my shoulder.

Snofie didn't have school again today and PoPo Pop stayed home to. I love when Snofie has a day off from school because she emails me at work. It totally brightens my day. After work I picked Snofie and PoPo Pop up and we went to Wal Mart for some grocery shopping. When we went in it was just cold but 45 minutes later when we came out everything was covered in snow and it was still coming down in a big way. I wonder if there will be school tomorrow?

Snofie didn't have school today. Actually, all the schools in Central Ohio were closed because of the bitter cold. This morning it was -3.4 degrees, but I was toasty warm on my way to work. Several years ago Mom gave me a floor length overstuffed down coat. I think I have mentioned it before, the one I look like the Stay Puff Marshmallow Man in. I didn't even need the heat in the car it is such a toasty coat. PoPo Pop stayed home from work again today. Even though he is taking an antibiotic as well as a decongestant, he doesn't seem to be feeling any better. I hope he feels better soon because I don't like seeing him all mopey, poor PoPo Pop. I am so thankful that Snofie hasn't gotten sick this winter. This evening Snofie and I watched the best movie on Lifetime called "Montana Sky".

It is colder than cold today. With the wind chill it is well below zero. I'm glad that I did not have to go out today. Snofie had Ann over to play. Her mom dropped her off and picked her up so I successfully avoided going outside there. While the girls played I made cookies that turned out great. I made sugar cookie dough with cream cheese and powered sugar. I cut them out into little hearts and sprinkled with red sugar and then drizzled with chocolate. They were a hit.

The Super Bowl is tonight and I just asked PoPo Pop who was playing. Surprisingly he knew. We are the least sports oriented family. PoPo Pop is home from work sick. When he called into the department to say he wasn't coming in they said that 6 other officers had called off. The funny thing is they all know that PoPo Pop is probably the only one who called off today because he is really sick and not faking to watch the Super Bowl. We are watching the Puppy Bowl off and on this evening on Animal Planet. They have a pen made to look like a football field and it's filled with puppies. That's it, the puppies run around and it broadcasted on TV. It is strangely addictive and the puppies are adorable. It kind of reminds me of "Meercat Manor" also on Animal Planet and also addicting. The film and narrate the lives of a group of meercats.

PoPo Pop is really sick. We all were but with him it turned into an infection. Last week he went to the doctor and was prescribed an antibiotic. He took one day off last week and then had his two scheduled days off. After all that he still didn't feel better but went back to work anyway yesterday because he is an FTO (field training officer) and he is in the middle of training a new officer. Anyway, this morning I was looking at his prescriptions and noted that he has been taking his decongestant but he hadn't started on his antibiotic. Duh, PoPo Pop, that's what is going to make him feel better. He is planning on taking the day off tomorrow as well so I will be able to go get my much needed hair cut.

I keep thinking about all the little doggies and kitties out there in the cold without a warm house to come into tonight. That makes me so sad.

You know, we are a terribly pathetic family. This afternoon PoPo Pop was in his den on the computer and I was out here on the couch on my laptop. All of a sudden I got an IM. So, PoPo Pop and I spent the next half hour or so IM-ing back and forth. Sally came back to pick up Ann and I sent him and IM to tell him to come on out and say hi. The funny part of that is that our house is a ranch and only about 1200 square feet so I wouldn't have even needed to raise my voice to get him to come on out.

I have been thinking about our house all day today. I don't know if it is because it is so cold out and I am just being thankful for a warm house or if it's because we have been watching HGTV all day. But, I love our house. It is the perfect house. I love that it is a ranch and has an attached garage. The yard is just perfect as well, not too big as to not be able to take care of it but big enough to play and plant in. We have lived here almost 9 years so our trees are becoming nice and mature and we have been able to tackle every room and make it exactly how we want it.

Oh my god, I am married to a freak of nature. He had the unique ability to sense when the pizza guy arrives before he rings the door bell. He just stood up and went to the door, "pizza's here". Oh my god, how does he do that?

I haven't had a chance to get my hair cut in the past few weeks and it really needs it. Then the idea hit me to maybe let it grow a bit or change the style. Today I realized why I have the style I do, because it is messy on purpose. It takes about 2 seconds to "style" in the morning. Literally I towel dry it and spritz it with some hairspray and I'm done. It is fast and easy not to mention convenient. See, I have this guilty pleasure, I love to take naps and lie down in front of the TV. I can do this for hours which, with any other hair style would result in bed head. But, with the already messy on purpose look, no one knows. Life is perfect with easy to style hair and TV.

Posted By Snofie

Today was a great day today. This morning I had coffee with my mommy then I played with my
horse named Thuder then I played on my daddy's lap top. While I was playing the lap top my mommy brought my hamster named Hally out. Then my daddy left for work. That is when I went to my room and put Hally away and then I played with my littlest pet shop hamster
named Chester. MY FAMILY CAME! Then I laid down on my bed with Mr. B, my blanket. After that I took a bath. Then I had 3 meals. I had a enchalada, rice and rice now I am tapying on the lap top. Oh.... and my friend Ann is comeing over tomorrow.

Groundhog Day

Well, Buckeye Chuck did not see his shadow thus predicting an early spring. I sure hope he is right. On the news they said he is accurate 80% of the time. Snofie made the cutest craft centered around the little varmint at school. They glued a groundhog cut out onto a stick, cut a hole in a paper plate which they divided in two, one half with just grass and the other with a sun and shadow. Too cute. We had our own festivities this evening. For dinner we had tacos and I crossed out the word beef on the package of ground beef and wrote hog on it. Snofie thought this was a riot. After dinner we had a groundhog word search and we made groundhog book marks.

I took the day off today. PoPo Pop and I dropped Snofie off at school and then went to Kenton, OH together. We couldn't remember when we had spent the day together just the two of us. PoPo Pop had bought a desk off of www.govdeals.org and we went to go pick it up. The drive was nice, it was snowing just enough to make everything look lovely but not enough to make the driving bad. On the way back we went through Delaware and had lunch at The Brown Jug. I got the best French Onion soup. I thought about getting the wings like we did every week when I was in college at Ohio Wesleyan but I was afraid that if they weren't the way they used to be the memory would be ruined for me. Then we went to the candy shop and an antique store. I got a candy heart for Snofie and John got a few antique license plates for his collection. While we were at the antique shop Jeff called. I was quite annoyed by this because he went on and on about: "oooohhhh, you took a day oooooffffff, that must be nnniiiiccceee." Oh come on, he has about a million vacation hours saved up and can take a day off as easily as the next guy so don't even start with that martyr business. Then he went on about how he had sent me an email and wanted to make sure I got it and took care of his needs. I politely told him that his needs would be taken care of tomorrow when I was back in the office in plenty of time for his next trip. I get so annoyed because I never know when to take his bitching seriously. I have come to the realization that he is one of those people who only know how to complain. It is just trying on the nerves of those of us who have to listen to them. Okay, fine, I will listen to him when I am getting paid for it but not on my day off.

We got back in enough time to pick up Snofie and a pizza. While we had our pizza Snofie and I played Life. I love that game. Snofie loves it too when she is able to be the police officer who makes $100,000 and has the Tudor house. With out these things she gets a little angry. Okay, she cries and throws a fit but it's still a good game.