On Second Thought...

Maybe things haven't been so monotonous after all. After I wrote that post, I got thinking about all the great things that we've been doing. Another snow day today left me with some time to take pictures of all of our winter wonders...

 Some lemon-raspberry lintzer cookies I made in today's boredom...

 Snowstorm pics abound. We now have about 4 feet of snow on either end of the driveway. It makes shoveling it almost impossible. 

 Even this picture makes me laugh a little. The upstairs windows are now mostly blocked on the bottom. We have lots of snow. 

 Our screen door bit the dust in the last storm...so now our door opens to the deck itself. And the snow piles up. And piles and piles. 

 Penny is the queen of the mountain, of course. 

 We've spent our snow days cuddled up like this. Thankfully I've been keeping up on my claritin. 

Sometimes I feel like Penny thinks she has to entertain me on snow days...I was calling to her to bring me her toy this morning (which she has been doing again!) and I found her passed out with it on the floor in the living room. Keeping me out of trouble sure is hard work, huh. 

I also read the first book in the 'Hunger Games' series yesterday. Brought it home from the library in advance of a snow day to read and...oops. Finished it by 10pm. Hopefully I can lay my hands on the other two in short notice. Things are really not as monotonous as I make them seem. Next month, I hope to post a 'Guest Bedroom Makeover!' post after I re-do the guest room over vacation! I'm planning that and a million other things before the snow stops flying. I just hope that the kids are ready to have school on the fourth of July...

Winter Blahs

Today is our fourth snow day in two weeks. Phew. The first one was a ton of fun seeing as our school hadn't called off since the winter of 2009, and I went all of last winter without a blessed snowday. That ended up shortening my summer considerably, which was nice indeed, but now I find myself praying for clear skies as the East coast continues to be pounded with these storms. I could post pictures but it all looks the same as my blizzard post - white. Ugh. The higher the snowbanks get, the more winter is seeming to drag on.

I started off this morning with a phone call to my mom (who else would I call that early!?) and she was griping about my lack of blogging. Honestly, there's not much going on. We're hunkered down for the winter, catching up on 'Entourage' and finishing 'The Wire.' Chris is studying for CFA level 2 in June and I'm doing some professional development online. It's a quiet existence but there are a few things that keep us going:

1) The dog. She is always a force of nature and has become my constant companion. Recently she's forgotten how to fetch, and re-teaching her has been difficult. It seems like she only remembers when she feels like it.
2) Saving money. We're working hard to cut down on expenses to save up for summer projects. We're hoping to have the shed demolished and the new laundry room built, for real, this year. Along with that would come a new small deck and a large backyard patio (with fire pit!). Chris is also discussing a retaining wall to hold back some of our jungle foliage but we'll see how that goes. These dreams of spring and summer lounging outdoors really help us get through these dark and cold days!
3) Harrow's Chicken Pies. We have a maximum of 2 per month. If you've had one, you know why we have to set a limit. They are the most perfect food! And great 'sit in front of the TV and watch The Wire' food.
4) Speaking of 'The Wire'...a friend of mine from school reccomended we start watching this HBO series through Netflix and we are completely hooked. The acting is phenomenal and the characters are real and memorable. We discuss naming another dog 'McNulty' or 'Bode Braudis' from time to time...
5) We joined a new gym - LA Fitness. You would think that our nightmarish experience with Bally Total Fitness would have turned us away from the evils of Big Corportate Gyms but apparently we learned nothing. Our year with Planet Fitness left us fat and grumpy, so we decided to 'check out' LA Fitness. All the guy had to do was show us the pool - the bright, clean, sparkling, EMPTY pool - and we were sold. I go more often now that Chris is studying but we both really it so far.

Other than that, it's a quiet life and all is well...sorry to post the monotony, Mom, but you asked for it! :)

Vamos a la playa!

Seriously! The beach! In January!

Yesterday was a beautiful day around these parts - 50 degrees and sunny. We figured that the best way to beat our New Year's Day blues was to head up to Chris' parents house in Gloucester and take the dogs to the dog beach!

We refer to Good Harbor beach as 'the dog beach' because a) it seems like everyone in town brings their dogs there, b) it's sheltered from the road and has a huge stretch of beach, and c) we can kayak there in the summer and sneak the dog onto a secret part of the beach during the 'no dogs allowed' months. Yesterday was no disappointment. Penny had a great time and even went into the water with her buddy Champ! It was a great way to start the new year and I still can't believe I saw my dog jump in the water...this is the dog who in September of 2009 would hide under the bed when I slammed a cabinet shut by accident. She's getting so brave! (Which is a great thing when she tries things like swimming...when she runs out the front door into the street, I wish she was a bit more fearful.)

Anyhoo, some shots of our day below. Happy New Year!

Chris' parents dog, Champ, swimming for rocks. He's incredible. 

Penny finds him tiresome. 

And after one excursion, decides to watch his antics from the shore. 

Hey! Guys! I found this rock!

Imagine Odysseus wearing sunglasses...

Odysseus and Penelope

Odysseus, Penelope and...Anticlea? (Penelope's servant?)

A Tale of Two Ranges

Okay. I posted something on facebook last week about how I had purchased a new stove. Heck yes, I did. Our oven has been inconsistent since the day we moved in - set it to 375, for instance, and an hour later it will *beep* that it's heated and the temp is 150. I finally figured out that if you light one of the back burners it will eventually get to temp. I decided to get an oven thermometer and it's been a hassle ever since.

So while Chris was off last week, he asked if I wanted to go pick out a new one. Why not? There was a great appliance sale at a local shop and I was all for it. I picked the one I wanted and scheduled a delivery date. I paid the man and got excited. And then...

I found it for less money at another place. The local store refused to match a big-box store price so I went elsewhere with my buisness. However, the big-box store couldn't deliver it anytime I would be home. So out I strolled, shrugging my shoulders. I tried. Chris was stunned that I didn't go through with it but I'm not. Why, you ask?

You know, our parents leave us with interesting things. Mine instilled in me a Puritan need to wring the life out of anything before discarding it. My parents to this day are still using the washer and dryer that we used as kids. And why not? They still work great. I seem to recall us using a dryer at one point that required wedging a stick into the door in order to get it to work. But did it dry stuff? You betcha. All four burners on that oven still work and I usually can finagle the oven. I'll buy a new oven when it REALLY breaks. I stuck the $850 I almost dropped on that range into my savings account and I feel great about it.

But talk to me next time I bake something...I'll probably be cursing said Puritan tendencies. C'est la vie.

House Projects: 2011

Be it known that 2011 will be the year we plan to:

- Refinish/replace all the wood floors in the house.
- Create retaining walls in the backyard
- Fence in the backyard
- Get a new range, maybe?
- Replace the existing deck with one of similar size
- Tear down Ye Olde Shed and replace it with a Reed's Ferry shed
- Replace Ye Olde Shed's space with a patio (and firepit?)
- Install a hutch in the dining room

The list never ends! We'll see how far we get...

The Blizzard of 2010

If you live on the East Coast, or were traveling over Christmas week, or had an inkling of what was going on in the news in the last week, you should know that we had a HUGE blizzard. HUGE. I haven't seen this much snow in years. Along with the snow came phenomenal winds that left the dog refusing to use the bathroom for days. Unfortunately, the storm left us without a screen door (flew right off the hinges and across the backyard) and a persistently loose shutter. The screen door was really awful and a bane to our existence, so it wasn't until today that I mourned its loss - the dog strolled out the open door as I went to put her leash on. Oops. Guess it served a purpose after all.

Anyhoo, storm pics below. We stayed inside for two days straight before finally shoveling ourselves out. Yes, shoveling...Chris claims we're 'too young' for a snowblower. Sigh.

View out the front door

View from the porch window

View of our neighbor's car, 20 minutes after he last snowblowed. Poor guy. 

Penny was, as usual, little help during the storm.