Our Snowy Monday

Boy did it storm yesterday! We had a lot of snow blow through our subdivision. It actually snowed hard and steady for about 6 hours. However, we only had about 2-3 inches of actual accumulation because it was extremely windy. The weatherman said that we had gusts of 100 mph, I believe we had some of those gusts down here in Saratoga Springs.

Our new house is in a wind path and we always get really gusty winds, something I am not used to. I like it for the most part, but it gets a little nerve racking at times. It feels as though the house could actually lift off and go flying. After a wind storm, we have to go around and retrieve things like the cat food and water dishes, our hose box, pick up the garbage can.

Sometimes the garbage can only gets blown over, but other times it is blown down the street. That is when the can is out for pickup. We have not had trouble yet, KNOCK ON WOOD, with having to pick up strewn garbage. We have used a bungee cord on the can that will keep the lid down but when the truck lifts it up the cord releases. So far our system has worked. I really hate to chase down garbage.

We usually have to gather up boxes, plastic bags and garbage from the construction dumpsters. Anyway, it was really windy and blizzardy yesterday. Today is very nice, a balmy 28 degrees and sunny for a while anyway. We are supposed to get another windy nasty storm tonight.

Our power went out yesterday for about 90 minutes. Not too bad, the house kept the heat in and we were never uncomfortable. There were some power lines that were down about a quarter of a mile from our place. The power company had to replace a pole, but we don't know if a vehicle slid off the road and crashed into the pole or if the horrible winds blew it over.

Some of our neighbors were without power for several hours, but they said they were fine. We gave them a standing invitation to come to our house if they needed to get warm or cook or whatever. No one needed our help this time. Maybe next time.

The snow starting flying about 9am. It was early out for the schools and we found out that the roads were so bad that the school buses had a very hard time getting to the schools to pick up the kids and take them home. Then they had a hard time getting through the neighborhoods to drop off the kids and get back to the next school. Those drivers do the high school, then the jr. high and then the elementary. It was a real mess. Most of the kids were about 2 hours late getting home yesterday, some as much as 3 1/2 hours. It was really bad.

We kept the kids home yesterday, partly because of the weather we woke up to. But mostly because of the weather during the night. The winds howled so loud and the house shook so much, that the kids and I were awakened off and on all night. The kids were quite scared because the sounds and sensations were very new to them. But they are getting used to the winds here and hopefully soon they won't be afraid of the storms. I really am glad I kept the kids home. We had a nice day together and stayed warm and dry.

I was a little unnerved to. But not scared, just bothered- both from the storm and then the kids. Oh and someones car alarm that was triggered at 2:30am and went on for about 20 minutes before it either died or the owners put it out of it's misery. There was so much noise from the wind, if the car was downwind from their bedroom, they probably could not hear it.

Dad was at work and so he missed all the sounds of freight trains, tractor trailers, roaring engines, flying missiles, tanks, bombs, etc., all the noisy windy sounds from the storm. He was nice and snug in the ER with a very light number of patients. They figured that most of the people hung out at home and tried to wait out the storm, before coming to the ER. Very few drivers were out, so the risk of car accidents were low. It was a quiet night at the ER, he said.

Well, bye for now.

Sharinskishe

Taking a Time Out (mostly from the family blog sites)

Well, it seems that life has taken over my life again.

What I am saying is that I have spread myself too thin and I am beginning to wonder how to get everything done.

I am continuing on with my Cub Scouting because I really love those boys. I should be getting the group split soon and so I'll only have about 5 or 6 for a few months. That will be nice.

I am continuing my Church Activity- That was never in question. I just want to do a lot more studying. We have been watching the DVD series - Liken the Scriptures, we have seen four of them. And we love them. We have been watching VeggieTales also. We have been enjoying the other DVD's like, The Best Two Years, Home Teachers, Work and the Glory series. These have been enjoyed so much as of late. We have read the whole book of Esther and I really enjoyed it and thinking about how much I understand because of my exposure to the Liken DVD and the VeggieTale DVD versions of the story of Esther.

I am continuing my Leadership Program as that has been extremely important in all my doings for the last year. It has heightened my spiritual awareness as well.

I am continuing getting ready to begin an Internet business. We are anticipating an announcement on February 10th that we hope will enlighten us as to where the Team Business Opportunity will be heading.

I am continuing my writing. I am working on two books at this time. I am getting really close to finishing my Pirate Story and I have a Western about a quarter done. I am finally feeling like I have a purpose again. I like delving into my imagination for my stories. It seems to give me a personal renewal every time I have an opportunity to work on them.

I am now beginning to look into cooking a different way. I have been diagnosed as a borderline diabetic. But the doctor seems to think that a better diet will control my sugars. I also need to find recipes that will help with gastrointestinal problems. I have always had GI problems, and now Pilot Boy is showing the same signs. We also have other health concerns that we want to avoid by implementing a better diet schedule in our home.

I want to begin to sew again and make things for my family. I want to keep the house cleaner and straighter. I want to meal plan and cook. I want to be here for my family. I want to be a better person and I want to be a better daughter of my Heavenly Father. I want to get more involved in our families genealogy and learning any family history stories that I can. I want to study more.

I just don't feel like I have enough time to accomplish everything I want to do. So for now I am going to keep holding back on my Blogging. I have missed being here the last few weeks so I do hope to be on here once in a while. Maybe just writing this post will encourage me to jump back into keeping up on this. I have really enjoyed writing here.

Love to all,

Shari

I Ate a Ginger Wreath!

I am so glad I went to my Mom's yesterday. I was able to eat a gingerbread wreath from my Mom's tree!! It was old and hard, but oh so ever delicious. It was not the one that is in the photo as one of my nephew's ate that one! I was almost heartbroken that he ate that one, but I got over it mighty quick.

It was a busy day yesterday. My oldest nephew got married today. So yesterday I was at my Mom's trying to help out. Then we went to a luncheon Bridal shower that was really wonderful and we got to meet some more relatives and friends of New Niece #1. Then I stopped back at my Mom's and then went home about 4:30ish.

The Wedding today was so special. It was held in The Manti Temple. We had a two hour drive to and from, but it was so worth it. That is a beautiful Temple. The new couple looked so happy and beautiful. I was teary with happiness. I am so grateful that Hubby and I were able to attend their Wedding Ceremony. I am so happy for Nephew #1-(Mr. Ireland) and his beautiful new Bride(Mrs. Ireland).

My Brother and his Wife, their children and some special friends put together a wonderful Wedding luncheon in Manti in one of the Church Buildings there. Their special friends made arrangements for the Church. It was so wonderful. The food was wonderful, the company was wonderful and the occasion was sooooooooooooo wonderful!!! (I suppose you can not tell that it was wonderful, right?!!)

The weather held out beautifully for the photos at the Temple and for the driving to and from as well. We so far have been blessed with the safety of the family members and friends who have traveled from distance states and cities to be here to celebrate with the newlyweds. My kids are excited to go to the Reception in an hour and hug the newlywed couple.

We only have 16 more Nieces and Nephews to go! I heard a little chirp in the grapevine and I am looking to the future for some more activity in this area. Will keep you posted.

Photos 2007

My Mom's tree is really pretty. You can't see it's beauty in this photo, however, I will always be able to see it in my memory.

This is a happy Gingerbread Man. I sure would like to taste him.

This GingerSnowman is cute too. I love my Mom's Gingerbread cookies. They really do taste good after hanging up for a long time. She is so talented and between her and my Dad I am so very blessed! They are a wonderful team and do almost everything together. They are fortunate to have the time and abilities to spend most of their time together.

I look forward to the day that I may follow in their footsteps. Being with the man I love and married full time, would be so wonderful! I married him because I want to be with him, and this sending him off to work all the time and not having him around to be a team all the time is for the birds.

Our business will be our path out of the rat race that our society has told us is the right thing to do- Get a job and be gone from your family for many many hours a day, a week, a month and throughout the years. Just so that you can buy things you don't need and never have the time to use. Ramble on and on and on........

This is my favorite! I love the bow on the wreath and the holly berries. I do want to eat this one. However, I doubt I will get one. I'm never around when they come down and being older maybe I have outgrown eating old cookies. My Mom says she know that I am one of the cookies snitchers from the 60's and 70's.

One of the 6 snitchers, apparently our gingerbread men would loose an arm here and a leg there. Funny how I won't admit to it still, but I am sure it was one of my 5 siblings who amputated those gingerbread men's appendages. I would never do anything like that, I would have eaten the whole cookie!

What a cute Christmas Tree. Now if all these cookies had mini m&m's adorning them instead of the red hots, I think my Mom would have lost all of them to snitchers already.

Mom said that the icing got hard for her to do. So small in detail and her hand got very tired. I suggested that she have a party next year with any of the grandkids who would like to decorate and maybe even help with the cutting out. This would be fun.

The only challange is that she only has 17 grandkids and one more joining us this Friday. My oldest nephew is getting married this Friday to a wonderful young lady. I am thrilled for them. So with this amount of grandkids, it would be quite a fun time in her small kitchen. However, we could work out shifts and have a small group come at different times. Or they could come to my house, my kitchen is better set up for a group of bakers. But we would still have to do some shifts.

Or maybe build a house with a kitchen for large family baking and large family crafting and scrapbooking and laughing and reminiscing, etc. A family retreat built just for us! Dream board, I have a new idea for you.... (stop the rambling, now back to this post...)

Pilot Boy walked outside and said he was just walking around. I went out and saw this pretty almost perfect heart. I asked him if he knew he made a heart, and he ran out to see it. He had no idea that he had made this heart. Cool. I really thought that he had made me a heart, but I am happy for the accidental heart he made. He did give it to me.

Here is a better or straight on view of my sons rambling feet. I love you too.

Well off again. Have a great day.

Sharinskishe

Ideas From Fellow Bloggers - Thanks Guys

MANY MANY THANKS FOR ALL YOUR GREAT IDEAS !!

Many thanks for all your great ideas that I got from December 19th Works for Me Wednesday. I am going to take those I want to work with and put them into this posting to help me remember the things I want to work on. Love to you all and I will try to get thank you emails off to you soon.

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Calender Make Overs

Last year I had my parents gather up some calenders for me and then I was going to put family pictures and artwork from the kids in them, photo scrapbook calenders. I never got to it. I have yet to do it this year, however I am thinking that if I put a reminder here, I will get going. I might even do a calender that starts in July and goes 18 months to the following December of 2009. Then maybe I will be better prepared to make a new one in 2009 for 2010.

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I am really sorry that I do not remember who presented the next few ideas. I didn't get my brainstorm to link back to the giver's blog until after I began to gather ideas. My deepest thanks to you who are not named. If you recognize any of these ideas as your own, let me know and i will add a link to your blog. Again, my sincere apologies.

Christmas Tag Notes of Love and Respect

On Christmas tags - write a niceness note that must be read before the present is opened. I think if we think in terms of Love notes for the gals and Respect notes for the guys. (I have just finished reading Love & Respect again. And I am trying to keep the things I have learned in the front of my brain.)

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Assigning Alias's to Christmas Tags

KME over at Duckabush Blog had this great idea for keeping the To and From on their wrapped presents secret until Christmas Day. She assigned a character name to each family member. Such as- To: Prancer Love: The High King Peter or To: Donner From: Ariel. Check out her specifics at Duckabush. Then come back here for more.

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Get-Ready-For-Christmas-Party

"The idea is simple. Everyone comes over with their own Christmas project in hand. It might be presents to be wrapped, or Christmas cards to write, or a Christmas craft/gift, or just envelopes to be addressed. I serve cookies and tea (although I forgot the tea this time - oops!) and everyone works on their particular project in good company with good conversation." Check out the rest of her blog: Laundry & Lullabies

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Crochet Star Ornament

I have crocheting talent, however I have not done anything for several years. I love to crochet, but I have been busy with other things. So I want to make some of these this year. Go to Amy's site By Hook or By Cook for more information.

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Making Christmas Last All Week

I like this idea of spreading out the Holidays. Who says all the presents have to be opened in one day or one sitting? I want to find a better way to manage gifts and spend more time serving others and remembering what Christmas is really all about. I also want to savor the season. I can see giving my children gifts that could be used to make other gifts and serve others at the same time. I hope to get back here and clear up my ramblings. But for now I am glad I have the seed of a great idea that should be able to be nurtured and grown for my family. Thanks Mego. Go read this idea in full at A Day with the Demos.

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Three Gifts for Christmas

I Love the 3 gifts ideas that I have heard lately. Check out De's Blog at The Fruit House as she explains how their family benefits from this tradition. Thanks De.

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Well there are more Ideas to Come so check back. Thanks again to everyone. I hope you get lots of traffic via this posting.

Best to you all.

Sharinskishe

Check out my Second Posting of Your Great Ideas - Ideas From Fellow Bloggers 2

Check out the rest of my Blog - Today on Practically Perfect Life