snow & 'sun'

something we never had to do before moving North...

shovel our roof.

Our garage roof is flat and the snow builds up quickly. This evening Markas removed our latest round of snow. (What can be even trickier than removing snow & ice from the roof? Removing it from Evan's trampoline. Just for reference.) We also have gotten quite proficient at shoveling snow from our driveway and sidewalk. Keeping sidewalks cleared is required in the borough and not doing so can result in fines. We have a kind elderly neighbor a couple of doors down from us that often clears our sidewalk (and others) with his 4 wheeler that is equipped with a snow blade. I hope to catch him in the act soon so I can thank him in person : )

and notice the almost clear evening sky? it's a rarity this time of year.

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my 'art'ificial light garland gets an update

notice the addition of a 'sun'? I can't find paper lanterns around here so this one is a native of Arkansas that got imported to Pennsylvania ; )

hitting the slopes

Evan on one of his many trips down a local sledding slope. Markas took this video... probably not long before he commandeered the sled to take his own ride ; ) There is certainly never a lack of appropriate sledding conditions in Western PA this time of year. Never : /

is there a bat in your belfrey? what about your basment?

While Evan & I were away on our trip, Markas & Scot found a baby bat in our basement. Kinda creepy to think of these critters hiding down below, but also kinda cool too. And where there is a baby bat there are parent bats and probably sibling bats and cousin bats and... : / Anyway, I guess even bats need to get out of the cold and snow.

Happy Birthday, Rosie Bean

Evan giving Rosie some birthday love

Rosie giving Evan love

Rosie & I chillin' with the latest issue of BH&G

custom Rosie shirt by Darla

All of my kids (furry and not) are getting older. Evan turns 8 in February. Price will be 4 in March. They grow up too fast.

greetings from Pennsylvania

A quick thanks to my California Linda for sending me some fabulous vintage Pennsylvania postcards. They were my inspiration for my latest blog banner. I also used playing cards depicting well known amusements and attractions from PA. I got those when Evan & I went to the IdleWild amusement park in August.

bring your own sunshine... and gnomes.

sunny sign & lemon bouquet

cheery wreath & banner make me happy : )

traveling gnome (travelocity) - a gift from Evan snow gnome?

(fabric banner, yellow sign & felt wreath are all etsy.com finds)

sharing some funny

a few funny t-shirts that speak to my warped sense of humor ; )

*all designs found @ cafepress.com*

in with the AARP set & paying for pain

I am the new kid on the block or more like the new girl in the pool. I have completed my first week of aerobics classes. Before joining the class I had imagined a group of older ladies carefully keeping there 'dos out of the water's reach. Even with this image in mind, I still worried these grannies would kick my butt if I couldn't hold my own... that I would be shown up by a spunky octogenarian task master. I was right about the age spread and the hairdos (mostly). But the ladies have been welcoming and helpful. Many seem very interested in getting to know the new girl in the group. I guesstimate that there is a 25 year age difference between me and the next youngest.

I have been taking it slow. It is more of a workout than I had expected. (How can you break a sweat covered neck high in water?) The best thing about water aerobics is that I can do so many things in water that I couldn't do on dry land. I have even learned to jog in water.

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Just in case my water exercise wasn't enough newness for one week, I also signed up with a personal trainer. My first session was yesterday. It went well I thought. I enjoyed my trainer and he seemed to manage being very conscious of my health limitations without babying me. In fact there were several occasions where he didn't baby me to the point that I had to express my feelings about it saying things such as 'and I thought we were going to be friends' or 'I'm not liking you right now, Roger'. Either he has a healthy sense of humor or is willing to take a little verbal abuse in exchange for being paid to inflect both acute and lingering pain on folks like me. Now every time I go up or down stairs or squat to use the toilet and my quad muscles revolt, I quietly curse Roger. Yes I am blaming someone else for what is in all truth my fault. I let myself get out of shape and now I have to do the work to improve my conditioning. But poor Roger is still going to have to endure my scathing sass as he helps me exercise my ass! ; ) (I rhymed... hee hee)

My second training session is Tuesday.

jumping into the deep end

I was proud of Evan for being brave enough to attempt the YMCA lifeguard administered deep water swim test tonight. The bonus was that he passed the test on his first try! His test consisted of swimming half the length of the pool without stopping then treading water in the middle of the pool for 20 seconds and finally floating on his back for 10 seconds. Now Evan can swim in any part of the pool not just the "kid section". I wasn't expecting this development when I took Evan to swim tonight. However I am now the proud parent of a child that is a more decorated swimmer than me.

randomness

Hedbanz the game

What am I? Everyone else knows, but me. The not knowing part can be kinda frustrating actually ; )***

Finger Soccer

more challenging than you might think

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no snow = green grass?

snow finally gave way to rain for the new year, but how does the grass stay green under almost 2 months of snow layers? whatever... I am just happy to have green around at all!

(Sorry for the strange picture. It was taken through a window screen.)