Getting a little weary of it now

  Snowing again this morning. And now it's blowing sideways. Not pretty anymore. I'll deal with it, though. Like what choice do I have?  My activity list is unchanged from what it's been for days....surf the net, work on sewing projects, read, work on a jigsaw, watch videos, nap.

The kids haven't showed up yet. I wonder if Wayne and Jenni have to report to work.  They've had to so far so we'll see.  I bought a snow shovel from a neighbor last summer. I bet she's regretting that now. I may put my boots on and go out to clear the driveway a little.  Doesn't take long, however, for me to start shoveling and then remember that I'm old and my back hurts.

Can anybody tell me what this pig is saying in the latest Geiko commercial? Everytime I watch it, I can't figure it out.




Took a picture of the birds in the backyard yesterday. Wish I had a bird house that could shelter them from the weather.

Am finding the tv weather reporting a bit tiring.  Now they've got me worrying about the power lines coming down.  That's all we need, no heat.  I won't think about it.

Saw the previews for 'Archer' yesterday so I'm taping it tonight.  Watched 'Justified' last night and it was pretty good...although a tad too much violence for my liking.

Well, time to get busy around here. Think I'll post a video I got in an email from Les Walden today. I need more practice on posting videos anyhow. Still can't figure out the easiest steps.

It is pretty, though....

Guess who isn't venturing outside today?  Her name starts with a J.  Well, that's not completely true. I will pull on my boots and walk across the backyard to shake the snow off of the bird feeders.  I filled them all with thistle seed yesterday as I found a sack of it in the garage. Wasn't sure if they'd eat it but they are. 

I may invest in a better pair of boots once this weather passes.  The pair I have are okay but they don't come up very far or close all that well.  Ha!  You'd think I was a winter sports enthusiast who got out there and played in the snow.  Not hardly.  Making a quick snow witch is about the extent of my energy level. Don't really have the proper mittens or gloves either.

I was surprised at how well Sammy took to the deep snow yesterday. He'd jump across it quickly to chase birds or kids--even though it was up to his nose and more.  Kind of interesting to see the snowdrifts as we don't often get those when it snows.  That's the pretty part, I think and I probably will bundle up to go out and take some pictures.

My guess is that Jenni and Wayne don't have to go to work today.  Course I could be wrong but it would seem silly to drive with the roads looking so dangerous. My daytime activities are going to be devoted to hobbies.  I've got sewing projects in the works, a jigsaw puzzle laid out, crocheting, knitting, counted cross stitch, book to listen to, videos to watch, and computer websites to surf to.

I finished my Leader blog about the Rec Center yesterday so I'll tweak that this morning and try to get it posted before 10 o'clock.

I wanted to stay up and watch Southland last night but I just couldn't keep my eyes open.  I already had both VCRs taping other 10 pm shows so I'll have to keep my eye peeled and watch for Southland to show up in a repeat episode. They often do that at odd hours or different days.

Well, that's about it for now. I do hope to play around with my picture program today and see if I can't get more comfortable with resizing photos. Here's one Hunter took yesterday of his snow fort. Maddie built hers on the other side of the yard and they had a snowball fight.

2nd snow post today

Hunter and I built a snow witch. I named her Joyce.

The White Stuff

I looked out on the back porch this morning and saw three footprints.  Hmmm...I wonder if some guy was trying to get to me.  Probably.  I get that a lot.

Seriously, though, I am kind of wondering what they are.  The porch was bare when I went to bed so somebody there during the night.  I didn't see any other footprints, though, so it is puzzling.  Wayne dropped the kids and Sammy off a half hour ago. Maddie took some thistleseed I found in the garage out to one of the bird feeders so I'm hoping that will interest a few birds.  She's watching Netflix now.  Later on we may go out and build a snowman in the front yard.

I cut and pasted and edited on the word program that came with this laptop but I've still got a lot of learning to do to feel comfortable while writing.  I wanted to do a Leader blog today but I might type it here, transfer to my zip drive, and put it on my old computer with the word program I'm familiar with.

This morning I played around with the camera settings using my laptop and I'm "mostly there" but not all the way yet.  With time.

I was surprised that Wayne had to report for work this morning as the roads are quite full of high snow. He drives a fedx truck.  Am suspecting they'll send him home early.  The kids are out of school for at least today and tomorrow from the way the weatherman talks.

Mary got me a keyboard with a usb connection (found it laying around in her garage) and thinks she might have a laptop bag as well.  Now all I need is the wireless mouse.  She told me that cruise ship that is in the news right now was one a friend of hers used a couple years back.  The friend commented it was the worst trip ever.  All kinds of bad things wrong with that ship. Even the food was awful.

Election news continues to interest me but I'm sure not pleased with Romney gaining momentum. I don't think he has a prayer against Obama.  I'm not particularly enthused with Obama myself right now but....if Romney ends up being my only choice, then I'll vote democratic. At least Obama has Hillary...and I do like her!

Had the tv news on just long enough this morning to hear of yet more people killing other people. I swear--this world is getting meaner every day.  It seems to be commonplace to hear of one murder after another.

Well, Hunter is out in the front trying to start a snowman and I told him I would help. Poor Sammy. He's whining to get out there but unfortunately, he can't be trusted off leash.  Here's a weiner leash fro a weiner dog that  I bought for Wayne's birthday last week.





Still learning....

I spent most of my morning sitting here trying to learn "new stuff."  It's hard learning new stuff.  I finally figured out how to enlarge the font on my laptop screen so I read everything without squinting. Ended up increasing the size to 150%.  Must be an age thing.Yesterday I figured out I had to be in a certain "mode" in order to post YouTube videos on here. I didn't have to be in that mode on my old computer, though.

My cursor continues to hop around if I stop typing for any length of time.  I thought it had something to do with me touching the built-in mouse but I don't think that's the case.  I knew I wanted to learn Gmail better and that took longer than I anticipated.  Can't say that I'm all that enthused with it as it was much easier maneuvering in Outlook Express.  Outlook has been changed to a program called Windows Live and I may go back and forth depending on how things cooperate.

Gmail allowed me to make special "contact" lists so I put about 45 people in my 1961 classmates folder, another couple dozen in my family folder and a dozen in my "most frequently emailed folder."
Once I figure out how to place the contact I want in the TO: (or BCC) line, I think I'll like it better. Right now it's kind of cumbersome and every job I want to do like delete or forward or reply takes me a while to accomplish.  Course this is causing me to NOT be on the computer as much as usual. Too stressful.    But I know time will fix that.

The road in front of my house looks clear and I'm tempted to drive over to the airport nursery to buy some bird seed.  I made sure I had plenty of food in the house for me (it's all about me, 'ya know) but the birds have been cleaning out their feeders and I don't have anything on hand to replenish.  Yesterday I had a couple of pancakes left over and rather than toss them out, I cut them up in pieces and threw them on the back porch.  They're gone now and I think it was the crows.

I guess it's obvious I don't have a hell of a lot to talk about when I'm housebound.  I suppose there are a few people out there who would say I don't have much to talk about even when I'm not housebound. Ha!

Wish I could get this room at a comfortable temperature.  It's not a large room so when I turn on the heat, it gets warm quickly. But then....it's too warm and I have to turn it off again.  Then it's too cold. I know.  I should be thankful I even have a heater and am not homeless....but still....

I've been trying to establish one way or the other if the memory foam mattress (from Costco) is a good thing or a not so good thing.  It's very comfortable to sleep on but I "think" it makes my low back and hips hurt after a night on it.  I've been alternating it with my harder mattress between laundry of the sheets to see if I can notice a difference.  It's hard to tell if my achiness is mattress-related or because I'm old and obese.  I'm leaning towards blaming it on the foam.  ha ha

Weatherman is talking snow showers again tonight but he's also predicting rain to wash it away. Fine with me. Bring on that rain!  I watch the traffic on Snoqualmie Pass roads and it gives me the creeps. So glad I don't have to drive that highway.  Or any highway.  Weather sure is playing havoc on my skin and scalp.  Dry and itchy.

 I got a little sewing done earlier in the day and even managed to finish a book.  Maddie, you'll be happy to hear I read 'The Hunger Games.'  Quite a good read too. Now I'll have to start the second book.

I made a big pot of soup a couple hours ago.  Leftover soup.  Meaning I threw in a little of this and a little of that from the fridge.  Even a small bowl of spaghetti and some barbequed pork and 2 chicken thighs.  Looks weird but smells fine and I do like to use up leftovers.  I'll have it for a couple of dinners with a salad and maybe make some dumplings for the third helping.

Watched the Golden Globes last night. Had to stop and tape it after 30 minutes, though, as the commercials and long-winded speeches were driving me nuts!  I watched it later and fast forwarded through everything that bored me.  Like Ricky Gervais thinking he was funny.  I had seen few of the movies nominated.  Saw The Ides of March but it didn't impress me.  I hope to see all of them when they hit video--especially The Descendants, Iron Lady, Hugo, War Horse, and a couple others.

I always enjoy watching the female stars to see what they're wearing. Most looked drop dead gorgeous.  Like Angelina Jolie.  Jane Fonda looked good too, I thought.  Meryl Streep (whose acting is A+ always looks like she dressed in a hurry.)  And while most (men and women) had nice hairdos, a whole lot of them needed to visit a stylist.  This from someone whose hair always looks TERRIBLE!

I see the news is running low on news again as they're telling us what foods to eat to avoid heart disease, diabetes, and strokes.  Ho Hum......Have you seen the Washington State lotto commerical shot in downtown PT?  Has a guy with red pants and it's kind of funny.

Well, I got about a dozen responses so far to my request for Rec Center memories. Maybe I'll wait another day and start writing for my Leader blog in the morning.  Drop me a line if you have memories to share.  cedarrose61 at hotmail.com

Well, that's it for now. Stay warm.  Here's a video (if I'm successful at posting it, that is)

Sunday Snow

The ground is covered with the white stuff but it seems to have stopped coming down--at least for now. Too much on the road to allow me to feel  at ease about driving so I guess I'll be staying in for a few days.  I baked a loaf of banana bread and threw a couple of chicken thighs in the crockpot with some veggies. Had a nice breakfast of pancakes and berries and then shoveled off the back porch with the snow shovel I bought at a yard sale last summer.  It's been snowing off and on but the porch is still clear so I guess it's mostly rain mix out there.

Spent a little time on the laptop (and cell phone) last night so Joe could help me figure out why my screen pictures were so "off."  I figured I must have accidently reset some resolution setting without knowing it.  He was so patient looking things up and having me click on this or that.  Finally, I discovered that you can't use a laptop with the screen set backwards.  It has to be straight up.  When it's not, the color is screwed up.  Who knew?! Little things like that are going to keep me studying for weeks to come, I'm afraid.

I tried to post a video yesterday but it didn't work for me. Think I'll try again here and see what happens




I started a new jigsaw puzzle a little while ago.  At least I got the pieces set out.  Also did some sewing. Think I'll settle into the recliner with a book now and await the Golden Globes.  I watched a Netflix movie last night called 'Kill the Irishman.'  Mafia flick.

And boring as it is, that's my day so far.  I wouldn't have posted at all but I need to practice on this computer until I feel I'm in control.  Now to sign off and then come back to see if the video worked.

Is it going to be a snow day?

It's about 3:30 on this cold Saturday afternoon.  We had some fast and furious snow flakes comin' down but it's quit now and the sky even looks blue. Perhaps tomorrow the snow will come back.

It looked real dark and scary at 8:30 a.m. and that naturally made me think I probably needed something at the store.  (once the snow starts, I'm housebound)  I drove down to Safeway and bought some red potatoes, one big russet (love to have a baked potato with goodies on it now and then) and picked up a couple of tomatoes, some coffee creamer, and hotdogs.  Man, have hotdogs ever gotten expensive!  I opted for some turkey ones that were half the price of the beef.

I came home and started a pot of coffee, stripped my bed and threw a load in the washer, made some oatmeal for breakfast, fed the fish, and went outside to fix up the bird feeders a bit.  I should go buy some more as I'm out and what little bit I added brought in quite a few birds.  One especially, was very colorful.  Larger than a robin; I'll have to look in my bird book and see if I can figure out what he was.

Couldn't find anything interesting on tv and then I remembered I have unlimited movies on Netflix that I can stream in. Man oh man, is that ever a nice thing to have. Thanks again Joe!

My new computer is still a tad intimidating but I'm sure I'll be the boss sooner or later.  My daughter informed me that the reason my cursor is probably jumping around is that I'm accidently touching the keypad mouse area.  I'm trying to learn to position my hands in such a way that I'm not coming in contact with it.  I could go invest in another keyboard (and I might) but I really prefer typing on the laptop.  Can't get used to the mouse, however. I'll probably use a plug-in or wireless mouse indefinitely.

I cleaned the garage yesterday morning and moved files from my old computer to my jumpdrive yesterday afternoon.  Took me quite a while to clean up the hard drive but it's all done now. For the time being, I think I'll have two computers. Am I repeating myself?  Yeah, probably.

Was interesting to see some of the emails I had kept.  Found a few from 2007 that were particularly amusing about the twins. I know I've shared these before but it's been over four years so I'll share a second time.  Besides I need practice on going to find where I put them and to cut and paste. Same with pictures. I'll post a couple of those as well....once I find them.

March 2007 from Maddie:

If a leprechaun granted me three wishes, this is what they would be....

A TV in my room

A mall in my room

A hot tub

"I think I'm lucky because......(This was for St. Patricks day). She wrote.....

I have a twin bruther. He's my best frend.

June 2007:

Jenni told me she was furious beyond words yesterday because Hunter came home from school with head lice. Meant a trip to the store for special spray and soap and a trip to the laundramat and lots of other work details too.

Maddie shared with her teacher the next day that Hunter had lice and mama said the F word a whole bunch of times last night.

Feb 2007

Jenni picked me up this morning to take a spin in her new car as we both needed to hit Costco. Very nice and she's like a high school kid with her first set of wheels. The twins haven't seen the car yet but she's picking them up at school this afternoon. When she was explaining their new car to them, Hunter asked what color it was. Jenni replied: "it's gold."

His eyes got big with wonder and he said: "Ohhhhhh. We're rich."

April 2007

Jenni called today to tell me a "Maddie story". Seems when Jenni went to pick them up at school this afternoon, Maddie's teacher took Jenni aside and says: "I have a story for you." Jenni adores this teacher. She's in her 30's and has kids around the same age.

Anyhow, they were told to make as many words as they could from the word "SPRING"

One of Maddie's words was PIS.

The teacher asked her to use it in a sentence.

Maddie says "you pis me off"

The teacher informs her that that is an adult word only and besides, it's spelled with two S's.

Jenni called a while ago to tell me the questions her kids are asking now.

Hunter wanted to know why there was so much advertisement in the paper for Easter baskets when the Easter bunny brings them?

Jenni told him it's for adults who want a basket too.

Maddie asked why adults get hair down there in their private parts.

Jenni explained it's just something that occurs when you become an adult and your body changes.

Maddie said: Well, I hope mine stays plain.

Well, here we go again. My blog just posted and I didn't ask it to.  Also lost the sentence I was in the middle of writing.  I wonder where it went.  It wasn't all that interesting anyway. 

I took the rest of my small pork roast from last night's dinner and cut it up and threw it in the crockpot with barbeque sauce. Plan to make bbq sandwiches for supper tonight. Took a little piece of it, though, and ground it up with pickle slices, carrot slices, and onion. Mixed in mayo and sour cream and I have a delicious sandwich spread. Yum!

I spent the afternoon working on a jigsaw puzzle.  500 pieces and I finished it. Yay!  I got four puzzles for Xmas this year and am anxious to start one about the fifties.  Have got to get brave and try to play with my new toy that converts music cassettes to my hard drive.  My stereo($12 at the thrift store) has the necessary jacks in the back.

I seem to be on a lot of mailing lists for catalogs.  Every now and then I browse through them. Did you know that most items (if you search online) you can find at a huge savings?  I saw a book that I found on half.com and the shipping was free.  Called "Where are they buried and How did they die?"  Interesting tidbits on famous folks.

I'm reading 'The Hunger Games' right now.  Maddie asks me everyday how far I've gotten. She's a huge reader.  I'm glad.

And before I forget...CONGRATS AND WAY TO GO GIRL! TO GRANDDAUGHTER CATIE!
She's quit smoking and I know that's not an easy road to walk.  SO PROUD OF YOU!!!!!

I'm not sure if I have a cold or a touch of sinusitis.  I'm definitely feeling icky poo but I keep hoping it's because of the bad air I've heard we're experiencing right now.  And on that note, I think I'll go look for something to squirt up my nose.  Ha ha