Weather Chaos!

Apparently we are going to get some snow, or ice, or rain. All depends on the path of the storm. I hate that. Right now, it's looking like more ice than anything.  Small shift though, and we could be getting feet of snow.

We are right in the middle of the pink line, yay fun. According to the weather service, here is the storm impact:

     "Incredible ice accumulation with some towns/cities experiencing as much as an inch of ice. This is

     destructive and crippling amount of ice which will knock out power to potentially hundreds of thousands

     of customers for days if not weeks."

Fun, huh? Catostrophic is what the local media call this storm. A co worker went to the store after work today and there were no bananas. What does one do with bananas in an ice storm?

Nate and I are prepared. We have tons of fire wood, a portable propane heater and enough propane to heat for 3 days, and a gas water heater, so we can have warm water. We have food and plenty of blankets. Nate has his beer, and I'm pretty sure that's all he thinks we need. :)

So, if I don't finish my photo challenge on time, I think a natural disaster grants me more days if I loose power for weeks.

Photo Challenge : Day 15

A picture of something you want to do before you die

Unlike a lot of people I know, I don't have a bucket list. This question got me thinking. What do I want to do before I die? I wanted to be a wife and a mother, check. I wanted to have a good career, own my own home, check, check. I wanted to have someone to travel to new places together with, check. Here is the hard part, he has been everywhere! Who do you know that has been to all 7 continents? My husband has, and I want to go somewhere new with him, so I've decided that somewhere is Fiji. Before I die, I want to travel with Nate to Fiji!

Photo Challenge : Day 14

A picture of your favorite pastime

I have always loved reading and cooking, I don't think those will ever change. But as a full time working mom of a toddler, who has time for gourmet meals and a book a week? Not me, but hopefully I can get back to reading a least a book a year. :) The real answer to the question has changed over the years...

In elementary and junior high, the answer would have been softball. I can remember spending a lot of time on the diamond. Softball in the spring, soccer in the fall, but softball was my favorite.

(I was 7 or 8 here in this picture.)

In high school, the answer probably would have been playing my flute - marching or concert, didn't matter. I loved to play. I wasn't the best, but I didn't care. I didn't need to play the harder music, in fact, I liked the easier music. I could put more of me into an easier melody.

(This was my section my sophomore year.)

 A few years ago, the answer would have been camping and hiking. I love being outside, and it's something that Nate and I have in common. We've taken several camping trips. My favorite was our trip to Canada.



(From Ney's park. Thats me down there.)

Ask me this question now, and here is the answer that you will get

These guys are my favorite pastime. I live and breathe for them, and in my free time, I want to be with them. Corny, I know, but that's the answer.

Photo Challenge : Day 13

A picture of something you love

I choose to pick an actual something for this picture. I didn't even have to think all that hard about it. I love Ben and Jerry's Chbby Hubby Ice Cream! It is the best ice cream out there, but it's not always in stores. This is my go to pint when I've had a really crappy day. Fudge covered peanut buter filled pretzels in vanilla malt ice cream with fudge and peanut butter swirls. Heaven!

Photo Challenge : Day 12

A picture of your favorite day

This was another easy one for me, but it's not the day you think. It's not the day that David was born - that day was crazy and insane and I don't even remember parts of it. I had to be there at 6am, got stuck, poked, and prodded. Started at 8am, lost a lot of blood, Nate wen with David to NICU, I went to recovery and was alone with the nurse for an hour before I could call anyone. All I wanted was a nap, but nurses were in an out all day, family was in and out all day. My favorite day was not the day after he was born, or the week after. We had serious issues breastfeeding. David was not a happy infant those first 2 weeks. We supplemented, but he was never full and cried all day. He wouldn't nap while it was only us at home, but by the time Nate got home he was so tired from no napping all day and crying, that he would sleep. Nate probably thought I was crazy! My favorite day was the day that I finally broke down and gave him a full bottle of formula. That was the best day! He was happy, he was full, and I got the sigh that every parent wants to hear as he snuggled in closer to me. That was the day that I knew I could be a good mom and I have had a very happy camper since then. This picture was taken the 1st day we did formula for most the his feedings.



Photo Challenge : Day 11

A picture of your favorite night

Hands down this night is my wedding night. That was the the first night of the rest of my life. I married my best friend, my soul mate. Since that night, we have done several amazing trips together, made my house our home, and had a beautiful baby boy. I know that we have many more memories to make together, and it all started when we said "I do".

This is from our first dance together and Mr. and Mrs.

AT&T : Rethink Possible...rethink service

As part of our budget consolidation, Nate and I have made a lot of cuts. We go rid of satellite, we eliminated home phone service, and consolidated credit cards into 1 account. We knew that we could use Hulu to watch a lot of our shows and we have cell phones. The last thing we did was look at our Internet service and what cuts we could make there. No way were we going to eliminate it - I need the Internet! Here is where our story begins...

At the end of December, we called AT&T about changing our service. They said that UVerse would be the best bet for us. $15 a month and a faster connection than we currently had. Sign me up! We were sent our box, tech guy was sent out and we were on our way…Not. January 6^th comes and we have no Internet service (well, no home Internet. Someone around us has an open connection that we have been “borrowing” from. It’s slow and unreliable, but I can still Facebook and blog.). Nate has spent countless hours on the phone to find out that we cannot have Uverse.  We are too far away from their box.  Sadness, but they agree to give us a $5 a month discount for 12 months for our trouble.  January 21^st comes and we were supposed to have Uverse disconnected and DSL reconnected – not.  Uverse got disconnected, but we did not get DSL back. Nate again calls and spends hours on the phone to find out that the best they can do is the 25^th. January 26^th comes – still no service. I call, not so happy about my 3 weeks of no Internet. Customer service was horrible and they can’t do anything but schedule another tech, which we did for tomorrow.  So far we have taken 3 days of work off for this. If it’s not fixed tomorrow,  we’re going to suck it up and pay for cable Internet. It’s way more than we pay now, but I am so over AT&T!

Photo Challenge : Day 10

A picture of the person who has gotten you through the most

I had to think hard about this one. In recetn years, that person has been Nate, but if I am going to look at my whole life, that person is different. At first, I thought mom, and she has helped me through a lot. Then I thought dad. Anyone else have a dad threated to sit on anyone if they were mean to you or any of your friends? Then I thought my sister Courtney. We have had our issues, but she has gotten me through some tough times recently. Then there is Caiti. We again have had our issues, but she got me through some hard times too. Still, I can't discount Nate. So, I cheated. This is a picture of all the people who have gotten me through different things at different points in my life. Even you Adam.



Man, at 38 weeks pregnant, I looked like I ws ready to pop! Not the most flattering side shot there either, :)

Photo Challenge : Day 9

A picture that makes you laugh

This picture makes me laugh because of the memory associated with it. I'm not a fan of elephants. I was told this was because as a child, an elephant "goosed" me with her trunk and it scared me. I pictured this huge elephant trying to pick me up. I was surprised when I found the picture documenting this event.



 

Not quite the dramtic photo that I had pictured it to be all of those years...

 

 

Photo Challenge : Day 8

A picture that shows your true self

Hmm...I hate having my picture taken, and am usually the one behind the camera, so finding a picture of my in and of itself is a challenge. I think this one best shows my true self and it's desire to not be photographed.It was taken when I was about 8 months pregnant with David and tired of letting Nate take my picture. I do like to think that I can be goofy at times, and this captures that.



Photo Challenge : Day 7

A picture of somewhere you've been

I've been a lot of places. Not as many as Nate, but still a lot of places. Picking just one place to highlight is hard! I picked my honeymoon. Nate and I went to Puerto Vallarta, Mexico thanks to my IL's. It was short, only 3 days, but it was perfect! This is the view from outside our window on our first night there.

Here is the picture of the resort wall.



Photo Challenge : Day 6

A photo of your favorite memory.

I have so many great memories. It's hard to pick which one is my
favorite!!

I decided to go with the not so obvious ones (wedding day, David's birth) and
pick one from my childhood. Every summer my family and I would go to Kings
Island for 2 days. Mom would try to get us to pick somehwere else to go, and we
never wanted to. It was best back when the kid area was Hannah Barbara Land. The
last thing we would do on our way out was get Smurf Ice Cream. It was blueberry
soft serve ice cream and we loved it. We would talk about smurf ice cream all
year long. Not long after I got married, we went again with the whole family. On
the last day, we went for our Smurf Ice Cream. Kings Island isn't owned by the
same company anymore, so the Smurfs are no longer associated with KI. The guy
serviving looked to be about 15 and looked at us like we had  heads when we
asked for Smurf Ice Cream. KI may call it Blueberry Ice Cream now, but it will
always be Smurf Ice Cream in our book.

Photo Challenge : Day 5

A picture of something you can’t imagine life without.
The something I can't live without is the smile of my boys. I need to see them smile each and every day. Let's me know that I am doing what I need to as a wife and a mom, and it brightens my day. This is from last summer on one of our trips to the zoo.

Photo Challenge : Day 4

A picture of something you hope to never experience again
I had to really think about this one. I don't have a picture of what my first
response would be, so I went with a close second. After David was born he was
taken to the NICU for a few hours to have some tests run and for observation.
During that time, I was not with him and didn't really know what was going on
since I was sent to recovery (had a c-section). This picture was taken by DH
when my sister went up to see David for the first time. It represents never
wanting to have that feeling of being helpless again, and never wanting to be
away from him again when he needs comforting.

I heart IKEA!

My sisters took my mom and I to IKEA in Cincy on MLK day. For years I have thought that IKEA was just a bunch of hype - it was not worth driving that far for a furniture store. I was so wrong. I am now an IKEA fan for life.
There was a sale when we went Monday, so I was able to snag some great deals. My favorite purchase was new bedding for my bed. I have always wanted to have a bed that looked like one from a magazine. I am now a step closer. I actually have bedding that matches! Check it out!

Photo Challenge : Day 3

A picture of something you'd like to do again.The summer after Nate and I met, we took an amazing trip to Canada. We stopped in MN to visit his brother and my good friend, Kelly, from Purdue. From there, we took just over a week and camped our way around the Canadian side of Lake Superior. I don't think I've ever had that much fun on vacation. Breathtaking views everywhere we went. We learned that the easy trails in Canada are more like our moderatly hard trails here. We saw ancient Indian drawings, baby bears, an old WWII POW camp site (and were lucky enough to be there a day when an old soldier had returned on vacation and shared stories). We found random water falls in the middle of no where, and despite the horrible bug bite on my ear, it was a perfectly wonderful trip. I cannot wait until David is old enough to do that trip. It was a lot of driving, but was so worth it. This is a picture from the top of a moutain shortly after we had our face to face with momma bear.

Photo Challenge: Day 2

A picture of you and the person you have been closest with the longest.

Okay, this was a tough one for me. Do I put my sisters who, depsite our ups and downs, we are always there for each other, or my best friend Maddie who I have known since middle school. We don't talk as often as we used to, but she stills knows just about everything there is to know about me? Choices, choices....

I went with Maddie. She has been there for me since middle school. We still talk when life slows down enough for us to have time to get together. This picture was from my wedding day. Maddie and I used to do everything together - worked together, blew bubbles and flew kites on the hill together, called each other for everything. When she almost burnt her house down baking a no-bake cheese cake, who did she call - me. Here's to many more years of hilarious memories!!

Photo Challenge: Day 1

A photo of yourself with 10 facts



1. I am the oldest of 3. I have 2 sisters and we each have 1 boy. Now that we all have families, we are much closer than we were when we lived together.
2. I am a junior high counselor and love my job.
3. In high school I played the flute and was in marching band. I still pull out my flute every now and then.
4. I cannot sleep without a fan or some sort of white noise. I also have to sleep on the right side of the bed no matter what.
5. Nate and I met online. He talked with me for 2 months before I would give him my phone number. I went home with him on the first date (I know right!?!) and let him come home with me on date 2. (I had just bought my house 2 weeks prior) He hasn't left since.
6. Nate and I camped our way around the Canadian side of Lake Superior our first summer together. Best trip ever.
7. I HATE elephants and secretly despise my husband for teaching David to love them.
8. I am a chicken. I hate to try new things. Heights terrify me. I refuse to be in water if I can't see my feet.
9. I met Mr. Rogers in person. Not as cool as he was on TV. I met him about 10 years after he stopped making new episodes, so he was much older. He started as a Presbyterian minister and I was in Pittsburgh at the Presbyterian Seminary for a camp.
10. I love my family. I would do anything for any one of them, no questions asked.