I hope everything is going well there.

We’re back in the cold here. Highs only in the teens and lows in the negatives with wind chills driving temps down even further. It’s been rough the last few days. I’m really hoping that ground hog sees his shadow (early spring – hope I’m getting that right!) on Feb. 2nd.

I spent Friday afternoon visiting Dad and Gloria. I took them some dinner (fish it was Friday after all) and we had that and visited for several hours. It was a very cold drive home. Dad definitely has some good and some bad days. The doctor visited him and said that he could stop taking 2 of his medicines because he didn’t think they were helping him. I think that’s probably good news since he’s taking a lot of different meds.

Saturday, I was in Madison visiting son and daughter. We had fun putting together some of the furniture that had been bought at IKEA last weekend. We also went to get new cell phones (the old ones were starting to have problems and since the new ones cost about 1 cent each – with a new contract – then it seemed time). The new phones are nice and not a lot different from what we had gotten before so that makes it a bit easier. It was a good thing to get taken care of. Next time, we’ll be shopping for new frames for me (I hate picking those things out by myself!).

Today, I was in the office for a while working (it’s quite quiet on the weekends and easy to get things done and off the desk). Then it’s housework and other things. There never seems to be enough time to get it all done.

This week will be busy. Lots to get done at work and I probably won’t get everything done here that needs attention so I’ll have to work on that as the week progresses. My supervisor will be in the office on Thursday which is always a little nerve wrecking.

Well- time for walking the dog (it’s only about -7 out there now – oh my! – probably a really quick walk)

Best wishes and take care!

I hope everything is going well there!

Finally we’ve gotten a break on the weather – it’s hard to believe that I think that 20 degrees is warm! It does feel that way though after so many days in the negative temperatures. We seem to be getting about an inch of snow each day for the last 3 days. Today we’re expecting another 2-4” of the white stuff. It’s adding up but it’s slow and at least it’s not too much of a problem. It seems strange to wish away time but I keep thinking about spring.

I had a really interesting day Saturday. I went to Milwaukee and had a nice breakfast with my son and daughter. Then we went down to Schwamberg (a suburb of Chicago I’m told) and stopped at IKEA. I’d never been there before but it turned out to be a really interesting place. It was my son's and he wanted to get a TV stand. I had thought that IKEA was pretty much furniture but I was really surprised to find out how much stuff they handled. The blue store is huge – 3 stories and has about everything for a home that anyone would need. It would be easy to spend a day looking at things (they even have a restaurant in there). It was a bit overwhelming and since I didn’t really need much, I easily left without spending over $30. So much to do and so little time.

We ended up eating dinner at the Cheesecake Factory. I got a great Asian salad and they both had something called a “Kobe American Burger”. All the food was very good. A bit pricey but good.

Dad has been feeling better the last few days. He seems more interested in things going on and actually has talked on the phone for quite a while lately. I missed talking to them on Saturday after the long day but I did talk to them for a while today.

Work is still unrelenting. I could spend 100 hours a week in the office and still not get all the things done that need attention. Priorities are hard to set when everyone thinks that what they need is the only thing I’m working on. It’s just frustrating.

Well, my dog needs a walk so I’d better get going.

Best wishes and take care!

I hope everything is all right there.

This week brought another 10” of snow and we’re getting flurries now. I’ve kind of given up on being disgusted and I’m in automatic mode – I just shovel and keep muddling through. There’s more snow in the forecast for Monday and then we’re supposed to get really cold (from -2 to -20 the last weather reports I’ve seen). Darn cold. I’m hoping January goes by fast and we can get through February so we can get an early spring – well it’s a dream anyway.

It’s been a rather long weekend. Saturday morning I noticed a rather sensitive stomach and I’ve been dealing with it since. I’m not sure if I ate something that didn’t agree with me or if it’s a flu bug thing. I guess we’ll wait and see. No family visits though – at least until I’m better.

Other than that – not too much from here.

Best wishes and take care!

I hope all is well there.

I’m tired of winter! Just thought I’d go ahead and say it. Although I know we’re in for another 2-3 months of potentially ugly weather, I’m tired of it. Last night and into this morning, we’ve had freezing rain. There’s about ½” of frozen ice on the roads, vehicles, sidewalks – well everywhere outside. After the freezing rain was done, the sun came out (though not strong enough it seems to melt the ice) and the winds increased so that our wind chills send us into negative numbers. It’s just not a nice day.

I about fell several times trying to walk my dog this morning. I was quite thrilled to have made it back inside without major injuries – all right a bit of a bruised ego that although I did manage to remain upright, I was “dancing” better than the stars after the several mis-steps. I hope no one saw me or they’d have gotten some great laughs – maybe that isn’t so bad after all. :)

I was supposed to go visit family near Hazel Green today but after the weather issues, I decided to cancel. I’ll have to try to find time again. It’s my Uncle and Aunt and we’d worked hard to find a day/time that would work for all of us when the ice storm hit. We talked for about an hour on the phone this morning. I still hope to get over to visit them – it’s a matter of timing. I get to see them only about this once a year so I was looking forward to it. I was supposed to go visit them the week between Christmas and New year’s (usually my time off work). I have a lot of vacation time that I typically use before the end of the year – it’s usually “use or lose”. This year, I had planned to have the week off but things at work never seemed to get put together or done so I ended up pretty much working the week.

The day off work exception was Friday. Son and daughter arrived home on New Year’s Day (they had to leave after Christmas for work and things). That day we watched movies and talked and things. On Friday, we went to visit Dad and my stepmother for the day. We picked up lunch at local restaurant (fish – mostly cod dinners but I picked salmon – all were quite good). It was a nice visit and we got the medicine that we’d picked up to them.

The family calendars are now done – a bit late for Christmas and even the new year. We figured out what would fix it and then got them printed and ready. They’re on their way to brothers and sisters now.

We’ll see what this week brings – it should be interesting.

Best wishes and take care!