Ice and Snow Storm of 2011 in North Texas

This is not the first snow of the year. That was back in January. But this time, it is longer and colder.

As of today, we are now on our 4th Snow Day... It started with a freezing rain and sleet. It left roads iced over and enough packed ice that I was able to stand on my grass, literally on top of the blades of them!

It wasn't windy, so the kids were cold, but not freezing. As for my un-gloved hands, they were beet red after 10 minutes of being exposed. Ouch!
We had mini icebergs that trapped water hoses,
and roads that glistened and made cars groan.
the sidewalks were literally higher by an inch or so and perfect for electric slides, if you have proper padding and helmet on.
Of course, the snow wouldn't be outdone. Early morning today, it dumped over 6 inches of snow and as I type, it has started to snow again, making driving, once again, a little bit more difficult.Our backyard wasn't immune to it, between the heating vents and the snow, icicles formed on the gutters.
The kids had to bundle up this time because the snow storm is more biting than the ice storm. The winds were strong enough to dislodge packed snow from tree trunks!Driving is still happening, though avoided as much as one can. Who wouldn't avoid it?

All the while, we enjoyed making crayons, singing, playing online games, doing puzzles, reading, cooking and taking pictures. We celebrated the Year of the Rabbit with a nice table and dinner centered on rice and veggies. We enjoyed chocolate, both hot and in pastries and even in a pie. We enjoyed having a marathon viewing of the Merlin show, Season 2. We enjoyed our gas fireplace and basked in the relief that we have enough toilet paper and training pads for the puppies. We all, pets and us, had enough of what we needed and wanted as in chips, sodas, cheese snacks and marshmallows, you know, the important stuff.

We made sure that we didn't succumb to cabin fever and started the redo of the Master Closet, aka, mine. As of today, it has been gutted, sanded, vacuumed, re-textured and primed. Overall, we just enjoyed being together, safe, cozy and wanting for nothing while it's bleak out.

And so, as of today, we are inside, nice and warm, comfortably living off our stores and enjoying the quiet majesty that is winter...

How's the weather where you're at?

What's Wrong With These Pictures?

For those of you who knows our family, it's obvious, right?

Was it my longer hair or that my daughter's almost as tall as me at 11? (ok, something's wrong with that, too, but that's not it...)

Is it the change in the outfits and hairstyles? Nope!
Or the big smiles being displayed (after much begging?) Not quite...
Or how about this ultra rare, almost impossible, can't believe it happened, great smile on my face right next to my husband's gorgeous one? Close... Nah!

What's amiss is that our eldest, who is now a college gal is not due to be home until mid-December. So until then, you'll only see the four of us in group pictures.

2010 has been a whirlwind for us, for sure!

Enjoy the cold!

Wow!!! Amazing!!! Awesome!!!

Just some words to describe all of the great news happening within our family circle.

A brother-in-law finally getting to adopt my niece

A new house almost finished

My daughter turning 18

My daughter finally getting used to college life

Getting VT done on the first week of the month

Getting the bigger furniture out of the storage

My MIL's birthday

First Thanksgiving in our new and more permanent home

Having a house of our own to clean and beautify

My nephew in Canada is now 3 months old and giggling

My nephew in San Jose, CA racking up class awards for Reading

Our trees finally turning colors

Each day is amazing, wow and awesome... How can I not be grateful?

Another Set of Babies For Me!

If you can imagine taking on two unbelievably adorable purebreed Shi Tzus, then it's like having two more babies in the house.

We have always talked about having a dog. For so many years, after playing with or seeing cute, small, big and gorgeous dogs, we would come back and have one unreachable gift we utter: "We should get a dog for Christmas." It was no different this year; except our Christmas wish was realized two days ago when one of Mr. Man's co-worker gave us two! Totally FREE!!! The biggest and the runt of the litter. Two balls of energy. Two boys.

Since we've been all about Mythology here later, the bigger one was named ZEUS and the little one, was named PERCY. Ring a bell? LOL

Without further ado... ZEUS and PERCY!

ZEUS (Gray, brown and white-all fluff) / PERCY (Black and white-petite)

Mr. Man introducing our cockatiel, Dexter to the new members of our family. Cece, our cat is still waiting for the verdict of she likes them or not. Hee hee...
I-Dude and J-Pony totally surprised when they came home from school and discovered the puppies! And instantly fell in love!
We are so grateful for these puppies; they are adorable and quickly made us fall in love with them. Sometimes, a family is never complete until a barking furball come scuttling behind you.

To say a big THANK YOU to Chad and his family for these cuties, I baked them Chocolate Almond Bread. Hope they like it!

Enjoy your pets! They need love, too!

Missing L-Infinity...

Who would have thought that 17 years ago, I would be blessed with a beautiful, intelligent and kind little girl? Her name means"God's promise" in Hebrew. Boy, was she a promise! Heavenly Father listened to my pleas almost 18 years ago and last week, one of the many promises we exchanged have again come to fruition-that I would see her off to college...

Not just any college, but one where He can keep an eye on her; BYU Hawaii, next to the Laie temple... A beautiful place for a beautiful soul...

She earned to be there... Her grades allowed her to be there, at no expense to us, not one penny! Even FAFSA gave her extra money! How amazing is that?! We were able to help her get set up nicely (above and beyond with the money we didn't have to use for college fees) in her side of the room (she has three roommates in a two-bedroom faculty housing unit, and they are all just lovely and all four get along great!)

(After we landed in Honolulu, just right outside the baggage claim)

(Above-at Costco; Below-inside Max's of Manila (Filipino restaurant) in Honolulu)

(A group hug after school blessings)

(Celebrating her move-in and our last night there over a delicious pu-pu platter.)

(These two, right in front of the temple; it's being renovated until October. Her housing unit, is mere minutes away.)

(Inside her unit, in the faculty housing complex. She was lucky to have this, it's spacious!)

(Her self-portrait; at a beach park in Hau'ula where we stayed.)

(At the Dole Plantation Garden tour; their bromeliad collection, a cousin of the pineapple, are amazing!)

Even though we are separated for now, and she is somewhere...

the sun sighs when it shines over...
the clouds happily congregate and tease the water above majestic mountains...
where pineapples grow to be sweet and juicy... I know that wherever she is...
Our little family of five, because we believe in Jesus Christ, will always be together-FOREVER!

Some families get 18 years, some more... I only get 17, but I have never been more looking forward to all the school holiday breaks! See you in December, baby!

Hawaii Vacation

What else can I say without making it redundant? It's Hawaii...

Here's some of the pictures we took while there.

More pictures (like thousands of them!) to come later. See ya then!

Projects and Ideas

Lately, all I've managed to do are add to our projects list and ideas bank. Things are getting done, but they are both too slow and too fast for me. I feel excited, frustrated; in other words, overwhelmed.

PROJECTS:

Paint MB-done

Paint and set up Fam Room-done

Put up curtains in both MB and Fam Room-done

Paint front door RED- done

Update timer for side lights-done

Change light bulbs for side lights (after fixing the wiring)

Finish installing the radiant barrier (very high ceiling)

Decide on paint for the rest of the house-done

Decide on paint and redo for half bath-done

Re-texture ceiling (orange peel)- done

Redesign front yard-slowly being done

Take down all wall paper in the house

Put shelving in laundry room

Replace all toilets-done, done and done

Acquire and care for live orchid plant-done (for 75% off or $3.24!)

Buy, place and care for ferns indoors-done (two varieties)

Organize pantry and kitchen items-slowly

Find the perfect pendant lighting for kitchen over island

Change island counter to granite

Paint the stairwell and banister

Redo the front walkway

Empty out storage

Replace all kitchen cupboard bling

Save up enough for kitchen redo

Change carpet to wood floors

Get a dog by Christmas

Make house Green and Energy Efficient-Slowly but surely!

Send daughter to BYU Hawaii safely and have a great vacation-in process

Get her P&Qs sorted out, in line and out of the way before trip to Hawaii

IDEAS:

Too many and plastered on each wall for reminder.

Maybe, just maybe... Going to Hawaii on Tuesday will clarify my head enough to get all these things done on a timely manner and without breaking the bank (fingers crossed on both hands).

Have a great Thursday!

Meet the Teacher Night- Aaaaahhhhh!

Tonight was very special. I-Dude is going to a new school, will have a whole new classroom and teacher and friends. We had to go.

So with his school supplies in tow, we quickly found his teacher's room and he introduced himself while Mr. Man and I filled out paperwork and picked "apples" from the "gift" tree of additional supplies their class will need.

We all came home excited for this whole new adventure. It is completely new for all of us. New PTA, new moms to schmooze, new administration to watch (maybe go up against) and new neighborhood. J-Pony will be across the street in her middle school, but with the time change, they won't see each other until they both wake up and get home. L-Infinity will be home until the first week of September when we take her to Hawaii to start, also, a whole new life, as a college student on the island of Oahu, in Laie, HI to go to Brigham Young University Hawaii campus... Aaaaahhhhh!!!!

My children are all growing up and it is slowly hitting me. Combine that with house improvement project list as long as our house is tall, I'm barely holding on to any shred of sanity!

At least we have our list to keep us from feeling old... How are you faring with your growing children?

Standby Flying-Pros and Cons

You ever flown Standby? You've heard the various ups and downs, I'm sure but I thought I'd add ours.

My hubby, Mr. Man, is an aviation mechanic and we fly for FREE, but on Standby Mode. It's better when we travel with him, but just slightly. Often enough, we have no problem getting to and fro, but there are days, especially during peak travel season...

Downside: : -(

From SALT LAKE, Ut TO PHOENIX, AZ we left super early. No problem, got our boarding passes and made it on the plane.

PHOENIX, AZ TO DALLAS, TX- No such luck. Everything was full-up the whole day! Nothing we can do but grab a hotel nearby. Money we didn't account for. No luggage meant no clothes!

PHOENIX TO EL PASO, TX (the next day)- No problem, got on the first flight out to El Paso. Arrived at 11:30AM

EL PASO TO DALLAS- Flights full until 7:25PM. Had to face possible split-up cause hubby had to work that night. More money spent. Hubby late for work.

Upside: :-D

After getting a room in the nearby Double Tree hotel, I was impressed with their courtyard and see-through elevators that can take in the great views, per floor!
This is the other great view outside of the hotel. We'd definitely like to come back!
Nearby, inside the Chinese Cultural Center within walking distance, we found a great restaurant.
Inside was a huge fish pond surrounded by a turtle enclosure. Beautiful!
We thoroughly enjoyed their selection of Dim Sum and Lunch Menu.
Though we didn't have any luggage, that didn't stop us from enjoying the hotel pool, so we hopped on the light rail and went to the nearby mall for some swimsuits! When we arrived, we walked to the mall that was a few blocks over. Then of course, we walked back to the light rail station.
Here's some of the great buildings we passed by in downtown Phoenix. Great architectural style!
Here we are walking from the mall...
We took this photo-op, while waiting for the return light rail, since it was a rare event.
We found this great fountain/waterfall feature in the middle of Arizona Center. They didn't have much store selection, but the atmosphere was just amazing!Arizona summers are hot, so before any swimsuit hunting, we stopped at Cold Stone for cups of ice cream. I had a Blueberry ice cream with roasted almonds topping! Delish!We met our friend Michelle at the hotel after we got back and she swam with us. Then off to dinner! Her and L-Infinity both had sandwiches, while the others had their own picks. I was good- fish, rice and veggies!We were full but very tired. Can't you tell? Here we are using the hotel computer to list us for the next day's flights.I took advantage of another great spot in the hotel, their main courtyard, for another photo-op with Mr. Man. Michelle snapped a great one! I love how we both had a great smile on despite our fatigue.
We took in the awesome night views the hotel offered. Like this one of their other courtyard.
This was at 8PM, isn't that a wonderful contrast? I just had to take a picture! Mr. Man made sure that it came out right, so he took the shot!
We decided to take a peek at the top floor and see the sights. We saw the airport and planes taking off. Before we came back down, I couldn't pass up a photo-op with my kiddos. L-Infinity was too tired to go up to the top veranda with us. J-Pony and I-Dude, I think, were just happy to lean on someone. They were soooo tired! Didn't bother me, I'll take what I can get!
And I made sure that Mr. Man and I took another great picture together!

The next day, in El Paso airport, we managed to find some comfy seating to pass the time.
The airport definitely played up the southwestern culture of the area.From the window of our comfy spot, we proved that the state of Texas is not entirely FLAT! El Paso shows off some beautiful mountain ranges.
Here we are finally boarding our plane to Dallas! Woohoo! It was a long day...We were so glad, tired and relieved when we finally were reunited with all of our luggage back in Dallas Love Field. It meant we were only a few minutes away from home!


What did we learn? With Standby flying, it is better when you are prepared for "come what may" situations. We made the best out of our situation, and came out having a great set of memories to relive.