*THE BLIZZARD* Part 3

Ugh. Every muscle in my upper body is aching. My arms feel like wet noodles and I can barely even pick up the coffee pot to pour a cup of much needed caffeine. I feel like crap!! It snowed most of the day yesterday and when it finally stopped around 4, I swear I broke out into a chorus of "hallelujah". Of course, that's when the real *fun* began. Not!! I had to do more shoveling, which I might add, is one heck of a workout! Who knew! Obviously not me, because I've never had to shovel 32" of snow before.

My doggies were not happy with their 2' diameter patch of ground I had previously cleared for them so I had to make it bigger. They still weren't happy. Marty kept trying to figure out how to get up & over the 'wall' of snow. Silly dog.

He looked to the right:



He looked to the left:



Finally, he thought he'd try to jump up onto the top of the snow. That didn't work out like he'd planned and he promptly sank into 3' of snow.



Then he looked at me like I was the crazy one. Meh, whatever. I warned him that would happen & he didn't listen.



Meanwhile, Scarlett was back on the deck, surveying the situation. She didn't feel the need to do any belly flops into the snow.



Earlier in the day, I had shoveled a path from my front porch down the walkway and made it within 5' of my car! I felt like I'd really accomplished something. The snow was 28" deep at that point. I started to feel dizzy so I came in to take a break when my fabulous down-the-street neighbor came over with his snowblower! I'm telling ya, if I hadn't been sitting inside in nothing but thermal underwear, I would've ran out & kissed the man! He cut a path from the road, up the sidewalk to my front porch, back down the walkway that I had just shoveled and then out our driveway!! He's my new best friend!! Of course, after the snow stopped, an additional 5" had fallen so I had to shovel again, but still, it wasn't nearly as bad as it would've been had he not come over!!

Here's a good view of how deep the snow is by my front porch. Please ignore all of the crap that's on the porch! lol



And this is what the view is from my driveway into my back yard.



And our 4' tall fence, which has maybe 6" sticking up above the snow!!



This is the only part of my SUV that is still visible. This tiny little patch by the tire!



Well, that's not true. Here you can see about 4" of what used to be my windshield wipers! lol



After I finished shoveling the walk again, I started trying to dig out a space for Will's truck. I shoveled for a good hour and only ended up with a spot big enough to park a golf cart. I ran out of energy and daylight. Look at this great sunset though.



I came inside and collapsed in my chair in my office, read a few blogs, at microwaved food for dinner & was asleep by 9:00 last night.

Now, the sun is up & I get to go outside and start shoveling again. Whee! Will's flight has been delayed until tomorrow so at least I have another whole day to get him a spot cleared out! Did I mention we're supposed to get more snow on Tuesday/Wednesday?? It's pretty to look at but it'd be a lot more fun if Will was here to help me shovel!! And, for the record, if we get orders to anywhere that regularly gets snow like this, the first damn thing we're buying is a snowblower!!!

*THE BLIZZARD* Part 2

Wow. Just wow. I realized it's an overused phrase on the internet but I am having trouble thinking of adequate words other than those 2. lol

Last night, around 10, I measured 8" on the top of the patio table. I took this picture around 1 this morning before I went to bed. I'd say there's 10" or so on the table.



This was the patio table at 6:30 this morning. I measured 19" but couldn't find the top of the table so I'm thinking it's a little more than that!



I tried to clear a path off the deck & into the yard for the puppies. I couldn't tell how many steps I had already gone down, missed a step & ended up in a drift that was waist-deep. Thought I was going to be stuck for days!!



Once I got unstuck, I tried to shovel them a little patch of yard. This took serious effort! I can see why people tend to have heart attacks whilst shoveling!



Neither dog would come off the deck. The dogs peed on.the.deck. lol Poor doggies. They would've been buried if they tried to get off the deck though so whatev!

This picture is blurry as hell but take a look at the garbage can lids. Those bushes beside it are usually around 6' tall. That's a 40 gallon trash can, btw.



Oh, and this little white blob that looks like a smart car? Yeah, that's my mid size SUV. Pretty sure I won't be driving that anytime soon. lol



Did I mention it's still snowing and we're still under a blizzard warning until 2200 tonight? I think they're still calling for another 10" of this stuff. We have snow drifts that are maybe 6" from covering our 4' tall fence! I am amazed. And a little irritated that Joe Biden decided to go to Colorado this weekend, thus leaving me (and all of the other wives/families of the people that have to fly w/ him) home alone during the worst snowstorm in MD history!! That's just sort of a jackass thing to do, don't you think? I'm not sure how Will thinks he's going to get home tomorrow & even if he does, I'm not sure where he's planning on parking because I can tell ya now that I'm so not shoveling that whole driveway!

I am cold, I'm hungry, I'm tired because my sciatic nerve is killing me and I cannot get comfortable when I try to go to sleep & only got 4 hours of shut-eye last night and I need to go start shoveling so hopefully the doggies can do their business somewhere other than my deck! God help me. It's going to be a hell of a day!!

*THE BLIZZARD* Part 1

Hello my few & faithful readers! Just some quick pictures of the weather today. This is what my view was this morning around 10, right before the snow started falling. You can see the leftover snow from the Tues night storm.



The snow started falling around 10:15 but didn't stick until around 4:30. I took a long nap between 12:30 & 3 and was hoping that when I woke up that it would have started sticking already but that didn't happen! Why did I take such a long nap? Well, because Will was up at 3:00 this morning & left at 3:30 and I was wide awake for hours after that!! So, a nap was in order! Plus, I forgot to make any coffee when I came downstairs at 7:30 and I was dealing with a lack of caffeine for real!

Anyhow, I ran out first thing this morning to gas up my car & was planning on running into Walmart to pick up some last minute items (non-perishable foods I'd actually eat!) but the traffic just trying to turn into Wal-Mart was insane. I decided to come home and hang out here for a few hours until the madness died down. Ha!

Instead of going back to Walmart, I made a quick little trip at 4:15 to the grocery store down the street. That place is stuck in a time-warp. Feels like something straight outta the 1970s. Not that I was alive in the 1970s but I'm imagining what it must have been like. Bought some essentials (cheese puffs & cheez-its - sensing a pattern here!) and by the time I was on my way back home, the snow was really coming down and sticking. Lookie:





Will made it safely to Colorado earlier and he said they didn't have as much snow on the ground as we did. Hahahaha - too bad for you! Oh, and I just read the funniest thing on Facebook:

Snow on da' ground.....snow on da' ground..... Drivin' like a fool wit da' snow on the ground....look at ya now - car spinnin around.....drivin like a fool wit da' snow on Da ground!!!

That is such an accurate statement for the people in Maryland!

Well, I'm going to relax for a while with my pot of coffee & stack of magazines & then go out and get a head start on shoveling! Don't wanna wait until tomorrow afternoon and then have to try and shovel 30" of this stuff outta the way!

I *heart* Winter

No, really, I do. I love winter. Especially this winter. The last 2 winters? Eh, not so much. But this one? Oh yeah! We've had at least 5 accumulating snows so far this season. Last year? I think there was 2. The year before? One. Did I mention I love snow? Well, I do. Maybe it's because I grew up in SC and we very rarely saw snow. Maybe once every 4 or 5 years. And then, if we were extremely lucky, we'd get 2 or 3 inches. So, to me, having a true winter is still kind of new & exciting.

I woke up on Tuesday morning to this amazing sunrise.



And then yesterday morning, I woke up to this beautiful sight.







Unfortunately, it warmed up to 40 degrees so there was a lot of melting. Our ground is still covered though and really, that's all I care about! I really want to live in a place where the ground is white from November through at least March. I know I'm crazy but I'd much rather see pretty white snow than the ugly, brown, dead grass all winter!

So, as I'm sure you're all aware, the Mid Atlantic is supposed to get hammered by another storm tomorrow and into Saturday. Will is leaving tomorrow for the weekend. Which means I'm going to be home alone, again. Well, maybe not. My friend mentioned coming over on Friday to spend the night so we'll have a slumber party with our doggies and consume mass amounts of diet coke & Reese's peanut butter cups. And then on Saturday, I'll solicit her help in shoveling! Sounds like a plan, dontcha think?

Oh, btw, Will & I still haven't come to any real conclusions as to where we want to go after his Pentagon job is up in July 2011. We have to have the list done by 18 February. I would think that this would be one of those times where we'd be having some important talks and trying to really figure it out but so far, that hasn't really happened. Isn't it terrible that part of me wants to base our next location on how many thrift stores are in the area? Hahaha Sad but true. I'm not sure when/if he & I will find time to sit down and talk about this. He's gone all this weekend, part of next week, all of next weekend. And then the list has to be turned in. At this point, we should probably just hang a damn map on the wall & throw some darts at it & see where they land. Can you tell I'm a little frustrated?! Wish us luck.

Well, I need to go. Gotta do some chores, check the chocolate & diet coke supplies, get ready for the big storm! Ooh, I bought a new shovel yesterday too. It's one of those "back savers" with the bent handle. Can't wait to try that out! lol

Wow. Some shocking news.

What a difference a few hours can make. Seriously. Yesterday, I was talking about how I was antsy & ready to move, right. Well, shortly after we went to pick up my car from the dealership, Will got an email letting him know that he was chosen for a job at the Pentagon! He'd applied for a job there last fall but was told he wasn't going to get it because he was 5 months short of his 4 years at Andrews. I don't know. To me, it sounds like a bunch of "blah, blah, blah" but evidently he was required to be at Andrews for exactly 4 years before they would "release him" and let him get orders and/or take a new job. So, basically, after he was told that they wouldn't make an exception to this policy for him to be able to take the Pentagon job, we kind of forgot about it and started thinking about where we'd want to put in for orders once September rolled around.

So, yeah, he will be heading over to the Pentagon in May. And...AND...they must know by 18 February where we want our next set of orders. Yes, you read right. That's 3 weeks away. We're both completely shocked right now. Both about him being accepted for this job at the Pentagon and the fact that we have 3 weeks to decide where we're going to go next. Now, he'll be at the Pentagon for 14 months so it's not like we'll be moving out of state immediately, but we do have to let "them" know where we want our follow on base to be.

We definitely need to sit down & make a list of some areas we're interested in and the pros & cons of those places, plus the pros & cons of staying here in MD (although at the moment I'm having a hell of a time finding one thing to keep me here!!) and it's just a lot to absorb in a short amount of time.

Did I mention that he also has to take 28 days of leave before he starts his job in May?! I think we should take a serious road trip! Of course, being the middle of winter, there aren't a lot of areas I'm interested in road tripping to at this time. lol Maybe we'll go see his family down in Va Beach and then see my family in SC before heading to Florida. I hate the heat though so maybe we won't go to Florida.

Anyhow, on the top of my "wish list" is Alaska. Do yall think I'm crazy? You can be honest. lol I know I definitely do not want orders back down south. Nowhere in SC, NC, GA, FL, TX, the Gulf Coast, NM, OK, CA or Hawaii. That narrows it down quite a bit. I'd probably be happy anywhere in the Northeast, definitely out in Colorado or Wyoming, Montana, Washington, parts of the Midwest. Of course my wish list & his may vary drastically and in the end, I'm going wherever he's told he's going so we'll see.

So...those feelings I was having yesterday are gone. They're replaced by excitement and nervousness and confusion. I think I need to have a beer & just decompress & try to take this all in!! With the market the way it is, we'll probably put our house up soon in hopes that it'll sell well before we have to actually move. Besides, his commute is about to double in length and we'd ideally love to be closer to the Virginia line. Ack! See...I told you it was a lot to take in!

If anyone has any suggestions on locations, I'd love to hear your ideas!!

Ugh! Is it February yet?!

January has been just so ugh. It's been one of those months. I can't believe that the month is almost over already but I'm not sad to see it go, not by any means!! Will has been insanely busy with work, we've had a ton of automotive issues, I'm still getting the run-around by the military doctors as to why I have a freaking golf ball sized lymph node in my neck. Yeah, it's been one hell of a month!!

But, it hasn't been all bad - we did manage to take a day trip up to Pennsylvania the other week. That was nice. Well, actually, it was pretty boring but at least I got out of the house for a day! lol And Will & I went snow tubing one Friday night for a few hours. That was definitely a great time!! Here's a picture of yours truly & Mr Vintage Whimsy after a fun-filled night of snow tubing. Can you tell my face was frozen?! haha



I'm just feeling very blah this month. Unsettled or antsy or something. It's hard to describe. I'm hating this hot weather we've been having and really want to live somewhere with a true winter. You know, lots of snow. And pretty scenery. Because Baltimore doesn't have pretty scenery. It's gross. And dirty. And dangerous. I just want to get out of this state & move somewhere different.

Will's uncle called him the other day to tell him about some government jobs that were in WV and of course, being the real estate junkie that I am, I immediately go on Redfin.com and start looking up houses in the area! lol Now, the likelihood that we'll be moving to WV is about 5% but I still had to look. Gotta be proactive, ya know. And as much as I joke around about WV being full of hillbillies and rednecks, I do like the area. It's beautiful and peaceful and I love being over there. But, do I want to live there now? I don't know!!

Will has 4.5 years left before he can retire so I think I want to move somewhere else before we go to WV. Like, maybe Colorado. Of course, when I start thinking about moving to the West Coast, I start thinking about my family & how I'd never get to see them. Then I remind myself that I don't really see them all that much now & I only live 400 miles away!! So, is it really that big of a deal to move across the country? Yeah, probably not. I haven't seen my family since September so it's not like I see them on a very regular basis anyway. See, I said I was feeling very confused & blah this month!!

So, part of me really wants to move out west & live somewhere with huge mountains and lots of snow and experience that. But part of me really likes the familiarity of the east coast and knowing that I am just a 7 hour drive from "home" should I need to be there ASAP. And then I find amazing houses like this over in WV, and it really, really makes me want to just go ahead & move there. Isn't this house amazing??



Ugh! I'm so torn!! Of course, we have until September to really figure out what we want to do since that's when Will can put in for orders. I think we'll sit down and write out the pros & cons to staying here on the east coast & try to determine what we should do.

Moving along!!

Did I mention that I'm currently stuck at home without a car?! Yeah, which is probably how I found the motivation to actually get on blogger & update. It's not like I can actually go anywhere right now. My car is in the shop getting a new reservoir tank installed and having some recall repaired. Unfortunately, the reservoir tank is not included in the 100k mile warranty. Boo! But, it *had* to be repaired so here I sit, without a car. We do live on a bus route but I'm not that desperate to leave! The buses here in Baltimore are sketchy! I should have my car back this afternoon though which is a must because tomorrow is 25% off day at the thrift stores & I must go do a little retail therapy.

And since I'm stuck at home until at least noon, I finally have time to stop by & visit all of my favorite blogs. I really need to do a better job at keeping up with that because right now, I have 926 unread items! haha I'm never going to get through all of those! I should probably use this time to do something else, like clean my office, but what fun is that?!

Brrr! My Toilet is Frozen!

Happy New Year guys!! What did you do to celebrate? I did nothing. Absolutely nothing. lol Well, I guess that's not entirely true. I posted on Etsy, drank a few cherry wheat beers and talked to Will on the phone. Oh, and watched our jackass of a neighbor shoot fireworks into our yard. That was entertaining!

Remember last week when I said I had lots of things I wanted to accomplish while Will was gone? Yeah, approximately 17% of those things actually happened. I did manage to take pictures of linens & list those but otherwise, yeah, I stayed holed up in this house for the majority of the week. In fact, I think I've been out of the house *maybe* 5 hours since last Saturday! I'm finding that it's just too windy & cold to go anywhere. I mean this wind is freaking ridiculous right now. The windchill is 2. TWO. It is so cold that the water in the toilet in the 1/2 bath off of the kitchen froze solid overnight. I've never had that happen. Hell, I didn't even know that COULD happen!!

So, Will is coming home today, finally. The first half of the week seemed to fly by but since Thursday it's been really dragging. And, as usual, he's bringing lots of goodies home with him. This time instead of Belgian chocolates, I'm getting chocolate rum from the Virgin Islands. Sounds delicious to me and maybe drinking a bit of that will help warm me up!! He's also bringing back rum balls and rum cake. And jewelry. I'm so spoiled!!

Will is supposed to be off for the rest of the week starting on Tuesday and I'm hoping we can take some day trips out of Baltimore. I am starting to go stir crazy being home all alone!! I'm sure he'll want to stay home & relax since he's been gone for a week though. We always run into this same issue when he comes home. He wants to stay home and I want to go out. He wants to eat every meal here and I want to go out. lol See, he gets to eat out 3 times a day while he's gone and when he comes home, he's ready for home cooked meals. On the other hand, I'm eating at home 3x a day while he's gone so by the time he gets back, I'm ready for someone else to do the cooking, preferably that someone being a chef at a restaurant!

I think it's almost time to take down the Christmas trees too. Although I love looking at the trees, it's time to get my house back in order and the first thing I need to do is get the Christmas stuff outta here. Even my pretty retro tree in my office needs to go!! Hopefully I'll get them put up in a more timely manner next Christmas. I feel like I *just* got these things decorated and now it's already time to put them away again.

I have a huge list of things I should be doing today. Things like cleaning and organizing and taking down the decorations and getting all of my linens put away. None of that sounds like a good time though so I'm thinking I'll put on some thermal underwear, bundle up in layers and brave the elements and go do a little retail therapy. Tomorrow is, of course, 25% off day at all of the thrift stores but I haven't left the house since Thursday so I think I need to get out of here before I go insane!! Besides, I'm pretty sure my car heater works better than the house heater so at least I can finally warm up!!

I'm leaving you with a picture of my favorite ornament on my retro tree. It's all scratched up but I love it so! I'm loving my new camera! I'm so not good at taking pictures and I have a ton to learn but I'm so happy that I'm not stuck using Will's work camera anymore. I should probably sit down & actually read the manual that came with the camera but let's face it: that's kind of boring!