Snow Surprise!

Finally, we got some snow!!!! We had all that sleet and such last week and I really thought that winter had done it's thing, not so, Mother Nature had one more surprise in store for us! The weather forecast was calling for a nasty winter mix - a wee little bit of snow, some sleet and a lot of freezing rain. Well, we got snow!!!!!! About 5 inches here in Lake Ridge! I love a good snow storm!!!! I esp love a surprise snow storm, which is so rare these days with all the advances in weather prediction! The only thing I didn't like was that I had plans to go to a friends Oscar Party this evening, however the weather threw a wrench in that. The snow let up, however we got some rain and there was a lot of water/slush on the roads and the temps were maybe going to drop below freezing - or maybe hover near freezing. I decided I couldn't trust that it would stay warm long enough since the weather people hadn't gotten anything right all weekend! Here are some pictures I took of the snow falling down:

Daisy Mae out in the snow! This was taken about 8:45am right when the snow began.

My backyard with snow falling down - about 10:30 am.

My backyard as seen from the 2nd floor.


The view from the front of my house.

150 Things About Me!

1. Bought everyone in the bar a drink - Nope, I'm not the bar type

02. Swam with wild dolphins - Sadly, no. Would like to

03. Climbed a mountain - Yes, I climbed Hawksbill Mountain in Shenandoah National Park from the bottom of Cedar Run - highest mountain in the park!

04. Taken a Ferrari for a test drive - No

05. Been inside the Great Pyramid - Yes! I even rode a camel in front of it!

06. Held a tarantula - Yes - it was very cool!

07. Taken a candlelit bath with someone - No

08. Said “I love you’ and meant it - Yes

09. Hugged a tree - Yes. I'm just that kind of girl.

10. Bungee jumped - No way - but I have done the "Sky Rider" thing at Kings Dominion - where you free fall and then swing...the free fall park freaks me out though.

11. Visited Paris - Paris France, no, but I have been to Paris, VA! And seen it from high above in Sky Meadows State Park.

12. Watched a lightning storm at sea - No, but I watched one in the grand canyon.

13. Stayed up all night long and saw the sun rise - Yes - way too old for that now!

14. Seen the Northern Lights - No

15. Gone to a huge sports game - I went to an OK Sooners game - it's wasn't a "Big Game" but it was a big deal to the people who were there!

16. Walked the stairs to the top of the leaning Tower of Pisa - No, but I walked up the stairs of the Washington Monument back in the day!

17. Grown and eaten your own vegetables - No, but I ate vegetables that someone else grew!

18. Touched an iceberg - No, but I have walked on a glacier, and drank glacier water.

19. Slept under the stars - Yes, at summer camp we often slept at the Pioneer Cabin out under the stars - lots of fun!

20. Changed a baby’s diaper - Oh boy, yes I have!

21. Taken a trip in a hot air balloon - No but I'd like to...almost did it in Tetons however it was really expensive.

22. Watched a meteor shower - no

23. Gotten drunk on champagne - Yes, but that's only because it doesn't take much for me to get drunk.

24. Given more than you can afford to charity - Yes. And I've never regretted it.

25. Looked up at the night sky through a telescope - No, but I have been to the planetarium!

26. Had an uncontrollable giggling fit at the worst possible moment - I was in 2nd or 3rd grade and it was Maundy Thursday and we were at church having a potluck dinner/seder meal. The tables were arranged in a cross and I was sitting at the far end, with my best friend and her brother. At the end of the meal we had communion and we passed the bread around and we were each supposed to tear some bread off. My friends brother grabbed the bread and tore it but he ended up tearing off a huge chunk - so the the "loaf" left in his hand was smaller than the piece he'd pulled off. Then he got really confused about which part to pass. My friend and I were laughing SOOOOO hard and we couldn't stop. Now keep in mid this is a very "reverent" place and laughing just isn't approparite! My mom finally had to trade seats with me and put me between two grown ups. To this day when Maundy Thursday rolls around I think about this and usually crack up!

27. Had a food fight - Yes, at my friend Laura's birthday party - we were about 8 - there was still chocolate cake on the ceiling years later!

28. Bet on a winning horse - No

29. Asked out a stranger - No

30. Had a snowball fight - Yes, but I was the target.

31. I accidentally deleted this one...sorry.

32. Held a lamb - Nope

33. Seen a total eclipse -no

34. Ridden a roller coaster - Yes, lots...Cedar Point is the best! :)

35. Hit a home run - No, I do good to hit the ball.

36. Danced like a fool and not cared who was looking - Yes

37. Adopted an accent for an entire day - No

38. Actually felt happy about your life, even for just a moment - Yes, but I'd like to even more

39. Had two hard drives for your computer - no

40. Visited all 50 states - No - 37 though

41. Taken care of someone who was drunk - no

42. Had amazing friends - Yes and I still do! :)

43. Danced with a stranger in a foreign country - No.

44. Watched wild whales - Nope, but I have seen wild dolphins.

45. Stolen a sign - Not exaclty....but I did steal an alien picture from the hallowed halls of Old Main at Westminter College!

46. Backpacked in Europe - No - never even gone backpacking

47. Taken a road-trip - Yep! All kinds of road trips!

48. Gone rock climbing - Yes, hated it.

49. Midnight walk on the beach - yes - when I was in Spain for a high school exhange program, we'd often sleep on the beach - not romantic - more "hobo", although we were there because we wanted to be, not because we had to be.

50. Gone sky diving - No - looks like fun, but the free fall thing gets me.

51. Visited UK - no.

52. Been heartbroken longer than you were actually in love - yes.

53. In a restaurant, sat at a stranger’s table and had a meal with them - No, but I think it's hysterical when Letterman does it! I'd love to try it sometime, but I don't think I could...

54. Visited Japan - Nope

55. Milked a cow - Nope

56. Alphabetized your CDs - Of course. They didn't stay that way...

57. Pretended to be a superhero - Yes, with Wonder Woman Underoos would could resist pretending to be a superhero!

58. Sung karaoke - Nope

59. Lounged around in bed all day - Yes, my 1st year teaching I caught an awful bug!

60. Posed nude in front of strangers - no.

61. Gone scuba diving - yes, sorta...it was in a pool.

62. Kissed in the rain - No

63. Played in the mud - Definitely have

64. Played in the rain - Yes, and I love it... I love being out in the rain.

65. Gone to a drive-in theater - Yes, in High School with our youth group.

67. Started a business - No

68. Fallen in love and not had your heart broken - not yet.

69. Toured ancient sites - Yes, toured ruins in Israel...very, very cool stuff.

70. Taken a martial arts class - No

71. Played a game for more than 6 hours - Yes, Risk - we had games of that that lasted multiple days! I have also played some card games - Uno and Egyptian Rat Screw - for that long.

72. Gotten married - no

73. Been in a movie - only home movies. My amazing graham cracker and frosting creation was featured on a YouTube exclusive!

74. Crashed a party - Please, I was never that cool.

75. Gotten divorced - No - gotta get married for that!

76. Gone without food for 5 days - No way.

77. Made cookies from scratch - Yes - only way to make cookies.

78. Won first prize in a costume contest - Never, ever.

79. Ridden a gondola in Venice - no.

80. Gotten a piercing - Yes - two, one in each ear.

81. Rafted the Snake River - yep - not "Whitewater" but we floated down the Snake
River in the shadow of the Grand Tetons!

82. Been on television news programs as an “expert” - No, but I did "star" in a video clip about Math games that was shown to the school board!

83. Got flowers for no reason - Nope.

84. Performed on stage - Yep. Drama club abnd chours in High School.

85. Been to Las Vegas - No

86. Recorded music - Nope

87. Eaten shark - Nope

88. Had a one-night stand - No

89. Gone to Thailand - Nope.

90. Bought a house - Yes, sitting in it right now.

91. Been in a combat zone - Nope

92. Buried one / both of your parents - Nope.

93. Been on a cruise ship - Yes - twice - once to the Bahamas and once to Mexico.

94. Spoken more than one language fluently - I came close to being fluent in Spanish.

95. Performed in Rocky Horror - Nope (never even seen it)

96. Raised children (or…raising children) - Other people's kids, but I only get the for 7 hours a day for a school year...

97. Followed your favorite band/singer on tour - Nope

98. Taken an exotic bicycle tour in a foreign country - no - I'm not so much into bicyling...an exotic hiking tour I'd be all for!

100. Picked up and moved to another city to start over - Yes. And hated it every time.

101. Walked the Golden Gate Bridge - Nope

102. Sang loudly in the car, and didn’t stop when you knew someone was looking - As often as I can.

103. Had plastic surgery - Nope

104. Survived an accident that you shouldn’t have survived - no

105. Wrote articles for a large publication - no

106. Lost over 100 pounds - No.

107. Held someone while they were having a flashback - No.

108. Piloted an airplane - No.

109. Petted a stingray - Yes, at Sea World in FL.

110. Broken someone’s heart - not that I know of.

111. Helped an animal give birth - no

112. Won money on a T.V. game show - Always a viewer, never a contestant.

113. Broken a bone - no

114. Gone on an African photo safari - No, but I saw some pictures of a friend's trip!

115. Had a body part of yours below the neck pierced - NO

116. Fired a rifle, shotgun or pistol - No

117. Eaten mushrooms that were gathered in the wild - Um no, I like to live.

118. Ridden a horse - Yes, I used to take riding lesson until my allergies got the best of me! I did enjoy the riding part, I hated the sneezing for hours afterward part.

119. Had major surgery - no - I had some warts removed in high school

120. Had a snake as a pet - No, but my friend Mel had a 6ft python and we'd take her out and play with her!

121. Hiked to the bottom of the Grand Canyon - no but I'd like to

122. Slept for more than 30 hours over the course of 48 hours - Yes - after lock ins and stuff...

123. Visited more foreign countries than U.S. states - No. I have a ways to go

124. Visited all 7 continents - Nope

125. Taken a canoe trip that lasted more than 2 days - No - but it sounds like fun!

126. Eaten kangaroo meat - No way!

127. Eaten sushi - yes, and I didn't like it.

128. Had your picture in the newspaper - prob but I can't remember why.

129. Changed someone’s mind about something you care deeply about - not that I know
of.

130. Gone back to school - Yes - I'm working on my 2nd master's degree

131. Parasailed - Never, but would love to

132. Petted a cockroach - Eww, eww, eww!!

133. Eaten fried green tomatoes - Yeah, and I liked them.

134. Read The Iliad and The Odyssey by Homer - nope.

135. Selected one “important” author who you missed in school, and read - Tolkien...although I didn't make it though...high fantasy is not my thing.

136. Killed and prepared an animal for eating - No

137. Skipped all your high school reunions - Only had one so far, and I think pretty
much everyone skipped it

138. Communicated with someone without sharing a common spoken language - Yes - I work in a diverse school so I frequently communicate without a common language.

139. Been elected to public office - No way. I haven't even run!

140. Written your own computer language - Nope

141. Thought to yourself that you’re living your dream - Yes

142. Had to put someone you love into hospice care - Thankfully, no.

143. Built your own PC from parts - No

144. Sold your own artwork to someone who didn’t know you - No

145. Had a booth at a street fair - Nope

146. Dyed your hair - no

147. Been a DJ - No.

148. Shaved your head - No.

149. Caused a car accident - Not that I know of.

150. Saved someone's life - Not that I know of.

PJs!

My good friend Susan posted a blog today about her escapades yesterday in her PJs....I won't post a link here to protect her privacy (although I'm not exactly convinced anyone is reading this so I'm not sure it matters!)...but it inspired me to tell some PJ tales of my own!

I thought I was bad the day I went to Giant in my PJs...now my PJs are pink thermal bottoms with little stars on them and lace on the ankles(def cannot pass for anything other jammies) and a very large light blue "Fannie Mae" long sleeve T-shirt I got during a walk-a-thon for the homeless a few years back - complete with bleach spots from cleaning the bathroom. I usually don't wear a bra with my pjs (would negate the whole experience). So one Sunday I decide I need to go to Giant and I went in that!

Then there's the dog pants...I went to a craft fair with my mom in Dec and I saw a pair of knit pants with dogs all over them - they went nicely with a large shirt that had pictures of dogs and read "bitch, bitch, bitch" - the whole ensamble was quite cute and I really should have bought the shirt but I really couldn't justify having MORE pjs as most of my closet consists of PJs. On Christmas morning however, Mommy dearest had a surprise waiting for me under the tree. No she had not bought me the cute ensamble - that's what a normal mom would do...my mom loves me way too much for store bought pjs. No, my mom MADE me a pair of flannel dog pants. She managed to find a most unattracive flannel that had dog heads all over it - it's mostly black and brown so not a pretty "color palette". She found a simple pattern, however she decided they needed a pocket (in her mind I was going to wear these pants to walk the dog so they needed to be functional) - so she sewed a patch pocket on the side of one leg - think "cargo pants" -just large enough for my keys, my ipod and maybe a poop bag. The icing on the cake however, is that the lady who cut the fabric cut it about a 1/2 yard too short and the pants fall above my ankle...so they are basically "capri pants". Try and picture this....dog print flannel cargo capri pants! That's not all - she decided I needed a shirt. Now she was running out of time so she went to her own closet and pulled out a ratty black t-shirt that was streched out of shape and had long lost it's tag. To this she added a "patch pocket" - a tiny scrap of the dog print flannel. And somehow the pocket landed on the shirt crooked...and pretty much in the middle rather then center. The whole ensamble is just hysterical! My mom actually forbid me from wearing it in her neighborhood! The really scary thing...I LOVE the pants...so comfortable, and soft - and yes I have worn them out in public! I have actually asked mom to make me another pair...only hopefully longer as they really are too short.

I'll leave you all with the mental images for now...maybe another day I'll post som pics!

Last Day Off

Well, I guess I must face the music that I'm actually going to have to go back to work tomorrow! It's been so nice having the time off! 6 weeks until Spring Break - yes I counted!

Today I went to get my 1st allergy shots. I have been switching drs from an ENT to an allergist. I didn't feel like I was getting what I needed from the ENT - and my allergies were only moderatly better, so mid-Jan I started seeing an allergist. So far she has helped me immensly! I have taken all of her suggestions - including geting an expensive air cleaner and replacing nearly all the wall-to-wall carpeting in my house with laminate and I have noticed a dramatic improvement - in fact I'm off most of my meds for the 1st time in a year! I'd been getting allergies shots at the ENT but now I'm getting my shots from the allergist and today was my 1st one. It went as expected, except for one thing...my dr insits that all her allergy shot patients have an epi-pen. For those of you who don't know, allergy shots carry a small, very small, risk of anaphalyxis shock - you are being injected with things that you are allergic too. You have to wait in the drs. office for 20 mins after your shots just in case and it's very rare for it to happen after that, but my dr. apparently uses lots of caution!!!! I like this, I hope I don't ever have to use my new epi-pen, however I'm glad I have it in case I need it! The other interesting thing is that I got a list of symptoms which I'm suppose to watch for and use the epi-pen if any appear...nearly every symptom on the list I'd had following shots at the ENT! Most of the time it was 24+ hours after the shots, so I don't think they were serious, but still... I'm hopeful that this dr can help get my allergies under control as they have impacted my whole life and have been effecting my quality of life.

After my appointment I decided I'd go out to lunch. My dr is in Reston and there are some fun resteraunts there. I'd e-mailed some friends hoping they'd be able to meet me, but one was going out of town and the other didn't answer the e-mail so it was just me. I first attempted to go to Potbelly but the parking lot was crazy - all sorts of yuppie soccer moms in their SUVs and Volvo's fighting for parking places. So I decided I'd go over to the Reston Town Center to Cosi. They have a parking garage there, but again it was craziness - too many people! I finally did get a spot and went and had a nice lunch at Cosi!

Spent the rest of the day running errands and now I'm home enjoying my last evening of peace and relaxtion! The sidewalks are still very icy - it only got above freezing this afternoon for the 1st time since Tuesday - so I'm wondering if maybe we'll have a delay tomorrow morning, I don't think we'll get that lucky though.

Busy, Busy Weekend!

Having been out of school for 3.5 days this week had left me with a bad case of cabin fever so I had to get out this weekend!

I had plan on Saturday to go hiking at Catocin NP in MD, however I'd gotten reports of bad ice from some hiking boards I follow, so I decided that I'd bail on that. I needed to find something else to do, I have been lurking on Meetup.com for a few months but not gone to any events. Saturday morning I surfed over and discovered that there was a movie meetup happening - they were going to lunch and then to see "Children of Men". Sounded perfect for a cold windy icy day!

We had a lovely lunch at Ireland's Four Courts in Arlington. The other people I met were very nice, easy to talk to, we had lots in common and it was great fun meeting new folks!

The movie on the other hand wasn't quite so thrilling. It had a lot more violence and was a lot more graphic than I was expecting. I should have read the book so I'd know what was going on and who was who. The story line for the movie was good, however the ending sucked (I won't spoil it, although there's not much to spoil!)

Today I decided that I had to get out and go hiking. I found a hike with the Center Hiking Club that looked doable - on the schedule it said that we would do an 8 miles hike on Bull Run Mountain, when we arrived at the meeting place however, the leader informed us that we'd be going to Manassass Battlefield - to do a 5 mile loop with an option to do another 5 - because the ice was quite dangerous on the mountain. No big deal, we'd still be getting out to hike! We actually had a big group - 12 of us all together! It was about 28 degrees with a fierce wind - cold doesn't even begin describe it! The trail was much like a luge run - a sheet of ice! We did more slipping and sliding than actual hiking! My legs ache not from walking, but rather from trying to control my body and move fast enough to keep up, yet slow enough to not break my neck. On a few of the downhills I actually sat down on the trail and slid! It was easier to start on my bottom than to let gravity get me there! Near the end of the hike it started to snow! I wasn't able to capture any pictures of the snow falling but it was really pretty! Also the snow helped to increase the traction on the ice! :) We aren't sure if we were "hardy souls" or "certifiably crazy". We were the only ones out there hiking. Once we got back to the visitor center I decided that my legs had had enough and bailed out on the extra 5 mile option. Even the hike leader bailed on that, although there were a few folks talking about doing it!

Here are some pictures from today's adventure:

That's not me coming down the hill...but this is one of the hills where I sat down on my bottom and slid my way down!

Out of School Again!

We are out of school for the 3rd day in a row! Sounds silly when you think that all we got was a bunch of sleet, however 3-4 inches of sleet is very hard to remove. It's very heavy and the temps have been so long it all froze up totally solid and it's been very hard to dig cars and such out. Also t he side walks are in very bad shape. This stuff sorta reminded me of oobleck...not quite solid, but not liquid either - hard to move. But unlike oobleck it doesn't dry out into a cornstarchy powder after an hour so and get vacuumed up! I don't understand why Blogger won't let me hit return and put lines between my paragrahs....anyone know? No big plans for today - gather my tax stuff to mail to my accountant (aka my dad), go to the grocery store, cook something yummy to eat, maybe read for class some. Tomorrow I have plans to go hiking with a group of folks from "Meetup" - it's an online bullietin board almost of activities and things to do - there's a group of hikers and while I have been a "member" of the group for awhile I have never actually hiked with them. It's an early morning - we are meeting at a park 2 hours from my house at 8:30 tomorrow morning! I don't think it will be a long hike though so I should be back by evening. We are going to Catocin Mountain NP in Maryland - it's really close to Camp David, I have wanted to go there for awhile but just haven't. It's supposed to be 37 degrees tomorrow which will feel downright tropical compared to the 20s we have had for the last few weeks!

Sleet Storm

So here in the Washington area we finally got some real winter weather! I'd been teasing a co-worker yesterday about how we seem to get weather forcasts, but no actual weather since so often we get a lot of hype, but it never materializes. We had a "sleet storm". How crazy is that? I kid you not, it was sleeting from about midnight last time until 6-7:00 this morning! And boy is it loud!!!! I couldn't sleep with all the little ice pellets bouncing off the window. At one point I got up and went downstairs to see if there was an announcement about school for today - despite the obviousness of the horrible weather there was no announcement. The announcement about today was not made until 4:30 this morning! Then about 3:45 this afternoon we got word that school would be closed again tomorrow! Accumulated sleet is very hard to remove from the roads and such! I'm hoping to do more blogging here as I really enjoy reading other people's blogs (even complete strangers) and figured I should get into the game! :) So bookmark this site and check periodically....if there's nothing new pester me! :)