Let it Snow, let it Snow, Let it Snow

Brrr, it sure has been cold outside!

Here where I live it is a rare, and I mean a rare occurance that you see snow. Well, when we woke up yesterday morning, the news was sharing the white goodness for all to see. Unfortunately it didn't actually snow in our town however, it did in the next town over in the foothills.

It was such a grand sight too! As I was driving to work, I was able to see the mountain and all the hills covered in snow. I wish I had the day off to go take pictures. What a good day it would be to go take pictures since today is normally my day off but that won't happen either. My boss had asked me a couple days ago if I could go in for 4 hours in the afternoon. I guess if I get ready I can grab my camera and try to find a good spot to get some rare pics. We'll see.

Anyways, yesterday my SIL took my daughter after school to a local state park which had some snow. My daughter had a little bit of fun there.

~~~

Okay, since writing this, I had gone out to attempt some pictures. Only problem, I waited a day too late. Clearly I didn't get the amount of snow I had previously seen the day before driving to work. I did however get the mountain full of snow, which isn't something I have never seen before, however, the mountain is usually the ending point for the snow. It never lingers out into the lower elevation areas, which I had seen the day before.

The day I took these pictures (2 days ago), I had to go to work in the afternoon so I was limited on where I could go to get pictures before having to get myself ready for work and head out, so this is the best I can do. They all looked the same so I'll only share two.

See the blue skies? Not a cloud in it either. Which means, blue skies equals snow melting away. You see, I live in California and unless you live in the mountains, you just don't see snow out here.

(If you click on the pictures, you'll see a little snow on some of the foothills. There was so much more the day before or maybe I was just in a bad spot.)

Name That Actor!

Don't you ever wonder what ever happened to your favorite actors from the sitcoms of your time?

I'm a 70's child. Growing up in the 70's and 80's, I had lots of shows that I loved watching. From the Brady Bunch to the Partridge Family to Facts of Life and Family Ties. I loved them all! But do you ever wonder what every become of some of them. The ones that you rarely see, if ever?

Well, the other day I was on the internet (what a surprise!) and I came across an article of one of those actors that you don't see often. Needless to say, he had gotten himself in all sorts of trouble. In fact, I was shocked to see what this person looked like after all these years.

Can you guess who this is?

Did you guess right?

Michael J. Fox's little brother on Family Ties.

Isn't it amazing that you can go from cute to scary?

Feelings

Today I'm feeling a bit

sad,

mad,

sick to my stomach,

frustrated,

pissed,

confused,

quiet

and just want to be left alone.

I woke up at 4am this morning with thoughts running through my head.

I woke up the same way and still am as I sit here at work.

Do you ever have someone do something or say something that just sticks with you?

It eats at you and just eats away and then you start playing things out in your head?

Frustrating, isn't it?

I get in this place sometimes and it hurts.

I just want it to go away so that I can just
be again.

I always wish that someone wouldn't say or do the things they do to make me feel like this.

Cause it hurts.

Does It Ever End?

Can I just tell you that this past week has been a bit too exciting for me....And I don't mean in the good excitement either.

Here's how it began....

Saturday we were having some pretty wild winds in our area. Now I've already shared here that our side fence wasn't in the greatest shape. Well, hearing the wind blowing so hard I started getting nervous about the fence again. I knew for sure the way it was blowing and how hard it was blowing, it was only a matter of time it was coming down.

Well, sure enough....it did. So now my husband is working on trying to get the fence put back together. Bummer about it is, we don't have any neighbors there where the fence fell right now so we have to fork out the money and labor on our own.

I guess this will be a nice little "man" project for my husband.

Then....

Remember on Sat when this happened?
(Yeah, I know too funny, huh??!!! :D)

Well, not more than a couple hours later did my daughter look out the front window only to find some kid breaking into my SIL's car. My daughter asked "Mommy, is Nancy in the house?" and I said yes. She then said someone was in her car so I went over to the window and looked and Nancy opened the front door and started yelling and chasing after the kid, as did my husband, which in the process, he fell and got some boo boos. He's a man though....they're nothing and doesn't want to make a fuss about it.

As the two of them are out chasing this kid, I immediately get on the phone and call 911. Let me tell you, the cops were right on it too! They were there in a matter of a couple minutes. I guess it helps living in a small town. The cops have nothing else better to do.

Apparently when my husband and SIL were out chasing this kid, they passed another kid a couple house down and he acted as if he had no idea what was going on but not more than 20 minutes later was this kid found walking around with my SIL's credit card. Apparently, he found the credit card in the street, got thirsty so he went home to get something to drink and then thought he would come and bring us the credit card back. Yeah, seems fishy if you ask me. He was probably friends with the kid who did it. Well, big mistake cause he got arrested.

In the end, they never found the actual kid who did the breaking in AND my sister can't find her car keys so it seems as if she left the keys in the door of her car and forgot about it and it was basically calling the kid's name saying "Hey you, kid...yeah you. Come in and take what you like." At least she has a spare set of keys.

Next....

Monday, my husband got off work early to pick up our daughter from school and he stopped off at home first to grab a bite to eat. When he got back into the car, it sounded like the car wasn't running on all cylinders so he shut the car off. Tried it again and same result so he called the mechanics.

Tuesday morning, we had the car towed to the mechanics. He's had it now for 4 days and wouldn't it figure....it won't make the sound for him. He says the engine sounds strong and can't figure out why it did it. We told him we wanted to do a tune-up on it since it's there but he wants to find the problem first.

See, it's a good thing we just bought the new car a couple months ago.

Then (nope, doesn't end there)....

Tuesday night I was making dinner and once we were done eating, my husband wanted to make a run to Smart & Final for his job. Before leaving, I noticed the stove was still on (I have a bad habit of not turning the stove off after dinner is prepared. Good thing it's electric. Me and gas stoves wouldn't work together.) so I went to turn it off. Then we left.

We were gone probably a half hour or a tad longer. When I pulled into the garage, I asked my husband "What's that smell?" and he said "I don't know". Then he opened the door from the garage into the house and smoke just came billowing out from the house. My husband starts yelling "Fire! Fire!" He immediately ran to the stove as I followed him. I had a pan on the stove with a plate on top of it. It's a pan that didn't have a lid that went with it. My husband turned the stove off. (Now, I know I turned it off!!!) He said the plate was glowing red too.

As my husband was opening all the windows and doors and escaping in between each attempt cause it was so bad in there, I was calling for Ozzy who wasn't coming so I started panicking thinking he was dead. (Yes, it WAS that bad in there!) Finally, my daughter noticed him laying on the couch so I went over and grabbed him and took him outside. Poor dog. He must have been so scared. Fortunately, the smoke didn't reach the floor yet. It probably went to our thighs so where he was at on the couch, he still had a little bit of time before it got to him. He's fine though, thank goodness!!!

You see, I was extremely exhausted that day. I didn't get a good nights sleep for the last couple nights before and apparently when I went to turn the stove off, it got locked in high and I didn't even notice.

Needless to say, it didn't catch on fire!! Thank goodness!!! However, the house was so filled with smoke, I honestly don't know how much longer before it would have sparked into a flame. AND...every time I pull the car into the garage, I can smell the smoke. Every time I enter the house, I still smell smoke. It will take awhile before it goes away. Too bad though cause Christmas is at our house this year. The FIRST year ever! Go figure.

Let's continue, shall we....

So, this morning at 3am I wake up to my daughter standing on my side of the bed saying "Mommy, I don't feel good". I immediately tell her to go to the bathroom cause that's all I need is for her throwing up on me.

Every 15 minutes or so from that moment on I was up with her. The time span did stretch as the time went on at least.

My husband ended up going to work while I stayed home with her until noon when he got home. That's when I left to get to work (where I am currently). Poor thing is at home sick and tomorrow she's supposed to go to a friend's birthday party. Yeah, not sure she'll be making it there. Hopefully it's just a 24 hr bug. I sure and the heck don't want it either cause I have movie plans with a couple friends tomorrow night. I guess we'll be playing it by ear.

*****

Now, from this moment on I still have Christmas shopping to do and I have to prepare for my whole family coming over for Christmas. There will be 10 of us and honestly, that is A LOT of people for me in my little house. We have to get a couple tables to fit everyone cause we have a round table that only seats 4 and honestly, where the heck am I even going to put these said tables?? This is one of those moments I wish I had a bigger house.

Just everything I wanted to get done for the holidays isn't working out so far. I wanted to take Noodle to see The Nutcracker and I don't see that happening. I also wanted to go to Apple Hill but it seems our weekends are busy and trying to fit an all day event into our weekend is simply overwhelming me. It's just one of those holiday-ish things I love to do but missed out on last year and didn't want to this year.

I am pleased to say, I did get one gift for my daughter completed! I don't want to announce what it is on here just yet cause she tends to read my posts so I'll be sharing after Christmas, pictures and all.

So, there you have it. My life this week in a nutshell. NOW.....no more excitement for me like this for a while please. Oh, and a pillow and my bed please so I can catch up on my sleep.

Writing Assignment: Mommywood

It's Mama Kat time again!

When I saw her prompts this week, I just knew which one I wanted to do.

5.) Book review time! What winter read has you snuggled in and turning pages?

Not that I have actually read a book from start to finish in less than a week, or a month or even a year for that matter. Nope. Not me!

You see, I was actually given my sTori Telling book (by none other than Tori Spelling) over a year ago. Mother's Day '08 to be exact. I started reading the book, a chapter every week or more. You see, I don't have time to read. I am a very busy gal. You'll rarely see me sitting.....unless of course I'm on the computer ;O)

Anyways, I had been reading my book last year and it got to a point that I was getting close to the end. Not sure how many chapters but the fact that I was more than half way through the book made me nervous. So you know what I did?

I stopped reading it!!

Until a year later on my birthday (this year) when I received my new book by Tori Spelling, Mommywood. But I didn't start reading it again then. It was only until a month ago or so when I ran out of work to do at work. So I picked up my book and finally finished it.

I knew I could finish that book now because I had a backup. I have now started reading Tori's new book and it is so good.

You see, I feel I can relate to Miss Tori too. She's a mom, I'm a mom. She cooks dinners, I cook dinner. She loves to be with her babies and I love to be with my baby. She stresses about all the things mommy's stress about when it comes to her child(ren) as I do. She is so normal to me!

As I thumb through each page, it's so hard to put it down. I just look forward to the next chapter but that's wherein the problem lies. She doesn't have a backup book for me yet. What will I ever do if I come to the end of this book and there is no backup book?

So, guess what I have done?

I've stopped reading it again!

BUT....

Let's look on the bright side. I decided to read the Acknowledgments (yes, before I even finished the book. See, getting nervous the end is near) and she says, and I quote "Hilary Liftin...Once again you captured my voice to a tee. You make my book me. And we have fun doing it! Thank you. And ohhh, (this is the part...*giggle*!!!) the stories I already have for our next book!"

Oh yah!! Another book. Well, Miss Tori...you better get on the ball cause I'm half way through this book!

***

Now, head on over to Mama Kat's to see what everyone else is writing about.

As Promised....The "Bend & Snap" on video!

Remember when I said here that my husband was doing the whole "bend & snap" from the Legally Blonde movie? It was the funniest thing ever! He had a few too many to drink that night so it made it easier for him to do it however, I didn't have a camera ready, much less...a camcorder.

WELL........

A couple nights ago we were bugging my husband to do it again. I mean, our daughter didn't even get to see it the original time. She wanted her daddy to do it for her, doggone it!

Again, he was drinking. Again, my sister-in-law was over the house. We were finally able to pursuade him!!!

One exception though.

He had to go incognito! LOL!

Throw on a Billy Ray Cyrus mullet wig with my Disneyland hat, a couple balloon boobies (to mimic Jennifer Coolidge in the movie), sunglasses and a scarf, just to add a touch of a tacky flare.......

And I give you......

My husband doing "The Bend & Snap"!

(Oh, and my husband said he hopes he has provided much laughs for all of you so please don't forget to give him some comment love so he doesn't feel like he made an ass out of himself!! LOL)

Old Sacramento

Last week we went to Old Sacramento for the day. I love going there. Just to simply walk around and sort of feel like I've stepped back in time for a tiny bit.

Usually when we go there, we'll hit some of the shops, have lunch and grab some candy in one of the little candy stores. The ones with all the different candy and taffy in the big barrels.

This time though, we thought we would try and do a little more. One of the main reasons for this trip was for the fact that I've been wanting to take our daughter to the Train Museum.

Once we finally got to Old Sacramento, we first stopped of at a replica of an old school. Super cute too. Then I had to get a picture of Noodle looking like the teacher.

Once inside, here are some of the old desks from that time period. You sure don't see desk such nice ironwork anymore.

How adorable is this little school house. Bell and all.


During the Christmas holiday season, they have a special Polar Express train ride event. Also, a Santa Starlight Express. Unfortunately, I just checked and they're sold out already. Doggone it!! I guess I'll just have to check next year.

Once in the museum, we decided to take the guided tour, since this was our first time here. Well, at least that we can recall. Back in elementary school, we took a field trip out here and I wouldn't doubt this was one of the places we visited. I just don't remember. That's nothing new.

Anyways, since the building of the railroad was from the mid 1880's, it was during President Abraham Lincolns time.

They also had one of his real guns he used.

There were so many trains in this place. It was simply amazing! I think we found a new love for trains! The history behind, truly amazing!

And such detail they had back in the 1800's, nothing like you see today.

Nope, definitely not like you see today.

Then we took a stroll through some of the little shops and just couldn't resist some overly sized Elvis glasses!

Or even an adorable shot of my baby girl.

Then, we decided to head on over to the State Capital. It was already too late for a tour but that didn't discourage us one bit. Heck, I think I got me a couple great pics, if you ask me!

The tree right smack in the front is this years annual Christmas tree. They were actually putting it up when we got there.

Such a gorgeous building! In fact, I find it simply amazing all the detail they put into this building during those times. If only they put that kind of detail into the building nowadays.

The we made our way a couple blocks away to the Governors Mansion. Again, it was too late for any tours but that will be for our next trip I guess. It's a museum now.

The last Governor to reside here was Ronald Regan along with Nancy and their two children.

(This shot I got personally looks a bit spooky.)

We had so much fun! It's always fun learning new things and the history behind it. I've always had a huge interest in the 1800's for different reasons. Now I have another reason. Plus, having a new found love for something that we happen to see and hear on a daily basis.

So, what type of adventures do you have fun taking in your neck of the woods?