Snow fun!

With six inches of new fluffy snow and a beautiful sunny and warm day (high of about 15º) we decided to try our luck at sledding. The hills in west Mandan were the perfect spot. Corey picked out a steep area to sled down, which worked perfectly because there was a paved walking trail near it that we could walk up to get back to the top of the hill. It was a very steep hill which made for some crazy wipeouts. The best sled was Grandpa's old toboggan, which easily fit Caitlyn, Corey and I all together. 

My mom (ReNay) was our photographer, stationed at the bottom. The sledders included Corey, Caitlyn, my dad (Don) and me. Grandma, Grandpa and Ronda stopped by to check out the action and make sure we weren't getting too crazy. Dad was the best sledder, going the farthest and wiping out the least. Caitlyn and I topped the wipeout charts ... apparently I had a hard time keeping my feet in the sled - I guess I got scared.

I made a video of some of the best photos and action sequences. I'm rather surprised that we all ended the day without any serious injuries.

enjoy :)

More snow and new fabric.

Yesterday Joann's fabric store marked down their (already reduced) clearance fabric by 50 percent. Which means that the fabric I was looking at that was normally $8-9 per yard was now only $1.50 per yard. For someone who is a fabric junkie, this is a big deal. Not saying I am or anything. That's beside the point. 

So I happened to be in the store ... and figured I'd browse the racks. Wow did I find a lot nice fabric. I piled my cart high and headed to the cutting table. I think I got the best cutter in the store. I bought no less than 1/2 yard of most of the fabric and 1 yard of the ones I really liked. The fabric cutter lady (my hero) noticed that many of the bolts of fabric were almost gone, so if there was less that one yard remaining after my cut, she gave it to me for an additional 50 percent off (that would be 75 cents per yard!!!). Yes, that deserved three exclamation points.

So here is my pile of new fabric - all for under 35 bucks (including one new spool of thread). Awesome. Also in the photo are a few of my Christmas gifts - a new 24x36 inch rotary cutting board, Quilts of Gee's Bend book, and Retro Stitching embroidery pattern book. Time to get sewing!

I should also mention that I do prefer quilt shop fabric over Joann's Fabric and Craft store fabric, but I just couldn't pass up this deal. The fabric is not quilt shop quality but I was impressed with it's softness and color. I think it will hold up quite nicely.

I've been trying to not write too much about the weather, but I just have to. We got another 5 inches of snow last night. We woke up to the soft hum of snow blowers this morning. We don't own one and our neighbors know that, so they offered to clear our driveway and sidewalks for us. how fortunate we are to have such kind neighbors. 

Since snow blowers are made for large, straight, flat areas, Corey shoveled off our porch and walk way to the porch. Much more manageable than the drive way!

With the new snowfall, we're thinking today would be a great day for sledding.

The day after.

Our two days of Christmas celebrations were awesome. 

The trip down to Linton, ND, Christmas eve was great. I love small towns. Small towns on Christmas are absolutely charming and magical. Add in a bunch of little cousins, games, a puppy, Christmas eve Mass in Strasburg, ND, and great food ... and you've got fun. 

Chistmas day morning was spent right here at our house with my parents, sister and grandma. We had a very relaxing morning opening stocking stuffers and exchanging gifts. It was just a nice low-key morning. My mom cooked a great breakfast casserole (I'll post the recipe soon) and we hung out relaxing and enjoying each-other's company until it was time to go to Ronda's.

Christmas afternoon we spent at my aunt Ronda's house. It was the grand finale! We played more games, boxed each other on Wii, exchanged more gifts, ate more delicious food and had more fun. A great way to wrap up the Christmas celebration. In case you were wondering, I'm the undefeated Wii boxing campion in our family. I'm a bit sore today from it.

I posted a ton of photos to my flickr page. Since there are lots of photos of cute kiddos not belonging to me, only approved family and friends will be able to view all of them. However, there are lots for public viewing too.

More photos coming soon ... off to another family gathering! Oooh how I do love this time of year.

Since all my handmade gifts have been given, I'm finally able to show off what I've been working on ... stay tuned or play '"I spy" with the photos I just posted. enjoy.

Merry Christmas!

Starting tomorrow morning we'll be in a two-day whirlwind of family Christmas celebrations, yummy food, games, gifts and memory-making.

Actually we've been in a whirlwind of fun already for a week ... starting with my parents visiting and staying with us last weekend and then Corey's Aunt stayed with us last night before her flight back home to Washington. It was great to have so many special guests in one week to the Hager Hotel. And to answer your question Dad, we don't honor Hilton Honors points. In food news, my uncle Bob served up some unbelievably good ribs on Sunday night. I'll see if I can bribe him for the recipe so I can post it here.

Congratulations to my good friends, Jessica and Justin and their new baby boy, Connor born on Friday - and thanks, Jessica for the phone call today :) always fun to catch up with long-distance friends. 

I'll return to the blog world on Friday with lots of photos and Christmas updates. We might go pheasant hunting this weekend - a first for me. I think that will yield some great blog-worthy material. ha.

4 days 'till Christmas!

Are you ready?

We are!

We made it out to look at Christmas lights. Caitlyn, Chaz, Corey, me, Mom and Dad all piled into my car and we made the trek around town. It was chilly and our windows kept frosting over but it was so much fun.

We've been enjoying Holiday Nog ... kept cold the good 'ol North Dakota way – stuck in a snow bank out the back door.

Cookies are baked and decorated.

Snow keeps falling.

Gifts are under the tree.

Christmas parties are in full swing.

Parents are in town (Grandma Katy arrives Tuesday).

I've been a busy bee finishing up my homemade gifts (will be blogged after Christmas).

Only two days of work are between us and Christmas.

Let the fun begin!

Not quite a blizzard but really darn cold.

We didn't quite get a blizzard, but we did get lots of wind, some snow and very cold temperatures. It's currently minus 12 ... but with the wind, that makes it negative 40 (wind chill). burrr. I've been told that frostbite can occur in a matter of minutes - so my new mittens will be getting lots of use.

I only ventured out twice today - once to go grocery shopping but it felt like we were going snowmobiling and once because someone wanted to test drive my car. Who does that? test drive a car when it's negative 40?! It went well though, it got through the snow and wind like a champ, and I think there is a good chance I may sell it tomorrow.

The video above was taken near Jamestown, ND, just about 100 miles east of here. We didn't get that much snow, but it looks very similar around here.

I learned a neat trick for testing if it is below zero degrees fahrenheit. Breathe in through your nose. If you can feel the insides of your nose freezing, it's below zero. Now, I realize this might not seem like the most fun or comfortable thing to do, but it's actually the most natural way to breathe when it's this cold. The reason this works is that our bodies (and snot) are made up of salt water (I'm sure there is a more technical term, but "salt water" makes sense to me). The salt water in our bodies is very close to the ocean's salt water content, which freezes at zero degrees. So, if you get that "yowza" freezing feeling in your nose ... it's below zero. Neat, hunh? 

We're wayyyyy beyond the whole freezing booger trick today. This is the kind of cold that makes your teeth hurt when you go outside. The kind that makes your car radio not work. The kind that makes you dread Monday – not because you don't want to be at work, but because you don't want to leave the house.

One blizzard and lots of cookies and few reviews

Today we baked sugar cookies at Grandma's house. My sister Caitlyn, Grandma, Aunt Ronda and I had a blast baking and decorating all the cookies. We made cookies shaped like trees, wreaths, gingerbread boys, Christmas light bulbs, stars, boots, candy canes, mittens, and snowmen. We're officially ready for Christmas now. yum.

The weather is helping us get ready for Christmas too - for a white Christmas that is. We're forecasted to get a wild and crazy blizzard this weekend, starting this evening  – with lots of snow and lots of wind. It will be getting very chilly too - a HIGH on Monday of  negative 10. burrrr. This storm is supposed to be even worse than the blizzard we had last month.

My parents fly in next week for their Christmas stay in North Dakota. I hope the storm isn't so bad that they can't fly in. It will be great to have them here.

The A Christmas Story play we went to last Friday was awesome and so funny – just like the movie. Some scenes I liked better than the movie version!

Last night Corey took me to the Nutcracker ballet. I'd never been to the Nutcracker or a ballet so I don't have much to compare it to but it was beautiful and magical to watch. I didn't realize that ballerinas actually work poofy tutus! neat.

1. Wrapping paper or gift bags? - wrapping paper

2. Real tree or Artificial? - artificial

3. When do you put up the tree? - as soon as Corey will let me ... I'd set it up in July if it was up to me

4. Clear lights or multi color? - clear

5. Do you like eggnog? - yes, in moderation

6. Favorite gift received as a child? a trampoline. Which is kind of funny because now I think that they are super dangerous and would never let my kids have one. go figure.

7. Hardest person to buy for? My grandparents

8. Easiest person to buy for? Corey

9. Do you have a nativity scene? yes - two.

10. Mail or email Christmas cards? mail.

11. Worst Christmas gift you ever received? sorry, I can't discuss it, it will bring back too many bad memories. ha.

12. Favorite Christmas Movie? that's like picking a favorite food ... I can't pick just one. Charlie Brown, Elf, It's a Wonderful Life, the Grinch ...

13. When do you start shopping? July

14. Have you ever recycled a Christmas present? nope

15. Favorite thing to eat at Christmas? Grandma's cookies - we have a "date" to bake this Saturday! yay!

16. Lights on the tree? definately

17. Favorite Christmas song? see this post.

18. Travel at Christmas or stay home? wherever family is.

19. Can you name all of Santa's reindeer's? dancer, prancer, vixen, ruldolf, ... I think I'm missing some.

20. Angel on the tree top or a star? angel - thanks to an early Christmas gift from Corey

21. Open the presents Christmas Eve or morning? some of each.

22. Most annoying thing about this time of the year? ice on the roads and VERY dirty cars. oh and frozen hair.

23. Favorite ornament theme or color? tropical an travel ... random.

24. Favorite for Christmas dinner? everything

25. What do you want for Christmas this year? My health and energy back, my kids & husband to feel so happy they want to burst, my sister to get her baby girl, & a clean house

Signed and sealed.

Some of my best memories of Christmas as a child are receiving packages in the mail from grandparents and aunts and uncles. Since we grew up in California and all our family lived in North Dakota and Montana, we received lots of packages from the UPS man. 

Over the years, Caitlyn and I developed the skill of scent identification. We could easily identify who the package was from by the scent. It was amazing how comforting it was to get a "Grandma Rene" scented package - they smelled just like her house! Or one from Grandma Katy - it always smelled just like her. 

It's hard to believe it's time for ME to be sending packages. This year we sent two boxes. I had so much fun wrapping each gift, tying a bow ... and then strategically packing each box, and sealing with tape. The not too fun part was bringing both boxes to the post office today – it was quite icy and very cold. But I guess that's all part of the gift giving process.

I don't know where to start.

I have been away from blogging for a few days and I have so much to catch up on I don't know where to start.

I'll start with today.

Today, the University of Mary (where I work) announced the next president of the university to be Father James Shea. At 33 years old, he is believed to be the youngest university president in the America. The last time the university announced a new president, was a full THREE YEARS before I was born. Wow! I'm considering this a once in a lifetime (so far) event. Such exciting times, indeed! check out the Bismarck Tribune story here.

Also today (this evening), Corey and I and two friends of ours are going to see A Christmas Story at the Dakota Stage here is Bismarck. I'll post a review after the show but I'm almost positive it will provide lots of laughs - how could it not?!

In other "show" news, Corey and I are going to see The Nutcracker ballet one week from today. Neither of us have ever seen the show (and I've never seen a ballet!) and we're both really looking forward to it.

Lots of baby news! Congratulations to Josh and Renee and their new baby boy born this week (they are now a very adorable family of five). My good high school buddy Jessica is due in just seven days with their second child, and I wish her and her family all the best with the delivery. My cousin Gina is also due any day with their second. Wow, such fun news. I can't wait to see baby photos!

We've got most of our Christmas shopping done and I went on a gift wrapping marathon last night, so most of the gifts are wrapped and under the tree. I just love this time of year. Speaking of that - we keep getting an inch or so of snow about every day, so it's definitely looking wintery and white here. And it has gotten quite chilly - only about 12 this morning.

I know there is more to write but it will have to wait ... we're off to the show ...

Our tree has a skirt.

This evening I put the finishing touches on the tree skirt. It's so darn stinking cute - I just love how it looks under our tree. I had so much fun making it and using many of my scraps in the process. It is fun looking at the pieces of red and green fabric and remembering which quilt I used it in and how long ago it was. Some of the fabric I used in high school. The binding (tiny outer border) red dotted fabric was used for the backing of Jesse and Megan's wedding quilt just a few months ago. 

Here's a close up of the stitching ... I'm still learning how to stipple (free motion curvy designed) quilt, so this is by no means perfect.

Recognize the red dotted fabric?

How about some red plaid fabric (also from Jesse and Megan's wedding quilt)?

Decking the halls

Maria was a huge help with decorating the house and getting out all our Christmas boxes. I couldn't believe how efficient we were – she and I set up the nativity set and decorated the Christmas tree in just a few hours. And it was so fun! We were still a bit loopy from getting up at 4 am to shop the Black Friday sales ... but that just made it all the more fun.

Our tree has primarily "tropical" ornaments, plus some other special ones mixed in. We have a little tradition of buying ornaments when we go on vacation.

Also over the weekend, we played a couple highly competitive games of Monopoly (one of my personal favorites!). It was a blast. 

The day after.

On Thanksgiving day, I bought a newspaper so I could browse though all the black friday advertisements. I'm much more of a shopper than a buyer, so I really get a kick out of flipping through all the inserts.

Corey has been thinking about buying a blu-ray DVD player for a few months and our current DVD player is in the process of dying, so Corey researched who had the best deals on blu-ray players. Before too long, we realized that WalMart was having a huge sale on them. I'm not one to pay full price for something if I can get a better deal on it somewhere else, so I started recruiting someone to accompany me to WalMart at 4 am the next morning. Lucky for me, my buddy Maria was up to the challenge. She'd never been to a black friday shopping event before, so she thought it sounded fun (what was she thinking?! haha). Since we were going to be up and out anyway, we decided to also stop at Herbergers (a department store in the mall) to get some new silverware.

I actually woke up before my alarm – I think I was pretty excited. So out we went at 4 am, Friday morning to WalMart. The store is open 24-hours a day, so we didn't have to wait outside (yay!). But to make it a bit more fair and to build up the whole "black friday" hoopla, WalMart wrapped the pallets of sale items with black plastic and lined them up along the middle of all the main walkways through the store.

When we arrived (at about 4:15 am) there was a small crowd already in the store, with groups of people gathered around their plastic-wrapped pallet items. But by the minute, more and more and more people arrived and quickly grew the gatherings to a mass of bargain shoppers. At this point I questioned why I was not in bed asleep.

After a bit of eavesdropping, Maria and I realized that we were fortunate to be two of only a few people looking to score a cheap Blu-Ray player. Most of the folks around us were looking to buy a large flat-screen TV. Piece of cake, I thought, we'll let the folks up front get their player, we'll stand back and wait, then when it's our turn, I'll grab on of the 40 of so players and then make our way to the cash registers.

At 5 am sharp, every Walmart employee was called to their "station" to cut the black plastic off the pallets. With that, people started getting crazy. Apparently quite a few of the folks around us (who I thought were just shopping for TVs) decided they wanted blu-ray DVD players too – and not just one – these people were grabbing two, three and four at a time. As I'm "sitting back and waiting for my turn" I notice the pile of boxes is getting lower and lower so I watch for a break and I sneak in and grab one. Yay! I got one!

... Then for the journey to the front of the store. Through the mass of people, highway of shopping carts piled high with goodies, shoppers trying to move huge big-screen TVs, and coffee spilled on the floor, we somehow made it to the front of the store in one piece. I made a quick detour to the cough and cold medicine for Corey (he's sick) and then we got in line.

We had fun watching what everyone was buying ... toys, lots of big screen TVs, and lots and lots and lots of DVDs. Some people were buying 20 to 30 DVDs. I began thinking I missed out on some great deals. Turns out we did - many were $2. crazy! We did get one that someone abandoned on the gum rack - awesome.

We're proud to say we survived our WalMart black friday adventure and scored a $129 blu-ray player and $2 DVD.

Our new Blu-ray DVD player:

Herbergers was much less interesting, so I'll keep it short and just say that we got what we went for, plus two nice bed pillows for under $15 and three rolls of Christmas wrapping paper for 75% off.

Thanksgiving 2008

For this first time in my life, I hosted a major holiday gathering and meal at our house. After a few evenings of cleaning and cooking, Corey and I were ready. When everyone started arriving Wednesday, I knew this was going to be even more fun than I had imagined.

Look at those cute turkeys made of cookies and candy - so neat!

In all, there were nine of us for dinner. I had planned to use two tables ... but at the last minute, we remembered that our dining room table has a built-in (under the table) expander leaf, so in a matter of minutes, there was enough room for all if us to eat together. It was great. 

The nine included Corey and me, three of Corey's siblings, and Corey's parents and grandparents.

Corey's mom and I cooked most of the food - turkey, stuffing, hamburger and rice (a Hager tradition), gravy, mashed potatoes, pecan topped sweet potatoes, whisky glazed carrots, cranberry salad, cranberry sauce, bread, and coleslaw made by Corey's dad. I think I'm leaving out something ... there was just so much delicious food.

During the day, we complied a long list (written on a roll of adding machine paper) of things we're thankful for. The list included everything from health to family to random things like chemistry.

We wrapped the list around our Christmas tree.

'Domination before migration'

My bonus sister (Corey's sister) Maria is on a North Dakota Class B volleyball team that competed in the state tournament last weekend. Not to brag or anything, but they are the defending state champions - woo hoo!

Corey and I drove up to Minot (where the tournament was being held) on Friday evening to surprise Maria (and Corey's parents).  This was my first "class B" experience. For those that don't know, Class B schools are the small North Dakota schools. This encompasses the vast majority of North Dakota schools since most are in small, outlying communities. I had been told that the Class B towns really 'rally the troops' for their teams and support them fully.

Well ... knowing this I went in with a few expectations, which were all fulfilled and exceeded. The fan support was unlike anything I've ever witnessed - and then some. It was truly amazing. It was really special being a part of the crowd, cheering on the team. 

Turns out, Corey and I were bad luck for the team – they went to five matches but lost the series. The next day they got a few wins to finish third overall. Good job!

p.s. the volleyball team created their own marketing slogan for the tournament, "domination before migration" ... their mascot is the honker (Canadian goose), which migrate south this time of the year. I though this was so cool! Go Honkers!

My top five favorite Christmas albums

To kick off Christmas music season (for me that's almost year-round) ... here are my top six favorite Christmas music albums. I tried to keep the list to five but just couldn't do it.

My number one requirement – can't sound like it's going to "go out of style" next year.

Here are my six favorite Christmas albums (in no particular order):

Christmas at Rao's: A Celebration of Family, Friends and Holiday Spirit (compilation)

This little gem only makes the list because it contains one if my favorites, Dominick the Donkey. The remainder of the album is just so-so.

Slack Key Christmas (compilation)

Hawaiian Christmas tunes - I purchased this on our honeymoon almost exactly one year ago today. Mele Kalikimaka anyone? (all instrumental)

Mistletoe and Meriment (compilation)

Another album full of good ol' fun Christmas classics. This one even has The Beach Boy's Little Saint Nick.

A Charlie Brown Christmas, Vince Guaraldi Trio

I don't even own the whole album, only two songs – Christmastime is Here and Linus and Lucy – but those two would be worth the cost of a while album. The songs remind me of the "Charlie Brown on Ice," Christmas show in Santa Rosa.

Christmas With the Rat Pack (compilation)

I like every single one of the songs on this album. Great stuff.

Die Schönsten Deutsche Weihnachtsleider, Offenbacher Kinderchor

German children's church choir. I won't be karaoke-ing to this anytime soon but it's a beautiful album.

Honorable mention:

Billboard Greatest Christmas Hits: 1935-1954 (compilation)

Lawrence Welk: 22 Merry Christmas Favorites

Christmas Celebration, Manheim Steemroller

I'm always looking to add to my collection ... what are your favorite Christmas albums?

Here are some links to purchase the CDs on Amazon:

I realize this is early ... but ...

Yes, my tree is up. Yes, I'm happy as a clam about it. Here's how it went down. I decided to take the plunge and invest in an artificial tree this year - for a few reasons, primarily the fire hazard that are real trees and the mess. So anyway, off tree shopping went. I quickly got frustrated and confused to I turned to google and stumbled upon a nice artificial tree seller called Balsam Hill. Their clearance area and free shipping lured me in and viola! a few day later we had a very large box of Christmas tree (seven feet of Christmas tree to be exact) on our porch. After about an hour or two of fluffing, we have a very lovely tree in our living room :) I couldn't be happier. It's so bright and festive.

Corey, however, thinks it's still a wee bit early to be having a lit Christmas tree on display, so we made a deal that I'll leave the lights turned off until Thanksgiving – at which time it will be lit in full beautiful wonderfulness for all to see. hurray!

Also in Christmas tree news, yesterday I finished quilting the tree skirt I've been working on. This is turning out to be one of my favorite quilting projects yet – primarily because it's small and I don't get sick of it before I finish it. Here it is – I had to "try it on" the tree before sewing on the outer edge (binding). The pattern is from here.

I'm so darn excited for Thanksgiving and Christmas, they are definitely my two favorite holidays. Later this week I'll share my list of favorite Christmas CDs and evergreen potpourri. I'm joking. Well, on second thought ...

Stay tuned.

Our tree:

Happy Anniversary to us!

We had a fantastically amazing newlywed year - with trips to Hawaii, California, Reno, Kenmare, Linton, Minnesota, Fargo, Boston and Medora ... the year was packed full of wonderful memories. Thank you, Corey for all the laughs and fun - I can't wait to see what the next year has in store for us. Thanks to all our family and friends for their support during our first year.

Corey's birthday surprise

For the first time in my life, I successfully kept a secret.

About six months ago I decided to throw Corey a surprise 30th birthday party. After lots of planning and secret keeping, the party happened on Saturday – Corey was shocked! It was so fun to surprise him. This was no small miracle - with the combination of my horrible ability to keep a secret and his amazing psychic-like talent of "knowing" secrets - it made surprising Corey that much sweeter.

The party was held at the bowling alley, with lots of food, drinks, and of course, bowling. Thanks to everyone who attended and an extra thank you to everyone who helped make the party possible (Grandma, Grandpa, and Ronda get gold stars for all their help). Thank you so much.

Here are a few photos from the day. One of the highlights was witnessing Parker's (my cousin) first bowling experience. He loved rolling the ball down the lane and then running over the the ball return to wait for it to come out. If it took too long he got very angry. So funny!

Here are the three amigos bowling: Corey, Mike and Eric. Turns out they are all decent bowlers. I was lucky to be on their team.

Click here to see more photos – look for the browse buttons to the right.

Mittens from grandma

I'm the proud new owner of two pairs of beautiful toasty warm mittens - made by my very own Grandma Katy. Thanks grandma!

Work in progress: tree skirt

I'm working on this.

So far I have completed this:

The red and green squares are made entirely of scraps from my scrap pile(s). It's neat to make a quilt (tree skirt) out of scraps that could have ended up in the garbage.

And in the process I created this fun mess of trimmings:

Football in the snow

Even snow doesn't keep the University of Mary Marauders off the field. They battle Wayne State University today. Corey and stopped in for the first quarter ... that's all I could handle before I got too cold and decided to retreat to the comforts of our car.

I think he's saying, "over there, that's where the snowman should be built." 

Some of the dedicated fans. Check out the dude in shorts - crazy!

There are few luxuries as elite as frozen, ice-covered metal bleachers.

University of Mary head coach Myron Schulz.

My hunky husband, and body guard while I take football photographs.

A new recipe and snow totals

Total rain fall = almost one inch
Total snow fall = over 9 inches
Total muscle soreness from shoveling the ice and snow = priceless

food that heals the body: Pumpkin Spice chocolate Chip Muffins

Sooooo good. yum. I maze one batch of these this morning (so I could give a few to my neighbor for helping us clear our driveway) and then I ate a few and brought a few to work and poof, I'm already down to four. I might have to make another batch soon. Get the (SUPER EASY) recipe here. I've been slowly moving my recipes over from the "old" site. They will now live at this site. Once the page is more complete I'll post a nice big link on this Bison Girl Blog site.

enjoy.

I'm already off work for today ... nice short snow day of work :)

Snowed in.

I put my morning off to good use ... I started the shoveling effort for our front driveway and porch areas. 

This is what our porch looked like this morning. When the snow fell, it was quite windy so the snow ended up forming lots of drifts ... some very deep.

Nice new fluffy cushion on our porch swing. 

Somewhere under all the snow is our street and a sidewalk.

My trusty blue shovel had its work cut out today.

I quickly noticed that I was the only one out "removing snow" with out one of these. I gotta get me one of those.

The "after" porch photograph.

Our neighbor gets the "Neighbor of the Year" award - he offered to use his snow blower to clear off our driveway :) that made me very happy. I'm baking muffins to repay them.

The TV is running a "most schools and businesses are closed, no travel advised" message across the screen. I hope they cancel work this afternoon. Corey made it to work safe ... although he's one of two, out of 40 or so in his area that made it in so far.