February 11

February 11

The schools were delayed 2 hours today to give the air a chance to warm up a little. It was so cold and windy that it really didn't help and I don't like those delays at all. Yes, it's nice to give the weather time to clear up or the road crews time to get the roads cleaned off (which as a school bus driver I really appreciate), but it just throws my whole day out of whack....I didn't make it to Weight Watchers today. By the time all the kids have been delivered to school and we get back to the bus garage it doesn't pay for me to drive home. I only have a short time and then I have to come right back. I did come home today, though. The cold water line to our bathroom sink was frozen so I left the hot water dripping and opened the cabinet doors and aimed the space heater at the pipes before I left for work. I needed to check on that. I also wanted to make sure the hopper on the pellet stove was full. Even turned back as it is when we are away, it still burns harder in this cold weather.

Tim was a little later getting home, but we still went for supper at Ruthie's Diner in Ligonier. Ruthie's has been around forever and is a true old fashioned diner with fantastic homestyle cooking at really low prices. With the cold weather I guess we were all in the mood for hearty comfort food. We all ordered breakfast! Tim had sausage biscuits and gravy, ham and home fries. Megan tried country fried steak for the first time. I had a huge bacon and mushroom omlet. That thing must have been two inches thick! Toast made from homemade bread rounded out everyone's meal. Mmmm-mmm!

After stopping to fill the truck up (just $11 after using our fuel discount from the grocery store), it was almost 9:00 when we got home. Tim got his shower and headed to bed. This time of year when he spends all day outside in the cold, coming into the warm pretty much knocks him out. It happens to me, too, as soon as I sit down to watch TV and get all cozy and warm on the couch. Megan and I watched a couple of shows and I downloaded some music to burn a CD.

Meg and I are dragging our feet about going to bed, I think, because we are kind of hoping for another delay in the morning. It is supposed to be nearly as cold tomorrow and there is snow in the forecast.

February 12

Megan and I got our snow day! My boss called first with a 2-hour delay. I turned on the local news after that and found out Meg's school was running on a delay. By 7:00 we knew we were staying home. It was a good call. It's still pretty cold, though not as windy, and we got a few inches of snow followed by freezing rain and sleet and then more snow. Tim even sent his crew home at noon and came home himself. He got to spend the afternoon puttering in his workshop. He doesn't get much time to do that.

I spent most of the day on the computer, washing clothes and cooking. Megan cleaned her room and played Guitar Hero this afternoon when her friend came over. The girls are outside sledding now. Not for me. I'm content to sit in the nice warm house and enjoy a steaming bowl of stew.

Megan and I are watching American Idol tonight. She has a big crush on one of the contestants, Drew Popplereiter. He seems like a nice, cleancut, country boy so I am rooting for him, too. Hopefully, he will go far.

February 13

It was back to work and school for everyone today and right on time even though the roads were a little dicey this morning. It was warm enough to rain, but the ground was still cold enough for the rain to freeze in some places. Then we got more snow. Not a lot, but enough to give the cars a solid dusting. It was a good bit colder and windy by this afternoon, but the roads were okay as the state and township crews were out salting all day.

I did some more laundry today while I was home between runs and tried out the new rug hooking frame I ordered from Ebay. It came brand new in the box for about $60 less than it would have cost me through a craft catalog. Tim put it together for me on Sunday, but I just didn't have time to try it out. It is really nice and so much easier on the back than sitting on the floor with the canvas on the floor in front of me or putting the canvas on the table and having to stretch to reach it. I hope it inspires me to get to all those rug kits I have sitting around.

I made oven-fried porkchops, buttered noodles and steamed broccoli for supper. It definitely wasn't a Weight Watcher's friendly meal, but Megan hasn't been too excited with the healthier fare so I took pity on her and made one of her favorites. She was so happy and went on and on about how good the porkchops were.

Tim and Megan went to Wal-Mart as soon as supper was over. They wanted to do their Valentine's Day shopping for me. They also picked up some lollipops for me to give the kids on my bus and filled the gas tank on the car for me. They got home just in time for Megan to watch American Idol with me. We are sad Drew Popplereiter fans tonight. He didn't make it into the final 24. Too bad. He really is a good country singer (you can listen to some of his songs on MySpace). We are hoping he turns up somewhere else one of these days.....like on the radio!

That darned old alarm clock goes off awfully early in the morning so I'm going to go fill the hopper on the pellet stove and head to bed.

February 17

A rainy Sunday afternoon and while it's not too cold outside (about 40 degrees) it feels nice to be inside by the pellet stove. Earlier, I went to a Pampered Chef party at a friend's. So many people have had parties lately that I am partied out, but I did order a pair of Chef's Tongs. I like that they are made of a material that won't scratch nonstick surfaces and heat resistant to 600 degrees so my family can't melt them. That is a definite plus around here!

We had a nice Valentines' Day around here. Tim and I exchanged cards before work and I gave him a couple of CD's with classic country music on them. He really likes the old stuff from the 70s. We also got Megan up so we could give her the necklace and earrings we got her. We thought she might want to wear them. She gave Tim a Ford steering wheel cover and she gave me a Toby Keith CD. Tim brought me flowers after work and I made a special supper.....t-bone steaks, sour cream and chive mashed potatoes, and salad.

Friday night Megan's friend, Heather, came over and we took the girls to the mall. They headed out on their own as soon as we got there so it was a nice night out for Tim and I. We ate Japanese for dinner at the food court, browsed in the bookstore (I found two books in the bargain section), and just walked around looking at things. We also tried staying out of the way of the teenagers. There were so many of them and they were really acting up, even the salespeople in the stores were commenting on how bad the kids were. Tim caught a couple of them in a compromising situation in the men's room and reported it to the security guards but they didn't do anything. That seemed to be the pattern all night when we saw kids acting up...we also saw security guards just standing there and watching. The girls decided they'd had enough by 8:30 so we left and took them to Heather's house to spend the night.

Saturday I did load after load of laundry. Between the cold temperatures and the rain and mud, we are dirtying up a LOT of clothes. Tim took the car for two new tires and to have the front end aligned. He ended up having to get 4 new tires and both the front and rear aligned. It needed done before we get the car inspected later this month, but I wanted the new tires on before next weekend. Tim's sister from Alabama is flying in on Wednesday with her husband and on Friday all the siblings and spouses are going to Erie for the weekend....also to Niagara Falls on Saturday. I thought it would be a very good idea to have those new tires on since the chances of running into a lot of snow up there are pretty high. With having to get 4 tires it was a lot more expensive than we'd planned on, but at least we had the money to do it.

When we picked Megan up on Saturday afternoon she asked if Heather could stay the night. We said she could. They ended up asking if another friend of theirs could stay, too. We agreed, so had 3 teenage girls overnight. I didn't expect to get any sleep, but they were pretty good and very quiet. I think they actually slept some because one girl had to go to softball practice today and the other had to help move her aunt.

Tim's been working outside cleaning up around the yard and puttering around in his workshop today. Other than the party, I've done a couple more loads of laundry and have been reading. I'm in the middle of a really good thriller that is driving me nuts because I just can't figure out who the bad guy is. More of the same is on tap for this evening.

Have yourself a great week!