Really need a break

In the last few weeks, we have spent more than I care to think about. My car alone has been in the four digit range (and is now making the same noise as before--don't get me started!). We were told Hank has a cyst that should be removed, but nothing urgent. And there have been a few other things too.

Today, we found out Winnie has a hernia. A very bad hernia that needs immediate surgery. She is going in the morning to have it fixed and she'll be "fixed" too. I just need a break from all the expenditures. I'm trying not to think about all of it too hard. But dang!

We also found out today the pond where the girls and John fish most often breached and fully drained at Fort Jackson. Also, Hwy. 601, south of us, is closed somewhere also. I am not sure if the road is there and needs securing or if it has collapsed.

Venturing out again

Today, we ventured out again. The State Fair changed their turn in dates for Home and Crafts to just today. So, we had to get Jesse's entry to the fair grounds. Getting to the fair grounds was easy. The problem came with going from the fair grounds to the zoo.

John wanted to take the girls to the zoo, since they have been cooped up for a few days and the zoo was going to be open. We were doing well until Huger and Gervais when we had to go right or left. John chose left. I don't know left. And that proved to be obvious. I think it took about twenty minutes to find our way to the zoo, which was three miles, tops, from where we turned. Oh, well. Lesson learned. Remember the old saying, "when you're lost, go right." We sort of forgot that one.

After arriving home, I went back to Porter and turned right. I was hoping to see why the road is closed. Is the road missing? Are there trees down? Honestly, I still don't know why. There is a barricade pretty far away from the second barricade (the plastic netting). There are actually two nets; there is some space between the two, but I just couldn't see what was going on. I did see some DOT workers (I hope they were DOT) and a DOT truck was behind me. So, I still don't know exactly what is going on, just that the road is closed.

A sunny day, but far from over

Today is beautiful! The first day in weeks the sun has shone. The temperature is wonderful and you just want to get out.

Roads are still caving. Where there were no problems with roads yesterday, roads are collapsing today. Not just sidewalks, but the entire road, all the way across, and five to ten feet wide. I believe I mentioned yesterday about Spears Creek Road collapsing. This morning a friend of mine posted on Facebook a second section of that road (all the way across the road) has crumbled, just a few feet above where it collapsed yesterday.

I worry about getting out on some of the bridges, that already worried me structurally speaking, because once people start getting out and traffic builds, weight on the bridges build are more bridges going to collapse? I told my Mom last night driving right after Hugo wasn't as scary as being out yesterday seeing all the roads washed away.

We have tried to keep our minds off of everything today. The girls rode their bikes today while John and I walked down the hill. We are also still trying to get Hank and Winnie closer. Rosie just wants to lick Winnie constantly, which Winnie does not really appreciate.

We have left Winnie's crate door open today. Hank has been more relaxed; he would go a bit crazy when he heard the squeak of her door opening. But she still is not adventuring out of her crate unless we take her out. John says she is the calmest cat he has ever seen. I agree...but don't tell him that.

I should really post daily!

I'll start with last Thursday at taekwondo. I was practicing my new form. I was at the second spin, reverse heel kick. In the middle of the kick, I was thinking this is looking really good. Then, it all went wrong. Oh, so wrong! My foot that was suppose to be planted on the floor went up into the air; I became horizontal then crashed into the floor with my entire body. Oh, the pain. Okay, it didn't hurt. It did knock the wind out of me. By the end of the night my right hip was sore and the next couple of days my shoulder blades and lower back were a bit stiff. I'm fine now, thanks for asking.

Friday, Hank was bad. There was a gold cat (not one of ours) on our back deck. I went out to look around the backyard before letting Hank out and I didn't see the cat. Hank bolted out the back door right to the cat. The cat ran down the backyard and jumped. I thought it jumped over the fence (that is what our cats do), but NOOOOO. This stupid cat jumped up a tree. Then, while Hank was at the bottom of the tree barking at the cat, the cat jumped down. They rolled around with each other for about five seconds then the cat when up another tree. This is when I caught up with them, grabbed Hank and took him inside. It wasn't until late that night we saw his leg was swollen. We hit the scraps, or bites, with peroxide a few different times that night. By Saturday night he was fine. Crazy dog.

Saturday the girls and I drove northward. I went to my Uncle Carroll's funeral with my Mom and the girls entertained Grandpa. They enjoyed seeing the snow/ice that was left there, but really wanted their own snow. lol John went south to visit with his Mom. He saw one of his sisters too.

Sunday we relaxed. I started on my book club book again. They are asking us to turn them in early for other to be able to read them...they are short on this particular book. And since I won't make it that night, I really wanted to turn my in the next time we go to the library. (I finished it this morning.)

Monday was a hectic morning. Rosie went in for her shots. She is now on glucosamine for her knees. I was told when she was a puppy her Boston Terrier side would give her this problem. I'm just glad they make it in treat form so she'll take it. Then I had to take Hank in for a re-check (they called me when I was on my way home) from his visit last summer. Like I said, Monday was hectic.

I had not checked my emails since Saturday morning. Okay, I have not touched a computer at all since Saturday morning. So yesterday I was going through my seventy emails. I found two from the Library. Both girls had entered a drawing into the "Kids in Print" at the Richland County Library back in November. The emails were informing us both girls' drawings were accepted. There will be a reception in a couple of weeks and they don't have rehearsal so they can go. They were both so happy.

Today, it snowed! Okay, it was not even a "dusting" but it did snow. The girls went out this morning and played a bit. They built the tiniest of snowmen. But they had a great time and the dogs did too from what the girls told me.

A note about Chloe. She did not make volunteer of the year, but she was so happy so was nominated.

Sleet and more snow/sleet

We wound up getting about 5 inches of sleet here. The one thing we prepared for was not having power. It flickered a few times yesterday, but never went out. We were lucky. John's sister, Kim, texted this morning they had no power. He called her to talk for a few minutes to find out, after he talked to his Mom last night, her power went out too. As of tonight at 8pm, Oma still had no power. We are really hoping it will get back on for all of them soon. But the news is reporting it could be up to five days.

The girls entertained themselves today. Another game of PayDay, some art projects, TV, reading and now Big Game Hunter, or something like that anyway. The three of them are quite animated when playing.

I've spent more time to day researching. I looked at some RVs, but spent some time looking into tent camping. Did you know you cannot camp in a tent, or pop-up, at Disney with dogs? I didn't. Now, I'm seriously not happy with Disney right now. Now that we have two doggies we are not going to leave them with my parents for our vacations. I'm not sure what we'll do, but we'll figure something out.

I did manage to get some laundry done today. Okay, I still have to fold everything then put it away, but it is still washed. ;)

Snow! Not exactly.

Well, since they were calling for an inch of ice, I suppose I'm happy with about 3-4 inches of sleet. There was some snow that came down for awhile this morning, but it began mixing with sleet about 8 or 9 this morning.

I could have spent the day downloading my camera; however, I didn't. lol  Surprised? Probably not. I did take a few more pictures though. I'll get to it one day. Maybe tomorrow. I haven't decided on school for tomorrow. We didn't have school today, but two days I think would be too much. I'll put it down as TBD.

We had a good day anyway. This morning we all played Payday together. Jesse won with over $45,000. I came in last, only because everyone else continuously landed on "Deal". I landed on it once. Oh, well. The girls wound up playing another game with Chloe winning it. She had over $100,000!

John and I both did some internet research. I was looking for RVs, of course. I'm not sure what he was doing, but last night he was looking at compost toilets.

I think the funniest thing today was Hank. We can always count on Rosie to not want to go out when it is wet, but Hank is always up for going out. He loved the last snow. This, however, was not snow. It was some snow with sleet. I was talking to my Dad, when John opened the door and Hank ran out turned around immediately and ran back in. I laughed so hard. He said he was having none of that! lol

I think I'll bug John some more and go look at RVs more. :)

Where's the snow?

The girls have been so excited expecting the snow the meteorologists were calling for. Rehearsals were canceled. Schools were closed (all day). Stores closed between Noon and 2pm. Yet, we sit here, at almost 7:30pm, and still no snow. To say the girls are annoyed would be an understatement.

We do have some freezing rain, or sleet. The deck is slick all over. Hank tried to pull me off the steps going out, then I almost fell again coming back in. He's a little excitable. lol  We were looking forward to snow, not icky ice. Rosie was not impressed.

We still managed to get school in today. And even baked some cupcakes. You know that counts as Home Ec, right? And laundry is almost caught up. Almost.

Sunny today and snow tomorrow?!

Today was absolutely gorgeous! So glad John was home today; therefore, no school. We took a short trip to the zoo. Short because all the food places (except pizza) were closed today. I'm not sure who decided that, but we saw quite a few families leaving at lunch because of it. The weather was perfect. And we had fun while we were there.

Chloe got up this morning, put on her coat and shoes then went right out to swing. lol  Jesse is harder to wake up, so she didn't swing until we got home from the zoo. I think they spent about an hour swinging this afternoon. Crazy! But I'm glad they are enjoying them.

Chloe had rehearsal tonight. I really don't think they will have rehearsal tomorrow and maybe not even on Wednesday, if it stays as cold as the meteorologists are saying. Opening night is Friday and I'm really hoping everyone knows their parts. Costumes haven't been handed out yet either. My fear is Thursday night is going to be L.O.N.G. Oh! If you haven't ordered tickets yet, then you are out of luck. I heard tonight the show is a sellout.

Lesson learned: Sometimes I have to be reminded that my thoughts are different from others. Tonight was one of those nights, but not knowing this person I kept my thoughts to myself. While she was judging, I thought okay I'm not going to judge her based on this one point. Then there was another point. And more points. And then more. By the end of the night, I decided she is not the type of person I would associate with personally. I don't agree with many of my friends on many topics, but we don't judge each other. We accept each other. That is the key.

Snowbound Day II

The Morgan clan enjoyed seeing the snow yesterday; though I have to admit we did not let the girls go play outside yesterday. John was very worried about the power going out (it flickered a few times) then they would stay cold, then get sick. Don't get me wrong they had a great day...even though they had school. (I know Julia, I am so bad!) We played Foosball, they had Nerf Wars, we ate nibbled on food most of the day, and we watched the new Karate Kid. No snow, but definitely a full day!

I think Day II will not go as smoothly. You see, as much as he does not like to admit it, John likes to keep busy. He is happiest when he is doing something. Now, on day two of being snowbound, he is beginning to get antsy. And an antsy John is not necessarily a fun John (I say that with love, John). And yes the girls have school today, too. I would let them out of it but we took most of December off and now we need to focus so we will not be in school all summer.

I took a good hard look at our school calendar over the weekend. I figured out if we have school on some extra days (meaning days Daddy is home) and Drill weekends then we will be done by Memorial Day weekend. All three of us agreed this was a great course of action. Therefore, I am insisting on school. We are suppose to start our Nature classes again tomorrow, but I'm thinking that may not happen due to the weather.

Our Nature class is at Clemson Extension. For those who do not know it, this is where many science type classes are taught for schools and businesses. Our Nature class meets all the way in the back. Meaning we have to travel down a long dirt road that winds all around the grounds then goes to the woods. First, I am not sure we can make it up the hill at our house. Secondly, I'm not sure about the condition of Clemson Extension. Hopefully, we can make it.

Snow! Wow!

We actually woke to find snow on the lawn this morning. I know they were calling for it; however, I rarely ever believe them.

The girls spent quite awhile outside building a snowman, and starting a second one. Rosie kept them company for sometime before she decided she was cold.

John has been bored this morning. Sitting doing nothing is not his favorite thing and he bores easily. So. While the girls were playing in the snow, we were having our own Nerf War in the house. I believe we all had a bit of fun this morning.

The cats; however, are not amused nor happy. I believe they have finally ventured inside their houses. Though Momma was in there this morning refusing to come out to eat. Smart cat. I thought by now they would be on the front porch. You know, where it is dry and covered. But no. They are still in the back. Go figure.