2 to 4 means 8

Yesterday the weatherman forcasted 2 to 4 inches of snow. We ended up with 8. As I was lying in bed, I looked at the clock around 8a.m. and thought it was awfully quiet. Usually by 6 you can hear cars going by in front of our house, but I heard nothing. I got up, put on my robe and looked outside to see all the snow. It was still snowing heavily, the street in front of my house was completely covered, and you couldn't see across the lake at all. With John already gone to work I knew it was going to be my job to shovel the driveway.

My neighbor texted me around 9 and said she had stupidly driven to the gym to teach spin and was nervous about coming home around 11 and was warning me she'd be calling to be frantic about driving. I went out to shovel around 11, took one look at the street and wondered if she'd be able to make it up when she got home. We were texting and she told me she had talked to our landlord and he said he'd come get her, bring her here, snow blow the driveway, and then take her back to her car after he was done. I told her she was nuts to wait and that I'd come get her, but she said she'd just wait for him. An hour later, I told her I was coming to get her. I told her for all we knew he'd end up forgetting her or Lord only knows when he'd come to get her.

So I met her down the street at the gas station where she got in my car, left her car there, and we headed home. I thought for sure I'd be able to get up the street, but I was wrong. Too many people had come up and down who had 4 wheel drive and a van tried with no success which compacted the snow making it impossible for anyone without 4 wheel drive to get up. So I parked my car in the middle of the street, got out, and we contemplated what to do. She said I should wait for Mark and I would have if I knew he was reliable, but he's not. So I figured if we could just shovel a little patch for me to get traction, I'd be able to get the rest of the way up. That didn't work. So we said screw it, and decided we'd shovel the whole damn street up to our driveway. Two paths, one for each tire. We didn't want to do it considering it ISN'T our job and is supposed to be taken care of by our landlord, but as I said, he is completely unreliable. You never know if or when he's going to show up, and I didn't wanna leave my car parked in the middle of the street for God only knows how long.

So we shoveled for maybe an hour or so until we got a path cleared. We were pissed because there was some ass up the street with a snow blower who SAW us out shoveling. He didn't come to help with his snow blower, nor did he ever come to say thank you. It's just so aggravating since everyone on this street is responsible for it, and for us, our landlord is responsible for clearing it...not us, but if Melissa and I ever wanna be able to get up the street and not wait around, we have to do it ourselves.

Here's what we shoveled. We are some bad ass girls! We were pissed we did it, but a little proud that we're strong enough to be able to physically do it all and still function the next day.

Adding On

We finally added a new piece of equipment to our basement aka home gym. A treadmill!! I've been wanting one for about a year now and we finally bought one the day after Thanksgiving. It came today and John put it together after he got home for work. Now all we need is an extension cord to plug it into the only outlet we have downstairs. I'm eager to use it, but on the other hand, I'm afraid to use it until I find out what is wrong with my hip and unfortunately, I have to wait until the 30th when my appointment is with the orthopedic doctor. I'm hoping that no matter what the verdict that it's A. fixable and B. nothing serious. In the mean time, I use the elliptical since it's no impact but that treadmill is going to taunt me like no other. ARGH!

Rewards

It's no secret that I loved teaching in Las Vegas, and everything about it. I think about it every single day of my life and I'm constantly wondering how my students are doing. I created a Myspace page for me as Mrs. Nakel the teacher the summer that I left Vegas in order to keep in touch with my kids. 34 of them are my "friends" on there that I keep in touch with. I randomly drop them a line or two to say hi and see how they're doing in school and life. Below is what one of my students wrote to me the other day. Forgive the all caps and lack of use of punctuation. For whatever reason, they never use it in emails!

Hello ms wow i havent herd from you in so long i miss you!
YEAH I DO HAVE A BOYFRIEND IM VERY HAPPY BUT I WILL NOT COMMIT THE SAME MISTAKE TWICE. WELL SCHOOL IS GREAT JUST ENJOYIN MY SOPHMORE YEAR LAST YEAR WAS VERY SUCSESSFUL FOR ME I GOT MANY INVITES TO MANY OTHER SCHOOLS I MET IMPORTANT PEOPLE FROM THE CULINARY INDUSTRY AND THERE INTRESTED IN ME. MY GRADES ARE PERFCT WELL I ONLY HAVE ONE C IN UGLY BORING BIOLOGY BUT OTHER THAN THAT IM VERY GOOD.
I MISS YOU LOTS AND IF YOU EVER DROP BY COME TO MY SCHOOL I GO TO ECTA STILL LIKE LAST YEAR. ALL MY TEACHERS ARE GOOD BUT I WILL NEVER MEET A TEACHER BETTER THAN YOU. YOU HELPED ME OUT WHEN I MOST NEEDED IT AND THANKS TO YOU IVE CHANGED MY WHOLE LIFE AROUND STOPED HANGIN OUT WITH THE WRONG PEOPLE AND DEDICATED TO MY WORK RATHER THAN OTHER THINGS THAT CAN AFFCT ME.
I WILL NEVER BE ABLE TO TELL YOU HOW MUCH YOU CHANGED MY LIFE THANK YOU!!!

This is why I miss teaching. The rewards like this.

Let it Snow!

Today was our first official day of snow! It started around 12:30pm and hasn't stopped since and it's now 8pm. I'd say there is less than an inch of snow on the ground. It's been a very wet snow and started out around 38 degrees today which I think is why there isn't much accumulated on the ground. I think we're only supposed to get 1-2 inches total by morning which is fine by me. It was such a big pretty snow though!

We spent the afternoon doing some Christmas shopping along with the rest of the people of Saratoga Springs. Luckily we only needed to stop at Dicks, Bed Bath and Beyond, and Kohl's. Before we went anywhere though, we made a stop at Dunkin Donuts drive-thru so I could try their peppermint mocha latte. It was delicious!! I was a little nervous about whether or not I was going to like it, but I did so it wasn't a wasted trip, nor waste of $1.99.

First Christmas Card

We got our first Christmas card today and it was from my sister. I absolutely love the picture of my nephews that she used. They are just too cute for words!

Ouch

I had another dermatologist appointment today to get a larger, deeper section of my mole taken out in the hopes of getting all the "bad" cells. It was a quick and relatively painless procedure, but after about 8 hours, it's really starting to hurt! I have 3 stitches and a band-aid and I'm hoping I won't have to go back anymore for this particular mole, or any others for that fact. Other than the pain that comes with after having the mole removes, the biggest pain is that it takes me a half hour to get to the office for a 5-10 minute visit. I wish it was closer, but this is where the insurance will pay for it, so therefore I will make the drive. Hopefully after my full body check in January I won't have to go back for another year.

December Already?

I can't believe that it's December already. I don't know where the time went. It seems like just yesterday I was leaving Washington and spending the holidays in Cincinnati without John, and then moving here to New York. My how time flies.

We took our picture for our Christmas card last night and of course I'm not super happy with it. It's hard to take a good picture when 1. you have to take the picture yourself and 2. when your husband isn't much of a smiler. It's ok I guess, but just not what I had in mind. You can judge for yourself when you get it in the mail. I honestly toyed around with the idea of even sending a photo card because let's face it, most people do a photo card when they have kids and the whole nine yards. I wanted to do a photo card because it gives me an excuse to take a decent picture of John and me, and I can write what I want to have printed on the card along with our names, which means the only thing I have to do is address the envelopes. Yes, that seems incredibly lazy on my part, but it's easier, so it wins in my book.

I leave for Cincinnati in 14 days and as much as I like being there, I'm ready to be there and be back home here.

Another thing I'm ready for...SNOW!! I was hoping that by now we'd already have some, but no. I should probably bite my tongue and not even say that I'm ready for snow because once we get it, we really get it. But, without snow, it just doesn't feel like Christmas. So hopefully on December 25 in Cincinnati, we'll have a white Christmas.