Tis the Season...part 3

Decorating the house with lights...

A wreath I made YEARS ago...lights STILL work! Yay!

Front and side of house...and the little bush too.

Back porch...

Side of house... you can sort of see the tree in the window too!

Sorry the pics are kind of blurry, it was cold and I was not wearing a coat. On the bright side, more than half our snow melted! Yay!

What a day....

I have had it with the snow and it's just the beginning!

My son had a post op doctors appointment this morning at 11:30.

I woke up at 6am, no new snow. I watched as dark ominous clouds dropped lower and lower.
As the time to leave came closer, it started to snow.

But not a lot... just a few light flakes.

No big deal, I cleared snow a few days prior and even sanded the drive.

So we left. No problem getting out, although the roads were really icky. They are snow packed, and sanded on hills and curves. I know how to drive them, but that in no way means that I'm not paranoid about it. So we drove carefully to town to the dr's office.

As we drove, the snow started falling thicker.

And thicker.

Well, while I am in town, I might as well shop for groceries and run a few errands. So we went to the store.

We came out and it was snowing harder!

It was a huge pain in the backside pushing a basket full of food and other things through 3 inches of snow, slush, and ice.

And then the temps started warming up.

Uh oh.

Snow + warmer temps = slush = problem getting up driveway. At least it was at the old house.

Please, oh please, stay cold enough just so I can get home, THEN warm up and melt this snow!

As I drive home, the snow stops and the clouds clear. I was SO happy!

But then I turned to go up my drive and the next thing I know, I'm stuck in a berm.

Great.

I nearly burst into tears because all I wanted was to get inside and have some tea and relax. But then a super nice lady - and I wish I got her name - stopped and asked if I would like some help.

YES!!

She had a big SUV and I have tow hooks on my car. I grabbed one of hubby's chains that he uses when he falls trees and we hooked up. She pulled me out of the berm and onto the road where I could drive to a flat spot and put my chains on.

She even helped me put my chains on.

With my chains, I zoomed up the drive, parked, and ran back out to thank her.

She was gone.

I have no idea who she was, or where she lives, but THANK YOU!!!

Now I can have my tea, and some chocolate....

Tis the Season...part 2

Just putting up more decorations. I have used all the ornaments I own and the tree still looks bare.


I found more ornaments and put them on, and the tree STILL looks bare.


I think I'll need to get some more! LOL I also need more garland and bows to finish wrapping the banister.

I have never decorated so much in my whole life - and even this isn't very much. lol

Tis the Season....

Most people start decorating their homes for Christmas just after Thanksgiving. Christmas trees are being sold in parking lots and then there are all the songs being played over the speakers while you shop.

And in North Idaho, there is snow.

This year we did our Thanksgiving early because hubby won't be home - he was just home and just left first thing this morning. So we decided to have our celebration this weekend. It was great! We fried a turkey and had mashed potatoes and gravy, stuffing, green bean casserole, rolls, and pecan pie.

The next day we hiked the area and found a Christmas tree.

Since I was younger (I won't say how long ago that was), I had seen several people who had very tall Christmas trees and since then, I've always wanted one. At least once in my life.

While we were hiking, hubby and I spotted the perfect tree. He sawed it off at the base and we both had to haul it back to the house about a mile. We should have used the truck to drag it back, it would have been so much simpler. Hubby says it's a Grand Fir...like this...only MUCH bigger.


It was interesting getting this huge tree back to the house, let alone IN the house. Just outside, we trimmed it up a bit, measured, trimmed some more, measured some more, and had to lop off 4 feet so that it would fit in the house. In the end, it stands 14 feet tall!

The next thing I knew, it was in the house, lying on the floor.

You will have to excuse the messy school corner over there to the left...and the rugs. I put them down to help catch the needles.

Poppy swears she did not make tree fall over!

After about two hours of wrestling this massive tree, we finally got it up in it's base and in the window.

I know, it's not centered in the window...I didn't have another place to put Dustin's desk and computer and all the school things, so it's not centered.

Hubby got the tall ladder out and a pole and we started stringing lights. Usually we use 2 strings on our tiny 5 foot fake tree, and I noticed that this tree would be awfully bare with only 2 strings. So we hunted down our Christmas decorations and found TONS of lights. Way back when we first moved to Washington, we had tons of lights on our house - icicles, trees, bushes, etc. So we cannibalized them for our new tree.


Today, and the next day, and the day after that, I'll probably spend decorating the tree with ornaments and ribbons and whatnot. I'll get a final picture when I'm done. The tree makes the entire house smell so good! A fresh pine scent completely overpowers anything else!

And, it's a good thing we got this tree when we did, because this morning we woke up to this...

6 inches of "Cascade Cement"!

Tis the Season!

Post Op

Today my son had his surgery to remove the rods that were put in his leg back in July when he fell and broke his leg.

All weekend he was totally fine and as soon as we got to the hospital and he had to get an iv, he started shaking. Poor little thing was scared. And so was I.

I know it was a minor procedure, and his Dr has done these kinds of things many times, but when it's your own, you always worry about those possibilities that might happen.

The nurses and doctors came in and out of pre op and took vitals, gave him happy drugs, and got him all ready. Then they wheeled him away.

Hubby and I walked back to the waiting room and we waited.

For 10 minutes.

Then a nurse came out and said that the doctor was almost done, just putting the finishing touches on. He would be out to talk to us in about 15 minutes.

So we waited.

For 2 minutes.

My son's doctor came out and told us everything went well and he was in stage 1 recovery where they first wake up. He would be ready for stage 2 in 30 minutes.

So we waited again.

A nurse came out to get us and told us that he was in stage 2 and we could see him. Hubby and I went in and found him fully aware and gabbing away to the doctors and nurses.


He looked like he was visiting the spa! LOL

We sat with him while they watched and took vitals and a few post op things. Then they gave him something to eat and drink.

Then a nurse brought his "hardware" to him. The nails that had been in his leg for the past 4 months.


45 minutes later and we were on our way home. The actual surgery took less time than driving into town!

He's home and doing well. Dr orders to use crutches for a few days and eat light til tomorrow. He has his knee all bandaged up and goes back for post op check up Monday.