The last week here has been…. well, CRAZY! We’ve gotten a huge dump of snow here in the last week. I think we’re up to the fourth snow storm coming in the next day or so. Today marks day 9 of being stuck at home, except for a brief amount of time on Friday, when the weather cleared and we had time to get Christmas gifts. We now have 8 inches for now and a 1/2 inch of ice on top of that snow here in Hillsboro, Oregon. I can’t believe it’s this bad. I’m pretty sure that this snow storm is worse than the storm of 2003/2004. I mean already highway 84 has been closed several times and chains have been required for all cars around town for days.

When this crazy weather started I was excited at to prospect of a white Christmas but now, it’s looking like it’s gong to be a small affair for Christmas because the snowy weather is supposed to continue for the next week which will mean bad roads and I don’t want my mom and Eric’s parents making a treacherous trip like that. Like I said… this is day nine and I’ve got cabin fever so bad… heck, even Eric has cabin fever. We’ve played video games, watched movies and tv.. for tons of hours. We’ve even broken out a puzzle to do… that’s how bored we are. We’re both sick of being home and getting bored with it all. I’ve taken some time to make some holiday caramels and I think here in a bit I’ll make some sugar cookies. I think the other thing that stinks is that this isn’t much of a Christmas break, because we can’t go anywhere, or do anything. In any case, I’m hoping the weather improves so we can all have a wonderful and safe holiday.

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Today has been snow, and snow, and snow.

Today I did it. Nope, haven’t gotten a job yet but I did something that I’ve been wanting to do for about two years now. I love our house and I love our kitchen the only bad thing is the tile in the kitchen and more specifically the grout. Whoever decided to put cream tile and light cream grout in a kitchen was nuts. Ok, it HAD to be a man. Anyway, Eric and I are avid “foodies” so we like to cook a lot which means the kitchen gets used A LOT which means, stains on the grout even when you’ve sealed it.

Today the solution was implemented. I re-grouted most of the kitchen (just have the counter with the wine frig on it and the counter between the stove and the pantry left, oh and the bar) with this stain-proof grout from Home Depot. I’ve been wanting to do it forever because the kitchen always looks dirty even when it’s clean because of the grout. I thought it was going to be a pain in the but and take forever but it didn’t. To do most of the kitchen took about 3 hours which wasn’t bad in my mind at all. Now the grout is curing and looking wonderful. Every couple of hours or so Eric walked up while I was finishing and commented that it looked great. I can’t wait until it’s all done and then the problem is solved.

Hey, Julie… Want me to come up and do your kitchen while you’re on bed rest and I’m still looking for a job? I’d be happy to do it.

Off to bask in my accomplishments for today and a big drink of water. Tomorrow I’ll tell ya what’s up with the weight-loss and eating better. Hint… it’s going well.

Don’t know if you’ve heard but the weather in Portland tonight is NUTS!!! We’ve had crazy rain and wind all night. In fact, Eric and I just spent the last 5 hours in the dark, OK, well not in the total dark, we did have flashlights and candles but in the dark pretty much.

About 7pm tonight the power went out in our whole development. I called PGE and found out the there are more than 45,000 people without power tonight. I’d watched on the TV earlier in the night and learned that there were several roads closed because of downed power lines and blown transformers so i wasn’t super surprised when we lost power. What I really didn’t like was that Eric was in Lake O taking a final and I was home alone, in the pitch black with a dog not sure what to make of things. I managed to grab the camp lantern (battery powered) and some flashlights and things and made myself ad home and started reading my book, anything to get my mind off the fact that I was home alone, in the dark and only had my cell phone.

Eric got home a little later and then headed to the grocery store for batteries for the radio, a battery powered alarm clock and a cheap phone. We have phones but they, like most people’s require electricity to work. When Eric got back he offered to make me some Chai tea. I mentioned to him that we didn’t have a way to do it. he reminded me about the joys of a gas stove. He turned it on, used the BBQ lighter to light it and in no time we had hot water for tea. YEAH!!!!

Although tonight was sort of not fun, missed some of our favorite shows, it was a lot of fun. I had lit a whole bunch of candles so we weren’t in the dark. it was nice to have some quiet and just relax a little. Eric got to play his new game on the DS while I read my Jodi Picoult book. It reminded me that we need to sometimes just turn off the TV, shut out the world and just be. I mean it was so nice to just sit together in the same room and just enjoy our hobbies without the whirl of the world.

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One of the many things Julie and I did while the guys were golfing, was to head to Carefree for the day. We found this super cute English Tea shop that has a great lunch and high tea. It was so much fun to choose a hat to wear while enjoying a high tea. The food was phenomenal, the tea awesome and the shop too cute for words. Julie and I had a great day. It was so fun to do something so fruu fruu. We both joked that we’d never get Eric or his father in a place like that. It was lace, tea cups and all sorts of things from wall to wall.

I’ve been down here in AZ for about 5 days with Eric, my mother-in-law and father-in-law and LOVING it. I’m being really bad about posting partly because we’re just having too much fun, swimming, reading in the warm sun shopping, the spa, the sun, etc while the boys golf and also because there’s only Internet (wireless) in the lobby which mean little contact with the outside world which isn’t half bad. I’m having such a relaxing time I honestly wish I could stay down here. It’s been in the high 60′s to mid 70′s this whole time. Right now it’s 74 and sunny outside. God I love the sun, I can’t get enough of it. It’s times like this that make me realize how much I hate the rain in Portland.

Today Eric and I are off to visit some of my friends down here while his parents have a quiet night at home. No Pinochle tonight. Oh, that’s another thing, Eric and his parents taught me how to play so we’ve been playing several hands every day so far us “girls” are up two games.

Pictures will come but not until I get home, can’t be bothered posting them right now because every minute here on my computer is another minute I’m not in the sun Keep warm all my northern friends and know I’m not jealous of the cold at all..