Gah!!!! It's Freaking Cold!!!!

So, the temperature has dropped. Monday night when I left work, the temp was -36. Yesterday morning the temp was -46. Today it's forcast to get down to -49 or -50 for tonight's low. The forcasters are calling for some -60 temps a bit further north of us in the Yukon river valley. And they're calling for at least another week of these temps before they break for a bit. YUCK!

Of course, all this cold weather means ice fog on the drive to work. That means what LITTLE moisture is in the air, freezes. It hangs in the air as pea-soup type fog. But, instead of feeling moist and muffling sound, it clarifies sound and feels bitter cold. It burns, almost. Pity the soul who needs to go out in this without being properly dressed. Of course, those properly dressed are known to do things that seem normal to them, but idiotic to others. One of my coworkers walked several miles (she doesn't own a car) from her apartment to Walmart yesterday, and back. Even _I_ find that stupid. But I know she knows what she's doing, and she bundles well even just to walk the couple of blocks to work, or to leave the building to empty the book drops. And this time of year, I know she tries to get everything done during the earlier part of the day, to avoid being out at night as the temps are dropping even further. So, I guess it's not TOO stupid.

That, I guess, is why I think it's going to be nearly impossible for Alaskans to TRULY go no-vehical. Really, how many moms are going to drag their kids the minimum of a mile (usually more) to the grocery store on the back of a bike or a sled at -40 or -50??? And our public transportation around here sucks, so that doesn't exactly help matters. Ahhhh, anyway.

Ok, I've gotta get to work early this morning. Just wanted to give y'all some idea what our weather looks like these last couple of days. You can also go view the Arctic Cam here: Arctic Cam (This is a few blocks from where I work. Right by the Human Resources Dept. for the borough.)

Here's somebody's "Squirrel Cam" from here in North Pole, it looks like: Squirrel Cam

This one is "up the hill" at the University: Climate Research Cam

Here are some cameras (you have to click on the various place-names on the left hand side) from the air in various places around Alaska: FAA Weather Cams

Ok. Off to get ready for work.

Have a Blessed Day!

Christmas at Our House!

I hope everybody had a fantastic Christmas and a Blessed Yule, if you celebrate. I wanted to take some pictures to share our home during Christmas.

These first two are, of course, of the front of our house. One, slightly further away than the other. Oh, and in this first pic, you can see some of the snow that was falling thickly on Christmas Eve. Not as much a White Christmas as my Dad and Sis Kori had in Spokane, but still.



I love the icicle lights we've got hanging from the eves, but not so much with the lights around the window. That's ok. I'm not going to tell hubby that, as he did that just for me because he knows I like Christmas lights (however, most people have gone completely tacky these days it seems). And he wanted to do something nice for me this year, knowing I might have a harder time with NO family in the area this year, for the first year in my life.

This next, shows the silly Snoopy & Woodstock Christmas sign Scott hung on the front of the house. Again with the goofy as hell, but in a sweet way. (Also our welcome signs that we hung up this autumn, in the two days when the first snows had melted completely away.)



Next come some pictures of our Christmas tree. This one is taken without a flash, so you get to see the lights in all their glory. I REALLY prefer colored lights on the tree, but this tree came pre-lit, so it's much easier to assemble and doesn't take up much room in our little house. These pictures of the house and the tree were all taken Christmas Eve.



Next, a pic of the tree WITH flash, so you can maybe get some idea of my ornaments. I think I've hardly got two ornaments exactly alike on the tree. Oh wait! I've got two on there that are apples (plastic, of course, as real wouldn't last year to year). And I've got 2 that are lighthouse ornaments (Santa in front of a holiday lighthouse) that Dad gave me for Christmas a couple of years back. Beyond that, it's a total mish-mash of ornaments. I've got a couple of store-bought ornaments for Tay (Scooby in his dog-house, decked out for Christmas; a Tigger suspended from a couple of springs so he "boings!"). I've got a LOT of hand-made ornaments from friends. I've got a LOT of handmade ornaments from Tay. I've even got a couple of new ornaments she and I made together this year at the Correspondence Program's Christmas Party. And no topper for the tree. I'm not very big on angels, and we can't find a star that doesn't either completely over power the tree or require a secondary extension cord running the length of the tree. So, no topper. Which is fine. That light at the top does a perfect job of lighting it up even so. With the lights off, it almost looks star-like.

And here we get into Christmas morning, opening presents. Don't mind the messy hair. Neither Tay nor myself had taken the time to brush our hair yet.


The one here of me is the ONLY pic Scott took of me. *chuckle* He'd labeled this tin of Almond Roca from Jenny. (Our Samoyed mix dog.)



Here's Tay opening up the lined Crocs her daddy got her. Scott got us both a pair of those lovely lined crocs. I've taken to wearing slippers when it's too cold to go barefoot, and I can tell you that it definitely helps keep a body warmer. Well, we've had a hard time finding slippers that Tay will wear. Hopefully she'll wear these. Tay's are black with black liner, mine are brown with cream liner.

Here we get into Scott and Tay opening their gifts from Mom.






She sent them each a Green Bay Packers (American football team, Tori and Toasty!) jacket. Scott also got a nice long-sleeved shirt that looks like something a coach would wear on the sidelines, when it's not cold enough for a jacket.





Tay, holding up her jacket from Mom.



And now we get to see them try their jackets on for size!!! They were both pretty thrilled to open these gifts.





Can you see the living room of my house in the background of these pictures??? *grin* Don't mind the clutter of course, please. It seems I've scarcely got time to tidy things up, these days.

Oh, and Mom got Scott a pair of boxers as well, with the Packer's logo all over them. This prompted some pretty comical conversations. Scott's first response was "Does your mom REALLY think I'm that fat???" Apparently the boxers are in a size larger than he normally wears. I reminded him that Mom doesn't exactly have either the desire or the wherewithall to check what size undershorts Scott wears, so she picked the size that was also the size shirt she got him. They are a bit loose on him, but they'll probably shrink up a bit with a wash, and he's wearing them for pyjamas, so loose isn't totally bad.


Here we get into pictures taken over at the inlaws on Christmas Day.



The first, a pic of Tay holding her cousin, baby Brooklynn. This is my sister-in-law's youngest. The boys were out in Paxon with their Dad for the day and wouldn't be back till later in the evening. In fact, we've still got their presents under OUR tree, as they weren't around to open them.

It astonishes me how little personality Brooklynn has yet, even at 7 months old. Tay was personality from the day she was born, inquisitive and strong-willed. Always had to be checking things out. Tay also took her first steps at 8 months old. Brooklynn is just starting to crawl and cannot yet sit up on her own. I know that it's not like Brooklynn is actually late in achieving those feats (Tay was excessively early, actually). But it's somewhat strange all the same. That's the MIL standing in the background by the tree.

Here are a couple pictures of me holding the younger of my nieces. *grin* She is a sweety, when she's not fussy. I hope she grows up better natured than either of her two brothers.

Oh, and here we get a bit of a response when I start talking to her. She always seems suprised when I talk to her. Like she wonders at the oddity of a big person carrying on a conversation with her.




I wonder that maybe nobody else really talks to her. I know that a lot more yelling is done around her than is talking. Not at Brooky herself, but at her brothers, and between her parents. But it seems (and it seemed when Tay was a baby as well) that the few words invested in talking to the baby are done in unintelligable baby-talk (gobbledy-gook). Other than that, it's seemingly determined by MIL and SIL that since baby's cannot talk back, they're not worth talking TO. Fortunately I've seen Dan, Brooky's Dad, talking to her in a few quiet moments. And Tay and I talk to her. Not scientific conversations, or politics obviously. But real words spoken in real tones (if softer and somewhat sillier tones than I would use for her older brothers).



A couple more pics of Tay with the baby. Yep, that's Tay wearing a Packer's stocking cap that Mom got her for Christmas as well. She spent half the day with it on.



I tried to turn this one right side up. And I was able to do that in the modifying software, but it didn't turn up that way when I loaded it in here. *sigh* Sorry bout that. You'll just have to turn your heads to the right to see properly. *grin* (Tori, this one is Tay laying on her side on the floor with the baby.)



Just because I could, a pic of Brooky's Dad, as he was trying to figure out how to get a picture of Tay with Brooky with SIL's camera. Evidently the batteries were dead, which is why it wouldn't turn on. That's MIL and SIL in the background by the table.



And last but not least, here's a pic of Tay, MIL, FIL, and Scott around the table after SIL and Dan have left for Dan's Mom's house. Scott, Tay and MIL had been playing Monopoly (the newer, credit-card World Edition, another gift from my Mom). They spent at least 3 hours playing that game. Which is pretty precisely the reason I HATE that game. That, and I've never been big on board games. Not really. I'll play them once in a while, but I don't find them all that fun.

It was kinda comical as well, Tay tipping up from that big bottle. It's actually non-alcoholic sparkling apple cider. Last year, Tay had one that Scott caught her drinking from, and the look on her face and the way she was holding it really DID make her look like she was drinking champaigne or something. Not the case. Tay hates even the smell of alcohol and has never tried to steal our drinks. I hope that she continues in that mind-frame. But the MIL was peeved this year that Tay was drinking out of the bottle. There was only a little bit left, the FIL didn't want to put the bottle back in the fridge with that little left, and there was no sense in Tay's mind (or mine or Scott's or FIL's for that matter) in Tay dirtying up another glass when she could just tip up the bottle. It's not like she was back-washing when others might want some cider.

Anyway, so that was Christmas at our house. All in all it went pretty dang well. Tay minded her manners, no temper tantrums. Same could be said for SIL. She only got snotty with Dan a couple of times and kept it pretty mild at that. The baby fussed a bit, but it was kinda funny as well. She only fussed when she wanted to nurse, and you'd hear her going from fussy to actually out-right laughing when she caught sight of the milk-producing mammary-glands of her mama. *wink*

I felt bad for the FIL. He's struggling with the onset of diabetis, and yet he's adamant that it's not going to change his life at all. That's causing him to have problems already. One of which was that he somehow fell off of the stool in the kitchen on Christmas morning as he was working on prepping some of the goodies. MIL says he passed out (he hadn't yet been drinking more than a shot of Irish Cream in his coffee, either!) and fell off the stool. FIL says MIL pushed him off. *rolling my eyes* Either way, he had his foot hooked around one of the legs of the stool, and when he went over he wrenched his ankle. So he was walking with a hobble all day long.

I wish for his sake, and for the sake of his son (Scott), FIL would start taking better care of himself. Even if FIL isn't thrilled about prolonging his life with his nag of a wife (MIL is a HORRIBLE nag!), at least I wish he'd consider how devistated Scott's going to be when FIL passes away. Scott regards his dad as his own best friend. It really freaks Scott out that his Dad may not be long for this earth. It's bad enough that Scott's grandma's almost 90 and probably will not make it another year. The thought that his Dad might pass away in the next couple of years is so incomprehensable that Scott refuses to even consider it. Which means that if/when it does happen, Scott's going to be completely blown away by it.

Anyway..... I've gotta get the dogs outside for their morning potty-break. They've been locked in their kennels watching me write all this. But, I wanted to get it posted! And Tay wants me to cut her some sourdough bread for breakfast. So.....

Have a Blessed Day!

Some Pictures to Share.....

I know it's been ages since I've posted. I'm terribly sorry. Even when I've had time to get online lately, I've tried to get to your blogs and do some reading, but I've had little time for commenting even. I'm sorry for that.

We've been doing a LOT of hockey lately. Not during the week, ironically, but on the weekends. Here are some pictures of Tay and a couple of her teammates taken about a month or so ago. It's amazing for Scott and myself to see her next to that goal net, knowing that just last year her head barely reached the top bar. This year, she's several inches taller. It's incredible.

Tay's doing VERY well in hockey, though the same cannot be said for her team as a whole, unfortunately. We've lost all 8 of our games, so far. By BIG margins. Yesterday's game was 5 to 1, our loss. But, the play was the BEST I've seen our girls do yet. One of the girls had at least 2 shots on net, another one of the girls had at least 2 shots on net and made the ONE goal for our team. We only had 10 shots on the other team's net, though. That's been our biggest problem, persuading the girls that they cannot stand back and wait for the puck to be passed to them by the opposite team, or skate leasurely as if they're at a rec. skate session. These boys they're playing against (or, the girls on the co-ed teams) aren't gonna just hand them the puck and a chance at the opposing net. In hockey, you've got to FIGHT for that puck, and you've got to FIGHT to keep control of that puck, and you've got to FIGHT to get anywhere near the other team's net WITH the puck. And when you've got the puck down by the other team's net, you don't wait for the goalie to get out of your way, you TAKE THE SHOT! *wry smile* In 8 games, our girls have maybe taken 50 shots on the other teams nets.

In 8 games, Tay has taken over 400 shots on her net. Her save percentage is about 91%, though. Yesterday's save percentage alone was 87.5%. That's danged good! Some of her saves are pro-quality. She knows she's got a lot to learn, and a LOT of practice to be done, especially in areas that require speed, but all her coaches say that if she practices and keeps her head on straight as she grows up, she really COULD go all the way with her hockey career! Scott and I also remind her though, that if she wants to play college hockey, she's GOT to get decent enough grades to allow her to play for some college, though. And even High School hockey requires at LEAST a "C" in every class. That means buckling down and working hard for those grades, in her case, but it's possible. She just needs to keep in mind that while the hockey comes naturally and fairly easily to her, there are other aspects of life she's got to work harder for, that aren't going to come so naturally or easily. That's ok. That's how life is for ALL of us: some things are easy and natural, other things aren't. We all have to work for those other things, if we want them to succeed. But in the end, it's well worth it. Scott and I keep hoping Tay will see that.

*****

School has been, well..... It's been progressing. Now that we're past the first quarter, it seems to be going SLIGHTLY better. But Tay and I are still having our days where we get into rip-roaring fights over stupid, silly things. Thursday it was over history. Friday it was over science. Try as I might to break things down and explain them, she just doesn't seem to "get it" so often. I'm trying the tips the Correspondence program's Special Ed. teacher gave me to try, the diagraming and careful reading and breaking things into bits & pieces, and rephrasing them..... Sometimes just when I think Tay's got it, she'll give me this blank (and often-times obstinate) look and say "I don't get it!" Sometimes I can see she really DOESN'T "get it", but there are definitely other times I think it's more that she just doesn't want to bother and wants to continue fighting till I give her the answer and do the work for her myself. I don't know why she doesn't seem to "get" yet that I'm NOT going to just up and give her the answers. It's bad enough (in MY opinion) that I'm doing most of her note-taking for her. She's got to give me her answers and rephrase historical and scientific things a bit so I know that she's "got it" and not just quoting what was written in the text-books, but I'm doing the actual writing. The special ed. teacher says that as long as I'm not doing all the work for her, that this is ok. If Tay is dictating to me what the answers are, then my note-taking is perfectly fine. I AM making Tay do the Chapter reviews by herself though. I take the notes for the individual units, but at the end of each Chapter, covering anywhere from 2 to 6 units, SHE does that part thoroughly on her own. The special ed. teacher said that this is a good compromise for getting the work done AND making sure Tay's doing at least part of it herself.

We have yet to get Tay in for an eye appointment or a hearing test, though. I really need to get on the ball and set that up. The school program's special ed. teacher needs proof that Tay's hearing and eye-sight are just fine, before we progress any further. The theory being, of course, that simple matters such as being unable to hear the directions or read the page could be flubbing up her learning in a way that looks like a learning disability. Of course, there's nothing wrong with Tay's vision or hearing that a little self discipline wouldn't cure. *wry smile* She hears JUST fine when she wants to, and she's got an Eagle's eyes for seeing.

**********

On to a different subject. I know that I mentioned my pepper plant in my kitchen window. Well, here is MOST of it. *chuckle* Off to the lower left side, resting on a decorative tea-cup (candle-holder) is one pepper that came from a branch that broke early. I was allowing that one to sit while the other two continued ripening on the plant. This plant was grown from a single seed (the ONLY one that germinated!) from a package I got last year from SSE. It was the Hungarian sweet red pepper (versus the Ukrainian medium heat black pepper that didn't germinate at all). The flavor, raw and fresh, is rather like a sweet red bell pepper. Identical, in fact, to mine and Scott's taste buds. We tried a bit of one of the peppers, then I took the seeds from all 3 peppers, seperated them and dried them a bit in my dehydrator, along with the other 2 peppers. The dried out peppers themselves are now waiting for me to grind them. I'm hoping to find out that they are in fact paprika, once ground. And I've got a load of tiny little pepper seeds to plant and to pass on next spring. Seeds that were grown organically, open pollinated (though, pollinated by hand with a tiny paint-brush from only the flowers on THIS plant, as there weren't any other plants to pollinate with), and grown in an Alaskan environment (though, indoors most of the growing season). I'm hoping, hoping, hoping that the seeds from this plant will be a little hardier and grow a little better in our environment next summer. That a few more seeds will germinate (though I'm not going to plant ALL of them at one time!), that I will have at least 3 pepper plants to harvest peppers AND seeds from NEXT Autumn/Winter. And that some of my neighbours can have seeds and pepper plants as well, if they'd like.

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Other than all that, I've been busy baking, the last couple of days. Friday I made 2 loaves of banana bread (not a "Christmas treat" but I had a LOT of bananas that needed to be used up), a batch of "rocky road candy", a batch of "fudgy buttons" and a batch of "peppermint patties" before we went over to Great Grandma's house and made 2 batches (22) popcorn balls for the family. Every year we go over to Great Grandma's house to make popcorn balls for all her kids and grandkids and great-grandkids. This year we really only needed 16 popcorn balls, as most of the grandkids and great grandkids are no longer in state. But, in the past we've made as many as 50 popcorn balls.

I've been doing this with Scott since we first started going out, our first Christmas together. He started going it with his grandparents when he and his cousins were all little kids. Over the years, a couple of his cousins have come over once or twice, but we're the ONLY ones that have come over EVERY year and done this EVERY year for the past 12. And this will most likely be Grandma's last Christmas. She's in very poor shape lately, and even the other night, couldn't helps us make the popcorn balls. We ordered and picked up our traditional pizza for supper, brought it along (rather than Grandma ordering and having it delivered as she usually has). Then we decorated Grandma's house for her, as nobody else had bothered to help her decorate and she's in such poor condition that she couldn't do it herself this year. THEN we made popcorn balls. The entire time, Grandma sat on the couch, out of breath and dizzy, even while sitting still. She cannot stand up, now, without somebody holding on to her to keep her from falling. She's out of breath, just talking to us. Anybody looking at her could tell you that she may not make it into this next summer, and it's HIGHLY unlikely that she'll make it past that. Scott and his Mom were both hurting to sit there, watching their Mom/Grandma in such condition. I'm glad Tay's had a chance to get to know her Great-Grandma, but I wish she appreciated it more. She's at the stage where she was very resistant to going over. I think it was in part that she is also pained by seeing Grandma so poorly, but doesn't know how to express it as an adult might, so she fights against even having to see Grandma. But she behaved herself, for the most part, while we were there.

Anyway, yesterday in between hockey and Scott's company's Christmas Party, I got a batch of Peanut Butter Fudge and 36 cream-cheese drop cookies made. I've got enough dough for at LEAST another 48 cookies. Then I want to make some Swedish Almond crisp cookies and some Shortbread. I'd also like to make some sort of Gingersnap, but I may not get to that. AND I think I may need to whip up another batch of Rocky Road candy, as Scott's whole company is clammoring for him to bring some in to work tomorrow. *wry smile* Good thing I picked up more supplies for that yesterday at the grocery store.

**********

Last but not least, I MEANT to get a picture of the front of the house yesterday, just before sunset (which is at approximately 4 pm, give or take 5 minutes), but found my camera dead when I got out there to do so. I wanted to catch the Christmas lights all lit up, just as the sun was starting to set on Solstice Eve (well, the day before Solstice, technically), but I didn't succeed. If I can talk him into it, maybe Scott will take a picture for me today that I can post later. So, yeah. The sun came up this morning at about 9:30, and will set right at about 4 pm today. That actually comes out to about 6 and a half hours of sunlight, but that's not counting the fact that we actually see twilight till about 10 am, and then starting again about 3:15 or so pm.

Ok. I've gotta get off-line and get heading to work.

Hope EVERYBODY has a Blessed Yule, a Merry Christmas, a Happy Hannukah (sp?) and a Great New Year.

Blessings. --Kati

A Quick Hello!

I'm sorry. I'm a terrible, terrible blogger these days.

We finished the First Quarter of school work, and got it turned in Monday. Then I set up an appointment to meet with the "School's" Special Ed. teacher to talk to her about Tay. Turns out that she's got NO problem me holding Tay back at the end of the school year if that's what I feel needs to be done; she and the "speach therapy" teacher are both available to work with Tay at the School's offices, rather than me having to put Tay back in regular public school; the special ed teacher expressed her frustration with how the schools teach almost ALL their subjects (inventive spelling, for example!) and how hard that makes teaching our children in a way that REALLY works. We cannot afford several hundred dollars for sending Tay to a child psycologist, so we're going to have to go ahead and go through the school system first. But, that also buys us a month's time till Scott's insurance through his company kicks in on Jan. 1st.

We've not had insurance through his company because the last company he was with had crappy insurance, and mine was much better. However, mine has been degraded year after year and is pretty crappy now itself (we don't have a lot in deductables, but our coverage really sucks). And the company that Scott's with now has pretty dang good coverage with deductables that are comparable (or even slightly better than) the deductables for MY insurance. We're going to keep my insurance as well, though. Anyway, that kicks in Jan. 1st, 2009. Keeping Tay from seeing a psycologist NOW for an ADD assessement means that when she DOES finally get to go, even if we have to pay for out it of pocket, insurance won't regard be able to regard any issues she's got as "pre-existing" and deny coverage.

**********

Have had some personal frustrations BEYOND Tay's issues.

First a bit of background. When Scott and I got together, he had a girl friend; not a girlfriend/sweety, a friend who happened to be femail, but whom he regarded as something of a "younger sis" type friend. She's a year younger than me, and he always told me that even though DeeDee is cute, she's too young for him and he almost felt like a cradle-robber with ME, and going for somebody even younger was out of the question. Of course that was when I was only 17 and he was 23. Now, he's 34 and I'm nearly 30 and 4 or 5 years difference just doesn't make as much difference.

Anyway, DeeDee tried at least once to coerce Scott into sleeping with her even AFTER she knew his girlfriend (ME!) was pregnant with his baby. And even after I had Tay, DeeDee made it clear to me (both through actual words AND demeanor) that she'd like to entice Scott to cheat on me and leave me for herself. Then she left town, apparently. Joined the military or somesuch, and for 11 years she's not been a part of our lives, and I've been good with that. I've had NO heart-burn about NOT hearing from her.

Then a couple weeks back she came in to the library where I work. I recognised her. Apparently she doesn't recognise me, or at least she didn't acknowledge me. (Again, not terribly heart-burned about that.) She's got 2 kids now who both have HER maiden name as their last names. IE: no fathers in the picture for either kid. Well, I didn't tell Scott that I saw her because quite honeslty, I don't want her in our lives. In any way.

Fast forward to this past Monday, Scott went in to one of the local gas stations while he was filling up his truck, to pick up a hotdog for lunch, and there was DeeDee working at the counter. They chit-chatted for a bit before Scott had to head back to work. Evidently, after Scott said that we've only got the 1 kiddo and that she's as much as he and I can handle, and that we're homeschooling, DeeDee proceeded to tell Scott that she's got 2 that she absolutely adores; they're so respectful they say "yes maam, no maam" and what have you when responding to her questions or directions; she homeschools them both and they're both straight A students; she's holding down 3 jobs; she's coached their t-ball teams; she's got a degree in child psycology; etc, etc, etc. (Must I also point out that physically she's petite and pretty and slim?)

ARGH! Well, guess whom Scott spent the first half of the week talking all about?!?! He hasn't said a word about her though, since I replied back to one of his statements about the perfect Ms. DeeDee with 'Well, Ain't She Just MISS PERFECT, then!?!?!" His stupid response to that was "she's done SO MUCH with HER life!" *snort* Maybe if I hadn't met and married him, I would have done a lot more with mine, too. Who knows!!!! *sigh*

Anyway....... That's left me all week feeling like I've now got to be competing with this vision of perfection for my hubby's affections, which is TOTAL bull-shit. He's married to me, I shouldn't have to compete with ANYbody else for his affections.

To top it off, last Saturday was our 11th Anniversary. We went out to Ivory Jack's (a great Alaskan approximation of a family-friendly pub) for nachos. They've got the world's best homemade nachos there. (Man, they deep-fry the tortillas, then layer them with meat, and beans, and cheese and fresh diced tomatoes, and fresh diced onion, and sliced black olives, and sliced jalapenos -which I peel off and give to Scott, or Tay if she's with us-, then top with a second deep fried tortilla and more layers of all the goodies, then broil it till the cheese melts, then slice it up pizza style, and serve it with sour cream and guacamole and salsa. YUM!)

Anyway, so personally I've been feeling somewhat frustrated with Scott all week, but he never heard DeeDee's declarations of intent regarding herself and Scott, so he doesn't really get WHY I don't care for her. (And, even though she acted much more affectionate toward him than a platonic friend has any right to be, he's a very bad one for being able to read body language, so he didn't pick up on THOSE clues back in the day, either.)

Then Friday night, Scott and Tay went to an Ice Dogs game, and Tay came home and showed me the $20 bill she found in the ladies bathroom. When I asked if she'd tried to find an owner before claiming it, she and Scott BOTH responded with something along the lines of "Well, WHY???" and "Finder's Keepers" type comments. *sigh* I told Scott that he KNOWS how hard it can be to be without much money, and that losing $20 can be a very big deal, and so Tay should have first taken it to one of the Security Guards (the main Security Guard happens to be Scott's cousin Jack) or the snack counter to ask if anybody had reported losing $20. If no reports were made, then Tay's free to keep it. Otherwise the person who reported deserves to receive their money back. Both Scott and Tay responded to my assertations of what's right with claims that since Tay found it, it's hers no matter WHO dropped it. And then they got all pissy with ME for pointing out that SOMEBODY may be facing a lot harder week because they didn't do the honest thing by checking to see if somebody may have dropped it. *shaking head* I'm just so very disappointed in the two of them, but ESPECIALLY Scott. He's doing a great job on teaching our child to be an opportunistic person who views money as more important than people. *sigh*

Anyway......

*****

Work has been slogging along. The usual hypocracy and idiocy from all corners. I've gone from LOVING my job, to almost dreading it. I don't hate it as much as I hated working at the bookstore, but I certainly don't love it any more.

**********

We got at LEAST 4 inches of snow yesterday. It started snowing very lightly in the morning as we were leaving for Tay's hockey game and by the time we went to bed it was almost blizzard conditions, coming down quick and thick. This morning there are several untouched inches out there. I say at least 4 inches, in reality it's more along the lines of 6 inches. It's just hard to tell without having measured before the snowfall. *wry smile*

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Tay's team hasn't won a game yet. In fact, in only 4 games, we've only had 2 goals. The girls on our team average 6 shots on the opposing goalie during a game (the low being 4 shots, the high being 8 shots). Tay's averages, though, are MUCH better. She's now taken 343 shots on goal, and only let 29 of those shots through. That's a 91% save ratio! That's right up there with good NHL goalies. And MAN!!!! Some of the saves she makes are INCREDIBLE! She took a couple to the face and neck yesterday. *wink* Hardly phased her though. She cought several in her glove, almost grabbing them right out of the air. One of them hit her face guard and she caught it on top of her blocker (that big pad-topped glove that goalies wear on the hand NOT holding the stick). At least once, the other kid shot the puck, Tay blocked it and was standing right on top of it, and the kid tried to come in to take the rebound shot, but Tay dropped down right on top of the puck as he was gearing up. The ref blew the whistle and you could SEE the frustration on the kid's face. *grin* It was awesome.

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Ok. I've really gotta get heading out for work. The roads are guaranteed to be a mess this morning and I want to take my time on the drive in.

Have a Blessed Day!