Thursday Portrait ~ Baby It's Cold Outside

This is me with a frozen face after walking 7 miles in 29 F temperatures.

I wore too many clothes and was actually too warm as opposed to the last time when I didn't wear enough. I'm going to get this whole clothing thing figured out before the end of winter if it doesn't kill me.

Walking in the cold was invigorating and beautiful. There is still so much to look at in nature. It's amazing how much the trails change in a day. I love being nature gurl!

P.S. I made that scarf. I've got to get back to knitting again. Cozies for everyone!

Winter Fun

My mom called me this morning to ask if we wanted to come over and cross country ski. My first reaction was, "Hell to the no!", but she added lunch into the deal so you know I was "in" because of free food that I didn't have to cook. I figured I would ditch the skiing and pig out.

You see, I've been skiing since I was 15. I was pretty good at it at one time at least until I got super fat. The last time I remember going was about 6 years ago. My ass fell over in a huge bank of snow and I was sure I needed a crane to get me back up. Skiing fat was not fun.

Today I watched as our girls, Mr. Sign and my mom got their ski boots on. I decided not to be a loser and got my gear on too.

Part of the beauty of being a farmer's granddaughter is that we have thousands of acres on which to play. I know how lucky I am because of this.

I strapped those skis on and immediately felt at home as I glided through the sparkling snow.

Here is #2 ahead of me:

This is #2 and me:

My step dad rode the four wheeler back and brought sleds.
Here he is with my mom and both girls:

Mr. Sign and I decided to get in on the action.
Here you see us racing each other.
I'm on the right and winning:

Even after turning around completely
backwards, I still won:

I skied several times down this same hill and never fell once which is unbelievable if you know me.

After we went home and had hot chocolate, we decided to tie the sled up to the four wheeler. Here is #1 pulling #2:

Here #1 is pulling me:

I am so happy that I decided to do all of this today with my family. It's something that the weight would have stopped me from doing or at least hindered any fun I may have tried to have. As I climbed the hills over and over without feeling a bit tired, I thought about how much my life has changed. Not only my life, but the lives of my children.

Snow Day?

Yesterday morning I hauled my tired butt out of bed not looking forward to the frigid temperatures. The wind chills had been in the -22 below range. That's -54 to you Europeans and Canadians. Chilly, to say the least.

I traipsed into both girls' rooms and got them moving for the day.

Five minutes before I had to take #1 to school, the phone rang and it was the school district. They have an automated system that emails and calls all parents in our large district when need be. The message said that school was being delayed for two hours. WTF? I mean, I know it's cold, but it's been colder.

I should preface this by telling you that our school district, being urban, rarely, if ever closes school. It's infamous for sending kids to school, risking life and limb of both the students and hard working teachers.

Can you see that temperature over there on the right side of the picture? That is the actual air temperature. Note the time. --------------->

Needless to say, I was perturbed to think that we had all drug ourselves out of bed for nothing.

We all sat around staring at each other, waiting for the two hours to pass. Forty minutes later, the phone rang again. The school district had now closed the district.

I'm one of the lucky people whose work schedule is flexible since I work for family. My heart went out to the parents that had their daily routines disrupted not once, but twice causing them to have to scramble to make arrangements for child care.

I decided to take the girls to work with me. Upon rushing out there, I realized that I didn't even have any work to do. So, now I had gotten up for no reason, drug my kids in sub zero temps only to find that I had driven many miles for nothing. *sigh*

We decided to drive a little further and visit my dad who has recently had surgery so the day wasn't a total loss.

While watching the news last night, it was reported that the reason the district closed was because more than 20 of the buses would not start due to the cold weather. Lucky for us, the district called this morning at 5:30 am to assure us that school would go on as planned. Grrr!!

Burrrr...

I survived yesterday working outside without too many problems. Today will be a different story. The wind chill is -1 right now and I'm headed out to the great white tundra.

I have hand warmers in my wool socks, long underwear, 4 shirts and hand warmers for my gloves which we don't wear much since we are putting nuts and bolts on signs.

Today should be interesting. At least we are working at the hospital if we need medical attention.

Now, For Your Entertainment...

I did something I haven't done since I weighed 384 pounds. No, I didn't eat a Twinkie.

I took the girls ice skating. Yes, even at that huge weight, I still tried to be "normal" and put my ginormous butt on ice skates. It was hard for me to make it even half way around the rink before because of the weight on my ankles. I did it to try to take an active roll with my girls.

Today, I was able to go and go and go. My kids kept telling me to sit down and take a break. I didn't need to.

Here is #1

and #2

#1 looking all teenagerish

#2 being the star that she is

I wish I could say that I'm graceful on ice,
but then I'd be lying

I never fell, so that's gotta be saying something

I had a great time skating behind all the cute dads trying to help their little ones. I tried to take a picture of my view, but some kid almost knocked me over and I had to protect my camera.

Today, I felt almost like a "normal" mom. It was a good day.

Flash 55, Take 20

As the lacy flakes began to fall,
Lexi began to get excited and opened her
mouth to taste one on her tongue.

The snow continued for days and Lexi's excitement
turned to fear. What would she feed her children?

She trudged through the banks taller than her.

How would she explain the absence of horses?



~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

I took some pictures on my way to work. The picture of the horses got me thinking about how in the past during times of blizzard and bad weather, people were forced to eat their horses.

The snow has been beautiful here. I get so tired of listening to people complain about the snow. I mean really, why not try and find something you like about it since we have to live with it for 5 months out of the year? If it's cold, it might as well be snowy. Could it be more beautiful than this?


*Please excuse the quality of these pictures as they were taken with my cell phone while driving. Yeah, I took my life into my own hands so I could bring my blog peeps these pictures.

Snow HNT

I realize that neither of these pictures is remotely "half nekkid" but I'm going to post them as HNT anyway. If you read my blog, you know that I love snow.

These were taken by Mr. Sign after we shoveled the driveway.

Happy Half Nekkid Thursday 2008!!

Go see the King.

2008 Is Gonna Be Great!

I got over 8 inches last night!

This is what we woke up to this morning:

I took this out the door before I put on my layers of clothes to go clear the driveway. Yeah, that's my job because I choose to play in the snow. I love it! I know all the old men in my neighborhood think Mr. Sign is a loser because I'm the one out there moving snow. Maybe they are jealous that their wives don't blow them...er...their driveways.

We stayed home last night partly because of the weather and mostly due to the drunks out driving. I'm a loser because I had to take a nap before midnight. In my defense, I worked yesterday pulling coverings off of signs for a no smoking campaign at the hospital that went into effect today. It was really cold when I started out and my job was made tougher by having to climb a ladder in snow banks.

I had to climb up a fence to get to a sign that was taller than my ladder would allow. I never could have imagined that I would be climbing on anything other than a Twinkie a year ago. On my way over to the fence, I ended up falling flat out on my a$$. It was one of those slow motion falls. There was a large sign buried under the snow and as soon as my feet hit it, I felt like I was on ice skates. As I was slipping and sliding, I became painfully aware of how many people were in the vicinity. I gave up trying to stay upright and fell a$$ over teakettle on the ground. I tried my hardest to get up fast enough that people wouldn't see me sprawled on the ground but couldn't get up because of the slippery sign. I slid to the edge of the sign and jumped up, checking to see who witnessed the gracefulness that is all SignGurl. I think only one person saw me flailing around. The only thing I hurt was my pride. My body is a bit jostled, but no worse for the wear.

My mother in law always said that whatever you do on January 1st sets the tone for the rest of the year. If this is true, then we will have abundant company and snow. Oh, and Mr. Sign and I are going to fight over the remote. How is your year going to be?

A Day At The Beach

We took the family on a 3 hour round trip to see the frozen waves on Lake Michigan. The windchill was -1 degree.

(Click pictures to enlarge)

Lighthouse and pier

We forgot the chairs.

Maybe we need a (snow) shovel

Is this Antarctica?

Wait, Mom! Don't leave us!
(If you enlarge this picture, you can see
the snow blowing sideways.)

We found a new home.

The abominable blue snowwoman.

We missed the ice festival by one day.

The waves were frozen at least a mile out from the shore. It seemed strange to be at a place where we are usually so hot. In the summer it's not uncommon to have 90 + degree temperatures.

I know that I would never have ventured out on the ice before losing the weight I have (yes, I still have a long way to go). I'm proud of the fact that I didn't hesitate to do something so memorable with my girls.