IN A NUT SHELL

It's been a few weeks, so here is an update on the month of February.

Emmi was sick twice this month. The second time just happened to come the day before Valentines Day so she missed her school party, which was very sad. Then because she was just getting over her flu bug we had to cancel the cousin Valentine sleepover too.

Every year for the past four or five years I have held a party on the weekend around Valentines so that my siblings can go out with their sweethearts. It has become a tradition of sorts. For the last few years we have had all of the kids bring a white shirt and then we tie-dye them. Such a fun activity, and now days that have these cool kits you can buy that have everything you need.
The only issue we have had was that two years ago the boys somehow ended up making pink-ish shirts, so we now have to designate certain colors off limits to the boys LOL

Anyway, back to this month. With Emmi being sick we rescheduled the party for the 22, a week later. We had 8 of her cousins come and stay the night. It was a blast! I'm still finding popcorn in odd places around the house, but it was worth it.

Then this past Saturday we went car shopping. Do you know what is worse that clothing shopping????? Car shopping! Dealing with pushy salespeople, driving cars that the salesperson says are great cars in great condition and realizing that the POS car you are driving is in better condition. Sales people are the worst. I had one guy who thought that when I said, "I'm paying with cash" that it meant "she wants to finance a new car." *bash head*

Before we went out shopping I researched cars and decided on eight or so models that I wanted. My ideal car, ya know the one you have always wanted to own and drive, is a red VW Beetle, but they are too expensive for us right now. Emmi also wants a "Herbie" so at every car lot we went to she would run to the Beetles and hug them. "Please, please, please mom." *snort* My reply would be. "Sure Emmi, as long as you can go without food for the next 5 years."

So the big story of our car shopping experience is that after test driving something like a billion cars and getting stood up by some idiot in Bountiful who obviously wasn't serious about selling his car, I headed home. I'm on the freeway and hear a "wack wack wack" sound and then it felt like something came off my car. I pull over thinking I had a flat tire and see nothing wrong. I get back on the freeway only to notice that I have lost my power steering. grrrrrr

Turns out my serpentine belt broke and shredded. My brother in law replaced it, but by then I was so frustrated I just wanted to go home and go to bed. BUT, there was one more car to look at. This one was for sale by owner and not a car model I had really looked at too much. It was a little white Chevrolet Cavalier. Turns out I loved the car and it had really low mileage, so I bought it.

Yesterday I licensed and registered the car...Oh and I put a little ladybug sticker in the window. *snicker* So now I have a new-er car with a cute bug on it.

SO VERY TIRED...

...Of snow. It has been nonstop since before Christmas. I can't remember there ever being a winter like this in all my years in Utah. Each snowstorm seems to bring more and more and there isn't anywhere else to stack the stuff.

Last year I remember being worried that I wouldn't be able to handle shoveling the snow a the new house. I think I only had to shovel twice. At the time I was thinking...I can do this, no problem.

If I had only known then what was coming this year I might have bought more shovels or invested in a snowblower. Now I'm wishing I could put a snowblade on the front of my Ford car and just floor it out of the driveway each morning.

The plus side is that I have nice neighbors who have been willing to help. I've got three men who have helped, mainly with the sidewalks, but I'll take any help I can get.

So the snow isn't over with, at least according to the weather people. We got hit again last night and should get more on Friday. I'm just soooo tired of it all. I really don't want to see any more white stuff for another 9 or 10 months. I'm ready for spring to come.

So ready!

I took this picture of Emmi this morning after shoveling about 7 inches. A few weeks ago we got 12 inches and the mailbox got buried. Since then it has compressed and melted (a little) . But with the storm last night I noticed that we may have to dig the mailbox out again.

It's never ending.