My Name is Dani and I Must Kick Your Car. Its a Problem

My name is Dani and I have a problem.

I like to kick cars.

Well, not cars exactly, but things on cars. What exactly do I mean? Let me explain.

Winter sucks. You know what the only good thing about winter is? Kicking cars. You know how snow gathers and clumps in the wheel wells of cars? That's what I am talking about. They must be kicked.

Seriously. They call my name. I love the satisfaction I get when I succeed in dislodging one and the thudding sound it makes when it falls to the ground. This may be the only thing I like about winter. Except maybe fleece.

My obsession with this kicking snow clumps is SO bad that I will kick other people's clumps as I stumble upon them. I try to do it when no one is looking for fear that someone will think that I am actually trying to kick their car and find retribution by performing a physical assault on me.

One time, I was so excited when we were stopped at a red light that I threatened to get out of our car to kick a nearby snow clump. B even egged me on. However, I truly did not feel like he had my back and would just laugh and drive away when the person confronted me. Husbands can be so mean.

Recently, this obsession took on a scarier angle as, in my enthusiasm to kick a snow clump off of a neighboring car, I lost my footing on a piece of ice and almost wiped out. It made me second guess my fun hobby. After all, hobbies shouldn't maim you, right?

The next day, though, I was back to kicking.

It is a problem.

I have to kick snow clumps on cars.

I must.

Fall Has Finally Come and the Colors Are Gorgeous!

Last year we did not have much in the way of fall. It was summer one day and 12 hours later winter had blown in and had taken all of the leaves from the trees with it. This year is different though. With the up and down temperatures, we actually have some color. Friday as I was driving home, I realized how much had changed over night and snapped a few photos.

I love the little red bush in the corner of their front yard:

The view from our porch:

And the other side:

Down our street:

The corner of our house and the trees behind us:

The tree in front of our house and our neighbor's trees:

Down the other side of the street:

Same view, my camera just colored it differently:

And a wider view:

Again, the camera colored it differently. This one is my favorite as it feels like fall:

Upstairs view of the backyard and trees behind us:

And the other side and the trees you caught a glimpse of when looking at the corner of our house:

Do you have any fall colors where you are? I cannot get enough of this!

If It Ain't Broke, it Can't Be Fixed

As I have shown you time and time again, B likes to GET THINGS DONE around the house. He paints, he pulls up carpet, he fixes showerheads, he starts fires (in the fireplace of course), he fixes the stairs, he hangs blinds...you get the picture. He is a fixer. Hence, he has the tool room that debuted yesterday.

Where am I in the grand scheme of things? Apparently I am the breaker. Not intentionally of course. Just by happenstance. I am the one that will say at any given moment:

"The shower pressure is too low. I think it is the washer" (it wasn't)

"I cannot get my blinds to work. They are stuck" (they were not stuck)

"The door won't open with my key" (I was turning it the wrong way)

"I need a hook to hang things on"

"The wireless isn't working"

and the list goes on. B always comes to the rescue and then some. Then there came the day I really broke something and B wasn't around to fix it.

I came home from work and it was absolutely freezing out. The new house can be quite drafty so I am always checking the thermostat to see what the temperature is. If it is anywhere near 60 or if I cannot feel my fingers, I turn it up. I had just walked in and was aggravated about how cold it seemed to be so I went over to the thermostat and attempted to turn it to see what the temperature was.

Let's stop right there. At that point in time, the thermostat was hanging from the wall because B was in the process of putting it back together. There is also no good lighting in that spot to see what it was, hence the turning it.

Satisfied that the thermostat was at a good temperature and hearing the heat, I headed upstairs. An hour later I was absolutely freezing like nothing before so I went back downstairs to find that the temperature dropped. And I did not hear the heater. Strange.

I tried to turn the heat up but I never heard that "click" that comes on when you set it to a temperature higher than what it is at. And the furnace never came on. Back upstairs I went. Another hour passes and I find that I am wearing a thermal, two turtlenecks, a sweatshirt, long johns, pjs, socks and my Uggs and I am STILL freezing and I realize something just isn't right.

Back downstairs to discover that the temperature has dropped even more. Fearing that the furnace has died, I start to panic. That is when I notice that one of the two little wires coming from the thermostat is not coming from the thermostat anymore. It is totally detached. Huh, I wondered. Was that supposed to be attached? I text B:

Me: Are both wires supposed to be attached to the thermostat?

B: Yes

Me: Damn! I pulled one out. Do you know where it goes?

B: No, but there should be a little hole that is slightly pulled out

Huh? I look and there are about 10 holes and none of them look "slightly pulled out". Concerned for my safety, I type:

Me: If I try to put this back will I get electrocuted?

B: No

I then instant message my sister in law:

Me: If I try to put a wire back in the thermostat, will I get electrocuted?

Jenny: No*

Meanwhile, B is texting me again:

B: Get a small Phillips, make sure there is no wire stuck and put it back in.

And that is just what I did, minus the "check to make sure there is no wire stuck part". I was too petrified when sparks were there. Me and the tiny Phillips found hanging on the tool room wall fixed the problem. The problem I created, but I fixed it. I don't think I have ever heard a sweeter sound then that furnace firing back up.

Maybe I am a MacGuyver after all. Or not. I don't recall MacGuyver ever breaking something.

That he admitted to, at least.

*Don't ask why I thought my sister in law needed to confirm that I would not get electrocuted. I just needed confirmation.

Cover Me...

We have been slowly but surely procuring window coverings for the new house since you know that the previous owners left us really nothing to work with besides the ugly curtains in our bedroom and various cheap blinds. Right now, with the exception of the dining room, most windows have thermal roman shades, as you will see. Even the drapes in the dining room are thermal to help us save on the heating bill by keeping a little warmth in. Sure isn't helping today though. You would never know it is March with these temps.

Anyhow, our goal is to get drapes for most of the windows, but we are working in baby steps at this point. So here are your "befores" and "afters":

This is the only picture I have that shows the before of the top of the stairs and that window looking down. As you can see, the previous owners left us a light white dainty type curtain that let in all of the drafts.

BEFORE

AFTER

Much better and the hallway color looks great as well. We do plan on having the stairs carpeted. Maybe then I wont slip and fall on them (did that), trip on them (did that) or hear each and every creak even when the cats walk on them.

Next is the stairway looking up. Again you can see that lovely dainty drape.

BEFORE

AFTER

Don't worry about those little pieces of wood that you see. Those were placed by B to see how much work would be needed to fix the stairs so they dont make as much noise.

Moving on to the dining room. I really do not have a very good picture of the before window but I will give you what I have.

BEFORE

AFTER

Yes, we have not painted this room quite yet. We have, however, placed a few color choices, none that we are going with, next to the drapes. Since the drapes are so dark, we will go lighter than the colors up on the wall currently. This is the second pair of drapes that we purchased. The first pair were a bit too gold. Do you know how hard it is to order drapes online? Luckily these were in the store and thermal and now they are ours.

Moving on to the living room. You all remember that bay window right? I still love to have the shades open on a sunny day to let in the light. Apparently, the previous owners thought we could just live like that all of the time since they took all of the window treatments with them.

BEFORE

AFTER

Next up is my office. If you will remember, this was their master bedroom and although they left us window coverings, they were those cheap blinds you can buy at any store:

BEFORE

AFTER

I don't know if you can get the full effect from these pictures, but those shades did wonders for this room. I am in love with them. In fact, I have to go tomorrow to get the one for the second window. This shade was the last one in the country in that size. They seriously traveled all the way from the other side of the country. They were a returned item but it does not appear that the prior owners even opened them as the packaging was all intact. I was afraid to the buy the shade for the other window in case this one didn't work out, but now I am safe.

Finally, the kitchen. Another beautiful bay window to let sun shine in, but also to let in drafts. So coverings were obtained.

BEFORE

AFTER

There you have, most windows covered, more on their way. I feel so behind in these renovation posts but I can barely keep up. Things change every day and I try to wait until they are somewhat "finalized" to show you.

I think that may never happen.

Winter Wonderland

Winter is definitely upon us as we received in excess of 6 inches of snow on Friday. I don't know what the official measurements were because I don't pay attention to that kind of thing, but I know it was A LOT. That is my official measurement anyway. 

All that snow made for a terrific snow day for many people. Not I, though. I braved the weather to get to the office, make a good impression and GET THINGS DONE. Three quarters of our office did not. Know what I am? A sucker! That's right. I did get free pizza lunch out of it but that did not make up for the lack of sleeping-in-and-lounging-around-all-day-while-looking-out-the-window-at-the-cold-instead-of-driving-in-it that I missed.

Later that night, with my co-sucker by my side, B, we once again braved the weather to go out with friends. That ended nicely though. The snow had stopped, the idiots were off the road, and we did not feel like we were endangered at all. Always good for a Friday night. On the way there I told B about my fascination/obsession with kicking the snow clumps that form between tires and wheel wells. Yes I am really a six year old. I saw a car with a kick ass snow clump and pointed it out to show B what I was talking about. He then challenged me to get out of the car run over and kick it. Deciding I would rather not get shot, I declined. That did not stop us from giggling about it as if it really had happened.

All juiced up about the possibility of kicking snow, I noticed that there was ice forming at the bottom of the window. I decide to let out my pent up kicking frustration by knocking out the piece of ice. Wise move, as I am sure you can imagine. I rolled down the window, punched at the ice and a piece FLEW UP AND HIT ME IN THE HEAD before making its way to the back seat. I screamed:

Me: AHHHH a piece of ice just hit me in the head

B: What? Come on.

Me: Didn't you see it? AHHHH it just came up and hit me in the head

B: I saw no such thing.

Me: It happened! It really happened. The ice is in the back seat. I will find it!

I could not find it. This led B to believe my story was a lie. It was not. When we stopped at his parents house, he went into the back seat to retrieve something and found a huge chunk of ice. He said "Huh" like he wasn't a Doubting Thomas the whole time. I took revenge on him by running around and kicking the snow clumps under his wheel wells while he was inside (say THAT three times fast). Yes, that is my idea of revenge.

Friday night was not the last of our winter adventures. On Saturday we accompanied B's family to the annual tradition of walking through the Village. Last year it was SO cold with high force winds. This year - still cold minus huge winds. I guess that is an improvement. Oh, and this year I had long johns, a definite improvement. I also did not trip and fall to my knees like last year. Although I did trip. this time I managed to stay upright. Ahhhhh good times.

This is the same place that B and I went with them for the Halloween walk where B proceeded to act like paparazzi and follow us around taking pictures. The same was true on Saturday. He got some good ones which you can see here and here at my SIL's blog, And Baby Makes Five. He was so good in fact, that like true paparazzi and celebrities, we tended to forget he was there. This resulted in a lot of Where's B? Did he go ahead of us? Is he behind us? Is he playing on the snow hill? You think I am kidding about the snow hill. I am not. Check out those links.

B and my BIL decided that they would race to the top of one of the big snow hills and play King of the Hill. You know, like all of the other children. In fact, they nearly killed some children in their quest. I threatened to reveal their true ages to the crowd to make them come down. This really struck a chord with B who is older than my BIL. Of course they could not just walk down or anything. BIL decided to slide down. B, not one to be shown up, decided to tumble down in what can only be described as a painful maneuver. In fact, if you have ever played Wii Fit ski slalom and your mii doesn't quite make it from the start and begins to roll like a huge snowball, that was B. He assured us he was not hurt. I was not so sure about that.

Other highlights included Santa up on the balcony calling out not only my nephew's name, but also my SIL's and mine. I was so excited that when Santa cried out WELCOME, I cried back THANK YOU SANTA. I am bound to get lots of presents for this.

There was also real live reindeer, glass blowing, tin making (for which B had quite the fascination and many questions. Tin making may be in his future. Too bad it is not lucrative), yummy turkey dinner and pumpkin pie. Not bad for a Saturday night.

Best part? A new bobblehead. He will be making his debut soon. Kind of like Santa.

I wonder what the new bobblehead is...

Last Night I Slept with Mittens On

Remember I told you how cold I get in the winter? How B can tell that it is winter by my nose and fingertips? Last night, they were like icicles. So I got the idea to sleep in my mittens. It was brilliant actually.

Now before you think B is a cruel husband* and refuses to heat our house or something, it is generally not freezing in our house. It does tend to be drafty though which just chills my bones and, apparently, my fingertips. This is especially true if I am typing on the computer. I should probably invest in one of those heated mouse (mice?) for my computer. Maybe then my fingers would be toasty and I wouldn't have to wear mittens. The thing is, when our heat comes on, we both get really hot. Lately, in the morning, it is on when I get out of the shower and it is like a sauna in there - and not in a good way. So last night, when B said "can you turn down the heat, my face feels flush and on fire", I knew what he meant. I could relate. Heat went down, mittens went on. Even the cats do their part by cuddling with each other and laying on our feet at night, sometimes even going UNDER the covers and heating us with their little bodies.

So I tell B of my brilliant plan. He already thinks I am a fashion disaster because my usual "in house" and nighttime outfit is a thermal shirt, flannel pants, a big hoodie and Ugg boots. With the gloves on, I look like a hobo. He recently told me I was not able to wear my Uggs to bed. Now THERE is an idea. Not very practical, however, too bulky.

The mittens do not have that problem. You see, when I get to bed, I am usually freezing. Off come the Uggs and on go knee high warm fuzzy socks, usually in some obnoxiously bright striped color. See? I am truly a hobo at heart. B does not understand any of this. He sleeps in shorts. And, the fact is, I usually get hot in the middle of the night. At that time, off come the socks, the hoodie and sometimes the shirt and on goes the ceiling fan. In light of this, B doesn't understand why I bother with it all at first. Seriously? A girl cannot fall asleep chilly!

So last night I slept with mittens on. I don't even know if B knew since I went to bed first. Just because I told him I was going to do it, doesn't mean I really did. But I did. And in the middle of the night they came off with the socks and the hoodie and the shirt. And the fan went on. And the heat went on during my shower this morning and I got mad and turned it off.

Mittens in bed is a brilliant idea. Now if I could just come up with something to cure the chilliness when I am up and typing. Wrapping my fingers around a candle while wearing the convertible mittens just isn't cutting it.

I know! A new less drafty house.

Now that is truly a brilliant idea.

*I know I have called B a cruel husband in the past, perhaps when he was trying to trip me on the covered bridge, playing into my fear of falling in the water. But I usually say such things in jest. Usually.