Monday-4am

Hello in the middle of the night. ;)

Just got up at 11pm. I took these pictures Sunday morning. Looks almost exactly the same right now-- except that they have done the sidewalks again and this time they have stayed clear.
A couple of people had dug out their garages.

But I can't believe the building hasn't plowed those out for them. ?? They usually try to plow up close to the garages. Not sure why they haven't this time. No where to put it all yet? Makes no sense. People have to go to work on Monday morning. Maybe they'll be out plowing again tonight?

This is why I am so amazed that these cheap mesh screens have held up winter after winter--hehe!

The snow piles up against the screen, but it hasn't torn or pooched it out permanently--well, not that it is obvious in the summer,anyways. :)

Quite a few people haven't bothered to dig their vehicles out still! They look just like this right now in the middle of the night. Nobody was up to much on Sunday I guess--hehe!

You could see this morning in places where they had cleared off the sidewalks...

...but most of it had drifted over again.

Makes me glad I can park my car in the garage!! :)

Well, the Christmas blizzard of '09 has finally tapered off today. The last of the sections of the freeways were open again today. Dagan and Leah made it back home safe and sound. Tomorrow will be mostly business as usual again, I imagine. I've been reading. Karma has been happily eating her footprints several times a day. And now I am headed back to painting angels. :)

Peace! :):)

Sunday-12:30am

This was the picture by the light of day.

The small plow that started at 4:30am was joined by two pickups with plows at dawn. When I went to bed, after six hours of plowing, they had just been working on clearing the main passageway thru the parking lot.
The extent of the drifting against the garages...
...was even more impressive in the daylight.
Amazing power in the wind.

There's a sidewalk that goes between those two garages.

I guess we got over 15 inches. But I didn't hear if that was on top of the first seven or not? And we had some more today.

I bet you don't miss this, Dad! hehe!

When I woke up tonight they had cleared the sidewalks and the main drag, but still hadn't hit most of the parking spaces or by the garages. Still haven't. There are still some people who haven't gotten their cars out of the parking spots yet. I'm sure they're going to have a sign up telling people when to remove their cars so they can plow the parking space areas. I hope they don't expect people to shovel away those towers of snow in front of their garages?!

Dagan and Leah made it over to his dad's in Henning today. The roads weren't too bad, Leah said. Slippery and slow driving but plowed and not drifted over--more the usual. The storm wasn't as bad east of here, I guess, and that is where they are. They'll be on their way home tomorrow and by that time the roads should be much better.

Lots of Sunday services cancelled in the outlying areas. But I think Fargo-Moorhead is getting back on track. ;)

I've been mostly doing the lite chick mystery reading. :)

Karma says hello.

We're warm and dry in Fargo. :):)

Saturday-6:30am

Karma discovered her winter wonderland of snow.

Paw and lick. Paw and lick.

Plenty enough snow...

...for her to eat her footprints now--hehe!

She must have asked 4-5 times to go out during the night last night. :)

Happy girl!

About 4:30 I heard the little plow. I was afraid he might dig away the drifts so I tried to snap a picture in the dark. If you double click on it you might be able to see better how high the drifts are on the garages!

I have never seen them almost go to the top of the garage doors! Just shows you how strong the wind had been Christmas Day.

Well, you know the weather is really bad when the churches cancelled the Christmas Eve and Christmas Day services! There were so many church service cancellations running across the bottom of the screen the past two days I wonder if any churches actually had any Christmas services up here? And stores are either closed or opening at 11-noon today. It was drifting so badly and such low visibility with all the wind that they pulled the plows off county roads last night. Been a white-out Christmas up here.

Dagan and Leah are still at her mom's. They weren't sure if they were going to stay there today or try to make it over to Dagan's dad's--or just try to come home. I told Leah I thought it might be better to try and come home on Sunday. It wasn't as bad where they were, she said, but it sure isn't good here. Have to wait and see how the day goes today. They are talking another 1-3 inches maybe today. If the wind dies down, that will make the difference.

I took the day off. Watched A Christmas Story and Polar Express. Been reading another one of Caroline's books she lent to me. I'm on the coffeehouse mystery series by Cleo Coyle--Latte Trouble is the one I'm reading right now. I'm still up all night and sleeping during the day. Been up since 4pm yesterday afternoon. So I'll be heading for bed soon, while most of you are waking up and just starting your day--hehe!

Hope it was a great Christmas! Was a very nice one again for me and Karma. :):)

Christmas Day-5:30pm

Merry Christmas!!!

This is what it looked like by Christmas Eve night. The windshield wipers in the air crack me up--but make me wonder if that is a good idea or not? Might make it easier to scrape the windows, ya think? Not sure.

I think we'd had about 7 inches by last night.
There was just a little snow that made it into the porch. Karma knows to poke at the snow trapped by the screen to make it fall down between the gaps...

...so she can eat it. We hadn't had much wind up till that point last night.

But there was just enough snow that Karma could track in paw prints of snow to eat. Oh the little joys in life, eh? hehe!

We were up all night again. The wind picked up and the blizzard conditions raged in the dark. Karma doesn't like the sound of the wind gusting against the building.

This is Christmas Day evening. The snow has let up for a bit, but you can see how the wind has caused much drifting. The snow is up 1/3-1/2 the way up the garage doors. My garage door faces this same direction in the row behind this one. *sigh* Can't lift with a shovel (I push with my foot). When it gets this high I either have to wait until Dagan and Leah can come and shovel me out or until it melts--hehe! (Don't worry--I am on the busline if I really had to get out for an appointment or something.) They're saying it will still keep snowing off and on tomorrow, too, and that we could get another 1-3 inches.

There is somebody in the parking lot right now rocking their car back and forth--trying to get out of their parking spot. That's what people have been doing all day by the looks of it--shoveling their cars out.

Since I was taking pictures before the sun set, I quick snapped one of the porch. Karma was still eating her canned food treat ( I give her extra for Christmas), so she hasn't been out on the porch yet. Doesn't know this wonderland is waiting for her--hehe!

The wind wasn't blowing our direction a lot of the time, I guess. But enough to get quite a bit of snow thru the screen for Miss Karma--hehe!

Interstate 94 was closed border to border across North Dakota because of this blizzard. Definitely a very white Christmas this year.

Hope you all had a safe, wonderful Christmas!! :):)

Christmas Eve-6am

Merry Christmas Eve! :)

This isn't going to be a good Christmas for travel in the region. We're on the very edge of the storm so they aren't sure how much snow we will get. It started last night and will continue off and on until maybe Saturday. The weathermen are saying we could get a total anywhere from 7-17 inches or more. The worst of it will be on Christmas day when the winds pick up. I am glad to be home and settled in with Miss Karma. :)

Dagan and Leah left last night for Leah's Mom's on Loon Lake (Mn) for a couple of days. They'll be there thru the worst of the storm. Then they're heading to Dagan's Dad's in Henning, Mn. They made it there just fine. And hopefully they will be able to do all their visiting, not hit the worst weather, and be home safe on Sunday. I'm happy I don't have to do all that running about anymore--hehe!

Me--I've slowly been working on the angel bookmarks during the night.

Radiant Pearls are so cool! I have had these in this porcelain palette for a couple of years--no lie! I just keep a loose piece of cardboard on top of them to keep from dropping anything in them, etc--but they don't dry up! They're a shimmery paint. Magical!
But--not quite as shimmery as the Twinkling H2O's. I ended up using one of these on the heart with the last batch I made up--painting over the Radiant Pearl paint. So this time I decided to find a Twinkling H2O color that I would like and just use that.

Got to get out a couple of my teeny, tiny brushes!

Tested out a few colors. These look different depending on how the light hits them.

See? Such fun!

So I just picked one that went the best with the background paper.

Decided on the second from the left.

Painted one angel. She is still wet here.

I'll go thru and paint all the burgundy parts. Then the next step is to go back and paint all the golden halos. I find this kind of thing so relaxing--meditative. Painting angels sounds like a good thing to do over Christmas, doesn't it? Might not be regular painting, but I still get a paintbrush in hand. Albeit an itty, bitty one--hehe! :)

Oh--BTW--Update on the Valley Cat or Miss Val (young cat who was rescued by the people at the news station). She is doing really well and has gained 1 1/2 pounds! Only thing is her ears were so frostbitten that they got hard and curled on the tips, so she needs surgery to remove the dead parts of her ears. Other than that, she's doing really well and will be going to a new home after her ear surgery, I guess. Nice to have a happy ending to the story. :)

To all of you who celebrate Christmas--travel safely, hug your loved ones if you are with them this year, smile till your face hurts, count your blessings, laugh and sing loudly!! :):)

Tuesday-11:30am

Been very busy. Cut the colored paper I will need for another dozen angel bookmarks...that is what I forgot to tell you. The lady (Etsy) asked for a dozen more angel bookmarks! So now all the paper is cut for these and for the couple dozen birthday cards--tada! :)

Meanwhile--I washed clothes, finished the Soul Coaching book, balanced the checkbook, planned the budget, wrote out checks for bills, finished my 2010 Goal List, and am in the middle of watching Ice Age: Dawn of the Dinosaurs. :)

Play Preview Times are changing for moody mammoth Manny (voiced by Ray Romano), motormouthed sloth Sid (John Leguizamo) and crafty saber-toothed tiger Diego (Denis Leary) in this third installment of the beloved computer-animated children's franchise. Life heats up for our heroes when they meet some new and none-too-friendly neighbors: the mighty dinosaurs. High jinks and hilarity ensue in this fun family adventure that's packed with celebrity voices.

Just needed a little break. Almost forgot to blog! I have been up since 4:30pm yesterday and am getting pretty darn tired. Heading for bed when I finish chatting with you. The dinosaurs will have to wait. :)

Also finally added some new string to Karma's wand toys. She was really jazzed and all "capture and kill" mode. Didn't think she could move this fast, did you? hehe! She was a blur!
This is a feathery, spangly cat toy that Leah made for her. Karma hasn't seen it for a long time, so it was particularly thrilling.

I try to remember to rotate her toys so she doesn't get bored with them.

Karma was at her post for dawn patrol. ;)

We have a winter storm watch over Christmas Eve and Christmas Day--Wednesday night thru Friday. Not good for all the people traveling. We're supposed to get 3-6 inches and south of us could get up to a foot. So--looks like it is going to be a really white Christmas. Will probably be very pretty for those of us watching it thru our windows--hehe! But I hope everybody travels safely.

Well--that's it for today. *yawn* Hope you are ready, or close to ready, for the holidays! :):)

Monday-8:45am

Good Morning!

All of this was happening in the sky at the same time this morning.
Dark, light--orange, yellow--interesting! To me, anyways. :)

This is what Miss Karma does every morning. She often gets into position on one of the chairs by the window way before dawn is even a hint in the distant sky. Pitch black. And I wonder what she is watching or waiting for?

I mean, later--closer to when the sun is coming up--there are people leaving for work and walking their dogs.

Karma keeps a close eye in the mornings for some reason. I have no doubt she does this when I am sleeping thru the sunrise, too--hehe!

Well...

I am glad I had made my birthday cards for 2010 ahead of time as I have three birthdays in January.

They're a bit girly for the guys, but I guess that's too bad--hehe! This is what they are this year. Oh well. It's hard to make them gender neutral every year. ;)

Karma's toys used to be in the top drawer of the cabinet that the 30 gallon sits on. I moved them into a small box I had. [Getting ready to give away the tank and move the cabinet to the dumpster. Just need to be on better hours before I post it. Never heard back from the lizard guy.] Karma tends to take out her red netty thingie first.

So--what have I been doing for two days? Still sleeping here and there, day and night. In fact, I've been up all night and will be heading for bed here pretty soon.

I did finally get caught up on my art blog. Summarized for September thru December. That's how far behind I was on my monthly posts! I hope to do better in the coming year.

That got me checking my goal list from last year. Sadly I only got 13 checked off. :( I started on a new list for 2010. Obviously, could just transfer a lot of them over to the new list--hehe!

I'll post the new list in January, of course--on the art blog. I suppose I might post it on my regular blog, too. Not sure.

And that inspired me to update, print off, and fill out my weekly list for the first three months in 2010. :)

I have one week left in the old calendar (on the desk). I am all set and ready to go!

I think I am especially glad to have my Christmas cards mailed, my birthday cards for 2010 already made, and now have my calendar & weekly checklists up to date because I've been so far behind most of the whole year. Like I'm thinking I will actually be able to keep abreast now? ROFL! We'll see. Time will tell. :)

Seems to me I was going to tell you something else, but I am getting so tired the brain is dimming. If I think of it I'll write it down so I can mention it next time. *yawn*

Nite! Nite! :):)