what we’ve been up to: a list

I haven’t written a list in awhile! Life with a toddler is busy, and this time of year always feels a little slow. Winter creeps by at a snails’ pace, and Spring still seems so far off. Every day feels a bit like ‘Groundhog Day’ (Hey! It’s TODAY!), repeating the same pattern of wake, play, lunch, nap, play, dinner. But, I love being home and find the bright spots among the mundane tasks.

Continue reading “what we’ve been up to: a list”

(hopefully) my last snowy run

It’s certainly not very spring-like around here.

  
It was pretty brisk, but also a nice chance to get one more run out of all my cold-weather gear. In fact, this was the first time I tried out my new blue hooded running top (Nike). Scored it on sale from Dick’s awhile back and then the weather warmed up. (I knew it was too good to be true.) I loved having the hood up for the extra warmth. 

And I’m glad I ran, since I saw my physical therapist for the first time afterward and she put the kabosh on running–at least until she could evaluate my gait. This bulging disc is really cramping my style. No pain while running, but I understand anything high-impact probably isn’t beneficial right now.

Did my usual 3-mile route, high-stepping through snow for a decent amount of it, which slowed me way down. Time: approximately 29 minutes. Slow. I didn’t wear my running watch, so I’m not sure of the exact time. I think a Garmin might be on my birthday list this year.

Oh. My. Heavens. My birthday is next month. How is it April already? 

Oh, right, it’s because we have SNOW on the ground, and that’s throwing me just a bit off.

snovember

So, we had a giant snowstorm back in November.  You might have heard of it.

It started snowing Monday night, and I was definitely stressed about having to drive into Buffalo the next day to go to the hospital.  I knew if the Buffalo Public Schools were closed, I’d also have the day off.  However, the snow was expected in the Southtowns, not Buffalo, so we weren’t sure what was going to happen.  Moog rarely closes, so Andrew anticipated going into work.

I woke up around 5:30 with texts on my phone about school being cancelled, so that was a relief.  Otherwise, I’d be the lone student who couldn’t make it in…and have to make up the missed time on my own.  Later in the morning, we heard Moog was closed as well.  By mid-morning Tuesday, the accumulation was growing and it snowed virtually all day.  We were out three times to shovel and snow-blow, and that was just to keep it manageable.  When we weren’t outside, we were parked on the couch trying to rest up before heading out again just a few hours later.  There may have been hot chocolate and episodes of The Walking Dead involved…

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Wednesday morning we awoke to sunny skies and not a flurry falling.  It was almost surreal.  It felt as if we were in the ‘eye’ of the storm, knowing more snow was coming.  We spent the day relaxing and visiting the Nyes’ house.  That night, we did a quick shovel and snow-blow of the driveway to clear the six or so inches that had fallen the previous night.

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The snow returned with a vengeance Thursday, and we were out three times that day to keep up with it.  Keep in mind that when it snows this much overnight, the first person up with the dog has to shovel an entire path just so they can relieve themselves.  Not fun.

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It finally stopped snowing sometime that evening while we were out doing our final clear.  By that point, I’d had it with shoveling.  I didn’t have anywhere to throw the snow anymore!

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On Friday, yet another snow day, Andrew decided we needed to clear the snow off our side roof, which is above our laundry room.  To get to it, he used the ladder as a walkway on top of about 3-4 feet of snow.

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Shoveling off the roof:

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That night we decided to get out of the house–for something other than snow-blowing–and we headed to Main Street to see Mockingjay at our local theater.

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Afterward, we walked all the way down to the other end of Main Street to grab a beer before heading home again.  I think I made a pizza at home, too…

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Our last day of snow removal was Saturday.  You can see Andrew’s head on the top of our roof in the photo below.  He shoveled all the snow off our roof…and let it all fall right in front of our back door (a.k.a. the door we actually use).  I could have killed him.  I spent the afternoon trying to get our car out of the driveway, which has been snow-blowed but not quite wide enough all the way down.  A kind neighbor came and helped me while Andrew cleared the roof, and then Dad Layer stopped by and the three of us (sans Andrew) attacked the snow piled in front of our door.

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If I never shovel again, it will be too soon.  (Disclaimer: We’ve already had more snow.  It was too soon.  Definitely too soon.)

And to think: Buffalo (the city) got, like, NO SNOW.  Seriously.  Maybe a few inches.  We got 90.5 inches.  NINETY-POINT-FIVE. Seven and a half feet of snow.  In three days.  #snovember