The Trans Siberian Orchestra

was in Little Rock last night. (2 hours away)

Larry and I splurged and purchased tickets.

The concert was great. Just when I thought I have enough rock, they toned it down some and began telling a Christmas Story. And, of course, I got to hear my favorite song of theirs. Christmas Canon.

I was totally shocked at the traffic from Russellville to Little Rock. Larry said the traffic going west from Little Rock would be bad but the traffic going east into Little Rock would be good. (He makes trips there frequently with the EMS.) But, oh my goodness, he was wrong. Bumper to bumper all of the way. We planned to get there in plenty of time and we did.

Coming home was even worse. The traffic was not quite as bad. Still much more than normal. But, there was rain off and on. People traveling much to fast and interstate highways that are wet and lane lines hard to see.

Then, the streets of our town were flooded and both our vehicles almost flooded out going through them. The visibility going the mile up the ridge was almost nothing. I traveled at about 15 mph and was very thankful for the green house number sign on my mailbox. It was about the only way I could tell when I was home.

So great concert but terrible driving conditions. God and His angels worked overtime last night keeping us safe.

Happy snipping, stitching, and quilting.

Kelseys Graduation!

Yippee!!!

Kelsey's Pinning

(as a nurse) was last Tuesday evening.

If I am not mistaken, the lady pinning her was one of her favorite instructors.

And we sure are proud of her.

Happy snipping, stitching, and quilting.

What do you do for 5 days without electricity?

Well, we played card games and scrabble. I had purchased a new card game, Yatzee, a couple of weeks ago. So, we sat down and figured out how to play it. Not sure if I like it or not.



One evening, we played Phase 10. I do enjoy playing that game.

 
And a couple of evenings, we played Scrabble.



So, we kept busy. Larry went to bed really early each night. (We had carried our mattress to the den where it was warm.) So, I read a lot on my kindle. We charged our cell phones in the vehicles the first night and then using the generator when plugging in the refrigerator on the other days.

We actually watched about an hour of TV Sunday evening so I could see what the weather was doing.

I am so thankful we had an alternative heat source and running water. I'm not going to say I didn't miss the internet, because I sure did. But, it would have been so much worse if we didn't have water.

Happy snipping, stitching, and quilting!

Winter Wonderland

(Written on Friday, Dec. 6)

The school actually announce last night that it would not be open today. I always appreciate that, even though I normally don't sleep in.

I awoke several times during the night last night. The ice pounding on the windows sounded like it was in the room with us. I finally got up at the normal time and watched the weather reports that were coming in.

Ice started around midnight and continued until 8 or 9 this morning. Then the snow began. It is finally tapering off now, around 2 pm.

I finished the remaining 5 beach towels around 2:30. When, all of the sudden I heard a crash. I knew immediately what it was.  I heard that sound before. A tree falling. And, yes, that's right. The electricity went out immediately.  Yep, it caught the electric line and snapped the pole in two.

We called the city and they responded within an hour, only to tell us that the pole was our property and they couldn't repair it for us. It is our responsibility to get a new pole put in and call a certified electrician to put in the new electrical box, etc.

Our brother-in-law came with his tractor to help get the old pole out of the hole. He also bladed our driveway for us. Thanks so much, Randy.

So here is Larry working on getting a new pole put in.

That was on a Saturday. We hoped the electrician would get there on Monday, but he didn't. He finally got everything hooked up on Tuesday and we turned the power back on around 4 p.m.

We heated the kitchen, den, and a bathroom using a wood stove. I just closed off all other doors and put a curtain up between the kitchen and dining/living area. We stayed nice and toasty, but the rest of the house was around 46 degrees. Brrr!

I am so thankful that we had water the whole time. We heated water on the wood stove for baths and cooked on a camp stove. We did have to get some wood from our brother-in-law and visit Walmart on Tuesday morning for more propane bottles for the lantern and camp stove; but otherwise, we were pretty well prepared.

We also have a small generator that we ran for a couple of hours each day to keep our frozen foods from thawing. 

We have plenty of propane bottles put back for the next time we are out of electricity. But, we do plan to purchase another lantern to keep on hand. They put out so much more light than the kerosene lamps.

Happy snipping, stitching, and quilting!

Ice Day -- Or Not?

The ice storm came and left us with no electricity or internet for 5 days and sporatic internet service since. I am back dating these posts.

(Written on Thursday, Dec. 5)

I got up at my regular time this morning. Showered. Ate breakfast and then the phone rang. No School! I really thought we would go today but not tomorrow. And, we could have.

But then I received a text from my sister-in-law around 8:30. Larry's mom radiation treatment was changed from 4:30 this evening to 12:00 noon. So, it worked out really well that I was off and able to take her.  We had rain about the whole drive there and back (an hour away) and there was a layer of ice when we arrived. But the roads were clear so we were very thankful.

My sister-in-law asked me to embroidery names on some hooded beach towels she purchased for kids Christmas gifts. I did 4 of them this afternoon. Five to go tomorrow.

I need to do some cleaning and sewing tomorrow. And I have a Christmas tree to decorated still. I purchased ingredients to try making some sugar free (low sugar) chocolate chip cookies for Larry. But, I haven't gotten around to it yet. That's something else I can do.

Plenty to do on another snow day tomorrow. You would think that since I already know I do not have school, I could sleep in. Nope, won't happen.

Happy snipping, stitching, and quilting!

Winter Weather

is on the way. This would not bother me at all--if I didn't have to get out to go to work. Hopefully, it won't hit here until late afternoon on Thursday. Then, I will be able to make it to school and home without any problems. I am a big chicken when it comes to driving on snow and/or ice.

Looks like we will have a break on Saturday and Sunday with more headed our way Sunday evening, Monday, and Tuesday.



The bright side is that I have plenty to do here at home.

Cleaning, purging, and sewing.  It is never ending, isn't it?

I have embroidery to do, quilts to finish.I have a pile of packages from my sister-in-law. They are beach towel coverups. She wants names embroidered on them. They are so cute. I'll have pictures after I embroidery on them.

That will take awhile, but I will be able to piddle around with other things as the machine works. I really need to start on them tonight.

. . . And Christmas gifts to make. I always make something for a colleague, whom I am very close to. And I usually make my brothers and sisters a little something. I really need to visit pinterest for some ideas. And why do I usually wait until I get off for Christmas break to start these gifts?

Happy snipping, stitching, and quilting.