16/365

For my birthday, my family came up to visit. They got in late in the day today, so we went out for dinner. My dad suggested Cafe TuTu Tango since his company provides their food and they've never been. It was a LOT of fun. There were many artists working on their crafts and even a belly dancer. I got some cool pictures of her while she did her thing.

15/365

More after care fun.

How cute is this little guy? He had this toy ring he really wanted to show off.

Love these girls. They are such good friends.

Snowmen ornaments. My mom has given us one every years that we've been married except for 2007. She simply forgot. But I see two in my future this Christmas :)

14/365

A day at After Care.

These girls are too nuts!

Jen D. is one of the sweet people who works at our school. She always has a smile and hug for you.

Lovely capture of the trees and sky

My Christmas/Birthday gift from my most awesome sister in law and family.

13/365 Bad day

Today wasn't great - but it is much better than it could have been.

The trouble started on my way to work when my right left tire blew out. Complete blow out while I was driving. This on a 13 month old tire!

I was able to safely get off the road (thank God) and assess the situation. I called Matt, who was unable to answer the phone because he was still at work, called a tow truck and called work to let them know I was definitely running late.

Then I waited. While waiting I found out that I was the second flat tire on that stretch of road in a week. Guess there was something in the road.

Finally Matt arrived and was able to change the tire before the two truck. So I called to cancel it.

Here's the tire damage:

And the spare on the car:

Notice how the spare looks low? Yeah. It was. So I call into work again and let them know I'll still be late. They start laughing. Matt tells me to rush up to the tire place to check the air while he packs up everything - the bad tire, the jack, etc. So I leave him and hurry off.

Luckily it was just low - no leak or hole. So they fill it up and I'm good to go. Finally, after all this delay, I'll make it to work. But I have to wait for Matt to get there so he doesn't worry. So I wait, and wait, and wait, and wait. Just as I'm about to give up and head to school - Matt calls.

Wait for it - wait for it.....

He's out of gas.

Seriously.

His car has run out of gas at the bottom of the hill about a block away from the gas station. I can't give him too much of a hard time, he did just rescue me. And the car is 18 years old and doesn't like the cold. The sensor might have just been off. Yeah, we'll stick to that story.

I call work again to let them know the latest developments and they can't stop laughing.

So now I have to go back and pick him up.

And then take him to get a gas can.

And then take him to the gas station to get gas.

Finally! Our adventures are nearly done.

But wait.

There's more.

Sitting at the gas station with Matt in the car, ready to head back to his car with the tank of gas at his feet - my car dies.

Yep. You heard right. Dead battery.

After exclaiming a few choice words and wondering if we might have broken a mirror somewhere, I call in to work again. This time I update them and the laughter is overwhelming. They tell me to forget it - don't bother coming in. But thanks for the laugh :)

So Matt walks back to his car and I baby sit the bug. Then Matt drives back and fills up his car. Then he drives home to get the tool kit. Then he drives back to get the battery out. Then we drive off to take the battery in.

A few hours later and one fully charged battery - he is finally able to get it in and the car starts.

Thank God.

Unfortunately he strained his back in the process, so he can't make it to work tomorrow. But all in all, we are very lucky. Lucky to have each other to help, lucky we were safe and lucky that we were able to handle things ourselves.

Here's hoping next week is better!

12/365 Another cold day

So cold again today. There was so much frost on the car, it looked like snow!

Here's how the Wonder Cat feels about all this cold weather

11/365

Another cold, cold day. Today's pictures are the ice droplets that have formed on the plants at school. Here's hoping everything survives!

10/365

Another very cold day in Clermont. I don't think it got above 45 today. But my husband LOVES the cold, so we went for a walk to enjoy freeze our tushes off.

One of our neighbors has these really lovely hedges along their side yard. I love how they are positively glowing in the sunset light.

Don't let the sunny blue sky fool you, it was COLD!

A nice place to watch the sunset

Matt took some portraits of me. I love the near silhouette on this one.

The sunset is making my hair look red!