Again, With the Snow??

So here it is the night before the 1st day of school for the new year and this is a picture of what is going on right now! I can't believe it. We just had our winter break extended by three days before it even started. Now there is a possibility that it could be extended again. The weathermen have predicted that this snow will be followed "quickly" by rain. I hope for once that they are correct in their forecast.
It's pretty wet snow as evidenced by my slip/slide down the front steps when I went to take the picture. Of course that might have been because I was wearing slippers at the time! It

was just good there was no one there to see it as I think it was quite a hilarious fall. The old feet flying out from under me. Luckily I wasn't hurt other than my dignity--at least I don't think so. I'm sure I will find out tomorrow.
I am actually looking forward to getting back into a routine. It feels like we have been on break for a long time. Not that I am looking forward to getting up. I have been sleeping in every day--and not just for a little bit. It will be a rude awakening.
So here's hoping the rain comes in and the roads are clear tomorrow!
1/6/09 Postscript: It snowed about 2-3 inches overnight but it was super slushy Monday morning so school started on time!! The kids didn't even get a late start out of it. The school was freezing on Monday though! All the snow was gone by this morning but we continue to have typical, crappy gray weather. A big wind storm is blowing in tonight with light rain. Gotta love Seattle winters!

Winter Break Begins Early

Continuing with the theme of my previous post, brrr it's still cold! Yesterday (Wednesday 12/17), the Seattle School District in a knee-jerk reaction to the dire weather predictions for Wednesday, cancelled school. Sadly, they were left with egg on their faces (which is what you get when you beleive the weather forecasters here who couldn't get it right even if they looked out the window!) For while it was bitterly cold, the expected snowfall failed to appear. It DID snow everywhere BUT Seattle in all directions. Kind of like a reverse snow globe with the globe over Seattle and the snow falling all around. It left everyone scratching their heads in wonderment.

Today, the District is vindicated! Somewhere around 4am it started to snow. (How do I know you may wonder. It involves Cooper and throwing up all night, nothing more needs to be said.) It has continued to snow all day since then. This may look like a pittance to people who live in real snow country but for Seattle it is catastrophic. We are just not prepared to handle it. The bad part of the white fluffy stuff is that under it is always ice. That is the real problem. Now they haven't officially cancelled school tomorrow. But given the fact that there really is snow (unlike Wednesday when there was none) and it won't be going anywhere, anytime soon I am sure that Winter Break has already begun for the kids. (Pictures: fencepost in back yard, front of house, Tucker's adandoned garbage truck in the back yard)

BRRR It's Cold

Sometime during the winter season we get a cold winter blast of some sort. We might get a little snow with it too. Over the weekend we got the beginning of this year's winter cold blast. They say it is the coldest it's been since 1990 and may last as long as it did then (10 days). I remember the 1990 cold blast. It started during the annual Christmast party at the ad agency where I was working. I went down to the front door early (about 12:30pm) to wait for Dennis to come get me. I waited, and waited and waited. He was working about 30 minutes south of where I worked at the time. There wasn't one speck of snow where he worked but 5 minutes down the road he ran into about 6 to 12 inches of snow and snarled traffic. About 4 hours later he finally showed up. He had spent most of that time inching his way towards my office and hoping he wouldn't pee his pants! He parked the car and we went out to eat. We finally got home about 9pm that evening. We took our dog Duke out for a walk in the fluffy white snow. That fluffy white stuff hung around Seattle for almost a week.

For those family members who live in the snow on a regular basis you might find this odd, but what you have to understand about Seattle is that it doesn't take much snow to bring the whole city to a standstill. We just can't handle it. We only got the amount of snow you can see on the top of the ornament I hung in our tree outside but it is COLD here. The weather has been in the high to low twenties down to the upper teens overnight. It is supposed to stay that way through to the weekend with more snow possible late Tuesday early Wednesday. I love the snow but not the cold!

On a completely different note, I thought it would be fun to do a before and after shot of our living room. Every year I take all the family photos off our fireplace mantle and put up all my Christmas decorations. (It's a great chance to dust the mantle.) I love my fireplace mantle. It stretches across the whole west end of the living room. Usually it is completely full of family pictures. I guess I should have left those up to give the full effect but that's what is piled on the floor in the before picture. Over the years I have collected lots lots of little figures and knick-knacks that I pull out to put on the mantle. The last couple of years a company Dennis does business with buys us a huge, beautiful wreath that fits well on the wall. The three stockings on the left side of the fireplace are the boys' and were made by Oma after each of them were born. (She did this for all the grandkids and daughters-in-law, but not her sons.) The white one on the right is the one she made for me from my wedding dress fabric (she made my wedding dress). The one next to it is a cross-stitch I did for Dennis which replaced the ratty one he had from when he was a kid. (Oma got better at stockings as a grandmother.)

We usually go with Oma & Opa to get a tree (which I think I mentioned on my blog last year at this time), but we didn't this year. Instead we got a free tree from the lot where Tucker is working for the season. His boss gives one to all of his employees--super nice! I love pulling out the boxes with the ornaments. I pull them all out and the kids put them on the tree. There are so many that have such lovely memories attached. As I pull out each one, the wonderful, funny and occasionally sad memories just poor in. I love the feelings that come with decorating the tree!

Underneath the wreath on the mantle (and in the close-up on the left--although the wreath is the ratty K-Mart one we use until we get the nice one) is my favorite nativity display of all time. The Nativity is the same one we had when I was a child. It is a very simple cardboard creation from the 50s. I don't know exactly what it is about it that I like so much. Perhaps it is the way the artist used lighting to emphasize each little part--especially the lighting around Joseph & Mary and the baby Jesus (although you really can't tell that from my amatuer photography). Or the way all the pieces come together to form a beautiful 3-D scene. Or perhaps it is just the childhood memories that are associated with it. Whatever it is I love it. I my mom told me that she bought one of these cardboard nativities for each of my older siblings when they were young. You could buy them for a whole 42 cents as I recall. How I came to get one of my own is a story for another time.

So while it may be cold outside, the feelings are warm and cozy and full of nostalgia inside!

Quirkiness Runs Amok

I have been "tagged" by my sister in the great quirks confessional. Unfortunately for me, many of the best family quirks have already been spoken for.
I too have itchy ears. I buy my q-tips in double packs. They are not only handy for taking care of that inner ear itch they are great for getting mascara out from under you eyes.
I also must confess to being an obessional readder. I too have been known to stay up until all hours of the night trying to finish a book or get to a "good" stopping place. I don't do it as much as I did when I was younger because Dennis makes me turn off the light. Not sure why, since he is such a sound sleeper.
So when I to think of some original quirks I must confess that I kind of drew a blank at first. I had to think about it a bit. I didn't want to ask any of the boys for fear of what I might find out. I did finally come up with one or two. Maybe lame, but my quirks nevertheless. Here they are:
I hate to call people on the phone. I think I may have gotten this from dad. I never liked it as a kid and I still have qualms about it as an adult. Even if I know that someone is expecting my call I still really have to think about it. I got better about it when I became a receptionist. Answering the phone is not the problem because people are calling me. It's when I have to call other people that I get all nervous. I have to think long and hard about what I am going to say. I especially hate it when I have to call someone to ask for a favor or question. Sometimes when I hang up I go over the whole conversation thinking about what I might have said badly or might be misconstrued. Call me an insecure caller.
I hate waiting at stop lights. I like to take backroads with no stoplights everywhere I go. I have all these routes to most visited places that are unusual just to avoid stoplights. When i ride places with Dennis I have to grit my teeth because he is just to opposite. He goes on major roads with all the stop lights. Drives me crazy.
I hate chipped fingernails. They totally drive me crazy. When I was younger I was a nail biter (a nasty habit to break). I think I developed this habit largely from my dislike of snaggy nails. I would do anything to make the nail smoother, including biting it down to the quick. Of course I outgrew that habit, but I still can't stand nails that catch on things. I now keep my nails cut short purposely so they are less prone to breaking.
That's the best I could come up with. I am sure that I could come up with some other things (especially if I asked the boys). They are kind of lame, but I have alot of the family quirks besides the two I mentioned. Very funny how things run in a family!
I choose not to tag anyone because I think everyone has beend tagged. It is fun to think about quirks in a family though. Genetics or environment? Who knows!

Love/Hate Relationship & Other Stuff

I hate this tree! I love this tree! This is big, beautiful, amazing tree is across the street from our house. It is difficult to really appreciate how big it is without seeing it in person--especially when the photo is not the greatest. I love it in the summer when it is in full bloom. It has about a billion, maybe even a trillion leaves on it it. I hate it in the fall when the billion or so leaves begin to fall. If we are lucky, the prevailing winds are blowing in a northerly direction and the leaves mainly end up in the park behind the tree. If we are unlucky, the prevailing winds are blowing in a southerly direction and they end up in our yard, against our house, all over the street. Even if we are lucky there are still a few thousand or so leaves from this tree that end up in our yard. I have already filled up our gigantic yard waste container twice with leaves from this tree and the much smaller tree that is in front of our house. (I love our tree in the spring when it is full of plum blossoms).
Now Cooper, he loves the tree across the street! (As you can see in the following pictures.) He went over Sunday afternoon and took over this pile of leaves that some other kids had left. As you can see, there are plenty of leaves to make and remake again and again, one heaping, mound of leaves that any boy would love. Cooper had a heyday.
What's not to love about a big pile of leaves? At least when you are not in charge of raking them up. Fun times!

Groucho & Cowboy Dennis (the other stuff)
I guess Sunday was a banner day (or at least a day worthy of blogging about). Oma & Opa came over for Sunday dinner. After dinner we generally end up sitting around the dining room table chatting about this and that. This Sunday somehow the topic of discussion got on to facial hair or the lack of it. Spencer who is the throes of puberty insisted that he did not have any facial hair. I guess if it is blonde, and a little hard to see that means it's not there. Next thing you know, Oma has my mascara in hand and is "highlighting" Spencer's facial hair. I don't know whether to comment on his Italian heritage showing through or his resemblance to Groucho Marx. Needless to say there was alot of laughter that went on, but it did illustrate how much facial hair he actually has. It did make him look quite a bit older too. And yes, as you can see in the picture without Dennis, Oma colored in his eyebrows too. She did better with the eyebrows than the moustache because I suggested that perhaps she should brush against the grain of the hair rather than with it. You never know what hilarity while happen when Oma & Opa come for dinner! (And no, Dennis is not sleepy or high in this picture--just caught him between expressions I guess)

This last picture is for Ann. Don't know whether she ever looks at the blogs, but this one is for her. She had a hat much like this the last time Dennis saw her in the summer. He commented about how cool he thought it was and she offered to get him one. When the boys and I were down for a visit this summer, she gave me this hat for him. I promised that I would e-mail her a picture of him in it. I never got around to it and was reminded when we saw her at grandma's 100th that I needed to do that. So, since I was in a picture taking kind of mood this weekend, here's the picture for Ann. Ride em, cowboy Dennis!! (I think the hat loses a little authenticity when paired with the sweatshirt, but what can you expect for a city slicker!)

Grandma Turns 100!

Who in their right mind would travel 1000 miles round trip in two days just for a birthday party?! That would be us because it is not every day you have a Grandma who turns 100! That's right, this weekend we celebrated 100 years of life for my dad's mom, Lydia Vaden and it was on her actual birthday to boot, November 1. It seems like a crazy thing to do, but it was important to my dad and well, it was important for me too, so Dennis went along with it all.

We left Friday after school and drove halfway which was Pendleton, Oregon roughly four hours away. We enjoyed a dip in the hotel hot tub so I guess that almost made it seem like it was a vacation. We drove the final four hours Saturday morning and arrived in Moutain Home, Idaho at about 2pm Idaho time. Grandma's party did not start until 3pm, but we enjoyed hanging out with my two aunts at the American Legion hall where the party was being held.

As one might expect, the American Legion hall in Mtn. Home is not a particulary fancy building. It dates probably back to the 70s or possibly earlier and hasn't been updated since then. For ambiance, there is 30 years accumulated cigarette smell, low ceilings and poor lighting. It made it very difficult to get good pictures, especially for an amatuer photographer like me. I did my best but the photos were either too dark, people's faces too shiny or green or the photos were blurry.

It was a very simple affair with mostly family, various relatives outside of direct family and people from Mtn. Home. There was a country/folk/rockabilly/gospel singer on accoustic guitar (too loud as most people complained but grandma thought he was great). My family, meaning dad's descendents, probably accounted for half the people there. Five of the eight siblings with some of their kids and grandkids were there. Everyone from my family stayed until about 5:30. We the Chandlers were the last to leave when dad left. We then drove the four hours back to Pendleton, stayed the night and drove the other four hours back this morning.

Now why would we do such a crazy thing? I guess it was so my boys could do the two-step and the swing with their great-aunts Boots and Deanna. So that I could see relatives that I haven't seen in 20 years or more, many of whom I would not recognized if I met them on the street. So that I could hear over and over again from those same Aunts, my Grandma and most importantly my dad, how happy they were that I came. So that my children could meet a Great Grandmother that they have never met before (Tucker is the only one who has met her and the last time was when he was just a baby). So we could pay tribute to a woman who has lived a long, somewhat cantankerous (okay really cantankerous) and amazing life.

I don't know my Grandma Vaden as well as I should. We were never particularly close. I think I like to place most of the blame for that on her end (and she deserves alot of it) but I think it works both ways. I don't know that she was every very comfortable with our family and we with her. Who knows everything she had to go through in keeping my dad at a time when having a baby out of wedlock was so very frowned upon? There is so much of her life that is a mystery that she would never divulge and now never will. I don't know all of what makes/made her the way she is. I guess I should have tried harder to find out.

No one is certain how much of her birthday party Grandma will remember. She seemed pretty lucid but who knows. What I do know is that my boys will probably remember it for a long time. They will remember that mom made them go on a crazy drive for a visit that lasted roughly 3 hours. They will remember being kissed, sometimes more than once, by strangers who mom insisted were family. (The Vaden clan are a kissing kind of family). They will remember dancing with their great aunts, eating pickled beets for the first time (Spencer, and he didn't like them) and most importatly, I hope they will remember that family IS the most important thing there is and sometimes we do crazy things for them.

Why I Love the Puget Sound

We had a visit from my nephew Tyson the other day. He was up here interviewing for a job with Microsoft. We were talking about what it is like to live in Seattle and it got me thinking about why I love living up here. In my spider blog I already mentioned the great weather--truly! (If you like weather that never gets too cold or too hot for long periods of time, this is the place for you! I have to admit that I haven't been to some of these places--even though they are close--but they are places I intend to visit someday (soon). Pictures are worth a thousand words, so here is some of what is great about living in the Puget Sound!

The lighthouse is located in a park that is only a few miles away from our house. It's a huge park with hiking and biking trails, open fields and beaches. It is really cool.

I have always loved the Seattle skyline. It is especially cool at night when you are driving up from the south. I don't know why but it I think it is just beautiful. it is also really cool at night from a ferry.

Downtown Seattle is funky and cool and fun to walk around. Of course there is Pike St. Market but it is fun to wander the waterfront, the Seattle Center, Seattle Art Museum (first Thursdays of the month are free), and lots of other great places. The kids love to ride the bus from our house and wander all the cool places downtown. It is one of their favorite summer adventures.

The Washington coast is only an hour or two away depending on which beach you want to visit. We haven't been to that particular beach in the picture but every summer we go camping a the beach and it is one of the funnest events of the summer for everyone--even when it rains (which it has only done twice in the 15plus years we have been beach camping).

The walking train is in the heart of Seattle around a lake called Greenlake. The trail is just under 3 miles and is very popular for running. That is where I did most of my marathon training. It is beautiful at 6am in the morning with the moonlight glinting of the smooth clear surface.

The picture with the mountain in back is Mt. Rainier which isn't as close to us as in this picture but it is amazing nevertheless on a clear day. There are amazing hiking trails and camping spots. If you love the outdoors then you couldn't ask for a place with more beautiful outdoor opportunities all within and hour or two of the city!

The other mountain range is the Olympics which is the mountain range between Seattle and the coast. This is not the view from where I live but there is a park about 1/2 a mile from our house that has a killer view of the Puget Sound and this mountain range. On a clear beautiful evening, nothing beats the view from this park (Sunset Park) of the sun setting behind these mountains and with sailboats on the sound. If you listen closely sometimes you can hear seals barking and an occasional tugboat whistle.

Since no blog would be complete without one obligatory picture of my kids, the picture with the dragon is from a field trip I took with Cooper's class last year to the International District (or Chinatown for the non-PC crowd). Regardless there is amazing international cuisine to be found in the city of Seattle. Whether your taste runs to Thai, Mexican, Mongolian, Italian or BBQ, you can find it all in Seattle.