East Snow vs West Snow

 In the last 7.5 years we've experienced the differences between the East and the West.  One difference is the snow.  And Tuesday we experienced the craziness first hand!  The West laughs at us, I use to be one of them, but now I'm not.  As my aunt says, it is comparing apples to oranges.  Snow here is not the snow I grew up with when no one knows how to drive on it, the whole city leaves to go home at the same time, there are no snowplows/sand/salt, it ices more quickly, people park their cars in weird places when they give up (or run out of gas), and when there is a much larger population.

I spent 2 hours getting my girls from school (5 miles away).  We then remained on the road 7 more hours before a member John had sent found us and helped me walk the kids to her home for the night.

Along the way there was some crying, hungry kids, 3 of us who really needed to go the bathroom, one stop to feed Washington (which is funny because there were many times I was in the same spot for hours and couldn't have fed him) and to go hang out at the mall which was closed, a stop at a gas station to get more gas and snacks once I realized we were in for the long haul, a dead cell phone, me getting out a couple of times to help push spinning out cars, no dvds in the car (we only watch them on trips), all the kids sleeping once 9pm hit, a man who asked me how he could help, and mostly awesome/patient kids, and a very mad me that I didn't leave earlier or had the kids stay home.

John was at his office and should have stayed all night.  Once my phone died, he took off and made it home just before 4am.

My experience gives new meaning to: "it was a long day" or "traffic was bad" :).  However, there were many kids stuck at school and many people stuck in crazy places over night.  And one baby born on the road.  I wish I could just say we missed the whole thing.  And I might be buying an ATV soon (and putting dvds in my car, a potty, food, water and a PHONE CHARGER) . . . and the girls might be sick on any days there is the slightest chance of snow.

Football Education

Anya: "Mom, we need to watch that basketball game in February."
Me: "Okay, what basketball game . . . March madness?"  As soon as I said it, the March part of March madness kind of gave me a hint that it isn't in February.  Sports that involve balls are not really my specialty.

Anya: "Yeah, the one where the Denver Broncos and the Seattle Seahawkes are playing?"
Me thinking, okay, that is not basketball, pretty sure, I remember the Denver Broncos and they are a football team.

Me: "Oh yeah, the Super Bowl. How do you know about the Super Bowl?"
Anya: "From class." Great, GA public education at it again.
Anya: "We all had to choose which team would win and we made a graph." Phew, that's better.
Me: "Who did you choose?"
Anya: "The Denver Broncos."
Me: "Why?"
Anya: "They have a better quarterback and they are horses."
Me: "Yeah, what is a seahawk anyway? How do you know they have a better quarterback?"
Anya: "Ms. M. said so and the quarterback is all that matters."  I guess we will see.

99th Day of School

The 99th Day of School is coming up Friday and the girls get a dress down day, meaning no uniforms.  The 99th Day of School dress down day theme is dress like you are 99.  The 100th day of school is usually celebrated, but at this school, the girls get to celebrate the 99th day too.  When I told Austria the theme for Friday's dress down day we had the following conversation:

Austria: "But how do old people dress?"
Me: "I don't know, they are always cold, maybe a sweater?  A shawl?  A bun in your hair?"
Austria: "So they dress kind of like you? I'm not dressing up."
I guess I'm old.  And don't have cool clothes that my 5 year old wants to imitate.  I thought that might not happen for another 10 years.

Winter

We don't mind that our winter is more like Fall and Spring in many places, except when we want to go skiing on real mountains or build a snowman.  It did snow Monday.  I took a picture of Anya trying to catch flakes in her mouth, but it is snowing ever so lightly, you can't tell!  Hence, the close up of our deck :).  That is the most snow we've seen for several years here!  Tuesday was the first day back to school, but school was canceled due to low temperatures.  The low was 6, the high, 26.  Weak!  Of course John and I told many tales of freezing our tails off in Northern Utah and Canada getting to and from school (and getting bundled up to go out to recess, remember wearing snow boots at recess?).  But we didn't mind having a bonus day to play inside.

Happy New Year!, Candy Crush, and Marta Moment #18

This is my attempt at bringing in the new year with a sparkler: Thank goodness for awesome cameras! 

Happy New Year!

I'm also happy to announce my retirement from Candy Crush. I completed the game earlier in 2013 and will not be touching it again. Yes, I know that they add new levels every week but if you just don't update it you eventually will get to the end. (See the picture below where I'm at level 335 and also reached the "wrench.")

How did I get so far? Why am I not embarrassed to share this? Well, I have to give credit to my son, Washington, for keeping me awake during those most productive hours of 2am to 3am where I made serious progress in the game. If it wasn't for his inability to sleep during the night, I wouldn't have been able to put in as many hours last year and wouldn't have progressed as far! It's pretty mindless after all and one can almost play it in one's sleep but it does keep one awake just enough to do fatherly duties when necessary...

And now for the Marta Moment!

(By the way, one of my new year's resolutions is to catch up on my Marta Moments. Today's will be a quick one and goes with the theme but I'll do a longer one next time...)

[I'm on the marta coming back from the airport quite late.]

One female is staring at another female playing something on her phone. I think she might be hard of hearing (or something else) because she yells at the top of her lungs "Yo girl, wha choo playin? Huh, Wha choo playin!?" 

[I'm actually quite startled at the volume and look up instantly, but the second female does nothing...]

"I said: Wha. Choo. Playin?"

[Nothing.]

"HEY!..... I SAID. WHA CHOO PLAYIN!?"

[She's screaming at this point. I'm getting nervous.]

"Me?" 

"Yah. You."

[Who else? You're two feet away from her! Playing on your phone! And I'm reading and I'm the only other person on the train!]

She answers: "Candy Crush."

"Wha?"

"Candy Crush"

"Candy Crush?"

"Candy Crush."

"Aaaaaah, yeah. Aaaaaaah, yeah. Candy Crush...."

[Long pause. Maybe a minute.]

"Wha level?"

"Huh?"

"WHA LEVEL?"

"135."

[Extreme shock with mouth gaping open. Another long pause.]

"[Inarticulate curse word here]. For real? For real?" 

"Yeah."

"Wow..... Wow..... I stuck on 29. Been there months... Wow..... 135..... 135...... 135.............you good, girl.....you good......"

...

[135? 29? Ha. Amateurs.... and I'm safe. I know what to say to bring instant respect my way if needed...]