The official reading is 6 inches fell at the "weather station", but my little lawn gnome just has the top of his hat and nose sticking up out of the snow. So, I'm thinking it's more like 8 inches since he is a little over a foot tall. :D

I know it's un-PC to say so, but I thank God we have our Taho! My Passat would not have made it through the snow yesterday. Today, the plows finally cleared most of the major roadways, but I still drove the Taho. It handles so much better in the snow.

As is our tradition, I've taken pictures of the first day of school. Our daughter was so excited this morning, that she carried around her backpack (on her back) a full hour before school started. Mean mom that I am, I had her take it off for the pics. Our son doesn't get to escape tradition either...not that he minds. He's a ham! LOL

It's been five years since we bought the Peterbilt and it's time to upgrade. This time, however, we've gone with a Kenworth. After a month and a half of being built, it finally came in. Here is a pic of it, with my daughter modeling:

You've seen them before all over AncientWorlds...but have you seen them like this?!

Get Your Monster Name

A couple of weeks ago - or is it three now? Anyway, I went to Tire Rama up here where I live to get a tire repaired. We'd picked up a roofing nail somehow and the tire was slowly loosing air. No big deal or rush job needed. So, I called my husband before I left the house to ask where he found the nail, if it was in the side-wall. He said that it was about an inch from the sidewall and should be easy to repair. I am a mechanic's daughter, so I do know my way around a vehicle. Dad raised us to change our own oil, spark plugs and we helped him rebuild an engine.

Anyway, I showed up at Tire Rama after having dropped my daughter off at school. I had my 16 month old son with me and had to carry him about most of the time since he's curious and was into everything. While we were waiting the counter guy came out and told another woman there that she had picked up a nail, that they couldn't repair the tire and that they needed to replace them. She quipped about not needing her tax return money for other things and had them replace her tires. I said it was an unlucky day for nails.

After about an hour of waiting for them to repair my tire, the counter guy came out and said they couldn't pull off the lugnuts since there was a lock on the wheels and they couldn't find the key. I had bought the car last Sept. - used, so it didn't surprise me that there were parts missing. I then had to take the car across town to the Volkswagon/Saab dealer to get regular nuts put on. That was quick and simple and they are nice. So, then I come back up to Tire Rama in the section of town I live and they were able to pull off the wheel. While they were doing their job, I decided to take my son a block away and purchase some dog food. I had to carry him as it was sleeting by this time. I purchased the food and said I'd come back and pick it up once my car was finished.

Then, I went back to the tire shop and waited. The guy behind the counter saw that my son was getting hard to control by this time (tired, cranky, curious and going through that independant streak all rolled into one), so he let me take my son into a room with toys and a door that closed. :D Well, about 15 minutes later, he came back and said that they couldn't repair my tire-that the nail had gone into the sidewall. Then, he proceeded to tell me that they needed to replace all four tires since my car is an all-wheel drive. I played the stupid female and said, "But my husband said the nail wasn't in the side-wall." He then told me that the nail had miraculously bent or twisted and went into the sidewall or some such garbage. I then proceeded to call my husband who told me to have them just put on the spare. So, I told them to put on my spare and I'd drive that until my husband came home to deal with it. Amazing how two women had nails in their sidewall on the same morning and needed new tires, no? Anyway, they then came back and told me the spare was the wrong one and that they would just exchange it for one they had on hand. I'm thinking, BS, but I was so frustrated and tired of having a tired and hungry kid, I went along with it.

Needless to say, my back was hurting when I came home three hours later. I came home to find the dog had had diarrhea in his crate. Thinking this morning couldn't get any worse, I got a bottle for my son, changed him and put him to bed. Then, I came back downstairs to fetch the dog in his crate. He's a Scottie, so he weighs only about 20 pounds, but as I was carrying him up the stairs, crate and all, he shifted and I felt something go out in my back. But, gritting my teeth, I managed to bathe him, wash out the crate and then wash out the tub.

Now, I'm still recovering from my back going out. After a week of chiropractic appointments, it's still sore, but I can actually pick my son up again. Oh, and my husband took the tire that had the nail to the TireRama we usually use. They were able to repair it with no trouble. They deduced that the other guys never even took the tire off the rim to see if the nail had punctured the sidwall. I said to my husband, "See, I told you they were just trying to screw over a 'dumb' female." It's not the first time this has happened to me or my female relatives - so women, be ware.

There are so many talented people out there who have given me some wonderful "Happy Halloween" wishes! I'm running out of room to put them all and so, I decided to place them in here so's I can view them always.

A Halloween gift from Louisa Aegis!

From Spethi:

From Shibori:

From MacMorna

Yesterday was my birthday and it wasn't until my husband called me that I realized that fact. LOL Could have been the fact that I was a walking zombie all day since Connor has a cold and keeps me up at night. Anyway, I did receive a lot of phone calls and cards wishing me a happy birthday! Two of them came from my dear AW friends Maria Marius and Decius Aemelius. They aren't so bad for Roman pig-dogs... :D