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In my next life, I want to come back as a weather man. What an AWESOME gig that would be. They just have to throw out...there's a 50% chance of SOMETHING and their asses are covered. And because we're saps, we watch, knowing we have a better chance of predicting the weather than they do but we don't have the "skill" or "equipment" (although I will say, my dog has become a fairly accurate barometer of approaching storms) or technical know how through extensive "training" to be able to predict with such impending storms with /insert sarcasm laser like accuracy /end sarcasm.
Up until this winter this hasn't really affected me much beyond a minor inconvenience. You know what I'm talking about...the threat of "the big one" coming and you head to the grocery store to stock up on toilet paper and milk and white bread because, these ARE like Little House on the Prairie days where you'll be literally SNOWED IN FOR DAYS...maybe even WEEKS on end and you will NEED those supplies. And still you go and buy those white items, and even settle for the store brand toilet paper because someone has beat you to all the Charmin, because you never know and you want to be prepared. And that "big one"? Yeah, well, that veered south and you ended up with a dusting of snow and you're thinking what in the holy hell are you going to do with 4 packages of Great Value toilet paper that feels like sandpaper?
Well, this winter, the weather reports have become a bigger factor in planning for me so knowing when they're coming and how big they're going to be is important. I am working part time for the landscape business as something of a snow removal dispatcher for plow/salt/walk crews. They have installed a new software system that allows crew leads to clock in people and equipment to sites using android phones or laptops. This is all new and still has some kinks in it so they wanted someone in the office for the snow events to take calls in the event that phones or computers do down, to shift around the schedule and to verify that all the work orders are complete so that they can be sent to billing. A typical full run of anything more than an inch of snow will create over 500 work orders. And that's what I do, monitor all those work orders until they're complete.
There are so many factors that have to be taken into account during these events, it boggles my mind. The timing is HUGE, which is why it would be nice if we could get a TAD more accuracy from weather predictions than 50%. Crews and equipment have to be made ready. Parts (salt) need to be on hand. For the most part crews CAN'T go out during the day and do anything more than a cursory pass through most businesses as parking lots are typically already filling/full, so the bulk of the work, out of necessity needs to be done in the wee hours of the morning.
As "luck" would have it, we have had these little storms come through pretty much every day/night since last Friday so these poor guys have been working almost around the clock. It hasn't been a great deal of snow...maybe 1-2 inches with each one, but have you ever seen a parking lot plowed of 1-2 inches? HUGE piles of slow are the end result. The one storm that hit early Tuesday morning (5am), while still only being an inch or so, wound up being a TON of work because of the crew's inability to get into the sites because the businesses were opening and the lots were filling. So they did what they could and then had to go back.
My point? Timing is everything. If the weather reports are going to guess at when and how much snow is coming, they'll have our crews either scrambling frantically playing catchup or sitting around waiting for an event to happen. Neither ideal.
And since I'm on the subject, I just want to say that I hope that people who are able to drive into cleared parking lots, walk up to shoveled businesses, etc have respect for the men and women who make that happen. ESPECIALLY when they make it happen DAILY during these kind of events. It's hard work and it completely screws up your sleep cycle. I know *I* can't and I'm guessing most people don't have the ability to just drop off to sleep because the opportunity is there, so finding a way to sleep during the day, to be ready for the next 50% possibility of an event is challenging.
As I sit here typing, it has begun to snow. Which...SURPRISE...was not predicted beyond "flurries". Not sure if I'd call this flurries:
And I'm supposed to believe the "Climate Change" people and how they are able to accurately predict what the climate will be in the next 20 years when they and those of their ilk can't predict snow for the next 24 hours. YEAH....RIGHT...
Haven't received our newsletter yet? Keep watching. I'm hoping to get them out this week. I've made the command decision NOT to include the picture and will take the $25 hit on the cards. C'est la vie, n'est pas?
But I thought I'd give a recap (notice the lack of descriptive adjective "brief") of our Christmas break. I think that with Thanksgiving falling so early this year, it offset my timeline and threw me off my game. I never really got into the TRUE holiday spirit. Except for Christmas Eve at the family service. You can't NOT get into the spirit there. Plus, you can't NOT laugh at the antics of at least ONE kid on stage who might not in fact BE the star of the show, but decides to make himself the star. Yes, there's always one.
My oldest daughter ended up having a Gingerbread House Building night with 15 friends (who apparently ALL own Uggs and my front entryway looked alike an explosion of them). We saw that they had food (walking tacos), some apps, and all the space they needed in the kitchen then left them to it. I don't get OCD about many things but this would be one I would. I would need for them to all look PERFECT. So my lack of presence was a good thing. For them.
Christmas Eve morning started out with a small amount of snow, which meant that both the boy and I were into work in the very early am. He shoveled. I worked back at the office timing in crews whose phones weren't working or switching routes to other crews. Luckily, the small amount of snow meant that we were done by noon with plenty of time to get home and get ready for the evening at the ILs.
No Christmas Eve is complete without a family picture:
I threw in the towel and let them choose their own outfits. Mommy can only pick out their clothes for so long. I do need to make one comment...HOLY HEIGHT Batman...(thanks Dad...that is YOUR doing).
The rest of the day went pretty much as it usually does. Tom and Jerry's (recipe here) , food, church, food, more Tom and Jerry's, kids opening gifts, adult White Elephant, clean up and home. I think we were home by 11. The White Elephant went well IMNSHO. This was the boy's first time in and he bought his own gift to give. I think he learned a lesson on that one. All in all the gifts were pretty interesting but in the end, we ended up with: a box of hot pepper sauces, a cutco fisherman's solution, and a Louis Vitton purse (it's MINE and *I'M* going with it's real even though my BIL DID just return from China).
As for the rest...
Cookies...I only made two varieties this year: a new one for me, almond raspberry thumbprint (which were DELICIOUS) and chocolate crinkles. Oh, and peppermint bark. I ended up throwing more than half of the chocolate crinkles away, a few of the thumbprint and a bit of the bark. For which I am glad I didn't invest MORE time in baking, but sad that so much went to waste.
Gifts...still in dial'er back mode on the presents and I think everyone was happy with what they received. Thank heaven for pinterest as my oldest daughter pins EVERYTHING she likes. I needed only look there to put together similar style outfits then repeated the same type for my middle daughter. A few things didn't work but on the whole it all worked out well. Even brought the husband into the 21st century with his Rock & Republic jeans, although I doubt he'll ever bid his Levi's adieu completely. The boy had a fairly short list and was easy. Beanie was also easy. I was treated to a new point and shoot camera as my other one never survived its Caribbean dunking.
Dinner...we had a full house (both friends and family) for dinner and that was good because eating a 16 lb Prime Rib isn't something one wants to attempt on their own. It was my "standard", Prime Rib, the Gravy®*,
mashed yukon golds, drunken mushrooms, roasted asparagus and , of course, popovers. My SIL brought a wonderful salad as well. Dessert was Crème Brûlée made by none other than the HUSBAND. Yes. I'll give you a minute to pick yourself up off the floor. As I was called into work that morning and would normally have made it then, it fell to him to make it. And really, it's not THAT difficult. If you have vanilla beans on hand (we didn't) and know how to temper eggs (he doesn't). Even so, I give the man major kudos as he did it (albeit with a phone call to me about every 93 seconds) and it was DELICIOUS! And yes, we remembered to take them from the oven before heading to the ILs. You only do that once.
For New Years, we went another route. We attempted a progressive with two other families. Our house was the main course. At the first house we had an Autumn Chopped Salad, Avocado and Goat Cheese with Lime on Toast and Marinated Shrimp and Artichoke Hearts. Main course was Coffee Marinated Pork Tenderloin, Oven Roasted Fingerling Potatoes, and Green Beans with Bacon in a Soy Garlic Sauce. Final stop was for dessert which included Chocolate Martinis (that was for the chicks) and Bananas Foster with Homemade Vanilla Ice-Cream. We had SO.MUCH.FUN. The time seemed to fly by and before I knew it, it was 2am. An awesome evening spent with wonderful friends.
So, my tree is down and most of my Christmas stuff is packed away. The card wreath (that daily reminder of my first failure in 20 years to get out Christmas cards) is still up, even though we have already chosen the card we will be framing this year. A few ornaments still hang from my dining room chandelier. They get replaced with Valentine's Day ornaments and I'm just not ready to be there yet.
My resolution for this New Year it to attack our laundry room and get the buckets of overflowing clothes that the kids have outgrown GONE. And to clean out the closets. And cabinets. And if I get around to doing all this that means that I'll have less time for blogging. Yes, this is quite the conundrum.
Whatever shall I do?
* Yes, the gravy is officially trademarked. "The Gravy®". It has earned the right.
