Melting and More

Well, the weather has made a turn for the better. We have had several days of sunny warm weather so a lot of the snow has melted. Now, When I say a lot, I don't mean the snow is almost gone. I mean the snowbanks have gone from 6 feet tall to 5 feet tall. We have a long way to go. I really hope it doesn't melt too fast though. We could see a lot of flooding if it does. This weekend we are supposed to get more snow as well. This time they are predicting 6 inches of heavy wet snow that will start as rain. Hummmm!!! The bright sunny days have had another side affect. It is helping me with my depression. The more sun we have, the better I feel. I can tell that with my customers too. Everyone is just in a better mood. I sure hope we have an early spring.

We seem to have settled into a routine with the kids here. Lauren started Kindergarden Connection and both kids go to ECFE. Randi and Travis have done some house hunting. They can't do too much though until the house in Michigan get's sold. The realtor showed their house a couple of days ago but they haven't heard anything from that yet. Randi will start working at the hospital in a couple of weeks so that will be another adjustment for all of us. Getting kids to daycare and school before I go to work could be challenging. We will see how it goes.

Snow . . . . Snow . . . . . Snow . . . .

Okay, so enough snow already. We have had another 11 - 12 inches in the past 2 days. There is just no more room for it. The snowbanks are so big that it is hard to back out of the garage. You have to go very slowly because you cannot see any traffic coming from either direction. Now tonight we are suppose to have gusty winds and bitter cold. This will put all the snow right back where we just blew it out of. We are also expecting -40 wind chills tonight. Yuck! Today we worked with only the people who live in town, and I expect we will tomorrow too. I am always amazed though. No matter how bad the weather is, it seems like everyone wants to come to the bank. I am not going anywhere tonight in this weather though. I will stay home and get laundry done and clean the house. Then I need to start on our taxes. I want to be done with the taxes by the time Randi and the kids get here on Saturday. I will be busy enough after that. I hope I have everything I need to get started!

Biggest Loser

Whew - I think I am done cleaning the house. I haven't done such an intense cleaning job in a long time. I even cleaned the laundry room in the basement. I feel so much better!!!! All of the bedding is clean and I cleaned the refrigerators. I steam cleaned the floors, vacuumed and scrubbed toilets. I guess the only thing I didn't do was wash down walls. Now I am tired. It has been too cold out at 5:00 in the morning to go work out so this was good exercise for me. Next week I start the Biggest Loser so I needed a little jump start. I am actually excited to start the Biggest Loser. It gives me responsibility and reportability to my weight loss. It should be fun as well. If I could get a few more people on my team it would be even more fun.

Travis is on his way here right now. He has a pickup load of stuff to leave with us. Then tomorrow he is going to be heading to Omaha so he can start his new job first thing Monday morning. I am very excited for him. I hope it all works out.

A New Year

Well, we are more than a week into the new year. I am doing pretty well with my "resolutions". I have done well with my meals and eating. I am also coming right along with my faith walk and becoming a better person. It is just baby steps, but at least I am gettting some where. Work is going better. Things are changing - for the better I hope. The lack of sunlight is definately affecting me though. I tend to get down very easily this time of year when the daylight is so limited.

Randi and the kids are preparing to move in with us. They will be here around the 5th of February. Travis will stay back and try to get the house sold quickly. With his new job, he can work at home. He does have to go to Omaha around the 24th of January for training. On his way to Omaha he is going to be bringing us a pickup load of things that Randi and the kids will need when they are living with us. He may spend a couple of days with us as well. Randi has already gotten a job back at the hospital in Marshall where she worked before they moved. She can start working as soon as she gets here.

All is well with the world - I think.

More Winter

Right now I am sitting here alone. Leon is at the basketball game and I am waiting for the Texas family to get here. It seems their was a problem with their luggage. they are waiting for the next flight to see if the luggage was on that flight. Then they will be here. The roads are getting slick so I am worried about their drive from Sioux Falls. The thing is, the weather is suppose to be even worse tomorrow. We are under a blizzard warning for tomorrow. I guess I will just feel better when they get here.

The time alone has given me time to do a lot of thinking though. Thinking about my New Year's resolutions. There are a lot of things out there again . . . . 1. I want to lose 50 pounds 2. I want to be a better person - better wife, mother, friend, co-worker 3. I want to be more content with where I am in life. These are all resolutions I make nearly every year. But this year I want there to be more to it than just a resolution. I want to succeed at all of them. The only way to succeed, I think, is be more faithful. I guess I am a person of "dinky faith" as they say. If I had more faith I wouldn't have to worry about my success in these areas. I would just know it would be fine because of my faith. I am wondering where god wants me to be though. What does he have in mind for me? I am having trouble see the vision.

Christmas Joy

What a wonderful Christmas!!!! We had all of the kids here for Christmas Eve. We went to the early service at church and then came home to a delicious supper. After everything was cleaned up we let the little ones open their presents. It was so fun to see them react to each present. After they went to bed, the adults fixed a few drinks and opened their presents. I hope everyone liked the gifts we gave them. I know I loved the gifts I got. But the best gifts we got were not the ones we unwrapped. It was having everyone together. . . . . . and their news. Danielle told us she got a different job. The job is still with Daktronics, but it doesn't involve traveling. At least not much. I am so happy for her and Denver. Then Travis and Randi told us they are moving back to Minnesota. We were thrilled to know that by next summer they would probably living within 30 minutes of us again. It was the best Christmas ever!

Ready for Christmas

Well, we finally got out of town Christmas shopping yesterday. We headed for Sioux Falls. We went to as many stores on the east side of town as we could. Traffic was tolerable and there were very short lines at the check out. Then we headed to Empire Mall area. Our original plan was to go to the food court for lunch. As we got closer to that area we changed our minds. It took 2 or 3 green lights to get through intersections. It could have been a nightmare, but we found ways to laugh about it. Leon didn't even get crabby about it!!!!!! We got to the stores on the west side that we needed to get to and decided to eat on the way home. After we got home I found out on the news that there had been a flash mob at the food court that sang the Halleluiah Chorus!. I am so mad that I missed that. But I guess who know if we would have been there at the exact time they broke out in song or not. Anyway. . . . we got the things we went for and made it home by 5:30. Today I got the last of the gifts wrapped and everything cleaned up. The bedrooms upstairs are cleaned and ready to go. All I have left to do some last minute cleaning and cooking. All is well and Kruse family is ready - Merry Christmas!!!!