Barking Mad

Bad Hair Day

I'd cry too if I was having this kind of hair day...

File this one under; "Lessons Learned"....do not give a comb to a two year old and expect anything good to come of it.

Gee, What a Surprise, MORE FREAKIN SNOW On the Way!

I hope someone shot that b*stard, Punxatawney Phil, back on the 2nd of the month, fried his ass in lard and served him up with some nice white gravy.  Another six weeks of winter.  At this rate and with this much snow, it will be August before it all melts!

Oh, and can I just tell you, IT'S EFFING COLD!  Not as cold as it's gotten since I moved to Maine, but just the same, it's COLD!

At least it will get up to 25F today.  I suppose it could be worse, we could only reach a high of like, 2F above zero...which has happened before.

And it's not like a lot of snow is going to represent a huge problem tomorrow.  It's Saturday. The hubby doesn't have to trek into work and Meg doesn't have to shove off to school.  Of course, the town snowplows will probably barricade our driveway, which is always so much fun for the hubby when he goes out with the snowblower.  Inevitably he ends up having to manually shovel some of the snow off the 5 FOOT snowbank just so the snowblower can handle the remaining 3 feet.

So just what do the good folks at the National Weather Service consider "heavy" snowfall?  Well, this time around they are predicting 7 to 18 inches.  Not a big deal, we've gotten 26" before and survived...and this was back when the hubby was still in the UK (we had just started the immigration process for him and I had to return to the US to "establish domecile") and I was shoveling out with a shovel...I didn't have the luxury of a snowblower back then.  It was a pain in the ass but it didn't kill me.  Of course I wasn't petrified of what another fall on icy surfaces was going to do to my back.

You wanna hear something kinda ironically amusing though?  When the hubby and I first talked about returning to the US and where we wanted to live, there was no question...coastal Maine.  I was the one who sat there and asked the hubby; "are you sure you're going to be able to handle the winters?  They can get pretty cold and severe!"  He had no doubt that he'd do just fine.  And he has.  Then again this summer, when Meg was contemplating spending her senior year here with us, I told her that winters could be cold, icy and generally uncomfortable and she was still totally game for the adventure if she decided to come out here.  And she has been.  She pretty much rolls with the punches when it comes to the winter out here.  So who do you think is the one who has done the lion's share of the grumbling?  Yours truly.  I'm also the one who has ALWAYS wanted to make Maine her home.  Always.

But much like Meg,  the spring and summer and early autumn more than make up for whatever that old fart, Old Man Winter throws our way.   I just have to keep that in mind when I slip on the icy driveway and hear my backbone breaking.  And I'll keep the lovely summers here in Maine, in mind, when we get our next heating oil bill which should roughly equal the current national deficit.

We Have Our Very Own "Potty Announcer"

Wow...we're so lucky!  And I bet we're the very first ones on our block to have one. 

And who knew installation would be such a breeze...well, ok, it was kind of already installed in the home, has been for about 2 years and 2 months now.  But little did we know that all we'd have to do to initialize it was to use the bathroom?

See, it works like this.  All you have to do is walk into the bathroom, any one of the three into our home and whilst you are doing your business, our very own Potty Announcer will stand sentry outside the bathroom door and announce to the general public exactly what you're doing in there.   Some of the preprogrammed announcements that come with Potty Announcer are:

"Juuu peeing.  Good job, you're a big boy/girl now! Great job!! Yayyyyyy! *clapping hands* Washa hands now, wash juuu hands!"

"Juuu got the poops.  PeeeeUuuuu, gonna smell jucky in there. Bettah wash juuu hands."

"Don't juse mummy's lighthouse towels!"

Then once you've opened the door and step out of the bathroom you are met with cheers and shouts of joy from the Potty Announcer;

"Yayyyyy, juuu did it!"

Or

"PeeeeUuuuuu throw up now, makes it stink!"

You just never know what Potty Announcer will pipe up with next!  And look, it comes in such cute packaging...

Anyone wanna borrow the Potty Announcer for a trial run at your own house?  She makes a great conversation piece at parties and events!  Call now, time is running out for this exclusive offer for your very own chance to have a real live Potty Announcer in your home!

Big Day at St. Joseph's for Meg

This morning we head down to Standish for Meg's admissions and guidance interviews at St. Joseph's College of Maine, her first choice school.  She's pretty nervous but very excited at the same time.

It's not been the easiest road getting her to this point.  There have been several hiccups with her high school getting St. Joe's the correct paperwork in the manner and time frame they were supposed to.  It took me most of yesterday morning, speaking with people at both her high school and St. Joe's to get it all straightened out and make sure they had everything they needed. Hopefully as of 4:30PM yesterday, we think everything is as it should be.  *fingers crossed*   

Meg's guidance counselor at her high school seems to think she has a great shot at getting in.  That's really a good thing to hear.  Meg is not putting all her eggs in one basket though, so to speak.  She is keeping her options open and really likes The University of Maine up in Orono  a lot, so we have that as well as two other schools to consider should things not go her way at St. Joe's.  The only downside to St. Joe's is the enormous cost.  It is right up there with  other private colleges and universities and is pretty expensive.   But we're hoping we hear back about some of the scholarships she has applied for, as well as grants and other aid.

I think Meg's BFF is going to St. Joe's as well...and this is after applying to Harvard, and Bowdoin too.   I think Harvard was a little out of the way for Katie being that Anthony is stationed here in Brunswick, but like with Meg, there is always post-grad. Although Meg isn't quite ready, as an undergrad, for something like Harvard.  But I firmly believe that with enough hard work and dedication she can go anywhere....including Harvard!   I think post-grad is a given for Katie as she's going into the medical field and will be taking all pre-med classes in her undergraduate studies.  Meg herself is busy trying to decide between pursuing her BS in Nursing or working towards a Business and Marketing degree.  Whatever she decides she's going to do wonderfully and have a brilliant career ahead of her.

Good luck Meg...my beautiful, intelligent and amazingly funny girl!  You will knock their socks off today! 

Enough With the Spiders Already

It's a good thing we immigrated back to the U.S. when we did, otherwise I might be spending this Mother's Day (it's this coming Sunday in the U.K) dealing with this.

Creepy Mothers' Day Plants Culled

  Updated:09:49, Wednesday February 27, 2008

Thousands of Mothers' Day flowers have been destroyed after florists discovered they were infested by spiders.

A trademark creepy crawler

The bunches of roses and carnations were about to be prepared for Sunday's big day when shocked shop assistants realised they were crawling with spiders and infested with eggs.

A waste disposal firm was called in to take the blighted blooms away.

"When the van driver arrived at our waste depot to with the flowers, he looked terrified," said Biffa waste firm manager David Graham.

He said: "I've never seen a driver so keen to unload. We employ some big burly fellas but none of them were keen to go near this consignment.

"The blooms were absolutely crawling with the creepy things."

Experts say the spiders were common British house spiders and were completely harmless but still not the sort of surprise mums would have expected on Mothers' Day.

The florists, based in Birmingham, wanted to remain anonymous but have reassured mums that all the affected flowers had now been destroyed.

"It would have been a nightmare if mums had received the flowers on Mothers' Day, but thankfully that's now been averted," said a spokesman.

http://news.sky.com/skynews/article/0,,91059-1307078,00.html

I can't even begin to imagine the kind of freak out the hubby would be dealing with had he brought me home a dozen creepy, crawlie, spider-infested roses.  He'd probably have to call 999 (the UK's equivalent of 911) and insist they bring a defibrilator along, because I'm telling you, that would be the end.  I'd lose it, totally and completely.  Brings to mind the following image:

(click to enlarge)