The first snow arrives!

Well, it is about time. You in NY have had all kinds of snow, and we have only had rain, rain, rain. Last night we received about 3 inches, maybe only 2.5, it is hard to tell from where I am sitting. It isn't very pretty: it is wet, slushy and icy, but it is SNOW.

The kids just left for school after a 90 minute delay, I am so relieved they had school as you will see later in this note WHY. There are some things you just can't pull over on a 13 year old without being able to stuff them away at school whilst you PLOT.

The phone rang three times this morning, but I am glad that it was just weather alerts and not the sub lady calling. I hate saying "no" to her, but I don't relish teaching when I am feeling sick, either. I am battling a sinus thing. (yuck!) Illness is our other theme for the day, as is a "Thank God for the Internet" experience, which I will get to in a minute.

Illness is upon us--for me, a mild, but drawn out whole body experience that began with a stomach thing this past weekend and is ending (hopefully) with the sinus thing. I had to go get Aidan from school yesterday because she had the stomach thing. Alannah sounds like she should be singing the double bass line in a Barbershop Quartet with a deep chest thing. Scott is coughing and sneezing. We are quite the bunch! Susie, she tells me, went to the Dr. Monday and she has bronchitis. It may be that the White Christmas we have will be because the floor is strewn with 8 boxes of tissue!

But, like I said, all our things are mostly mild, so we are all functioning. Being home for a couple days is working wonders on my getting stuff done for the holidays. My sewing machine has been on fire, and all the Christmas cards are about ready to mail. Scott customized an ice storm photo to include, so I will pick them up at CVS today along with stamps. Alannah helped me address the envelopes, and she also helped with the sewing: pulling basting, turning casing and cutting threads.

Hopefully later today the germs will dissipate and we will brave doing some baking for teacher gifts. I found the cutest treat bags to fill with the M&M snack mix that everyone seems to like. I was thinking I would like to make caramel corn too.... we shall see!

At lunchtime (I am soooo excited!!!!!) Scott and I are going down to Torrington to see a (shhhh!) p-u-p-p-y that is for sale there. It is a 10 week old black lab. The owner is willing to hold the puppies until Christmas Eve--this little guy has a brother and sister who are waiting to surprise two other families. I hope that it works out, Dan (ok, and mommy) needs a puppy! The neighbors here got a puppy this Summer and it was so much fun to watch Dan playing with her. They were two peas in a pod.

Oh! Can't forget the Internet story! I was checking all my online banking accounts, and I realized that my Owego account was overdrawn by $300. Now.... I am not the most diligent detailist when it comes to banking, but I am pretty good about not over-drawing my checking accounts--especially not by $300!!!!! I went back through the transactions and realized that my NYSEG payment on the Church St. house was over charged by $400!!!!!! That is a BIG mistake!!! Lisa at Chemung Canal was very sorry and will take care of it and then-some, I am sure.

That woke me up, as I am sure it would anyone!!!!! But thank goodness for the Internet--in the "old days", this problem would have taken a long time to deal with. This just takes them a few clicks and phone calls to rectify as everything is recorded electronically.

Merry Christmas to ME!!!!

Ok--I need to get myself in gear--lots of stuff to do!!!!
(cough, hack, groan, moan, sneeze)