My daughter flew back in to town Saturday.
I was a little anxious about her flying.
She called us after she boarded her plane, so we could time it when we would need to leave to pick her up.
But, my husband being the clever fellow he is, decided that we would go to the Denny's restaurant down the road from the airport and wait for her to call us when her plane ended.
Even though her plane was scheduled to land at 4pmish, we would still eat dinner at Denny's.
My daughter thought that this was a silly idea and that we should just drive around the airport till she called after the plane landed.....and probably get stopped by airport security for driving around the air port 20 times and looking suspicious.....because that is what she wanted us to do.
So being adults, we decided to go to Denny's.
It was a clear somewhat sunny day.
No snow.
So I felt better about her flying.
We got to Denny's and the place was mostly empty as we beat the lunch rush and were early for the dinner crowd.
I did notice that there the majority of the few people in there were senior citizens....and Hubby did qualify as one as he is over 55!
We were seated quickly...
I looked around the restaurant as I like to look to see who else is around...in case I know someone...even though it would be highly likely that I would know anyone there...but one never knows.
Off in the corner of the restaurant in a booth, sat a man with his back towards us. He was wearing a hooded sweatshirt, with the hood up and when he turned around...I noticed that he was wearing large dark glasses and looked like the unibomber.
And he was talking shit about the government.
Creepy
I pointed him out to Hubby, who had to turn around to look at him.
Just as he turned back from looking at him, the smoke alarm went off in the restaurant and I nearly jumped out of the booth.
The waitress came around and assured everyone that Denny's wasn't on fire.....I told Hubby that it must mean that our food was ready.
Which it wasn't
And we had to wait longer
And here's how thrilled my hubby always looks when we are out to eat.

And I was only half way finished eating my western burger when the daughter called to say she landed...early.
So I told her we would be there in 10 minutes or so to wait outside for us....
She wanted to know where we were and I told her Denny's.
"WHY are you at Denny's!!"
"Because everyone has to be somewhere"
"AUGHH!!!"
"See you in a few minutes"
So I got a to go box and we paid the bill.
We made it to the airport and I doubt if she had to wait more than 5 minutes.
On the way home, we weren't on the road for more than 10 minutes when it started snowing very heavily, near white out conditions as the wind picked up. I was thankful that she chose the flight that she did as if she waited till the next one she would have had to fly through that shit.

Fire & Ice

Some say the world will end in fire,
Some say in ice.
From what I've tasted of desire
I hold with those who favor fire.
But if it had to perish twice,
I think I know enough of hate
To say that for destruction ice
Is also great
And would suffice.
Robert Frost

To those souls unlucky enough to board flight 3407, their worlds were ended by both fire and ice.
My deepest condolences go out to the families and friends of those who lost their lives.

My daughter flew out of Buffalo Thursday on her way to Atlanta. I texted her during the day and didn't get a response.
I went to bed early Thursday night.
Friday morning I awoke to the clock radio telling me to stay tuned for an update on the horrific plane crash.
What plane?, where? Why hadn't I heard from my daughter?
I was relieved to hear that it wasn't my daughter's plane and deeply saddened at the same time to hear that the plane crashed 6 miles from Buffalo in Clarence center.
Everyone was killed that was aboard the plane and one of the people in the house also died.
I know people who live in that area...some of my husband's cousins and their families live in Clarence.
I've been to Clarence.
My cousin used to take his children to a day care center .25 miles from the site where the plane went down.

A family was home just doing their own thing when a plane fell out of the sky and on to their house and exploded.
Amazingly 2 people escaped from the house.
Can you imagine being living in one of the houses next to the house that got hit?
Just last month we had a plane land on the Hudson river and everyone walked away, the pilot proclaimed a hero.
Friday the 13th eve, different story.

Would you rebuild your house in the same spot if you were those people?
Would they even be allowed to build in the same spot?
Why would anyone even want to rebuild in the same spot where 50 people died?
Hopefully they will decide to put a monument on the spot.

We used to live in the flight path of Griffith Air Force Base, and some of the planes would fly over the house rather low. One day I was outside with my kids, who were 2 & 4 at the time, and a plane flew so low I could read the numbers on the plane. It was kind of creepy when the shadow of the plane would appear on the lawn as it flew by.
I had many nightmares about planes flying into my house.
So glad that we moved out of that area.
------------------------------------------------------------------------

Mamma Mia was fantastic!!
We laughed, we cried, we fought the urge to sing along.
Our seats were awesome, we could see the costumes and the actors faces perfectly.
We went out to a BBQ place afterwards.
I would go see Mamma Mia again...much better than the movie by far.
They could have made the movie so much better by getting actors that could actually sing.

I didn't buy any Valentines this year.
normally it would bother me if my hubby didn't get me flowers or a card, but this year, it was just another day.
He did buy us a special heart shaped cake which we took over my parents and shared.
I didn't even send my son a card at college.....but he didn't send us one either so it doesn't matter.
Hope everyone had a nice Valentines Day.

(see comments for update)

Out and About

Did a lot of stuff yesterday.
Got up early and Elly picked me up and we went to breakfast at Tim Horton's on our way into Nickel City.
We were the first ones in the theater on Saturday to get our tickets to see Mama Mia.
They were just about sold out for next weekend and the only seats together were either in the front row of the orchestra , or in the 3rd row of the balcony.
So we have 3rd row balcony seats and will be able to see everything.
We were joking around that people will think we are a lesbian couple as we are going on Valentines day and also going out to dinner together too.
Her husband will be out of town and mine seems relieved not to have to think about venturing out on Valentine's day as he hates crowded places.

We walked around the city for a while and went into some small shops.
I got a pair of wild reading glasses.
Top part is tortoise brown and bottom half is turquoise.
Elly says that they are totally me.
My daughter actually thought they were cool looking too.

One of the churches on the Ave we happened to be on had a wine tasting /Farmer's market.
I purchased a bottle of Cranberry Wine from Niagara Landing Wine Cellars. I'm usually not into wine, but this tasted so good I had to buy a bottle. It will be opened up next time we have a turkey diner...or sooner.
Hopefully I will be able to find it sold in a liquor store near my house.
I also bought a loaf of Apple brown Betty bread and sampled Rabbit sausage, which was really good.

I got home after noon and had a piece of the bread for lunch.
It was so good.
My daughter said that she was bored and wanted to go somewhere.
She suggested the mall and my husband said we needed milk.
I called my parents to see if they needed anything from the store and they wanted oranges and hamburger buns.
So off we went in daughter's little car.
WE went to the mall first.
Having lost weight, she wanted to get a coat just like the one she has only in a smaller size.
It is a light weight fleece North Face jacket.
We ended up looking in a sporting goods store.
They had one exactly like her old one, but she wanted it in a different color, but at least she knew what size to get if she ordered it on line.
We walked from one end of the mall to the other and all I bought was a crossword puzzle book from Barnes and Noble.
I really had little interest in looking at clothes.

Both of us were hungry as it was 4:30 and she hadn't eaten lunch and all I had was the apple bread. We pulled into the parking lot at Olive Garden, but after not finding a parking spot, we declared it too crowded and went to a non-chain restaurant.
Which turned out to be a very good choice.
We were seated right away.
I ordered a chicken dish called Santa Fae Dirty Rice. When it arrived it looked like a sun as the chicken, rice mixture was in the center with the homemade tortillas sticking out from the center like the rays of the sun. Very nice presentation and it tasted as good as it looked.
I took half of it home and hubby enjoyed it. (Maybe I can get him to take me to this restaurant now that he's tasted the food)

On the way home we we driving behind this wildly painted van. It was a small older mini van which was painted black, the windows were black and it had white zebra like stripes all over it.
Over the back bumper it said "BLAZIN N AMAZIN" .
I was thinking that I would rather take a bus then ever be caught riding in that thing.
Well daughter says that she has to pass Blazing and Amazing because they are driving too slow.
As we pass the van, I see that it says "PUNK d" in white mixed in with the white stripes on the side and on the hood of the van is a silver skull, not painted on the hood, but an actual 3D skull sticking out of the hood.
I commented that maybe it was a band or something and that they will be lucky if they are not pulled over for having the windows blackened out.
Also the 3 first letters of the license plate were DYE followed by 4 numbers. Pretty bizarre!!

We turn off the main road and make our way to the super market to get the groceries. Daughter found a parking spot where she could do a pull through. We get the stuff and head out to the parking lot.
Parked right behind us is the Blazing N Amazing van. Music is blaring out of it.
We both look at each other as we are putting the stuff in the trunk and start to laugh then she says OMG he followed me here. It was a strange coincidence that that van would end up at the same store as us parked right behind us considering all the different streets we turned down to get there.
I looked into the front window of the van and all I could see was a pale hand on the steering wheel.
The van backed up and went in the lane to get out of the parking lot.
Daughter asked me which way they went and we went the other way.
Kind of creeped me out when I couldn't see the guy's face.
We tried to speculate who of the people we say in the store it could have been.
I wondered if it was the guy with the nail like piercing though the top of his ear, but other than that he looked normal.
She though it might be the guy with the 12 bottles of lemonade store brand soda, but we left before him.
We may never know...actually I hope we never meet up with that van again as it was CREEPY!!

It was great to be out yesterday.
It got up to 50 degrees.
Even though it was windy, it was nice.
A break from the snow is always appreciated.
I went to bed at 9:30 because I was so tired from all the walking & fresh air.
Peace People

I got the blues.
The no bonus blues.
We got the news
No bonuses for yous.
No new dishwasher can I buy,
no new clothes will I try,
We all want to cry.
As we watch the economy die.
I'm lucky to have a job.
Even though it makes me regularly sob.
Now we are just hoping for a raise in our pay.
That would make up for the bad news we got today.
but what can we say.
Hopefully the things will improve along the way.

Brain frozen Twit

This is what my commute to work looked like the other day....actually the visibility in this photo is better than it was for me that morning.
I turned off the main drag on to a country road and was being followed by a Big Ass Snow Plow.
The speed limit on the road is 45 mph, but I was only able to do 30 mph with out sliding all over the road.
The road is only 2 lanes and winds around.
THere is a woman that, when the weather is good rides her bicycle in the morning. She must be on her way somewhere as she has a back pack.
And she rides her bike against traffic.
Now that it is snowing, she is walking.
She looks like a penquin as she swings her arms from side to side.
So here I come down the road with the B.A.S.P. behind me and what do I see ahead...is her silhouette in the distance walking towards me.
I slowed down as a car was coming in the opposite direction and I couldn't go around her...and I noticed in the past that even as a car approaches her she doesn't move over....
So I slowed down to a near stop.
I was concerned about the B.A.S.P. behind me being able to see her in the blizzard like conditions.
So I stopped right before driveway, thinking that if it were me, and I was walking down that road in those conditions and I saw a B.A.S.P coming at me, I would duck into the driveway.
But no.
As I crept past her, I looked in my rear view mirror and saw her continue walking.
The Plow had stopped completely.
She walked right along side the plow and stopped ...
The plow driver had to lift his side plow so she could walk by.
WTF!!!
You have got to be kidding me.....this lady is nuts!!! Or maybe her brain is completely frozen.
I'm sure the plow driver was thrilled.

Today my neighbor was riding a bike down the snowy street.
My daughter even said he was nuts.
THis photo is what southerners think of when they imagine snow.
Blue skies and pretty scenery. But in reality, us northerners know better
!
Makes your back hurt just looking at that picture.......

And it's always swell to come out of work to your car buried under a foot of snow....
Keep warm

home

Dad is home from the hospital as of Sunday afternoon.
Mom almost immediately came down with the flu.
I was more worried Monday about Mom than Dad.
Seems that even though you may have gotten a flu shot this season, you can still get the flu as they didn't guess right with the flu vaccine.

Always fun to hold the bucket for someone, when you still feel like you need the bucket to barf in yourself.

Must go out into the wild white wonder and get to work.
Hopefully the snow estimates are as wrong as the flu vaccine...but the way it's snowing...they may have under estimated...

Is it me or has this been an awfully brutal winter weather wise???

Noah today

NOAH TODAY


In the year 2008, the Lord came unto Noah,

who was now living in the United States, and said:
"Once again, the earth has become wicked and over
-populated, and I see the end of all flesh before me."

"Build another Ark and save 2 of every living thing
along with a few good humans."

He gave Noah the blueprints, saying:
"You have 6 months to build the Ark before I will
start the unending rain for 40 days and 40 nights."

Six months later, the Lord looked down and saw Noah
weeping in his yard - but no Ark.

"Noah!," He roared, "I'm about to start the rain!
Where is the Ark?"

"Forgive me, Lord," begged Noah, "but things have changed."

"I needed a building permit."









"I've been arguing with the inspector
about the need for a sprinkler system."








"My neighbors claim that I've violated the
neighborhood zoning laws by building the Ark in my
yard and exceeding the height limitations. We had to
go to the Development Appeal Board for a decision."








"Then the Department of Transportation demanded a
bond be posted for the future costs of moving power
lines and other overhead obstructions, to clear the
passage for the Ark's move to the sea. I told them
that the sea would be coming to us, but they would
hear nothing of it."








"Getting the wood was another problem. There's a ban
on cutting local trees in order to save the spotted owl."

"I tried to convince the environmentalists that I
needed the wood to save the owls - but no go!"








"When I started gathering the animals, an animal
rights group sued me. They insisted that I was
confining wild animals against their will. They
argued the accommodations were too restrictive, and
it was cruel and inhumane to put so many animals in
a confined space."








"Then the EPA ruled that I couldn't build the Ark
until they'd conducted an environmental impact study
on your proposed flood."








"I'm still trying to resolve a complaint with the
Human Rights Commission on how many minorities I'm
supposed to hire for my building crew."








"Immigration and Naturalization are checking the
green-card status of most of the people who want to work."








"The trades unions say I can't use my sons. They
insist I have to hire only Union workers with
Ark-building experience."








"To make matters worse, the IRS seized all my assets,
claiming I'm trying to leave the country illegally
with endangered species."








"So, forgive me, Lord, but it would take at least 10
years for me to finish this Ark."








"Suddenly the skies cleared, the sun began to shine,
and a rainbow stretched across the sky."








Noah looked up in wonder and asked,
"You mean you're not going to destroy the world?"

"No," said the Lord.
"The GOVERNMENT beat me to it."