Christmas on the Road

I hope that everyone had a wonderful Christmas!!!!

Lynn and I had a blast, we drove from Connecticut to Wisconsin to visit Lynn's family. We didn't tell her Mom or the kids we were coming so it was a huge surprise.

Now I know what most of you are thinking.....ARE YOU NUTS?#%#@? A 20 hour drive there and 20 hours back to spend about 56 hours there. Yep, we're nuts.....for the family.

The surprise was totally worth the whole trip, Lynn's Mom was just so happy it was great, and the Julia and Ben were excited too. Lynn's niece and nephew.

In actuality it took about 24 hours to get there since we hit a bad ice storm in Pennsylvania. Lynn slept in the car on the first part of the trip and at about midnight I said that I needed to switch and sleep for awhile. Well that only lasted about an hour and a half we Lynn gently woke me up saying, "YOU NEED TO WAKE UP AND DRIVE THROUGH THIS STORM!!!!".
It was really bad, I had to stop and break the ice off the car at one point because the windshield wipers were so caked with ice they didn't work. The entire car was just a mess. After hitting the road again(at about 35 mph) I passed about 5 semi trucks at differernt times that had slipped totally off the road! Holy Crap!!!

We made up a lot of time after that, until we hit traffic in Chicago and then terrible roads in Wisconsin. I don't know who lived on these road or who they ticked off, but they had not been plowed in awhile. I do believe that everyone we passed looked at us funny since we were wearing our elf hats(stocking hats with elf ears on them) and had painted a sign on the side of the rental car.....
Lots of second looks from the other drivers.

The best part was the fact that we made it and had a blast seeing, Cathy, Jeff, Julia, Ben, Suse, Larry, and Patrick. I love it when you can be with family for the holidays. I can't wait for the next trip in June to go see my family in Oregon when my niece Jill will be graduating high school.

But that's another story for later.

I'll write more this weekend and send up some photos from the trip, until then everyone have a safe and happy New Year.

Nanner

Merry Christmas

You can always tell when Christmas is near because Santa gets a little help from the local fire department here in Ansonia. The Sunday after our big snow storm we had another one hit with about 4 more inches. At about 11am Lynn and I could hear sirens going off below the hill we live on and sure enough about 10 minutes later here came Santa and his friends on the fire truck throwing popcorn balls to everyone brave enough to stand outside and wave to them.

I love this tradition that our little town has and Lynn and I look forward to the Santa ride every year. I just looks like a lot of fun, even though this year it looked a little cold.

Well, its two days before Christmas and the letters are sent(as well as the presents), and Lynn and I are getting ready for the holidays. I think that next week I'll have some funny stories to share with all of you, but for right now I've got to get the laundry finished and get packed.

So to all of you please have a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!

Nanner

Well Bob the Weather Man got it right

IT SNOWED YESTERDAY!!!!!

The first really big storm of the season hit yesterday. Almost every school in the state was closed down in anticipation of the big storm. My school even closed early. It was not a bad day only one of the eight kids I normally have on Friday showed up. Most all of the other kids have parents who are teachers. At least it was one of my favorites who came in so he and I had a blast.

After Lynn picked me up we did a quick trip to the store for milk and wheat thins and stuff for soup making then off to the house where we watched the snow fall for the next 8 hours. We ended up with about 8 inches when it was all said and done. So we managed to finish our Christmas cards and even get a nap(yeah!)

So of course snow on Friday means shoveling on Saturday(bummer). Our little Honda just won't make it up the driveway if we don't plow out soooooooo.

I guess that its really not all a lot of hard work...........

We just have such a looooooooooooooong driveway. But with both of us helping its not so bad. Last year there was a layer of ice which made it so much harder.

We really did have a little fun while we were out there.

So your THOUGHT OF THE DAY during this the Christmas season comes from a Sheryl Crow song

Its not getting what you want

its wanting what you've got.

See you next time........Nanner

It's Raining

It's raining in CT today, not just your ordinary rain, Oregon rain. That sometimes misty (just enough so your windshield wipers don't work right) and sometimes pouring (when you have to run to the car with bags of groceries) and sometimes sideways (for when you're wearing a skirt). In Oregon you can ALWAYS count on several days of rain each week no matter what the season. I really don't mind the rain, because it really does remind me of home.

Here is a nice picture of Oregon near Mom and Dads house, which is only about a mile from the house that I grew up in, I guess they have actually come full circle.

So on this rainy day here is your THOUGHT OF THE DAY

Life may not be the party we hoped for,

but while we're here we should dance.

Nanner

The Guardian

I saw a great movie tonight. "The Guardian" It was about the Coast Guard rescue swimmers, kinda like Top Gun, but for the Coast Guard. It had a fun cast and I liked the movie a lot.

One of the cool things was that to do the movie they got real Coast Guard people to do some of the characters. Some of the teaching team were actual instructors from the training school.

The other really cool thing was learning the Coast Guard rescue swimmers motto

"So others may live"

that seems like a pretty high bar to set and live up to.

Nanner

The cutest thing.......EVER

So like most of you some days my job is just longer than other days......pretty much a given. Today I think that I saw the cutest thing........EVER! One of my little guys(he just turned 2) sang to me the entire song of "Take me out to the Ballgame". Not only did he sing the entire song and know every word he sang it with such gusto and pride any baseball fan would totally stand and applaud. The best part was the line, "1, 2, 3 strikes your out" was sung as, "one, two, freestiuout". It was one of those classic moments that you will always remember and bring a smile to you face.

Like I said before, I really do LOVE my job.

Thought of the Day
You don't stop laughing when you get old, you get old when you stop laughing!

Nanner

SNOW

Oh man I am NOT ready for the snow to start yet!!!

We woke up this Sunday morning and there is snow on the ground and big fluffy flakes falling from the sky. It's not even December yet. It is gonna all turn into rain later today so at least I will not have to shovel the driveway(totally not my favorite job).

I wish if it was going to snow we could at least get a snow day out of it.

We are supposed to have a very snowy winter this year....last year was pretty good too.

This was February. Not bad about 7 really good inches.

Nanner

Happy Thanksgiving

Happy Leftover Season...............one of my favorites! Lynn likes Mini Candy Bar Season(Halloween). Don't you just love the day after Thanksgiving and the leftover dinner roll sandwiches! I spent my Thanksgiving in Maine with the Sullivan Family at Silver Sands on Sebago Lake. On Thursday it was cold, but very sunny and beautiful, then on Friday when we left it was snowing(well, it is Maine after all). It's fun spending time with Ed and Marge and their family because its kinda like spending time with my folks back home in Oregon. Lots of food, some new stories, some old stories and cards. Plus, Marge is the type of gal who has the BEST STORIES to tell. As I said in my first installment, I love a good story!

Now of course it's time to gear up for Christmas!!!!! Time to finish that shopping for the people who mean the most to you and the person you drew for the Secret Santa at work! I do love buying presents but my money always runs out faster than my present list. I've heard that it's a common occurrence. Every year my brothers and I always hear the same thing from our Mom, "I'm not doing as much for Christmas this year." Every year we all say the same thing, "Oh yeah, we've heard that one before."

For those of you who know me I like to find phrases that sort of speak to me or sometimes I come up with a good one of my own, but I like to call it a Thought of the Day.

The question isn't who is going to let me;

it's who is going to stop me!

~Ayn Rand

So just think about that until next time.............Nanner

My first attempt

Well here we go! I am trying my first attempt at blogging. Who knows how it will turn out or just what will pop out of my head!

Let me introduce myself...........I'm Nancy (or Nanner) and I am a preschool teacher in Connecticut. I mostly have 2 year olds in my room (Lynn says that it's my peer group)
I Love my job, but it's the kind of job that you have to love to be able to do. Otherwise you're just plain outnumbered and sinking fast.

I have lots of different kinds of interests which include.....music (pretty much anything other than country)..........reading...........sports...........camping.........travel...........scrapbooking.........and lots of other things too. I forgot to mention Movies........I love movies (George Lucas is amazing) I think the original three Star Wars Movies are some of the best stories ever told! There's nothing better than a good story.

I should also say that I'm a child of the 70's and 80's (which could reflect my choices in music). I have had jobs where I'm the youngest around and now I'm one of the oldest....go figure. My first paying job was working the summer before my freshman year at college at the local Lumber Mill in the small town I grew up in. It was in Oregon. That didn't last long but I sure learned a lot, many of the guys who had done the job for years did not have a full set of 10 fingers!!!

How I got from a small town in Oregon to a small town in Connecticut is a very long story with lots going on in between including those college years and 8 summers working at girl scout camp. That will have to be another story for another day.

So check back in for some of my views on life and how to get from here to there without losing your sanity.............Thanks for reading............Nanner