Welp...

As of 2:30am, I have the best-looking driveway walkway on the block:




( Another view )

You can tell that the snow was still falling even as I was working. It only took me 1.5 hours to clear everything, and I actually went over it all twice, plus I did the back courtyard and took in the trash can (but I didn't take a pic of all that).

Now I just have to wait and see what it all looks like tomorrow.

I'm off for a shower and then bed. I already have places on my body that are sore - places that I'd forgotten existed since the last time I shoveled! :-P

A birthday and a bedtime.

Before the day gets away from me...

Happy Birthday, MELLIE!

I hope you have an awesome birthday, thespis_mellie! :-D

Ahhh! I'm out of the bath/shower, and my skin is now back to regular temperature (my legs had been ice-cold when I came inside). My hair is wet and so is my towel (since I just used it), so I'm going to use Philip's towel across my pillow when I go to sleep. He's not here, so he won't mind... right? ;-)

Snowblower (the saga continues)

Well, the driveway is all done again. Maria's husband Bobby came over to show me how to work my snowblower, and two friends of his came with him -- with their own snowblower in tow. This guy - Waylon - used his snowblower and did all of my driveway for me in about 4 minutes (there wasn't a lot, since I'd done it last night). I didn't want him to just do it FOR me, I wanted him to SHOW me HOW to do it myself with mine. I wanted to do the driveway on the other side of our house (since it melts down into the end of our driveway). He taught me all about the snowblower, and I ran it about 3 feet...

and then ran over something and broke a part.

*sigh*

So now I have to go to SEARS or somewhere and see if they have some pins for it. Waylon said it shouldn't cost more than $5 or so, and that it's a safety measure for the blade parts. I'm glad it won't be expensive, at least.

More.

My sister just called me. My dad is in the hospital in Florida (my parents went down there on Sunday - they had a week at their time-share). He kept falling down, and they think he's had some strokes.

:-(

Now I'm worried about my dad, too. They're not exactly sure what's wrong with him, and they won't know anything for certain until they hear back from the neurologist.

I'm ready for this whole week to be over. Ever since last Thursday, it seems as if it's just been bad news, bad news, bad news. I'm so tired.

(no subject)

Well, we're back home. I picked up McDonald's for my starving children. I stopped and got gas, worried to have the tank at below half in this weather. I ran into Baker's and grabbed V8 juice. We drove to SEARS and got the shear bolts for the snowblower. I spilled my full Dr. Pepper all over the front of the car. Jack needed to potty. The urgent care center is not accepting non-life-threatening cases. And we're back home.

Now to call my dad.

Dad update

There is a verse somewhere in the Bible, and it says something along the lines of, "God will not give you more than He knows you can handle."

Or something like that.

Please, God. No more. I honestly don't think I can handle one more wrong thing right now.

---

Dad is in hospital limbo. They still don't exactly know what's wrong with him. The surgeons say he DID NOT have a stroke this time, but that there is definite evidence of his having strokes in the past. His hypertension and really super-high blood pressure are causing problems right now, and one of the doctors is calling for vascular surgery - the reason being that he is bleeding from the carotid (sp?) artery.

But who knows for sure? Mom is still waiting to speak to the surgeons personally (as of right now, everything has just been passed through the nurses, and the doctors haven't even come in to see him themselves).

And their cell phone is dead, and they don't have any way to charge it except in the car, only Mom can't ever leave because they're constantly coming in and running all sorts of tests on my dad, or someone will come in and try to give him a blood thinner... and someone else will have *just* given him one. Stuff like that, so my mom can't leave because she's trying to stay on top of all his care.

But they will call me once they find out something new, or when he's released or whatever.

He's been there since Monday, but I just found out today - my mom didn't think I could handle anything else right now, but my sister called me anyway. I'm glad that she did, though. I would have wanted to know no matter what.