T took me out for a birthday dinner. He told me I could pick anywhere I wanted. I don't really have a favorite place (which really drives him crazy), so I pondered and pondered. Even looked in the yellow pages. I made reservations at Giovanni's. T had called me 3 days in a row asking if I'd "made a decision" yet as to where we were eating. LOL, I think it was driving him crazy not knowing. I didn't tell him where we were going until we got there.
I was a bit nervous as there was a 40 minute drive to and from the restaurant. I was concerned there might be that uncomfortable silence during the drive, but there wasn't. Conversation was light and flowed well.
Giovanni's was a VERY NICE place and the food was delicious. T had sea bass and I had orange roughy.
On the way back to town, he stopped at a car dealership to check out the pickup trucks (LOL, typical guy). He even looked up the phone number of the dealership when we got back to my house. He's going to call on Monday for pricing on that truck!
When I got home, I realized I'd forgotten my cell phone and had 3 calls and 1 text from my sister while I was gone. Apparently, my Dad was having shortness of breath and drove himself to the ER 1 1/2 hours from his house. By the time I got home and found out about it, he was being released. He had water in his lungs again and they put him on diruretic pills.
Aside from my Dad going to the ER, I had a really good evening! :)
Feb 2, 2008
Can You Say......
S-N-O-W-B-L-O-W-E-R!?!
A couple weeks ago I received a text message from my brother's friend/coworker that they had a snowblower come in that would be perfect for me. (He said I was the first person he thought of when he saw it) I was in the middle of shoveling snow when the text came in, so I didn't get back to him until yesterday. (LOL)
Here's what happened: An elderly couple bought it last year, used it once. Not a scratch on it. The tires wouldn't hold the air and they didn't want to mess with it, so they took it into the tractor dealership my brother works at and traded it in on a new blower!
On his own time, my brother's friend changed the spark plugs, fixed the tires and gave it the "once over" to make sure everything was working properly. My brother even shoved it into a big snow bank to see how well it worked. (LOL, *that* doesn't surprise me) The dealership gave $250 for the trade-in, and was going to sell it for $400 had he worked on it during work hours. This is a $619 snowblower.
Guess what I got it for??? $250! Plus he delivered it to me. I am SOOOO thrilled!!!
Here's what it looks like:
It's an Ariens compact 20" snowblower with all steel construction and 10x4" snow hog tires. It's got a 200-degree chute that discharges snow high and far (I saw this... and it does!) 5-hp, 2-stage, recoil start (Would've preferred electric start, but hey... for $250 I'm not complaining!). Self-propelled. I'm going to see if I can get a manual for it. Oh, and my brother's friend said that if I have ANY problems with it, to call him and he will take care of it for me. How great is that?!
A couple weeks ago I received a text message from my brother's friend/coworker that they had a snowblower come in that would be perfect for me. (He said I was the first person he thought of when he saw it) I was in the middle of shoveling snow when the text came in, so I didn't get back to him until yesterday. (LOL)
Here's what happened: An elderly couple bought it last year, used it once. Not a scratch on it. The tires wouldn't hold the air and they didn't want to mess with it, so they took it into the tractor dealership my brother works at and traded it in on a new blower!
On his own time, my brother's friend changed the spark plugs, fixed the tires and gave it the "once over" to make sure everything was working properly. My brother even shoved it into a big snow bank to see how well it worked. (LOL, *that* doesn't surprise me) The dealership gave $250 for the trade-in, and was going to sell it for $400 had he worked on it during work hours. This is a $619 snowblower.
Guess what I got it for??? $250! Plus he delivered it to me. I am SOOOO thrilled!!!
Here's what it looks like:
It's an Ariens compact 20" snowblower with all steel construction and 10x4" snow hog tires. It's got a 200-degree chute that discharges snow high and far (I saw this... and it does!) 5-hp, 2-stage, recoil start (Would've preferred electric start, but hey... for $250 I'm not complaining!). Self-propelled. I'm going to see if I can get a manual for it. Oh, and my brother's friend said that if I have ANY problems with it, to call him and he will take care of it for me. How great is that?!
Feb 1, 2008
Thunder Nationals 2008
For the 8th year in a row, I took my nephew to the Monster Truck Thunder Nationals Competition for his birthday. Every year, he gets a tshirt and a program book (which gets autographed by all the drivers after competition). He told me he still has ALL his program books -and- all the tshirts. He really enjoys the shows and it's our one time of the year we do something together, just the two of us.
The favorite of the evening was the Tazmanian Devil truck "Taz".
The last event of the evening was the Freestyle Competition. The last driver was the fans' favorite "Taz". Taz ended up flipping over right in front of us. Everyone in the stands stood to look. As you can see, the driver was unharmed. I was video'ing the freestyle with my cell phone, but with the excitement I forgot to save it. Duh.
Four More
Yesterday afternoon, it started snowing. Very light powdery stuff graced us with it's presence. The lovely stuff continued on into the night. It's always a bad sign when I hear the snowplows go by numerous times by 4am.
This time we got 4". By 5am, I was up and at it... Shoveling the white fluffy stuff. About an hour into it, the snowplow guy stops by and asks if I need it plowed. Ah...Ummm... (I was almost 1/2 done by that point)... "No, I don't think so. But thanks!" And off he went. Another 1/2 hour and it was time for me to get ready for work.
Over my lunch hour, I spent another 45 minutes shoveling. The main area of the driveway is now clear. I still have a bit of "clean up" to do. Right now, I have a nice ski slope in my front yard, and a bunny hill in the backyard. LOL
I am *so* ready for spring!
This time we got 4". By 5am, I was up and at it... Shoveling the white fluffy stuff. About an hour into it, the snowplow guy stops by and asks if I need it plowed. Ah...Ummm... (I was almost 1/2 done by that point)... "No, I don't think so. But thanks!" And off he went. Another 1/2 hour and it was time for me to get ready for work.
Over my lunch hour, I spent another 45 minutes shoveling. The main area of the driveway is now clear. I still have a bit of "clean up" to do. Right now, I have a nice ski slope in my front yard, and a bunny hill in the backyard. LOL
I am *so* ready for spring!
Meet My Friend
Meet "Shove". Shove has been my faithful friend this winter. She's helped me push and move millions of snowflakes without complaint. Shove deserves a much needed vacation from snow removal.
Here's a pic of Shove posing by the bunny hill in the backyard. She and I carried all this snow from the driveway to the backyard, as there was no other place to put it. As you can see, the bunny hill is taller and much wider than Shove.
Another view of the bunny hill:
Not only did Shove tirelessly create the bunny hill with my help, she also created the huge ski slope going down the length of the driveway in the front yard. This pic only shows the top of the ski slope.
