In Like a Lion ... Out Like a Lamb?

It seems like it has snowed every few days starting with the blizzard after Christmas. At our house the snowfall totals have to be approaching 50". And surprise, surprise, we're expecting more snow Wednesday.

Brie decided to brave the storm on the morning of 1/12/11. I decided not to and waited until after lunch before I headed to work.

According to Trouble, there's nothing quite like "Kitty TV". If you look closely, you can see a bird landing on the bird feeder.

Brie soaks up a few rays, while Andrew brings wood to the deck from the wood pile.

For those of you who have not seen Andrew's latest invention, this is our new wood rack made entirely from scraps. It's an engineering marvel.

Due to the below-freezing conditions, we have had to add "icicle removal" to our list of chores. Every few days we have to knock down the really scary looking ones before someone gets hurt.

Trouble and Brie paced on the deck, the one place that is mostly snow-free.

Today Andrew widened the path to the wood pile and pushed back the snow along the driveway to make room for the next storm.

Our gutters are overflowing with ice. Although the sun has been making appearances between the storms, the temperature has not been getting above freezing.

Even the bird feeder is having a hard time with the weather. Andrew had to put a patch on the bottom where the board had split from the cold.

I don't know about you, but sledding has not gotten old for me. Today I prepped the luge course to take advantage of the sub-zero temperatures tonight. Tomorrow it should make for a fast ride.

Brie is making the best of her mostly snowed-in situation with laps around the turn-around and sprints up and down the deck stairs.

Snow Blower Repair

After sitting on the Penna Turnpike for 2 hours on Tuesday, we got home at 7pm to find what was originally 20 inches of snow that had melted down to about 15 inches. Somewhere in between the mailbox and the light post is my driveway. The snow was still about 24 inches high at the top of the driveway where the plow pushed it. To make matters worse, the snow blower refused to start. So.... we manually shoveled about 75% of the driveway in order to get the car off the street.

Brie was not phased by the snow drift against the back door. No matter what, she wanted OUT after five days in the house!

Happy New Year! It's a hot day in my house (77°F) and outside (57°F). We decided to stop feeding the wood stove.

Being such a nice day Andrew decided to give the snow blower another shot and finished the last 25% of the driveway that was still buried under snow.

After consulting with one of the mechanics at work, Andrew figured out how to eliminate the safety key. This short wire and piece of plastic has been causing quite a bit of aggravation since we bought the machine two years ago. Not anymore.

Master Bedroom: Nearly Complete

The white dresser is my childhood furniture and is temporarily filling in until we get find a bedroom set we like.

The rocking chair belonged to my great-grandparents (Kornic).

The mirror and lamps are from our trip to IKEA. We have a mini project lined up for them later.

And in case you were wondering where all of our clothes in the several dressers we used to use disappeared to...

Kristin's closet.

Andrew's closet.

The closet doors need a second coat and the bedroom door needs to be primed and painted, but that's about all that is left. We still have yet to follow through on purchasing a bed, night stands, or a dresser, so I guess that's still on the list.

After the game this afternoon Andrew decided to knock out the mirror and light project.

Andrew's new Dremel tool is already being used to create a mounting plate for the lamps.

Poor lighting is a pet peeve we share, and a room with no full-length mirror is a pet peeve I deal with on my own. Problem solved.

Syracuse Thanksgiving 2010

Click on the picture of Aunt Jane to see the rest of the album.

Closet Installation Part I

Before JoePa won #400, we picked up the components for our closet organizers. There are four closets in our master bedroom and they are each a different size. I hope we can keep all of our measurements straight.

You know a project is going to be a success when you read the instructions.

One closet down, three to go.

I can help AND take pictures at the same time!

In our rush to get home to watch the game, we miscalculated a few quantities, so we'll have to make a trip back to Home Depot tomorrow. I'm sure you can imagine how upset Andrew must be about that. (Yeah right.)

And for a little perspective, this is what the closets looked like before.

Happy Fall 2010 !

Fall 2010 at Penn State