Indoor Fun

Featuring ... Angelina Ballerina!

Snow update at 4pm

While Bill and Ellie are on round two of shoveling and having fun in the snow, I'm enjoying a hot cup of tea and watching Syracuse win in a nail-biter down to the final shot! WHEW!

Snow total in Charlottesville at 4pm = 7 inches

Snow, Snow and More Snow!

They began the week by saying, "could be an inch, could be a foot." As the days progressed they stopped giving totals. Finally on Friday most weather stations we're staying, "looks like 3-6 inches." So here's the pictures of Ellie helping Bill clear the driveway. It's now snowing like Christmas! And the updated totals are currently predicted at 7 -12 inches!! Just like being HOME! :)

Full Moon 2010 - Wolf Moon & Mars Equal Big Night for Skywatchers

Full Moon 2010 - Wolf Moon & Mars Equal Big Night for Skywatchers - National Ledger


Full Moon 2010 - Wolf Moon & Mars Equal Big Night for Skywatchers
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By Gene Byrd
Jan 29, 2010


The first full moon for 2010 is also known as the wolf moon and will shine brightly on the last weekend in January. Add to the night of sky-watching a mix of Mars and you have quite the spectacle as the moon and Mars increase in brightness.

Full Moon 2010 - Wolf Moon & Mars Equal Big Night for Skywatchers

Fox News notes in a report on the origins of the term 'wolf moon' it (is) "a moniker dating back to Native American culture and the notion that hungry wolves howled at the full moon on cold winter nights..."

How bright will it be? Thanks to Mars, expect some serious light.

According to a report from National Geographic, "The 2010 wolf moon will appear 30 percent brighter and 14 percent larger than any other full moon this year, because our cosmic neighbor will actually be closer to Earth than usual."

When life gets you down .. put on the music!

Some days are harder than others. This song always reminds me there's something greater than myself out there. I hope you enjoy the song too!

Watch the VIDEO

"The Climb"

I can almost see it.
That dream I'm dreaming, but
There's a voice inside my head saying
You'll never reach it
Every step I'm takin'
Every move I make
Feels lost with no direction,
My faith is shakin'
But I gotta keep tryin'
Gotta keep my head held high

There's always gonna be another mountain
I'm always gonna wanna make it move
Always gonna be an uphill battle
Sometimes I'm gonna have to lose
Ain't about how fast I get there
Ain't about what's waitin' on the other side
It's the climb

The struggles I'm facing
The chances I'm taking
Sometimes might knock me down, but
No I'm not breaking
I may not know it, but
These are the moments that
I'm gonna remember most
I've just gotta keep goin', and
I gotta be strong
Just keep pushing on, but

There's always gonna be another mountain
I'm always gonna wanna make it move
Always gonna be an uphill battle
Sometimes I'm gonna have to lose
Ain't about how fast I get there
Ain't about what's waitin' on the other side
It's the climb

There's always gonna be another mountain
I'm always gonna wanna make it move
Always gonna be an uphill battle
Sometimes I'm gonna have to lose
Ain't about how fast I get there
Ain't about what's waitin' on the other side
It's the climb

Keep on movin'
Keep climbin'
Keep faith baby
It's all about, it's all about
The climb
Keep the faith, keep your faith, woah

Who let Ellie out? Who? Who? Who?

Ellie keeps all her music cards in a big heart-shaped box and takes them out to sing and dance whenever the spirit moves her. This is her singing "Who Let the Dogs Out?" She has also taken to running laps in the house. She'll say to Bill and I, "Mommy I have to get the shenanagans out of me!" and off she goes. We're convinced she'll be a cross-country runner someday. She doesn't get winded, and she's not particularly made for speed, so we're thinking cross-country is the way to go!

Seems it's another Saturday again ..

Although it wasn't an early start to today ... we seemed to have the right combination of activity and rest. I promised Ellie we'd visit a new branch of the library today. I haven't quite been happy with the few branches I've visited. Today was a welcome surprise to the Gordon Ave Library. It was complete with a huge kid's area - lots of small tables and a great big area of cushioned, bench seats surrounding a big bay window. I parked Ellie and Bill there while I found my way around. We took home several kids' books and movies. En route home we stopped into a place we've been meaning to try, but just haven't done it. C'ville Coffee is a great little location that you'd never expect what's inside, while you're still outside. They have a tremendous sandwich board (which is right up Bill's alley) and a wonderful kids area (you can see the giant wooden turtle for kids to climb on - on this link). We ordered our sandwiches to take home and while we waited Ellie enjoyed the other kids and the toys. We'll go back .. as you can see lots of shelves of books and folks with laptops, just hanging out. I liked it!

After lunch and naps (while I continued studying for an insurance exam) Ellie and I made brownies in our new pan from Aunt Lisa. You'll see the photos here that Ellie loved every minute of it!

Busy Saturday ...

The day began with my trip to DMV ... yes about an hour and 20 minutes spent there total ... I arrived about 20 minutes prior to the doors opening, and still I was about 30th in line. What a trip VA DMV is :)

Then the good stuff got underway ... errands to Gymboree, Best Buy, Target, lunch at Chick-fil-a and on to our haircuts! And Ellie's nap consisted of Bill driving through the car wash while I was getting mine cut and our drive home! Now she's on to playing Barbies!

The Spoiled Under-30 Crowd

The Spoiled under 30 Crowd:

When I was a kid, adults used to bore me to tears with their tedious diatribes about how hard things were when they were growing up; what with walking 25 miles to school every morning ... uphill BOTH ways …yadda, yadda, yadda.

And I remember promising myself that when I grew up, there was no way in h#ll I was going to lay a bunch of crap like that on kids about how hard I had it and how easy they've got it!

But now that I'm over the ripe old age of thirty, I can't help but look around and notice the youth of today. You've got it so easy! I mean, compared to my childhood, you live in a da#n Utopia! And I hate to say it but you kids today you don't know how good you've got it!

1) When I was a kid we didn't have The Internet.
If we wanted to know something, we had to go to the damn library and look it up ourselves, in the card catalog!

2) There was no email!!
We had to actually write somebody a letter ... with a pen! Then you had to walk all the way across the street and put it in the mailbox and it would take like a week to get there!

3) There were no MP3's or Napsters!
You wanted to steal music, you had to hitchhike to the damn record store and shoplift it yourself! Or you had to wait around all day to tape it off the radio and the DJ would usually talk over the beginning and #*% it all up!

4) We didn't have fancy crap like Call Waiting!
If you were on the phone and somebody else called they got a busy signal, that's it!

5) And we didn't have fancy Caller ID either!
When the phone rang, you had no idea who it was! It could be your school, your mom, your boss, your bookie, your drug dealer, a collections agent, you just didn't know!!! You had to pick it up and take your chances mister!

6) We didn't have any fancy Sony Playstation/Wii video games with high-resolution 3­D graphics!
We had the Atari 2600! With games like “Space Invaders” and “Asteroids” and the graphics were horrible! Your guy was a little square! You actually had to use your imagination! And there were no multiple levels or screens, it was just one screen forever! And you could never win. The game just kept getting harder and harder and faster and faster until you died! Just like LIFE!

7) When you went to the movie theater there no such thing as stadium seating!
All the seats were the same height! If a tall guy or some old broad with big hair or a hat sat in front of you and you couldn't see, you were just screwed!

8) Sure, we had cable television, but back then that was only like 15 channels and there was no onscreen menu!
You had to use a little book called a TV Guide to find out what was on!

And there was no Cartoon Network either!

You could only get cartoons on Saturday Morning. Do you hear what I'm saying!?! We had to wait ALL WEEK for cartoons!

9) And we didn't have microwaves…
If we wanted to heat something up, we had to use the stove or go build a fire...imagine that! If we wanted popcorn, we had to use that stupid Jiffy Pop thing or a pan with HOT oil and Real popcorn kernels and shake it all over the stove forever like an idiot.

10) When we were on the phone with our friends and our parents walked-in…we were stuck to the wall with a cord, a 7-foot cord that ran to the phone - not to the phone base, the actual phone. We barely had enough length to sit on the floor and still be able to twirl the phone cord in our fingers. If you suddenly had to go to the bathroom - guess what we had to do.....hang up and talk to them later.

That's exactly what I'm talking about! You kids today have got it too easy. You're spoiled. You guys wouldn't have lasted five minutes back in 1980!

Regards,
“The Over 30 Crowd”

Our Visit to the Knapp's in Norfolk ...

Ellie and Lori

Ellie and Lucas hugging

Ellie learning the Wii

Bill and Adam

Lucas - up close and personal

Adam celebrating a Wii victory!

Adam, Ellie, Jacob and Lucas

Ellie doing puzzles on the floor

Watching the boys play Wii

Ellie's LONG hair

Lunch with all the kids

Ellie, Adam and Riley (the cat)

It's taken us 6 months of living in Charlottesville to get there, but what a great trip we had going to the Knapp's in Norfolk. Their house is right on the water .. Chesapeake Bay .. the wind whipped this weekend, but it was wonderful to look at. The boys: Jacob (9), Adam (7) and Lucas (4) were so welcoming to Ellie and showed her how to use all their toys. And the big treat was them teaching her to play Wii!

We arrived mid-morning .. hung for a little while, went to lunch around the corner at a little very kid-friendly place where Ellie enjoyed Chocolate Chip Pancakes and bacon - where she cleaned her plate and finished her milk! The afternoon the kids played, BJ, Bill and Jake went to baseball try-outs and Lori and I lounged watching the water and chatted .. while taking turns going downstairs to ensure everyone was playing nicely!

The sitter arrived 6pm as the four of us headed out for some adult time. Drinks at Byrd and Baldwin Brothers Steakhouse in downtown Norfolk. A quick walk around the corner for 7:30pm reservations at Todd Jurich's Bistro, Our meal was amazing .. great wine, delicious food and lots of laughs! My filet was over a polenta cake and creamed spinach. Bill's Kobe beef was accommpanied by duck fat fries. And just for a taste of Southern cuisine, Bill ordered a crock of smoked gouda grits! After dessert - just a bit of chocolate - we called it a night!

We loved our time at the Knapp's. We look forward to spending more time with them. We've convinced them to look into a trip to Charlottesville to be with us too !!

Keeping Warm during Cold Nights!

Ellie poses in front of the gas fireplace. We finally turned it on today for the very first time. It's beautiful to look at, and it does throw off some good heat too! Note our new fireplace screen ... great modern design!

Siblings ....

Bruins get OT win at Fenway Winter Classic - NHL News - FOX Sports on MSN

Bruins get OT win at Fenway Winter Classic - NHL News - FOX Sports on MSN

Today was New Years' Day and how appropriate as a new year begins I can carry forward things that I love! Today was also the NHL Winter Classic - outdoor hockey game between the Bruins and the Flyers at Fenway Park. It was reminiscent of my days following John around from one rink to another when he played youth hockey. And since it was played in Fenway Park it reminded me of all the baseball games I've seen played there as well.

There were also opportunities to see many faces and personalities from the past .. 30 years ago next month is the anniversary of the 1980 Olympic Hockey team winning the gold medal in Lake Placid ... such a great trip down memory lane.

Not only was the game, pre-game, music by James Taylor and Dropkick Murphys, presonalities wonderful .. the B's OT win topped it off. Great way to start the year!

http://video.msn.com/?mkt=en-us&playlist=videoByUuids:uuids:1f9fede3-4817-416f-a59e-183f8e322620&showPlaylist=true