February 15
 
Well, Megan and I finally went back to school today, but with 2-hour delays.  I hate to admit it, but the schools probably should have been closed again.  The roads in the district I drive bus for were still not very good, especially for the drivers who have routes up in the mountains.  Some of them were unable to get to parts of their routes.  Then around lunchtime the snow started again and put down about 3 more inches by supper.   Lots of slipping and sliding and at least one stuck bus in our school district.  I've heard about some other incidents in other districts.

We have Direct TV service and had been without satellite signal since last Thursday.  When they installed our dish they put it right up under the roof edge, so any time it snows or icicles form the dish gets covered and we don't have reception.  However, when the snow/ice melts we have a signal again.  Not this time.  There was so much ice built up at one point we figured the dish got damaged.  Tim talked with someone on the phone and they walked him through everything we could try to do to restore service and when that didn't work they scheduled someone to come out today.  He got everything working again, though I don't know what the problem was.  He moved the dish up onto the edge of the soffit, too, so the ice and snow from the roof won't cover it any more.  It was nice to be able to watch the news and a little bit of the Olympics tonight.
 
I was late getting off work tonight so decided to throw together something quick for supper.  Hamburgers and fries sounded about right.  I needed to get buns, though, so stopped at the store in Ligonier for a bag.  Was I ever mad to find when I got home that they were moldy!  And in looking further, I discovered they were past the "sell by" date.  This is the second time this store has done that to me.  I bought a lot of soda at Christmas time and when we went to use it found that about half of it was past it's date, too, and tasted old.  At least I still have my receipt this time and can take the buns back.  I'm either going to have to stop shopping at that store (which I hate to do because it's very convenient on my way home from work) or start checking the dates on EVERYTHING.
 
 
February 16
 
A 2-hour delay was called last night for most schools around here.  About 6:30 this morning my boss called to tell me school was canceled and by 7:00 the call had come from Megan's school, too.  This is our 9th snow day since Christmas break!  We've probably picked up an inch or two more today, which isn't much, but on top of roads that weren't that great to begin with.....  I am afraid we might end up being off again tomorrow.  My friend, Helen, told us the forecast is for another 4 inches tonight and 8 more tomorrow.  If we get that, it will definitely put us well over 5 feet of snow since New Year's.  Thank goodness we haven't had extremely cold weather, too.  There have just been a couple of days here and there that were bitterly cold.  Mostly we're staying in the 20's and the pellet stove has been doing a wonderful job of keeping the house at a comfortable 69 degrees.
 
I've spent a lot of time today (more than I intended) trying to work the bugs out of the new computer.  Everything online seems to be dragging so slow, so downloading updates and the like took hours to accomplish.  I stuck with them hoping that some of them might be the answer to the slowness, but nothing has worked.  Maybe it's as Tim said and the internet is just that today with everyone being home again.  I hope that's all it is.  It's so frustrating to get something new and have it not be working quite right.  On the plus side, I spent some time catching up on what I've missed at PhancyPages.  Goodness, if Wanda is slowing down because of her health I'm going to have to speed up just to be slow!
 
Spaghetti and garlic bread for supper tonight.  Tim is so cold and tired when he finally gets home at night.  He needs something hearty and hot.  During the winter months he usually gets a shower as soon as he gets home, eats and then falls into bed by 8:30 at the latest so he can get up at 4:00 and do it again.  I think I will surprise him with a cake or brownies, too.  Megan and I will settle in tonight to watch American Idol.  It's the one thing we like to watch together these days and I'll take whatever time she's willing to give.  I know this phase will pass, too, but it's a hard one.
 
 
February 17
 
Snow day number 10 of 2010!  This is getting ridiculous.  We are going to be in school at least halfway through June.  I heard a parent joke that at least July 4th is a Sunday so the kids will be home.
 
I have been working with the computer again today.  Everything online takes so much time.  It's not that it's just slow.....it's nearly not moving at all.  Websites are taking upwards of 5 minutes to load.  Something is definitely not right.  I've tried everything I can think of.  It's time to call in the calvary.  A former youth group student is married to a guy who has a computer business and she's going to have him call me to see what we can do.  It's a brand new computer so I don't want to mess it up.  Better to get someone that REALLY knows what they're doing.
 
Went out this afternoon and shoveled off part of the deck and the part of the sidewalk leading to the driveway.  That was enough for me.  There must have been about another 8 inches and underneath it all was a layer of ice.  I'm really feeling the effort in my back.
 
Tim picked up Taco Bell for Megan and Kentucky Fried Chicken for us so I didn't have to cook tonight!  Good man!
 

February 21
 
Well, we finished out the week going to school Thursday and Friday with nothing more than a 2-hour delay on Thursday.  The temperatures warmed up above freezing by Friday afternoon and the snow and ice melted enough that the roads were pretty much bare.  That sure made my job more enjoyable!  Sunshine and temps hovering around 40 degrees were the norm all weekend.  It was so nice.  With the birds singing it felt almost like spring.
 
Yesterday Megan and I picked up Tim's Aunt Peg and took her out to lunch in Ligonier.  She is Tim's great-aunt and at 85 has been a widow for 2 years now.  She was used to working most of her life and after retirement she and Uncle Ralph got out and did something every day.  She doesn't like sitting home now and gets terribly bored since she doesn't have any hobbies at all.  She'd have me running her around every day if she could get away with it, but my job gives me a kind excuse that doesn't hurt her feelings.  I do take her out most Saturdays, though, and the rest of the week she manages to find enough people to take her out that she remains happy.  She gets confused easily these days and doesn't hear well at all, but we manage to have a nice time.  In warmer weather we usually attend auctions.  It's been more of a challenge while it's been cold.  Yesterday we took in the little specialty shops in Ligonier and enjoyed ourselves browsing through before having a bit of a treat at the coffee shop.  Most of Tim's family thinks I let her take advantage of me or put up with her because of the money she is supposedly leaving all of us.  Nothing could be farther from the truth.  She is a lonely old lady with no children of her own.  Spending time with her is just the right thing to do.  
 
Tim got home just a little earlier than usual last night because we planned to have a date night.  He was feeling really tired so we went out to dinner at Falbo's and then brought a movie home to watch.  Tim fell asleep during the movie so I'm glad we didn't spend the money to go to the theater.  Oh well, I enjoyed the movie and we had a nice dinner.  Tim had a nice looking NY strip steak and I had homemade ravioli.  Yummy!  Megan had a friend spend the night but we never saw or heard from the girls once they went in her room.  They shut the door so they wouldn't keep Tim awake and stayed in there till this morning.
 
We slept in a bit this morning and then spent some time sitting in bed reading the Sunday paper.  My mom called and invited us to go out to lunch with her and John so we finally had to get up and moving.  We made a quick trip to Wal-Mart to get my prescription filled and pick up a few grocery items for Tim's lunches this week.  We made it back just in time to go to lunch.  We went to Brady's in Donegal.  We enjoyed wonderful homestyle meals; hot turkey sandwich, mushroom smothered steak, ground sirloin, and swiss steak.  Another delicious meal that I didn't have to cook!  Our table was by a window so we were able to look out over the ponds in back of the restaurant and be entertained by the ducks that make their home there'.  And why not?  The spoiled things get fed bread and crackers by the customers and the restaurant staff feeds them what it can.  They got a big pan of pancakes leftover from the breakfast buffet while we were there.
 
John stopped by his house on the way home.  He took the time to show Tim his basement workshop for the first time and was showing us all kinds of other things.  We also loaded up most of his houseplants to move to Mom's house.  He is wrapping up loose ends before they leave for Florida next weekend.  I don't know if I mentioned it, but John's been diagnosed with prostate cancer.  He doesn't want chemo or radiation treatments so they are going to a clinic that is doing something new.  I think it's called proton therapy.  This stay is to be four days long and they will be evaluating him to see if he is a candidate for the treatment.  If he is, they will have to spend 8 weeks there for treatments.  I think he is feeling scared and kind of making his peace or something.  Mostly I was thinking how old he suddenly seems.  I hope everything goes well in Florida.
 
We've just been relaxing, watching some television, and reading since getting home.  It's back to work tomorrow and hopefully it will be on a normal schedule...no delays or cancellations and NO SNOW!