Auto Show

Every few years, we like to attend the annual Detroit North American International Auto Show – especially when we are contemplating the purchase of a new car. It’s nice to have a plethora of vehicles all in one place to check out. Since we have no intention of buying anything new in the near future, though, we assumed we would just forgo the crowds this time around. Until we realized how important it was to Jacob to be there. The boy is a bona fide car nut. A zealous fan of all that is automotive. A passionate devotee of everything on wheels. A genuine . . . Well, you get the picture. He has attended the Auto Show the last few years, if not with us, then with Richie. But this year Richie decided that he had no intention of going, either. (As it ends up, he is going after all, although it will be an alleged "work outing" with his fellow Ford buddies.) I considered bringing Jacob myself. I figured I could tolerate walking around shiny displays of metal with the mobs while Jacob gleefully hopped in and out of automobiles. Then Jim came to the rescue. He was off work today, and, with very little prodding from me, agreed to bring Jacob to the Auto Show himself. A lovely father/son bonding day, with 50,000 of their closest friends. Anyway, they left home bright and early, stayed for over five hours, and had a grand time.

A new model.

Jacob wished this guy would leave so he could take his turn in the driver's seat.

Jacob tried out a Saab.

Winter Wonderland

Here in southeast Michigan, Mother Nature has blessed us with over 35 inches of snow since last month. Local city, township, and county road commissions, on the other hand, have deprived us of any snow removal services during this time. Apparently, due to "budget concerns," the plow and salt truck drivers are not being offered any overtime pay this year. However, they never even seem to be out plowing or salting the roads during regular hours, either. And, of course, there are the alleged salt shortages that all the nearby counties have been whining about. Seriously, there is no shortage of salt. The counties just don't want to purchase any more because they did not put that into their budgets due to the fact that some nitwits hoped and prayed that there would be below-average snowfall this winter. To get to my point, the roads around here have been just terrible - always snow covered and icy, with vehicles careening into each other and/or sliding off the highways in alarming numbers. People are getting stuck in piles of snow, much like they did before the era of SUVs and front-wheel drive cars. Driving anywhere takes double or triple the time. There is simply too much traffic, and there are too many novice drivers in the metro area, to justify cutting the road-clearing expenses so drastically. You'd think they could spare a little sand or something, anyway.

It has also been unbelievably cold around here the past few days! Last night, Adam's weather station thermometer read 11 degrees below zero. Willow Run Airport reported a low of -9. Brrr! I do enjoy all of the snow we've been receiving, but the sub-zero temperatures feel rather bracing. This will make it a lot easier to tolerate 30 degree temps when they return next week, though. Now, that'll seem downright balmy!

Birthday Party

Today was my mother’s 85^th birthday, and we had a rip-roaring party over at Nancy’s house. Well, as rip-roaring a party as a senior citizen can handle. Family and friends showed up despite the blustery snowstorm that was raging outside. (I think our total snowfall today was 8 inches or more?) We ate lunch, had cake & ice cream, gave Irma her gifts, and played Eric’s new interactive Wheel of Fortune game. The kids, along with Steve and Charlie, romped outside in the snow, and built a huge igloo, which I would have pictures of had I remembered to bring my camera. Most importantly, Irm had a wonderful time and was still raving about the party when we dropped her off at her house in the evening. Hopefully we’ll all be as spry as she is when we are in our mid-80s!

Note: I am a bit bewildered why the font of the above post is in a larger type size than usual. I am not able to change it, so enjoy the senior sized type tonight!

I'm Back

My computer is back home where it belongs, so I am finally able to post some pictures. They are a hodgepodge of our ski trip, the New Year's Eve party (and I am proud to say that, thanks to Jim, we will now display the coveted air hockey tournament "Millennium Cup" on our mantle for the year), the bowling outing, and some frolicking in the snow. I will be back to actually writing updates soon!

Party girls on New Year's Eve.

The boys on a ski trail.

Jules working on a snow angel.

Jake out front.

Julia has a bowling style all her own.

Muffin gets a little help from a friend.

Computer Nightmares

My computer is close to being done at the repair shop. Hurray! Last night, the power cord to Adam's laptop shorted out and went kaput, though. He immediately ordered a new one, complete with overnight delivery, but it hasn't arrived yet. There is only about 60 minutes of power left in this poor overused laptop computer, so I am typing rapidly. More updates and, hopefully, pictures will follow soon!

By the way, Happy New Year!

UPDATE: It is now Sunday, January 4th, and my computer is still at the fix-it shop. They tell me it will be ready on Monday. There is no sign of Adam's new power cord, either. So much for the very pricey overnight delivery option. Since Adam's laptop has long since lost all of it's power, I am now mooching computer time at Richie's house.

Year-End Mirth

We have been busy, busy, busy the past four days or so. On Friday, we had a fun afternoon of bowling. Seventeen friends and family members showed up at Garden Lanes. Eric scored the best, rolling two games in the 190s! Julia and Muffin bowled for the first time and did fairly well with the aid of bumpers. I have cute pictures of the young ones that I will post as soon as my computer returns from the fix-it shop. (I'm still using Adam's laptop and I'm not sure how to download pictures onto it!) On Saturday, which was Jacob's actual birthday, we were able to use Jim's company suite at Joe Louis Arena to watch the Great Lakes Invitational College Hockey Tournament. U of M ended up winning the competition. The temperature on Saturday reached a record 62 degrees, and, had it not been raining the whole day, it would have been pretty awesome. It is now cold again, and I am ready for some more snow.

Bev was released from the hospital Friday night, no closer than she was last week to discovering why her stomach hurt so badly that one day. She had test after test, including a stress test, and passed all of them. The electricity went out at the assisted living place yesterday, and Jim got a call that the residents were being evacuated. Bev ended up hanging out at Debbie's house for a few hours until power was restored.

Jim, Adam, and Jacob attended the Plymouth Whalers hockey game this afternoon. Richie is taking Jacob to a movie tomorrow, then we have the New Year's Eve party on Wednesday. I guess now is also the time to think about making some New Year's resolutions for 2009. I'll let you know if I come up with anything interesting.

Merry Christmas

Christmas Day is winding down here, but the partying will go on for another week. We had a great time last night and today, with lots of food, fun, and frolic with the extended family. We made several trips to visit Bev at the hospital in between our travels to and fro. She is set to be released in the morning, and tomorrow cannot come soon enough for her. Santa brought a new X-Box360 for Jacob and the Rockband game for Adam. We have had a blast being rock stars - we all fight over who gets to be the singer in the band.

Our busy week continues tomorrow with a bowling outing to celebrate Jacob's birthday. Saturday is his actual birthday, then there will be a huge New Year's Eve party at Wayne's house on Wednesday. The fun just goes on and on. By the way, Santa did not bring me a new computer, but I do intend to scan the after-Christmas ads in hopes of finding some sort of hot deal. Eventually, Adam will tire of me hogging his laptop.

Well, I am off to sing with the band! Merry Christmas, everyone!

Bah Humbug!

I am posting this using Adam's laptop, as my computer seems to have developed a virus of some sort. I ran a complete system scan with Norton, and discovered a high-level risk problem that "requires manual removal." But when I follow the directions to manually remove the virus, it indicates that it is "not safe to remove manually." Huh? Norton's next recommended course of action is to "review risk details on Norton's Website." Which brings me back to the "requires manual removal" page. Santa, help me! Please bring me a new computer for Christmas!

ER Adventure

Last evening, beginning around 8:30 p.m., Bev began to phone us every 10 minutes or so. For over an hour. She claimed that something was horribly wrong with her because she had excruciating pains in her stomach. She told us that earlier in the day she had developed a terrible cold – yes, this cold suddenly appeared out of nowhere – and she could not stop coughing. We spoke several times to the night nurse at the assisted living place, and she finally recommended that we send Bev to the hospital to be checked out. I think she was tired of listening to her whining.

Now, before you think I am being callous, let me remind you that Bev has cried wolf over and over again in the past. I cannot even remember how many times Jim rushed to her house only to realize that she was just overreacting and wanting attention. Jim’s sister had been to visit Bev Friday afternoon, and insisted that she looked and acted completely normal when she was there. (And I use the term “normal” very loosely!) I suspected that perhaps she was simply lonely last night, so at first I suggested that Jim or Debbie go sit with her for a while to see if that helped her to feel better. To make a long story short, neither Jim nor his sister had any desire to go assist their mother. In fact, they were bickering over the phone about who would have to tend to the ailing woman. Finally, Jim agreed, very begrudgingly, to do the hospital run with Bev. As soon as the two got settled in at the emergency room, Bev’s stomach felt instantly better. Jim stayed with her until the wee hours of the morning – well past his 10:00 p.m. bedtime.

The doctors at the hospital ran numerous tests, cat scans, etc. Probably a redundancy of many of the exams Bev had during her gastroenterologist appointments recently. So, her primary physician found nothing wrong with her, the gastro guy found nothing wrong with her, and now the hospital has found nothing wrong with her. I believe that my mother-in-law’s episodes of pain could quite possibly be psychological in nature, but no one in the family agrees with me. If a doctor does find a problem with her, I would gladly admit that I was wrong, and then, hopefully, they can make her well. But if there is no physical cause for all of this, then we should figure out a way to get her anxiety under control. Either way, the sooner we discover exactly what the issue is, the more sleep we will get around here!

Winter Wonderland - in Autumn

We ended up rescheduling our ski trip to Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday. We left home yesterday morning and had smooth sailing up I-75 until we were north of West Branch. It was a very windy day all across the state, but when it started snowing, the drive became quite exciting. The blowing snow caused white-out conditions, and occasionally we had to slow to less than 10 mph. We realized exactly how bad the travel weather had become when the Mackinac Bridge closed down for a time due to 50 mph sustained winds and reduced visibility. Needless to say, we arrived at the ski resort a bit later than anticipated.

Not surprisingly, the ski conditions up here are simply awesome. The slopes are almost empty, there are no lift lines, and all of the new snow has created fluffy powder. We had an issue with Jacob's ski bindings and had to rent him some skis. He was not too heartbroken, though and he, in fact, likes the rental skis better than his own. (Jacob's big news of the day: He did not fall down once!) The temperature was a tad brisk today, but we all bundled up so much that we began to sweat! Hopefully, we will remember to take the movie camera out on Wednesday and shoot some fun, new videos for your viewing pleasure. I will at least post some photos soon, as I did take the regular camera out today.

Skiing in the Rain

Jim, Adam, Jacob, and I thought that we would be clever this year, so we scheduled a ski trip up north during the less expensive “early season.” A few weeks ago, we reserved a room at the ski lodge for this Sunday through Tuesday. We were excited to hear about the unusually heavy amounts of snow that have been falling in northern Michigan. They have had more snow in the first ten days of December this year than they did the entire month last year. We looked forward to enjoying fresh powder on uncrowded runs. We dusted off our skis, dug out our thermal gloves, and even bought Adam a new snowboard for his birthday. Then we checked the weather forecast.

Rain. It is supposed to become warm and rain up there on Sunday! Normally, temperatures in the upper 30s or lower 40s are uncommonly wonderful for skiing. But, combined with precipitation, the rare, warm day on the slopes turns disastrous. And very slushy. Then, icy when everything eventually refreezes. Geez, it snows almost every single day of the month until we choose to venture to the ski resort, then it decides to rain. And, if a downpour does materialize, the ski area will actually just close, although they have informed us that we may reschedule to Monday through Wednesday if necessary. Rain – way to put a damper on a ski trip!