Birthday Cakes are Like Friends...

It's pretty...with the rainbow sprinkles and all...



BUT...





























It's what's on the INSIDE that really counts!

Olivia is the luckiest 9-year old alive.  Amy made this seven-layer beauty from (almost) scratch. 

Let's say it was quite a surprise when we cut into the first slice!  A roomful of little girls squealed with delight!  Seven layers of delisciousness and beauty.

Thanks for sharing your birthday Little Miss O!  I love you (and your fabulous rainbow cake) so much!

Amy:  Wow! Wow! Wow!  Let's enter this one in the State Fair!

Enough, Already!

Last year when I drove to Syracuse for the Villanova game, I thought that the 40 inches of new snow was exciting, novel, pretty, thrilling...  I even blogged about how much fun it was! Yippee!   That blizzard made the weekend such a special "adventure."

Enough of that!

OK.  Now we're on snowstorm Number Four (I'm not counting the little 3 and 4 inchers in-between).  This one dumped another 16 to 20 inches on us.  The snow-plow mountain at the end of our driveway rivals any commercial parking lot mound in "normal" winter conditions.
  

Poor Hogan has given up trying to tunnel his way into the backyard.  (We really have to come up with a solution for that).  That said, he can still retrieve a tennis ball when thrown and sunken into the fluffy stuff.  He comes up with a white face and a bright yellow ball!!

Hogan yearns to venture out into his domain -- the backyard-- but dares not!

I don't have any idea how the mailman is going to be able to reach our mailbox, despite the fact that we shoveled around the opening so that he can get at the little door.  I guess I shouldn't worry too much about that one.  They're the ones that brag about completing their appointed rounds...

The snow is piling up on the roof again and I'm keeping watch -- through our opened kitchen and dining room ceilings -- for signs of new leaks.  Maybe it's a good thing that we're tied up waiting for the insurance folks 'cause I don't think we've seen the last of the stuff.  I have the buckets and towels on call.

And, buried under it all is the 90-foot tulip tree that came crashing down into the backyard during the Dec. 26th storm.  I think it'll be a while before we even see the trunk of that tree!

What a mess!  When it started coming down hard yesterday afternoon, we started to wave a little white flag, but it got buried overnight!

Hello Miami?

 

Ice Damming 101

Last week, I marvelled at the glory of nature with its crisp wintry white scupltures and icy delights.  




Today, I am cursing it.




First, look at the pretty pictures...

At about eleven yesterday morning, I learned about a whole new winter phenom called ice damming.

Here's what ice damming may look like on the outside of your house:

And here, kids, is what it will look like on the inside of your house:

Let's see...Right now, we're looking at two new ceilings:  one in the dining room, one in the kitchen.  The potential of a new sub-floor (and hence a complete re-tiling) in the master bath.  And assorted collateral damage.  Luckily, we were home when things started to "burst forth," so we were able to catch a lot of the leaks before they sat and did more damage. 

When we called or gutter guys (literally, The Gutter Guys LLC), they almost laughed and basically said "take a number and get in line."  It was Amica, our brand new--and now favorite--insurance company that was able to get us an alternate roofing crew to start the cleanup.  They're now on day two of snow and ice removal and the leaks continue.  ServPro has been in to start the cleanup, but it'll be weeks before everything gets put back together.

My love affair with winter may have hit a little bump in the road...

 



Seventeen and Ohhhh!

The hardest part about getting to the game in the Garden was DEFINITELY getting out of the driveway!!!  The snow was soft --and deep-- until I got to the very end.  Then I hit the "snowplow crud."  It was soft enough that I sunk all the way to the bottom, but SO DEEP that I couldn't lift my legs back out (partly because of the deep snow and partly because of what my trainer did to me earlier in the week -- ouch!).    I stood in crotch deep snow for a couple of seconds, just to catch my breath, then catapulted myself out into the street where my friend was waiting for me in a warm car.

I had snow all over my pants and up under my knee-length coat.  I was soaked!  Funny thing is, once we got on the road, it was smooth sailing.  Everything was perfectly clear and there were hardly any cars.  I guessed that most people couldn't get out of their driveways, and no one was dumb enough to wade through waist-deep snow for a silly basketball game.  It took us exactly one hour to get to the parking garage near MSG.

And the Orange won the game!!!

So it was worth all the effort!

Carla, Bob Hand and Jaime

Here we are, cheering for the "home" team! 


You know, Syracuse is "New York's university!"  The Orange was definitely in the Apple last night! 

Next stop:  Cincinnati.  Wait, is that considered another "home game?"  Oh.  It IS a home game.  What about Pittsburgh next Monday?  Will that somehow get pegged as a home game?