Thrifty Miss Priss

Mom, my beautiful Valentine!

 Happy Valentines Day!  

I went to see my mom yesterday, the first time in three weeks!  The snow has kept me from the one hour drive to visit.  The roads here are still treacherous.  

My sister picked me up...and about 20 minutes before she was to arrive I decided I needed to take my mom a Valentine.  I had the box already...and I used a copy of her glossy photo from a modeling shoot in the very early 50's.

I really had to rush on this....and we stopped and got her some m&m's for the inside.  She didn't recognize that the picture was her.  She also kept starring at me throughout the visit....almost as if she was trying to figure out who I was.  Whenever I caught her starring at me I'd wink  and whistle at her.  It made her laugh.

And while we're talking about Valentines.....28 years ago yesterday....Cupid put me and my sweetheart together.

I was only 18 when I met him....and we met at a club in Georgetown (in DC).  Eight months later we were married!  It's been a FAST 28 years..... And gravity has certainly done it's job at warp speed too over the past 28 years!

Today was spent cleaning and reorganizing my craft room STILL.  I glanced out the window around 4:00 and saw the deer coming down the driveway...right down the little trench that I have shoveled.  

How did he know to make his way down the drive in the little trench?  Smart Deer he is!  You can see his buddy in the back ground making his way down too.

They are hungry, as there's no leaves on branches to eat.  Everything is buried.  

I think he contemplated what might be available in that trashcan.  The trashcan that we can't roll down the driveway because of all the snow.

    I thought for sure at this point he was going to walk straight up my clean sidewalk to the front door and knock.  I was in the window taking pictures and he even saw me.  These guys are very tame.

he thought twice about knocking on the door, because he turned around to walk back down the trench to meet his buddy. 

 He convinced them all to get in the trench!  It's much easier to walk!

They discussed amongst themselves that this was not a good eating spot....so they moved on down the road.  I wanted to throw some English muffins out there...but doubted they'd like them.  They're store brand anyway.

We have some major icicles hanging...and tons of downed branches.  WIll be quite the clean up when the weather gets warmer.

I noticed this guys head peaking out of my flowerpot on the porch.  The snow has started to melt and I wondered how he got in there in the first place.  But I already knew.....my husband likes "the element of surprise" and constantly plants little oddities around the house for me to find.  Nonetheless....the little gnome looks quite happy keeping a watch on the front yard.

Have a wonderful week!

PS......Tomorrow (a government holiday)  was supposed to be a school holiday for my daughter.  Then they said "sorry!  too many days missed because of the snow!  You have to go!" Then today they said "Sorry!  We STILL do not have the parking lots ready for school buses- so stay home!"  Geeze!  She's been out of school since Thursday February 4th!  So we're guessing schools will re-open on Tuesday.  But guess what?  ANOTHER snow storm is supposed to mosey on through here tomorrow.  Monday....which means....Tuesday....maybe no school again!   

La La La...NOT LISTENING! La La La!

On the verge of ANOTHER snow storm here.  Yup....tomorrow afternoon it's supposed to start and go all night into Wednesday.  We are expecting 12 to 20 MORE inches...on top of the 30 we just got.  I couldn't go to work today because the roads are horrible.  Instead I got to notice the sun coming through the windows like I normally don't get to experience on a daily basis.

I found this old door last year in the barn on  our property.  I brought it in and it's been in several different spots in our house.  Right now it's resting on a low bench next to the bed.  I love the way the sun comes through that wavy glass.....

 I woke up this morning and the first thing I saw was this little angel door knocker.  I grabbed my coffee and my camera and started taking some pictures.  I didn't notice until JUST NOW how the suns rays hit the angels wings......very cool indeed!

The old door is sitting in front of a real window.  I guess I will have to move it once Spring comes (if it ever does) so we can open that window.  Too bad, because I really like it there. (this image was taken into a mirror for the reflection)

I bought this at a thrift store a few years ago...I just love the detail on it.  I painted it a blue-ish grey.

Speaking of thrift stores....I found this old military trunk that someone had already painted.....the inside is in pristine condition and NO ODORS!  I'm storing all my sheets and pillow cases in it.  I don't have a linen closet so this worked out perfectly.  I would show you the whole thing, but right now it's piled with a bunch of junk.  Clever editing is what it's all about.  Like Karla says......just kick the "stuff" out of the view of the camera lens and nobody will no the difference.  

   

These old books elevated my little lamp to a much better height.  

My apron I made for Silver Bella...now my dress form wears it along with my wedding dress

 My tiny little bedroom is jam packed with stuff.  I try to keep it to a minimum so we're not tripping over things.  But this is a tiny little house and space is very limited.

I walked out into the living room and found Sarah all rolled up in a ball.  I think she is getting SAD over the impending snowstorm.  She has not been herself lately.  I do think she is depressed.  Who wouldn't be?  She drowns every time she goes out.  

  Back to work on Tuesday for me....and with any luck Wednesday will be another snow day!

Have a great warm, cozy week!

 I know you are all sick of hearing about the HUGE snowstorm that got dumped on DC this weekend.....I'm putting these out there mainly for myself, to remember this time!  Although I hardly think I will ever forget it.  I believe we got 3o inches total.  It started snowing Friday at 10:00 am and didn't stop until Saturday afternoon around 3.

I was all excited because I thought "Whoopee!  TWO WHOLE DAYS to stay in my jammies and play in the art room!"  WRONG.  This snow removal has been gigantic.  I started friday afternoon and we finally finished after two more hours this morning.

 this is my LONG driveway.  Thank goodness we parked at the END and didn't have to shovel all this length (lesson learned in LAST snowstorm)  See our cars way down there?  Took a total of about 7 hours to get them completely dug out.

 My back yard

This area is not equipped to move this much snow.  The interstates are in terrible condition still.  I will not be going to work tomorrow.  Yes I chickened out.  I did call almost all of the patients (doctors office) from home today to tell them to call us before they come for their appointments....who knows what kind of staff will get there....but I know this one will not be there!

 the power lines are really sagging!  Lets hope we keep our power!  We've been lucky to have internet and tv still.  Our satellite was spitting and sputtering but we came up with a very clever way to clear the snow from it (it's on top of the house)

 We took a LONG PVC pipe and inserted the broom into the end.  Reaches the rooftop satellite perfectly!  Everyone around us has no tv because the cable company is down or the satellite is covered.....but not us!

 
I was able to make some postcards last night for the "Postcard Swap" I joined.

I'm looking forward to getting 10 postcards in return from (hopefully) all over the world.  But it's a shame my mailbox is buried.  I will have to come up with an alternative for the mailman.....because there is no way we can dig that out.

I plan on going in my art room tonight (who cares about the Super Bowl) and stay there forever......

I also thought I'd share this.....see that trench we dug out?  This is the ONLY Place the dogs have to go to use the potty.  Yup......right there on the sidewalk.  We tried plowing them a little "area" but it kept getting filled back in with snow.  It's now so deep that Heidi (my big one" almost drowned while she went to do her business.   She frantically scrambled out and now she's happy to do it right here.  

We are getting another storm on Tuesday.....6 more inches..... please remind me...how many more weeks until Spring?