Mowing Jersey Style

Yesterday we woke up to 2 inches of very wet snow. Mick had just gotten in from California the night before, so had slept in until 6am. Since he didn't have time to do the driveway before heading to work, guess who got to use the snowblower. Me!!! That's right!! And........I loved it. It helped to fill my "mow the lawn" fix. It is just like mowing the lawn, only it is white and you don't have to empty the grass catcher. I was so happy the landlord was in Florida and had left his little toy for us to use and that Mick had slept in so he didn't have time to do it.
Yep, that's me working the snowblower. I had so much fun. I wanted to go up and down the block and do everyones!!! Well today it is snowing really hard again. We are expected to get 1-2 feet of snow. (We shall see.) The landlord has returned and has taken back my little toy so I was out with the shovel trying to keep up with the snowfall. Well I am out shoveling the 4 inches that have fallen so far, and Andy my snowplow friend from last post, is coming down the street. He stops and says he found me a snowplow guy for my driveway. Great!!! He calls Joe up and we make a 1:30 appointment to give me a bid. I hang up and ask Andy, "Ok what will be a fair price to just go up the driveway and that is all. I can do all the walks and fancy stuff around the house." "50 bucks would be a great deal," he says. Well after recovering from the snowplow bid heart attack, I came right in, called Joe the snowplow guy and told him he didn't need to come give a bid. I WOULD BE THE SNOWPLOW GUY!!! Just a note: I'm thinking about retiring from Kohls and attaching a snowplow to the front of the toyota truck and go out and do driveways. Do you think anyone out there would hire a California Girl?

I've always wanted to go out on the lake when it is frozen. So last friday I went over to my friend Eliana's home on Lake Shawnee. She has a beautiful home right on the lake and she said it was frozen. Well here I am, standing on the lake. Wish I was doing what these guys were, but hey, I'd probably break my wrist or something.

Keep checking on updates. I told Andy the snowplow guy I had to get his picture for the blog.

Oh what do you do in the Winter Time?

Last week we got about three inches of snow in two different snowstorms. Janelle and I went out each morning to clear the driveway before we ran our errands so we wouldn't have icy tire tracks on the driveway. I hate those. Well as you can see our driveway is really loooooooooooong. The bummer was that by the time we got home from errands all the driveways in the neighborhood were clear, even those that didn't shovel one flake. So when the big storm hit tuesday night on my drive home from work, I thought to myself.....self, don't shovel that drive until you know it is worth it. Well as you can see from the next picture I waited until we had 5 inches and had to do it 3 times before the storm was done. Thank goodness last night our landlord loaned us his snowblower so we could get the 10 inches cleared.

Here I am in the middle of the storm around noon trying to get the driveway cleared. By noon we had 5 inches. After one pass down the driveway and back and I gave up. By the time I came back up the drive, there was already an inch where I had shoveled.

This is the cute neighbor kids who came over yesterday afternoon and asked if I wanted to help build a snowfort and have a snowball fight. They said they wouldn't hit me in the face, just right here they said as they pounded on their chest. Did I go out? You betcha. Went straightway and got my snow boots and coat on for the 3rd time that day. Jersey snow doesn't pack very well so our fort was not huge, but they loved it. I would love to build a snowman, but the snow will not pack to do so.

I love how this picture shows how deep the snow gets after the plow has come through. I was shoveling the snow this morning on the driveway, once again, when I heard the plow coming down the road. I promptly went out to the edge of our driveway and started waving my shovel at him to stop. Did he? No!! He plowed right through piling the snow 2 feet deep at the end of the driveway. Your killing me I yelled. He went to the end of the block, you can see the stop sign way off in the distance, turned around and came back to talk to me. I told him he was killing me by plowing all that snow at the end of my driveway. "How much to clear it so I can get the car out?" Plow guy: "Sorry mam but I would get fired if I did that. Instant dismissal for plowing driveways." Joni: "Well I can appreciate how great you keep the roads cleared, but I hate this mess." Plow guy: "OK how about next time I come down I swerve away from your driveway and try to help you out?" Me: "I would love that!!!! I am a California girl here on a temporary assignment and need all the help you can give me." So next time he comes down he swerves away from the driveway. I give him a thank you wave and he gives me a smile. Gotta love those guys!

Here's the house the day after the storm. You can see the pile of snow the snowplow left for me to clear from the end of the driveway.

Doesn't get much prettier than this. Not a footprint in the snow. Even the deer were not out last night. The birds were busy this morning though in the birdbath. Picture was taken from my office desk.

Mars Hackettstown New Jersey Remodel complete

The New Jersey Mars site has been under remodeling for over a year now. They just had the ribbon cutting ceremony and unveiled the new exterior. I love how green is sitting so pretty making the guys do the work.

The crossing guards in New Jersey are usually moms. Well this mom really got into her job and the holiday spirit this year. Jamie caught this picture while we were driving by. Who would have thought Mrs Claus also works part time as a crossing guard.

Just another sight in our 2 Year Adventure for Mars. When does the adventure end? We should know soon..........could be soon.......better plan your trip to come see us in Jersey.

Christmas Holidays

I love the Christmas season. The tree, stockings, and all the decorations. I really missed my Santa collection, nativities, and advents this year. If we are here another Christmas season I will have to bring a few more back to Jersey from California. I also love all the Christmas cards and holiday greetings. Thanks to all of you who sent us cards and letters. I loved hearing about your events for 2009.
So here are our some of our adventures of the holiday season.

My adopted Grandkids Angelo and Giovanni invited me to a day of Christmas crafts. Oh what fun we had. We made gingerbread houses, ornaments, and even got to sit on Santa lap. Thanks for inviting me.

We went to several movies over the Christmas holiday. Mick, Jamie, and I saw Invictus, Avatar, and Sherlock Holmes. Janelle of course had to be different.....she saw Alvin and the Chipmunks and The Christmas Carol.

Christmas was different this year with not having all the family together. We missed having Graig and Nicole with us. Jamie flew in December 20th right after our first snowstorm of the season.

I think we are all getting old because the girls didn't get up on Christmas morning until after 9am. I remember those days when the children were up before the sun, anxious to see what Christmas would bring.

Janelle refused to come downstairs by herself. She had to follow tradition by having a picture taken and then come down together.

Christmas day we went over to the Frugone's to see the adopted grandkids, see their toys and to play Rock Band Beatles. We had a great time. We headed home for Prime Rib and had Michael Jackson join us for dinner and games.

The day after Christmas we headed into NYC to see the sights and catch a Broadway show. We saw the Christmas Balls in Rockefeller Plaza which brought back memories of Brea and the Christmas Balls on the promenade.

Rockefeller Plaza and the Avenue of Angels.

The Christmas tree and Avenue of the Angels at Rockefeller Plaza are "must see" items in NYC.

Jamie loved "Burn the Floor" on Broadway. Janelle went to "Shrek the Musical" and claimed it was better than the movies. On New Years Day we went to the Rockette's Christmas Spectacular at Radio City Music Hall.

Our last event......Times Square for the New Year's Countdown Ball Drop. I'll get those pics posted as soon as Jamie gets them to me. My camera died on the street during the event.

Happy New Year Everyone!!!

Here is part of the group that attended Virginia's endowment session on saturday the 21st. See story in next post.

This is Janelle and I at the tree in Downtown Disney. I thought I had them posted with the story in the following post.

Thanksgiving 2009

On Wednesday the 18th Janelle and I flew out to California for Thanksgiving. We spent the first part of the week in Brea at the house. Janelle loves to sleep in her room there and play with Bentley the dog. Mick flew in from Chicago on thursday evening. We were able to see all the neighbors and go to our favorite restaurants like Shang Hwa, In n Out and Taco Bell. I know you are all thinking....Taco Bell? Well they are very far away here and I crave mexican food. We went to church in our California Ward and did lots of Doctor visits, etc. We left monday evening for St George where Graig and Nicole came from BYU-I and Jamie and David came from BYU-Provo to spend the holiday with us.

We spent one evening in downtown Disney. What a busy place. We ran into Brett and Natalie Saari and their little family while there also.

On Saturday the 21st we went to the Newport Temple to be with friends from the Brea Ward and Placentia Stake for Virginia Mercier to take out her endowments. What a great event that was. We were able to be in a special place with so many of our friends from California. This is only part of the group that went.

On the way to St George we spent the night in Las Vegas. The Nelsons were there for Thanksgiving with their family so we were able to have breakfast with them. Aunt Eleanor and Jim were there also. What a treat!

Janelle and I spent one day at Disneyland. It was very crowded. We did only 6 rides in 6 hours. There were lines for Pirates I had never seen.

And of course our last meal in California has to be the same as our first.....In n Out. We left St George on sunday morning early and had the typical holiday traffic from Vegas. We got Mick to LAX in time for his flight back to Jersey. Janelle and I flew back home on tuesday Dec. 1st. What a great Thanksgiving we had.

Happy Birthday JANELLE!!!

Can you believe this crazy kid is turning 30 today!!! She is so unique and can bring a smile to your face over the darndest things.

Happy 30th Janelle!!!



Isn't it great that our children age but we don't.

And the winners are..................

We had a three way tie for the pumpkin contest. Connor Grant from Utah (he is one of my past piano students in Brea) bid 51#'s, Aaron Cuadro from California (Janelle's good friend) bid 51#'s and Cathy from New Jersey, bid 52#'s. The actual weight was 51.5 pounds!!!!! So all three of these contestants WIN!!!!!!!!!! We had over 35 entries this year which made it really exciting. Bids from 24.5 pounds to 215#'s. Oh how I wish I could have grown a 215 pounder. Maybe next year. Everyone have a Happy Halloween!!!! Your prizes will be in the mail shortly!!!

Painter Drop Cloth Curtains

Last year the Frugones in our ward had a flood in their home which caused a lot of damage to their first floor. We had great fun helping them paint and get things back to normal. One of the things Megan let me do was to try one of the ideas I had seen on a blog. It was making things out of painter drop cloths. One of the ideas was curtains. So we purchased two painters drop cloths at 9 dollars each and then I topped them with a clearance shower curtain from Target to add a little pizzaz and color along the top. We used the rod she already had and I think they turned out fabulous. Now we need to take the old curtains that got stained on the bottom, cut them down and we are going to repurpose them in the boys room. Megan is such a great sport for letting me try all these cool things I find on blogs. Don't you think my adopted grandkids are cute too. They have been so much fun. Gio made me a halloween decoration today and then they sent me a Grandparents day card last month, flowers for mothers day and I even got invited to their Halloween party. Being a grandma is so much fun.

2nd Annual Pumpkin Weight Contest

The time has come, the time is here. Send in your guesses for the 2nd Annual "Guess the Weight of the Pumpkin" contest.

Send in your guesses on the largest pumpkin. The one closest to the actual weight will win fabulous Mars products.

This picture was taken in August, so more growing took place.

Here it is the day it was harvested.

It snowed two days last week and we have had frost the past few mornings. I covered the pumpkin up at nights to keep it from freezing, but when the snow started again last saturday, I said, "OK, time to harvest the pumpkin."

Harvesting the great pumpkin!

Here we are on the scales. So send in those guesses and remember, just the weight of the pumpkin!!!

We will end the contest on October 28 at midnight and the fabulous prize of Mars candy will be sent soon thereafter.

Good Luck!!!