This is what it looked like outside this morning at 5:30 AM. I had decided to skip my gym workout in favor of the what-looked-to-me-like an easy snow shoveling job.
Lesson #1... looks can be deceiving!!!
for all of you less experienced in the realm of snow shoveling, warm temperatures make for extremely heavy, wet snow which makes for extremely difficult shoveling! All those 5:30 in the morning runs and strength training workouts pay off but I will still be sore tomorrow!Lesson #2...Always recheck the news stations on t.v. At 5:00 AM, all seemed well on the school closing front but by 5:20 AM, our school district had closed for a snow day! Argh. The kids only have one more week of school before their 16 day Christmas break and now, one day less of school!
Lesson #3... this kind of shoveling is going to take a long time!
Lesson #4...call for back up... I got Nature Boy out of bed to help me out.
Lesson #5... always widen paths early in the season because as more snow falls, these paths seem to get narrower (I had to insist on this lesson this morning... Nature Boy was less than thrilled)
Lesson #7...it is always harder to shovel after a car has driven over the yet unfinished snow shoveling job. Mr. U headed out for work early and his car tires packed down the snow which makes it harder to scrape off the driveway.
Lesson #8...follow up to lessons #1 and #4, this kind of shoveling is time consuming. This is an hour and 10 minutes later. Phew!
Lesson #9...kids who break shovel handles need to remind their parents early in the winter season to replace that shovel ("but I did remind you at the end of last winter!")
Lesson #10... leaky boots yield wet feet on wet snow days...
Lesson #11... snow shoveling can lead to blisters forming...
and voracious appetites...
(Nature Boy is a true carbivore and he did eat all these crescent rolls after shoveling!)
Lesson #12.... it looks pretty, but heavy wet (and icy) snow can ...
weigh heavily on trees, often causing limbs to break and power outages 
(none of which we have experienced today.... yet)
In other lessons (not related to weather)...
Lesson #13...when ordering online, it is always best to have a tracking number to follow the route your package takes...
This poor package began its trip in Georgia, made its way up to New Jersey (okay getting closer), made an unexpected detour to Forest Park, Illinois (a little out of the way!), and then after a few days in limbo...
showed up in Springfield Massachusetts (closer!) before arriving in upstate NY!
Lesson #14... as long as it shows up, long trips are often worth the wait!
Look at all these yummy projects!!!
Almost too much to bear!!
Not as if I don't have a million other things to do beforehand (but the price was right!)
Yesterday, Mr. U and I invested in some new 'toys' to help us with our growing real estate investment business. We are hoping to have better communication and productivity, but here comes...Lesson #15... all new toys have a learning curve, which can be time consuming...
but I can view my flickr album, twitter page and google reader (amongst the many things I enjoy doing!)...
but, for you that are familiar with stats on flickr, Lesson #16, increasing productivity in the business world, sometimes leads to decreased time flickring...
and all those projects in the sewing room sit idly waiting for my return!
Have a great day! Hope you learned something new this morning!
ADDENDUM: It is now 10:00 AM and it is snowing pretty heavily now. Can't see our nearby mountain, as I head home from some errands. When school is out, the streets are pretty quiet!
But it gives the kids time to create... Nature Boy's snow fort...
and this is Nature Boy's lucky day!!!!
Lesson #17.... broken shovels can be replaced!!!
Ohhhh Lisa! Lesson #15 looks like danger! Thats the lesson I'd be on the mos!t! LOL Can't believe its sooooo cold there and its getting hot here. A perfect 30 degree's C tomorrow! :)
ReplyDeleteOh I'm feeling your pain. Our school was on a two hour delay and at 8:30 I rechecked after the kids started to get ready and saw that they did cancel. Seriously can't they make that decision earlier, especially since we are a walking school district. I have two little workers outside shoveling as I'm in nice and warm. They love to do it so I will take advantage before they realize it is actually "work" I had to bribe them with breakfast before they headed outdoors. Hope you get some sewing done that's my hopes for today.
ReplyDeleteSnow days! That sounds like fun -if you are a kid, that is :)
ReplyDeleteI hope you had some more relaxing things to do for the rest of the day!
I shovelled this morning too! didn't break any shovels and the snow as light and fluffy so it was easy peasy. Now though it's raining and it will get heavy for the next shoveling due in a few hours.
ReplyDeleteWow...maybe I shouldn't wish I lived in a place where it snows...but one thing we share...I have some baskets at the same stage on my ironing board!
ReplyDeletewhuuuuu......I'M EXHAUSTED...all that snow shoveling.....got any of those crescant rolls left.....hand me one while i sit down over here and thumb through that lovely new book of yours......
ReplyDeletegreat post!!!!
ReplyDeletemade me laugh and wishing we would have had that snow here in NJ too!
except for the shoveling part!
book looks like a one I need to my growing list of books to buy!
We have had barely any snow so far. Crossing fingers. BUT last night we had a huge ice-storm, and power went out at midnight. Ours just came on right now at 2pm. And you mentioned falling tree limbs? Yep happened to us - we could hear our neighbor's pine tree limbs breaking off all night. I took photos. MUST blog about it! What a mess! Half on their side, half on ours.
ReplyDeleteoooh your poor hands , hope they;re ok to do some sewing. That book is just gorgeous. My mam remembers when she was little they cleared paths in the snow for the kids to get to school, the walls on each side of the path were about 6ft high!! Great fort.
ReplyDeletelisa x
Living now in southern Delaware, I don't miss that kind of snow shoveling (which we used to get sometimes in the part of NJ where we previously lived). It LOOKS pretty, though. Your new book looks wonderful...I'm sure we will eventually see photos of some completed projects from there...right? :)
ReplyDeletei wanna come play at your house. i LOVE snow! do you love your i phone? i do!
ReplyDeleteThe snow pics look beautiful but wouldn't really want to live in them. Love the new book and can't wait to see the baskets in process. Stay warm!
ReplyDeleteLisa! I love your posts, they crack me up! I love my iTouch, you're going to have fun with that. So many cool applications too. That Christmas crafty book looked amazing, I already when to amazon and wish listed it. :)
ReplyDeleteSee ya!
The joys that I have never experienced! And never will so long as we live in Melbourne!
ReplyDelete