Lessons

So today, I have some lessons to share with you all.

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!!!