For the rest of you mall haters:

This is my public service announcement to you.

Thank you to my good friend T for the heads up. She understands my extreme loathing of the mall. I was complaining to her one day about how we'd have to brave the mall for Monkey's sake this Christmas season because every child needs the opportunity to sit on Santa's lap!

Not only does T take amazing care of my daughter when we need a sitter, she takes good care of me.

http://downtownbangor.com/

We're taking Monkey here this afternoon. Will she sit on Santa's lap? Who knows. But we're giving her the chance to at least see the big guy! Not only do we avoid the mall but we get a FREE photo opportunity! And we can fit in a little bit of window shopping downtown while we're at it. We haven't been able to spend much time down there and T (my husband - not my friend) and I do love the ambiance of Downtown Bangor.

And I've come to the realization that I need a better nickname for my good friend T. It could get confusing with all the T's in my life. HA

The Ice Storm of '08

While I realize it was extremely minor compared to the storm of 98, it was an ice storm nonetheless.

We were lucky and didn't have a loss of power at all, but we did have some damage on our property. And T was forced to climb onto the roof at 11 PM last night when we got home to empty the gutters because they were plugged and frozen.

I tried to post these yesterday, but my Internet was down all day long. So, here are a few pictures I managed to get hanging out of the windows in my house (it was pouring! I couldn't bring Monkey outside to get them).

And now it's firewood:

This tree doesn't want to die. We think the original damage/misshaping happened in 98. The tree is shaped funny. And lost quite a few more big branches over the course of the morning.

This one doesn't look like it broke. It just kissed the ground but may have survived.

So, Monkey and I finally ventured out around 4. The side road near our house wasn't plowed and hadn't been touched in hours, so there was quite a mess in the road. This picture was my attempt at getting proof of the IDIOT riding a pedal bike down the road! Unplowed icy mess in the dark! MORON!

Winter is coming.

Yep. You heard it here first.

OK. So maybe you didn't hear it here first. Really, all you have to do is look outside to realize winter will be here before you know it. The leaves are starting to change in some places. Farmers have started their harvests. And, as I type this, I see a squirrel busily collecting acorns on the big oak tree across the street from our house.

When I got home from work last night, I saw T had changed out the screens for the window panels on our doors (Anderson Doors - worth every single penny we paid for them - and we got them on sale, of course).

While T was putting the mower away last night, he insisted Monkey and I go check out the new tires that arrived yesterday for the Jeep. While in the shed oohing and aahing over the beauty of them and how wonderfully deep the treads are, T started organizing a bit. He was rearranging to make room for the ton of corn he'll be adding to the 2 ton of wood pellets already in there.

I spied something that actually made me look forward to the snow (crazy, right?).

Our snowshoes and Monkey's sled! So instead of dreading the cold this year, I've decided to embrace it with open arms. After all, I did enjoy the snow last year. Perhaps this is another one of those things that change when you become a parent? I look at things through her eyes more than I do my own now.

I'll end this with a few pictures from last winter. Afterall, it's something to look forward to.