All gone away.................
Yes I do has a humfff.
A major humfff.
They left this morning.
We were all up at 4 a.m as they were getting the morning flight out of Chicago.
Philip took them to the airport, saw them checked in and then went off to work. He works in Chicago.
I have had people staying here for the past two months.
Alan was here from the beginning of January and then Donna and Lauren arrived the day before he left.
This house seems very quiet.
I phoned Philip at work and he said that Lauren started to cry the moment they left.
She cried most of the way to the airport. She had told me she didn't want to go home.
Donna didn't want to go home either and said she had had a brilliant time.
She had a fab time even if she didn't escape the dreaded shovelling.
This was her on Wednesday evening.
It had snowed most of the day.........on top of the existing snow.
Donna couldn't believe that people still went about their every day business. She thought places would be closed and people would stay indoors.
She thought only "essential" trips would be taken.................LOL.
This is Wisconsin.
It is what we do.
We will have this until April probably.
When Philip got home he took the trusty snow blower for a spin.
Lauren liked that.
She wasn't quite so thrilled when it blew the snow all over her.
She banged on the window once and asked if she could make a snow angel. She must have been expecting me to say no, as when I said "of course"...........she decided she couldn't as "she would sink".
So, I have washed all the sheets and towels and am slowly picking up the detritus left by having a child in the house for a couple of weeks.
It will soon be all tidy again...........pants.
I would much sooner it was messy, noisy and full of life.
She will be back in the summer but looking outside at the moment that does seem an awfully long way away.
Pants.
Definitely dodgy........
As expected, Donna was a little the worse for wear on Monday morning...........and midday.......and afternoon..........she was starting to revive a bit around 7pm.
She had had a brilliant night though.
Apparently, from what I have been told by Pat, she went from protesting that she was too shy to sing karaoke...........to having to have the mike prised from her fingers.
Pat said she knew she was getting a little tiddly when she had to sit down to sing instead of standing up.
All was well until they went on to shots.
Both insist that it was the other persons idea to start on the shots.........who knows.......
We didn't hear her come in.
She says she went onto auto pilot.
The next day she wasn't quite her usual bouncy self.
She was like a very nasty, grumpy bear who was having a grumpy day with a touch of the grumps thrown in.........and a boil on his bum.
She attempted to come out of the cave/bedroom a couple of times before conceding defeat and going back to sleep.
All was well by the evening though when she managed to force down a huge plate of steak, chips, peas, sweet corn and mushrooms........bless.
Meanwhile back on Earth, Bubba has been helping Lauren play with her train.
At first he took the role of Penelope Pitstop and pretended to be tied to the track as the Hogwart's Express thundered towards him.
His next starring role was .............Godzilla Cat. He terrorised the Japanese version .....Hoglart's Expless.........watched from the sidelines by a Mothra Kitty with laser eyes.
Look at him roar.
Last night it was another adventure.
We went to Stir Crazy.
Brilliant place.
You are given a couple of bowls that you fill with all manner of goodies..........meat, shrimp, veggies, noodles......and a choice of sauces that you can mix up into a sort of sludge.
You then take it to one of the nice men who are playing with fire. Now and then they bang a big gong and the flames all shoot ceilingwards.
The nice man then cooks all your chosen stuff together and it comes out as a delicious concoction.
It is a lot of fun.
Donna then wanted me to take a picture of Lauren in the snow.
Never mind that Lauren was freezing her socks off..........it had to be done.
Today the snow is like a blizzard and we haven't ventured to the bus stop.
The rental car was taken back on Sunday so we are pedestrians once again and it is not the weather for yomping right now.
I have a feeling that Donna is going out again tonight but she assures me she is not getting trashed this time.
We shall see.
Cultural evening.
Ice Hockey this afternoon.
The Milwaukee Admirals were taking on the Rockford Ice Hogs.
Donna hadn't been for quite a few years and was excited about it.
Lauren had never been as we thought she was too young to appreciate it before.
Well, she enjoyed it this time.
Above is Roscoe, the Admirals mascot. He jokes around with the kids and they love him.
Almond Swiss won the cheese race and a former, famous wrestler won the human hockey puck game........I am sure you all need to know these things.
It had also been Gary's birthday a couple of days before.
We like to buy Gary something special for his birthday.
This year we hit gold.
A pair of squirrel underpants.
All squirrels should have them. They were tighty whightys too.
Gary was thrilled.
They were giving out bunches of balloons to the kids too. They gave a bunch to Lauren who decided she didn't like balloons so we gave Gary those for his birthday too.
He was pleased to be lumbered......I mean blessed with a whole bunch of balloons to find room for in his seat.
Take a peek.
http://www.squirrelunderpants.com/
Here too...
http://www.smallanimaldecency.com/
The jolly old Admirals won 4 -1.
Yay.
There weren't any real fights, just a couple of scuffles, which was a little disappointing but much fun was had by all.
The crowd's general consensus of opinion was that the opposing side's goalie still sucks.
They always do and they are always told as much ............very loudly.
Lauren is now watching Shrek 2 and Donna is out on the razzle with my mate Pat.
I predict a dodgy morning in the hangover department.
Girls, Girls, Girls.
It was Alan's birthday before he left.
He doesn't look that impressed with this year's cake.
Well....I usually make him a big cake but as he and Philip were both leaving just after Alan's birthday, there seemed little point.
I don't really eat cake, nor do Donna and Lauren.
So, I made him a couple of little, rich fruit cakes.
He ate them both.
They were full of brandy and sherry, so I think he liked them.
Bless.
Donna and Lauren are here.
I love it.
We have rented a car and Donna has been driving whilst I navigate.
Recipe for disaster there.
Me navigating I mean. Donna is a very good driver.
We do have Hilda.
Hilda is Philip's Sat Nav thingy that I bought him a couple of Christmasses ago.
Hilda has been a bit pants......I am surprised at this.........but.........she has tried to send us all around the houses when I knew a more straightforward route.
I have renamed her Mrs Leftie.
Over here, turning left is the toughest thing.
Turning right is fab. We drive on the right and if you are at a traffic light that is red and you are turning right..............you can go.........as long as the road is clear.
Hilda.......Mrs Leftie.......wants to send us on long journeys with lots of left turns.
I don't know much but I have over ruled her quite a few times now.
Actually Donna has done really well. We call each journey an adventure. What with the mountains of snow and ice .........she has been amazing.
This is Lauren cuddling Lily.
Bubba is trying not to be left out.
He snuggles in with her every night when she goes to bed. Lauren is a lovely kid. I know she is my granddaughter, but she really is a smasher.
We all get on so well..........Donna has extended her stay until the 26th.
I hate the thought of them leaving.
I shall be devastated.
Sigh............
Out with the old.............
The old gits left today.
Right now they should be on board a plane and heading towards Blighty.
I do hope they have a great time.
They fly to Heathrow and from there to Girvan in Scotland where the older brother, Alex, lives.
It will be a very long journey for them.
After spending a few days with Alex and family they fly back down to Gatwick and from there go to Whitstable to spend a couple of days with the long, lost stepfather.
Next Saturday Philip flies back to the U.S and Alan returns to Guernsey.
It seems to have flown by this year, but then I probably say that every year.
Last night Philip picked Donna and Lauren up from Chicago airport and they arrived back here about 9pm.
It was wonderful to see them and we all got a bit tearful.
Today has been a bit mad, with Alan vacating his room and me sorting it out, changing sheets etc and preparing it for Donna.
Lauren has the spare room upstairs.
Donna picked up her rental car this morning. We had a trip out to the mall........heh heh. It was a little interesting but passed off without incident......well mostly.
We only got tooted at once, which I think is pretty good for someone driving on the right hand side and in an automatic for the first time.
We will go for another adventure tomorrow.
Dreaming of a White Birthday.
Alan's birthday today.
Oh he has had fun.
This is what he has been doing all morning. Well, and most of yesterday actually.
I took these photos this morning.
Just a touch of snow.
Poor Alan shovelled a couple of times yesterday and then the snow plough came and filled the drive in again.
Oh he did laugh.
Still he hasn't got to do it for much longer as they are off to sunny Scotland on Saturday.
Tonight we are going out for dinner.
I have made Alan a birthday cake.
I usually make him a big one but this time I made two lickle ones.
Well, they are leaving on Saturday and as neither Donna or myself eat cake, I didn't want it to be wasted.
Philip went to the dentist yesterday as he has an abscess on a tooth. It was very swollen, but strangely, not painful.
Anyway, he has lots of antibiotics to take so hopefully they will soon sort it out.
Superbowl and Super hockey
Sunday was Superbowl day.
There is a traditional way of watching the Superbowl.
You have to drink lots of beer and eat lots of junk food.
Never being one to pass up a tradition, I got Alan set up with his beers and I made hot dogs.
Not for me, of course.
I neither drink beer or eat whatever passes for meat that constitutes a hot dog.
Apparently it was a good game. The underdogs won...........always good unless your team is playing them.
The commercials, and there are a lot of them, that they show during the game are always amazing.
Many funny ones. I expect you can find them on Youtube now.
I had to put this photo in as it was so cute.
Lollipop and Lily showing no interest at all in the Superbowl.
They are cuddled up so tight..........you would never believe they were probably knocking seven bells out of each other a bit later on.
I notice Lollipop takes up a lot more room in there than Lily.
Friday night we went to ice hockey.
The Milwaukee Admirals played the Houston Aeros.
It was a bit of a needle match. Ha ha.............when is it anything else in hockey.....I hear you murmur.
This is true but there seemed to be more shoving, pushing, sticking and slashing ( this is actually an official term....slashing.) It always makes me chuckle when someone gets sent to the penalty box for "slashing"......"hooking" too........they do a lot of that.
The picture is of one of the Aeros.
We were right down the front again, thanks to Gary, and I can tell you that this picture could have been of anyone of the players from either team.
They are all clones.
Even up close .........they all have dark hair and stubbly chins ........and they look exactly alike.
Except for one guy on our team..........Yonkman (I kid you not............remember we have Wacy Rabbit too).
Yonkman stands head and shoulders above the others. He looks like Lurch whizzing around out there.
I think he is what you call a defense man.
You don't get many people trying to knock
him over. I like ole Yonkman.
It was a very tough, physical game and the Admirals won. Most surprisingly........there were no fights. There nearly was one once but good ole Yonkman........I have to keep saying that.....Yonkman.......stood in front of the guy from the other team and dared him to get past.
He didn't bother........neither would I.
Towards the end we did notice two girls holding up a big sign which said :
LESS HOCKEY - MORE FIGHTINGThat made me giggle too.
Also, a little girl, around 3 years old came and stood right in front of Alan.....right up against his knees.............and stared at him.
And stared at him.
Poor Alan didn't know what to do. She eventually wandered back to her parents but Gary and I were in fits over it.
Aren't kids funny when they just solemnly stare.
Well........we thought so.
On the way home Philip noticed something under his windscreen wiper.
We always park in the same car park for hockey.
We had given the guy our $10 parking and he had thrown, or appeared to throw, our ticket on the dashboard.
When we dropped Gary off Philip checked what was under the windscreen..........it was a parking violation notice.
A $55 fine ..............parking violation notice.
But, WE HAD PAID.
Of course when we checked the dashboard........there was no ticket.
The bugger at the car park had taken our money and pretended to put the ticket on the dashboard. We, being trusting souls, and not paying complete attention, assumed he had put it up there.
Our $10 went straight into his pocket.
We are going to dispute this fine but I know we won't get anywhere with it. We have no proof we paid.
Maybe, if he did it a few times that night and other people dispute it, then they may take notice.
Philip was furious.
A very expensive evening at ice hockey.
We will never be so trusting again...............shame really.
Exciting .......'innit'
Well, there has been a bit of excitement since yesterday morning.
As I have probably mentioned, Philip and Alan are off to see the long lost brother in Scotland on Feb 13th.
I was chatting to Donna yesterday and she was telling me how fed up she has been lately. She was online looking at holidays for the half term.
She said that to go to the Canary Islands was over 1000 pounds for her and Lauren.
She then looked at Butlins and that would have cost over 500 pounds just for 4 days.
We then realised that the week Philip and Alan are gone is half term.
I will be here all by myself.
Lauren's school has the Friday before and the Monday after off too.
Why should they be all by themselves over there and me be all by myself over here?
Seems daft really.
So, she looked up the cost of flights and she has now booked for them to come over on Feb 12th going back on Feb 22nd.....for just 653 pounds total for them both.
We are both so excited. It has cheered her up already.
It just never occurred to us before and having the extra days has made it worthwhile.
Now I haven't got to wait until Summer to see Lauren or September to see Donna.
Brill.
I have asked her if she is handy with a snow shovel and she says she is.
I am now making a few plans of places to go and things to do while they are here.
It is quite amazing to think that all this happened in one day.
We went from, not even thinking about her coming over ..........to having it planned and booked .....all in a day.
She has even arranged for someone to come and house sit and look after the kitties while she is away.
Sorted.
Yes I do has a humfff.
It had snowed most of the day.........on top of the existing snow.
When Philip got home he took the trusty snow blower for a spin.
