Welcome to the first day of winter, though winter officially started sometime last week when the temperature dropped to the teens and the snow graced our presence mid-week.

It’s been awhile since I’ve last graced your presence with some nonsense, so since I’m stuck in the house with no exciting football to watch – though it’s amusing watching the Seahawks and Jets commit turnover-after-turnover – I decided to sit down and write you about the weather that’s taken over our life.

The freezing temperatures weren’t so bad. Roads were a little icy but once I got to the “major arterials” as the newscasters call them, the commute to work wasn’t that bad. Then Wednesday happened.

The weather-people had predicted a snow blast. We got five inches in our neck of the woods so knowing that it was going to snow more I decided to play hooky from work. My bad! We got our five inches, nobody else south or west of us got anything and the people at work figured I was being a weinie. I admit. I wussed out. It made me feel better when it began snowing at 5pm that night and was flurrying at 6pm when I would’ve began my commute home.

The next morning we woke up to nearly a foot of snow. I had a valid reason to miss work as it snowed all day long. Lukas and I played in the snow - see uber-dorky video here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_JN-svHXxgE - and we took a long walk around town. I was sore.

Friday I returned to work and Saturday we spent the morning sitting in traffic and battling the stores trying to finish up what little Christmas shopping we needed to accomplish.

Saturday night the fun began.

The weather-people again predicted snow and winds up to 60mph. We hung out at my parent’s house waiting for the wind to it. It hit, the snow began and we decided to stay at my folk’s house. Then the storm named Lukas began. Needing attention from everyone, and not getting it from everyone (Grandparents, parents, Uncle, Auntie) he began throwing a fit. We dealt with that for a bit, went to dinner and everything was fine. Then the second wave of the storm hit. I had to do the embarrassing thing that all parents hate. Carry their uncontrollable kid out of the restaurant while everyone stares and judges. I told him some choice words that I can’t repeat but are bad enough that…nevermind. I don’t do well with temper-tantrums. He knows that and that’s why he insists on doing them.

We came home I wanted to leave. Lia was upset. We had left her with Randy and Nayheli and the minute we walked through the door she was pissed. She didn’t calm down until hours later. Meanwhile I’m still fuming. My dad talked me into going for a drive with him. I told him he’d better be hitting me across the head with a shovel because that’s the only reason I’d go. He didn’t instead buying me a couple of V&C’s (Vodka/Cranberry), it sounds more manly if I say V&C.

After an hour of hanging out at a near empty bar with the mini-blizzard outside of us we headed home. Lis insisted we go as Lia was out of her element, so it was then that I drove in the worst conditions I have ever driven in. Snow came from all directions. The wind blew hard from all directions. Visibility was about 50-feet. The snow on the windshield began to freeze. Lis and I put our noses to the windshield trying to figure out where the lines on the road began. Lukas and Lia were sound asleep. We drove 20mph on the freeway and the 7 mile drive took us close to 30 minutes. When we pulled in the driveway we grabbed the kids and made a mad dash to the front door. Thankfully we had power.

We all snuggled into our room and fell asleep. The wind continued all night and is currently blowing the snow every which way. The snow that had already accumulated looked like sand dunes. I took the kids for a drive while Lis showered and barely made it out of the driveway. I got stuck, moved back, moved forward, spun my wheels before finally creeping over the mound that was in front of the driveway. I guess that’s why people shovel their driveways and sidewalks.

The nice part is we live in a small town and can drive around without having to worry about traffic. Josh and his brother stopped by on their quads and on Friday they came by to give Lukas a ride on his quad and the sled that it was towing.

There’s your update. Enjoy the pictures of the weather here:

https://cid-62abe84e064c4374.skydrive.live.com/browse.aspx/Winter%20Wonderland

Thank you to those of you that continue to check up on my blog and comment on it. It gives me reason to continue writing, so here I am writing.

There has been valid reason for me to not write as much. Most of that has to do with my work schedule and lack of family time. Today will be the third day that I’ve NOT seen my family. Okay, so I see them at night while they are sleeping and I do get to talk to Lis while she tries to fall asleep - one of the perks of sharing the same bed – but other than that I really haven’t been able to spend time with them. That’s why I was ecstatic when my Mom sent me an email asking if I’d like to have lunch with my family today. I now have something to look forward to!

As much as I enjoy my second job (writing for the paper), I think it’s really starting to again take a toll on me and now it seems to be affecting Lukas. He’s different when I’m around, often whiny and feeling down. This morning he woke up early and walked up to me to give me a hug while I was eating my breakfast. He didn’t say anything other than the quick “Boo!” he says in the morning hoping to startle me. He gave me a hug then stopped looking at me. He often asks me, “Why do you have to work at the dark time?” or “Why do you have to go to work today? I don’t want you to go to work. Stay here.” Yah, it makes me feel depressed.

He must have made a pact with his sister because she woke up right before I was headed out the door. I held her for a minute or two but she refused to look at me. She did smile when I was talking to her but she didn’t want to glance at me. Little terds!

Lis doesn’t tell me if my being gone bothers her, though she’s really excited to go to Brazil and I think the secondary reason – primary being her wanting to visit her family - is that she’ll have something to do, people to hang out with and places to go. It’s winter, it’s cold, it’s rainy, we have only one car and often she can’t even borrow the car because I work an hour away and often immediately after work.

I think the reason I’m feeling more down and out this morning is because of the season. I’d love to sit down and watch Charlie Brown’s Christmas with Lukas but instead I have to put it on while I shower and change and let him watch it so he can let Lis and Lia sleep a bit more. I want to put up our Christmas tree and decorations but have had to continue to put it off because of my schedule. Even on nights that I don’t work I get home at 7pm, we eat and then it’s off to bed for Lukas. 

The new job has been good, for the most part. I don’t enjoy the insurance business and sometimes wish I would’ve held out for something different, or tried for different things. It does pay a lot better, gives me benefits and I do have less stress so I am happy that I moved on from my old job. It’s just hard when I have to work one job and go immediately to the next. I am usually up at 7am and don’t get home until midnight. I end up spending 16 hours away from the house.

Okay, so the plus side is that I do get some extra income that allows us a little cushion in the pocket book. But really it’s not a lot. I make about $400 a month at the paper. I worry that one day I’ll look back, see my kids grown and realize that I spent about 156 days a year (3 days a week/52 weeks in a year) or about 43-percent of the year – their life – away from them. Just for a couple of bucks.

Sorry, I’m just complaining but you asked to hear from me (Shelly commented on December 9: “we would love to hear from you again!!”)

Oh, about the new job. The lame part of it is that it’s extremely slow. Part of that is the economy and part of it is that I’m the new guy, don’t have a steady client base and am just writing the new business, or rewrites. I’m used to doing everything, having stacks of files on my desk with too much to do. Now I put files on my desk to make it look like I have things to do. I often dread going to work because I’m going to have to fake it for about six hours.

More nonsense…what a dreadful fantasy football season I had! Five weeks ago I was having my best season ever. I had a winning record and my winning percentage was way over .500. Flash to now, I’ve had my worst season ever finishing with a losing record for the first time (I compile all the leagues I play in to see how well I did). I did make the playoffs in my only pay league only to watch my team drop like a bungee jumper with no cord … guess he wouldn’t be bungee jumper then but whatever … I lost in the first round – again – and won’t play for money!

Finally, I need to mention that I was sad to hear the news of the passing of my great-Uncle Frank. He's been mentioned in blogs past. We recently went to his and my Aunt Jo's 50th wedding anniversary in Sacramento. He's had health problems in the past and on Sunday morning he passed way. I want to pray for my Aunt Jo and our family during this time. Uncle Frank was always fun to talk with and will be best remembered by my brother's and I as the guy who's motor home we wanted to hang out in when they visited because he made the best drink concotions. We'll miss you Uncle Feller (as Lukas calls him).

And after writing about Uncle Feller and thinking about what I wrote prior to that I realize how silly it is to complain about work and life. At least I'm healthy (I hope) and living and have a loving family. It always bothers me to think about how unhappy I am with time and work despite vowing that I would change when Lis was diagnosed with cancer.

I guess that’s it for now. Hopefully I can write a bit more before Christmas, if not Merry Christmas, Happy Holidays, or whatever it is you like to say during these times!

Wednesday afternoon update: Lis, Lukas, Lia and my Mom came out to visit me for lunch on Wednesday. It didn’t end well. Most of the problem was with me. We were at Mickey D’s. Lis was sitting at one table, Lukas at the other. I asked Lukas to come over. He refused. I told him to get over to the table we were at so other people can sit down. He refused. I told him with a different tone. He began crying and came over, hands in the mouth, slobbering. I was done. He ended up sitting at the other table with my Mom and I ended up having a grumpy lunch. Then I asked if he wanted to come into the office. He wanted to but when he came in, he just wanted to hide behind my legs and not say anything to anyone else, like a 2-year-old. Lis believes it’s an attention problem. I’m not giving him enough attention so the only way to get attention from me is by ticking me off. He didn’t want to apologize to me nor did he want to say it was nice to see me, though he told Lis both of those things.