Weekend Scenes

We got a dusting of snow Friday night, so first thing Saturday morning we headed to the pier to play before it all blew away. The rest of the weekend has been filled with laundry, taxes, paying bills, writing valentines, and trying to sort the clutter that has accumulated over the last month.  

 

Valentine Tree! (That's a thing, right?) 

Wordless Wednesday: Too Much Snow

In The Kitchen: Coffee Hazelnut Cookies

At Christmas time, I brought a box of Sugarsnap's Cookies for Good home to NH. The assortment I chose included Java Hazelnut cookies, and they were wonderful! I tracked down this recipe online, hoping to reproduce the yummy treat for my Gray Dog Media office-warming party. They were much crunchier than the original, and I usually prefer chewier cookies, but they were still delicious!

Unfortunately the office party was postponed due to a crazy snowstorm. Hopefully it can be rescheduled when the snowbanks recede a bit. The only problem? Cookies full of coffee really shouldn't be eaten too late in the day. Hmm...cookies for breakfast? Okay!

Resolve

I'm happy to report that 2010 was pretty damn great, so I don't have a huge overhaul plan--just more movement in the same direction.

Resolution #1: Finish all the books I've started reading.  I love reading, but evidently I'm not overly concerned with actually finishing books.  There are bookmarks tucked somewhere in the middle of about a third of the books on my shelf.  Time to get on that!  The added benefit of this?  Quiet time after working hours, not spent watching TV.  Particularly in the winter when it's dark by the time I leave my desk, it's all too easy to flip on reruns of NCIS while fixing dinner, and stay parked with Roger and my laptop until Conan comes on and I realize how late it is.  I don't like doing it, so I'm hoping to replace the habit with reading.  So far, so good--I've already finished Kevin Runolfson's The Things You Find on the Appalachian Trail and Raymond Chandler's The High Window.

Resolution #2: Continue to build Gray Dog Media.  I read an article on budgeting that recommends a 50/30/20 designation of your income: 50% needs, 30% wants, 20% savings.  Saying I'm not at that point is a gross understatement.  It's more like 90/7/3.  I'm hoping to save enough to buy a new car this year, so that savings portion needs a serious boost!

In a move that will hopefully support the 50/30/20 madness, I'm officially making my second bedroom into my home office!  After several years of playing landlord, I've decided to take the leap.  My current tenant moves out this week, and I'll be excitedly setting up my office this weekend!

Resolution #3: Achieve a higher level of physical fitness.  In 2009, I underwent and recovered from ACL surgery.  Partly due to the fact that I was unable to ski for the '09-'10 season, last winter I gained weight.  In 2010, I lost the weight and then some.  This winter I'm returning to Bolton to coach the Mini Racers program on Saturday mornings.  I'm back at Long Trail Physical Therapy twice a week to work on some scar tissue issues, and get my left leg strength back to 100%.  Going for a well-rounded winter, we're planning a hut trip to Bolton's Bryant Cabin in February, and I'm thinking of getting myself a pair of snowshoes so Roger and I can get out and enjoy the snow on my non-skiing days.

Overall, I resolve that 2011 will be my best year ever.

Heat Wave

There's no denying it, it's HOT! My normally cool-as-a-cucumber Burlington set a new record high of 95 degrees for today's date. Roger has taken to napping on ice packs, and he refused to leave the house all afternoon. Y'know what this heat wave is making me dream about?

HUTSGIVING.

Just think of whooshing over all that icy Colorado snow as we ski out to the Section House, Thanksgiving dinner and birthday treats safely tucked in our packs, all smiles and chilly, rosy cheeks.

Only four months to go :)

Colorado Surprise!

Now a month after the fact, I'm finally going to tell you about my trip to Colorado!

Back in November, my sister Meghan's friend in Colorado set up a surprise 30th birthday party for Meg to take place in April - including surprise guests! Meg's best friend Jen, our mom, and I went out to Breckenridge, CO for an overnight hut trip with Meg and her friends. It was totally awesome! The "hut" we stayed in, the Continental Divide Cabin, is a beautiful log cabin that sleeps eight with one large main room, two smaller separate bedrooms, a wide sunny front deck, and a covered porch to walk to the outhouse. I'm just glad we were able to keep it a secret - I'm notoriously bad at keeping exciting secrets!

We drove 2hrs to Leadville, then snowshoed and skied out about 0.8mi to the hut, and even those of us accustomed to sea level did pretty damn well! The temperature inside the hut was about 40deg when we arrived, but after a few hours with the wood stove, it was over 70. Those ladies don't mess around - the party theme was "ugly bathing suits" (summer version of ugly sweater) and everyone was dressed to impress.

Rowdy games of Taboo, dinner from the grill, ice cream from snow, and plenty of wine made for a totally awesome evening. The next morning was pancakes and a snowshoe expedition on the trails around the hut. It snowed the whole first day and night, so there was plenty of fresh snow to play in.

I had SO much fun, I decided that I need to do it again. But my 30th is still several years away. Then I realized this year is my golden birthday - I'm turning 27 on the 27th of November! Thanksgiving in a hut? Yes please!! The dates we want are open for reservation on June 1st, so I've been doing my best to recruit my party guests. Yeah, a destination birthday party is a lot to ask for, but it's going to be a totally awesome time. Right now we are considering the Section House, which is a much farther ski, but the trailhead is right in Breckenridge, and we'll stay two nights instead of one. And c'mon - Thanksgiving in a hut!!

Tuesday Trifecta

Important things! Potent potable. Lovely day for a snow-shod stroll.

Inspired by the blog Orange Pattern

Tuesday Trifecta

The birthday girl. Ice cream from snow. Celebration!

Inspired by the blog Orange Pattern

Just a little post...

to keep you all posted.

After losing my job at the end of January, I was spending 3-4 days a week teaching at Bolton Valley. I continued skiing with the office team I put together for the corporate race league every Thursday night, and had a great time doing so. Um, until that last one...

Sports fans, I blew out my ACL.

It was my second run of the night, I was on my new skis. The whole team had been putting up great times, and we were all in a rowdy mood. Racing against VTKiwi, I slipped out of a gate and over-corrected...then over-corrected again, and before I knew it, I blew out of the course. As I was falling, I could feel the twist, and knew it wasn't going to be pretty. I got my first-ever ride in the ski patrol sled, after which we decided it was actually only a sprain. Hooray!! I took my baggie of snow (icepack) and happily walked to the bar with my team.

The next morning, I could barely move it or put weight on it. Not cool. Went to my doctor, they got me right in for an MRI at FAHC. That afternoon I had the results: ruptured ACL, bone bruise, and pulled LCL. I met with the surgeon the following Monday morning, and he basically told me if I ever want to be a skier again, I have to get the surgery.

So that's that. I have a month of PT, which I affectionately refer to as my 'Jane Fondas.' After that I'm meeting with the surgeon again to schedule the surgery.

Roger was SO patient with me when I was still in a brace and on crutches. He quickly figured out that we now take stairs one at a time instead of all in a mad dash. One morning on a walk, he saw a squirrel, tensed up to chase it, but then looked back at me, and kept walking. Seriously, he's smarter and more compassionate than some people I know.

So now, 11 days later, I'm doing great - I'm mobile, working on regaining full range of motion. It's my left leg, so I can still drive, and I'm off the crutches. Once I have the surgery though, I'm going to take you all up on the offers to walk Roger or pick up groceries!!

BraveDog the Adventurer

Roger helped write today's post.
We went on a big adventure today!! We went really far down the bike path, it was practically uncharted territory. I even walked out on the frozen lake, which is just crazy. Lou says I'm very brave, and I agree. There were trains, and people, and ice, and other dogs, and sand! Like I said, it was a BIG adventure.

After that, we went to CDSW and dropped off the compost (which smelled AMAZING), and then we went to Pet Food Warehouse! We got a new bag of food, and Buddy Biscuits, and I got all kinds of treats from the people with the blue aprons, just for sitting and offering my paw! OMD, I love that place.

Since then we've just been snuggling at home. Lou baked a batch of my favorite peanut butter cookies, and I started my new food at dinner time. I love weekends - and it's still only Saturday!! Tomorrow we might see Cartoon Drum, and I'll get a raw meaty bone.

Did you know I tweet? Not quite like birds, but like Twitter. There are LOTS of other dogs on Twitter, and cats and horses too! You can follow me to read all about what I'm up to. But now, I think it's nap time.

GOTTA love race league!

So, it's true I've been dreadfully ill all week, but if there's one thing I'll rally for, it's race league! Despite the fact that it was raining here in town, we had been promised snow on the hill, so we piled into Kate's car, and headed over to Bolton.

It continued to rain the whole drive there, only switching to snow once we started climbing the 4.5mi access road. The higher we got, the more the snow had built up. By the time we hit the S-curve, it was pretty messy! We lost too much speed to make it up the steep, and ended up parking the car just below it in a pull-off, and thumbing a ride up the hill.

Now, I don't make a habit of hitchhiking in general, but on several occasions I've ditched my Focus and hopped into the back of a pickup to successfully commute up the Bolton access road to make it in time for work. In my experience, it doesn't take that long - usually after just a few minutes of walking with my thumb out, I'm rewarded with a ride. And the same is true on race night - even with three of us and our equipment!

Racing was about as fun as the drive - with just a little more pain. It wasn't cold, but the snow was...sharp? You couldn't face down the hill without it stinging your face, which made racing pretty tricky! There were no lines though, and everyone was riding the same ruts so I think we held our own pretty well.

After we all got our two runs in, we headed to the James Moore Tavern for a beer before heading home. Unfortunately, there was an accident at the base of the access road, so the plow couldn't get up, so none of us could get down! Oh no, we're all stuck at the bar!!

Luckily, there was still the race league raffle to keep us entertained! Would you believe the three members of our team who were NOT there were all drawn? I wouldn't make that up. Only one Disrupter, Michelle, managed to bank a prize, now we have some team wax! Oh, and there was that time we sent Sean up on accident...

Finally the access road was opened up, and the guys drove us down to Kate's car. As soon as they pulled away though, her car got lodged in the snowbank! Right about that time, the driver of the vehicle parked next to ours arrived, and easily pushed us out and on our way! Thanks to the rainy/snowy mix, it was a pretty long trip down the hill and back to Burly, bringing to an end another wonderful race night!

And now, nothing left to do but await the posting of the official results!

Today's Trifecta

Icy edge of Lake Champlain. Brave Little Sir Roger. We think it must be very tough to be a mermaid in Vermont.

Inspired by the blog Orange Pattern

2009: Things I'm Looking Forward To

It started as a numbered list, but these aren't really the type of thing one can easily rank.

• -The inauguration of President-Elect Barack Obama.
• -KSV's Corporate Race League team, The Disrupters!
  
• -Tulip season, expanding my vegetable and flower gardens
• -Warm weather run-arounding with Roger
• -Camping, hiking, cliff-jumping w/ Roger and the boys
• -Feminist meet-ups
  
• -Home improvement projects - painting and stenciling my bedroom!
  

Home Improvement: Programmable Thermostat

Last Saturday, I installed my new programmable thermostat!!

The directions were VERY detailed, and broke it into steps Roger could have followed. It was a bigger project than I realized, due mainly not to the actual installation, but what had been installed in the past.

The footprint of the new one is TOTALLY different from the footprint of the old one, which is again different than the one before that! The result is screw holes that needed to be filled, and a lovely paint line that needs to be sanded and repainted.

Luckily, I'm a girl who believes in having the right tool for every job, so I actually had a tube of spackle in my toolbox. Pink spackle, no less. So with little fuss, I was able to patch the holes and continue on with the project at hand. (The sanding/painting are for another day)

I picked a location that covered as much of the old mess as possible, and screwed it to the wall. The new thermostat came with little stickers to label the correct post of each wire for reattachment, and it was relatively easy to attach them.

And that was it! I put in the batteries, popped the facepiece on, and programmed the times and temperatures.

Mon-Fri get a separate schedule from Sat/Sun, and there are four dayparts: morning, day, evening, and night. Since my weekday schedule is pretty locked down thanks to the Little Sir, it was no problem to program. However, weekends are not so easy. On Saturdays I'll usually be at the mountain, but Sundays I'll be home. I think what I'll do is set it to my Saturday schedule, and then "override" the programming on Sundays.

A very worthwhile investment, and an interesting home improvement project!

Time to WINTERIZE!

It's starting to get pretty chilly in Vermont, which means it's time to get ready for the long, cold winter ahead. Efficiency Vermont has put together a list of top ten tips for saving energy this winter. Several of these, like plugging the leaks around my front door, are on my to-do list. I'm also planning to get a programmable thermostat! I'll use this list as a guide and post on my progress.

1. Make Your Home More Efficient. Efficiency Vermont-approved Home Performance with ENERGY STAR contractors can perform an energy audit on your home and install the recommended improvements, such as air sealing and insulation. Find a contractor and learn about financing options at www.efficiencyvermont.com/homeperformance. Low-income Vermonters can get similar services for free - learn more at www.helpforvt.org.
2. Lower the Thermostat. Each degree a thermostat is turned down (around the clock) in the winter equates to a cost savings of roughly three percent on your energy bill. Turning a thermostat back from 72º to 65º for eight hours a day can save as much as 10 percent on annual heating and cooling costs. Try lowering the thermostat when nobody is home, or just before going to bed. Programmable thermostats can help to manage your home’s temperature by consistently changing the setting whenever you want—even if you are asleep or at work. I'm pretty stingy when it comes to heat (hence my large collection of hoodies!), and Roger's a great little space heater. I also plan to install a programmable thermostat this winter.
   
3. Plug Up Air Leaks. Focus on plugging air leaks in the attic, where warm air escapes, and in the basement, where cold air enters the home. If you’re handy, use expanding foam to seal larger holes and caulk to seal small gaps. You can also save more by adding insulation in the attic. There’s more information on air sealing and insulating at www.efficiencyvermont.com/homeheating. Or find a professional to help at www.efficiencyvermont.com/homeperformance. One trick for finding leaks is to use a lit stick of incense - the drafts will disturb the smoke!
   
4. Heat Only Space You Use. Close off unneeded rooms, but ensure water pipes have adequate insulation or heat and don't freeze.
5. Let the Sun Shine In. Open the window shades on the south and west side of the house during the day to maximize the warmth of the sun, and close them at night. I've got two great south-facing windows, and I'm researching the most energy-efficient blinds to invest in.
   
6. Fix Drafty Windows and Doors. Caulk around window frames and use weather stripping and door sweeps on doors. Properly adjusted window-sash locks will ensure that windows are properly shut. Use storm windows and put up interior window plastic, available in kits at hardware stores. I need to get some weather stripping - there's a leak at the top of my front door!
   
7. Clean Up. Keep the area near registers, radiators, air returns and baseboards clear and dust-free. Vacuum or dust radiators and baseboards often and be sure they’re not blocked by furniture and carpets. Heat needs to circulate to reach all areas of the house, especially with a forced-air system. I kept this in mind when I was first arranging my furniture. I do have some cleaning to do in the spare room before the heat starts flowing though.
   
8. Close Dampers When You're Not Using The Fireplace. An open fireplace damper pulls warm air (air you’ve paid to heat) from the house, even when there is no fire. And, if possible, avoid or reduce the use of traditional masonry fireplaces, which tend to be much less efficient than other heating devices.
9. Tune Up Your Equipment. If your heating or hot water equipment has not been serviced recently, make sure it is cleaned and adjusted to operate as efficiently and safely as possible. I want to look into putting a layer of insulation around my hot water heater, but I don't know how to tell if I need it or not.
   
10. Save Electricity. Replace your standard incandescent light bulbs with ENERGY STAR compact fluorescent bulbs. For information about which bulbs work best where and how much you can save, visit http://www.newbulbintown.com/. When purchasing new appliances, be sure to select models with the ENERGY STAR. Small appliances and home office equipment use power even when they're “off”. Plug TVs, VCRs, fax machines, computers, printers, etc. into a power strip and just turn them off. I have started replacing all of the MANY bulbs in my new house with CFLs. I'm also looking into dimmable CFLs, since the bedrooms and living room fixtures need them. All of my entertainment equipment (TV, DVD player, computer) are plugged into a power strip that I flip off every morning before work.
    

My new arrivals

Awww, everyone loves a new baby!

Their first night in their new home!!

Snow dreams...

So! I think these are the skis I'm going to get, the K2 Lotta Luv. A size down from the biggest, Phat Luv, one up from Burnin' Luv. Should be good to rip it on the hard pack here in the east, as well as float the powder out west!! Just have to track down a proform and order them through the Alpine Shop. And I'm gonna use my entire tax refund to buy them. Hottttt.