What Can't IKEA Do?

Well, that was an unexpected little break. I've been a little more tired and a little bit sicker than last time so I've been taking it easy. Mostly we've been doing a lot of Christmas preparations and a lot of dancing. Olive loves dress ups and has a huge suitcase full. She gets very angry with me though because she wants me to wear certain pieces that are her size and doesn't get why I am so unwilling. She always has marker or pen on her. It's so frustrating and I didn't understand it until Pete told me to take a look at myself. I guess there will be tattoos in her future, I just hope they aren't on her face like now. So, once she is dressed, we dance. I'm only allowed certain dance moves that she likes, she can dance however she wants and can last for hours.
I have had some good thrift shopping success this last week and found a new pair of boots that I had been wanting. I also found this game for Hans. We have a German lotto game that Olive and Hans love. It's a Ravensburger game, which I love and we play it a lot. We had so much success with it that I have started quite a collection of games. When I saw this one I loved the box but inside was an alphabet lotto instead of the crayon magic. I don't know if you can see it, but in the top right corner the previous owner has written, " HANS -ALPHABET LOTTO". That's whats sold me.
This time of year is crazy for Pete at work and this was a rare weekend off for him. We usually get our tree the weekend of Thanksgiving but held out for not only his day off but the opportunity to cut our own. Growing up, we cut our tree down in the Santa Cruz mountains. So, Saturday morning we drove out to the tree farm. We woke up to snow, not very much, it just had dusted everything. We walked the tree farm but just could not spend eighty dollars on a tree. We decided to head to IKEA for lunch and to discuss where we might go from there. Well, it so happened that this was the weekend IKEA sold trees. Apparently it is a hugely popular event. You buy a Douglas Fir between 5 and 7 feet for $14.99 with a $10 deposit. In January you bring it back to be recycled and you get your $10 back in the form of an IKEA gift certificate. They mulch them and donate the mulch to local parks. Plus, the boys got to enjoy some glogg. So, we have our tree and I'm really happy with it. But, I also want to relate a little of the craziness that accompanies snow here. As I said, it snowed yesterday. At first it was just a light dusting but it picked up and there was a portion of the day that saw actual snow. I had an eye appointment 10 miles away and when I got there they were calling everybody to cancel . They closed early because it had snowed a quarter an inch. No kidding. One lady actually said she had just bought chains. CHAINS, for less than an inch of snow that melted by the time I drove home. When we first moved here last year it did snow quite a bit. Not like in Utah, but still snow. The kids were out of school for about a week, fed ex did not deliver our closing papers, people went nuts. I woke up early one morning when we were in the apartment and saw a neighbor had removed a door from his place and was shoveling the driveway with it. If you don't believe me, I do have video. So, I think I will stay indoors as much as possible to avoid the crazies. I'm glad we have cable.