I love! dedicated to a very special friend-hope you know who you are.

July 4-The best thing about today was the fireworks. I enjoyed spending some time with family and the food was okay, but the HEAT was HORRIBLE! I can't wait for winter.

July 15-OMG! 105 degrees in the shade! I can't fucking believe it! Everyone says the dry heat is okay, but I live in the upper midwest and there is not dry heat. We're talking humidity, humidity, humidity. When is winter going to be here?

July 31-Oh for god's sakes! I could bathe in my sweat, it's so thick! I realize going through the beginning of menopause may have something to do with it, but this is ridiculous! How many fans and A/C's do I actually have to have running to keep cool? With all the electric being used, I could provide an entire village in Africa lights for a year.

August 12-A cool wind seems to be lingering in the air. YEAH! I can't wait for the snow. The trees are beginning to change, I love the colors.

August 29-I don't understand, Indian Summer? You have got to be kidding me?! No, can't be that, it doesn't happen until End of October or November and by then I am hoping for real winter weather. But the heat seems to have sprung back up again. This has got be to global warming, because we have never seen it this hot and definitely not this late in the year.

October 7-Here we go, I can smell winter coming! I love snow, I hope it gets here soon. It has begun to rain. I love the rain! Nothing better than sitting in front of the fire on a semi chilly day, with a good book and cup of hot apple cider.

October 13-More rain, more like a mist sometimes. But I love the rain! Thank goodness we are getting to the end of the year and won't have to mow the yard anymore. If the weather was hotter, it would suck with all this rain, because the grass would grow pretty fast. But I do love the smell of fresh mowed grass! And I do love the smell of rain. It cleans the air and just is so refreshing.

October 17-The sun peaked through the clouds today. It's going to be a glorious day! The weather is in the low 60's, perfect weather! I'm going to get out and rake up some of the leaves before they really start to fall. It's going to be so great!

October 29-Two more days until Halloween! I can't wait! I love seeing the children dressed up as ghouls and goblins, bags held out in front of them, begging for treats. They are so CUTE! The garden is done, frozen to the core. It didn't take long, a couple of days of real cold weather and everything was gone. I sure am glad I was able to salvage some tomatoes and cucumbers before they were lost. I have boxes packed with paper and tomatoes to ripen in the next couple of weeks. It's going to be great having fresh vegetables for a while.

October 31-I have all the decorations and candy ready for tonight. It should be superb. The weather is supposed to hold up for a little while longer, at least through tonight. It is a good thing, as the Canadian deep freeze is being ushered down, I was so afraid it would be too cold for the children.

November 10-Brrrrr! The ice is here, but no snow yet. At least now I am not suffering through the heat. I can always put clothes on, so I am not going to complain much about the cold. I just don’t like having to scrape the windows whenever I leave the house. Snow is soon to follow, so I am still happy.

November 23-Our first snowflakes!!!!!!!!!! Oh joy! I love the snow! I have been anticipating the snow so much; I made paper snowflakes and hung them around my living room. It’s too bad the snow didn’t stick, but I know there is more to come. I guess in some ways I am glad it hasn’t gotten too bad, as I have to drive so far to see that special someone. But I will figure that all out when the time comes.

December 2-SNOW! It's here and looks like it is going to be here for a while. YEAH! Thanksgiving came and went and I loved it, all the family was here, it was a warm, happy time, and I cherished every moment. But when I woke this morning and saw six inches of snow, I couldn't wait to get my boots and coat on and make angels in the snow. I don't know what it is about the first real snow storm, but it makes me feel gooey! LOL

December 10-Wow! Ten more inches yesterday on top of the twelve we have had on and off for the past week. The snow plows are out in force, the roads getting cleared, the children playing outside, because school had to be closed this morning. I love looking out at the white scenery; it looks so innocent and clean.

December 21-We finally have power back on. Boy that was scarey for a while. That freakish snow storm that left three feet caught everyone off guard. So many trees ending up loosing limbs with the freeze and the snow. I was a little worried when the neighbors told me they heard the power was suppose to be out for at least two days. But 16 hours wasn't bad. The snow is so high, there are little tunnel like walkways . And the cars that didn't move from the curbs are now buried, including mine. Snow plows have no mercy. But I will have someone get it out for me, thank goodness for strong kids. Christmas will be here in a few days. I hope that everyone can make it, I love Christmas. I have so many lights twinkling around my house, both inside and out, it looks like a winter wonderland against the snow, it's pretty amazing. I love it! Joy to the world, am singing Christmas Carols, I love them too!

January 20-I didn't think I would ever be able to be back on line again. It has been a horrible month. It snowed and snowed and snowed. They say it was the biggest snow storm in history, a freak snow storm. It was real tragic. The snow was over the house, no one in, no one out. Thank goodness I have a hoarder mentality and had stocked up on everything. When the power went out, we were okay. When the sewage no longer functioned, well, that was tough, but we managed. If it weren't for the fact that I am strong and can think out of the box, we may have ended up like so many other families that didn't make it. I don't think I will be praying for snow next year.

March 5-That was a tough winter. The cities actually had to truck snow out of the cities, it was pretty horrible. When it was all said and done and then the flooding, boy, the sewers were overflowing, the ground just couldn't take much more. Thank god our house actually is built up away from the ground about two feet. We had to close the upper floor, everyone slept downstairs. We had cell use for a little while, we tried to conserve the batteries as best as we could. I have to give kudos to the governor for calling in the National Guard, without them so many people would have been starving or frozen to death. I have begun to think that with the way global warming is; and they are blaming this on global warming, I am going to go farther south. It was so much like the movie "The Day After Tomorrow" it was almost scarey. Almost, but thank goodness that the freeze was not that bad. If it weren't for the snow, that actually insulated our house, as well as many others, I think more people would have died. I officially like snow, it may take years to love it again.