"Beginning's are scary and endings are usually sad, but it's the middle that counts the most."

Wow, ok... so the past two weeks have been absolutely, well hectic doesn't even describe it well. I just got back to Vermont after a week vacation back home and feel like I need another vacation. Actually I'm 1 of 5 people at the office today, so maybe for once, coming to work will be more relaxing than staying at home. Weird.

The week before Christmas found me playing Santa's (aka The Howard Center's) elf for our Holiday Giving Project. All other projects got put on hold as this one took top priority. It seemed like every 5 minutes there was a phone call or an e-mail of some sort coming in. Usually with some tale of woe or another crisis to handle.

It was a week long ride on a rollercoaster. One moment you would be up because something good, like being able to give 85 families enough gift cards for them to be able to buy enough food to feed their family for Christmas, would happen. Then the next moment, you would want to pull your hair out because someone was at your door asking where the gifts for their family were. There were so many bags and cards and just stuff that sometimes things got lost in the shuffle.

The coolest thing that stands out in my memory is working the toy store. The toy "store" is us setting up donated toys and goodies in one of our conference rooms then allowing case managers, whose clients didn't get matched or who have other families who just need a little extra something to supplement presents, can come in and take what they need from our selection.

We sent out a notice that the store would be open at 10 on the Tuesday before Christmas. As Deb and I were in making final preparations, we looked up at the door to find about 7 of our case managers standing there in line like they were waiting for Wal-Mart to open. There was still about 15 minutes until the official opening, so we being the ever so nice Holiday elves that we are… made them wait. We did however offer them munchkins (what they call donut holes in New England) from Dunkin' Donuts.

It was really inspiring to see these grown women standing at the conference room door scouting the toys and clothes that could be seen, putting dibs on things they knew their clients would like, and trying to bribe us to let them in early (to no avail).

Finally at 5 till 10 we sounded the horn, and they were off. Toys, clothes, hats and mittens went flying off the "shelves" (chairs and table) as people started filing in the room carrying boxes and bags big enough to fit their goodies into. It was fun to just watch them browse and debate what their clients would like. I even saw some bartering and haggling going on when something that someone else wanted was snatched up before they could get to it.

Helping people carry their gifts to their cars, I knew that at least these kids were going to have a merry Christmas because of the thoughtfulness of their case worker. A person who has no relation to them what-so-ever, but cares enough about what happens to them to come in and shop when in reality, they don't even have enough time in the day to do what they have to do.

Christmas at home was good. It was strange to actually be able to see grass and to go outside without a parka wrapped around me. I enjoyed getting to see everyone again. It's funny how even though it has been months sense I've seen many of you it was like I had never left at all. It's good to know that no matter how long I may stay away, home will always be home.

To those I got to see, thanks for making my Christmas vacation a memorable one. To those that I missed on this trip, I hope to see you again in the near future. And of course, if you ever feel the urge to throw yourself down a hill attached to 2 small planks of wood, or just want to build a snowman, give me a call... I'm only a phone call and a plane ride away. The snow this year is going to be wicked good I believe.

"There's no place like home..."

After a very busy and very hectic week last week, I finally have some time off and am home for the holidays.

I got in to Louisville around 10 yesterday, and immediately started taking off layers... what is it, summer down here! It's also very strange to see grass again. I had gotten quite used to just seeing fields of snow.

But... that's it for now, just wanted to say hi from Ky and I'll hopefully be getting more posted about my crazy week last week. Till then, enjoy this little video from youtube, two of my favorite singers singing one of the most beautiful songs:

INCONCEIVABLE!

"You keep using that word. I do not think it means what you think it means."

It's "inconceivable," but the snow is still coming down! Every time I think it is about to come to a stop, another band comes through and dumps another few inches on us. Right now, I would guess that we have about a foot and a half or so out there with the snow still coming down in waves.

I keep checking the radar, and we have a lull coming up, but it looks like we may still get more yet tomorrow. I will of course have camera charged and ready to take pictures. Here are some more I just took from our driveway of my poor little bug all covered in snow...



I keep trying to clean her off, but it's no use.... an hour later she's all covered again. I'm thinking that I might get the day off work tomorrow. Let's cross our fingers shall we!

"Trust your dear old mother boys. Throw 'er into four-wheel drive and hold on to your hats."

Well, I'm seeing my first Vermont Nor'easter. It's really kinda neat.... like a real winter wonderland. I woke up this morning to about 6 more inches of snow and near blizzard conditions. So of course i popped on my boots and walked outside to take a few pictures...



So, I just went out and checked... so far, the snow is up to my knees. Whoot!

"A flute without holes, is not a flute. A donut without a hole, is a danish."

That quote doesn't have anything to do with this post, I just really like it. It's from one of the greatest movies of all time: Caddyshack.

The purpose of this post is purely to show off some pictures that I took yesterday and today. These are just some pictures of the snow so far. I almost did die though trying to get some of these. Rocks get damn slippery when they have ice on them!

Enjoy.... and like always, you can click on the pic and see a larger version.

"I don't know if I oughta go sailin' down no hill with nothin' between the ground and my brains but a piece of government plastic. "

So, the greatest thing about all this snow that we are getting up here is getting to go sledding! Along with all the other great winter games you can play!

So far we have about 6-8 inches of snow in Burlington... farther south, there is about 12-18 inches. There is supposed to be a huge storm coming in tomorrow night into Monday morning. They are calling for about 12 or more inches of snow here in Burlington. I'm kinda excited! I'm getting exactly what I wished for, lots of snow!

I'm planning on going out and finishing up my Christmas shopping tomorrow, so I'll take my camera and try to get some pictures of what everything looks like in the snow. In the mean time however, enjoy some pictures I took last weekend when Lozz and her boyfriend Ben came back up to Vermont to visit me.



Ben has never seen "real" snow before, so we had a lot of fun. We went to Stowe to the little shops there, and watched them make candy canes. We stopped at the Ben & Jerry's factory, of course, where a huge snowball fight ensued. I don't have the pictures from that yet, gotta wait till Lozz gets home again, but I have pictures from when we went sledding in Underhill.

This hill is insane! Not like the sledding we have in Kentucky where we go for length rather than height. Here, the sledding hills are serious! I was a little nervous at first...




Then of course, I had to show Ben how to make a snow angel:




Oh, and speaking of sledding... almost everyday at around 3:30, I get to listen to the kids who live in our residential houses go sledding on the hill right behind my office. I've taken to rolling my chair over to the window so that I can watch them for a little while. Yesterday, they had one of the teachers out there with them.

It's so much fun to watch these kids who have so much crap happening to them in their lives getting to have fun like any "normal" kid. I love watching them... though, anyone who may be passing my office at the time may wonder why I'm sitting there staring dreamily out the window.

"I don't know what to say, except it's Christmas and we're all in misery."

So, I know I promised a picture post... and one is on the way (lets see how long I can drag this out shall we :) ) but, I wanted to post about something that is a little more up to date.

It seems that everyone is right in the middle of the Holiday cheer. People are bustling about yelling at each other to "get the *bleep* outta the way or I'm going to run you over with my shopping cart." Snow is falling causing people to bundle up in all the clothes they have and curse their bosses for not calling off work for the day. Kids are looking forward to school being out and getting to stay at home and whine about having nothing to do all day long.

But amidst all this joy and good cheer, sometimes something happens to bring you back around to what this season is truly all about.

I, along with several other people at the Howard Center, have been working non-stop it seems on our Holiday Giving Project where we match up needy families whom we serve with willing sponsors in the community. All along the way sense we first started this thing back in early November, it has been one constant headache. One person wants to do it this way cause that's the way it's always been done; and another wants to do it another way cause the way that it's always been done doesn't really work; and they are all looking at me asking, "well what do you think?"

Yeah, that's a good plan, ask the girl who has no clue as to what is going on or how anything has been done in the past to give her opinion on what should or shouldn't be changed this year.

Anyway, there has been bitching and complaining and arguments both over the phone and through e-mails (that was a fun day, let me tell you. there were e-mails flying over the intranet faster than i could hit reply to anything), but in the end, things are really coming together.

We have over 120 families matched and the toys are starting to come in. Our hallways are starting to fill up with bundles waiting for case managers to come and pick them up to deliver them to their families.

Yesterday, a lady who has a connection to the Howard Center drove from Maine to Burlington to drop off 3 car loads of toys and goodies for the residential houses. There were balls and games and toys and movies, and candy and, just wow!

Today, as I was leaving for lunch, I noticed a couple of ladies carrying some bags with toys inside them. So I put my stuff in my car and headed back inside knowing that this was something I was going to have to deal with. I met them as they were coming back out the door and introduced myself and asked them what group they were from (we were expecting two toy drop offs today.) All one of them said was, "no group, just from me." And then they turned and headed for their car.

It was so surprising because you forget that there are people out there who don't want to be recognized for the good works they do. They don't want the thanks or praise, all they want is the joy they get from knowing they did a good thing.

Just when I think that I'm over this whole Christmas thing, something comes along and ruins it and makes me believe in Santa again.

Who's like us... damn few!

Isn't that sign just perfect! We found that in one of the subways and I had to get my picture taken with it :P

So, because I was driving for the majority of the time we were there, I didn't get a lot of my own pictures except for when we were in New York City and while we were waiting in the airport for the plane (yeah... forgot to tell you about that) Click here to go to my photobucket page to see all my pics from this trip. I now present you with my favorites... oh, and as always, if you click on the picture, you can see it in a larger format:


This was a big booboo on someones part. The CNN screen in the middle of Times Square had a major malfunction. Oops!


Chocolate Capital U.S.A.! and Mickey


Um...Iva, I don't think that's how it works. The trains come and go on a schedule. Chances are you'll lose that arm if you stick it out in front of a train.


Watch out for that dinosaur Iva! Actually, this is in the middle of Toys R Us in Times Square. Even if you don't have kids, this toy store is something everyone should see!


We had every intention of going to see this while we were here, but with the Broadaway strike, tickets were pretty much sold out :(



So, the last part of my story... The girls from Canada had to leave to go back home on Monday morning, so we get up and get ready and I start packing everything into my car. Remember, I'm the only one who has a car there (Sandy wasn't available) and I have a very small VW Beetle. So, I start packing thinking, there is no way that we are going to fit all this stuff and people into this car! Somehow though, we got 4 people and all their luggage packed in. I don't think my car has ever been so full. I still don't know how we did it. You should have seen us getting out at the airport. It was like at a circus when all the clowns come pouring out of the car. All of the next photos are ones of us packed in, and while we were waiting for the plane at the airport (there were massive delays!)

Start from hello old friend...

Alright.... you might want to get comfy, here comes the long part:

So, Wednesday after work, Lozz and I loaded my car and set off for Long Island. It was a long trip... about 6.5 - 7 hours... and i kept trying to tell Lozz to go to sleep, but she would hear none of it. Stubborn little cuss! haha

The next day, Thanksgiving day, I got up early because 2 more of our crew were flying in from Canada that morning. So I drive to La Guardia airport and leave Lozz at her house to wait for Sandy because planes were being delayed out of Chicago and we didn't want to take a chance that one of us wouldn't be there when Sandy got there.

I drive to the airport, get there and get a text from Iva... the plane is delayed, landing at 1. So I turn around and go back to Lozz's cause I didn't want to sit there for 4 hours. Sandy is supposed to meet us there at 11, so we decided that I would go back pick up the other girls and meet everyone else at Sag. The other 2, who already live in NYC were going to catch a train out and whoever got there first would pick them up or they would catch a taxi.

So 11 comes and goes, no Sandy and we can't get her on her phone. 12:30 comes, and I need to leave to go to the airport. Get to the airport, their plane is delayed till 3:15... this time I just go to the bookstore, buy a book and wait.

So wait I did... and apparently so did Lozz, cause when I called her to tell her that the plane had landed and I had the other girls in the car and we were headed out to Sag, they were just then pulling out of her driveway. Sandy was a little late :)

From the time that I picked the Canadians up at the airport, till the time we left them at the security gate, I did not stop laughing. All the way in the car, we talked and laughed, and laughed and talked. Until we were about 10 minutes from Sag Harbor and Lozz called me...

"We have a disaster" is all she said. No hello, no anything... literally, no anything. I'm waiting for her to elaborate on what's happened and she says nothing. Finally I ask her what's going on and she explains that they've just gotten to Baron's Cove Inn, where we are supposed to have rooms, but there is no one in the office, the office is locked and we don't have a room. I'm like... I'll be there in 10!

We stand there for a while while Sandy tries to find anywhere that's open and has a room. Then Iva pipes up during the silence and says, "well, you Americans are known for your hospitality, but this is really ridiculous!" which is what Julie Andrews said when she won her Oscar. It was so very appropriate and hilarious that it broke the ice and we weren't worried any longer about where we were going to stay.

Don't worry though, we did end up finding a place to stay... a nice little place called the Enclave Inn in Southampton. We had to split up in 2 rooms, but I think it worked out better. The rooms were big enough that we could hang out together in 1 room during the day, but we weren't walking on top of each other the whole time... and it gave us 2 bathrooms!

The first day was spent in Sag Harbor looking at shops and hanging out. I found the cutest little used bookstore tucked back into the crevice in this ally. It was so cute, and there were books everywhere. I browsed there for about an hour and still didn't put a dent in the number of books there were.

At lunch, Sandy ordered a cup of chili, which of course was served in a, wait for it.... cup! But, being from Canada where apparently this doesn't happen, Iva was absolutely amazed. She took this picture of it:


We went back to the Inn to get ready for the evening show of "Simeon's Gift" and I took the first crew back to Sag once they were ready. When we arrived at the theater, Lozz pointed out a car that she thought to be the one Julie was driving when she saw her in Sag the last time she was there.

Well, of course we were all like, "yeah right...that's her car." I was trying to parallel park, and when I turned around, Iva gasped and her eyes went as big as saucers. Apparently the lights on "the" car had flashed like someone was unlocking the door. When we didn't see anyone around though, we concluded that it must have been the reflection from my lights as I turned.

No sooner had I parked, then the lights really did flash. We all sat in the car, afraid to move or lest be seen. We waited, and when a lady (whom we didn't know) approached the car, we concluded that Lozz was just an idiot and started to pile out of the car.

I turned around to let Anika out of the back seat and when I looked up, I saw Iva fall out of my car and Lozz's eyes go huge. I turned around just in time to see Julie get in the passenger's side of the very car we were talking about. We had to just point and laugh at Iva because her first time seeing Julie and she fell out of the car in front of her.

I was laughing until I realized that I needed to go back and get the other girls and "the" car had just turned in the direction that I needed to go. Let me tell you, I didn't get anywhere near the back of that car. I didn't want to take any chances.

Nothing more really happened other than the usual. The play was very cute... very kidish, but cute. The next day was spent shopping in Bridgehampton and then back again to the theater that night. And on Sunday, I drove the girls, minus Lozz, into the city to spend time there. It was awesome! I love spending time in NYC whenever I can. And I love taking someone there for the first time and seeing their face when they step out of the subway and into midtown.

We had such a good time though! It was awesome! There were no fights, and all we did was laugh. I mean laugh a lot. I really think I pulled something. When I got back home, I had a stitch in my side that would not go away! And the amazing thing is that for Julie fans, we really didn't talk about her at all. It was like we had forgotten the entire reason that we were there. We were just enjoying being in each others company.

These girls are amazing! I think I have met people that I will be friends with for a good long while. We are already trying to find another time when we can get together again.

Well, this post is already long enough... I'll post the pictures tomorrow :P