Snow, Again...

We've had quite enough snow this winter to last for several years but Nature chose to "bless" us again Thursday night with another inch or so of the white stuff. This led to a two hour delay for school so I snapped this picture at the bus stop with the neighborhood glamour girls. You all know my two but the others are Kyleigh and Olivia Wallace, our neighbors. Their brother, Jake, was off with the other neighborhood boys doing something noisy and messy so he didn't make it into the picture. They are all great kids, though, and we're happy to have them here.

My real issue with the snow was not that the kids were late to school (actually, I don't mind the later start time as I have a dickens of a time getting them out of bed usually and the extra time helps) but that it impacted my long planned lunch with Jane. We met in Frederick, a little later than I had anticipated (the bus was late then I realized I didn't have my bank card so I had to turn around and go back home, then I locked my keys in the car), then had a rip roaring time at Barnes and Noble. Who knew buying magazines could be so much fun? Then Jane got her eyebrows threaded and we had a delicious salad lunch at the Common Market, our local organic food coop. The funniest part of the lunch was watching Jane and me circle the salad bar repeatedly trying to find the containers to put our salad in. Well, that and the creepy guy who kept following Jane around and staring at her.

Barbara accused us of carousing and you know what? If this is carousing, bring it on. I can't wait for the lunch we're already planning for next month. Anyone else in the area is more than welcome to join us, if you can keep up.

What I do for a living

Believe me, I don't kid myself that anyone who reads this is interested in anything other than pictures and cute stories about my children. In fact, I often refer to myself as a Laura and JiaJia delivery system. I know, though, that there have been times when people ask me what exactly it is I do professionally and I just answer, in the vaguest possible way, "Oh, its computer stuff."

And it is, sort of, but I thought it might be fun to try to describe to you what my real job is and see if I can do it in a way that anyone actually understands. My title is Process Engineer, which is a bit misleading as I never got an engineering degree (my BA is in social and behavioral sciences, which qualifies as both nebulous AND impractical - could you find a better double whammy?). What that translates to in real world terms is that I work with groups of people who have a business problem (like "why can't we get a bill out the door in a reasonable time frame?") and help them identify where the issues are (like "we require our computer technicians to get a signature on a form that nobody needs then they have to mail it in to an office where nobody files it but we won't send the bill out until we realize we have it...") and come up with ways to streamline the process. After that we usually identify opportunities for automation (like "if the technicians had a handheld device like the FedEx guys use that could transmit the signature to us immediately, we could get the bill out the door the same day the service was provided"). In the best possible scenario, I can help the people I work with to save money, make money, and do more with what they have.

No, I'm not solving world hunger but on a good day I think I'm making peoples' jobs just a little bit less insane and making computers actually help instead of creating misery. Plus I usually get to work at home, in my cozy little office with my Jim Hilleary Fountain Series painting over my head, accented with a collage by my friend, Claudia Bogart, my Ugly Dolls, and a very small subset of what was once the world's largest pig collection. Who could complain about that?

But now you know why I usually just say I do "computer stuff."

Little Christmas

As it is January 6, it is time to say goodbye to the Christmas tree. Anyone who is familiar with Wolfe family tradition knows that Vince is the captain of the Christmas tree and the rest of us are just the crew. So it is with its departure from the house. I was directed to remove my special ornaments (all the gifts and handmade kid things as well as the few ornaments I saved from my mother's house) and pack them away separately then JiaJia took over to remove the tinsel. Somehow Laura dodged a bullet, perhaps because she was doing homework, but in the end we removed the important stuff. The tree only has to lose its filler ornaments, my beloved angel on the tree top and off it goes into the woods.

This year's tree was one of Vince's best, even if we did have to go out in a blizzard to get it, and I'm sad to see it go. The pic is an interim shot, before it meets its maker.

A postscript

Last night I was sitting in my room reading when JiaJia came in and snuggled up next to me. She said, "Mommy, I need to talk to you about something." Needless to say my mind raced from "she's too young to have boy problems" to "okay, what got broken?" but I said, as neutrally as possible, "Sure, sweetie, what's on your mind?"

"Mommy, I think you need to buy some hotels for your yellows*. Everyone seems to be landing on them and you're not making a lot of money."

I believe she's the next Donald Trump (without the combover).

* Marvin Gardens, etc.

Our newest obsession...

is Monopoly. Yes, the old fashioned board game from Parker Brothers. Laura talked Vince into buying it for her on a recent trip to Wally World (that's WalMart for those not in the know) and we've been playing pretty much non-stop ever since.

What is interesting to me is that JiaJia, who at 6 is considerably younger than the lowest age recommended on the game box, is a proficient, maybe even expert, player. We tease her and call her the slumlord but her strategy of buying cheap properties then improving them with hotels has consistently paid off, usually leaving her with plenty of $500s when the rest of us are cashing out. My personal preference is to go the robber baron route and buy the railroads and utilities but lately our little slumlord has acquired them in advance of me as well. I see good things in her financial future and am looking forward to her supporting me lavishly in my old age.

Laura tends to be a little less structured in her approach. She prefers the more expensive neighborhoods and will wheel and deal if someone gets Park Place or Boardwalk before she does. No Mediterranean or Baltic for her, no sir, she likes the high rent district, in keeping with her general preference for all things expensive (really, how many ten year olds do you know who like caviar?)

Vince refuses to play with us as he says we're all too cutthroat. I say he's a chicken who's afraid of getting beaten by two little girls. What do you think?

Pix from the big storm

So we had 20 inches of snow the last weekend before Christmas. The good part about it is that we knew in advance that we were going to get pounded so I was able to lay in supplies (snowbread, snowtoiletpaper, etc.) and we were ready for several days, maybe even up to a week , without being able to get out of the house. Thankfully, the worst of it was accomplished on Saturday and by Sunday afternoon we were well on our way to being dug out.

Vince and the girls went out early on Sunday afternoon after the sun peeked out and started to dig but it wasn't until later that our neighbor Chuck came up with his bucket loader to help us do the final digging.

For me, I was actually pretty happy with being stuck in the house. I finally got my Christmas cards addressed, stamped and ready to get in the mail on Monday plus I did the final round of intense cookie baking in prep for the holiday.

The girls played outside for hours, only coming in to change clothes when what they had on got too soaked and cold. I did a ton of laundry but was so happy they got fresh air and helped their dad with his shoveling. Can you believe Laura actually asked for a small snow shovel for Christmas? What a trooper!

The shot on the left is the huge swath of snow that was sliding off the roof which thankfully melted before it fell on someone's head. The other shot is the girls playing on their "castle", which was a huge pile of snow left when Vince dug out the vehicles.

The amazing thing is that, cold as it is right now, the huge snow drifts are gone and the grass is visible through what's left.

All in all, though, this was the snowiest December we've had in years, certainly the snowiest time the girls have ever experienced. I'm ready for spring and soon!

Welcome 2010!

Why it seems like only yesterday it was 2009. Oh, okay, yesterday it WAS 2009. Silly me. But honestly, 2009 seems forgettable already. With relatively few exceptions, there's not much about that year that I want to hold in my memory.

For me, it was pretty much like all others. I worked, I baked, I mindlessly surfed the webbernet. Truly, when I search for something that made 2009 worth remembering, the only thing that comes to my mind is that JiaJia started school. She loves it and Laura feels quite important having a younger sibling at the same school she attends (for some reason this is a status symbol, don't ask me why).

In other ways, 2009 was hard. My family and I had some really hard core health situations to deal with which hopefully 2010 will address. Financially the world continues to be a scary place for many of us and the political situation both domestically and internationally keeps me awake at night.

With all that said, I am optimistic that we will all not just survive but thrive in the new year. To all of you out there, I love you and hope 2010 brings you nothing but the best.