Ottawa

Two games yesterday... lost both. Keeper Boy was in net for the morning game against Finland. It was a 7-2 loss, but Keeper Boy was awarded the hardest worker hard hat for his team. Pretty cool. The game yesterday afternoon was against a team from outside Toronto. Another loss, but definitely one we could've/should've won. We've pretty much been eliminated from advancing beyond our last game tomorrow. We will be heading home on Saturday in what sounds like awful snow through New York. Ugh.

Last night we went to the Ottawa Senators game. Good times! Ottawa lost to Colorado, but we didn't really care about the outcome anyway. :)

Today, no games. There is a ceremony tonight and an all-star game. Two of Keeper Boy's teammates are playing, so we will support them.

The pin trading here is amazing. Keeper Boy has collected a ton of very cool pins. His hat weighs a ton with all the metal. Ha ha.

Getting ready to head to brunch... maybe a museum this afternoon. We'll see.

Ottawa

Holy. Crap. It's COLD! We should've listed to the concierge this morning. When we asked the best way to walk to the Byward Market, he said, "walk to the corner, then hail a cab." We laughed and said we'd be fine walking. Problem was, with the wind chill, it was -30. Yes, that's celcius. When converted to farenheit, that's a balmy -22. Yes, MINUS 22. Oh. My. God. I think my legs are STILL numb... 12 hours later!!

Other events of the day included a lovely lunch at Tucker's and a fun "friendly game" with a local team on which there is a kid who used to play at the rink Keeper Boy currently plays at. Pretty cool. Some people from the teams have kept in touch, and this is the second year we've played this team in a pre-tournament "friendly game." Appropriately, the game ended in a 3-3 tie. And we all had dinner together afterward at a nice restaurant in the rec facility (which was amazing).

The Marriott we are staying in is great. Great location, great rooms, great ammenities. There are two kids zones on the fourth floor (along with an indoor pool and a very well-equipped workout room). This is a place that is obviously used to hosting youth hockey teams. The kids zones are stocked with gaming systems, sofas, a foosball table, a giant slide, and toys for younger kids. A separate kids zone boasts a six-hole mini golf course, an air hockey table, tabletop shuffleboard, and an area set up for shooting hockey... complete with a net, goalie equipment, sticks, and tennis balls. Guess where Keeper Boy has spent most of his free time?

Tomorrow we have a busy day... game at 11:15 against a team from Finland. How cool is that? Keeper Boy will be in net for that one. Another game at 4:45. And then we're going to the Senators/Avalanche game tomorrow night. Busy day...

Frankenfoot

The last bit of scab came off on Christmas Eve. Merry Christmas to me!! Today I wore my left sneaker tied just a tight as my right! Woo hoo! Next hurdle: real exercise.

Heard...

"You guys are the best parents ever! You take us to cool places like Canada and Pennsylvania!!"

Huh. I guess in J-Mav's mind, Pennsylvania ranks right up there with St. Thomas, Disney World, San Juan, and Alaska!

Thinking...

VDOT (or whomever is in charge of plowing our street) sucks.

So, it's been approximately 36 hours since it stopped snowing in our little slice of Northern Virginia. The final snow tally was more than two feet. As of 8am this morning, when I hiked to the end of my street to meet a co-worker who came to fetch me for work because I'd driven out of my driveway I'd promptly have been stuck in two feet of snow, STILL NO PLOW.

Every other road in our subdivision seems to have been plowed already. Except ours. There is historical precidence for this. I'm not sure why my street is discriminated against. I think I might need to figure out who to write a nastygram to. How fun! I haven't written one of those for awhile. :)

Frankenfoot

Frankenfoot is not so much. With the scabbing coming off, the scar flattening out, and bruising and swelling almost completely gone, my foot almost looks normal. As normal as a foot with a four-inch scar on the top of it will ever look, anyway. I no longer have any real pain, just some discomfort every once in awhile. It seems that the more scabbing that comes off, the less pain I have. That works for me.

I am still wearing my Mammoth Crocs or sneakers every day. I tried the heels again earlier this week, and even after just an hour, I could tell my foot was swelling a little. So I'll probably need to stick with the flat shoes for at least a few more weeks.

I think after the holidays, I'll be able to tie my sneaker tight enough to at least walk on the treadmill. I desparately need to do that. I'm still hopeful that I will be able to ice skate on the Rideau Canal (if it's frozen enough to be open for skating yet)... we'll see.

RIP Frankenfoot.

Let the wild rumpus begin!

We have the first inch or two of the predicted "15 to 20 inches" of snow we are to get between now and the wee hours of Sunday morning. This snow storm, while it may provide us with the white Christmas that has eluded us for the past many years, is just not happening at a convenient time for me.

At work, we are in the final stretch of a proposal cycle... I will be spending all day tomorrow on final editing and formatting in preparation for final approval on Sunday and production/shipping on Monday. That means while my family is out playing in said snow, I will be inside. Working. Which I've been doing too much of lately. Bleh.

More importantly, if we get all the snow we are supposed to get, we won't be going anywhere for awhile becuase we probably won't see a plow on our street until at least Monday. That poses a problem because we are supposed to driving to PA to my parents' house on Sunday for a big family Christmas dinner. I have been looking forward to seeing some members of my family that I don't get to see too often. Now, with each unwanted snowflake that falls, the chances of us making the journey to PA on Sunday become more and more slim. Bleh.

There is one bright point. Regardless of how much snow falls tomorrow, we will still be able to go to the one Christmas party we've been invited to. It's our annual neighborhood party. We simply need to step out the front door, turn right and walk across the yard, and walk into our neighbor's house. I think we have the shortest "commute" of all the neighbors!

I think we've already had more snow this year than we have all of last year... and it's not even the end of December yet. Lord help me. The kids are aleady not getting out of school until June 18... if it's this bad all winter, they'll be in school until July!

So anyway, if I wanted to have snow, I'd live somewhere like, say, CANADA. I live below the Mason Dixon line... technically, I live in the South, y'all. I don't need this. I like snow for about the first ten minutes of the first snow. That was two weeks ago. I'm done now. If I didn't see anymore snow this year, it'd be too soon.

And yet I'm looking out my window at what appears to be a surprisingly accurate forecast by the local weather people. And again I say bleh.

Gasp!

[GASP!] Don't mind my [GASP!] absence from the blog recently. [GASP!] I'm just drowning in [GASP!] editorial and desktop publishing responsibilities [GASP!] at work. Lots of proposals due [GASP!] between Thanksgiving and Christmas. I [GASP!] hope to come up [GASP!] for air soon! [GULP!]

Seen...

J-Mav came into my bedroom this evening and told me had to come out to the living room to see what he did to "make the glass people more fun." (The glass people would be our nativity set that we put out at Christmas time.)

This is what I saw:


His comment was, "well, there was a space and my guy fits nicely."

Wonder what the G.I. Joe guy brought to the blessed event -- ammo?

Frankenfoot

Saw Dr. G today for my final post-op check-up. He said everything looks good and I have no restrictions. That doesn't mean I can go out and run a marathon (not that I'd do that anyway). It just means there's no medical reason why I couldn't try. It'd be a little difficult, though, since the surgical site is still too tender to tie my shoe laces on that sneaker.

The scar is already flattened out, and the scabbing is starting to come off. Dr. G thinks it'll be a rather thin scar. Cool. :-)

He also told me I didn't do any damage by wearing heels to work yesterday. :-) My foot felt good, and the shoes didn't hurt, so I did it. Dumb. Frankenfoot still didn't hurt at the end of the day, but wow. My foot was a flippin' sausage! I could feel the fluid build-up in my foot. It was gross. It's still not back to normal today! No more heels for awhile. Sneakers and Crocs. My work pants will just have to drag on the ground...