“Why” you ask? Well …

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The Christmas 2009 winter storm will continue to impact the area through Saturday morning. For the remainder of Christmas Eve…there will be periods of light snow. Snow rates will increase from late tonight through early Saturday morning…and north winds will increase to 25 to 35 mph…causing considerable blowing and drifting snow with blizzard conditions. Widespread whiteouts can be expected across much of Eastern North Dakota into adjacent Minnesota counties. Travel Christmas Day will be extremely hazardous. The map represents additional snowfall accumulation expected from noontime Christmas Eve through midday Saturday. On Saturday…the snow will wind down slowly but winds will still be high and visibility poor. Sunday will be better with no snow in the forecast and winds diminishing. Please stay tuned for further updates.

As you can see, Mother Nature had other ideas. Well, her Christmas present is going back. LOL

We got about 6 inches of snow overnite here in Fargo. It didn’t snow all that much during the day, and it wasn’t all that windy. I did consider leaving work early to head to Mom & Dad’s before it started snowing again. I obviously decided against going. The road reports for my route home was “snow covered” then “continuous ice/compacted snow” then “scattered ice frost” and back to “continuous ice/compacted snow”. I decided to use my better judgement and stay in Fargo. If the roads are travelable on Sunday, I’ll head to Mom & Dad’s (unless they decide to come up to Fargo). And if the roads are still shitty, there’s always next weekend.

Robin ended up staying in Fargo too. If the roads in town are passable, maybe I’ll venture over to her place to hang out. Otherwise I don’t know what I’ll do. I plan on making some chili cheese dip tonite to munch on (I was going to make it and take it to Mom & Dad’s). I bought the ingredients yesterday to make lasagna. I might make that tonite so I can pop it in the oven tomorrow for dinner (with leftovers for supper). And I have beer in the fridge and vanilla vodka chilled out in the freezer.

It definitely sucks being stuck here in Fargo (alone) for Christmas. It’s the first time that I haven’t made it home for Christmas. But I’d rather be stuck here than in some ditch or worse. I guess the Christmas presents and baked goodies will just have to wait. I just wish Mom hadn’t said that she had some krumkaka for me (I love those). Maybe I can hitch a ride with Santa.

I sent out a Christmas letter with my cards. I thought I would post it here for my friends that I don’t have addresses for.

December 2009

Wow. A Christmas letter from me 2 years in a row? That probably won’t ever happen again.

The past year or so has been kind of stressful for me, but things are starting to look up. As I said in last year’s letter, I lost my job in October 2008 and started a contract position in December 2008. That contract position only lasted 4 months (I was filling in for someone on maternity leave). I found another contract position in May 2009. The position was supposed to be a contract to hire position, but the company ended my contract early in August (and laid off 15 people the day after my contract ended). All that uncertainty almost drove me crazy.

But I said things are starting to look up, didn’t I? I started a new job (a permanent one this time around) in November. It’s with a company in Moorhead. I’ve been there for about a month and a half now, and I’m very happy. I get to work with php and MySQL again, which I really enjoy working with (yes … I AM a geek).

I’m not sure what 2010 will bring, but I’m hoping it keeps on the upswing. I had been planning on buying a house, but the rollercoaster that my work life has been over the past year has put that on hold for a little while longer. While I don’t have the money saved up for a house just yet, I do have some money saved that I think I’ll be putting towards a new car in the spring. I’ve had my car since 2001, so it’s time for an upgrade.

I hope this holiday season treats you well. I hope Santa brings you everything that you ask for. ;) Make sure to take time to treat yourself well during the hustle and bustle of the holidays. Take care and have a great 2010.

Happy Holidays …

Becky

I’m heading home in the morning. I took tomorrow off of work so that I could drive home in the daylight. I didn’t want to have to drive after work (either today or tomorrow), especially after the last bout of snow that we got today. I’d like to actually be able to see the road surface. I don’t wanna be surprised by black ice or slush and end up in the ditch. I don’t think I’ll have to worry about slush though … it’s not warm enough to melt. The majority of my trip is on interstate, so the road surface *should* be okay. It’s that last leg that I’m worried about. I’ll have to check the road reports in the morning. I don’t have a set time to leave. That will depend on the road conditions. But I’d like to get out of town by no later than 10am. I’ll just have to wait and see.

I got the majority of my packing done tonite. The rest of the stuff I have will wait ’til morning. Stuff like my pillows and bathroom stuff will have to wait ’til I’m all ready in the morning. And the baked goodies and cheese ball/spread and other perishables will have to wait ’til right before I leave. I’ll toss all that stuff in my trunk. At least I don’t have to worry about it getting too warm and making that stuff unsafe to eat. LOL

I plan on coming back to town on Friday. I don’t have the work … they’re closed. But I do need to pick up my paycheck (unless direct deposit is in place by then ). They do mail it out if you don’t pick it up by 4pm. But I’d rather get it Friday and get it in the bank that day then have to wait ’til (most likely) Monday to get it in the mail and then put it in the bank Monday nite, meaning the money wouldn’t be available ’til Tuesday.

I’m also thinking of stopping at Target to see what they have on clearance in regards to Christmas stuff (like wrapping paper, bows, lights, etc). I’m also thinking that I *will* get the iPod Touch that I’ve been wanting. I’d only have to pay around $150 or so (depending on how much tax is) after the $100 gift card I have from work. You can’t beat that deal. I’m just not sure if that’s a good idea though. In about 2 1/2 months, I could possibly (and probably will be) unemployed again. My contract at work is only for 3 months. There is a chance that it could turn into a permanent gig, but there’s no guarantee. I’m going with the assumption that it won’t be so that I’m not screwed when the 3 months is over and I don’t have any income source again. So I’m keeping an eye out for any opportunities. And if the gig does turn out to be permanent … GREAT. I just want to make sure all my bases are covered.

Now I REALLY need to get off of the computer. I told myself over an hour ago that I was banned from the computer for the rest of the nite. That didn’t go over very well … I’ve been on it ever since. But now I really do need to get offline. Gonna crash on the couch for a little bit and then head off to bed so I can get up at a decent hour in the morning and head home.

One of my favorite comedians of all time is Jeff Dunham. He’s not a ‘traditional’ comedian, he’s a ventriloquist [thank goodness for spell check ... LOL]. I don’t remember exactly when I first saw him, but I was hooked from the start. I’ve seen his various tv specials too many times to count. I don’t care how many times I’ve seen one of them, I’ll sit and watch and laugh like it was the first time.

I’ve told myself that if he ever got close enough to see, I would go … no matter how much tickets cost. Well, back in April, I found out he was going to be at the Civic Center. :dance:

The show is tomorrow nite. I’m taking my sister with me. I got her hooked on him too. And her bday is next week, so the ticket is her bday present [how convenient for me :razz2:]. I can’t wait. The tickets I got are 8th row center, so we should have a pretty good view. I hope cameras are allowed. I wanna get some pics … and maybe sneak a video [shhhhhh]. According to his website, the show is sold out, so we’ll have to get there early. I need to remember to get cash so I can get souvenirs.

I’ll give a full review either after the show or on Friday.

We’ve had some pretty strong storms roll through the area over the past couple of days. Yesterday morning a pretty good one rolled through. It stayed south of Fargo, but did head toward Wahpeton. Apparently it was enough of a storm to make the tree in the backyard of my Grandma’s old house fall on the house. The house is a split level … my Grandma and one uncle used to live upstairs while another uncle lived downstairs.

Thank goodness my Grandma and uncles no longer live there (they just moved out recently). But still … to see the tree on the house … it just makes me sad.

The pic was scanned (by my sister … thanks Lisa) from the Wahpeton, ND paper, the Daily News.

I might have to try to get more pics of him this weekend when I go home for Easter.