Photo-A-Day #4675

It snowed last night and it was a bit of a surprise to me this morning. There were a couple of inches on the ground but school had not been cancelled. With the way school gets cancelled these days I was surprised. When I was a kid school hardly ever closed. there used to be this rumor in high school that if one of the more elderly nuns could walk to one of the buildings without incident then school would be open. It was a silly rumor but made us laugh as we went to school in 4 to 6 inches of snow or more.

Eva was home sick from school but Allison and Andrew went in. I took care of Eva and got her settled and then went out to tackle the driveways, sidewalks and back yard. I fired up the snowblower and then took one pass down the sidewalk. I noticed that one side of the snowblower looked like it was just pushing the snow and the exhaust pipe that fired off the snow was a bit weak. Well, I guess two of the shearing pins had done as they were aptly named and sheared off. I then went about trying to get the broken pins out, I was able to dislodge one of them and I replaced the pin but the other one was stuck in so tight that I was unable to get it out at all. Even my more mechanically inclined neighbor was unable to do anything.

So…. I shoveled my driveway and my neighbor’s by hand. The snowblower is hers and we have an agreement that I can use it as long as I do her driveway and sidewalk, too. It is a good deal. I didn’t have to buy a snowblower, but so far I have ripped the pull start off (I am told this is an easy fix by my neighbor, he fixes all his own tools) and this year the shearing pins. I ran out to a local store to pick up new pins. I got all the way there and realized that I did not have my wallet because it was in my other pants, not my snowblowing pants. Ran back home had Eva run up and grab my wallet and ran back out. Got the pins, shoveled and the Eva and I had lunch and watched the movie, The Spy Next Door with Jackie Chan. this was her first intro to Jackie Chan and she loved it.

As for the FOMO (Fear of Missing Out), that is kicking in big time as one of my favorite conferences, Dad 2.0 begins this week. I got a notification on my phone that I had better leave for the airport or miss my flight to New Orleans. Well, I a missing that flight because I cancelled our trip. Allison and I were supposed to go down for the conference and anniversary and birthday and whatever else. However, we made the decision that it would be better for the whole family if we went to Disney Social Media Moms Celebration instead. DisneySMMC is something that I have hoped for. I’ve wanted this invitation for so long and there was no way that I was going to say no. Finances weren’t going to allow for two trips in February so Dad 2.0 plans had to be scrapped. Now that it is here, however, I’m dying because there are people that I need to see face to face to clear the air, I may or may not have finally gotten chosen to speak and on and on. Dad 2.0 has brought me so many opportunities in the bast two years and it is hard not being there with my friends.

I said that February finances couldn’t support two trips, well there was no way that it was going to support three. Toy Fair is also this month and I am not going to that either. So, I had better many the Disney trip one incredible trip of a lifetime and appreciate every moment of it.