brrrrr, or reason 1234976 why winter sucks

Yeah so let me start this post off by letting the world know. There are 2 ways to find out the gauge on your heating oil tank is broken. The good way, and the bad way.

The good way would happen with you going out to check the tank on a more regular basis and realize it had not moved in a month. The bad way is to wake up at 6 am and wonder why the hell it is so cold in the house. Which also tells me I was a complete MORON to think my oil consumption had dropped so considerably this year. NO Maria, it hasn't really been that warm.

And why (please someone tell me) does this stuff ALWAYS happen in the middle of the coldest weather? Why can't it happen in late April, when it drops to mid 40's, as opposed to today when the high is expected to hit a balmy 11 degrees, and I am talking Farenheit.

And then explain to me why my old oil company sold out this past fall, leaving me as a "new" customer to anyone else I call. And if you are unfamiliar with heating oil wars, I can assure you...the new guy, gets the short end. How can EVERY oil delivery company for 20 miles be sooooo busy, they can't meander down my driveway and drop of some of that thar black gold? You know, before we turn into people cicles?

Ok enough....I'm done. And I get to spend my day running to fetch kerosene to dump into my oil tank. Survival skill #23, you can, in an emergency dump kerosene into your oil tank and it will do the job. It isn't exactly convenient, but hey THAT'S WHY I LOOOVE WINTER, it's so damn convenient.

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What else? hmmmm My husband took most of our profit last year and started himself a new venture. If you know us in real life, you know this is pretty much a biannual event. Now I don't like to say he has ADD, because that is a real true problem for a lot of people. But I DO say, we absolutely, positively, know where the youngest gets his inability to pay attention to anything for longer than 20 minutes at a stretch.

I have had more business ventures than I care to think about. Several of which I am still getting tax credit for, or feeding, or heating, or reeling from. I would actually list them, but I do have kerosene to fetch today, before dark. And time is valuable.

Anyway this venture involves him snowmobiling. Which really, is the one thing he enjoys as much as he does breathing. He LIVES for winter and riding his sled. SO somehow, he thought that buying a whole bunch of them, and then renting them out to people would be a great idea. OK, whatever, I can sell the sleds in 2 years when he's done with this AND have him out of my hair most of the winter. Not really losing anything much.

However he attmpted to tell me it was WORK! (ohnohedidn't) oh yes he did. uh huh, that would be my equialent to getting paid while laying on the beach, alone, reading a book. Not only did he attempt to tell me it was work, he tried this tactic AFTER I had spent a week. A SOLID week,12 hours a day, working on our books, so the accountant could get taxes done timely, so we could apply for fiancial aid for that scam they call "higher learning", for the oldest next year. PLUS attempting to finish the 8 million pieces of paperwork that one needs to complete to graduate high school , and move forward in their life.

parents of small children....bask in the glory that is the early years...it gets sooo much worse.

Needless to say, I was not falling for the "I was working all weekend" that was spewing from his mouth. Which opened a can of worms I didn't know even existed.

So, now I have my work done, for the first time EVER by the end of January. Every year I say I am going to get all these projects done over the winter, most of them are home improvement, or deal with the boxes of pictures I have laying around the house. Most of them never get done. My list this year is small, but keep your fingers crossed for me. I really want to paint the living room, move the furniture around and frame some recent photos (ie senior pics, and this beautiful gift from my sister this Christmas). However I have spent the last 2 days watching the Walton's and Little House.

Clearly I am motivated.