And the rain crashed down

between the rain and all that snow melting there was nowhere for all that water to go but into our house. Yep, you guessed the apartment has flooded, yet again. Ugh. This totally sucks. Not only did we wake up to water covering the floor of our apartment but DH has such a busy schedule today that he couldn't hang out and help with the clean up. He said he'd come back over lunch and help but I told him that was pretty stupid and pointless. Besides, he's supposed to give 2 presentations this afternoon and I know he was counting on a bit of time this morning/lunchtime to finish up a few details.

So, I've been mopping up the place for the last 3 and a half hours. The front hall and living room are now dry. We have sandbags in place to contain the flow of water in the kitchen. Unfortunately, it must still be pouring in because I've been diligently bailing out water from the kitchen and the level hasn't seemed to change too much. There's still a pond of about a half inch deep in on kitchen. At least it's contained that's all I can say.

Well, I need to go back to mopping and check on how my lunch is coming along.

the old man

Here are just a few pictures of my darling husband (I have to say that he's a darling since today is his birthday). I gave DH the best gift ever and what made it so great was HOW I gave it to him. No, you pervert, I don't mean that! I actually did buy him a gift. Here are the photos to prove it.
Doesn't he look excited to have such a BIG gift? Well, he was but he was exhausted. Unfortunately, he got a TON of work thrown on him at work this weekend rather unexpectedly. He had to go into work for a shift on the pixel detectors (no I don't really know what that means either) so he spent most of his birthday - from about 9:30 a.m. till 5:30 p.m. at work. blah. What was in that box you might be asking yourself........why, another smaller, wrapped box of course! Oh he was lovin' me. Naturally, that box was not only wrapped but duct taped as well. Look at that flash of mild annoyance on his face. I love it!!!

hee hee, hee. Am I evil or what?

Inside this box was......a sweater that he already owned, some firewood, and two wrapped presents.

the first wrapped gift? " Yay, firewood. Just what I always wanted!"

One last package. Check out that dubious look on his face. He always guesses what his gifts are before he even unwraps them, so this year I made sure he had NO idea what he was getting.
And, yes I did get him a real gift. One that he will enjoy. It's......an ipod shuffle!

yum tastes like apple.

Look at the very top. I even had it engraved with "C'est fromage" the hubbies favorite (and made up) French saying. Literally it means 'It is cheese'. There's a story behind it, but I'm not going to go into that right now.


So, in conclusion: Bon anniversaire, mon miel! Happy Birthday, my honey! (although I don't think that French people actually use miel -honey- as a term of endearment. They prefer such sweet nothings as mon petit chouchou - my little cabbage. Go figure)

If I were a book...

I'd obviously be...

You're Watership Down!
by Richard Adams
Though many think of you as a bit young, even childish, you're actually incredibly deep and complex. You show people the need to rethink their assumptions, and confront them on everything from how they think to where they build their houses. You might be one of the greatest people of all time. You'd be recognized as such if you weren't always talking about talking rabbits.

I took this funny little quiz and who knew? I am Watership Down! Yes, yes I am incredibly deep and complex...one of the greatest people of all time. Totally spot on wouldn't you say? ha, ha, ha yeah right. No seriously, I didn't write this myself. Go look for yourself and see what book you are: The Book Quiz. It is quite apparent to me that these people knew exactly what they were doing when they made this quiz. I mean, anyone can see they are geniuses. By answering a mere six questions they were able to ascertain that I " might be on of the greatest people of all time". Only someone brilliant could have known that. So, what book are you?

The best part? I love Watership Down. I have loved it since I was in Junior high and stole it from my oldest sisters bookshelf to read. It's a wonderful story. I never did see the animated movie...though it's a bit violent to be made into a type of genre geared toward kids, don't you think?

OK, so let me know what book you are. Maybe we can start a book club....just kidding.

who knew that March, or I should say the end of March, is such a popular time of year to pop out babies!?!? Perhaps it's because everybody is on vacation living it up in June! hee, hee, hee. Anyone else have a birthday this month who'd like to mention it? I don't think it would be possible. Let's see...the birthdays this month have been: mother-in-laws, future brother-in-laws, stepmother-in-laws, old roommates (Happy B-day Keoki if we don't get a hold of you tomorrow), Husbands, upstairs neighbors (the witty Austrian and the hubby were born on the same day..but not the same year), on top of that my darling husband keeps mentioning various highschool friends and ex-girlfriends whose birthdays have been in the last week or so.

I managed to get a gift I'm sure the hubby will enjoy. Unfortunately, he got scheduled to work a shift on Sunday, his day of birth. So I have decided to be nice to him on Saturday instead. Yeah, I'm only REALLY nice to people on their birthdays. We're going to go to Nendaz, Switzerland to go skiing with our neighbors. And I'm letting the hubbster call all the shots. He gets to decide how early he wants to get up, I'll drive if he wants me too, we'll quit skiing whenver he likes, and we'll probably eat pizza when we get home...since that is his all time favorite. So, those are our plans for the weekend. I know, I know I thought we had finished with skiing too. sigh. The sacrifices I make for my loved ones. hee, hee, hee. Actually, I think it'll be fun to hit the slopes with our neighbors. We always have good fun when we hang out with them.

Sorry, I gotta go help with dinner. Don't know when I'll post again. Hope anyone whose birthday has been or is coming up in the next few days has a great day and sorry if I forgot to mention you and your birthday!

I'm the worst

Oh my gosh, I can't believe it. It's 1:00 and I am still sitting around the living room in my pajamas! What it going on? I just feel so lazy and unmotivated today. First I didn't want to wake up, I forced myself to get up and plunked myself down on the couch and have been there most of the day. Unfortunately, I do have some housework to get done...but that can wait.

Before I say any more I'd like to say "Bon Anniversaire, Darlene!" I hope you have a chance to relax a bit and enjoy your birthday.

Now, onto me. I can't really share the spotlight - it is MY blog, you know. Ugh, the snow it melting making me dread our daily afternoon walk. The past few days have been fun because the snow was light and fluffy, Ally was so cute running through the snow. But today it's just going to be slogging through a bunch of slush coming back soaked through. Just plain ooky (yeah, so what if I just made up a word. It totally fits). Sadly this weather shifting is wreaking havoc with my sinuses.

OK, so I've taken quite a few breaks in writing this post..it is now almost 2 p.m. and Ally is starting to whine for her afternoon trek. But first, I just want to make my comments about Dancing with the Stars (yeah, yeah you don't have to read it if you're not interested.) I really like all the stars this year. It wasn't a huge surprise that Monica Seles and Penn Jillette were the first to go. They actually had the lowest scores so for once America and the judges agreed. I did feel rather bad for them both they seemed to really enjoy being on the show and tried very hard. Poor Penn and his monstrous feet, I don't know if he ever would have succeeded in getting those boats under control. And Monica Seles looks so uncomfortable on the dance floor. Surprisingly uncoordinated and ungraceful for an athlete (at least that's my opinion). Adam Corolla actually got some decent scores -Len gave him a 7! Just imagine if he actually practiced more than 2 hours a day he might become very good! Though, I'm not holding my breath that he'll put more effort into the dancing. I don't really have any strong favorites yet. I am totally surprised by Jason Taylor. He seems very light and graceful for a football player. It would be nice to see Edyta win, or at least come close. I believe she's the only pro who has been on every single season.
Steve Guttenberg is great but I can see him getting very annoying very quickly. It's not that he's bubbly it's that everything he says is so P.C. you know? Like, "this show helps to change the world." What?!?! How!?!?! Sure, maybe it encourages people to go out and take ballroom dance lessons, which is great and a very healthy trend...but...I don't know it just sounds so dumb when he says it. I don't want to say it's contrived, because it seems like he is sincerely a sweet person...but I don't know how much of it I can take. He needs back off the overly nice quotient just a tad. Marissa could also fall into this annoyingly bubbly, nice category for many people as well. She doesn't annoy me because I think she's funny, but I could see her getting on a lot of peoples nerves. Hmmm...what else can I spout off on to avoid walking the dog....Kristi Yamaguchi is doing an amazing job. I know a lot of people say she has an edge because of the figure skating and in some ways that's probably true. But, in the end I don't really care. I mean this is a contest among people who are already famous (maybe some of them are trying to resuscitate their careers) and the prize is a mirror ball trophy and bragging rights, that's it. It's not like some of these competitions where people are competing for a recording contract or whatever. So, who cares. Yeah, she probably has an advantage since she understands how to move to music and place her arms, but I'm sure that skating around to music is much different than performing all those dance steps. And think of it this way all the contestants have an edge over Marlee Matlin she can't even hear the music!!! She blows me away. Can you imagine being Fabien? Your first season on DWTS and you have a deaf partner. They are doing an outstanding job, I'm so impressed.

OK, OK enough of that. I better go do something useful. I need to take the laundry out of the washing machine, walk the dog, and do the dishes... the fun never ends here in Sergy!

Joyeuses Paques!

Happy Easter all. And a very Happy Birthday to Dr's Mom!

I don't know about you, but we are enjoying a nice quiet day around the house. Nothing too different from our usual Sundays... It's been snowing again. We have a nice light powdery snow covering the crusty layer that froze last night. Beneath that nice crust is the wet and slushy snow of late afternoon. Not quite so pleasant when you break through and get your feet all wet. Oh well, Ally enjoys it and after lunch I think I can persuade the hubby to go for a walk with us.

Hope everyone got a visit from the Easter bunny and had a festive time searching for dyed eggs. We sadly realized we didn't have any eggs to dye. Well, we did but it was either dye eggs or make cookies...we opted for the cookies! Wouldn't you? I am pleased that I though we don't have Easter baskets my mom sent us some Cadbury cream eggs (my absolute favorite, which I haven't been able to find here) and some peeps. Perfect for an Easter indulgence.

Well my tummy is a rumbling. I better go devour my lunch.

Joyeuses Paques, mes amis.

Snow Report

It is 4:16 p.m. and it appears to have stopped snowing! I can't tell if it is now raining or if it is just the snow falling from the trees and roofs. There are huge hunks of wet snow falling off the trees, that I am sure of. Poor hubby. Hope it lasts till tomorrow so he can enjoy it. Although, our romp in the early morning snow was probably the best it's been all day. I went out this afternoon with Ally and it is just so heavy and wet. You pick up a handful to make a snowball and your gloves are soaked through! Yuck


Alright, enough about snow. I have been working on my knitting today. I have been struggling through my first sweater and I'll post some pictures tomorrow...or even later today.

That's all from weathergirl Mel.