Insulation, Tigers, and Skating "O" My!!!!!

Insulation -

We have been paying through the nose for our heating (we have been averaging about $350 a month this winter), so we decided that we needed to insulate the attic to try to cut the bill. Friday night we went and picked up the insulation blower at Lowes and 20 bags of insulation. We got up the next morning at 7:45 which was quite early considering that Wes worked until midnight. Our neighbor Danielle who lives in the other part of the duplex came over to work with Wes and our friend Paul, they got all the prep work done and figured how much insulation we were actually going to need. We ended up needing more so I went back to Lowes to get 5 more bags and donuts...how can you work without donuts. I returned home and the stupid blower had only worked for 40 seconds and then broke. Good thing I got the donuts because no one was happy. So Wes, Paul and Danielle spent the next 45 minutes trying to fix the machine. We ended up having to take back the blower to get another one which tracked insulation through out the whole house, you can only imagine how thrilled I was. That little jaunt took an hour, I was not at all happy but because of our inconvenience we ended up getting the blower rental for free. Once we got it up and going insulating went really fast. They were done in about an hour. It took me 2.5 hours to vacuum the whole house and get rid of the insulation. If I only had a Dyson. I am still finding stray pieces of insulation, the stuff just materializes out of thin air talk about dust bunnies:)

We can really feel the difference. I was actually warm last night and did not have to bundle up like an Eskimo. Well worth the time and aggravation. We are now working on our next project painting the kitchen, stairs and hallway.

The Attic

The insulation; really cool stuff it is recycled paper not fiberglass

Can you see Wesley?

This is what Wes would look like if he was a Raccoon.

Tigers -

We went to the zoo while the girls were on winter break, it was amazing we actually had a day where the sun was out and you did not feel like you were going to get automatic frostbite. Winter is the best time of year to see the animals at the Syracuse Zoo, they were all up and active. I finally got to see the Wolves, we have been to the zoo probably 6 times and have never been able to see them. It was really cool. While we were looking at the Lions a woman in her mid 60's came and started telling us about them, she just happened to have worked at the zoo for 30 years and knew EVERYTHING about all the animals. It was one of the most awesome zoo experiences I have ever had. We saw about 5 different animals with her and we learned so much. I wish we could have taken her through the whole zoo.

Look a Tiger taking a nap!!

Look a picture of the girls with the Tiger that is taking a nap!!

We all got to pet the Elsie the Elephant.

This Wolfe is gorgeous.

Skating -

Welch Allyn the company Wes works for had a skating party and we decided to take the girls. I don't think we really thought this through considering I am the only one who knows how to skate and Wes hates it. Try to picture me skating with Audrey, lets just say coordination is not her thing and she is almost as big as me...we must of looked very funny. To both our credit we did not fall and Audrey did pretty well considering this is only her second time skating. It is so weird not to have the girls already expert skaters, ice skating is one of my earliest memories and fondest activites. Hannah was a bit easier but still by the time I had made it around the rink with her I was beat. Wes did not even put on his skates, we ended up leaving and going for ice cream.

Our nieces 10th birthday party is in two weeks and she is having an ice skating party and I have NO IDEA how we are going to pull that off..."O" My!!!!