Joannie Rochette

I don't know how many of you watched last night's women's short program in figure skating from Vancouver. If you did, I imagine most of you had to wipe a tear as Joannie Rochette skated and finished the skating program of her life. What a tremendous young woman to be able to go on under such adversity and skate the program of her life for her mother.

For Joannie to reach the Olympics had to have been not only her dream but also that of her parents. For her mother to have been robbed of seeing her daughter perform on Olympic ice and share in her glory is so, so tragic.

The camera panned on her father several times and you could see his pride and his sorrow on his face. Now it's just the two of them as she's an only child.

I hope she is able to continue on in the same vein tomorrow night during the long program so that she can be on the medal stand.

A Special Day

Today is a very special day in my family as it's my daughter's birthday.

Since she and her family live in Moscow, we exchanged birthday greetings over the phone. I had to think ahead and bring her birthday gifts with me when I visited them for Xmas. If she were living here in the US, I'd be at their place for the weekend to celebrate with her and to enjoy watching the Olympics.

Happy Birthday Tami. Your father and I are very proud of you.

Exhausting

Staying up very late every night to watch the Olympic coverage is exhausting. I also enjoy the coverage after the competition ends for the night and went to bed way after midnight on the weekend. Can't do that on work nights. I've been watching until after midnight the past two nights though.

Tonight I kept falling asleep and missed parts of several of the men's routines during the short program skating. Darn!

Liesel has been even worse and she's slept under the down throw for a good part of the competition.

Every 4 Years I Go Into Hibernation

Yes, it's the Winter Olympics! I just love them and plan my time in the evenings and on the weekends to be at home as much as possible so that I can be glued to the TV set.

Growing up, my daughter caught my Olympic fever. When she was a preschooler and was watching the Olympics with us, she asked what the athletes in red had on their jackets. They were Soviet athletes and had the white letters on their parkas. That was when her interest in Russian began.

We ate dinner in front of the TV on weekends as the coverage is from noon to midnight on Saturdays and Sundays. Saturdays would find me out early so that I could be home to be in front of the TV at noon. I've always had a small TV in my kitchen so I could fix meals and still watch.

Everything came to a standstill whenever the figure skating was on and bathroom breaks were only during the commercials and that's when the dog could go out for a potty break too (still the same).

Well, my daughter left for college at age 18 but I still keep the same regime. I was out this morning getting my taxes done and grocery shopping.

Right now I'm watching the avid Dutch fans decked out in orange at the speed skating rink waiting for the races to start. I have Dutch roots so I cheer for them behind the Americans.

I have never missed watching the Olympics for as long as I can remember. I was torn last night between staying home or going to the special crop at the scrapbook store. I did go to the crop but went into the toy room where there is a TV and spent the bulk of the night watching the Opening Ceremonies by myself. I left early enough to dash home to see the Olympic flame come to life.

I've been to Vancouver so it's special knowing that I've been there.

Liesel and I are home and hunkered down for the weekend. I bought salmon and shrimp for a few good dinners, maple turkey bacon to make a big brunch tomorrow and have plenty of Diet Coke and fresh lime so what more could I want?

I have many happy family memories of the 3 of us watching the Olympics while my daughter was growing up. The low was when Randy and Tia had to withdraw from the pairs competition due to Randy's leg injury. The highs were watching our American figure skaters win medals and the US hockey team win that gold medal with Jim Craig from Boston College scanning the crowd for his father at the end of the game.

During the Sarajevo Olympics, I spent many, many hours doing hand sewing of all sorts of beads on my daughter's figure skating competition dress for the spring competitions. I had spent many hours figuring out the pattern as it had to be altered and then sewing it before the Olympics opened. The skirt was made entirely of individuals petals and the entire dress had clear and white beads and pearls. It's still hanging in the closet.

I love watching all the sports in the Winter Olympics from figure skating to luge. One would think it's because I'm an avid athlete. WRONG!!!!! I did start skiing in college, did a lot of it through the years and loved it. I hung up my skis when my daughter got heavily into figure skating as she had ice time each Sat. and Sun. so we couldn't get up North to ski. That was it for me and sports.

Well, it's time to get back to my speed skate watching. Go USA!!!! You know where I'll be for the next two weeks.

Winter Storm

As the media tends to do, they hyped everyone in CT up for a big snowstorm today and predicted 6 - 12 inches. OK, 12 inches is quite a bit of snow but it's CT and Feb. so we are supposed to get snow. Some schools cancelled last night for today and many of us brought our laptops home from work so we could WFH.

It did start snowing around 7:00 this morning and I kept waiting for the heavy snow to start. Well, it never did and a half hour ago the TV weather said it's now going to be 2 - 5 inches. Big deal.

They are saying that there will be ice tonight under the snow and slippery but I'm not going anywhere.

CT has really escaped all the blizzards that have hit south of us since Dec. 19. I have about 2" of snow covering my grass which is really unusual for Feb. in CT.

It allowed me to sleep more than an hour later this morning as all I had to do was go downstairs to my laptop all set up in the den. The benefit was that I could stay in my flannels, turtleneck, sweatshirt and slippers all day. When working from home, it's so quiet and no one is coming up to you so you can work well and be very productive.

Liesel has enjoyed having me home.

Lazy Winter Sunday

Today I had one of my favorite winter Sundays. You probably are wondering what exciting thing I did. Did I go for a long walk enjoying the sunny day? Did I go to a movie with a friend? Did I go shopping and find some great buys? Did I go out to lunch? Did I spend the day doing crafts?

No to all of the above and any other ideas you might have. Liesel and I spent the day reading in my favorite place. Yup, we were between the blue fleece sheets. The sun was shinning in my room and I was snug under the covers with my furry hot water bottle snoozing next to me. Some of you are probably wondering how a dog would want to stay in bed but you don't know dachshunds. They love to be next to you under the covers and will stay like that as long you are there. They want to be right next to you and if you move an inch, they'll scoot right next to you.

I went to the library yesterday and read one of my books, "The Lucky Child". I couldn't put it down. It is a true autobiography of a child that lived to survive Auschwitz.

Hunger and thirst (and finishing my book) finally got me up. Liesel was not in a hurry to go out as dachshunds hate to get out of bed and be put outside in the cold.

I love to read and if I have a good book, I let everything else slide and spend hour upon hour reading.

Must Sees!

If you haven't seen "The Blind Side", go, go, go! What an uplifting movie. I went last week with a friend and we both absolutely loved it.

Just now I saw a new Hallmark movie on CBS. I'm going out this week to buy it for my daughter. "Front of the Class" is about a gifted teacher with Tourette's Syndrome, his life, what he dealt with, how he learned to not let his disability run his life, how he followed his dream to become a teacher and a very gifted one at that. It's a true story about Brad Cohen in GA (Atlanta). Another amazing movie and a MUST SEE.

Winter in CT

When one thinks of winter in Connecticut, what comes to mind?

* Cold, crisp days with temps dipping down to the single digits
* Bright blue clear skies
* Northeasters - blizzards with a foot or more of snow
* Sleet and ice

We've had some single digit weather and one morning I had zero on my outdoor thermometer. We've had snow but never a substantial amount.

Today the groundhog saw his shadow so we are in for another 6 weeks of winter. Wonder if we'll get a real Northeaster before spring is here and we see crocus bulbs popping their way through the ground.

I do love winter and snow but sure hate having to go out every few hours at night to shovel during one. Nothing is worse than that at 11:00 PM when I'm snug and warm in my flannels inside the house. Since I have a dachshund and they come with short little legs, I have to keep the front steps cleared and shovel a path for her to go out on.