Here we are looking back at the road after I pulled in.

This is looking down the driveway. It's quite a hill so I parked on top.

The cottage looks pretty good at this point.


The deck and canoe are getting covered with snow and.......

The lake is starting to freeze.

We've had about 16" of snow since then.

I made another trip to Grand Rapids last weekend for our company Christmas party. I was able to meet many of the people I've only talked with by phone for the last several months and now have a face to put with the voice. The food was fantastic with chocolate covered strawberries, chocolate pecan pie and little lemon tarts for dessert. Oh ya, we had ham and scalloped potatoes too. Everything you'd expect from the Grand Rapids Sports Bar inside the Amway Grand Plaza Hotel.

This is how Clutch rides on long trips. He snuggles in on my lap with his head resting on my arm. His being just a tiny bit spoiled tipped me off to a possible problem with the Grand Cherokee I drive. We made a trip to JoAnn's (not much choice in fabric/craft stores up here) for some foam core board last Friday. When it's cold outside, Clutch gets to stay in the car with the engine running for heat and to keep his seat heater going. I came out from the store to find the doors wouldn't unlock with my key fob and was even more surprised when I got inside and every "idiot light" on the dashboard was on, all the gauges had stopped working, none of the remote access functions were working and we had no heat. Yikes! After turning the car off and back on most things were working again except the check engine light. Called the dealer the next day and they didn't seem concerned and everything reset itself by the time I left for GR on Sunday. That was not a fun drive. Terrible fog and pouring rain all the way but the car was okay.

Winter Storm Warnings had been posted in northern Michigan for Sunday - Tuesday so I knew I'd be driving back through bad weather. I did pretty good dealing with the 45 mps. wind gusts until the snow started in earnest and all of a sudden those idiot lights started popping on, the gauges dropped, remotes stopped working and the heat shut off. I quickly called the dealer and they wanted me to pull over, turn the car off and restart it again. Did they think I was crazy?!? Sure, I'm going to pull over out in the middle of nowhere and see if the car starts again. I decided since I was still moving we'd freeze our way without heat to the store and then turn the car off. We were kind of cold by the time we got there.

Took the car to the local Jeep dealer the next morning and when you see that "oh wow" face on the service people you know you're in for a long, usually expensive ride. All of the SUVs at the rental desk had been signed out the day before so I ended up in a Dodge Caravan. Arg! I drove all the way to the store and realized my keys and garage door opener were still in the Cherokee so back to the dealer we went. Arg! They called in the afternoon to tell me the car wasn't acting up for them so they wanted to keep it and drive it until it threw it's little fit. They also let me know it needed front brakes, some fluid changes and a tune up. Only about $600 in repairs not including the current problem. Arg again! I could go on but I think you get the idea.

And...........The hard drive in the laptop is sending me "I'm about to die" messages. Yikes!!! No desktop system with me here so we'll rely on prayer and a tutorial on cleaning the inside for now. I can see money flying through the air like a swarm of bees coming out of my checkbook.

I've also been lusting after a white feather tree this year. Haven't found one yet that's in my price range but did notice the $89 Martha Stewart one at Macy's is down to $34. I don't care about the red and green ornaments because I've been dreaming of a tree all in pink and white.

Considering my available spending after car repairs I might make the adorable Yoyo Tree I saw over on Sunshine's Creations blog.
She has a fantastic tutorial for the tree and is giving instructions for cute ornaments to hang on it.

It's my day off today and I have a list of about 20 things I'd like to do. Guess I better prioritize and get moving. It's 1:00 PM already!