Being sick this past week, yesterday was the second time I ventured out since before Christmas! It was a freaking mess. Cars were all over the place. I came very close to meeting with a telephone pole. And several cars almost fishtailed into me. Now the cities in this area have saved a bundle on their snow budget already this year with the lack of snow. They knew that we were getting snow. And it was below freezing temp’s. So why the heck did they wait until it was almost over to sand and salt? I have driven in plenty of snow storms in my life but, I have never been so scared in my life I tell you!
And how people can live in NE and forget how to drive in snow every year just amazes me LOL. I had one car in front of me do a 360 on a incline because they put their freaking breaks on, going up a hill and then trying to get going again. Stupid people.
I think that people should have to take a winter driving test when they move here. And teenagers too. Can you tell I am not quite over my trauma yet lol.

What a wonderful idea! We don’t get much snow here in ‘Bama. Hope you have a great New Year

It was horrible driving here yesterday, too. There was a good layer of ice under the snow. I didn’t see a single salt truck go by on the main road or on our street yesterday. Our road is still snow (and ice) covered, but the main road has finally been treated. I have watched any number of people try to get up the hill and fail. And I’ve seen a couple of the neighbors slide down the hill sideways. Most everyone up here is home today, too. And there are a couple of cars still parked down at the bottom of the hill. It’s crazy. The temps have finally crawled just above freezing so maybe the road will begin to thaw out today.

Hi Junebugg, welcome! We haven’t had any snow this year until now. It was beginning to feel as if Alabama had moved north. ;)

Yeah, I’m kind of pleased with my little brainstorm. I tried strip lights under the cabinets a couple of years ago and they didn’t work very well. Burned out too quickly and ate up more electricity than they were worth. Turns out that the string of LED lights gives off more light than the strip lights, too.

Inspite of the snow and brief cold snap....there is a mosquito in the house that just buzzed me. Fercryingoutloud, where did that come from?

There’s some product which has similar lighting effects advertised on the Sunday CBS Evening News (for some reason, products which I’d normally expect to see on late-nite TV have been advertised there for a while).  It suggests placing them in drawers, under cabinets and even in the mailbox (what the heck do you need a light in your mailbox for?).  We’ve thought about it.

Well, maybe if creepy crawlies like to take up housekeeping in the mailbox, it would be nice to see them before sticking your hand in. That’s about the only reason I can think of for having a light in the mail box. Otherwise, a flashlight would probably do the trick with a lot less fuss and bother.

I saw some LED light product recently that uses 3 AAA batteries and is supposed to stick to the sides of closets, cabinets, and out of the way places for emergency or infrequent lighting. According to the blurb, the batteries will last for months and months and months because the energy draw from the LEDs is so minimal. I wonder if that was like what you’re talking about. The units looked pretty small.

Speaking of LED lighting...I want one of these solar LED lamps. It would probably outlive me and I can think of a number of uses for it. Fer instance, reading in bed. But it’s portable and small enough to move around in the event of power outages or to take in the car for long trips.

Your mention of “conspicious consumption” caught my eye as I am getting more and more concerned about the effects it is having on our planet. But I won’t write my whole rant here. Why read the book when you can see the movie…

http://peoplegeek.wordpress.com/2006/12/30/holiday-conspicuous-consumption-rant/