The Wednesday Write-Up

-Everything is greening up so nicely outside. The grass is almost thick now, which seemed to have happened overnight. My seedlings that I started the end of February are growing well and will probably have to be transplanted into bigger pots soon. They will not be going out to the garden until May, after the crazy winter we had I don't trust our predicted last frost date.

-My youngest is a handful to say the least. She decided that while Granny Randi was here she was not going to preschool. The first day she started crying midway through class and declared "My Granny is here and I need to be home with her!". Next class she cried the entire class and I was asked to come get her early. We had a big talk about what is happening. She told me she couldn't control her crying and just wanted to stay home with us. So I figured this craziness would end after Granny Randi went home because that girl LOVES preschool. Not so much. I've had to start bribing her. I now tell her that if she goes to preschool (only two days a week) and doesn't cry and has fun then I will take her somewhere fun on Friday, just a girl day out. So last week I picked her up and asked her if she did ok and she replied "I did great, whenever I thought about crying I just told myself not to." That's my girl. So last Friday we went out to lunch and we found her a new pair of sandals for Spring. You gotta do what you gotta do.

-Since I'm talking about Greta I thought I'd share a little funny story. Her preschool class ordered a bunch of caterpillars so the kids could watch them turn into butterflies. Miss Greta is pretty excited and when she found a caterpillar on our driveway she decided she wanted to do the same with it. So into a jar it went with a stick and some food. We watched "Caterpillary (it's name)" wiggle around and eat leaves. She would get it out and let it climb on her arm. It was her pet. Well, I came home one day and Sean informed me that Greta decided to take Caterpillary outside for a nice jump on the trampoline and somehow it got squished. I can't imagine how a little caterpillar got squished on a trampoline (please note the heavy sarcasm). She was sad but that lasted all of 10 minutes and then she was off to find a new caterpillar.

-Today was the first day of the year I got to take the tortoises outside to soak up some rays. The plan this Spring is to create a tortoise yard for them that's fairly good sized. Somewhere we can let the grass and weeds grow and create a nice outdoor habitat for the three tortoises. I've been researching it all winter and am eager to start on it. But in the mean time they are in the chain link dog kennel. I lined it in 2 X 6's so they can't see out and try to squeeze under the chain link. So go out there to check on them this afternoon and lets just say "Love is in the Air!" Old dude is feeling his oats.

Next Chapter

Man, I am slacking in this whole blogging thing! My in-laws left this morning after an extended visit (they didn't intend it to be an extended visit). So a recap from two weeks ago: Randi and Rich drove up here from their home many many hours away and their tow vehicle (an F-150) started having "issues". They pinpointed it to the intake manifold, ordered a new one and installed it. It's not quite put together yet but Sean is going to finish it up and we'll sell it for them.

They searched around and found a replacement truck so they could get home. They bought a Nissan Titan. It's a fancy truck with all the bells and whistles and a nice tow package to haul their Airstream. It's quite an upgrade from their previous truck. I think it will do great for them (they had been looking for a replacement so this wasn't out of the blue).

We had a nice time catching up with them and the kids really enjoyed their time with Granny Randi and Papa Rich. I don't think they realize Rich won't be visiting every weekend like he's been doing for the past two years. I foresee us sitting around a table in about three weeks and the kids asking why Papa Rich hasn't been here. We'll miss ya around here Rich! We wish you guys the best with the next chapter of your life together.

Results

If you might recall at the beginning of March I gave myself a new monthly challenge. It consisted of giving up sugar. I gave up: desserts, no snacking after dinner, no sweet drinks and pretty much any other refined sugars. My dilemma was deciding if I would indulge in the many birthday activities we had this month. Then Sean said "you make the rules!" and I was like "heck yea I make the rules!". So I allowed myself to indulge in cake at the three birthday parties we celebrated this month.....oh and the retirement cake that Rich brought here with him. Excuse me, the MASSIVE birthday cake he brought here. Ugh. BUT, even with these few treats I managed to drop six pounds this month. It was nice to see the scale go down every week instead of going up like it's been doing all winter. Another four pounds and I'll be at my happy "everything fits" weight so I'm going to keep doing what I'm doing.

So my new challenge for the month of April is to continue with the sugar free month (and there is only one birthday in April so woohoo!). I'm also going to start wearing the FitBit again and get 10,000 steps each day for the entire month. I took the FitBit off for the month of March and it's been very freeing. I felt like it was a ball and chain and I would try way too hard to get steps in and then feel disappointed when I didn't reach my daily goal. It became stressful. This month I sat on the couch and read a book every day (What Alice Forgot was an interesting read....recommended) without feeling like I should be up and moving to get in my steps. Relaxing and removing the stresses of the day worked this month, but I need to get my hiney moving again. It's warming up nicely outside and the kids and I are running around and bouncing on the trampoline (which counts on the FitBit as steps) so it's time to get monitoring again.

Retirement!

It's been an eventful week around here. My father-in-law officially retired yesterday. Congratulations Rich! He's been living 13 hours away from his house for two years now, driving up to visit us nearly every weekend. It's so natural for him to be here and very strange to think of him going home. I'm super excited for him though. I know it's been a long and trying two years. Living in a travel trailer for two years away from home and his spouse. Randi has been here for the week and they are to take off with the travel trailer for home soon. Well that was the plan anyways.

Rich's pickup truck decided to wait until the very last trip here to act up. They thought it was a transmission issue at first but when the engine started smoking and using gallons of antifreeze they pinpointed the intake manifold as the culprit. He was able to limp to our house yesterday after his last week of work. Sean found the intake manifold on Amazon (pretty sure they carry everything) and it was Prime so it was sitting on our doorstep two days later. So that's what the boys are going to be doing this weekend along with shopping for a new truck to get them home. Neither feel comfortable with the old truck doing the job. I think we'll be selling it for them once they mail us the title. So it's been an adventure figuring out how they'll get home. I hope they are able to find the right truck around here.

It's a good thing he's retired now and doesn't have to be anywhere by a certain time.

In the mean time Randi and I have been having fun with the kids and doing a lot of shopping. She's a fellow thrift store junkie so it's nice to have a partner in crime. We've hit the two closest stores and made out like bandits. Fun times!

Another bonus to having grandparents in the house? Sean and I were able to escape for a much needed date night last night. We decided on P.F.Changs. Sean had been there for a few times for work lunches but I'd never been. What a treat! It was so good. I got the Orange Peel Shrimp and it was divine. They gave me so much I get to enjoy it again for lunch today. It was a treat to get out and much appreciated. Thanks Granny Randi and Papa Rich!

Really?!

Yesterday I had to run into town to return some DVD's to the library and we stopped at Target to get the kids their shampoo. It's spring break and we don't have anything to do so we wandered through Target. Naturally the kids spotted the toy section and pleaded with me to go look at toys. I told them we can go look at toys but they need to understand we are not buying any toys today. We enter the first isle and Greta picks up some green monster doll and declares "I want THIS!" She clutches it tight and keeps pleading "Please Mom, she's so beautiful I NEED her!" Uh, what part of "we're not buying any toys" did you not understand? I said "Nope, put her back."

She then starts crying. Loud crying with tears running down her face. She continues to do this through the next isle where Wesley finds the Lego's. This would be the same Star War Lego's that he's currently playing on the Wii. He was totally awe struck that there are toys that match the game he's playing. He picks up the Lego box and starts excitedly twirling in the isle. That's when his head smashes into the metal display shelf. He grabs his ear and proceeds to start crying.

So, in total disbelief, I stand there watching my two kids cry in the toy isle at Target and I wonder WHY DO I TAKE THEM ANYWHERE?

Seriously. I'm completely burnt out and I've only had them home for 4 days. I'm officially scared of summer.

Full House

We had a full house this past weekend. My sister Betsy, brother in law Blake and the boys visited and my parents and Rich were also here. It was nice getting the cousins together to play. They are all getting to the age where they enjoy rough housing together.....and you throw my father in there and it's a whole bunch of rowdy kids. There was some epic hide and seek happening. It was fun.

We celebrated little Bennett's birthday while they were here. He turns three the end of the month. He's sure a cutie and growing up fast.

Since we had so many babysitters present, the ladies all decided it was our chance to go out shopping. We got some quality shopping time and found some excellent spring clothing deals. The kids need a whole spring and summer wardrobe so it's nice to get a few pieces out of the way. We went to Jason's Deli (my favorite) for lunch. Yum!

My sister and Mom.

Spring break is in full swing and my kids are pretty bored. Luckily it's decent weather so we've been outside a fair bit. I took them to the movie theater yesterday to see Mr. Peabody and Sherman. It was a fast paced, well done movie. There were some scary moments and a little content that was too much for Greta (the discussion about removing entrails in ancient Egypt had her clutching to my arm). Wesley LOVED it on the other hand! He said it was soo good it brought tears to his eyes. Haha! That's a six year old for ya.

That is all that's happening around these parts. I've got a few more days to sleep in and then it's back to normal until school's out for the summer.

Jumping Beans

What I predict we'll be doing most of our spring break.

Fur and Feathers

Usually my favorite season is Fall. I love the changing leaves and the crisp cool evenings. But I'm changing it all up this year. SPRING is my favorite season from this point on. The bulb flowers pushing their way through the dirt, the fat buds on the trees waiting for that perfect moment to erupt, the robins returning and my kids running around screaming (outside for a change). It's so nice to be on the fast rack to spring as this has been the longest winter in the history of all winters. Ever.

It's like the animals know too. The horses are already shedding their fuzzy winter coats. I let them out to run in the back yard this past weekend. They ran like crazy, kicking up their heels. It brought a smile to my face.

I'm happy to say I've kept Dym alive for another winter. The twice daily rations of soaked beet pulp, rations of high protein feed and oodles of alfalfa seemed to do the trick. She's sleek and shiny. Not fat but not too thin either. I wish she was a fat as her offspring but Nubians never seem to get as rolly polly as Boers. This is the year I'm fencing in the walnut grove for the goats (I think I said that last year but the deck took precedence). I can't wait to see her out there grazing under the shade of the walnut trees with her offspring.  I'll think they are all excited to get out of the corral.

On a sad note, last week I lost my oldest animal. Simon, the cockatiel, passed away from what I can only guess is old age. I got her back in 1997 while I was still in high school. She's been with me through most of my big life changes....college, wedding, all the moves and babies. When I got her I so desperately wanted a male bird because they can be taught to sing and talk. Hence the name Simon. He turned into a she. Therefore I got another cockatiel in the college dorms.....Luigi. Who turned out to be another female. My third attempt at getting a male was after college in our first house not far from here. I succeeded in getting a male that time and named him Waldo. He and Luigi paired up and hatched a lone egg, another girl named Ingot. Two more males were added over the years, Duncan and Eddy, both of whom wooed Simon. They all live in a giant 4 foot by 6 foot parrot cage upstairs. The boy tiels are all upstairs singing as I write this....it's never quiet in my house (I like it that way). We've lost Luigi last year and now Simon....down to four. She was 17 years old.

Nails, Parties and Pies

I just got off the trampoline with Greta so I could come inside and write a blog post. I haven't written anything in over a week, which is sort of unheard of in the last 6.5 years. I can't believe I've been blogging for that long. Crazy right? It's pretty difficult to drag myself inside on a day like this. 75 degrees and no wind. I was just lying out there on the trampoline soaking up the sun while Miss Greta jumped wildly around me. What a beautiful day.

It's been an interesting week. My little car decided to leave me with a flat tire while I was picking up Greta from my parent's house. I swear I pick up more nails than any other person I know. Sean tried to patch it but the hole was so big that even two plugs wouldn't work. Yet another reason I wish I had a SPARE TIRE. Grumble grumble grumble. I had to go buy my second tire for the car in 15K miles. Aren't tires supposed to last longer than that?

I got to be chauffeur Mom in the truck for a few days. Transporting two kids around in a single cab truck along with backpacks, library books and groceries was not enjoyable......but it was doable. Even as tiny as my car is I am grateful to have it back in working order. Greta loved riding around in the truck, I think she was sorry to see it go (don't worry, I turned off the airbags).

Saturday evening we got invited to the birthday party of Sean's old college roommate. Another old roommate was there as well. It's been 11 years since we last saw them. It was enjoyable catching up and seeing our kids all play together. We aren't exactly the most social people so yay for a night out being social!

Greta was invited to her very first birthday party this weekend and oh was she excited. They had a rack of prom dresses, high heels, costume jewelry, boas and purses for all the girls to dress up in. That along with a bounce house made for one very fun afternoon for a certain little 4 year old.

We can't forget to mention Happy Birthday to my father-in-law. We got to celebrate Rich's birthday last night before he left to head back to his temporary home. He's only got three more weeks before he retires and heads home to New Mexico. We'll miss not seeing him regularly, that's for sure. I knew he liked coconut so I made him a coconut cream pie (I'm a coconut fan too). It was delish (if I do say so myself). Happy Birthday Rich!

Challenge

Hello March! I love March. It's a "lead in" month. A month where little shoots of green grass poke through the winter crust of soil. A month that leads in to Spring. It might be nasty out there but there is hope I tell you. Hope. Right now there is freezing rain falling, coating every surface in a slick glaze of ice. We have snow in the immediate forecast and several bitterly cold nights ahead. But since it's officially March there is hope.

I decided I need a new challenge for March. I thought about doing a 10,000 step a day challenge with the Fitbit, where I have to get 10K steps a day every day of the month but I thought I'd hold off on that challenge until next month. This month I'm going sugar free. No refined sugars, no artificial sugars, nada. Now I'm not going all crazy or anything, if there is a little added sugar in a product I'm letting it slide....6 grams and under is my rule for the month. So added sugar in marinara sauce, that's ok. Fruit is ok. I thought it would be a good way to get back on track for the spring and summer months. Now this doesn't mean I'm dooming the kids to a sugar free March. It just means I keep food stocked in the house that I won't have a problem saying no to. For instance, ice cream. It's easy to say no to ice cream and that's something the kids and hubby love. And to test my resolve, today I made the kids some cupcakes. So far so good. I got this.

For an activity challenge I had the hubby show me the next routine on the BowFlex. I've been doing the first routine outlined in the manual for about a year and a half now. It was time to switch it up, work some new muscles. So four times a week I am doing the new workout and it's a nice change. I'm starting out with some really light weights and working up to the heavy ones. It's amazing how quickly results can be seen with resistance training. I'm a believer.

I will report back with how my two challenges went this month.

Are you going to challenge yourself for the month of March? 

Weekly Winners

I don't have much to write about this week. It's pretty slow around here. The weather is back to being yuck. I sometimes wonder if this winter will ever end. I know it's only February (nearly March, I round up in the winter) and it could always be worse than it is. But sometimes I feel like I might explode unless I get outside in some warm weather. I even told the hubby last weekend that I feel the need to go running again. I've pretty much stopped running all together. It's not something I miss but I do miss the way I feel after a run. It's very hard to recreate that feeling on the treadmill. So maybe I will start running again in the Spring. Anyways, I digress, the point of this post is to share some photos.

The kids and I started quite a few seeds this past weekend. It might be a little early but I'm ok with that. We got six types of tomatoes started (36 tomato plants in all), two types of bell peppers, broccoli and a whole tray of basil. It's a good start. I'm really looking forward to rototilling everything. Can't hardly wait.

I just love this picture. Greta, with her crazy morning hair, helping Sean mix up the waffle batter on Sunday. He makes us waffles with berry sauce every Sunday morning. It's a nice routine that I and the kids enjoy (and Papa Rich).

Having outside cats has been quite the treat. You just never know what they will bring home. I was on the treadmill yesterday and looked out the back window to see one of the minions prancing through the yard with something big in its mouth. Upon further investigation I found it to be a bird and a snake.....together. It was a big haul. Both were completely eaten by the time I went out later. Yuck.

The kids have been asking to ride their bikes so Greta and I stopped by the store to pick her up a bike helmet (she's been using her brothers helmet to ride during the day while he's at school). Walmart had some rather unique helmets. The unicorn helmet didn't fit too well so we went with a traditional one, but still very cool. Then this past Saturday when it wasn't too cold I loaded up the bikes in the back of the truck and I took them to the high school parking lot to do some bike riding. Living on gravel roads does not make learning to ride a bike very much fun. They had fun on the pavement, I had fun getting out.....it was great. I'm looking forward to doing it again when the weather warms up.

Welding and hotcakes

I was out last weekend enjoying the amazingly nice weather and decided I needed to muck out the goat house. They'd been cooped up in there for a few weeks and it looked like it. Yuck. So out came the pitch fork and the garden cart. Half a load in the head of the pitch fork fell off. The metal fork part just slid out of the metal handle. I managed to shove it back in long enough to finish up for the day then asked Rich, our resident welder, if he'd mind welding the head back on. He said sure, he's nice like that. Then it hit me, our resident welder is just a mere 40 something days away from retirement. Retirement means he's moving back home to New Mexico. He's been visiting nearly every weekend for close to two years now. It's become routine having him here and we are sure going to miss him when he leaves. I'm happy for him being able to go home but it will be strange not having him here on the weekends.

I thought perhaps, since he was leaving soon, I'd see if he'd give me a welding lesson. Maybe I could do my own welding once he left. He said sure and the next day I got a great lesson in wire feed welding. I'd done a bit of welding in my Sculpture 2 class in college but that was 15 years ago (yikes!). I feel pretty confident in trying it again after my little lesson. I suppose it's just a matter of practicing it. Things I learned after the lesson: always wear clothing that covers the entire body, no skin showing. I wore a sweatshirt that day that had a v-neck. I tied it close but it must have came open a bit during the welding as I was sporting a decent sunburn on my chest that evening. Oops. It was fun and maybe some day I'll take a welding class.

Thanks Rich for teaching me, between Sean's skills and mine perhaps we can pick up the welding duties around here after you leave.

On a completely different note, I thought I'd share my newest food obsession. I tend to stick with a food that I like and will eat it every day until I tire of it. My newest thing are the two ingredient pancakes. I mentioned them in a previous post but didn't elaborate on the recipe as it was still a work in progress. Well I've been messing with them and finally got them perfect. It's where you take one banana and mash it up, add two eggs and mix it all together. I tried it in the food processor but it made it too liquid. Mashing it by hand keeps some lumps which help bulk up the pancakes. Throw in a couple tablespoons crushed walnuts, a teaspoon of vanilla, shake of cinnamon and an 1/8 teaspoon baking powder and it makes the perfect little stack of protein filled, flourless pancakes. Add a dab of butter and they don't need any syrup. So good and good for you! I think I've had them every day this week. I've been trying to cram more protein into my day, I feel so much better when I hit my goal of 75 grams a day. The key (according to Dr. Oz) is to get 25 grams at each meal. I have so much more energy during the day, which is so nice. Anyways, just thought I'd share my perfect two ingredient pancake recipe.

Perfect Two Ingredient Pancakes:

-1 medium banana
-2 eggs

Smash banana with fork, add eggs and mix well. 

Optional ingredients (highly recommended):
-1 t. vanilla
-1/8 t. baking powder
-a couple of shakes of cinnamon
-1 T. walnut pieces 

Heat pan over medium heat and add a teaspoon of coconut oil. Cook pancakes and enjoy!
With the walnuts, this recipe has 18 grams of protein.

New Toy

Today I came home to these two big boxes. We'd ordered something that I've been wanting for quite some time. Technically it's for the kids ....but secretly I've wanted one of these forever.

Can you figure it out yet? Sean took a day off of work today to work on the Rover but I hijacked him into putting this together for us.  Took him about three hours. I helped a little bit when I wasn't dropping off kids or taking a kid to the doctors or picking up medicine....oh never mind I didn't help.

Yep, finally got our trampoline. I was going to order one off of Walmart.com but the ratings weren't so great so we wandered over to Amazon and found a highly rated one with Prime shipping. For an additional $25 they would overnight it to our doorstep, so that is what we did. We ordered it yesterday at 3pm and it was sitting on our doorstep at 10 this morning and it came from Pennsylvania. Isn't that crazy? What a fun toy!
 

Oh and on a positive note, the pedometer works while jumping so this could be a fun way to achieve my daily steps. Woo hoo!

Melting

I can not express how lovely it is to get out of this house after so many weeks trapped inside because of the bitter cold and snow. The sun is shining, the snow is all but melted and we are getting ready for a super nice week of weather. It sure lifts my spirits. Unfortunately poor Wesley is under the weather. I thought he was over it this morning but I just got back from a shopping trip out to find him red cheeked and lying on the couch with a 103.5 temp. We're on day three of this. Luckily Tylenol gets the fever down and four hours later it's back up again. I sure hope it doesn't spread to the rest of us (especially Greta). I'm thankful he's out of school tomorrow for President's Day (he would have been kept home anyways).

I've been keeping busy cleaning out animals pens. Snow and ice kept the horses, goats and chickens in their houses for the last two weeks. The chickens, literally, didn't leave their coop since the first snow. They are the most prissy animals. The goats also won't set foot on snow and hunkered down in their shed. I just kept layering straw on top of straw to keep them clean. Therefore there was two feet of nasty straw bedding that needed to be cleaned out. That's quite a job. Luckily I have a massive pile of mulch started for the garden.....already full of natures fertilizer.

On that note, I got my garden seeds ordered last week. Several things need to be started soon so I went ahead and got everything ordered. I tried a new website this year. It's called SeedsNow.com. They have a great selection, only sell non-GMO, non-hybrid, heirloom seeds. They also offer a ton of seeds in .99 cent sample packs. Their sample packs have about the perfect amount of seeds for me. The basil sample pack has 120 seeds, the squash sampler has 15 seeds. It's enough to grow a nice row but not be overrun (remember last year when I grew 400 zucchini plants? Yeah, I'm not doing that again). There is just something that compels me to plant every seed in that packet, otherwise they are just going to waste. So this will help prevent that. This is a good thing. My new exciting crop I'm trying this year? Wheat! I'm planting a nice plot of Hard Red Wheat. This will be a first but I'm excited to try it out. Also this year I am rototilling up a few new plots for the kids. They get to plant whatever they'd like but it's up to them to keep it weeded and watered. They are looking forward to it and I think it will be a good learning experience.

That's all that is happening around here. 

Epic Ice

We got another four inches of snow yesterday and they decided to only delay school a couple of hours. Since none of the roads were cleared and my little car can't clear four inches I decided to keep Wesley home from school. It wasn't worth the deductible. So we relaxed at home, played some games, read some books and had some quality Super Mario Brother time. It was nice. We are sure looking forward to the warm up this week. It's supposed to be in the 60's within the next week. Good bye snow! Good riddance!

With the snow we had some epic icicles. Seriously the biggest icicles I've seen. We had a massive one that got to a little over 66 inches long and as big around as my leg. It was awesome. It nearly ripped off our gutter, but still awesome.

I tried some new recipes since that's seems to be the only thing to do these days. The kids enjoy being my guinea pigs in that department. I found a (somewhat) quick and easy yeast cinnamon roll recipe. It's only got one rise so it's pretty quick from start to finish considering it's yeast rolls. I iced them with a vanilla orange glaze (just mix up powdered sugar with orange juice and vanilla) which made them pop a little more. Really good on these frigid mornings. Give it a try!

One rise cinnamon rolls (makes about 16 rolls)

In a large mixer place:
2 1/2 cups hot tap water
1 T salt
1/3 c. oil
1/3 c. sugar or honey
2 T yeast
1 egg

Mix together a little and then add 6 c. flour.

Mix flour until it "leaves" the sides of the bowl.  Then continue mixing 10 minutes.
Pour dough onto an oiled counter top. Roll out the dough on an oiled countertop to form large rectangle. 
In a bowl, mix 3/4 cup sugar & 2 T cinnamon with 4 T softened butter. 
With a pastry cutter or fork, cut butter into sugar & cinnamon until it forms a crumbly mixture.
Spread out on top of rolled out dough. 
Roll the short side toward you to form a log. 
Cut cinnamon rolls about 2 inches thick and place in 13 X 9 inch pan sprayed with Pam. 
Rise for 30-40 minutes. 
Bake for 12-18 minutes.

*I halved the recipe so that I didn't have a giant pan of cinnamon rolls. Eight rolls was enough for our family.

How times have changed

Last night around dinner time (aka "the crazy time") our littlest dog Chance decided to do his dinner dance. He proceeds to find his dish and scoot it all over the floor, shoving it into every wall, chair and toy in his path. The idea is to make as much noise as possible to alert me to his never ending hunger. He's one of the more annoying creatures around here (at least at dinner time).....and that's saying a lot. I thought I'd take a video to share on here since it can be quite funny. But after taking the video I decided I couldn't share it because it showcased just how messy and cluttered my house can be at the end of the day.

We're talking disaster area.

Toys strewn everywhere, shoes haphazardly dropped all over, crunched up leaves, puddles of melted snow water, cans of cat food that turned into a fun stacking toy and clothing dropped wherever the four year old decided her next wardrobe change would happen. It's embarrassing.  

Which leads me to discuss the latest article I read. I wish I could find it but alas it was a random read never to appear again. It was about how the times have changed and women in the home have gone from "Homemakers" to "Stay-at-home moms". In the 50's a woman's job was to maintain her house, cook a healthy meal and look presentable to her husband when he arrived home. Kids were raised in a playpen. Not a thing out of place. Women these days (that stay home with their kids instead of out in the work force) are to raise kids, if that means the house chores are at the bottom of the list then that's how it goes. The times have definitely changed, that's for sure.

I do try and have a healthy meal ready when the Mister walks through the door, my kids are clean and happy but my house looks like a tornado ripped through it. I feel bad, I should be able to keep it clean. That's kind of my job. But I always think of this phrase: "Cleaning a house with kids around is like brushing your teeth while eating Oreo's." There is nothing more true in this world than that phrase.  At the end of the day I enlist help to pick up toys and clothes but it is no picture perfect house, by any stretch of the imagination. But you know what? I'm ok with that. This is life.

To prove that, here is the video I was not willing to show because of my messy house. Isn't Chance a hoot?

Snow Day

We got a snow day today. Woo hoo! I feel like a kid on snow days, even though I'm not a kid. I remember that wonderful feeling of seeing your little school printed along the bottom of the tv. Such a warm, fuzzy feeling. It's really nice knowing I get to sleep in and not trudge through the snow to get the kids to school. I thought I'd try out a new breakfast idea this morning. My friend told me about two ingredient pancakes the other day and I'd seen them on all the Paleo facebook pages I follow, I felt like it was a calling. It was time to try em out. So I'm sure you are wondering what those two ingredients are? Well, you take two ripe bananas and mix them with four eggs. They said to use a mixer but I thought a blender was more appropriate. I added a 1/4 teaspoon of baking powder as well as a splash of vanilla and some cinnamon....because otherwise you've made banana eggs. I greased the pan with coconut oil and they came out pretty good. More like crepes than pancakes but I love crepes so it was a winner. I'm thinking next time I'll embrace the crepe idea and fill them with greek yogurt and sprinkle with cut up strawberries. Yum.

I've been trying to get my 10,000 steps in every day (which is so hard to do when there is 9 inches of snow on the ground) and the only way I can achieve that goal is to get on the treadmill. Well it's the easiest method anyway. Sometimes it's easier to just suck it up and get on there for half an hour a day. I figure I've got 23.5 hours to do everything else. I've been needing a new show to watch (to pass that boring half an hour) and so I started "Orange is the New Black". It's a NetFlix original series and I love it. It's about an upper middle class white girl that gets sent to prison for 18 months. It's got great writing and I'm hooked. I've got to say I'm so sick of FBI, CIA, cop dramas....this is such a breath of fresh air (even if it is a little gritty).

My father, who also had a snow day, called and offered to come pick us up in his Jeep so that we might go ride his new snowmobiles. He recently bought two snowmobiles for use up on the mountain around their retirement cottage. They haven't moved up there yet and this storm provided a nice canvas on which to try them out. I'd never ridden a snowmobile so this was a first for me and the kids. Wesley had a blast and took a ride with everyone and Greta tried it out once and was a trooper. It was a good experience for them. I thought it was great fun and look forward to trying it out again. Thanks Pops!

Keep on keepin on

It would be so easy to focus on how nasty of a winter this is. How the winds howl at night bringing the lows into the negative digits. How there is hardly any sun anymore, and how desperately I need sun. I try to keep busy inside and reassure the little bundles of energy (aka my kids) that Spring is on it's way and we'll soon be running around outside again.....even though Punxsutawney Phil saw his shadow today meaning another 6 weeks of winter. Darn groundhog. The other day I got in the car and saw this:

This is about average it seems for morning temperatures when I take the kid to school.  The bad thing about an electric car is that the gas engine runs in these temperatures. It runs a lot. My average mpg is 67 right now, down from 165. I say this while smiling because that mpg is still super cool even though I have to buy gas.

The animals are all doing ok this winter. I can tell they are all ready for spring as well. The big dogs have become indoor dogs and spend their days lounging on the couches. The cats have remained outdoor animals (since I value my marriage) and I can always tell how cold it is depending on how many cats are crammed into the little wool bed outside on the deck. Today was a "two cat day" so I knew it was in the 20's. When it's a three cat day it's bitterly cold. At night they get put in the shop and cuddle up in the hay. I have peace of mind knowing they aren't getting eaten by coyotes too.

Sean has been passing the time out in his heated shop working on the Range Rover. It's pretty much ready to go. He's been tying up a few little loose ends....headliner issues, burned up light bulbs and a few more chewed through wires. I think a couple more weeks and he'll start putting miles on it. That will be fun.

The kids have found out how much fun games are on the tablet. About once every few weeks I get on the Google Play Store and we download a few new games to play. Greta gets the preschool learning games and Wesley likes the racing games. Together they play matching games and have a blast.

I'm kind of in a blogging rut, there isn't much of anything going on. We're all just trying to stay warm these days. I don't want to dwell on anything because I know there are people all over the country with worse weather than we have and with all the problems that come with prolonged cold weather. One lady blogger I read on the east coast has had her pipes freeze and been without water for weeks. She has to visit her neighbors house to lug buckets of water home to her livestock. I can't even imagine. I feel so lucky having a warm house with no frozen pipes (knock on wood) and a healthy, happy family.  Stay warm everyone!