Monday and more bread!

I've gone crazy!  I made bread two days in a row.  Today I made this:

 Seed and Honey bread.  I think it is very yummy!
I also cleaned house but that isn't very exciting!  Tonight was Brayden's night to play at my house, he's a picky eater.  We've all tried to get him to try new things and he does, but it's slow going.   He's a vegetarian at 5!  (Actually, he's always been a vegetarian.)  One thing he does love is pasta, just about any pasta, so tonight we had spagetti.  He likes to help cook so he helped make the sauce, adding the tomatoes, and herbs.  It was good and he ate.  Then we played with toys and colored.  Almost every week Tonya, Brayden and I sit around my big coffee table with crayons and coloring books chat and color.  Tonight Tonya "googled"  Care Bears so we could know all their names, ah the internet how did we ever manage before you? 

Whatever have I been doing?

Not blogging that's for sure!  I think all the snow has finally gotten to me, got another 4 inches last Thursday but it is going fast today with the thunderstorms that have been rumbling through!  The neighbors behind us have small ponds and creeks where there should be grass!  I live on the hill. Today, I finished the first sort of forty years worth of photos, whew.  Where once there were rubbermaid totes of photos now there are 6 photo boxes, organized by decade (or half-decade if there are a lot of pics) and then by year.  Tomorrow I will take a box and sort again, putting all the photos of one event together and getting rid of duplicates or really bad pics, then I will label the box better and put it up on the shelf.  When that is done I can mark that much of a BIG project off my list with glee.  I also baked Vienna Bread today, it is very yummy!  In fact we have already eaten one whole loaf.  This one is for tomorrow night's Italian-garlic bread.

 I am actually looking at the end of two other rather long term projects:  one is a gift for my MIL which I am hoping will be finished by Mother's Day and the other is the input of all of my Mom's recipe cards into Word so that I can print out copies.  I did this with all of mine several years ago and continue to get requests for a copy of "Mama Gail Cooks".  I should finish those up in the next week or so.  It will be nice to have something done, at last.

I'll leave you with this lovely bud.  I'd say it was a sign of spring. . .except it's an Amaryllis bulb!  It should have bloomed in December, sigh.  I guess I'm making progress, the past two years it has bloomed in June.  I have two bulbs and both have buds right now.  I'll post a photo when they open, they're spectacular!

Well, I'm off now for an evening of wild . . . stitchery.

Winter is back, sigh.

The boys were here today for the President's day holiday, we had a great time making chocolate chip cookie pizzas and homemade pizza pizzas for dinner.  Also had a raspberry making contest, you know that pfsst sound, the raspberry?!  They are such great little guys.  We went from folks wearing shorts, not me although I did wear short sleeved shirts, to parkas today.  We have had 79.5 inches of snow this winter and it's not over yet as snow is forecast for later in the week!  Ah well, at least at this point we know it won't last long!  The cold spells will be fleeting, guess even this winter lover is ready for that.  To make us all feel warmer here's a photo of Simba enjoying the winter sun.

Spring visited for the day!

I have been really lazy about blogging, not much going on to talk about.  Today, Spring came for a visit!  It is still 74 degrees outside and nearly full dark.  It was quite breezy but otherwise just great.  I know it won't last but it was great to go about shopping without a coat!  I took a walk in the park this morning then dealt with grocery shopping then Rob grilled burgers for us.  About this time every year we start to really wish for good hamburgers on the grill!  Tomorrow I have to really clean house and it's to be cooler, I will walk in the morning though.  I'm working up to four miles, I really need the exercise!  I have nearly finished the first sort of the photos, the second sort is just to be sure I have things in the right place and to put like photos together.  When that is finished the boxes come back to the office from the living room and get put away.  I will scan them to the computer a bit each day but no pressure and then each year I will scrapbook a decade.  (If that never happens, at least I have them ordered and not in big totes where I can't find anything!)  I am really trying to get some projects finished as there seem to be so many hanging over my head that it makes me unhappy.  I am working to remove those things that stand in the way of my happiness.

I find the house odd in it's dog-less state.  I catch myself looking for Kelsey, it's weird.  I have to tell you what Brayden said.  (Keep in mind he's had much more experience with death than most five year olds.)  I picked Brayden and Kolby at daycare on Tuesday and when we pulled into my drive Brayden said, "Well, I hear Kelsey is sick."  Me:  " Sweetie, Kelsey went to play with Charley and Grandad."  Brayden, "I did not go to that funeral."  Me:  "We didn't have a funeral for her but she's playing with Grandad and Charley."  Brayden, "You need to get another dog, Granna."  Then he commented on how weird the house was without her, to the point of being "scary."  He's quite a guy!

Sadness

Fines Lady Kelsey

1997-2011

Running free with Charley and Larry.

Her sweetness will be missed.

Callah bread

Today I got back into the bread book and made this Challah. It is very tasty, light and soft-plus it looks so pretty! Also worked on the photo sort and did laundry plus odds and ends of chores. Now I'll sew a bit-hum hand work or machine?

Forgot.

I forgot to mention that the actual temperature is 5 degrees F with a wind chill of -6 degrees F.  I think I'll just go to bed!

I've been lazy!

It's true, sigh.  I lazed about and read most of last week, just loved it.  Now I have to get to work!  I've nearly finished the first sort of the photos, should get done tomorrow, all the 9 patches have disappeared and are being sewn up into strips bit by bit and some blocks for a gift quilt are being assembled.  On Saturday we had Brayden's 5th birthday here instead of at his house as all the snow left us no where to park all the cars!  We had a fun time, ate good food and he got a lot of loot!  On Super bowl Sunday one of our quilt shops holds a big sale, I'm not buying any fabric for myself but they had fat quarters for a $1.00 (which as we all know is super cheap) and I wanted to get my mother in law 80 fat quarters for her 80th birthday next month so I went out there, mission accomplished!  Now I have to figure out a cool presentation for them.  Last night was Brayden's night to play here, he and Tanya hung left over balloons on the ceiling with static electricity-what fun! Today, I went back to the Historical Society for volunteer time, only my second day since before Christmas--I hardly knew what to do!  Ha-Ha, I'll be doing the same thing for quite some time to come.  Then had a nice visit with a friend who lives near the square.  Picked up Chinese take out on my way home,yummo.  For a nice surprise Steve and Nora "Skyped" me for a while-she is getting so big and now interacts with the person on the computer.  I think that's because her Uncle Rob makes silly faces at her when they skype! 

It's melting, a little.

I feel guilty even talking about our snow after seeing what the same storm dumped on Chicago and hearing about how much snow is in New England but for us this is A LOT of snow.  Nine to ten inches this last time, it's hard to tell with all the drifting.  I know Columbia got more.  The snow removal on Tuesday was horrible, even the major arteries, like Noland Road, were bad and some, Lee's Summit Rd-a snow route, hadn't been touched at all.  Yesterday, they got in gear though and while I haven't been out in the truck lately they plowed my street 4 times yesterday.  Rob and I shoveled and used the snow thrower to clear our sidewalk, drive and parking area as well as Jill's next door.  It was slow going even with the big snow thrower I have.  It will be along time before all this is gone but anywhere pavement is showing it's melting, at only 16 degrees F I'm amazed it's melting at all. 

Rob is making Chili for dinner tonight and with that we will have eaten our whole menu plan of soups!  On Tuesday we had beef stew and biscuits, last night it was baked potato soup and dinner rolls.  I think tomorrow might be leftovers!  I made Ice Box rolls like my Mom always made, yum.  We lived next door and sometimes she would call to see if we wanted to eat rolls with our dinner, I didn't care if we were having tacos the answer was always YES!

I've been doing some sewing and quite a bit of reading so I am not bored by being inside.  I'm reading The Happiness Project by Gretchen Rubin and finding it VERY thought provoking and helpful-funny at times too.  The blog is fun and interesting as well, there's a link on my sidebar.  I hesitate to recommend self-help books as what helps one person doesn't always help another but you might try it, an easy read anyway.

Snowbound!

I don't think I've ever truly been snowed in to the point we couldn't get out but after the trip to the mall to get Tanya I think that's where we are!  I had trouble getting up a very small hill on the way out, gave Rob the experience of traveling up hill sideways!  Getting back in, however, I didn't think we'd make.  More sideways travel and I just drove into the drive instead of backing in.  I don't think we CAN get out until the storm is over, and the plow comes along or we have a lot of traffic on our street.  Judging from the state of the main arteries of our town (and the fact that Interstate 70 is closed)  I'm doubting we get out before Thursday.  My next vehicle will have four wheel drive! We are safe and warm, that's what counts.  It was odd driving at 3pm and seeing all the stores closed.  The fury of nature is certainly something to see, on occasion, a rare occasion.

It's started.

The University called at 5AM to tell Rob they had canceled classes for today, really we've known this thing was coming for DAYS and they can't decide to close until 5AM?  I am glad they canceled and I'm glad they now call but the main campus in Columbia canceled last night what is wrong with UMKC!  Since I was awake anyway, I looked outside-no snow although things did look pretty shinny with ice.  When Kelsey got me back up at 6:30 to go out there was snow on the street but the walk was not yet covered (all that ice melt yesterday, I guess!)  When I got up for good at 7:30 things were covered but I could not actually see the snow falling, now it's coming down at a fair clip and already blowing about some.   We went to the grocery and Costco on Sunday so our larder is well stocked (I'll probably make bread tomorrow), I got the truck ready for storms in November ( I really should add a shovel), so I think today's plan is to hunker down in my office and sew.  Well, I'll probably work on the photos a bit and on my research but mostly it will be sewing!  The only times I'll go out are to take Tanya and pick her up.  Unless the mall decides to close-Ha-Ha! Lucas said the Lowe's stores can close because the Gov called a state of emergency, and the National Guard is on call, so maybe crass commercialism will not win over common sense today.  One can only  hope.