Last Week in January

It's seemed like a long one.  It's rained every day and been cloudy and sometimes windy, but I'm enjoying it.  I used to think I would get depressed with so much grayness, but now I actually prefer cloudy days.  I could use a little warmth, but just knowing I have a cozy place to spend my days makes it okay. 

Our usual drive in the mornings.  Katherine is learning about mountains for M week, and she's very curious about them:  if you can feel the clouds on top of the mountains, if she will ever see a mountain goat, why there is snow just on the mountains.  I think she loves them as much as I do, and I never get tired of this view.

Maybe there are some pictures in my camera to remind me of what we did this week. 

Very few!

This needs to happen pretty much every day.  Katherine's come a long way with her bravery.

Graysen started gymnastic Friday.  She had been on a wait list, and it was a surprise to her when I picked her up.  The teacher seems very disciplined and seemed to be keeping the girls occupied when I noticed.  I decided to just stay there since we needed to pick up Katherine right after class.

This is the only picture I took, because after they ran around like crazy for about 5 minutes, they went out of my sight.  I noticed them on the trampoline and again on the balance beam.  Graysen said she didn't fall once and learned exactly how to do it.  We'll see.  She was completely distracted by the older girls doing beautiful floor routines to catchy music, and Graysen is completey into competing for trophies now!

 She's insisting on doing her own hair in the mornings, and I'm glad to let her do it.  She probably does a better job than I do.  She dresses herself too, so my main job is brushing Kathrine's hair and keeping them both focused on what they're doing.

 This morning she had a lot of trouble getting that one pigtail to be in just the right position to be cute.

She wanted me to take a closeup to send her mother - who was just exactly like her when she was that age.  I want to do it myself!!

Layla misses Elise being gone so much lately and expects me to throw things for her to fetch.

I accidentally poured some hard food into one of the water bowls today, and she didn't forgive me.  She stared at the bowl and then stared at me, and finally she went over and drank a few drops and then started pulling out the pieces one by one.  I fixed it.

I walked into the sewing room and started working on that quilt this morning and got a good bit done.  For me.

Emily hints that I need to finish them before the girls stop loving castles and princesses.

If I don't lay it out on the floor, I'll get my rows mixed up, and I knew this would happen.

Cats just feel like everything you do is for their comfort.

 She makes it hard to make up my bed every morning since she's just deciding to sleep after a night of romping in the halls.

Tomorrow is my baby's birthday!  The girls wanted her to skip work tomorrow, but she's looking forward to the party her employees always have for her.  We'll do gifts and celebrate tomorrow night when she gets home.  

There is a possibility we'll go see Little Women this weekend, but we'll have to watch the weather to see if we have another snow.  I bought groceries today like I was expecting a blizzard.  I think they should last us for two weeks.

I've been doing Bright Line Eating for 11 months now and am on track to lose my 50th pound before the end of February.  It hasn't been as hard as it seemed to give up sugar and flour.  I still have a little noncompliant food sometimes, but I'll have been a year without fast food (and not one sandwich!) and a year without sugar in my coffee - that's the worst.  I know I'm healthier without sugar and flour and eat plenty of protein, fruits and vegetables - LOTS of vegetables.  I do occasionally indulge in a Diet Coke, and when I do, I thoroughly enjoy it.  I admit I don't keep a journal or meditate and haven't joined any boot camp-type programs associated with the program, but I think I've done great without all that. And have become a better cook, experimenting with herbs and spices and different ways of cooking vegetable (or liking them raw), and can make muffins and waffles and even pizza without sugar or flour!  My favorites.  Emily has joined me and is less serious than I am but is still on board with it.  It's fun to compare notes and encourage each other.  Her goal was 15 pounds!

Stay at Home Weekend

My usual weekend, just the way I like it.

The Win-Bins went tubing, which I approved of but wanted no part of.  I see nothing fun in what Katherine described as, "I wanted to scream, but I couldn't because the snow was hitting me in the face."  I can't think of anything I had rather NOT be doing, but I'm glad they had fun.

I did very little housework but worked on a quilt for a little bit.  I worked the NYT crossword puzzle all the way for the first time in my life.  I only had to look up the last word, because I didn't want to guess.  I'm sure Mike would be shaking his head at me, but I'm proud of myself!  It's not pretty, but I can't use a pencil, so mistakes are hard to correct.

I finished one book, which was better than it started out.  I enjoyed the writing more than the subject matter, so I'll see if he's written anything else interesting.

I couldn't make it through The Orchardist by Amanda Coplin or In the Midst of Winter by Isabel Allende.  I think I would have read more of the latter if I hadn't had 3 or 4 new ones waiting for me.

The girls came over for a few hours this afternoon since Graysen didn't have school (and Katherine didn't go), and we walked to the library.  We actually saw sunshine this morning, and Elise opened all the blinds, which cheered us up a good bit.  It was still brisk and a little chilly, but we had a fun walk and got a heavy bag of books to bring home.  These girls are at such a good age now.  I think I've said that a lot lately.  They're cheerful and chatty and still innocent enough for a good bit of imagination and adventure on our walks.  We named the trees in my parking lot today.

I had requested 5 books for them and 3 for me.  We read the first chapter of Judy Moody and the Right Royal Tea Party.  Graysen loved it more than Katherine, but Katherine hung in there.  Gray's teacher has been reading these books to the class, and I wanted to see what they were all about.  We thought the first chapter was hilarious, or maybe we were just in a silly mood.  Then we played a guesssing game with Katherine with her alphabet puzzle, and there was more laughter.  We then read Dragons Love Tacos, which they loved - but not enough to request tacos for dinner.  They ate little pizzas, mac and cheese, broccoli, and grapes for lunch, followed by a raisin bagel.  I doubt they'll be hungry too soon.

By the time Emily picked them up - about 4:00 - the wind had started blowing like crazy again, and it was colder.  I was glad to come in, get a cup of tea, and start my book, This One is Mine by Maria Semple.  I've liked two of her books so far, so maybe the third one will be good.

Emily sent me this picture just now of the girls painting at home.  What a perfect place Emily and Ryan have made upstairs for the girls.  A bedroom, a playroom, and a big room for their desks and craft table.  Lucky little girls.

I would frame this if someone gave it to me as a gift!

We're going to have to figure out something to do with these cats!  Ever since Bowie has become social, he and Layla are constantly running up and down the hall at night and knocking things off the counter in the bathroom and just being cats.  The only problem is that Elise has to be at work at 6:00 in the morning and needs to get to sleep early.  That means we need to separate them and hope they'll learn to sleep at night instead of all day.  Bowie is in Elise's room, and Layla is in the hall, and they're mutter-purring at each other and sticking their paws under the door.

It may be a long night for me.  That's a yawn!

My amaryllis is just about to burst into bloom.

It's back to the routine tomorrow, and we have 6 days of rain forecast.  Fun, fun, fun.  And then I see snow by the first of next week, but hopefully it won't stick.  This sunshine has made me ready to start thinking about spring.  I can think all I want to, but it's a long way away.

Getting Through Thursday

Just a messy and miserable day with puddles up to the kids' knees in places at Rooster Valley.  They loved it though, of course.

Yesterday and today they took field trips to see "the big log" and look around the depot and walk through town to get hot chocolate.  Katherine can tell you how to count the rings to tell a tree's age and what causes logs to get mushy when trees fall down and many more things I didn't know.  That was a long way for those short legs to trek through the pouring rain, and I really feel for the teachers.  I'm not sure why they schedule that trip in January.  There must be a reason, but it always seems to be miserable weather.  I'll try to find some pictures on Facebook later and post those.

Debbie and I played Mah-Jong at the Y today, and it was pretty fun.  I didn't win a game but came close.  The coffee was good, the room was warm, and we had a lot of laughs.

This looks like I know what I'm doing with all these pairs, a pung and a kong, but I was only hoarding dragons.  I know the words but not exactly how to get where I want to be.

Debbie invited the girls to her place to have some pumpkin chocolate chip muffins, and both of them accepted with enthusiasm.  In fact, Katherine even ageed to be dropped off there while I picked up Graysen.  They loved the muffins and pretty much told Debbie everything they knew while they were eating them.  It was a nice break for the afternoon.  We then came back here and had just about an hour to do ABC Mouse before Ryan came and got them, 20 minutes apiece.  Katherine has gotten pretty adept at dragging and dropping things, better than me, so she's able to do all the assignments at her level now.  She gets a little nervous about popping balloons with certain letters on them because there's a timer, but she's getting good!

It's nice to be in for the night and drinking my cup of tea before sleeping.  It should be an easy weekend.  Emily usually gets off early on Friday, and they are going tubing this weekend, so I'll have some nice ME time.  I once again haven't been to the mailbox in a week, so that will certainly be an exciting project tomorrow.  Gray has early release, and I might let her sew when we get home if I'm feeling pretty laid back.

My book, The Orchardist, is a little weird and not interesting enough to keep on reading, so I'll put it back in circulation tomorrow and start a new one.

So that was the soggy Thursday.  Boring.  But good to know I got the girls to and from school safely, filled up the car with gas, enjoyed some grownup time, and have the weekend in front of me.

Nice Week So Far

Things are falling into place nicely.

Elise's work schedule is brutal with early mornings and 6 days a week, but I'm trying to figure out how to give her quiet afternoons when she gets home at 2:30.  I'm enjoying the house to myself every morning.  Neither of us minds living with the other, but there's just something about having an empty house.  She's now leaving me to-do lists!  Open the blinds for the plants.  Be sure the kitties have water. 

I think Layla is realizing that I'm not in the mirror, but Bowie is oblivious.  I love it that they're friends.

The girls were already dressed and ready this morning when I got there and were dying to draw, so they had about 10 minutes.  I took pictures of their new desks, and Graysen wanted me to delete the ones of her desk since it was so messy.  I notice that she's using Katherine's instead of hers.

They have such a nice area for desks and art projects in their upstairs common area between the bedrooms.

Graysen's area.

Katherine's.  It's so nice to have a place to hang all the art they bring home from school.  And you know every piece is a masterpiece and needs to be displayed.

The rain continues relentlessly, but I made myself stop at the grocery store this morning where it's always friendly and cheery - and warm.  I just needed a couple of things, so bringing them in in the rain was not a mess.


I had just one book on hold in the library.

I haven't started it yet so went ahead and found two more just in case it wasn't one I could stick with. 

When we sat down to read some stories yesterday afternoon, Graysen took the first book and just read it to Katherine.  I don't think I'm quite out of a job yet, but it's a funny feeling.  I'm really proud of her.  She still prefers to be read to, and I need my snuggles.  Mrs. Kappen is reading them a chapter book every day after lunch, and she's so excited about it.  I haven't heard about Judy Moody books, but I wonder if it's more relevant to the times than the Ramona books.  Those are still my favorite, but I'll see about the Judy ones. 

I'm waiting to see if Emily is picking up after school so I'll know if I'll get an afternoon nap.  I think I'm turning into my mother and even drinking a cup of green tea right now.  I'll pass on watching Days of our Lives every afternoon though.

Back to Normal

It was the best feeling this morning to head down the stairs without worrying about ice and only wearing a light jacket.  The walk was so pleasant. 

January isn't over yet, but it would be so nice if this were the only snow storm this year.  The girls are already talking about spring, but I won't go that far!

With Ryan and Emily at work, the girls and I first emptied a basket of clean clothes in their room.  They think it's so funny that I have to ask them whose clothes they are, so they're willing to help me muddle through.  Pretty much every article needs to be discussed, so it's a slow job.

Then they were in a doctoring mood, so first I was the mother, Katherine was the child, and Graysen was the doctor, but I ended up needing glasses and splinters removed, so I just went into the hospital (bottom bunk bed) and had heart problems and more splinters to remove and finally ended up having an 80-pound baby.

The small doctor looks worried about my prognosis.

 Pretty soon, all the doctoring centered around the baby, and I was allowed to rest in the hospital for quite a while and talk on the phone.  I was served a nice lunch also.

There was nothing to do as far as housework except some more laundry, so the girls went outside to play in the fairy garden while I made lunch.

The fairy kingdom needs a little work, it seems.

We killed the queen!

When Ryan got home, I left and walked home, adding four extra blocks to enjoy the warm day.  School will be back in session tomorrow, so I'll do my errands in the morning, and get that over with and maybe have some good books in at the library.  I've lost interest in my current one so am going to just abandon that one and see if the new ones are better. 

My life is so hard  perfect!

Sweet Bowie

I haven't said much about this good boy.

We weren't sure we would ever see very much of him.  He's hard to figure out.  He's perfectly comfortable around his crazy cat sister.  She can do no wrong.  But if a human approaches him, he starts walking away.  Not running any more, but definitely telling you to keep your distance.

If I corner him in my closet, he'll allow the girls or me to brush him and starts purring and stretches out, but don't approach him in the open with a brush, because he won't allow it.

He's uses Layla's litter box and eats with her in her territory, so he's easy there.

Here, they both have a little hard food to nibble on, but he's already thinking Layla's is better.

So he just moves in and starts eating it.

And surprisingly she lets him.  But it's kind of hard to find the bowl with all his fur.

Even though I know she's not hungry, she wants to share the experience, so she pulls out a few pieces to eat.

 He's not relaxed enough to bathe in front of us, but he's patient while Layla does.

At night, Elise will play with them with the laser, and he never tires of it.  They both know the jingly sound and come running, and he will play and play.  Layla participates some, but she mainly just sits and watches Bowie, like she's proud he's happy.

Just now after he ate, he came into my room and just sat and looked at me.  It's such progress, and I'm so proud of him.  Something happened to him to make him terrified of humans but not of other cats.  He seemed well cared for except for a broken tooth when we got him, so I can't even begin to guess.  We'll just love him and hope he gets comfortable with us.

The weekend was good.  Elise works on Saturday, so I used the empty house to do a lot of cleaning and laundry.  The girls came over Saturday afternoon after dinner for their sleepover.  They brought their own popcorn, and I found Pets 2 for them.  They had just seen it, so I'm sure I enjoyed it more than they did.  They like to see movies more than once so they know when the scary parts are coming and can come over and sit with me or even leave the room.

They got into their sleeping bags after a lot of stories, and Katherine went to sleep almost immediately, but Graysen had a little sadness about missing her Mama and got in bed with me.  I feel so sorry for her, because that used to happen to me when I was away from home, even at camp.  I rubbed her back, and we talked, and it didn't take her long to relax and sleep.  Instead of getting up, I went to sleep myself and had good night's sleep.  I heard Katherine moving around about 7:30 this morning and asked her if she wanted to snuggle, and she very much did.  That was the best, warm and sweet little girls just waking up.  I know how blessed I am to have these times with them.

Tomorrow is a holiday, so I'll be keeping them from 9:30 to 1:30.  I'm hoping for some warm weather so we can walk to the park.  The wind is howling like crazy again tonight, but it's 50 degrees and only a small chance of rain tomorrow.  Then we go into 7 days of 98 and 100 percent chance of rain.  It's okay.  It will be warm-ish rain.

Good-Bye to the Snow

I've said it several times, but there's always more.  I think the forecast for the next week does not have ANY freezing temps and highs all the way up to 47!  I welcome the rain since I can get out in that.

Elise did an awesome job getting the car out this morning and even better job of getting it back in the parking place.  The guy in the next parking space has a huge truck that looks new and expensive, and I was holding my breath about her sliding into it.  It wasn't easy, but she persisted and put some sand under the back tires.  She even stopped at Safeway and brought home lots of groceries.  We were out of milk and kid's snacks and lots of other stuff, so she was welcomed home happily.

There was no school again today, so the girls stayed here all day.  We had scrambled eggs and pancakes for lunch, and they brought their own milk.  It was an easy day, but I won't be sorry to have school start again next week.  At least in the summer, we can get out and go run off some energy.  They did play pretty hard for a bit, dragging each other through the apartment and laughing, but mostly it was just Go Fish, cutting and coloring, Barbies, and ABC Mouse. 

I got a lot of little things done while they were playing and am ready for the weekend.  I hear we're having a sleepover Saturday night when Emily and Ryan go to a play. 

I hate to even mention this, but Elise just came in and told me it's snowing again.  Not much, and I don't even care because it's 41 degrees!

Maybe this will be gone this weekend.  I haven't been to the mailbox in a week.  The recycle bin will be overloaded.

Almost back to normal

We do have a little sunshine today.

And the hummngbirds have food if they haven't given up on me.

My car now has a Mohawk, even though Graysen sees a French poodle.

From this:

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To this:

For an old Southern car, it sure has been a trooper.  Better than I have, for sure.  I almost hate to replace it, but I guess I'd better.

Yesterday was hard for all of us - getting to work (Emily and Elise), getting Graysen to and from school, entertaining Katherine all day, shoveling behind my car (Ryan) and clearing the windshield and windows (Elise).  She never did get around to unlocking it and starting it, but I have nowhere to go anyway.

And the wind was fierce. I think it got up to 50 mph before it calmed down.  There wasn't any snow, but the wind kept a blizzard going all day, blowing snow off all the roofs and cars and blowing things away.

School had a 2-hour late start, and Graysen went, but Katherine just stayed home.  Pickup time was terrible, according to FB reports and Ryan's experience, and so many people complained that today the late start was change to a full snow day.  I think a late start would have been fine, but I know some streets are still icy, and the sidewalks are too.

I watched my new neighbor Jamie's garbage cans from my sewing room window off and on all day and was surprised it stayed pretty much intact.

When she got home, Ryan and Elise were working outside, and they helped her get the cans in the garage and be able to park.  Lots of laughing going on.

Elise needed to pick up something at the drug store, so Ryan drove her, and while they were there, he was able to dig someone out in the parking lot that had gotten stuck.

My contribution to all this was watching the girls and worrying, and I did overtime on the worrying part.

I worked a little bit on my spice jars.  Already looking better.  The majority of spices start with a C, it seems.

This type is going to be impossible, so hopefully I don't have many of those.  Cream of tarter is used almost never anyway.

Beautiful picture of Timber, a friend's dog.

Meanwhile, we're having school only for the dolls this morning.

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Graysen gives the students a problem and then whispers the answer to Katherine (Miss Kim, the teacher's helper).  Miss Kim then checks all the answers and calls them out.  Now the teacher is reading them a book.

We put 6 activities on pieces of paper into a box and have drawn out 2, making a fort and playing school, and still have Old Maid and Go Fish, reading library books, painting (maybe), and doing ABC Mouse - the one activity they're really waiting for!  We'll fit lunch in there in a bit and call it a good day.