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It is still a snowy icy mess outside, and these here anklebiters are over it. And I don't blame them. We haven't been able to be outside for more than 1/2 an hour at a time in so long. For kids that spend all day, every day, outside all summer this is soul-crushing.
Mooch has been coughing here and there again, and the Mister sounds awful and is doing his lovely throat-clear at all times ... and then wondering why I'm not down for passionate tongue-kisses. Nothankskbye.
I'm trying to figure out how to jam physical activity, mental stimulation, house cleaning, and preparing a healthy dinner all into this one day - with the added disadvantage that the Mister is on 4pm-2am shifts this week, so I have to let him sleep late every morning of the short weekend and then say goodbye to him at 3:15 every day.
I'm tired. And I have that run-down feeling that always proceeds a cold. I'm amping up on Airborne and drinking lots of water and hoping that my immune system is in fightin' mode.
Also, Zac The Wonder Dog and Nunzio are following me around all worried-like. Zac fell asleep next to the bed last night and Nunzio cureld himself up next to my head. I'm not sure if they're freaked out about Tobey or are trying to escape from my apparent fatal psychic powers.
I'll leave you with Mooch and her "store". Notice the blown-up picture from teh Princess bride that I had to laminate - she had already carried around 2 until they fell apart.
That's right, more snow here in Mama land. It's a heavy snow with ice underneath, quite useful for falling and busting your tailbone or pulling every blessed vertebrae in your back out of line as you try to shovel out. At least it was pretty, before the dog/cats/kids got to it:
Umm, speaking of animals ...
I went downstairs to switch laundry yesterday, and smelled the lovely smell of cat poop on my floor. AGAIN. And Tobey had also peed in the corner. I had just cleaned out their box the day before and put down new litter, I was pissed! Cleaned up while cursing her out, then was on FB a while later and updated my status to "Dear cats : we really need to talk about this whole 'you being alive' thing, and how inconvenient it is. I'm sick of cleaning up poop when your litterbox is clean!"
Mister worked last night til 2 in the morning. I woke up at 5:15 thinking I was hearing Butterbean, closed our bedroom door, but didn't hear anything. Went out to the couch and curled up under a blanket to try and sneak in some more sleep. Then I hear "Mewwerrrrrr!!! Mwerrr!" I thought the cats were fighting and went downstairs to tell them to knock it off. I couldn't find either of them downstairs, then heard the sound again coming from behind the couch. I looked back and Tobey was hunched over and sort of growling - I went to get her and she nipped at my hand. She quieted down and I figured she was just working out a hairball. Went back upstairs, curled up, fell back asleep.
When the anklebiters woke up at 7:00 I went downstairs to check on her. Still in the same position. Still. I couldn't quite reach her so I poked her with a ruler - she didn't move.
So the Mister woke up to, "Hey - Tobey's dead. I have to get to work so can you go get her out from behind the couch and decide what the hell we're going to do with a cat corpse when there's 10 inches of snow on the ground?"
He requested that I be very careful about what I say about him from now on. One friend is calling me Tituba and my sister keeps IM'ing me to say, "She's a WITCH!!!!"
I decided to get all motivated-like and get serious about being toned enough to rock my bikini this summer, so I hauled my behind out of bed at 5:07 this morning to go to a Bodypump class. Have you gone to one of these? They are torturous, but they work. And you get to learn how to do She-Ra Princess of Power-like things, like clean and presses, that sound all impressive. I was taking this on a regular basis until my schedule changed, and my back and my shoulders have never looked better. So I packed up my gym bag and my lunch and prepped the coffee maker for the Mister last night, and right on cue both kids decided to wake up at 4:00 am this morning - so I will be comatose by 6 tonight.
After class and a shower I stopped for coffee and an egg-white flatbread thingie from Dunks, then went to work. I work on a college campus and have to park about a half-mile away from my building. It was so cold I got a headache - it was so cold I seriously considered curling up in the fetal position on the ground until someone came along and carried me someplace warm. I got to the office and it was EIGHT DEGREES. We are reaching a balmy high of SEVENTEEN today. I called the Mister a little while ago and laid down the law - the minute I get home I'm putting on sweatpants and a sweatshirt, fuzzy socks, and we are getting delivery. I was feeling bad about this until I came across this from Spells of Magic :
January's full moon is called the Hunger moon or the Wolf moon - This months full moon is named either the hunger or wolf moon because January is the month in the year when the wolves that used to populate much of Europe and beyond used to roam the country side extremely hungry, with frozen conditions and a shortage of ready food. Traditionally, astrological this is a time for planning your year ahead from a more spiritual if some times hungry perspective, it is a good time to be looking back and forwards at what you wish you to accomplish this next upcoming year. the January, Hunger full moon is for thinking about your needs - traditionally you should focus upon rites and rituals to do with planning - Consider and meditate on how best to acquire your needs and your wants - What is tit that your heart desires? The sun transits the zodiac sign of Aquarius during the month of January and the house of the 'group'.
So I am thinking of my needs (see what I did there?) and avoiding being eaten by the ravenous packs of wolves. I'm not lazy, I'm thoughtful.
Now let's look at these and think happy thoughts :
If you don't have anything nice to say ... then post pretty pictures from the snowstorm, and of the little germ-magnets crafting.
Back porch as the snow began
Our one tree! This was when it was starting to fall a little faster
The next morning. That's our little potted Yule tree, waiting patiently for the thaw and to be planted. Please excuse my incredibly formal tarp-draped wood pile next to Butterbean's scoot-scoot toys.
Being snowed in always inspires me to bake, and I had cranberries left over. So I made these super yummy muffins. The recipe is adapted from an Everyday Food recipe - I try and eat pretty healthy overall, and if I'm going to have a muffin I want it to taste good and have some redeeming qualities.
4 Tb unsalted butter, plus more for pan (I swap this out with melted Smart Balance spread)
1 c white flour
1 c whole wheat flour
1 c packed brown sugar
1 1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1 tsp salt
1 lg egg, beaten
3/4 c milk (Martha says whole milk, I swap in soy milk and a dash of the Mister's half-n-half)
1 bag (12 oz) cranberries
1 Tb clementine zest (optional, but so good)
Topping:
1/2 c pecans
2 Tb brown sugar
2 Tb melted Smart Balance (or margarine, or butter)
Preheat oven to 350 degrees and grease a muffin tin. Whisk together flours, brown sugar, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. In a separate bowl mix together the 4 Tb melted butter, egg, and milk. Pour wet mixture into dry mixture and mix just until combined. Add cranberries and clementine zest. Use an ice cream scoop to scoop batter into muffin tin. In a food processor, combine pecans, brown sugar, and butter. Pulse until finely chopped. Add one heaping tablespoon to the top of each muffin. Bake 1 hour, until toothpick inserted in muffin comes out clean. Let cool in pan on a wire rack, then remove from pan and let cool.
Mooch also got inspired to up-cycle an empty sushi rice container into a bird house/feeder. The results were ... ummm ... well I'll let you see for yourself
GLITTER!!!!! The herpes of craft projects! (Thanks, SMKR website)
Dear gay birds of the mid-Atlantic, your new hangout is complete.
She even decided to share some of her craft supplies with the 'Bean
I'm not sure what Butterbean was crafting, possibly an ornately decorated shiv. Or she's making a list of people to destroy in 2011.
I will be back at some point this weekend, and I will be positive. I will! I got my beautiful leather journal yesterday in the mail, and I'm going to start crafting my B.O.S. Hope all you blog lovers have a great weekend!
I got home from work Monday and could hear Mooch coughing from outside. I went to hug her and she smelled different. You know how each of your kids has a certain smell? I couldn't even describe what exactly it was - just not right. I bundled her up and took her to the doctors, and the poor kid literally got worse every minute. This is a child who never stops talking and she was huddled up on the examing table, completely silent. Her temp was 103, and the nurse checked her blood pressure and it was really high. I started to get a little weak in the knees and had to talk myself out of passing out. I know the parenting gods knew I could not handle a chronically ill child, so they gave me two healthy ones. The doctor diagnosed her with croup and gave us a steroid pill to give her, to reduce the swelling in her airways, and a seriously scary list of things to watch for. He very casually said, "So if she starts to have trouble breathing you need to get her to the ER as fast as possible" Gulp.
Luckily the pill worked, and despite her fever spiking yesterday she is getting better. She was thrilled that the doctor told her playing outside was one of the best treatments for croup, so we ventured out all bundled up yesterday. I stayed home yesterday, and today have a delayed start time thanks to the snow. I'll post pictures later - I love waking up to these snowfalls! And here's your useful tip for the day - diaper rash cream is excellent for healing chapped red noses.
Not a lot - but I've been craving it, so this will do!
Excuse the first picture's blurriness ... I was trying to stay back so I could get a bird on the feeder. This is right next to a GIANT butterfly bush that I moved this year, to disguise my homemade compost bin. Yup, made it with my own two hands after waiting months for the Mister to help. Nothing like some frustration to help you drive stakes into the ground :-)
You can barely see it, but underneath the feeder is something called a "Beauty Berry Bush". My mom has a huge one in her yard, and she gave me this baby one. In the summer it will look like this, and the birds love the berries :
The blooms on the butterfly bush are also purple, I'm excited to be able to look out and have that to see now that we got rid of our crappy metal playset and upgraded! Mooch was using the clusters of berries as "grapes for the faeries" when she made faerie houses at my parent's house this past summer.
Our rain barrel. I'm searching for another one identical to this, to put on the other side of the house. I want it next to our new vegetable garden with a soaker hose attached to it, for ease of watering. Gaah, just thinking about gardening makes me want to look at seed catalogs!
My hydrangeas, lavender, and lambs ear's all buried in the snow. The hydrangea to the far left didn't bloom for the first two years I had it, and now spits out these gigantic basketball-sized blooms. The lavender is two different varieties and desperately needs to be dug up and find a new home, it's gotten huge and is way crowded. Sigh. I love my lavender. Is it summer yet??
Also a rescued fern from Home Depot. You didn't hear this from me - but Home Depot throws away any plants that are even a little bit droopy. Once a week I drive by their dumpsters out back and could easily fill my car every time with their cast-offs. And you're saving them from being dumped in a landfill. I'm hoping this fern survives the winter, but I had no room for it inside. Good luck, little buddy.
Our entranceway, and my sad little neglected stick-planter. It got blown over in a bad wind storm a few weeks ago, and I haven't had time to re-work it. Someday ...
I'm hoping we get a little more snow. The Mister has off most of the weekend and I want an excuse to be lazy and drink Bailey's and lay on the floor with the kids playing Playmobil.
Also, the lovely Jen has stepped forward once again to design me a button. My laziness knows no bounds.
Have a great weekend all!
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