Another January day, another snowfall

Here we are again, another frigid day, another snowfall. I don't HATE winter, but I do get tired of it, and this winter has been tough on me. I cannot remember a January that has been this cold and this snowy since I have had children, and it is definitely worse since we moved further north.
Last night B. parked the car as far down the driveway and as close to the street as possible so that he wouldn't have to spend hours shoveling out before work. Still, this morning when I peeked out the window at 6:30 he was shoveling, so I knew we must have had another big snow during the night.
It fell all morning. I went out to feed the chickens and open the coop and it was about 8" high on my walk to the barn. That's 2/3 of the way up my boots. At 1pm I went out again to gather eggs and the snow was over the top of my boots, and the drifts were much higher. At least the snow had finished falling.
I went into the barn and saw this:

In a matter of a few hours snow had blown in the door of the coop, and divided my chickens in half. Some of them were on the left third of the coop by the food, and the rest were on the right (the part you can't see in the photo) side up on their roosts. They didn't seem to happy about having to cross that snow line!
Sometimes a little snow will blow in the coop, but the door is over a foot off of the ground so the snow has to be at least a foot high to blow in.
So I shoveled all of it out and lay new straw, and then I shut the door so those poor chickens will not see the sun today. Though they would never go out in this deep snow anyway!
In a couple of hours I will head out to shovel the end of the driveway so B. can pull the car in when he gets home.
And no, I don't think I will be running tonight!

Yesterday my son called me into his room to look at yet another Lego creation. Usually he wants me to ooh and aah over some kind of supernatural robot or a building filled with booby traps. This time was a little different though. He said,

"Look Mom, my minifigures are having sex!"

I didn't know whether to laugh or be kind of creeped out. I mean, I thought positioning dolls in sexual positions was just something girls did with their barbies.
I never thought my son would even think to do this with his Legos.
I guess it makes sense.
He thinks of his minifigures as little real people, and he has been rather curious about sex lately.

But still, ugh.

To his credit he chose the tribal minifigs from the Indiana Jones set, the ones that have very little clothing. Their gender was a bit ambiguous. But I guess that discussion will come later.

Winter running hits its low point

So my January running has been a little less than ideal. My goal for the winter running was to clear 15 miles a week, but, uh, that has not been happening. December was close, but I am embarassed to admit how little running I have done so far this month. Let's just say that I am way, way under par.

It doesn't help that this month has been absolutely frigid, so my motivation to go out has been very low. Today it was 15 degrees when I went out for my 4 miles, but with the sun out it was bearable. We had a couple of days where the high was 8, 10, 12 degrees and I didn't even consider those days at all.

I guess I am a big baby. I never said I was tough. In fact, I rather enjoy snuggling under a blanket on the sofa and looking at the icy roads, knowing that I won't be running on them that day.

But then I look at my meager mileage on RA(www.runnersadvantage.com)and I feel my base slipping away.

I'm still pretty indifferent. I'm not training for anything. Winter running to me is simply there to maintain my base and keep my sanity. Come late February the tides will begin to turn and I am going to have to grit my teeth and get out there. In the meantime I am enjoying the respite and praying for a heat wave.

Inaguration Day 2009

Snow Day

So I promised the kids we would go sledding today. But then we got this:



And I won't drive in that.

So we had a brownie party instead! I finally figured out how to bake good brownies. It has taken me years. I would get so frustrated because it seemed as if every time I tried to bake brownies the inside would be underdone, the outside would be overdone, and I would feel like a huge failure because can't everyone bake brownies???
I finally figured out that a combination of following the Betty Crocker recipe EXACTLY (yes, I do beat the sugar, eggs and vanilla for 5 minutes, not just 1 minute), setting my oven temp to 365 and cooking for an hour, covering with foil and cooking 15 minutes longer will get me soft, cake-like brownies, with no hard crust and no underdone mess in the middle.



That is fresh whipped cream. As in fresh from the cow. I am lucky, lucky to have a good farmer friend who gifts us with fresh milk and cream. It is just as yummy as it looks.

We ate brownies and drank hot chocolate with whipped cream and played some games. Sledding was forgotten and Mom once again took her rightful reign as queen of the universe, aka BEST MOM EVER!!!

Well, it's been a few days since my last post, and I have to say that after the initial shock I am feeling much better about things. My family has a lot of blessings, and I have come to feel that things usually do settle in the right places, and work out for the best in the long run. Even though we are in a period of change I can shrug off the stress and continue to enjoy my family and the present, and I do.

I was a little down for a few days, I will admit, but not down and out. I used those days to clean up my sewing area and now my machines are sparkling clean, oiled and run like butter. I made a dress for my daughter out of some fabric that has been sitting in my stash for YEARS-I'll post a pic in a bit when I can get her to model. I also majorly decluttered. I have a ton of fabric, notions and patterns that I am ready to move out! Hopefully I can sell them quick and get excited about working on some new projects.

For Christmas this year I bought the kids a sewing machine. I have a Singer 221 Featherweight that I had been letting F sew on, but it is in need of a tune-up and because it has sentimental value to me (it was my Grandmother's) and it is also a rather sought after machine, I decided to retire that for my own use. I settled on this Hello Kitty machine by Janome. I didn't try it out in person, but the reviews were good and the price was right, and I have to admit that the cuteness factor won me over. Well, let me tell you, this machine is a GEM! I am very, very pleased with it. In fact, I would be happy to use this machine as my own. I honestly thought that it would be like one of those low end Singers that you can buy at Target or Walmart. But this is a sturdy machine! With metal parts! And an awesome stitch!
C is working on her skills-sewing pretty with Hello Kitty!







Hopefully F will come around and the girliness of this machine won't deter him. He is a pretty good (um, what's the male word for seamstress? Taylor? That doesn't sound right) sewer, and I really did buy it for both of them.

Now I have 5 machines in this house. Is that crazy? For the amount of sewing (or maybe I should say non-sewing) that I do, yes, I think it is a little over the top!

Ohio's crappy economy hits a little too close to home

I am in shock.

We found out yesterday that B. is losing his job. The institution where he teaches is closing. It was completely unexpected and sudden.

I am not ready to completely freak out just yet, but I am in a bit of a daze. Our best hope is that he will be transferred to another institution and that with his seniority he will be able to "bump" out a teacher with less seniority there. Less than ideal, obviously, but at least he would have a job (really unfair to the other teacher, but that's the way the system works). The other institutions are scattered about Ohio so we would be looking at a move in the near future.

Our worst fear is that he will not be placed and will have to look for a "regular" teaching job in central Ohio. That is a nightmare I hope he never has to go through again, and I don't know if he would be willing to go through that again right now.

I have a knot in my stomach that I am trying to ignore. I love living here. I love our home, our neighbors, our location. I really thought we would retire here, but like the song says, "life is what happens while you are making other plans".

I am needing a real pick-me up, but it looks like we'll be snowed in for the next 2 days so I will settle for some more sewing at this point. The long runs will have to wait.

This has been one of those days that can't end soon enough.

Yesterday we went to the crazy mouse house where the kids loaded up on soda and pizza and cupcakes, and then went on a mad gaming spree to win tickets for candy. In all fairness it was for F's birthday, but now we have the day-after sugar lows and whine-fest.

The roads are icy and snowy so we didn't go to homeschool group which caused an uproar. Whining ensues. Kids fighting. M. has peed all over the house. He also dumped out every bin in the school room-very quietly I might add, so it was not noticed until it was too late. Math was done, but then begging to watch a movie becuase they are so BORED. No, no, there are thank-you notes that still must be written-have they already forgot the generosity of their loved-ones? Of course they have. More fighting over specific pen, which paper to use, and "I'm writing to Grandma first-so you CAN'T!!!!"

And then the thing that bothers me most-the begging for food. I cannot stand to cook anymore than I have to, and on days like today it is even worse. Nothing I make is good enough, they are STARVING, only certain foods will do, blah, blah, blah. These are the "eat it and like it, or starve" days. Thank God I did a little extra work in the kitchen last night so we could have chicken soup tonight with very little prep. Oh how I envy those of you who are in love with the kitchen and take great pleasure in nourishing your families. I read your blogs and want it to be me so badly.

Time for a cup of tea. I feel like crap, I haven't run in 3 days and I just ate the last of the cupcakes. I am working on cleaning up my sewing area and hopefully tonight I can sew myself out of this funk.

Honestly, is there anything more exciting to a 6 year old than losing that first tooth? Can't think of anything? Neither can she-

Logging those miles

New Year, new goals.

Running goals that is.

I have discovered www.runningahead.com which a website that takes the place of the pen and paper logs I have always kept. I am not very good about logging my miles. Even when I am in training I try to avoid writing down my mileage, which really is not practical. I think it is mostly because when the numbers are in front of me I tend to get stressed out about the details and then I get stressed out about running. Because running is so important to me I try to keep it as low-key and stress-free as possible. When I stress about it, it is no longer enjoyable. So for the past 2 years I have avoided keeping any kind of log and therefore I have avoided any kind of accountability to myself. I can just continue to classify myself as a casual runner, getting in 20 miles a week during the summer, 15 in the winter, steady, slow mileage increases, no interval workouts, just enjoying my runs. Becuase I don't vary my workouts, and usually run about the same mileage each week I have just kept kind of a mental tally of where I am mileage wise and this keeps me at a nice distance from accountablity. I am part of an online forum where I do post my daily mileage, but I don't keep a record of it myself, and it really is just a social outlet for me.

But who am I kidding - I am not being good to myself. I have lofty goals this year and I am at the point where I need to log my miles and workouts and be accountable. I desire not just to reach my running goals this year, but to do so strong and injury-free. I KNOW that I will reach a point where I will become obsessive about the numbers, and I will stress out about the work-outs, and I will not look forward to my runs. But I can't avoid it any longer. This is the natural cycle that occurs in training, and I'm ready to face it and accept the challenges that come with accountablity.

My first major event of 2009 will be a 25K in May. Accountability, here I come.