Colder Than a Witch’s Teat

That is how cold it is outside this morning. Being my brilliant self, I decided I had to go out and get some pictures of it. In my pj’s and crocs.

Yes, I am wearing no socks. Hey, I’m an Ohio girl. We Ohio girls have really thick blood. And hides. And hineys.

I was actually quite disappointed with the pictures. They do not adequately capture the beauty of this bitterly cold morn. And when I say bitterly cold, I ain’t jokin’. –2 degrees. That was the temperature when I headed out. In my pjs and crocs.

Pi, our “barn” cat didn’t have the sense to head to said barn. When we emerged, he was covered in frost. Inbreeding.

There was a thick hoar frost on all the trees. I’m going to have to do some research…cause I just didn’t get it. I think maybe there wasn’t enough light yet.

So, sadly, I cannot truly share with you how gorgeous really cold can be.

And gorgeous it was. Gorgeous enough to entice me out in my pjs and crocs. With no socks.

You can see the frost on the trees in the background on this pic. Still, disappointing though.

Oh well. I will keep working on it. I may have to put some clothes on first. And socks.

Love you all!        

My Bad Night

Did you ever see the movie The Little Rascals? I love that movie. I thought of it last night…one line in particular. The line where Alfalfa says, “and the clouds opened up and God said, “I hate you Alfalfa”.” That is how I felt last night.

We had a doozy of a snow storm hit yesterday afternoon and evening. The kids got out of school early. Liam already had plans to spend the night with a friend, and we didn’t cancel it. I had some serious doubts but spoke with the other mother and relented. They have a 4wheel drive truck and she had no concerns about getting him home. Plus, I knew if I cancelled it he would be totally ticked off at me!! So, Mags and Sam were home early and I thought it would be a really cozy weekend.

It had started so well you see…I was baking cookies, I got flowers from my husband.

All was right with the world. Things started going bad around 4pm. I called to order pizza for supper. Kelly’s pizza, because Jon doesn’t like Kelly’s…and the kids and I DO. But, I called and there was no answer. Didn’t surprise me really. The roads were pretty bad and I felt kinda crappy about asking her to deliver anyway, so I shrugged my shoulders, decided it wasn’t meant to be and started on some crust to make homemade. I’ve been attempting to perfect homemade pizza for years and we have a pretty good thing going at this point. So, while things were not going as planned, I was not yet ruffled. That didn’t happen until we were eating and I suddenly realized the furnace was idling. Like in the warm up phase…only it just kept doing that and doing that and doing that. Never kicking on. So, me being me, I freaked the heck out. Started melting down, turned off the furnace. Having visions of the kids and I passing out from CO poisoning. Going to bed and never waking up. I know, I have issues. I called Jon and wigged out on him, poor guy. He called Alum Creek H&C. Then they called me. Long story short…i turned off the furnace, cranked up the propane heaters in the basement and went to bed. Half expecting to never wake up. I know, you think I’m joking, but I seriously do have issues. Y’all know it’s true.

This morning the guy from Alum Creek came out and got the furnace running. Snow is clogging the fresh air pipe from outside (on the roof of course), so he told me to leave the panel off so it could pull fresh air from the house. Which looks like this:

See all those little jets of fire? He figures I should leave it open like this for a week or so. Are you kidding me??? No? Please? I am consumed with paranoia I tell you. A total freak, I am.

Despite all that…today is a good day. We have heat, I have chili in the crock pot and the kids have given me 2 minutes of peace while they played in the snow twice!

And hey! Guess what? When the snow finally stopped…the sun came out!! Isn’t that how it always happens? Love you all!

Happy Birthday Dad!!!

Happy Birthday to my daddy!! Hope you have a great day! Love you!!

My Silly Boy

Have I ever told you I’m a firm believer in co-sleeping? Well. I was when my kids were babies anyhoo. Sam slept with me until he was almost 3. Maggie was a bit different. She never wanted to sleep with Jon and I. Too much like her mother I guess. She wants her space, spread eagle, every little bit of her space. On my part it was pure laziness. I nursed the kids, all three of them. Yes, my breasts are a sad testimony to this fact. It was just so much easier to have them right there with me when they got hungry. Breast feeding was one of the best things I ever did, or the three best. I firmly believe it births and nurtures an unbreakable bond between mother and child that is exquisitely beautiful in it’s intimacy. I also firmly believe it absolutely destroys your breasts. But, in the end it’s worth the cost. I think. Maybe. Co-sleeping, on the other hand? Well, co-sleeping, not so much.

You see, it ruined my middle child for life. To this day, he does not like to sleep alone. He begs to sleep with Sam, with Maggie, with the dog, ANYBODY. He will happily sleep with anyone aside from himself. He hates to sleep alone. Since Jon has been working in Charlotte, Liam has slept with me every night. Last night, when I went to bed, this is what I found.

Somehow, the boy fell asleep with his flashlight laying on his face. He was pretty out. He didn’t wake when I took the picture. Or when I took the flashlight. Ain’t he sweet? My little snuggle bunny.

Love you all!

10 Things That Make Me Happy :^)

Ok, so I apparently have been “tagged”. Once tagged, the tagee must post 10 things that make them happy. Now I think we all know some of them (ie Jesus, my hubby and kids, yada yada yada). Therefore, I am NOT going to name them. I am going to attempt to come up with ten things besides them. I’m a crotchety ole biddy, so this may be difficult, but here it goes:

1. Sunshine ~ sunshine always makes me happy (unless I am trying to take a nap, in which case it annoys me).

2. The mountains ~ something about the mountains brings peace and joy to my cluttered, befuddled mind.

3. My camera ~ i know, it’s just a thing, but it gives me joy. Capturing a second in time is fun, especially if you can do it with style!

4. The Beach ~ the beach usually combines family and sun, you just cannot go wrong with that. Well, ok, you can…but lets not get into all that!

5. Birdsong ~ You hear very little in the winter. In the spring, in Ohio, when I begin hearing the song birds it lifts my heart.

6. The Ohio State Fair ~ My whole life I have spent approximately 11 months of every year looking forward to the Ohio State Fair. The butter cow, the ag building, the baby pigs, the smells (some good, some not) the FOOD!!! Oooooh, I love it! And if we move to SC or NC I will have to come up every few years to go. I don’t think I could just give it up cold turkey!

7. Christmas ~ You all know I am a Christmas freak. The trees and decorations. The cookies and the gifts. I love, love, love Christmas!

8. Worship ~ Sometimes at church, sometimes in the car. Every once in awhile, you have one of those moments where you are suddenly, deeply in awe of God and the wonders of his creation. These moments always leave me happy and are usually a pleasant surprise as they tend to happen randomly.

9. Butter ~ you know it. I have an issue, a butter addiction if you will. I love butter, love cooking with it, baking with it, just slathering it on a piece of bread. It’s good stuff, what can I say. One of these days I’m going to try to drag that butter cow home with me!

10. John Denver ~ a few tunes by John lift my spirits no matter what. If there is someone out there who can listen to Grandma’s Feather Bed and not crack a smile, I’d like to see it!

Wow,  I should have stuck to the obvious. That was a lot harder than I thought it would be, but, it did make me smile roughly 10 times! \

I love you all!