Mid-Winter Break

Today is the start of mid-winter break. No school today or Monday. Slept in today, going to finish that jacket, do some laundry, dust (furniture & floors) and relax today. I'll probably accomplish the relaxing part but procrastinate the rest.

I also need to pack a box for Steph and go the the post office to mail her box and my B-Swap box - can't talk too much about what's in the B-Swap box until partner has receive it..... pictures will be posted later with a more complete description. If you are curious, visit www.recipezaar.com , in the forums section find B Swap, I think it's listed in the contests section. It's a fun way to brighten a gray February. Hmmm, reminds me, I'll be receiving a box of B items too. Wonder what will be in my box????? How's the shopping going Saylaveev?

Slippery Roads

I left work today and headed for home. The roads were snowcovered and slushy but I didn't fishtail or slip a bit. I drove carefully, even switching to two lane less traveled streets and avoiding the busier main street. Didn't encounter a probelm until I exited one city and entered the next. At that point my driving habits didn't change but I almost did a donut as I turned off one street. I was extremely caution at the intersection I nearly slid through yesterday - managed to stop but I doubt the guy 1/2 block away could have stopped so I proceeded through the interesection. The last stop sign before our little community is always slippery, many cars have landed in snowbanks so, I approached the intersection slowly - only to have the Jeep slip slide towoard the ditch. Managed to avoid that catastrophe but needless to say, I'm home in my PJ's. Don't feel like venturing out again, not even to go to the Y for aqua fit class.

Guess I'll go sew a sleeve on the new jacket. Maybe even find time and patience to sew the side seams.

Free Beer and Hot Wings

I worked late last night on the new jacket I am sewing. I was hoping today would be another wonderful snow day. It should have been a snow day. It was colder than last Thursday. The roads were nasty too. Drove through a white out less than a mile from home. Idiot guy in pick em up truck fish tailed when he stepped on the gas at the traffic light and almost took out my front quarter panel. I decided if I had one more close call I would turn around and go home. Listened to the Free Beer & Hot Wings show on the radio on the way to work. They are playing some tapes from Producer Joe's early days in radio. The comedy of it all changed my mood and I made it across town to work. Thank you Free Beer & Hot Wings! Got to school just as the last two busses were unloading and decided to wait - of course I was still listening to the show so it made the wait worthwhile. When I got inside I was greeted with another messy library. Books on the rack facing every which way. The boss still doesn't know how to load a rack!

Attendance was quite low. Was told we have to have at least 75% of the kids in attendance or the day doesn't count. Don't know the final results. After lunch and one more class, moved to 2nd building where I was stood up by three kindergarten classes. Apparently today was day 101 so they watched a movie to celebrate. The 2nd grade class came in at the end of the day with their long term sub. They didn't seem as needy today. Oldest daughter g-mail chatted with me at the end of the day. She is heading back to her village and will be without internet (or electricity and all the benefits of home) until sometime in May. It was nice talking to her and I will miss our chats.

Anyway, the jacket. Last night I accidently sewed the center front seam. Ripped out the seam and went to bed. Tonight I managed to sew on one sleeve. This was after I skipped Pilates and Zumba (which was good because Zumba was cancelled). I slept in the chair most of the evening, watched Dance Wars and then sewed on the sleeve. No patience so I quit for the night. Now, I'm off to bed.

Pretty bad when a couple of guys nicknamed Free Beer & Hot Wings are the high point of my day.

Chain Factor

I found a new game. Something mindless to play instead of doing something constructive. Try it, it's addictive. http://www.chainfactor.com/index.php

Just a warning - this doesn't appear to be a professional game, I have received plenty of error messages, don't be surprised if one pops up. The game is fun despite the errors.

SNOW DAY!!!!!

Eleven inches of snow makes a snow day today! The cats helped me clean the sewing room. We created a raised platform on top of the bed so now I have a great cutting surface and I don't have to bend over to cut. Unfortunately the little girl cat loves the blue fleece I layed down on the table & I don't want to disturb her. I guess I'll do some sewing instead.

Snowman Soup

In the last week I have made snowman soup (hot cocoa) and chocolate chip cookies for seven 3rd grade classes. I challenged them to read books, take tests and score big points. The kids did great and certainly earned a special treat. One of their teachers told me this afternoon that I sparked the kids interest in reading and they were even using MEAP strategies of consulting the text in the books to confirm the right answers! It's things like this that makes me love my job. Unfortunately there are other parts of the job that make me wish I had chosen a different profession.

Made tacos for supper tonight. The boys devoured every scrap of meat. I guess that taco meat recipe is a success. Thankyou to my friends at Recipezaar.

Ok, I'm off to make a list of more "B" items to be on the lookout for my swap partner. More on that later.

Here's hoping for another snowday tomorrow.....

Sunday

I have been busy cooking today. Because of my efforts, my hubby has vegetable pizza to eat for the big game. I made meals for the next week (or two or three). In the fridge are 5 baggies of carrots, celery & radishes for my lunch bags this week long with cabbage beef casserole and shepards pie. In the freezer is taco meat and two baggies of lightly seasoned browned ground chicken. I also chopped up cabbage for coleslaw. In the crockpot is cabbage soup, on the stove simmering is bbq chicken for sandwiches and a huge Rachel Ray pot of chicken/vegetable stock.

Here's one of the chickens. It's hard to see it but there is a can of diet coke stuck up his butt.

I also signed up for a swap on Recipezaar. Never done this before but it sounds like fun. I contact my "partner" and then before the end of the month, pack up inexpensive items that begin with the letter B and mail them to my swap partner. If you are reading this and can think of unusual "B" items, feel free to post them. If you're my swap partner, no peeking or you won't be surprised.

I made a fast trip to the mall to buy a walking foot for my sewing machine. I'm sewing 72 sandwiches of material together to make "squares" for my new jacket. With my regular sewing machine foot, the fabric keeps shifting and the sandwiches are sloppy. Hopefully the walking foot will eliminate this problem.

The SuperBowl is on, I'm moving to the sewing room. I'll hook up the computer so I can watch my e-mail and also watch the commercials. I already missed one good one.

Take this quiz

http://www.eenvandaag.nl/stemwijzerusa/en/

I'm sitting here, alternately reading the paper and checking the computer. I can hear birds singing outside. Could it be the little fellow was wrong yesterday and spring will be here soon? I haven't gone out het to see what the weather is but the sound of birds singing is truly wonderful.

Today is cooking and baking day. I'll put together meals so all we have to do is defrost and cook with minimal work the rest of the week. First step is to season 3 whole chickens and toss them in the oven. Second step is to saute some onions & garlic and brown 2 pounds of ground chicken. Then I can throw meals together - maybe they will last two or three weeks this time.

Drat, the little rodent saw his shadow. Six more weeks of winter. This can only be good if it means lots of snow and snow days. I doubt the later will happen since I work for a district that believe in providing a warm safe place for children.

After several days, I finally heard from the oldest offspring who has been on holiday in New Zealand. She says, "It was a very safe trip - you know, within the first day of getting off the plane, I was riding around in a jet ski, later on, I jumped out of a plane, almost got peed on by a drunk Canadian, white-water rafted a class 5 river (it had a 21 foot waterfall!), and we ended the trip today by flying through the southwest corner of Cyclone Gene. Yep, very safe." Somehow she forgot to mention the ride on the motorbike and who knows what other adventures she knows her mother doesn't want to hear about!

Now, she is safely back in her home-away-from-home, Vanuatu. I don't know if safely is the correct work since Cyclone Funa just passed through and Cyclone Gene is rocking the southern portion of Vanuatu.

I should be worried but I'll just leave it in God's hands.