Mid-Winter Summer

Yeah.  We've had strange weather--like so many others.  We were promised horrendous, bad wintry weather--which we were blessed to not have happen so much right here.  But we did have cold enough weather that our fireplace was kept going 24/7 for a least a week.  (And our electric bill was about $100 more than the previous month anyway!)

Then . . . we somehow had a heat wave!  We'd had temps down in the teens at night with high's in the twenties during the day.  This past week, however, we had highs in the high seventies and even broke out in 80 degree weather for one afternoon!  Lows in the mid sixites.  It's weird.  Today we started out in the high forties!  YES!  Loved it!  And we're promised a high of only sixty something.  More like my kind of weather.

I'm grateful it has not been so severe that there's been loss of life due to weather in our area.  There has been so much disastrous weather/loss of life and property in other parts of the country.  My heart goes out to each and every family so affected.

Hope your weather is not destructive wherever you are.  And I'd still like a little more of the cooler, more wintry, seasonally based weather--IF I could.  But, since it's not up to me, I'll enjoy what I can--when and however the weather comes--that will be.

Thermodynamics

I need some help.  I don't have a background in physics, meteorology, or thermodynamics.  Perhaps if I had some training, schooling, understanding of all the above I would not be so perplexed by the weather conditions we've been experiencing during the last 12 to 15 hours.

If you can help to enlighten me, please, PLEASE explain it in rudimentary terms, so I'll not misunderstand. 

This is what has occurred since about 10 PM last night.

The outdoor thermometer registered 27 degrees.  As I understand it, it means BELOW the freezing mark, hence water freezes BEFORE reaching that temperature.  (Water is supposed to freeze at 32 degrees Fahrenheit, I think, right?)  Wellllllllllllllllll, at 10 last night, my daughter brought to my attention that it was drizzling outside AND the thermometer read 27 degrees.  Now, we also noticed that the barbeque grill had an icy glaze complete with icicles.  So, does that mean that water only freezes at 32 degrees F ONLY when it is dropping on a surface that is 32 degrees or below?

So then, today we've watched the outdoor thermometer and the precipitation. (We must have received some snow before we woke this morning because we saw patches of it on the kids swing set slide and elsewhere before we saw the rain or watery precipitation start back up.)  There were icicles hanging off the eves, and other surfaces, patches of ice on the patio, trees, shrubbery, etc.  The temperature has NOT raised above the 30-31 degree mark all day.  The precipitation has ceased.  And yet . . . we have water continuing to drip from the roof .  I'm not sure about it dripping off other surfaces, since I'm staying inside close to the fireplace. 

 I don't know if you can actually see the water dripping off the roofline.  

Maybe you'll have to look really closely.

So if any meteorologists, physicists, or thermodynamicists are out there willing to enlighten me, please, (again) do so now and help me avoid further consternation. I need to know.  Have to know.  *Sigh*

And additionally, if anyone has light to shed on the subject . . . does cold weather make YOU crave chocolate?  If you feel you can only weigh in on one topic of discussion, best make it this chocolate one.  Heaven knows it's the one that will count most in the end.  I think.  ;-}

Exhausted

Tonight I'm really exhausted.  There's been the flu to deal with for a week--and a 6 lb loss for me.  Ugh.  I'm trying to calorie-up, but have to take it one day at a time.  Of course, I think I feel the need for and hear a bowl of chocolate ice cream calling my name.  I heard it earlier tonight and turned a deaf ear, but it is beginning to be insistent and I may just have to go hush it up in person, with spoon in hand!

Last couple of days we have had wet and warmer weather.  Tonight, I believe the weather is turning cooler--like maybe dipping JUST below the freezing mark around daybreak tomorrow and the rains are predicted to return.  Tomorrow night we're to expect lows in the mid to low 20's.  Fun.  I'll be sure to wrap up and pack warm clothes for the trip to Jackson, MS for the antique bottle show on Saturday.  I want to avoid health relapses, thank you!

The full moon was very cool looking this evening.  My husband said it looked to him a bit like a werewolf kind of moon the way the gray clouds seemed to scratch across its face.  He might have a point.  Where's my silver spike?  Or wolfbane?  Or good sense to not get too excited about mythological weirdos?

Must be the haunting call of chocolate ice cream once again.  Okay, by golly!  I'm coming.  NOW!

Time Waits for No Man. Or Me, Either.

I haven’t really been procrastinating.  Not really.  I’ve just been so busy with preparations for Christmas and all our children and grandchildren being together—you know:  cooking, cleaning, and cleaning, and cleaning, and rearranging furniture—including getting the baby crib and other necessaries from the storage unit, cleaning some more, decorating (albeit minimally), buying groceries, and buying groceries, etc., and planning the Christmas music for the Church Christmas program including choir practices and coordinating with those who are really in charge of the meeting schedule, planning and preparing Sunday School lessons, and did I mention purchasing Christmas gifts and wrapping same?, and occasionally breathing and refocusing.

Honestly, I thought of blogging every few days or so, particularly when I had a moment to squeeze in a look at my favorite blogs late in the evening.

And then, on Tuesday before Christmas, when I thought I had another day to clean and prepare—which I figured would MAYBE be just enough time to finally finish everything—I learned around noon that youngest daughter and her family were actually arriving a day early!!!  Which meant about 3 to 4 hours from that moment!!!!!!!  Never one to panic (yeah, right!) I shot into high gear and enlisted the aid of my two oldest grandkids, who were the only other bodies present, to do things they are not used to doing!  But, because cousin, Baby Cakes, was on her way . . . man!  They were all for the extra hard labor.  Blue Eyes couldn’t get enough of the vacuuming of stairs and entry hall, Miss Noodle vacuumed the living room (we employed dual (dueling vacuums?) vacuums—Noodle had the upright, and Blue Eyes had the shop vac.  It all worked great!)  I forget who vacuumed the dining room and kitchen, but Grandma scrubbed floors upstairs and down till the skin wore away on her old fingers!  (That’s the thing about doing extra cleaning, particularly with more cooking/baking—the mountains of extra dishwashing—and during cold weather, the skin on my fingers disintegrates something terrible!  Cracks form and hurt like the dickens, and whine, whine, whine!  Sorry.)  And, Miss Noodle folded clothes till she thought she’d collapse!  But all toil and trouble was forgotten when Baby Cakes and parents arrived a little before supper.  All hearts were then made merry.  According to the baby’s Mom, said Baby Cakes wailed for miles at the injustice of have spent so many confining hours in the tortuous grip of a car seat.  (Can’t they design a reasonable car seat for little ones that doesn’t make their little sit-me-downs go to sleep?  Seriously!)

Christmas was GREAT!  We did have all our children and grandchildren together for Christmas Eve night and Christmas Day for the FIRST TIME EVER!  I’m soooooooooo grateful for that!!! 

 Someone discovered the GREATEST ball in the world!  It rolls very nicely, smells good and TASTES good!

 Santa somehow knew that this kid needed, really needed a car to sit in and drive.  For REAL!

 Uh, oh!  Thought that pic was a better one.  But Wii is mesmerizing, nonetheless!  For #2 Daughter and her precious brood!  

SIL, Baby Cakes' papa loved playing Mario something or the other along with (my) Young Son, too!

 Young Son on doling out the Christmas gifts duty.

 Youngest Daughter and Fambly

 Oldest Daughter finishing up the asparagus casserole.  Yum!  (There's a sweet potato casserole just about ready for the oven close by.  More YUM!)

 My Borther-in-Law.  

(I don't ever remember seeing him look more like his brother, my husband, than in this picture!)

The day after Christmas, #2 Daughter and her father (my husband—just so no one gets confused) drove half the distance for her children to meet their Dad for his week with them.  Our son had work on Monday, so before husband and daughter made it back home, I drove him to his home.   

Once there were eleven and then there were seven.  But we were not idle.  Son-in-law took the time--and there were some complications, of course, because nothing like that is going to go along seamlessly--to install my Christmas present, a new dishwasher.  He also managed to uninstall the garbage disposal that has been inoperative for years and therefore taking up unnecessary space under my sink.  (The first task, of course, did entail the removal of the OLD dishwasher.)  I can’t tell you how grateful I am for his help in those two tasks that require not only brawn but, quite frankly, a lot of brain as well. 

His wife, #3 daughter, made a fabulous pot of chicken and dumplings—her own variation of my version of my mother-in-law’s take off of her mother’s rendition of her own mother’s chicken and dumplings recipe.  We all lapped it up with gusto!  And, for me, because I requested it before she ever left home to come this way, she made her great apple pie!  I truly savored every bite—and wish for more.          

On New Year’s Eve Eve, we celebrated oldest daughter’s birthday (a day early) with middle daughter’s Pork Adobo Tacos, my guacamole and pico de gallo, and I don’t remember all the rest, other than grated cheese, sour cream, chopped cilantro and chopped green onions to adorn the other stuff. 

Then oldest and youngest daughters, Son In Law, and I played “Settlers of Catan” on New Year’s Eve to welcome in 2011.  It was fun—even if I did the worst of all players, but it was touch and go for the rest of the players throughout the game, and Birthday Girl took grand prize!  We had my homemade cinnamon rolls for her “birthday cake” (she’s NEVER been a great cake fan) the next day.

We had a great spread on Christmas (just to keep you guessing as to the time line—there isn’t one. (Obviously)) Tangenting back now:  Youngest daughter, SIL and Baby Cakes left us on New Year’s Eve, sniffle, sniffle.  They’re over 700 miles away—which is way too far!  The other grandchildren are back from their week with their Dad and their other grandma where they had a second dose of Christmas.  And school has begun once more.

I think I began typing this post up two weeks ago.  Since much has occurred in the mean time, I’ve apparently not posted it before today, so I’ll do that now and catch you up (or me up?  Hmmmmm???) a little later on what’s happened since. 

Maybe.  * * * SMILING * * *

(ThIs wHolE tHinG miGht NoT maKe eNny sEnse.  BuT ThEn, yOu migHt HaVe fiGureD iT/tHaT ouT.)

What a Beginning . . .

Do you suppose it means I'm just overly tired, or losing my mind?  Yes.  This morning after standing under the wonderfully warm water spray of the shower I grabbed the shampoo bottle and promptly washed my face.  Then I realized my mistake and took it on up to the top of my head and washed my hair as well.  My usual routine is to wash my face with my face cleanser, not shampoo.  I almost panicked, fearing that my eyelashes would lose their curl--what little there is--because I was using a shampoo that is supposed to reduce/relax the natural curl in one's hair.  I don't know why I was worried.  It hasn't prevented the dippsie doodle waves that have been plaguing me for several months now.

I've always been so proud of my hair for cooperating so beautifully--up until recently.  It's begun this maddening tendency to do "S" waves here and there, but especially right around my face and it bugs me to no end.  I'm not, after all, living in the 1920's, for Pete's sake!  (Give me nine or ten more years and I'll be a full century off!)

As I continued with my shower and thinking of stinking "S" curves on female heads, I remembered Miss Phoebe Whiting from my 7th grade Home Ec Cooking class.  Back in 1961-62.  At first, I and my classmates had difficulty knowing what to do about Miss Whiting.  She had an austere demeanor and looked like someone from an old Victorian movie.  She was probably my current age--early 60's--and dressed with high collars, (I remember some filigree white ones)  long sleeves, mid-calf or slightly longer skirted dresses with fitted bodices and often with belts--maybe?  I think I remember her wearing a watch pinned on her bodice, but don't quote me on that.  Her hair was dyed black and worn in a bun at the nape of her neck ... and she had "S" curve waves (flat around her face) on either side of a middle part. 

She was a large woman and had obvious jowls, which were carefully painted (along with the rest of her face) in a foundation lighter than her apparent more olive complexion.  Her eyebrows were black and I think penciled in a bit of a half-moon shape over each eye.  Little pink circles of rouge dotted each cheek.  Her mouth was one of those little rose-bud kind, painted a dark red.  Her hands and feet were tiny and disproportionate with the rest of her body.  Her black shoes were of the previous era as well.  They were laced up to her ankles, and had a one or one-and-a-half inch solid heel.  (Some of today's shoes aren't too far off.)

She was very precise in her directions and I don't ever remember her raising her voice--even working with a classroom of giggly 12-13 year-olds.  She loved sweets and rich foods.  I still remember some of the recipes we made the 1/2 year I was in her class.  Oh, she also love canned, evaporated milk and we used it in every possible recipe we could.  We made chocolate pudding, from scratch.  (Actually all our recipes from scratch!)  Tomato soup, Welsh Rarebit, and Rice Krispi Treats.  So THAT'S where my love affair with Rice Krispi treats began!  (She told us that when we were mothers and our children didn't want to eat their cereal, we could sweeten it up with the marshmallow/butter coating to make it more appetizing!  We all dropped our jaws on that one!)  I don't remember other recipes, but I do remember having fun.  After getting to know her better, I came to love her.  She commanded respect, but did have a sense of humor and she was kind.  She's one of four teachers I fondly remember, and only one of two that I remember first and last names of.

I'm grateful to have known Miss Phoebe.  I'd been cooking for about four years before being in her class, but I learned some things from her.  And I'm glad for the memories.  Even with my kind memories of Miss Phoebe, I still don't want my hair to do "S" curves around my face. 

And even though I shampooed my face today, I didn't note any appreciable change in the curvature of my eyelashes--or anything else.

A Couple Things. And a Couple More.

First and foremost:  I'm not dead.  Yet.  Hear loud celebratory noises.  Yes?  No? Okay.  It's good for me, if not for anyone else!  Perhaps God still thinks I have work to do.  (Read:  I still have time to repent and straighten up!)  That's a good thing!

We've been dealing with what lots of others have at this time of year:  Hot days (in the 80 degree range) followed shortly thereafter with cold days (as in it was 29 degrees this fine morning when I got out of bed.)  Hence and therefore, most of us in this household have struggled with varying degrees of misery due to  head colds/sinus infections/allergies/ear infections/bronchitis--any combination of which is so pleasant, if not downright debilitating.  I'll not plague (cough, cough) you with whom had what and when, because we've had what so many others have had and still have.  (Occasionally we seem like the walking dead but seem far more grouchy, you know.)  Thank Heaven, the FLU seems to have missed us.  That dreaded miserable stuff.  (Knock on wood.)  And somehow, I'm not grieved by that fact.  Imagine!

So, now on my second antibiotic (the first was no picnic and only seemed to "take the edge off", and this far more expensive one (I thought of explaining that this newest antibiotic is over a130 times more expensive than the last, but then I remembered a foundational rule about multiplication:  zero multiplied 130 times still equals zero.  Oh well!)  had better do the trick!  I have many things to do!!!  I have high hopes of having energy, well-being, etc. to proceed with the hundred tasks my list is growing to for this fine month of December.  I'm very hopeful, if nothing else, of getting the house CLEAN and decorated for the coming of Christmas--with all children and grandchildren in attendance!  Yes.  Little Baby Cakes will be here to bless us for her first ever Christmas celebration, and maybe a slightly early First Birthday celebration, as well!  Much to do.  Much to do.

Our recent Thanksgiving celebration was wonderful. It was not fancy, but all in attendance, including small grandchildren, contributed to either cooking dishes of goodies, preparing the dining table for eating and/or cleaning up after the celebration of feasting took place.  I was so exhausted after all that cooking (my portion), and eating  (Yes.  I did eat too much, thank you.) that I went to bed for a 2 hour nap, and left the cleaning up/storing left-over goodies to everyone else!  One of the more-or-less wanted (more less, I think) I think I've gained back the 5 pounds I lost from the recent surgery/hospital stay back in October.  Oh, darn it!  (To quote one of Little Britches' more favored expressions to express his displeasure.)  And I just bought a new pair of size 8 jeans! Darn it!  Again.

One day--whenever I get on top of everything else--(I'm full of faith that I will, one day, be on top of everything.  Well, okay.  When I'm to a point of deciding that everything else can be put on hold, once more. while I blog a little.)  I plan to post a recipe I made a couple of weeks ago:  Mexican Black Bean Soup.  I don't think I've included it here previously, but with the way my mind works . . . it could be a duplicate.  Hope you all have a great holiday month, and a great Christmas celebration at your house!

Weeks and Weeks Behind

Halloween was what?  three weeks ago?  And my last post was what?  about, well over a month ago?  So, I'm progressing backwards at an alarming rate.  My heart is ticking faster, but somehow the rest of me is moving slower or something?  Maybe the clocks and calendars are mistaken.  Yeah.  Maybe that's it!  Or, maybe I've just always been behind and I'm getting behinder.

At any rate, I took some pictures the other day of a pot of soup I was crafting and downloaded them to my computer.  (Or is that referred to as uploading?  I never am for sure about computer-eese.)  Anywaaaaaaaaaaaaaay...I found a few photos from Halloween.  That day about three weeks ago.  Thought I'd share a few pictures to let you know that although I'm apparently close to snail speed, I can still manage to go forward some of the time.  In small units of measure, whatever they might be called.

Here are the pictures.  I enjoyed taking them before we took the grandkids to the Halloween Party.  It was fun!  And about the biggest event I'd attended since my surgery.  I saw so many friends there who asked about me and hugged me and told me they'd been praying for me, it just made it all worth the effort to go even when I didn't think I could manage.

 Miss Noodle put her costume together on her own.  She was a butterfly, magic fairy princess--in case you couldn't tell.

Now she's having fun posing.

Meet Luigi--aka Little Britches

Little Britches (ah, Luigi) and big brother, Blue Eyes, or Professor Scientist, fully into their respective roles.

"Once again, the evidence of my research clearly shows . . ."

The party was held outside in the country with a little fire--not a big bonfire--probably because it was mostly for little children.  Shortly before leaving for home--after the children traveled from vehicle to vehicle to "trunk or treat" filling their buckets with sugary booty--I looked up into the crystal clear, chilly night and was nearly brought to tears!  The very dark blue sky was glistening with a jillion beautiful stars!  And the Milky Way!  (I have too many trees and street lights close to the house to often see much of the stars, and to have a night clear enough to catch the Milky way . . . )  It was soooo beautiful and awe inspiring.  It was refreshing to see God's handy work--again--in the beauty of His mind-boggling creations!