It's a Good Day for a Picnic!

I talked to my mom yesterday. All the snow in her neck of the woods is gone, the grass is greening up, and the temperature has hit 60 already. It's even better farther south. I keep hearing rumors of garden planting activity. In our neck of the woods it's been snowing (since October). We've been sick all winter, and I have cabin fever times ten. The kids are antsy. The husband is gone. And it's snowing again.

When you can't get out much, you have to create your own excitement...it's time for a picnic! Let the creative director make name tags - that makes it an official indoor picnic. Fix the fanciest frozen pizza you can find, pull out the picnic blanket and have at it. (That is a stuffed hamster, by the way. I have my standards.)

Serve bubble gum for dessert, and practice blowing bubbles while playing Uno.

Snowstorm

I did not add snow to these photos after the fact.

I did not force my children to go outside and play.

(This is what happens when the weather warms up to 20F.)

Mom, this is NOT how they got the sniffles.

Don't Worry, Winter is Still Gonna Be Around For a While Yet

At the risk of being redundant (I work for the Department of Redundancy Department), it's still winter here!

So, naturally, that means we need to eat more to stay warm. Right? O.k. I vote for this recipe.

Italian Bow-Tie Casserole

1 lb. bow-tie pasta, prepared according to package directions
1 lb. Italian sausage, no casings
1/2 onion, diced
2 cloves garlic
1 zucchini, sliced and quartered
8 oz. mushrooms, sliced
1 can tomato sauce
1 can diced tomatoes, drained
1/2 tsp. basil
1/2 tsp. oregano
salt and pepper to taste

Brown sausage, drain and set aside. Saute onion, garlic, mushrooms and zucchini until crisp tender. Add meat, sauce, tomatoes and spices. Simmer 15 minutes. Add pasta and stir to mix. Place in 9X13" pan and bake 20 minutes. Top with mozzarella cheese and broil until cheese starts to brown.

Shopping list here.

 Edited to add photo, 2/17/11.

This Day

"...this I call to mind and therefore I have hope: Because of the Lord's great love, we are not consumed, for his compassions never fail. They are new every morning; great is your faithfulness. I say to myself, 'The Lord is my portion; therefore I will wait for him.'" ~Lamentations 3:21-24

Winter Wonderland

I say if it has to be cold, it might as well snow...as long as I don't have to shovel the sidewalks and rake the roof, it's beautiful. These photos were taken a few weeks ago. We have even more snow now. I think we are going to beat the record snowfall of 125" two years ago. I'll keep you posted. (Ha, ha, that was pinda punny.)

Yes, the Snow Really is That Deep!

Playing outside in the snow like this for hours on end makes children really hungry! Children like sweets. Being the astute grown upper that I am, I realize feeding said children tons of sugar is not a very good idea. They spin around like tops until they crash on the floor. Then, because they feel out of sorts and cranky, they tend to get in loud fights and get sent to bed.

In order to solve this problem, I feed them carbs with protein. Thus, we avoid the spike in blood sugar levels and they still get the energy they need to replace what leaked out in the frosty coldness.

Semi-Healthy Peanut Butter Candy

1/2 c. peanut butter
1/2 c. honey (local if you can get it!)
1/2 c. toasted wheat germ
1/2 c. dry milk

Mix well and roll into balls. Roll in something yummy like coconut or nuts or melted chocolate or smashed up graham crackers if you like. Hmm...maybe all of the above.

I have a sneaking suspicion that this recipe came from my brother's junior high school Home Economics class, but I can't prove it. 'Cause I didn't write it down. And since it's so stinking cold outside and I have nothing better to do (laundry most definitely does NOT count as better) this is a two for one post.

Peanut Butter Fudge

1/2 c. butter
2 1/2 c. brown sugar
1 t. vanilla
3/4 c. peanut butter
4 c. powdered sugar
1/2 c. milk

Is there enough sugar in this recipe, do you think?

Melt the butter in a medium saucepan. Stir in the brown sugar and milk. Bring to a boil and stir for two minutes. Remove from heat and add vanilla and peanut butter. Add powdered sugar mix well. Place in a 9" square pan. Cover with plastic wrap and chill for half an hour so you don't burn the taste buds off your tongue.

I happen to know that this recipe did come from junior high school Home Economics, 'cause I wrote it down. I'm thinkin' our teacher had a thing for peanut butter.

Semi-Healthy grocery list here. Peanut butter fudge grocery list here.

Accidental Birding

Thankfully, someone in this house is gifted with superior powers of observation! We would have missed it otherwise.

 
First, there was one. We watched him for a while before we noticed a few more birds on the branches of our overloaded crabapple trees. They were cheeky little things. Flitting back and forth and trying to swallow the dried up fruit whole.

And then, the trees were suddenly full of them. We watched them feed for about fifteen minutes before we noticed they were not alone. Here and there were flashes of red.

Their friends, the Pine Grosbeaks were joining the feast. For another fifteen minutes, the birds stuffed themselves silly. The noise was loud enough to hear from our cozy perches inside the house.

At our best estimate, there were over fifty birds in our three trees. Most of them Bohemian Waxwings. What a sight! And then, just as quickly as they came; they were gone.

Our Next Large Piece of Furniture

As you can see, the folks up here highly value their snowblowers. Those unsung heroes of snow removal can be seen up and down the streets soon after the last snowflake falls. The sidewalks around here are cleared before the streets these days.

Did I mention that we don't have a snowblower? A certain member of our family has walked for blocks to borrow one from friends. Other members of our family have shoveled copious amounts of snow by hand. In fact, shoveling is one of the straight-haired girl's favorite things to do on a cold sunny day.

And then, after the snow has all been neatly put in its place, and the snowblowers put to bed for the night...

 

...we get another few feet of snow and have to do it all again. Thankfully, we have great friends who take pity on us and dig us out. 

I think our next major furniture purchase will have to be a snowblower.

Flying Low to the Ground

After supper, we all piled into the van and headed off to the Eighth Street Ice Rink. Yep. That's right. For all you people who live in basketball land, that's a hockey rink. H-o-c-k-e-y. It's a hockey rink, because it's outside. The intrepid people who live in our town (and others across the fine state we live in) just poured water on the frozen tundra, and kept doing it until a rink formed. Then, they periodically plowed the snow off the ice. Magic.

Tonight we were lucky. No one else was in sight. The rink had just been cleared with a zamboni and dusted with fresh snow. The girls were in skating heaven.

Two rinks to fly across and no one else in sight. The curly-headed girl just needed us to know that her toes were numb because her feet were growing out of her skates. She didn't really expect anyone to do anything about it because that would have taken precious time away from what really mattered - skating.

She was skating! You can see the joy on her face. She was not falling down. Much. She was almost flying she was going so fast!

 

Please don't hate us, prairie-dwellers. We know you pay big money to strap on skates and glide on ice. But up here? It's free! I can't even believe this is the first winter we have done this since we've moved up here. We must be learning how to live up north. The curly-headed girl was quick to inform us that this ice is safe. because there is no water underneath it, just grass. It's amazing: They know how thick the ice must be before it's safe. It's inherent knowledge, just like knowing which way is north.

Fresh As New Fallen Snow

 

Here we are at the start of a new year, with the pages of the calendar staring at us freshly, like new fallen snow. No one knows what the year will bring. Thankfully, there is One who has already gone before us, laying down a set of sure-footed tracks to follow.

Consistency

This is how we start the year around here...

...and this is how we end it.

Sometimes, we even have some of the white stuff right smack in the middle of the year, too. Yes, it has been known to snow on the first of July. After seven years of this kind of weather, we are getting pretty good at finding things to do with all that snow.

How Many Days 'Til Christmas?

"How many days 'til Christmas?" is a question every Mom wants to hear only so many times.

So in our house, we made an advent calendar on a piece of yarn strung between the door and the picture window. We used old pictures the girls had drawn and scrapbook paper that was not put to use elsewhere. They colored and pasted and painted to their hearts' content to make the rest of them. Then, we cut them into envelope shapes and glued them together. After they went to bed, I filled them. On December 1, we started taking them down for all kinds of excitement. 

We filled the envelopes with the following items:

1.  Set up the manger, but don't fill it.
2.  Make Christmas ornaments.
3.  Lindor's chocolate balls (mint flavor).
4.  Make Christmas cards.
5.  Glass menagerie animals from our local drug store.
6.  Make snowflakes.
7.  Make Christmas cookies.
8.  Money for donuts (and a coupon for a trip to Timmy's!).
9.  Hot chocolate mix.
10. Go shopping for Dad's presents.
11. Sing Christmas carols together.
12. Drive around in our jammies and see the lights.
13. More glass animals.
14. Candy canes.
15. Make suet and seed cakes for the birds.
16. Gift certificates for free Domino's garlic cheesy bread.
17. Money for a special treat (and a coupon for a trip to the candy store).
18. Watch a Christmas movie together and devour homemade popcorn.
19. Lindor chocolate balls (raspberry flavor).
20. Stickers.
21. Go shopping for the cousins.
22. Money for a treat (and a coupon for a trip to Beachy's).
23. December Book-It certificate - which assumes they have met their goal. Otherwise, I'll substitute.
24. Track Santa on NORAD and play games.

The whole thing cost us a whopping $8.87, not counting money we gave them for treats. Pretty cheap entertainment, I'd say. And the best part? Not once have they asked me, "How many more days until Christmas?"

If I Live in the Icebox of the Nation...

I might as well enjoy it somehow.

I love, love, love drinking hot tea and hot chocolate in the winter. Perhaps homemade hot chocolate mixes are more cost effective; but somehow they are lacking in smooth creamy goodness.

Then I found this recipe. It rivals Ghiradelli's hot cocoa, believe it or not. Plus, it is much more friendly to the budget.

I think I need a cup right about now. My feet are blocks of ice!

Hot Chocolate

1/4 cup cocoa
1/2 cup light brown sugar
4 cups milk

Heat the milk until hot. (Do not let it boil!) Meanwhile, mix the cocoa and brown sugar in a bowl. When milk is hot, add 1/2 cup to the sugar mix. Stir to dissolve and slowly pour, while whisking, into the milk on stove. Heat again, but do not boil. Find three friends who want to share it with you and enjoy!

(I can't believe I almost forgot to remind you to get some whip cream in a can!)

The Icicle Police

This is what the view from our front door looks like. I'm a wimp. I took this through the glass.

Lately the girls have been using icicles for currency. They take a shovel that is nearly too heavy to lift. Precariously, the straight-haired girl hoists it over her head and swings it forward (so far, no broken glass has resulted), smacking the icicles. Meanwhile, the curly-headed girl runs far, far away. She returns only after the ice crashes to the ground. Then they carefully gather the shards and cart them to their "houses." Hopefully, they are not eating them...better go check.