Yesterday, I was feeling adventurous. The sun was shining, but the wind was blowing and it was 29 degrees. I had to move the truck (scrape the snow off the windshield first) to get the car out of the driveway, and by the time I had cleaned off the car windshield, without gloves for some reason, my hands were frozen. How old am I?
Camille and I went to Target. I had a small order pick up, then just a few things to get. We tried a few things on, I was bitterly disappointed in the jeans, oh my tummy! But she found a lovely Christmas dress for only nine dollars. We wandered and meandered and found a few Christmas gifts. I checked my phone a few times for where that snow was on the radar...lake snow was pounding Oswego, just to the north of us. It was forecast to swing down at some point, but we were playing Beat The Snow.
The thrift store was fun, 25% off on Tuesdays for seniors, and that's 55 and up, so that's me. I found some grandchildren clothes, Cam found two shirts, one still with Old Navy tags. I found a little coat for Ruth with the tags still on it. Then, when we got to the register, Barbies! New in the box, holiday Barbies! I had a good idea, what if we got them for the granddaughters? I want to get the grandchildren only one thing each this year, as they have SO much stuff, how about one really fun present?
These were the four we chose, for $11.24 each. Anya and Elise, and Lydia and Ophelia....the two year olds (Ruth and Rhys) are too little. It was great fun to pick them out, there were SO many to choose from.
It was snowing when we left the store, so we didn't go anywhere else. We headed home. Sure enough, snow. It was blowing and snowing, and at one point, I could barely see...about five minutes of driving in the blinding white-out. It hadn't covered the road yet, so I could still see where I was going, but it's not fun. The rest of the way was off and on again limited visibility, but not too bad. We were glad to get back home, ahh, home. Activity club was canceled in the evening. Both Emily and Mariel had challenging rides home from work, and Sonja had to leave to drive to the city, right in the midst of it. That's one thing about working night shift, leaving for work at six o'clock, when it's dark...ugh. She texted Jon when she got there, safe but late, it was not easy.
That's what life is like when you live here in Central New York State, south of Lake Ontario, the great snow machine. The folks east of the lake get SO much snow, I think they had at least a foot, 18 inches.
Once we got home, and the house was filled with that brightness that a snow filled yard brings, with all the Christmas lights on, it was so cozy. We wrapped a few presents, and had hot drinks.
Then, time to make dinner. I cut up a five pound package of chicken breast, then tossed it in a bowl with cornstarch and flour, salt and pepper. Into the hot wok, three batches, golden brown and crispy. Camille made a pan of rice. I microwaved a bag of broccoli crowns, then a bag of Chinese mixed veggie stir fry, just until soft, then threw it all into the wok. I added the chicken back in, then the sauce, which was butter and orange marmalade with ginger, the packed of teriyaki sauce from the veggies, and some Target orange chicken sauce, all bubbling hot. I poured it over everything, stirred it up, and mmm. Americanized Chinese food.
Sunrise with snowy branches, winter isn't all bad.
This fine day, Margaret is coming over with her little ones. I need to get up and vacuum and clean up a bit. Sonja is home from work now, having some brekky, then she'll sleep the day away. What a job, taking care of children in the pediatric hospital...oh my soul. She never tells me any specific details, but sometimes the outlines of the stories...a newborn with broken bones, shaken baby syndrome...a baby left alone in a house and discovered by a plumber...a special needs child with a myriad of issues, still smiling. They don't even know me, but I pray for them.
Ah well, time to move it move it...have a really nice day!
