31 degrees and sunny?!!

We'll take it! Just a tad under 0 c, it's all good, feels like spring.


Camille, me, Charlotte Claire, all comfy in my chair, doing our research on one of the very best things one can research, besides maybe getting a new puppy or baby names, anyway, we were looking up: theme parks in Florida. Yes, we are hoping to go to either Universal, or Magic Kingdom again, or maybe Busch Gardens again. Universal is winning, we're just not sure about the long lines, as we're going on a regularly scheduled winter break instead of going a week early, ha. Honestly though, the girls are THRILLED and are talking non-stop about this upcoming trip. They aren't thinking of the looong tiring drive, the traffic, the possibility of bad roads and stormy weather through the Pennsylvania mountains. No, they are thinking ROADTRIP! Sunshine! Camille said yesterday, "One of the very best parts of the trip is getting there, getting out of the van, and seeing Grandma. And hugs, definitely hugs."

We already reserved a hotel for one night in Amelia Island, Georgia, a hop, skip, and a jump from the ocean. It is about four hours from our destination of Zephyr Hills, Fla. It gives us a nice rest for the last leg of the journey, and hey, it's the Atlantic Ocean, wow.:) I am almost considering reserving a second night so we can have an entire day there...

Speaking of happy exciting things, yesterday a huge box came in the mail. The delivery guy honked, and Sonja was voted to go out and get the package, as we grumbled that we never get anything in the mail, it's always nutritional supplements and vitamins for Paul and Joe and Kathryn. But the box came in, and it was for me! It was from Margaret! She had told me something was coming for me, and not to get too excited, but who can not get to excited when a huge box comes in the mail?


It was a dustpan on a stick! It's shiny and new, and the handle doesn't come unscrewed and fall off. The handle on the old one came off for good, so we put a wood broomstick/paint roller extender thing on it that's way too heavy for the dustpan, so if one leaves it standing by itself, it tips over, scattering the mess. Anyway, it was a very welcome surprise, but ha, such a huge-0 box for it!!!


Camille has the box now, she spent an amazing amount of time in there last night with her flashlight. I'm not sure if she was playing office during a power outage, or practicing being homeless, or what, but she had that box covered in blankets and here it is in the middle of the living room, she wants to keep it.

This fine morning, Kathryn took Charlotte Claire and Camille out and about, she took them to Target and to TJMaxx, and spoiled them, each a new shirt, and new neck-pillows for our Florida trip, which Cam so nicely said I can borrow if I get a chance to sleep. They are home now, and will do some school. I don't worry too much if our hours are random, last evening we did lots of science, geography, and vocabulary. They're learning.:)

Anne is taking her nap, so we're having Quiet Time. Jonathan is doing his own school work. He and I, and Anne, had a nice breakfast together. He made bacon and scrambled eggs. He says he is trying to eat healthier, cut the carbs. It's nice to see, and nice that he came to that decision by himself. He said some of the boys are going to start some sort of martial arts...they're always doing something fun.

Tomorrow we are having a fun field trip, to the big mall in the city, to one of those indoor play places. I will have Anne and Lydia, and yay for going bye-bye with a one year old and a two year old! It makes it tricky, but also makes it so much fun. The little ones are such blessings, despite diaper changes and melt-downs. Watching them keeps me on my toes.

Ah well, there is laundry to do and kids to teach and so so so many little projects to tackle. I like the keep the stovetop cleaned off, and the microwave wiped out, and the front of the refrigerator shiny, the tile on the back of the stove clean, and and and. I swept and mopped this morning, and washed all the couch covers, and and and. But, it never ends. Until some day it does, ha. I read an article on yahoo, which someone also posted on Facebook, that a 27 year old girl wrote before she died of cancer. Oh the things we waste time fretting over, as if we had our lives stretched out before us with no end. She wrote about using your money to bless, and not measuring your worth in "likes", or letting social media influence your self-image, letting go of caring about a flabby tummy, and being thankful for your days. She said she would desperately love to grow old with her partner and raise a family, and that she loved her life and didn't want to die, but there wasn't anything she could do about it. I did cry when I read it. Our days ARE numbered, and the fact that I have already lived twice as long as this lovely young lady, what do I have to complain about, ever?

And you know, in God's eyes, it's a level playing field. We might always think others have it easier, or better. But when it concerns grace from God, help from Him, He is no respecter of persons. Anyone who prays for help, who wants to put their life in order and start listening and being obedient to what God speaks to him, has the opportunity to be blessed by God. He resists the proud, and gives grace to the humble. It is never too late to turn to Him, nor is one ever put to shame, who puts his trust in Him.

And that is my sermon for today, :)

oops, sorry!

Sorry Evelyn! She had to go to a public meeting for an assignment in one of her classes, so it was a school board meeting last night, and I was supposed to go with her. And. I forgot. Well, I remembered a few times, felt confident I had plenty of time, then forgot again.

But it's not like I was just sitting around twiddling my thumbs, forgetting about things. No sir. First was the pool with the three homeschooled kids...getting out of the driveway was a challenge, the packed ice in the driveway had melted into a cement-like slush, keeping my wimpy old minivan captive. I had to reverse and gun it several times, which is much more fun than shoveling it. We moved forward a few feet at a time, but eventually, we were out of the driveway.

The pool was amazing, as usual. Putting my bathing suit on is NOT amazing, but I'll spare you the details. Margaret had the day off from work, and Adrian worked half a day, so they met us there. The kids love swimming with Adrian, he plays with them and is lots of fun. Margaret and Adrian agreed to bring the kids with them on their errands, and took them out to lunch, while I headed home to be picked up by my sister. She had a dr. appointment to prepare for an upcoming kidney stone surgery, blah. So I cut coupons in the waiting room while she saw the dr. I asked her if it would embarrass her, ha, because when I say "cut coupons", I mean RIP coupons, because I didn't have my purse scissors with me.

Our shopping find of the day: Bumbo seat, with tray: $13.79. We both have grandchildren, so we each got one.

Then the grocery store. I must say, it's nice to go use lots of coupons without kids there rolling their eyes and sighing. The donuts were half price, and ugh, why oh why did I buy some? But, alas, I did. And...since I had been swimming and was starving and it was past dinner time, yeah, some donut eating happened on the way home. Does it matter if I truly enjoyed it (or ahem...them!)?

So I had a handful of nuts for dinner when I got home, and called it a night, as far as eating goes. Not ideal, but oh well. I can only hope the swimming made up for most of it:(

Home with groceries...Mirielle was so nice, she went with Evelyn to the meeting. I felt bad, but when I remembered, I was already in the city, already had my coupons ready, and we were out of a few things at home, so I texted her and said I wasn't going to make it. eeks. I COULD have headed home. But, I have Anne today, tomorrow, and Thursday, and that means ha, no coupons, and honestly, I don't mind running in a store quick with her, but not a long shopping trip.

This fine afternoon, Sonja and I have to have fillings at the dentist. I have a super small cavity all the way back in a wisdom tooth, which means my jaw may just crack and stay open forever, which is my primary concern, along with the fear of my nose being dislocated. I'll have every single muscle in my body tensed, which may make the whole ordeal count as a workout!

Anne is going with us to the dentist. It's one of the rare times I'll break my "no tablet" rule, or phone, or whatever. Babies like those silly little songs videos at such young ages.

She is taking a nap right now, in the stroller with the fan on, so we're doing school quietly. Don't think for one minute that I just sit here typing, I have been helping Charlotte with the word, "devise", taking the loud bone away from Sunny, answering Camille, directing them what book to go to next, answering texts about watching kids, and of course, drinking coffee. Oh, poor busy me, ha.

is it spring yet?

See that snow overhanging the deck, built up from the roof?


There it is, after if fell down with a huge BANG.

I hurried out the front door, which THANKFULLY I had shoveled out, that door wouldn't have opened for anyone with all that snow on the porch...anyway, Paul had just gotten home from running a few errands and a trip to the dump, so he got up there first, but I helped him shovel it out...we could NOT have gotten out the door. The snow was almost halfway up the window. It's kind of scary, to get that much snow, to almost be literally snowed in.

It's stopped now. The local airport reported 66 hours straight of snow, and I daresay, it was even longer here. Every weather map I looked at for a few days, our house was right smack in the middle of that lake effect snow band coming off of Ontario.

But now, it's an almost springy 20 degrees, going up to maybe....33 today! But, with more snow...

We have plans though, to the pool at noon, then I may go with my sister to her dr. appt., then of course we may or may not gallivant as long as we're out.

Plans are coming together for Margaret's baby shower, which we are having here in a few weeks. She is due in March. I am so excited! Guess what! I am not barred from the delivery room! I have actually been invited to be there! I am so thrilled, and honored, and wouldn't miss it for the world. But anyway, we are having the shower here. The girls have invited like 30 people, but then with our fam here too, it's going to be a full house. This all means of course, that I have to CLEAN, more than usual. Because we get used to the hard water build up on the faucets, and the stuff piled up in the hallway...but oh dear, company's coming, all of the sudden I see so many things that are out of order, too messy!

Anyway. I had this minor epiphany the other morning, as I shuffled out here in my sweatpants and messy bun, in my $4.99 Walmart slippers...(sometimes I feel so old, doing the slipper shuffle)...but I realized something that's very obvious: this is my life. It's it. This. Waking up, wiping down counters and making a fresh pot of coffee, letting the dogs in and out and giving them water. Throwing in a load of laundry. Hugging Cam when she wanders into the kitchen with her blankie around her shoulders. This IS life. When you're young, you tend to think about life in terms of preparation for the future, then you all of the sudden get old, and you try to slow it down, this life that speeds by.

So here's something really special: I'm 99% sure we're going to Florida next month! Now, lots of people go to Florida every year, no biggie. But me, I never ever went there until I had five kids, and after that it was another 15 years or so before I went again. When I was a kid, only the rich kids went to Florida. My mother used to say it was overrated, as she did with all things we couldn't afford, ha. But Paul's mom is there, and has invited us down, and Paul and I talked, and decided that although he cannot go with me because work is way too busy for him this quarter, with a few trips to India thrown in for good measure...I can go by myself with the kids. Evelyn can help drive if we go on winter break, so that's what we're doing. I am hoping and praying for good driving weather. We looked into renting a van, but oh dear, with an 18 year old driver, it's $57 per day extra!

But anyway, we are leaving winter behind for a week in February!!!

And here I sit, with kids to teach, and a house to clean. Anne isn't here today, so I have been relaxing for too long. If I was smart, I would start with little projects each day so the house would be all clean by the baby shower, so there won't be a few days of panic cleaning accompanied by wondering why the heck I waited until the last minute, along with baking the half-moon cookies or cupcakes.
These happened the other day...I wanted to keep the little girls busy. When the high temp outside is 0, (-17.7), with 30 MPH wind gusts...they can't very well go out sledding. I did encourage them to go outside a few times, just for 10 or 15 minutes at a time, just to experience it, and because I think it's healthy. I went out at least four times a day during all this bad weather, it's so magnificent, the forces of nature. When the road is full of snow, and the wind is howling, and there is only whiteness...it's exhilarating. So they did most of the mixing and measuring, then I made the frostings and let them finish up. It kept them busy, and heated the house, but oh dear, they were hard to resist. Chocolate half-moons! I sampled a few tastes, then when they were all frosted, I did have half of one, the white frosted half. It was my homemade, no recipe, white buttercream, and on the chocolate cookie, oh yummers. But, I am behaving myself. Yesterday I did much better, and now that the entire supply of post-Christmas clearanced York Peppermint Patties are gone, I'll be really good. Because you know, a cup of hot coffee and a few Yorks, mmmm.....

snow day!!!

There's not much we can see out the windows today, with so much snow on the screens.


Some snow on the deck...

School was cancelled for today, yesterday! So the girls stayed up late, and when we got up this morning, it was a tiny bit like Christmas. A snow day! But, it was waaayy too cold to go sledding or build a snowman. The weatherman said frostbite can occur within 15 minutes in temperatures like these (one or two degrees F (-17), plus wind blowing...)

All day, I looked out the window...while I read the entire book, "The Kite Runner", while we baked a few loaves of bread...


We made chili, and put it in the crockpot, and there is huge satisfaction in knowing all afternoon that dinner is already done.

But I kept looking out the windows...I just wanted to go out in it, see how cold it really was.






So I bundled up and went outside. Evelyn went too, and lasted like three minutes. Sonja showed up for another three minutes. Even the puppies wanted to go back in before I did. I shoveled the steps, and some of the snow from the bottom of the driveway. My hands started to hurt, even with gloves on. I had to get in out of the wind. Jonathan had cleared the driveway twice, thankful for the snowblower, but the snow came down all day here, and the snowplow goes by and the end of the driveway gets full of snow again.

Anyway. Once I got back in the house it felt really warm in here. It's what I tell the kids if they complain about being cold: Go outside for a few minutes, and you'll see how warm it is in here, ha.

Anyway...we watched some netflix (the girls are watching Barbie and The Island Princess (AND, eating freezepops! Jonathan found them in the downstairs freezer, and jackpot, the kids are eating them like crazy!))

The day was leisurely, but it went by too fast. I felt better when Emily assured me that both Abigail and Mirielle had made it home from work safely. Then Paul came in, and phew. Good.

arctic air is a comin' for a visit...

But I hope it's not too rude of a guest. Have you ever read the book, "Owl At Home", by Arnold Lobel? Well, you should. Get it for your kids or your grandkids. Or read it to your cat. Owl felt sorry for winter, so he invited it in. Well, winter was a rude guest! It turned Owl's hot pea soup into green ice, and blew snow all around his house! So he shooed it back out the door, which it slammed when it left!

Reading stories to kids is golden, it should never be replaced by letting them watch a you-tube video or playing a game on your phone. In my humble opinion.

So our weather forecast is dismal, we live southeast of Lake Ontario, which is a lake effect snow making machine. It IS pretty, snow is falling right now, huge flakes, like living in a snow globe. The tree branches are all sparkling with snow, and more just keeps swirling down.

Maybe today I'll venture outside and take some pictures.

Yesterday, we took a quick trip to Costco, although Kathryn will tell you that "quick" wasn't the word she would use to describe it. I love Costco, it's rather new to the area, and Emily surprised me with a membership a bit ago. I have only gone a handful of times because it isn't so close by, but yesterday I was heading out to get a few things, and Mali texted. She was wondering what we were doing, so we decided to meet at Costco, since it's near her house.


Little Anne, and Lydia, and Cam and I...Camille is getting so big!


They are so adorably cute.

After Costco, Mali headed home for a few things, then to my house. We took a detour to Target, Kathryn had a few things she wanted. Since Emily had taken Jonathan and Charlotte Claire cross country skiing:

So I spoiled Cam a little, and let her choose a few things in Target...a discounted Christmas bingo game, which we had fun playing last night, and a few small clearanced toys.

We had hamburgers for dinner, but honestly, it's not the same eating it with a fork and no bun, I rarely eat regular bread or buns anymore. :( There are lots of recipes for substitutes out there, and believe me, I have tried some. This very morning I baked a double batch of cinnamon almond bread (with flax seed, coconut flour, and a whole dozen eggs)(and a little bit of honey, ha) It just came out of the oven, and mmm good, with hot pumpkin coffee.

Camille made pancakes, she adds a pinch of cinnamon, some vanilla, and a dab of brown sugar, and fries them up in butter, oh dear they looked good. She wants to make a cake today, Char wants to make half-moon cookies, and I say blah, snow me in with fresh baked goods and expect me to be thin by spring?

Grandma is heading back to Florida soon, she was very sick back in the summer, so she stayed up here in the frozen north for way longer than she likes. She invited us down, and oh my goodness I want to go in February! We just might...we just might.

The thing about winter here is this: if we're going to get cold weather, at least we get lots of snow to go with it! It's pretty! It's rough to drive in, but it really is cozy. The whole house has that different light to it, that comes from the whiteness of outside. It feels Christmas-y, and celebratory, and just snug.

On Saturday, I am working at the basketball game, and oh dear, it's going to be cold walking into that Dome! The high temperature is forecast to be zero, (-17c), and that's the HIGH! With wind! And snow!

Anyway. Time to do more school.

hopes and dreams for 2018....

I want to find a diet in the new year that actually works. Ha. Diets don't fail, it's the sneaky hands putting the food in the mouth, isn't it? And the brains behind the hands, reasoning and plotting, defending and suggesting, when those very brains know full well that it's nonsense, no one NEEDS cookies, not even just a little taste, and cookie dough DOES have calories.

Anyway. It's not going to be a brand spankin' new diet, just more resolve, along with the rests of the fat people in the United States of America...more resolve to be more honest with myself about what I actually indulge in.

The Target ad features snazzy work out gear, the Aldi ad is full of healthy options, our whole country is going to get skinny. Until the Valentine's Day candy comes out, anyway. What they need to sell is little bottles of motivation, just dab a bit behind the ear in the morning, and yes, I'll go to the gym! Maybe it can include some ingredients that clarify for us that a chocolate covered peanut is NOT health food, and that consuming healthy fats doesn't mean we can eat a half a stick of butter on sprouted grain toast and be smug about it.

We do need to purge the house from yummy things. My kids are funny, if they don't love it or really want it, they don't eat it. I brought home a few chocolate chip cookies from the Great Freezing NYC Adventure, from the boxed dinners they passed out. I did eat one of them, and it hit the spot. I wanted to eat more, of course I did. But I brought two home for the kids, maybe the girls would want them in their lunch, ect. But they are just sitting there in their plastic packaging, calling MY name, not THEIR names. There is a huge bowl of treats from the Christmas stockings, too. I dumped it all in the bowl so we could put the stockings away with the ornaments..there are mini Reese's Peanut Butter Christmas Trees, Andes Mints, Hershey Kisses, chocolate coins, Skittles, ect...I am considering dumping the whole bowl into the garbagio.


Yesterday was Get Rid Of The Tree day. wah. It was the nicest tree. Evelyn and Sonja had taken the ornaments off it already, but it looked really nice just standing there in it's white lights, with the star on top all lit up. But it was dropping needles, and it was time to say goodbye. Paul and Jonathan dragged it out the door last night, Camille vacuumed up the needles while Jonathan cleaned up the dirt from the plant they knocked over on the way out the door. We put away stray gifts, although there is still a crate here with a brand new water bottle, if no one claims it, it's mine, along with Mali's stocking full of treats, and a few other things. We left up a few winter-y decorations, but it still looks too bare in here. We straightened up our toy corner, and got rid of some things, which is like pulling teeth for yours truly. (The doll bed from Ikea, which Emily bought for Camille? The mattress board was broken, and it was wobbly...but I had painted it pink, and made a lovely little bedskirt and mattress cover...but no.one.ever.played.with.it.any.more.):( As kids grow up, they don't want old toys stored in their rooms anymore, and if the grand kids only usually play with cash registers and dollhouse stuff and a few baby dolls and shopping carts, why do I keep so much? I also have bins of duplos and Little Tikes Waffle blocks, and some various electronic toys, along with a few bins of baby toys.

But we got rid of some dolly car seats, and the doll bed/changing table that Abigail got for Christmas when she was little, and Abigail just turned 31.

Anyway. It feels good to purge and organize.

Anne is coming over this fine morning. We are having a break from single digits, and it's going up to 20F (-6.6) today with no snow in the forecast. So we are going to the store today to stock up on the essentials. Emily is taking Jonathan and Charlotte Claire skiing, but Char has already learned two new songs on the ukelele, and has learned how to spell, "ridiculously", "recipe", "Fahrenheit",and "experience".

Our forecast: cold, more cold, and more snow. A week from today will still be under freezing, with quite a storm moving in Thursday to Friday, with HIGH temps Friday and Saturday of 2 and 3 degrees (-16c ). Friday is supposed to be windy and snowy too, so I am saying SNOW DAY!

Kathryn has the day off from work, so I am hoping she comes out with us. Not to steal from our spelling list, but it's been a ridiculously cold stretch here in the northeast, and I do not like winter driving. No, not at all. Especially in the minivan.

This morning's coffee has been delicious, mostly pumpkin spice with a scoop of regular Dunkin Donuts roast on top, just yummy. My chair is back in it's usual corner, not that the tree is gone, and it's all good, except I set my coffee on the window sill when I type, and it gets cold so fast...

Anyway, my real goals for the year, along with losing like fifty pounds, are to be humble and soft-hearted and forgiving and to listen for that still small voice of God, and be obedient. Then life will be good.

brrrrrr! can you say COLD?!!!

This is from yesterday morning on the bus to New York City. Here's how it went...

We arrived in Syracuse, at the Destiny U.S.A parking lot, to meet the buses at 4 a.m. We waited in line outside to be checked in, in sub-zero temperatures, listening to comments from up and down the line about how stupid we were. The bosses checking us in were seated in their warm car, which was running with heat blasting, of course. We received our I.D. tags, and were directed to bus #3. The bus had no heat. No heat. You know how you go into an empty house or garage in the cold and it feels colder than outside? That was our bus. I had leggings under khakis, and a turtleneck layered with two sweatshirts, a scarf, a hat, gloves, and a winter coat, and I shivered on and off the whole five hours plus, to NYC. The wipers froze up on the bus, the driver had to stop to scrape the ice off the windshield. It wasn't horrible, we laughed and joked and I had my thermos of coffee, we shared snacks, and tried to get a little nap before arrival.

When we got there, we waited around outside for a while, in the wind, then walked to the building (Citi Field, it WAS cool!), then waited some more in the freezing hallways. There was very little organization, and my poor legs, ha.

It was time to get our STAFF jackets and hats, and dang, the NYC Classic hats were all gone, so we got New York Mets hats instead. Then...nightmare of all nightmares, they were all out of bigger jackets, and only had mediums. Now, I had a winter coat on top of my sweatshirts, and I am not a small lady to begin with, so a medium wouldn't even stretch across my back. I persuaded David O. to trade his large, so I could at least get it on. It didn't snap up in the front, which is too bad because it would have kept me a little bit warmer. Anyway. We got our name tags, and headed to our stands. We were all assigned to different places, and I went into my stand all by my lonesome.

I admit, I was intimidated. I didn't know what this stand served, or how it was run, but in I went. I was at my loveliest, btw, with two hats on, and my green winter coat peeking out of an unsnapped outer Winter Classic shell, and oh my, my black galoshes over my sneakers. My khakis were big and baggy, and rolled up at the cuffs. So in to the stand I went. I had missed the how-to's and the what was served in what boats, so I asked a few questions, and jumped in to work. It became clear right away that one guy there was know-it-all-y and one of those Alpha male types. He bossed me around just a teeny bit too much for my liking, and I had been the one exhorting the others earlier not to take any crab from anyone. This guy tried to grab drinks right from me that were for a different lady, was telling me to hurry up, and was all up in my grill and in my personal space, so without even knowing what words were going to come out of my mouth, I looked right at him and said, "Will you please be nice to me?"

It worked. He stammered and shrugged and I do believe he saw how he was being. I was nothing but nice to him, and by the end of that hockey game, we were on friendly enough terms. There was a special needs man bunning and boxing the hot dogs, he thought a few at time would be good enough, so were continuously short on hot dogs. We ran out of cocoa, and the coffee machine wasn't hooked up. Customers waited in the cold wind only to find out we had no hot drinks for sale, and as the one lady I was working with said, "I have been yelled at more today than I have been by my husband in my entire marriage!"

So cold and unpopular, I still made some good friends in that stand. One of the cooks had three beers waiting for him for the bus ride home, and dang it, how did I think Hershey Kisses were going to cut it? What was I thinking? We shivered and worked, and I am telling you, it was cold. I tried to wipe the counters down when we cleaned up at the end, and the water simply froze immediately, and I had to scrape it off. My fingers were numb, even though the water I started with was hot. The counter bucket that was there during the game was frozen solid, and the water bottle I had been sipping from was frozen.

The ride home was better, the bus had heat, and I had some of those little warmers to warm my hands that just seemed to want to stay cold and stiff. I had put some in my sneakers before the game, and although they kept my toes from falling off, they wedged in at the end of the shoes, making my toes have to bend to fit in right, oh the complaints, I'm done now, ha.

We shared stories on the bus on the way home, got home at almost 1 a.m., 22 hours of sheer fun. I cracked out those Hershey Kisses, and the York Peppermint Patties, too. The boxed dinners they served us for the bus weren't bad, I ate those little bags of salty chips, I felt like I couldn't eat enough, after being in the cold all day.

After getting off the bus, a snowy ride down the thruway with Emily, Abigail, and Paul...

Home...ah home. I woke up at 3 a.m. with leg cramps, very dehydrated. I will be drinking a lot of water today, and of course starting my New Year's diet, like the rest of the western world.:)