Happy Valentine's Day!!

What a perfect time for a fun holiday - right in the middle of a dreary, slushy, gray winter week. I don't work today so I'm happily cleaning the house (okay, maybe not so happily...) and getting ready to make dinner. Tonight's menu - heart shaped cookies (yum!), roasted Cornish game hens, baked potatoes, salad, and dinner rolls. I'm even thinking about making it a candlelight dinner - that might amuse the kids.

Third worst commute...

Ever! And that includes three long winters with lake effect snow in NE Ohio.

So Tuesday morning we wake up to about 3 maybe 4 inches of snow and it is still snowing heavily. My husband agrees to drive since he is much calmer in treacherous road conditions and far, far less prone to panicking. The roads are horrible! Per the news, the city of Columbus, in its infinite wisdom, decided it was "too dangerous" to send out the snow plows and ice tracks. Therefore, NO roads - not even the highway - have been touched. The entire city looks like the parking lot behind our apartment. I mostly kept my eyes closed for the ride and he later told me he nearly spun out three times (I only felt one). But due to the horrid conditions, the other drivers actually are driving sensibly and slowly. We only arrive 7 minutes late to work which is amazing. More importantly, we arrive safely.

The conditions continued to worsen throughout the morning with the snow changing to freezing rain and sleet. And at 11:30 we get the shocking news - work is closing! Immediately! The managers walk through the departments telling us to finish what we are doing and GET OUT. And - even better - they are paying us for the entire 8 hours! Woo-hoo!

My husband drives us to pick up the little ones early - even better news because this only counts as a half day and we save $40!!!! I feel giddy - I don't think our work has ever sent us home early with pay. The roads are still very poor and becoming icy so my husband doesn't drive on the highways, instead we creep through downtown Columbus which is strangely quiet and abandoned for a weekday afternoon. We arrive home about an hour after our dismissal and I heat us up a frozen pizza for lunch. We spend the rest of our snow day just relaxing (and occasionally laughing that the big kids had school ALL DAY.)

Long weekend

Sadly, my husband's grandfather passed away on Feb. 2nd. We drove up to his hometown last Friday morning at 6 AM. We had planned to go up the night before but I lost my debit card and after spending about 45 frenzied minutes looking for it we decided to just leave the next day as it was 10 pm by then. (I cancelled the debit card - never did find it)

The funeral service was very touching and the little kids behaved quite well. Little PJ was introducing himself to far-flung relatives and family friends - not shy at all. At the grave site there were full military honors including a 21 gun salute and a bugle. The guns terrified poor Lorene, she didn't stop crying until she was safely back in the minivan.

On Saturday, Aunt Kathy and Aunt Anna took PJ shopping and stocked up on clearance winter clothes, underwear, socks, and Easter clothes for both little kids - including a hat and gloves for Lorene. Unfortunately on Saturday afternoon, nearly everyone became sick - my husband, his sisters, both aunts... and they were all bedridden through Monday. We couldn't leave when we planned so I spent the next two days in the big house with no internet and no books - with weather too cold and icy to kick the kids out to play. We all had a bit of cabin fever, that's for sure!

Monday afternoon my husband felt well enough to handle the nearly 3 hour ride home. Aunt Kathy loaded us down with food leftover from the luncheon after the funeral - including a half ham. She also gave us food that Grandpa had bought for himself that she knew she wouldn't eat - such as 4 12 packs of diet Coke and a dozen corn dogs.

We got home Monday afternoon - it was an uneventful ride home. The weather drama would happen Tuesday!

Feeling a little better...

After spending nearly 3 days curled up under a comforter on the couch, I feel a little better. I even managed to do 3 loads of laundry. I am seriously jonesing for some comfort food (after living on tea all weekend) and was thinking about baking a batch of brownies (mmmmm melty chocolatey goodness) but decided to go a healthier route and I am making a big batch of vegetarian bean & barley soup instead. Originally it was going to be beef and barley soup but over the course of my illness, the beef I had set aside to cook up in soup went bad! Nooooooooooooo! So I found a recipe I had bookmarked back in October and I'm trying it. It smells wonderful but I might be the only one to try it. My husband said he hates barley. I needed to use up the rest of the beef broth anyhow... I also have some chicken broth and could make a chicken noodle soup but the chicken is frozen and I just didn't feel like defrosting it. I know, that isn't a big, onerous deal, but the thought made me tired. I still have plenty to do - vaccuuming and packing up the kids' bag for tomorrow (first day at the new sitter's) and more dishes - there are ALWAYS dishes - and laundry to put away... wow, reading all that IS making me tired! Maybe I'll just make some tea. One nice thing about being sick though - I actually finished reading a novel over the weekend. "The Other Mother" - good book and a perfect read on a cold winter weekend.

sick ... so sick...

I felt fine on Thursday - at least until about 9:30 PM. And then - wham! It just hit me - and I felt awful. Achy, tired, runny nose, headache... the works. I managed to watch "Chuck" before stumbling to bed for a restless night. I don't remember much of Friday ... I was curled up on the couch in a couple layers of clothes (so cold... just so cold) and a comforter while the little ones happily threw toys around and watched too much Noggin on TV. As soon as my husband got home he sent me to bed and I slept for nearly 2 hours. I felt better when I woke up - well enough to eat a bowl of oatmeal (my first meal all day) and after the babies went to bed we watched "Superbad" which he had rented earlier in the week. I still felt crummy though. I managed to find a nearly empty bottle of Nyquil and finished it off - and actually slept soundly. Today I still feel weak and exhausted. My husband ordered my favorite pizza (cheese / green peppers / tomatoes) for dinner to inspire me to eat - I have mostly just been drinking berry tea. I did eat 2 slices - but probably should just have eaten one as I now feel bloated and icky. I read online that keeping warm helps fight a cold or flu so I found our old heating pad and have been resting it on my tummy which feels very nice (even if my husband IS rolling his eyes at me!). I hope I feel better soon...

Happpy Birthday to Me!

Yesterday was my birthday! And it was a perfect day too. It was cold and snowy but since I didn't need to go anywhere, I was able just to watch the snow from inside my warm apartment and think about how pretty it was without worrying about icy roads. I made my favorite dinner for the family - pot roast, potatoes, carrots and dinner rolls and also baked a chocolate cake for dessert. I was lazy all day - I even took a nap! In the evening we watched "American Idol" with the kids and after the little ones went to bed, watched "Biggest Loser" and "Law and Order SVU". Couldn't ask for a more relaxing, stress-free day.

The kids even surprised me with gifts. With a bit of subterfuge at Target they were able to use some of the money left of Jared's gift card to buy me lavender bedroom slippers (my favorite color) and two pairs of fluffy socks - and put it all in a nice birthday gift bag. I actually drove them to Target and didn't suspect a thing!

Also, on Sunday I met up with some old friends from high school at Panera Bread - it was fun to catch up and the soup & hot cocoa were awesome! My parents will have a birthday party for me on Super Bowl Sunday.

American Idol tonight

Wow - American Idol is back already! I know I'll at least tune in these next few weeks to watch the auditions. Last year I lost interest somewhere between the top 24 being chosen and the finals - I just wasn't really rooting for any one contestant like I had in years past (Daughtry!). But I'll give it a chance again this year - and really, with the ongoing writer's strike there isn't much competition. Unfortunately American Idol is up against my new favorite show "The Biggest Loser" but I'll probably just DVR that. At least then I can skip through all the boring crying parts!