My Christmas Vacation

I was sick sick sick for about a week and a half around Christmas. M had a stomach bug for two days and then was perfectly fine. On day 3 of my malady I assumed I was over it (I was feeling quite a bit better) so I went out in the snow and finished my Christmas shopping. This was imperative because if I hadn't, M would literally have not had any gifts from D and I. I was pretty tired, but the bus/train schedule worked so perfectly, I hardly had to walk or stand around at all. EXCEPT, I had to wait for about 40 minutes for the last bus taking me the 2 miles from the train to home, and then it took a snow route that ended up letting me off a mile from home. Freezing, exhausted, and carrying a heavy backpack through the snow. Needless to say, it was downhill from there and I didn't really get up again for a week.

Fortunately, the kids took over and did almost all of the Christmas baking/cookie making/cookie decorating. Thanks, guys!! Here are some Peppermint Patty action shots (prior to getting the chocolate coating):

I did manage to get a few cool shots of the snow, though. See if you can find the strands of spider web in this one.

Girlfriends

I love these girls. We've been doing a drama club this year, which is a continuation of science club from last year and writing club the year before. They are down to earth. They are good to each other. They disagree at times and sometimes get annoyed with each other, but I've never heard one of them say anything gossipy about anyone and I've never ever seen one of them try to exclude or put down another girl (that they aren't related to, anyway). I've heard many discussions where someone didn't like something that was happening, and she made a clear and reasonable request. And others listened to her and either honored the request or negotiated a reasonable compromise. When two disagree, I've heard others try to help them find a compromise or some understanding of each others' positions. I'm just so impressed with how they take care with each others' feelings, and how much fun they have. I hung out with some wonderful girls in my middle school years, and we had lots of fun and I think we treated each other well also, so I know that homeschoolers do not have the corner on the nice middle school girlfriend market, but I suspect it is a lot easier to be yourself and find your own voice when you are free from the scrutiny and judgement so common in middle school. I'm so glad A is growing up surrounded by girls like these.

Optimist

M: I had a dream last night that I was sentenced to hang. But I died first. It was incredibly lucky.

Before and After

See if you can detect the difference between these two pictures:

About 6 pounds! Yes, she stayed with us and here she is in her current, obese glory. She is a bather--constantly keeping her and everyone around her shiny clean. She is getting so she can't quite reach everywhere as well as she used to be able to...

Question of the day

Why does mucus, unlike every other liquid I know of, get thinner and runnier when it gets cold? You'd think it would be disadvantageous, evolutionarily-speaking, to have icicles hanging from your nose.

This crazy weather has had the advantage of allowing us to be home, guilt-free, for five nights in a row (that is, guilt-free because we aren't home because we are flaking out on anything). I do hope we get a window of nice weather tomorrow, though, because A is dying to see her drama club friends, and M has a special outing with Grandma planned (and loafers may be involved, so his excitement knows no bounds). If not, it will be a great opportunity to do our Christmas baking. So far, we're actually not especially stir crazy, but we do miss seeing our friends. If only you guys lived on our block!

Snow!

OK, OK, I guess they were right about the big storm after all. Who'd a thought? I do wish I would have picked up a gallon of milk last night, at least!

Quiz:

What is more fun than a snowy day?

Answer: A big outdoor fire on a snowy day!
Until you fall down and wind up with a gaping 3/4-inch jagged tear across the under side of your chin. M did that, not me. I'm sure he would have had stitches if I had felt safe driving, but the little band-aids seem to be holding it together. And, it didn't really bleed that much, given the size of the gash. Since M had been playing outside for a good couple of hours at that point I think it was kind of numb and maybe didn't have a ton of blood circulating at the surface? Anyway, he'll have a lovely scar to show off.

Check out this snowball--it was there for a full minute before I got this picture

Improvised Dinner

I went to New Seasons with a dinner idea in mind, only to be thwarted by the masses of people there--stocking up for the big storm, I guess. There were no regular-sized carts left *at all* and the meat counter was a solid mass of people. So we had dinner from the "pantry" tonight, that is, improvised with the materials at hand. If you are in a similar pinch, here are a couple of ideas...

Lemony rice:
Olive oil
1 c rice
2 c chicken broth
zest of 1 lemon (or 1/2 of a dried up lemon in the back of the crisper box plus a lime)
1 grated zucchini, which was getting on in life and needed to be used up
1 grated carrot
2-3 cloves garlic
Parmesan cheese (1/4 c?)
juice from aforementioned dried up 1/2 lemon, which was actually surprisingly juicy

Saute the rice in the olive oil until it starts to get a little brown. Add the zucchini, carrot, and garlic and stir around for a couple of minutes. Add the broth, bring to boil, then simmer like you normally cook rice (12 min or so?). When liquid is absorbed, stir in lemon juice and Parmesan and let sit for a couple of minutes. Very tasty. This is also great (even better, actually) with orzo rather than rice.

Broccoli with Pine Nuts:
Olive oil
Pine nuts (1/4 c? or walnuts or whatever nut you like that you have on hand)
4 c broccoli florets
2 cloves garlic
salt
2 T broth
2 T white wine (or substitute rice vinegar + a little sugar if you have no wine)
2 T Parmesan cheese.

Saute the pine nuts in the olive oil until beginning to brown. Add broccoli and garlic and stir around until the broccoli is nice and bright green. Add a little salt if you'd like (not too much because you'll be adding Parmesan later), and then the liquids, and steam for a few minutes until broccoli is done. Toss with Parmesan.

Add a smoothie and a little loaf of freshly baked no-knead bread (thanks for the idea, RedMolly, I'd cut this recipe out of the FoodDay months ago and never tried it). Voila! All stuff scrounged from the supplies on hand.