February 13th - Still Snowed in!

Hopefully, this is the last day of being snowed/iced in.  We woke up this morning to a couple of inches of snow on top of the sleet, snow, and ice that had already fallen over the last couple of days.  It was really beautiful.  By mid-morning the sun came out and the temperature rose just above freezing.  As a result, it all melted pretty fast.  By the end of the day, our street was all melted and dry, areas in the sunshine were nearly all gone.  Anything in the shade, though, was still there.  That meant that many roads are still icy, since many of our roads are so shaded that the sun doesn't reach the surface.  School is cancelled for one more day tomorrow.

So, we had another lazy stay-at-home day.  And we didn't really do much!  I spent most of my day working on family history.  This time I worked on research instead of all my classes.  I just needed to so that.  I have been feeling like I am spending all my time on family history, but not working on my own at all!  So, today I did.

We had enough beans left over, so I didn't even cook.  Well, at lunch, I tried out an electric counter top grill that a friend had given me.  It was something her parents had had and she was just getting rid of their things.  I have thought about getting an indoor grill, so it was a good chance to try one out at a great price - free.  I just did some hotdogs, but I wanted to see if it worked and what kind of a job it might do.  It was a success, so maybe I will try hamburgers next time.  I don't think I want to try a steak until I am more sure of how successful it may be.  We made the hot dogs into chili-cheese dogs and they were actually very tasty.

Other than that, it was pretty lazy.  We watched some TV, refilled the bird feeder, etc.  Nothing of great worth.  I could have been deep cleaning, but I couldn't think why I would want to do that, so I just played lazy!  Tomorrow things will be more like normal and I will have to go out to do a couple of errands.  I think the snow holiday is over, but it was fun while it lasted.

February 12th - Iced in!

Well, we didn't do much today.  With an inch or more of ice on everything, including the roads, we were smart enough not to go off in any cars!  In fact, the only car we saw that our street all day was the woman who lives across the street.  She works for the post office and moved here from the north a few years ago, so she never stays in when weather is bad.  Everyone else knew it was a holiday.

We started with homemade cinnamon rolls.  Well, actually they were made with frozen bread dough, which I always keep in the freezer.  I have gotten pretty lazy - frozen is even easier than bread machine.  In any case, the cinnamon rolls were delicious.  By the time we ate, it was getting on into the morning, so it was really more of a brunch.  (Bill took advantage of a totally unstructured day to sleep in.)

I put some beans in the crockpot, along with some leftover ham from Sunday, and that cooked all day.  While he pretty much relaxed and talked about what he was going do, but not ever really doing anything, I worked on family history for a while.  Then I read my book a while and actually fell asleep for a short nap.

It was actually a very fun, relaxed kind of day, since we couldn't really do much.  We will be snowed in again tomorrow, so we may have to come up with something a little more productive - maybe.  We did do a quick FaceTime with the kids as they were just finishing up their baths.  They had a wonderful day playing in the snow and making crafts at home.  The roads were way too bad for them to come over here. 

February 11th - Beginning of an Icy Storm

I woke up to everything covered in sleet.  There was maybe an inch on the patio table.  Fortunately, it stayed above freezing through the day, or we would have had a lot of ice.  It is expected to be worse tonight and tomorrow.  Well, I plan to just stay home!

Bill was out of town last night, so it was really quiet here all day.  I worked on some family history - finished up the one file and also worked on a hand out for my genealogy presentation to the county group next week.

I had a whale of a sinus headache, though, so I didn't feel like doing much.  I ended up curling up on the couch and watching some episodes of "Psych."  Lisa had said it was such a funny show, so I wanted to give it a try.  It is funny, but I think I will get tired of it before too many more episodes.

Bill decided to come on back home this evening.  He finished the big job, but had a couple of small repairs out that direction that he had planned to do, but with the ice threat, he didn't want to get stranded away from home.  The roads were still clear this evening, so he made it without trouble.

I took some frozen bread dough out of the freezer this evening.  I am already thinking of hot cinnamon rolls to start off the icy day tomorrow!

February 10th - Doctor visit

I had a doctor's visit this morning to renew my prescriptions.  I had tried to make an appointment for a full physical while I was at it, but the office said they couldn't do that until March.  As it turned out, the doctor went ahead and did the EKG today, as they wouldn't be paid if they did it as part of the physical.  Everything looked good.  Now I just need to wait for the blood work results.  I will cancel the March appointment.  It turns out I got what I wanted anyway.

I was at home the rest of the day.  Bill has a big job that is far enough away that he will be spending the night, probably two nights, out of town.  He is kind of playing cat-and-mouse with some winter weather that is moving in.  Hopefully, he will get back home before the weather actually turns too bad.

I didn't accomplish all that much.  With the weather changing, I had a headache and just didn't feel like doing anything.  I did some of my usual computer and office stuff, but nothing of great importance.  I did take the time to watch this week's episode of :Downton Abbey."  I do love the Roku, so I can watch this stuff when I want.  Later in the evening, when I was really listless, I also watched some "Sherlock Holmes."  I probably should have been watching the Olympics, but I just can't get interested in it.

So, while it wasn't a completely wasted day, I didn't really cross much off the to-do list.  Maybe tomorrow - then again, I may be iced in by tomorrow!

February 9th - Ward Conference Sunday

I started my Sunday off relaxing and enjoying the morning.  I planned dinner and did some pre-prep and then worked on some things on the computer.  I don't have a lesson today, so I didn't even feel the pressure to review to make sure I had everything ready.

Since it was ward conference, our meeting schedule was a little different.  The only speakers in Sacrament Meeting were the bishop and the stake president.  We had a really nice musical number between them - one of the sister missionaries played the viola, accompanied by one of our young women.  The play "If You Could Hie to Kolob" and it was very well done.

The last two hours of the meeting were also in the chapel, with a speaker from the stake Relief Society, the stake Sunday School president, the high counselor assigned to our ward, and the second counselor in the stake presidency.  They were all good.

Back home, I put the finishing touches on dinner, so I could put the scalloped potatoes in the oven a little later.  The ham slices just have to be heated in the microwave and the broccoli is in the pan to be steamed.  The kids didn't make it over, since Brooks took an extremely long nap.  The did call and we "face timed" a while.  Bill and I had our dinner, which turned out really good, and then relaxed.  The Olympics were on and I watched a little, but finally went back to the computer and bit and then on to bed to read. 

It was a much quieter Sunday than usual since the kids didn't come over, but it was a very good day!

February 8th - Clean House!

My Saturday morning was a routine Saturday - straightening the house, doing some laundry, etc.  I didn't do any cleaning, though, as I had hired two of the Beehive girls from church to clean my house this afternoon.  They had been looking for some way to earn money and I wanted someone to clean, so it was a perfect match.  They did an excellent job, although they took longer than I had expected.  No complaints on my part!  They both would like to come back and do it again, so I told them I like to have someone come in about once a month and the job was theirs if they wanted it.  I paid them what I would have paid someone anyway, so they earned some money and I got a clean house!

White they were busily making my house so wonderful, I was busily working on my family history files.  I think I pretty much finished up the one I was working on, so I will use that one for my lesson next week.  My class had asked for help on organizing files.  I am happy with the way I have them done now.  I really only changed a couple of things, but it is much better.

This evening, Bill had to chaperone a youth dance over in Roswell, so I had a quiet evening at home alone.  I turned on the TV for a few minutes (shock, I know!), thinking I would watch a bit of the Olympics.  Instead, I got caught up in a PBS biography about Judy Garland - very fascinating!  Although I didn't make it all the way to the end before I headed in to read my scriptures and book.  I finished another book called Mrs. Peregrine and Her Peculiar Children, or something like that.  It was a recommendation from somewhere and I thought it was certainly peculiar!  It had elements that I don't particularly enjoy - things like time loops and super-natural powers.  It was well-written and parts of it were intriguing, but there was a lot I didn't like.

February 7th - Whew! Busy Friday!

I had just finished breakfast when Lisa called and wanted to know if I wanted to meet her at Costco.  David had their card and she wanted to pick up a few things for a dinner tomorrow and didn't want to wait until he got home.  Since I am always ready to meet up with the kids, I said I would be there shortly.  I had to finish getting ready and then stopped for gas on the way, but we finally all got there.  She was able to get what she needed and we had a fun time.  Ashby didn't go to school today (recovering from the circus, I guess!), so it was both of the kids.

From there, we went over to the mall.  Brooks had an appointment for a haircut and then we had some lunch.  Lunch was followed by a ride on the carousel.  Ashby rode her horse and played circus.  Meaning, she waved her hand and smiled at the audience.  They dropped me back off at my car and I went on to finish my other errands for the day.

Those errands included a stop at the library to return a couple of books and pick up a couple more.  Then I stopped and finally got a haircut myself.  I always wait about two weeks too long, so it was looking really bad.  Back home, I tackled those things that needed to be done, then spent the rest of the afternoon working on my family history files.  I made some nice progress.  Since my class requested that we have a lesson on organizing things, I am trying to have at least enough in good shape for them to be able to see how I am doing it.

By the time Bill got home, I was just about spent.  The opening ceremonies for the Olympics were on, but I was not interested.  It starts so late and I don't want to stay up to watch.  Instead I headed to bed to read my scriptures and then my current book.

I was on the go all day - got a lot done - and am exhausted!