Hello everyone, another Monday here in Se Ohio, and a snowy one at that! We have received at least 8 inches of snow since yesterday! so I guess I got my wish. However it is not very cold, in the 30's but supposed to drop this evening to 14.

Cale tried to go to work this morn, but when he saw so many people spinning and stuck, he came back home, and took the day off. He spent a lot of time sled-riding with the kids. They go on our neighbors hill, and Cale pulls them back up on the 4-wheeler!! Much easier than when I was a kid. We used a volkswagon hood to slide with and it was heavy! Another favorite was inner-tubes, and the round top of an old wringer washer. That thing could fly and it was dangerous!!

I was ready with homemade chocolate chip cookies and hot chocolate. I am going to start a thread for favorite recipes, so be ready to put them on.

I have been really trying to use whole wheat flour in everything, and I hope you will all try it. Everything tastes so much better. Very grainy and has a lot of texture to it. The cookies were just great with real butter and the whole wheat flour. They were so soft and had a wonderful texture. I am using Hodgson Mills brand of wheat flour and it is very good. Last night we had homemade pizza and the crust made with this flour was just awesome too. So I think I have convinced myself to keep using it as much as possible!

Today I have found out why I really love my wood-burner! It is so nice to have the house very warm when everyone comes in cold and wet. We hang all the wet clothes on hooks Cale made from horse-shoes. They dry very quickly. I also hang laundry in front of it on a clothesline that has hooks on it so I can take it down when I am not using it. I can dry a load of towels here in less than 2 hours. I keep two kettle of water on it all the time. This keeps more moisture in the air also. It is nice to sit around the wood burner at night. cale is usually in the rocker and I am at the table helping the kids with homework or playing games. It makes a nice place to gather in the evenings.

The kids were off school today, but we haven't heard yet about tomorrow. However it seems like the roads are clearer. so another day off is probably not in the works!

Just a note on supper tonight, it was very good! We had crab cakes, home-made french fries, cole slaw and lemonade.

I read in a magazine to start a book of cards and letters you receive, so I started this today. I had a big school binder, and plain paper that has been hole-punched. I taped in a few cards and letters I have received so far in 2002. I think this will be great as I can add them in as the year goes by, and have them to look at. I have always saved them, but in a box, so this will be much nicer.

Good night everyone, have a nice day tomorrow!

-- Melissa (me@home.net), January 07, 2002

Answers

Well, no snow here still, it was actually up around 50+ today. Mitchell started back to school, Nick and I came home for a couple of hours, I did a little laundry. Tried to start the brush pile outside burning, but no one has to worry about me being an arsonist! I can't set fire to save my life sometimes!

After picking up Mitch, we went and spent a little time at my mother's apt., had lunch and visited for a while. We hurried home at 1:00 to be here when the cable guys arrived to hook up our new internet service, and LIMITED basic cable (just about 20 channels, only $7/mo). Look for a new e-mail address from me as soon as I figure out how to set this stuff up! I did finally get the brush pile going, but it took two newspapers, one bale of old moldy straw, and the last couple of ounces of a bottle of citronella torch oil to do so!

Had a concotion for supper. I boiled up chicken pieces with a clove of garlic, some salt and pepper, parsley flakes, peas and carrots, and elbow macaroni (out of regular noodles). Then I mixed in a can of cream of mushroom soup. Actually turned out pretty good! Lance is at work, so the kids usually get to be my ginuea (?SP) pigs! It's now read mom a story time, bath time, and bedtime. Then I get to sort through all the stuff I piled off the desk onto the bed so the cable guys could see the computer! I may not get to sleep tonight, looking at this pile!, but I will have a desk Flylady would be proud of when I am done!

Good night, have sweet dreams, everyone!

-- Christine in OK (cljford@aol.com), January 07, 2002.

A Volkswagon hood?!?!? Our ultimate favourite "sled" was a huge cardboard box. Climb in all the way, and for the most fun, DON'T look where you're going! One year my dad got a tobaggan for my brother. ONE TIME he took it standing up over a bump. He never stood up on it again!! When he dug himself out of the *pink* snow, his face was streaming blood--nose, lips, and tongue (which got caught between his teeth). Another favourite was my mom's 16-inch round pizza pan.

We went to the library today, and to Pizza Hut to redeem Book-It coupons. My cough is almost gone, and I felt much better today, though I still didn't do as much as usual. It was nice to see the world beyond the couch and bed:o)

-- Cathy N. (keeper8@attcanada.ca), January 07, 2002.

Yes Cathy, my Dad was a mechanic, and we used what we could!! It really worked great, all 4 of us could sit on it. Although my sister and I had to pull it back up the hill all the time!

Glad you were able to get out a bit today, it is nice to do that after being sick.

-- Melissa (me@home.net), January 07, 2002.

Okay, did anyone besides me have one of those "flying saucer" sleds? It is just a round metal disc, curing up slightly on the edges, with plastic handles in either side, and two little holes in the front where you could attach a rope to pull with? The one I had when I was young we used to attach behind the pickup, and Daddy would pull us around the pasture on it (Carefully for me, not so carefully for my sister, who was in her late 20's at the time!)

I remember one time in particular that there was ice on all the weeds in the pasture, and Daddy was pulling sis while the rest of us rode in the back of the pickup. She was afraid to hold on, and afraid to let go! The ice-covered weeds were whacking her in the face, and she couldn't figure out which would hurt more -- being whacked by weeds, or jumping out! Daddy thought that was about the funniest thing he had seen all winter! Almost as funny as when he used to let my mother and me ride in the front-end loader when he took the tractor to feed cows in the winter. He would raise it WAY UP HIGH, to hear my mother whoop and holler, then drop it way down low, to hear her holler some more! I loved it, it was the closest thing to a roller coaster within 50 miles of our house -- Mom, on the other hand, was not so enthralled!

By the way, if you hunt, you can still find the flying saucers -- we bought one for our boys (after too many trips through the pasture, my old one has no paint and looks as though it's been dropped off the side of a mountain -- I threatened to put a bow around it and give it to sis for her birthday last year, just to remind her). The nice thing about it, it doesn't require a lot of snow to use, just an inch or two, and usually, the more weight that is on it, the farther it will go!

-- Christine in OK (cljford@aol.com), January 08, 2002.