backyard deer



As I am writing this we are in the middle of an ice storm with an inch of ice predicted followed eightteen inches of snow. I am scheduled to sub in kindergarten tomorrow but it's a pretty safe bet that school will be cancelled. My only outside activity today will be filling the bird feeders.

Dear Jesus,

Please bring those that I love home safely today.



birdfeeder

The red speck you see is a cardinal at the backyard bird feeder. Yea! Maybe this one will bring more. You cannot tell by the picture but the snow is slowing melting.

I worked yesterday as a facilitator in one of the autistic classrooms. Of course, the playground was not cleared of snow and the older kids had something going on in the gym so the poor baybees had to stay in their classroom all day. The screamer went wild and it made a long day for everybody. God bless those teachers! At least they have a four day week with Friday off, they deserve it. 

where are the cardinals

I realized this morning that I haven't seen any cardinals in our backyard this winter. With all of our berry bushes, the big cedar tree and several bird feeders, we usually attract many birds and I frequently will see cardinals when I look out my kitchen window. Not so this year. I enjoy bird watching so this is a real puzzle for me. Can the weather be too cold for them to come out? 

quilting day

Today was quilting day. I had missed helping the past several times due to subbing so it was fun to get together with old and new friends again. We put together thirteen quilts, ready to be surged and tacked. These will go to Lutheran World Relief as well as the Salvation Army and various other local places where they offer comfort and a warm bed to people in need. Mildred served a very good coffee cake and I will pass on the recipe as soon as she e-mails it out. Carol's car got stuck in the snow so six old ladies pushed her out. What fun!!

downtown snowman

This happy fellow was smiling at me on my way home from downtown yesterday so I had to stop and take his picture!

self protrait

Okay, you know you are bored when you start taking pictures of yourself! I'm out and about today as I am in desperate need of sack salad and Pepsi Max.

digging out

Oh yeah, we received eight inches of snow and then some! I ventured out only to take this picture and pick up the morning newspaper. My activities today are laundry, Martha Stewart, and reading about the Great Wall of China.

mall walking: day two

I decided to walk at the mall again today. It was after lunch so the crowd at the Senior Center had cleared out. The few old folks that were left were watching a comedian on the big screen tv. They had the volume so loud that everyone one on the Dillards wing could hear his bad jokes. He was talking about Viagra and I did not think he was funny.  Besides walkers, there were a lot of stay-at-home moms pushing little kids in strollers. One little boy was having fun running away and that would make his mom yell at him to come back. I noticed that she called him Joplin. I have never heard that used as a boys name before. There is a town named Joplin so maybe he was born there or maybe it's just a family name. I think you have to be careful what you name your kids.
Snow is coming tonight and if the weatherman is right, we will have seven to eight inches on the ground tomorrow morning. I pray that everyone gets to where they want to go. 

mall walking

I had some business across town this morning so I decided to stop at our little mall and do some walking. We are very fortunate that our mall is still open as little malls all over have closed up due to the economy.



A lot of the walkers stash their jackets and scarves here on this bench in the Sears wing. I prefer to keep mine in my car and make a mad dash for the door in the Dillards wing. I was able to score a new pair of walking shoes that were marked down from $110 to $35. They are the Ecco brand.

The Senior Center in the Dillards wing was the busiest place by far. They were serving vegetable soup and believe me, it smelled delish!!



computer prayer

Dear Heavenly Father,
I know computers are complicated but not to you. You make perfect little babies and animals and flowers and trees all grow from tiny seeds. You know the mind of everyone who has ever lived as well as everyone who is living today. You also know that I am growing weary of dealing with computer problems. Please give wisdom to the technician who is coming to my home to install a new hard drive on this replacement computer. I would like him to be knowledgeable in what he does and also trustworthy. All this if it be Your will.   Amen

i almost didn't post this

I don't like guns. My husband is a sportsman and he has a shotgun and a rifle that my father gave him years ago. He has them locked away in a gun safe but he does use them because he enjoys hunting. In fact, today he is up north quail hunting, this being the last weekend that bird season is open.
Last Saturday night we were both at home watching television and someone knocked on the door. It was freezing cold at the time. My husband answered and let a young man into the foyer. He wanted to clean a carpet in our house. "You'll be amazed at how clean it will be and it take less than an hour." We wanted to know what he was selling. "Chemicals" he said. He wouldn't be doing the cleaning, but he would call his partners who were in the neighborhood. Due to Sam, our dining room carpet was an ungodly mess. We both eyed each other, let's let them tackle that. We also both knew that they really were selling vacuum cleaners. Ten years ago, a different salesman cleaned our family room carpet and we ended up buying one. It's a very good vacuum, a bit heavy though.
In no time his two hefty buddies showed up and sure enough, carried in the brand new version of "the vacuum cleaner." They agreed that our dining room carpet was a mess but they would try to clean it 80%. The whole process took much longer that an hour. I was miffed because I missed most of 48 Hours, my favorite Saturday night show. They were miffed when they found out that we already had a ten year old version of their vacuum cleaner and we probably wouldn't be upgrading. But they were good salesmen and tried their best. In the end, the carpet is not 80% not even 70, but this spring, we're going to rip it out and replace it with hardwood anyway.
 The next morning I woke up and was shocked to find a pistol laying on the dresser in our bedroom. Of course my husband was "up north hunting at the time." I couldn't believe that he laid a gun on our dresser and who did it belong to? I didn't know he had a handgun, a loaded handgun in our house. He said it was for protection, after all there were three strange men in our house, two of them being rather large. The whole evening was risky and unnecessary. I think from now on, we are just not going to put ourselves into that situation again, no matter how cold it is outside. 

i eat like a kid

That thought just came to me this morning as I was fixing my cherrios, I don't know why but I prefer "kid" food. Cereal or fruit in the morning, I 'm not hungry so I eat what's easiest to fix. Sometimes, I'll feel like toast with peanut butter smeared on top. For lunch, it's varies according to the season; wintertime means either a bowl of soup or a sandwich. When the weather gets warmer, I switch to a salad. For now, I'm addicted to the little single serving size containers of flavored apple sauce which are great for a snack in the afternoon. For dinner I either eat soup or chicken strips with dipping sauce or maybe mashed potatoes with gravy. I usually have a small handful of nuts, almonds and cashews in the evening as well as an orange or an apple. Whether it's good for me or not, I drink Swissmiss "diet" hot cocoa mix, made with hot water, it's only 25 calories and I drink decaf coffee in the winter too. My husband is a workaholic so I'm eating by myself alot. On days that I sub, I pack my lunch or eat their salad bar but sometimes the lettuce is not the freshest, if you know what I mean. I've never figured a calorie count but I eat small portions so it seems to work for me.

my buddy

Sam is my companion on days I am at home. He doesn't like the snow but he does a good job of telling me when a trip outside is necessary. My replacement computer arrived earlier and also an early morning phone call from Dell with detailed instructions as to what I'm supposed to do next. I have ten days to send the old computer back in the replacement box. I hope and pray (I'm not kidding) that this new one works and my computer problems will be over. I'm still sold on Dell. 

winter scene

These pictures were taken from my living room window looking into my back yard. It's 15 degrees outside today. With the wind blowing tonight, it will feel like 20 below. The cedar tree in the top picture is actually a triple tree, a double trunk growing into a single. It was a small tree when we moved here seventeen years ago. We only received about four inches of snow, light, powdery stuff, not good for building snowmen. I sure hope the people with little animals take care of them.

classroom poster

One of the activities we did this morning in first grade was a classroom poster:

What do Good Readers Do?

If they don't know a word, they sound it out.

Read titles and don't skip words.

Read! Read! Read!

Reread books and read to Grandmas.

Read all day and at night too.

Read menus.

Read letters and e-mails.

Take breaks.

Use cool bookmarks.

Read about things they want to learn about.

I'm pretty sure of a snow day tomorrow. I plan to read all day!!

Sunday

The only thing I want to do on a cold, gray day in January is stay inside. It's looks very much like snow, just my luck as I have to drive across town tomorrow to sub. Today I'm being lazy and reading The Kennedy Detail by Gerald Blaine. I was very young when President Kennedy was assassinated but I find it fascinating reading about it.

Since I have cut sugar almost completely out of my diet, I have found that flavored no-sugar applesauce is a really great substitute. I particularly like the cinnamon flavor.

computer update

Here's the story for what it's worth, our new computer started having issues. I have been a pest about calling tech services but a new computer should run like a new computer, right? Yesterday the people at Dell (whom I hold in high esteem) decided I deserved a new one. It will take seven to twelve days to get here. I will then box this sick one up and send it back. All of this leaves me feeling a bit apprensive but I have decided a new computer is the best outcome; even though it will be a hassle to install it all over again.

Here's another picture I took along the greenway trail.

early evening downtown

There was a murder here on New Year's Day, I didn't know the victim, a 51 year old man. From the account of the crime in the newspaper, I said right away that the wife did it. From my years of watching Dateline, 48 Hours and CSI, I just knew that what she said happened could not have taken place. Guess what, this morning the local newspaper reported that the police have, in fact, arrested the wife as the murderer of her husband. So I was right, but I still feel badly for the family, especially the young daughter who is left without a father and now a mother who will undoubtedly be in the clink for the rest of her life. 

taxes

I was called to sub this morning but I declined because I have several things I need to do, one of which is paying my taxes. I pay (or prepay if you will) quarterly so this chore rolls around quite often. I will have to pay again in April but maybe not as much because I pay every three months. I used to send my check in the mail with a "stiff" note stating that I did not want my "tax money" used to pay for the Iraq war. I think I might have also included some rude (but true) statements about our president at the time, George Bush. I felt that was my right as a tax-paying citizen. I still am against both of the wars and I still think George Bush is an idiot. However, now I take my check to the IRS office across town. There is an armed guard on duty so I am careful to keep my comments to myself.

walk and work

Two pictures from my walk yesterday; the weather was in the mid 40's and you can tell by the first one that the sun was out. I fell in the mud getting the last one. That's okay, a little mud doesn't hurt anybody.

Today I subbed as a facilitator for Little Paralyzed Girl. We played a special game with sight words. We (or I did) shook a jar filled with rice. Along with the rice were little plastic squares with words like: have, do, yes, what, am, was... When a word appeared from the rice, she said it, then we spelled it with magnetic letters. She is really a bright little kid. I called her Rapunzel because of her long, blond hair.   

kuerig update

In my opinion the Kuerig coffee pot was not "kitchen counter worthy" so it is packed up and ready to be taken back to the store. I like coffee in the morning but I use single-serving packets and water heated in the microwave. I don't need something that doesn't even look like a coffee pot. I don't need to worry about buying filtered water for it, ordering special Kcup size coffee off the Internet and something called "de-scaling" every two or three months. Not for me, I want my life in 2011 to be simpler not more complicated. And that's the way it's going to be with everything I buy this year; if I don't really need it, or if it comes with a warranty, or if I already have a workable one (like the five pedometers that I own) then I'm not going to buy it.

Dear Jesus, Help me be satisfied with what I have and know that it all comes from you.