The last of February!

What a long, cold, snowy, icy month this has been! I'm so glad to see the end of it. I took two sick days this week- Monday I was throwing up, and Thursday I had such a bad head cold that I just wanted to sleep. 

By Thursday night I was feeling human, and we finally got our dinner out with Ed, Heather, Eddie and Julie. We went to Texas Roadhouse, which the kids love. Unfortunately Ralph developed a toothache that day, so he stuck with soft foods. He went to the dentist Friday morning, and is feeling so much better now.

This morning we had a couple errands to run, the went to Applebee's for lunch. They have an appetizer of sweet potato fries with dipping sauce, which was really good! Then I went into Michaels for yarn to make a baby chick hat for Amary. 

Last night I had dinner at Olive Garden with part of Cookie Swap, which was a lot of fun. So far we've managed to get together 3 months in a row! 

I'm reading Secrets of the Lost Summer by Carla Negron, and enjoying it. It's the first of a loose series, or so the internet tells me. 

So, Goodbye February! It's been real!

Holly

Ice!

Yesterday we had snow, then freezing rain, then rain. The snow was supposed to be 2-4 inches, turned into more like 6. Now it's warming up, and as soon as the snow is removed, ice is underneath. It may go into the 40s later, but the high tomorrow will be in the 20's- not good.

Last week we were off Monday for Prez Day, and had a snow day Tuesday. I started a baby afghan made of Bernet Baby Blanket yarn, which is like ropes of chenille. It was hard on my wrists to work  with, and used a K hook. I started out making a pattern I found, and hated it after a row, so ripped it out and made it as a big granny. It's the first time I've completed a baby afghan in 3 days! It's pretty, and will be warm, but the yarn was such a pain that I don't know that I'd do another. 

I read the new JD Robb, Obsession in Death, which was good, as is her usual. I just finished Children of the Revolution by Peter Robinson, which brings me up to date with DI Alan Banks and company. 

In two weeks Manda, Ben and Amary will be home for 4 days! Heather will have Julie and Mom's birthday party that Saturday, so they can visit with the whole family at once. I hope the weather improves before they get here! 

I read that you can clean the glass insert of your oven door by mixing a paste of baking soda and water and letting it sit, so I'm trying that.

Holly

Well.. Brrr!

It was like 6 this morning, with high winds. We got a couple of inches of snow, to make it even more fun.

I had a nice birthday. I didn't want to go out after work, so we ordered in pizza. Ralph got me an MP4 player and put a lot of my CD's on it. I talked to all my girls and mom. And it was Friday, payday, and the start of a 3 day weekend!

Yesterday I went to the DMV and got my hangtag renewed, so that's good for 3 years. Then we went to Friendly's for breakfast, and I took an afternoon nap. Last night I started Jake's beard to go with his hat. I'm afraid I won't have enough yarn to complete it, so I see a trip to AC Moore's in my future. 

I got the new JD Robb at the library and I'm reading that. 

I finished mom's other legwarmer, after taking them apart and re-doing them. I was quite sick of it by the time I finished. I didn't like the yarn I bought, it tended to split. But it's done! 

And I'm off to the sewing room to work on the beard!

Holly

Mid week

Every day the weather guessers have predicted some sort of wintery weather, and every day they've been wrong. Wrong temps, lack of rain/snow. Wrong, wrong, wrong.

I read 13 books in January, 5 of them on the kindle, the rest from the library. I'm caught  up with Tempe Brennan, and moved along to DI Alan Banks. 

The lottery is over 300 million, so the office lottery group is buying tickets. We call it our retirement plan! There are 20 of us, so it'd be about 15 mill each. I could retire well with 15 mill!

I'm still making red hats for this generation of the Oehrl men. I'll give them out on Sunday, at Joey's birthday party. We have his party from 12-4, then Zac's starts at 4. We have a social life! 

We're having pizza for dinner, something we do every few weeks. 

And that's my update!

Holly

February

Wow, January is history already! Welcome February! 

It's bitter cold here, down in single digits at night. Another storm coming in, but we should just get rain from it. 

I had a lovely night out Friday, my cookie swap group went to Sandy's for dinner and visiting. Every year we say we're going to get together once a month, then it doesn't happen. We've planned a night out for February, so maybe this will be the year we see more of each other!

In January I made 100 Xmas tree angels, a turtle cowl for Amary, and a red hat and beard for Joey's birthday. 

AC Moore had a good yarn sale going on, so I got some yarn yesterday for specific projects that I'm planning. 

In January I caught up on Stephen White's series, and I'm working on Kathy Reichs. I have to check my notebook and count up my January books. 

We've been food shopping, and I have laundry going, and some bills to mail when we leave to go to lunch at Texas Roadhouse. 

Manda and Ben bought a car, a 2012 Pilot, to replace Ben's small car that he's had since graduation and has driven him crazy a lot of that time. Dan started a new job. 

My goal this week is to make a hat and beard for Jacob to match the one I made Joey. 

Holly

Snow day

We got out early yesterday due to the forecast. It flurried all day yesterday, and the blizzard was going to hit last night. All kinds of advisories and warnings. Bread and milk bought, cars gassed up. General hysteria abounded, mostly on the part of the newscasters. Weather forecasts every five minutes all evenings. Schools cancelled last night for today. 

We got maybe four inches. 

States in New England had a real blizzard, but not us. Oops.

It's nice being off, no question about that! Stayed up later, slept in, made eggs and pork roll for breakfast. Bread pudding in the crockpot, meat loaf planned for dinner. Laid on the couch and finished the book I was reading. Finished Amary's hooded cowl last night, plans to start Joey's hat today. Facetimed with Manda, Ben and Amary last night. 

Ralph used the snowblower on our yard and Mom's. No paper delivery, due to the state of emergency, which is now lifted. 

So it's a snow? day, rather than a snow day. And more is predicted for Friday.

Holly

Another winter storm- maybe

We might get a clipper, then a blizzard. Or not. Depends on how the storms track. And depending on which forecaster you're listening to. There will definitely be weather of some sort.

Today is our usual day to shop, so we were at Perk's a little after it opened. It wasn't crowded (yet) which was good. And I remembered to take the list with me, also good. I bought the ingredients to make a new to us dish called tater tot casserole. 

Stephen White is one of the authors I want to catch up on this year. Last night I read Line of Fire, which is a play on words. It had a twist I didn't see coming, and which kept me up til midnight finishing the book. Today I'll start the newest, and the final book in his Alan Gregory series. 

I'm working on a hooded cowl for Amary, that looks like a turtle shell. The yarn is very thick, and it uses an N hook, which is huge. I hope to finish it today. Next up is a hat for Joey for his birthday. 

Hallmark has been running sappy romances, now that Christmas is over. They're good to have on in the background. 

Yesterday I made chili in the crockpot, and a batch of chocolate chip cookies. Because it was me making them, the raisins are implied. Ben and I have a running argument about raisins in cookies- he thinks there should be a warning, I think they are implied in certain kinds of cookies. 

And now it's time to go to Bertucci's for lunch with Frank and Charlotte!

Holly