In 2007 I did...

In 2007 I DID...

1. NOT Get my weight down to 140, and maintain that until 2008. :P
   
2. NOT Have an extended fast every 3 months.
3. Find good for us snacks for kids.
4. Look into diet change for MILO.
5. NOT Have my devotions regularly - after exercise - before computer. Finish Thomas E. Kempis, find more A.W. Tozer.
6. Work on my meek and quiet spirit, pray before responding, each time.
7. Go 365 days with out cutting my hair.
8. NOT Never watch TV unless my dh is watching TV.
9. Read 12 books. (Keep track on my blog.) Some of which should be the Charlotte Mason series.
10. Have an "real life" friend over for tea 6 times. (6 different friends... if I can find them... one at a time)

Oh HEY -- 6 out of 10... I DID 6 out of 10 of my GOALS for 2007.

These were not listed in order of importance.

I wrote last year, "often times I struggle with keeping these, so I'm going write here why these are important to me -- in case I need to "encourage myself in the Lord". I forgot to look at them... mostly.

Get my weight down to 140, and maintain that until 2008.

I DID get down to 163 -- once. I haven't weighed in a few weeks... but I think I'm back up into the 70's. Purty sure... my new skinny jeans are fitting tight.

BUT -- I've got my calendar up by my scale in the laundry room. I'm planning on measuring tomorrow. I'm going to concentrate on exercise this year. Last year -- I worked and worked on my food. Finally at one point I was down to eating South Beach style, and only consuming 1200 cal/day. STALLED. Losing nothing. I took the week-end off in October and ate with my friends... and LOST a pound. Obviously the FOOD plan wasn't working. So -- this year... be balanced with my food. Stick with the South Beach plan... not worry so much about counting and EXERCISE like crazy! Those contestants on the Biggest Loser show work out 4 hours a day, I hear. They lose. Now -- I can't do it for that long of a time in the day... but I can do it 5 days a week. Cardio and Resistance. I've got hand weights and Walk away the Pounds Tapes. So I'm going to do some CATHE with FitTV and walk. In the spring I'm going to do Couch to 5K with my home school group (Get ready kids!)... So my goal is going to change. I really want to be in the 30's... down to 130ish and keep it there through December.

(Mat 18:6) But whoso shall offend one of these little ones which believe in me, it were better for him that a millstone were hanged about his neck, and that he were drowned in the depth of the sea.
Yep... that's one of the really big reasons why I need to use self-control in this area. Offending little ones... it's a big offense in the sight of the Lord.

I think I'll keep this verse here -- it's a good reminder. I'm going to have Tori work out with me in the mornings. She'll be a good motivator. She likes to exercise and she'll nag me... motivate me to keep going.

Have an extended fast every 3 months.

I did fast a bit this year -- but when I do -- my hair falls out. So... that's not good for me. I still think fasting is beneficial spiritually. But unless there is a real crisis -- extended fasting should probably not be done (for me) every 3 months.

Find "good for us" snacks for kids.

Hey -- we didn't do too bad with this one. I quit buying sugar snacks. I'd call them lunch box snacks. My kids ate more veggies this year then ever before. Hooray! Granola isn't too bad. Cheese sticks. Actually -- we just quit eating so many snacks in general.

Look into diet change for MILO.

When using South Beach -- we cut back on sugar consumption. AMAZING to me how cutting back on sugar helps Milo. We didn't have to do anything weird... cut out food coloring or yeast or eggs, or wheat... just cut back on the sugar stuff... he does better. AND -- I send him outside to play a lot. ;)

Have my devotions regularly - after exercise - before computer.

Of course - this started out with a BANG! But as I get busy -- it usually slips away. I'm going to keep it as a goal for 2008, because it's a good one.



work on my meek and quiet spirit, pray before responding, each time.

Umm... I DID work on it. I'm doing better than last year, I think... but I can't say that I pray EVERY time before responding. I find that reading my bible consistently and this one go hand in hand.

Go 365 days with out cutting my hair.

OK -- I did it. I didn't cut my hair. I'll post a photo later. It's gross. I don't like my hair like this. But how would I know if I didn't try it. I find myself putting it up a lot -- trying to keep it out of my face. I'm going to go call to make a hair appointment soon. ;) I can't wait for January to arrive!! A real hair doo. Woo Hoo.

Never watch TV unless my dh is watching TV.

Oh yeah... good idea. But we get Netflix movies that my dh doesn't want to watch. So -- a lot of times... I watch them by myself while folding laundry. But I USUALLY don't watch it instead of working... usually....

Read 12 books.

Oh well -- I went way over 12. I even quit listing them after a while. I had no idea I read so much. Mercy... I apparently don't need this as a goal. LOL

Have an "real life" friend over for tea 6 times.

Oh -- now this was fun for me. I counted any time we had company as having a friend over for tea. Should I list them here? I bet I'd forget someone if I did that.

Amber
Becky
Beth
Christina
Connie
Karen
Lisa
Robin
Robin
Susan

Well -- that's 2007 in a nut shell. I'd better go work on my 2008 goals.

Playing in The Dark

I'm still finding neat photos of the cousins playing together with no power. This was taken in the dark -- see the lantern up on top of the fridge? They were gathered around in the semi-dark, just loving being together.

How Neat!!

** Truth Squad **

I live in Southern Iowa -- January 3rd is coming up quickly. You know what that means... JUNK MAIL!! Oh -- not really -- it means the caucuses are almost upon us.

An amazing amount of junk mail is Anti-Huckabee. He must be the guy with the target on this back. Very interesting.

I just finished reading a book about Clarence Thomas, My Grandfather's Son. Remember him? Anita Hill ring a bell? Well... reading about the Senate confirmation hearing debacle... then seeing all this junk mail full of negative about Huckabee... it makes me wonder.

I wish you'd go read here at the Truth Squad to see how Huckabee's opponents are twisting his words into some very interesting stories. Let me know what you think. Is he really the villain they are making him out to be?

SPUNKY over at Homeschool Blogger has a few things to say. If you read her articles -- take the time to read the comments too. They are almost as interesting.

Just a side note -- I got a phone call today -- one of MANY political phone calls I've gotten in the past weeks. Today the lady said, "We want to know if you were to vote today, who would you vote for, and who would your #2 vote be." I mentioned 2 names. Then she nicely said, "Thank you, and this phone call was brought to you by Huckabee." Well -- how about that. That's all they wanted to know? No bait and switch. No leading questions about any other guy. Very refreshing. I told THAT lady to have a nice day. LOL She laughed... YES she DID!?! She was real -- no recording. And you Iowans know what I mean... don't you.

My kids want to know if it's rude to hang up on a recording. Do you hang up? I know Susan does... she talks back to the recording. She said so -- go read it for yourself.

Is this the line for eating my words?

I wrote this this morning... "what a good experience for me"... Was that me?

Well -- I had the list in plain view. I spoke the expectations out loud. I explained the schedule. I think I did what a good mother ought. Maybe I skipped something.

Then I said, "I need to practice the piano for Sunday, you clean the kitchen after breakfast." This is not a new chore for them, by the way. Old hat. Mid-practice/cleaning session... they were goofing off.

One warning -- cut it out. Nice tone of voice. Made eye contact. They knew what I was talking about.

Then pretty close to the blow my hat stage... WHAT IN THE WIDE WORLD ARE YOU GUYS DOING???? Stern, very stern!

They were playing with the light saber and TOTALLY NOT WORKING!!

Why can't my kids work unsupervised? They are 12 and 8... the 6 year old was standing there watching them. I would too if I were 6.

I was NOT goofing off (reading, computer, eating, sleeping)... I was practicing the piano. I was NOT expecting to do more than I can do. I was NOT expecting them to do a new task with out training them first. (Does practicing the piano sound frivolous? I have to play for the congregation on Sunday -- for my first time ever in my life... it's not frivolous - let me tell you. I'm scared out of my wits.) Maybe that's the problem.

::sigh::

I let them know that we will NOT be rewarded for bad behavior and there will be no library movie with popcorn and there will be MORE days of 6:00 alarm time, until they get it that there is a time for work and a time for play.

If you have the secret to this puzzle... will you kindly click on the word comment and clue me in? You konw -- some character training that I've misplaced. Some horse pill to swallow -- to turn them into work horses. Some motivational DVD's that we need to rewind or something?

Waited expectantly, while munching on my words from this morning -- they are a little dry, stale, bitter actually,

Jennifer

WORK DAY UPDATE

Well -- as I mentioned yesterday -- We had a work day around here - no free time. I was tired at the end of the day. I'm going to do it again today -- for a 1/2 day.

Yesterday we started our day at 6:00 a.m.

We all sat down and had our quiet time. Tori, Mansel and I, while the short ones slept. I had to explain to Mansel -- QUIET TIME means no TALKING. Man alive -- that boy is a talker!! Ü

We had a very productive day.

1. I mailed a package to my BIL. (We had his present from my folks under our tree... how did that happen?)
2. We took down the Christmas Tree and all the Christmas decorations... I left up all the Snowmen that are just WINTER. I'll take that stuff down -- when I'm tired of dusting them... or at the end of March... which ever comes first.
3. We organized the bookshelf in the living room.
4. Put all the new toys away and organized the boys toy box.
5. Some one scooped the snow -- it wasn't me.
6. Cleaned off the fridge.
7. Organized the music books by the piano.
8. We put the new dart board in the basement for Dad to put up. (OK -- my dad reads this -- not MY dad... but for DAN to put up... the KID's dad.) Ü
9. I renewed the library books -- then called them to see why the computer said I was a "blocked" user. WHA??? They don't know why either. Hmmm... Maybe they are calling me a block head.
10. Organize videos under the TV.
11. Washed the rugs.
12. Bleach the sink.
13. Vacuum the den, living room, stairs, hallway and boys room.
14. Straightened the boys room.
15. Organized the boys white cupboard.
    

There... that looks satisfying. As I was reading down the list this morning -- I realized that someone got marker happy yesterday. We still have to do several things... some of which got marked off yesterday. Hmmm...

So -- for today. We'll try to get some of these things done.

1. Finish laundry, fold, put away.
2. Wash new dishes. (I bought some new Christmas plates for $4.50 a box - I got 4 boxes... 16 place settings HA HA!) But they have to be hand washed... definitely going to be used for company only.
3. Clean the windows.
4. Clean the wrestling mat.
5. 3 bathrooms to clean.
6. Guest bedroom.
7. Kitchen counters - if you've seen my counters lately - you'll be glad of that one.
8. Sweep garage floor.
9. Organize winter coats. (Some probably need laundered).
10. Organize den bookshelf.
11. Organize classroom bookshelf.
12. Write thank you notes. (I want to do this first, I think).
13. Mop floors.
14. Organize computer desk.
15. Dust floor boards.
16. Tori's room.
17. Master bedroom.

OK -- we are not going to get through that whole list... because I'm taking the kids into town this afternoon to watch a movie at the library.

Yesterday was a good experience for me. We all worked together VERY well... not much fighting or arguing. I only had to administer a few "lickings"... and that was to the short ones, who aren't as well trained as the tall ones. LOL

Tori, Mansel and I took turns adding items to the list. That's how we got weird things like sweep the garage floor and clean the wrestling mat. BUT -- I'm the one who decides when these get done. My kitchen floor is going to get mopped before the garage floor gets swept. LOL

I'd better go -- times a'wasting.

Um... Not blogging much Today

Today -- is a consequence from yesterday. SOMEONE , several someones actually, didn't listen to their authority... so we will ALL be working together today -- no free time. So -- if they don't get free time... I don't get free time. ;)

Here we go!!

We've got a list -- I'll update ya tomorrow.

Wordless Wednesday

MERRY CHRISTMAS!

Luk 2:1 And it came to pass in those days, that there went out a decree from Caesar Augustus, that all the world should be taxed.
Luk 2:2 (And this taxing was first made when Cyrenius was governor of Syria.)
Luk 2:3 And all went to be taxed, every one into his own city.
Luk 2:4 And Joseph also went up from Galilee, out of the city of Nazareth, into Judea, unto the city of David, which is called Bethlehem; because (he was of the house and lineage of David:)
Luk 2:5 To be taxed with Mary his espoused wife, being great with child.
Luk 2:6 And so it was, that, while they were there, the days were accomplished that she should be delivered.
Luk 2:7 And she brought forth her firstborn son, and wrapped him in swaddling clothes, and laid him in a manger; because there was no room for them in the inn.
Luk 2:8 And there were in the same country shepherds abiding in the field, keeping watch over their flock by night.
Luk 2:9 And, lo, the angel of the Lord came upon them, and the glory of the Lord shone round about them: and they were sore afraid.
Luk 2:10 And the angel said unto them, Fear not: for, behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy, which shall be to all people.
Luk 2:11 For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, which is Christ the Lord.

When Will Jodi Be Born?

Now -- this is the most difficult GIVEAWAY I've ever entered. But I've learned how to link a banner now. COOL! So maybe it was worth it. By posting this banner -- that is linked to the Team Bettendorf Blog -- I now have 1 guess.

The dorky thing is -- my guess may be wrong, and I won't even win anyway.

BUT -- you know me... I love most things that are free. Well -- except for lice... that's free -- or dog poo -- or some advice, which is most times free. I guess I should say... I love Free Vision Forum Stuff. LOL

OK so -- go take a guess. Jodi will be born soon. Can you guess when?

P.W. on YouTube

Did you see it??

Here is REE on TV.




Funny thing is -- I read her blog, Confessions of a Pioneer Woman, so much, that I felt like I was watching a friend on TV. WEIRD huh?

She had a nice voice -- great burper too. LOL

Through Ice and Snow

Contrary to popular belief, the United States Postal Service has no official motto. Did you know that?? I always thought it was...Neither snow nor rain nor heat nor gloom of night stays these couriers from the swift completion of their appointed rounds. Or something like that. Neither snow nor ice will slow them down... or let's get this mail out -- I want to get home.

That saying is an inscription that appears on some of their buildings, the most familiar of which appear on postal buildings in New York City and Washington, D.C.

Too funny. Learn something new every day -- AND -- our mail man got us our mail -- ON TIME each day of the December Ice Storm.

THANKS USPS!

Are We So Stupid?

Whaaa?



Don't even answer that question. Of course -- someone will climb those ice covered stairs then slip and fall and crack their noggin -- then be so full of pride that they will blame shift and SUE SOMEONE!! ::sigh:: How insulting that we have reduced our selves down to cautioning someone that ICE -- is SLIPPERY.

Vocabulary Coach

Look what I found. A Vocabulary Coach. I did OK on the medium words. Wouldn't this be a fun thing to add into a home school routine?

I'm trying to decide about a Christmas Post, or a New Years Post, or a Hiatus... what thinketh thou? Should I Hiat?

CHRISTMAS COUPONS

Do you have someone who is hard to buy for? Yep -- me too. That certain someone is going to get some coupons in a card from me.

Been racking my little pea brain -- poor thing -- I hope Christmas Coupons will do.

We Won't Forget

Thanks to Ursula for e-mailing me this. (She reads... but never comments - shame on her) ;)

What a neat project. Thanks Urs.



She checked it out on Snopes -- and it's real. This site had some behind the scenes information that was interesting to read.

We Won't Forget!

December Ice Storm, Photo Colage

If you will click on the photo - it will enlarge -- to return to the blog, hit your "go back one page" button on your tool bar.

December Ice Storm, Day 3

We had a breakfast of bacon and eggs. We were still able to cook on our gas stove top. I found it easy to find things to give thanks for during this deal. Praise God for a gas stove.

Oh -- but it was a sad day. My sister Becky and her daughters Julia (4) and Sophia (9m) are leaving. Of course I act like my dad and pull out the tripod! °Ü° I tell ya -- it's genetic.

Before they left, I braided sweet Julia's hair. Too bad I didn't do anything to my hair before this photo. YUCK. Oh well. Angela -- ya like Wayne's shirt? Funny... we aren't really Iowa Fans... but we have these shirts. So -- we wear them. Especially on Day 3. The boys were digging shirts out of their dirty clothes basket. I think Day 2 was their laundry day... so -- dirty clothes it was. Actually... they could have started wearing church clothes. But they preferred dirty clothes over church clothes. LOL



Julia has on "tie dyed" socks. (Mis matched socks). Her parents are so creative. She has inherited some of their creative genes, I think. That girl is so cute. She plays and plays and plays. I'm so proud of her for never complaining about not having anything to do -- with no TV or computer. She was a blessing to have around. We can't wait until she comes again for another visit!

We still did not have any power on this day. But Becky had to get home... she was going to pick up her dear husband at the airport the next day. He had left home for a 2 week class. That's why she came a visiting. We were her distraction. Hooray!! I love being a distraction. My dear husband said she was free to come and stay every time he had a 2 week class. YEAH!! I love my dear husband. Ü



After they left the kiddos and I piled into the 4-wheel drive truck and went to town. The generator need 5 gallons of gas every 8 hours. So -- I needed to refill our containers. We took back our library books and picked out some more. Got some pizza hut personal pans that they earned through the "book-it" program, and picked up some $1 double cheese burgers from McDonald's to finish off the meal. Funny - McDonald's has power.

As we drove around we were in awe of the beauty of the ice. Some damage was done. This is the fence that goes around the graveyard by the little church down the road from us. I think that was the only damage we saw. Well -- besides the power lines.

This is our neighbors wire fence.

The offending power line that was down to our house.

After our trip to town -- which probably took longer than it should have, because I was taking pictures like crazy -- we came home. I refueled the generator and then -- I took a nap. Ü

That evening we had grilled chicken. Just about the only thing we couldn't have had was a casserole -- because we didn't use the oven. Becky and I kept marveling over the fact that it almost seemed normal. That was due to the fact that my dear husband wanted to make us so comfortable. He really did a great job with that. We had hot water to shower with, a stove to use, a warm house, lamps to clean by.

I didn't really clean my house this whole time -- no vacuuming... but we did straighten every once in a while.

This night I made a trip to my brother-in-law's shop to pick up a plug. My husband was going to fix the generator so that it would go directly into the "box". Don't ask me the official name. But he could flip those switches and turn stuff OFF that we didn't want on, and then we wouldn't have extension cords running all over the house. You could plug the appliances into the wall. So then his sleep apnea machine could plug into the wall in the bedroom. He also turned on the bathroom lights, but not the wall outlets. He was could be selective on what he would turn on.

As I was driving home, I saw the knights in shining armor out and about. In the dark cold nights the Mid American Energy and all their men who traveled from other cities and states were out fixing the down power lines. As I pulled into our country road from the highway, there was a truck working on the power line closest to our house. I told Dan, "Perhaps we'll have power in the morning."

I was right. When Dan got up to go to work, he said our pole light was on outside. It's over -- all but the story telling. 3 days with no power. Thanks to an Almighty God, and a dear husband that is a great provider and protector, we endured it with relative ease.
That's the end of day 3. All we have left are the memories... well and a generator.

Tomorrow -- some random photos. (remember, if you click on the photo it will enlarge)

2007 Christmas Tour of My *Country* Home

A Warm Winter Welcome Awaits You! Come on in... it's so nice to have you here.

I truly love having a White Christmas. Is that what this makes you think of?

Our stockings are not all hung by the chimney with care - since we don't have a chimney in the living room. But one can tack wooden stockings up on the wall, can't we?

This little guy is hanging around in my favorite corner until the festivities begin. I think he is a book worm. Just my type of snowman.

I have a few little Snowmen and Snowladies posing in my room. So I took a group photo, to hurry it a long. I know there are so many beautiful houses to see this year.


Here we are all gathered around our tree. Unsuccessfully trying to get 7 people to smiling gleefully all at the same time. Can you tell I had short people helping me decorate this year? What memories this photo will bring back in a few years ~ when my tree looks more perfect~ yet less inviting. I think I'll cherish it this way a few more years.


I'll say good bye with this one last peek at my little country angel looking down on us. I pray you have a blessed Holiday Season this year. Many happy returns to you. May God bless you.


BooMama is hosting the 2007 Christmas Tour of Homes today. So click on the link to take a peek at 100's of others homes decorated beautifully to celebrate our Lord and Saviour's Birth. Enjoy!

December Ice Storm - Day 2

Let's see -- what did we do on day 2. I think we woke up and fought for a chance to hold Sophia.

Then we had another fight.

Then I zoomed in and took about 5,000 photos of Sophia.

Yeah -- that's about it. ::snort::

OK -- we did a bit more then that. Did I mention that Sophia is a doll? I real live cute snuggly doll? She is the most patient baby -- letting my kids hug her and squeeze her and poke her and kiss her. She was amazing. All this -- while teething. I'm not sure if Becky knows this or not. But Sophia is an amazing baby. Very laid back. A few whines here and there... but no screaming fits that couldn't be quickly resolved by removing some bothersome big kids from her space.

On Day 2 we woke up to ice still and still no power. Dan had decided to take off work to get a generator. He'd asked his brother - who sells Lawn Mowers in Southern Iowa - to find him a generator. He did find him one -- and we bought it and Dan filled her up with gas and started plugging things in. We decided saving the food was more important that having lights. Praise the Lord -- I'd just gone grocery shopping on Saturday and the freezers and fridge were full of food. That would have been a big loss. I see some of the commentors told me to put my food outside. Dan did think of that -- but I wanted that to be a last resort -- because we have a dog that loves people food. (dumb dog). We would have had to hang it from the trees like you do when camping, so our dog wouldn't have eaten it. Doable I guess... Funny looking -- but doable.

We had cereal and milk for breakfast. Oh my kids loved that. That was easy to fix.

We decided to let the big kids play out in the ice again this morning. Blow off some STEAM.

We ate lunch meat sandwiches for lunch again. Easy fix.

Then during nap time. C.O.D.A. tournament. I kept telling every one that I was the Queen of C.O.D.A. I'm not really -- but I was trying to build the excitement. We decided to play that during nap time -- because there isn't a lot of counting or moving with Coda Just mostly thinking. Becky, Mansel, Tori and I played Coda It was fun. I think we all won at least 1 time. Yeah -- I'm not really the Queen of anything. Ü Oh -- it looks like you can't buy Coda any more. That's too bad. Becky -- you and Jeremy will have to come here to play Coda -- be sure to tell him I'm the Queen of Coda LOL

Then it starts getting dark fast. So I started thinking about supper. Then what do you know... Dan says, "Let's order pizza!" OK !! HURRAY!! So I did the ordering. Woo Hoo. Dan did the picking up. Oh it was D-Lish. But isn't all food that you don't have to prepare or cook for yourself? I think so. Yum...

Dan educated me on how to fill that generator up with fuel. How to rotate things around -- we couldn't just plug in everything we wanted plugged it. We had to alternate between the 2 freezers in the basement. We'd keep the fridge plugged in all the time. He even rigged up some table lamps to plug in while doing dishes in the evening. How handy was that?

That night -- I had the kids all bunched up in the living room with their "orchestra instruments" and we were singing kid songs and choruses out of the hymn book. Dan all of a sudden strode into the living room and started fiddling around... he TURNED ON THE TV!!! Oh my heavens... you'd have thought he was throwing around million dollar bills. He unplugged something and plugged in the TV and DVD player. So -- on Day 2 -- after dark -- they watched TV. Good heavens -- were we ever spoiled. How many of you think Dan had a limit on how much pot play, rolling pin pounding, spatula clanging he could handle? LOL HEY -- what ever works.

Another early bed time. It gets dark early -- did I mention that?
This is the end of Day 2.

December Ice Storm - Day 1

This is what we woke up to on Tuesday Morning. Ice covering everything... this is our first branch down.

When we woke up 5:00 ish in the a.m. we were not alarmed. Well -- our alarm DID go off, but we had no fears.

My husband did make an early start to work because of the ice. He called me after a bit of driving and listening to our local WHO News Radio Station and said, "I just drove around a tree on our road and wouldn't have made it up the hill if that truck load of something heavy hadn't of torn up the gravel going down the hill yesterday." He was able to drive up our road in the truck tracks. The gravel roads were a sheet of ice. He mentioned that several cities around us had already lost power. Perhaps I should get ready in case we lost power. He then drove by some power lines on a highway close to our home. "Oh man - these lines are sagging - a big truck wouldn't be able to drive through here."

OK -- I'll prepare. But isn't the ice beautiful?




So I started making a good hearty warm breakfast. Melissa's Breakfast Burritos. D-Lish. We decided to play Monopoly. We played the short version since I have little kiddos to attend to -- I can't dedicate 3 days to playing a Monopoly game like I'd like to. LOL So we play for an hour. While we were playing, 8:45 a.m., the power went off. Well -- it was daylight out, so I'm not sure what our first clue was. I think the furnace fan quit running. The furnace fan runs all the time because our wood heat furnace in the basement, is tied into our house furnace heat ducts. So it pushes the heat through the entire house. I didn't have a fear of getting cold. I thought if worse came to worse, we could all huddle around the wood furnace in the basement. "At least we will stay warm," I thought. So I got up and fixed the furnace to run with out electricity. I had to remove a filter.

Then we finished the Monopoly Game. Mansel won. That hoarder. He hoards in real life too. He wants me to put his cash on a "credit card" so his wallet will be slimmer. I said he could take all those 1 dollar bills and change it into a $20 dollar bill and it would be slim. He didn't like that idea. Hmm... sounds like we'll need to do some educating. He gets gifts cards for birthdays and Christmas some times. I think that is where he is getting that idea. Julia and Milo were on my team. Julia counted the dice. Milo was the mover. I was the thinker. Maybe I should have changed that up a bit, since I got beat. As you can see -- Wayne was the cheer leader.

Well -- who could look at all that ice from the window and not want to play in it. I had them promise - scouts honor - that they would stay in the backyard away from the power lines, and not camp out under any trees. They did promise... so we started the bundling process. I think that took an hour -- or three.

We decided to forgo our library trip that day. We'll play outside instead and just read some library books at home.

Even the babies were going outside.

Isn't Sophia beautiful!?! She looks like a little peanut. She fits so nicely inside her mother's coat. Becky is a great mother. She didn't let the idea of having 2 babies and no electricity bother her any. I will say -- having her and her children around during this deal made it a lot more fun! No chance to get bored with nothing to do when you have cousins to play with!

When they were playing outside, I ventured out and took some photos.


Tori was being a good big sister/cousin and making the ice fun for the little ones.

Isn't it beautiful? Did I already say that?

We had lunch meat sandwiches for lunch. Easy to prepare, and quick clean up with paper plates!

I think during nap time the big kids played outside some more. That's when I gathered up the candles.

Dan came home from work early with an inverter. He hooked it up to his truck, then ran the truck all night long to keep our wood heat furnace blower running. We noticed that hot air rises. Our upstairs got so warm, that I took off the comforter during the night.

But very quickly - it got dark, and we started supper. We had grilled hot dogs, mac-n-cheese, and something else. Maybe it was veggies. I don't remember.
Almost the only reminder that we didn't have power was the dark. We had heat and we had gas to cook with. When we didn't have the water heater plugged in to anything, we ran out of hot water. I had to ask my dear husband why we ran out of hot water with a gas water heater. He explained that we have a NEWER gas water heater. Instead of using a metal chimney for the fumes out the top of the roof, it has an electric something or other and it blows the fumes out of a PVC pipe... so when the electricity goes out -- our water heater does too. We had enough hot water to take showers with the first day. Then we boiled water the 2nd day for dishes. So Kris... does that explain it?

THEN - after supper we all gathered in the living room and wrestled in the dark.
OK -- not all of us... they eventually settled down and we sang Christmas carols by flashlight and some candle light. Those candles sure don't give off much light. No wonder the folks in the olden days went to bed early... and Becky said, "no wonder they had so many babies." LOL What else was there to do? It sure gets dark early. °Ü° Of course Becky and I sat up and talked by candle light...

That was the first day.