New Dishes

I went to Goodwill this week and expanded my dish collection--when Sara removed her dishes from the cupboards, they looked a little bare! I call the glass "retro" or "classic" (although some might call it "ugly"). And I thought the bowls were pretty...and they made me long for days without snow.

Cold Weather

We received another 8.5 inches of snow last week, and then a couple more on Sunday, so our total snow count over the last 2 weeks has been about 40 inches. I am getting tired of shoveling! On top of that, the temperature has been above 20 degrees only one day during that time. Temps have been below zero without the windchill! I love listening to the weather, and hearing them say that today it will be "bitterly cold." None of the snow is melting, and most of the streets and even parts of the highways have layers of ice that even the plows can't get rid of. I feel a little like Laura Ingalls Wilder in "The Long Winter."

To top it all off, I smelled gas one evening, and went downstairs to find flames shooting out of the bottom of my boiler. It was -4 degrees that night. I had to turn off the heater all night and for part of the next day until someone could come in to fix it. I had about 6 blankets on my bed, and it was cold! I had the space heater on, but that really didn't help very much.
Last weekend my family came over to help me do some stuff to get the house ready to sell. We washed the flame marks off the boiler, of course. Dad put down a new floor in the bathroom (it was carpeted--who carpets a bathroom?). Mom made chair covers for the dining room, and Winston tried to help but mostly just got in the way.
I made a tablecloth to match the chair covers, as well as red placemats. I have little bamboo placemats too, and then got 4 pretty plates and some napkins. I have been watching enough shows on HGTV that I understand the importance of staging!!

...And More Snow

According to the news, we have now received 10.5 MORE inches of snow. And it's still snowing!!! I didn't go in to work in Des Moines today...third day in a row. I also haven't been to the gym all week, but I have been working out because I have been shoveling snow!!

So far this morning I could only get the front door open far enough to take a picture down the block. Believe it or not, there is a sidewalk and a street somewhere in that picture...I just put my boots on, and I'm going to attempt to clear at least the front steps, and maybe a shovel-width down the sidewalk. I don't think I will attack the driveway this morning. I'm not going anywhere.

Snow...

On Sunday it started snowing around noon and didn't stop all day. We ended up with over a foot of snow! I couldn't even make it to the Super Bowl party!

Here I am, shoveling my front steps and walk. The snow was above my knees! I didn't go to work on Monday because I had to shovel my car out, and also because it was sleeting most of the day. Tuesday morning I drove to Des Moines for work, stayed about 2 hours, then headed home again because it was snowing. Fortunately, I can do a lot of my work from home, so I have been keeping busy.

Winston wanted to go outside, so we let him. He jumped off the steps and was buried in the snow!