Drip Drop

With our 47 degree high for the day, there is A LOT of melting going on! I went outside after work WITHOUT a coat or gloves and proceeded to take down some lights and other decorations that are not frozen into the ground. Slowly but surely, we are getting them put away.

It's been a busy week of work, school, cleaning, doing taxes, catching up, but a good week too. Keirah has finished school for the year, and Aliyah continues. She will be done in early March--hooray! We are doing adding, subtracting, multiplying, dividing, Roman numerals, measures, and so much more!

Well, there are still several things to do before I sleep so I had better get going!

It's Warmer

It's climbing a little day by day. I think we reached 35 today--hooray! So, what did I do after work in light of the warmer weather?

Well, the girls played around in the snow while I used snow to clean the garage floor. I discovered a couple of years ago that snow works like cat litter in cleaning up all of the yuck that accumulates on the floor from the salt, cinders, and dirt. It worked like a charm today as well. Now, I have dirty snow.
I took down a few more outdoor decs. The ones that are in the ground will be there a bit longer until some more thawing occurs. Josh is going to take the decs that are on the porch drying to the basement for storage after he gets off work.
I relished in the fact that the days are once again getting longer =).

Since winter seems to be a perfect time to clean and organize and do it all again and again, I'm going to do some of that tonight. For the life of me, I cannot figure out how these dust bunnies take on a life of their own and you find them rolling about on the floor. What goes?? I vacuum/dust at least once a week and most of the time 2 or 3 times. Yet, the fuzz flies. Don't even get me started on what my rag looked like when I cleaned the blinds a few days ago. I did it twice to make sure that I got it all!

I'm looking forward to the next few "warming" days so we can get our cars washed and vacuumed--they are disgustingly salty and dirty from all of the recent weather.

Have a great evening!

Movin' on Up!

WOW--I can't believe what a difference a few degrees make! The snow is slowly beginning to wane and the residential streets are beginning to look like streets again. You don't lose your breath when you go outside now. I think we reached about 29 today =).
We had a wonderful day just the four of us. We ate a nice lunch, purchased roman shades for the remaining room that needed it (they've already made a huge difference), used Aliyah's gift certifiicates for the bookstore, and did a few things around the house.
Finally, Josh was able to begin taking down the outdoor decs. They are sitting on the porch on old towels so that they can dry off before going to the basement for storage. The rest of the week looks promising to get most of them down as we are set to make it to 40 on Thursday--hallelujah!
Aliyah had fun using her gift certificates for being a well versed kid. She got 4 Odyssey CD's, 2 books, and a pencil. All of them are already in use!
I get excited about weird things ok...so we had to run a few errands this evening and I wanted to get a white mocha at Starbucks with our Christmas gift card. We received one of the surveys on the receipt which in turn gets you a free drink at SB!! YAY!! That's like extending my gift card!
Anyway, have a great week all!! I look forward to thawing out and things clearing off a bit. There are many icicles around town as we drive around.

Warming??

Well, it's a start anyway. I think it's around 20 degrees. At this point, we'll take any degree we can get in the positive direction. I'm ready to leave the negative temps behind!

We had a pretty quiet weekend--just the girls and myself! Last night we all watched "Santa Buddies" while all snuggled up together. I must confess...I watched my first Christmas movie weeks after the Christmas season--oops! One of our goals this week is to begin taking down the outdoor Christmas decs. Maybe with the temps moving the right way it will happen.

I think my brain is frozen because there isn't a whole lot else to say besides "bring on spring"!

January: Reflections

Typically, January is my least favorite month and this year has not become an exception due to the VERY COLD weather we continue to experience. Usually, I try to drudge my way through merely counting down the days until the brighter months of spring.

Today as I was organizing yet another closet, I began to reflect. Maybe January is really supposed to be like this.
The month that follows the celebration of the glorious birth of Jesus does not always feel like any postlude to a celebration. However, maybe God has different ideas.
After a dizzying, frenzied pace of the past months that culminate with several Holidays one right after another, January is where it stops. We are forced inside more often during these cold months and thus most likely spend more time playing games with family, talking, reading, and just being together. January brings togetherness with family.
Busyness and crazy schedules leave us exhausted. January offers opportunity for sleep...there are not any plants to tend to, yards to mow, or many places one needs to go. I'm trying to think of it more as a time to recharge those very low batteries.
In the months leading up to Christmas, thoughts race a million different directions with sadly little time for reflection. January offers plenty of time to reflect and think and put into action.
For us, January has offered some time to catch up. There is opportunity to get those nagging little things done at home (like organzing closets) or cleaning & laundry.
So, while it has not turned into my favorite month, I am trying to enjoy January for what I think it is intended for...rest, peace, reflection, and rejuvenation.

New Year, New Look

I realized that my Christmas blog decoration was still up. I found something I liked and I'm happy with it. Don't expect it to change anytime soon. I do wish the weather would change, though and the mercury would rise. It's far too cold for my comfort and liking.

We are back in the saddle again in the way of school and work and routine. I keep telling myself that just a couple of months and the warmth will return and we will finish the school year =).

Just in case you were wondering, we got the house in order and the laundry completed and the closets and drawers organized that were on my radar. We do have Christmas thank-you's to write, though...hopefully tonight.

What to do in January when it is cold and dark early:
Well, if it gets warmer (it won't take much with what we are seeing), we will go sledding again. I may get better at making cards--yes actually do it. Cuddle with the girls and Josh (if he's home).
Clean my hall closet yet again--towels somehow get really stuffed in that closet. Figure taxes.
Read. Wait for warmth!

Goodbye Holidays

So sad to see it all over! I have been absent from my blog because we've been off doing things like celebrating, visiting family, visiting with friends, sledding, shopping, braving the negative temps and just enjoying being with each other. It's hard to see it end especially since January and frigid temps are what we have in the future.

It has been nice to spend extra time with Josh and the girls and do fun things. I took the girls sledding the other day. They loved it! Keirah got cold quickly so to the car we went. I promised Aliyah that we would take daddy back that night for a twilight sleddding trip at the big hill. Sure enough, when daddy got off work, we went out to the large hill under the light of a full moon and giggled and screamed! We were the only crazy ones there at night. That's probably because it was NYE and it was cold. There was a certain magical quality about standing at the top of that big hill covered in crusted snow with the bright full moon shining down as we overlooked a golf course and the city lights. Really, it was so silent and gorgeous. We took only a couple of trips down the hill since it was soooo cold.
We had a nice weekend getaway up to none other than the burbs of Chi-town. We stayed overnight at Hyatt Place. The room was very inexpensive and very large. They had a wonderful complimentary breakfast as well. The girls were thrilled to go swimming. They are part fish. The location of the hotel was absolutely perfect for us as it looked right at PF Changs =). We did some deal-finding and had fun! Josh and I spent some Christmas $$ and YES it is stretching far. I went to Ann Taylor Loft and they had another wonderful sale going on: 4 shirts at $2.93 each, a skirt for $2.93, pants for $11.88 (I know I splurged on those--lol). Anyway, how do you pass up those prices??? Josh got some great deals at Ruehl also.
After we got home yesterday, we began the massive post-holiday clean up. I don't know how things get so dirty and disorganized. We organized closets and drawers and took down Christmas decs. The outside decs will be up for a bit as we aren't about to brave the negative temps to take those down yet. They are probably frozen in the ground anyway.
Well, I must run and do a load of laundry and finish up the cleaning. School and work begin again tomorrow. Goodbye holidays!