Monday, January 25, 2010

etc., etc.

* Eva has discovered the beauty that is building with blocks. The blocks seem to have found a permanent home in the living room, and she is constantly entreating me to keep Jack away so he doesn't knock them down (pretty near impossible). Here he is watching over all.

* I finally broke out my wheat grinder today! I did hard red wheat, hard white wheat, soft white wheat, and popcorn, all in fairly small quantities. I wanted to sample some different kinds before buying in bulk.

Man, was it ever loud. I knew it was supposed to be loud, so I waited until Eva was in preschool. It gave Jack quite a scare.

Did you even know you could grind popcorn? It's supposed to make the best cornmeal. I use cornmeal when I make certain breads and pizzas, and now I can't wait to make cornbread with it!

* On Friday night, we got 8-9" of snow in 3 hours. I ran out for Cafe Rio and when I got home at 7:30, the driveway was completely clear. We looked out the window at 10:30 to see a winter wonderland. Amazing.

* On Saturday, I took Eva and Max sledding (Lucas had a sleepover at Jill's). Eva has been talking about going sledding for a long time, so there was really no getting around it. She shocked us by being far braver than either of her brothers at that age -- she went down the big hill on my lap, then on Max's lap, then by herself! And she even walked back up the hill, dragging the sled behind her. We stayed for an hour, and only left because it started snowing again and her cheeks were bright red. Sadly, I took my camera to document the outing, but discovered I had left my memory card at home...

* After the big snow, our neighbors made a snow fort in their yard. More of an igloo, really. Lucas informed that 3 kids could fit comfortably inside and that they built a fire within. Ummmm... I don't know if I'm okay with that. At least they had a chimney and Lucas wasn't the one actually lighting the fire, but...

They came over today after school to help Lucas make a fort of his own. They got the shoveling, piling, and water packing done. Tomorrow, they begin the hollowing. It's good to have a project.

* This was the view out the back window this morning. Blue sky instead of gray! A great way to start the day.

* I got a near-migraine today. I took two consecutive doses of Excedrin and then had to lie down for a couple of hours. It finally went away. You know the best part? Even though it hit at 2:00 p.m., I didn't feel like my day was wasted, because, with my new day planning strategy, I had already accomplished all of the essential things plus a few extras! It felt like a major victory.

13 comments:

jenn said...

I might have had more to say but am so happy and jealous of your new planning strategy and that it got the essentials done early in the day... WOW! Why do I make it so hard?

Susan said...

Goodness, what a day! I enjoyed the tour.

Amie said...

I had a lot to say too... and then the "planning strategy" made me lose all train of thought and start thinking about my strategy this morning... well, the laundry is going.

Now I remember... I love the picture of the blocks. I'm so glad you didn't end up with a migraine. Wheat grinders (at least mine) are ridiculously loud... and mine leaves a flour cloud so I only use it on the back porch now.

I am curious... are you bottling the flour to use or is the the wheat kernels? I did know you can grind popcorn, but I haven't done it. I do have 50 lbs though because I figured it was cheap, filling food storage. I can't wait to hear what you decide is best. I use hard white wheat. My wheat grinder also says not to grind sugar... does yours?

Liz said...

Love all your photos today!

So, we are always trying to build snow forts out here with not much success. What is their secret? I've never heard of water packing? Do they just shovel together a big mound and then hollow it out? Never tried that, so if we get snow again this winter and not more rain, we will try it.

Oh, and I like your planning strategy idea. I really enjoyed that entire post. Wish I could come and learn with all of you!

Jill said...

It's so great that Eva has embraced playing with blocks, but she's seriously (and surprisingly) deluded if she thinks Jack is going to stay out of them.

Wheat grinding eh? I am not there yet.

I don't think we got that much snow on Friday night, or I completely missed it (which is possible).

I love the blue skies that follow a storm!

Jill said...

P.S. Woohoo, for dance class day! Don't forget your memory card!

crystal said...

Max is obsessed with the art of snow fort creating. I would appreciate detailed directions from your neighbors, via Lucas, so I feel more confident that he won't smash his skull in when he crawls into his totally unsafe fort.

That was a single sentence. Wow.

I'm curious what your "essentials" are. Do tell!

Michelle said...

I love that Lucas has an igloo project.

Hey - I have an idea...I bet Marc would love to have Eva build blocks in his media room :)!

Barb said...

You will love the corn meal with the home ground popcorn - much finer consistency. Interesting to experiment with all those different varieties of wheat.

Charlotte said...

Not an almost migraine! I'm glad you were able to fend it off; nothing is quite so incapacitating as a migraine. And Lucas making a fire inside the igloo?—hahahahaha.

amy gretchen said...

go figure, i think you guys got more snow than us.

the blue sky photo is such a sight for sore eyes. especially today when the inversion is back.

i need a grinder and keep putting it off because I don't want to spend the money right now. It scares me because it's so loud. Why does it have to sound like your at the dentist? I never knew it would grind corn and never thought about storing the flour myself. So smart. Where did you get yours?

Amanda said...

Beautiful blue sky and mountains!

We don't own a wheat grinder either..but I'm curious about what kind you have. Is it electric or not?

That's quite a storm you got!

Rebekah said...

I don't think I ever realized that Jack spent so much time indoors. Yeah, he's a pretty big dog to constantly have underfoot.

I have never heard of backing with popcorn. I can't wait to hear about the results.

I love snow!

I also love playing with fire. Hey, at least it can't rage out of control in all of that snow, right?

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