Spring? Really?

Our March came in like a lion so I was expecting it to go out like a lamb... this past weekend wasn't very lambish! Leading up to the weekend the St. Louis area was under a Winter Storm Watch with projected snowfalls for my area of 7 - 11 inches. I had to be down at the property on Saturday during the day and then come home Saturday night so I could take Erik to the airport on Sunday morning at 4:00 so I was sweating it a little.

I woke up on Sunday morning about 3:30 and looked out. It had been sprinkling when I got home from the country about 10:30 and it was still sprinkling. The temp was well above freezing so no snow or ice - which was a good thing. I took the boy to the airport and got back home about 4:30 - still just a sprinkle or two. It even seem to have stopped altogether by the time I got home. I went back to bed and woke up Sunday morning about 8:30 to roughly 7 inches of snow and it was till coming down - hard!

It continuted to snow all day and we got a total of about 12 1/2 inches. The plows started coming through our neighborhood about 6:00 that evening but I had already gotten Austen to shovel the driveway and had gone to the store for that combination of food that we were out of to make French toast! (Isn't it funny how everyone runs to the store for milk, bread and eggs before a storm? I had not gone before and didnt' realize until Sunday morning that we were out of all three - plus a few other things.) It continued to snow lightly all night and it's still snowing at noon on Monday but just a light dusting so far.

So I'm working from my kitchen table and have a big pot of beef stew on the stove and logs for the fire. Here are a couple of pics from Sunday:


Aubri and Tom's kitty relaxing - she was trying to play an xbox game but the cat had other ideas!


View out my front door before we shoveled or the snow plays came. You can't even see my fairy under the tree!


Austen gearing up to go shovel the snow.

Golfing the furnace update

Just a bit of an update on what's going on here at the Jilly-bear ranch and town house. :) Not much more has been happening down at the property - we get these little dry spells during the winter months - well we will until we get that furnace hooked up. We have the thing but we need a licensed contractor to actually hook it up for the warranty. Maybe once the tax refund comes in...


I have been thinking of getting some (or making some) stencils so that I can do some Celtic Knot work around the windows and maybe spruce up the wall that I was going to paint a different color and ended up leaving it the same color as the rest of the room. It just seems to need something. I have looked up some knot work and have found some I like but I'm not sure I can put the detail into it on the wall like I would like to. We'll see once I get with Austen to help me make the stencils.


I had some sad news earlier this week - My Brother in Law (Randy's brother) has stage 4 lung cancer and they don't expect him to live more than a few months. The kids have all been trying to get over there to see him including Tom who is trying to get home next weekend. I will love to see my son but I hate the reason.


Working from home most of this week - had a procedure done on Wednesday - I'll give you the details once I get the results back. I'm hopeful that all is well - the doc wasn't too concerned so I'm taking that as a good sign.


Austen has been working on a Disc Golf goal all week. He finally got it finished last night and has been outside this afternoon practicing his 'putting'.

Snow Day

Actually I didn't get a snow day from work - I can work from home - but it snowed .... a lot!

This was my view on the drive home:

And this was after it had been snowing less than an hour!

We had plenty of warning that the storm was coming of course but you know - they cry wolf a lot!  It was perfectly clear and not doing anything when I left for work at 6:30 but by 9:30 it was snowing.  I had thought to go home at 11 but my boss came by around 10 and said to go home.  So I left... and it usually takes about 18 minutes to get home but yesterday it took about 30 minutes.  The roads just continued to get worse.

But I got home safe and sound and worked from my warm little kitchen table the rest of the afternoon.

A quick note

Got a call from Tom over the weekend (at 12 midnight!). Something about the phone ringing in the middle of the night when I'm in the country and don't get good cell signal anyway - and then to top it off I recognize the ringtone as my son who is in the desert.. well, I must have set a land speed record getting to it!

He was headed back to civilization and had had his first REAL shower in a month! It was of course only 10pm in California so he didn't think about the time difference until I answered the phone all sleeping anxious. He didn't stay on the phone long (although who can sleep after that!) but just wanted to let me know that he was ok and to let me hear his voice (and hear mine too I imagine) after a month of text only.

He will be catching a plane back to Texas on Friday and then he has to get his mail box set back up so we can send him his mail and assorted goodies - just in time for Valentines Day! :)

Survey says.......

I read this on Good Enough Farm's blog and thought I would share my answers.

A is for age: 52
B is for breakfast today: McDonalds Egg McMuffin and hashbrown (It's my work from home Friday and since I'm in the country I have to go to town for internet access.)
C is for currently craving: Something sweet
D is for dinner tonight: chicken thighs with apple cider vinager sause and sweet pototes

E is for favorite type of exercise: Walking
F is for an irrational fear: Something happening to my children
G is for gross food: Hmmm this is a hard one since I like so many things.  I don't like liver but I wouldn't say it's gross. 
H is for hometown: This needs some clarification.  The town I grew up in was Fairmount, IL.  The town I currently live in is a suburbe of St. Louis.  The town I will be living in is Fredericktown, MO (well in the country but that's my address)
I is for something important: Family
J is for current favorite jam: I had never really thought about this before.... I don't really use jam or jelly much.  I do like apple butter - does that count?
K is for kids: Tom, Austen, Erik and Aubri
L is for current location:  Again, needs clarification.  Right now I'm sitting in a coffee house in Farmington, MO
M is for the most recent way you spent money: I bought my lunch in the coffe house
N is for something you need: I don't really need much in material possessions - I guess more money would be nice.

O is for occupation: I'm a computer programmer

P is for pet peeve: rush hour traffic - I avoid it like the plague!

Q is for a quote: "I aim to misbehave"  Malcome Reynolds - Serenity


R is for random fact about you: I was born in Hawaii

S is for favorite healthy snack:  carrot sticks and hummus (the carrots are really just a device for which to transport the hummus to my mouth!)

T is for favorite treat: Vanilla ice cream and ritz crackers - I know right!  Bill introduced me to this just last week so it's sort of a new treat.

U is for something that makes you unique: Everyone is a unique person - no one is just like you.  You are the way you are because of the path you have walked.
V is for favorite vegetable: I refuse to answer this question. Instead I am making a new one. V is for.... Okay, I can't come up with anything else. I don't play the violin. I don't celebrate Valentine's Day. The only other V I can think of people don't talk about in polite society. That excludes me, of course, but you may be polite so I'm trying to consider you. So, the long and the short of it is Broccoli.

W is for today’s workout: Hmm - this is a day of sitting at the computer so I doubt there will be much workout today.  Yesterday however, I went to Zumba class!
X is for X-rays you’ve had:  I just had an x-ray of my tailbone last week - it's fractured
Y is for yesterday’s highlight:  Having dinner with my son then driving down to the country to see Bill.  :)
Z is for your time zone: I agree with Laura on this one - They were desperate for a Z question, weren't they? Central
So, there you have it.... I expect this to go viral soon.  :)

I broke my butt!

I've been having some pain for a while now and I didn't remember (until I talked with Bill this afternoon) that I HAD fallen back in the spring in the woods. Sat down really hard on my rear. Well, I've broken my tailbone. Dr sent me to get X-rays yesterday and they called me back this morning to tell me that I have a fracture in my tailbone.

Not a darn thing we can do about it but wait it out. What a pain in the ass!

Who said their's no such thing as a free lunch?

Bill and I had the Hawthorn clan over yesterday afternoon to iron out some details and make some plans. I had originally said I was going to make soup but decided yesterday morning while trying to make up my mind what kind of soup to make that if I made soup it would have meat in it and we have a couple of vegetarians and that just wouldnt' do. So instead I ordered pizza and salad from the pizzaria that the kids work at. Austen was taking his dinner break just at the perfect time to bring home 3 giant pizzas and two giant salads. It was a hit! And I am eating the leftovers for lunch with the bread that was brought. (Ok, I bought the salad dressing today so it wasn't totaly free!)

Got a text from Tom yesterday. He was supposed to be out of contact for a month but apparently the army has allowed them their cell phones after all cause I've gotten a few texts from him over the past week. He's in the desert training for deployment in August. They happen to be camped near a highway so he got cell signal. He said that it's damn cold in the winter in the desert and the heater in their tent broke 3 nights ago! That sucks! lol

And he also said that he got his first shower in 13 days and it was "a jury rigged can up in a tent with a pallot under it... The water was just this side of freezing and I think it might have actually given me a small heart attack!" Hmm he's never been camping with us at Samhain! LOL

I guess I'm going to have to enlighten him on the finer points of a tent bath. The first year we went to PSG at Wisteria we perfected the tent bath because the shower house was up a hill and by the time you walked back down to your tent, you needed another shower!

Well he might be freezing in the desert but it's 65 degrees in St. Louis today and I have the doors and windows open to air the house out. I took a short walk ealier today during a morning break and the birds all think it's spring as well as the trees - they are starting to bud! This is crazy weather we have been having but it's supposed to get cold again later this week. And all the snow we had last week is of course gone now with the sunshine and warm temps.