Tired of snow-February 26, 2015

There are two things really bad about almost constant snow. One is that the lack of sunshine gets to you after several days. And secondly, it makes it more difficult to find things to do indoors with Hannah. It spit snow all day today. The flakes were tiny (indicates lack of moisture) so it never was a big accumulation. Messy nevertheless. And it was bitterly cold. So, as we begin to play this morning  Hannah informed us she needed to find bats in a cave. (Don't ask me to explain that). I donated my cook book nook which is actually in the living room.

This ended up being a great cave. She switched from bats to tossing

paper airplanes into the cave. Don't worry. Jerry was extremely close and

Hannah did not make a move without his help. It occupied quite a bit

of the morning which helped all of us.

 

The last weather forecast we heard today predicts we will see the sun by next Thursday, a short week from today. Great news!

Staying warm-February 24, 2015

Derrick and his buddies had to cancel their birthday celebration on Saturday because of the snow storm. I think we were all wondering what excuse the forecasters were going to use when the storm did not materialize. But it did. At 2:00 we saw the first few flakes of snow.

 

Within 30 minutes of the first flakes we were in complete white out

conditions. It fell fast and heavy. There was a sheet of ice underneath.

So all plans were changed. That meant we did not get to see the girls,

but it's best to keep them home and keep them safe.

 

We got to keep both of them today. It goes without saying we are extremely tired tonight. But it was fun. With Hannah it's always challenging. While Zoey was napping Hannah and I were having a tea party while she cooked "eggs" for me at her little kitchen in her play room. I had put some of the plastic vegetables in a recycle bin she has under the toy sink. You know the universal symbol for recycles no doubt. That is on the bin. So I told her I put her broccoli in the red bin. She pulled it from under the sink and said "No, Grammy, this is a recycle bin" and she pointed to the symbol. "Broccoli doesn't go in a recycle bin". What little kid would know about a recycle bin and what the symbol stands for? That's what I mean by the fact we are almost always surprised at something she says. I guess the challenge is good for us. But our old brains are really struggling to keep up.

 

We have another snow storm due in tomorrow afternoon. And yet another one should be here on Saturday. You know we are thrilled. It appears our winter was late in arriving this year and now it's playing catch-up.

 

 

 

Dinosaur-February 20, 2015

Hannah informed us yesterday that she was a Triceratops.

That seems pretty creative to us. We never know what to expect

her to say.

 

 

On this particular day Zoey was not about to do anything without

sticking her tongue out so I just rolled with the punches. 

 

 

We are patiently (not really) awaiting the snow to move in here later this afternoon. The forecasts have ranged from a mere 8 inches to over a foot. Only time will tell who is right. Most agree on the predicted temps, below zero. It is winter in Colorado so must expect cold and snow. Derrick and a bunch of friends plan to go to Denver tomorrow afternoon to celebrate a birthday. That doesn't strike us as wise, but we are older and see things differently. We will stay with both girls. There is no way we would let them go out in that kind of weather. If you are living in the cold, stay warm!

 

 

 

Bagels-February 18, 2015

For a very long time I have had a bee in my bonnet to make bagels. I love to bake bread and will try anything once. Today I decided I was going to bake some bagels and forget anything else that needed to be done. It has taken me a long time to find a recipe that was easy to do in a home kitchen. I found it by accident in a 1980 Southern Living cookbook.

And here they are.

 

If I make these again I will change the recipe to make them smaller. I did not dare change the recipe today because I didn't know how it would affect the end result.

 

I can add a couple more comments. They taste fine. The texture is good. However, for as much work as these were and as cheap as they are in the grocery store, I do not anticipate making these again. At least I can cross this off my bucket list.

 

I'm tired! I'll stick with homemade English muffins. They are easy and absolutely delicious.

Where is the time going?-February 13, 2015

Today was such a nice day it went beyond me that it was Friday the 13th. The weather was perfect. Jerry and I celebrated our Valentine's Day early with a late lunch today at Scrumpy's in Fort Collins. We love that place and seldom get a chance or time to go there. So to celebrate tomorrow, I will be babysitting both girls all by myself while Jerry and Derrick try to get the greenhouse completed. We are sure we will barely have the energy to drive home tomorrow night and crawl up the steps.

Thursday when we were pulling in our garage with Hannah so she could spend the day with us, I asked her if she would like to cook some cookies? There was silence in the car for a split second while she gathered her words. She folded her hands together and said, "Oh that would be so delicious". Now I ask you: what kind of answer is that from a 2 1/2 year old? What happened to "Yes! Yes!".  I mixed up the dough and put chocolate chips, white chocolate chips and peanut butter chips on 3 separate plates so Hannah could put them on the cookies. I turned my back and then found her tossing white chocolate chips in her mouth like there was no tomorrow. Jerry was laughing so hard I couldn't believe it. Turns out she has never tasted a plain white chocolate chip and she really liked them. We have had so many firsts and I think we will remember them as much and as long as Hannah will.

                                                              I need to ask a question.

Can you balance 11 "mew-mews" on a rocking horse at one time?

And then name them all? We can and we did! The Garfield and

the tiger of which you only see the south end were both Derrick's.

The tiger kept his name, Tigger. But Garfield to Hannah is "Grumpy".

 

Neither of us can believe our lives have come to this. We love it!

 

 

Happy Valentine's Day to everybody!

Have a sweet day.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Hanging on!-February 9, 2015

Buddies driving a tractor to help Derrick.

 

As if all of us are not busy enough Derrick has decided to install a greenhouse. Sounds so simple. Oh my goodness it is not. The ground work as well as electrical and water installation was completed on Saturday. Now the house has to be put together and set up. I don't get to help with any of that because I am inside with Zoey. When it gets warmer I will take her out for fresh air. For now I just stay inside and take pictures.

 

I have so much I want to share with you but I just don't have time. For now, we are still alive and kicking and working hard.

Pollution-February 5, 2015

It has not been too many years ago when Denver's dirty air was second only to Los Angeles. Then they cleaned up their act a bit. Now things are backsliding. Granted we are not in Denver but the pollution does follow the Platte River out of Denver into Greeley. It was unpleasant today.

See the brown cloud in about the middle of the picture.

Nasty pollution.

 

This shows it a little better. We think our air is cleaner where we live

but we are only fooling ourselves. It's dirty.

 

At least we can forget about how dirty the air is when the sun starts to go down.

Since we cannot see the mountains from this condo I never thought

I'd get another picture of the sunset, but I lucked out today.

This is looking north over the school parking lot. It doesn't matter

which direction we face. The sunset is still glorious. God's handiwork.

 

We have had several busy days with Hannah. That's not a complaint, just a statement. We won't have her tomorrow. Therefore we have to go to the storage unit and find my quesadilla maker so she and I can make some yummy things for lunch next week. It doesn't matter to her what we cook. She just wants to stand there and "help". I love that precious time with her.