Happy New Year! Welcome to the Year of the Horse, which I hope is a sign that the Broncos will win the Super Bowl. (Cause it’s not the Year of the Seagull.)
Outside my window: Snow. I know that’s the case for everywhere else in the country because the weatherwoman said so and she is always right.
Look at the lovely bird prints I found when I was shoveling. A bird must have been hopping around on the new snow in the driveway before I pulled the car in, because I found them under the car.
What I’m hearing: SweetP’s tap dancing. Shuffle-step-ball–change. Shuffle-step-ball-change.
In the kitchen: tonight is roasted potatoes, peppers and kielbasa. And a fruit salad and whatever vegetables are in the fridge that haven’t gone mushy. Lunch was whatever we could scrounge in the leftover department. Good eats around here, I tell you.
In other news, in six days I get to start filling ginormous refrigerator with food and random condiments. I’m sure this is the only time it will be free of fingerprints.
Even bigger than the refrigerator are the washer and dryer you see there in the laundry room. They are so big that the builder has to take out the door frame and door and replace them with ones 4 inches narrower. Whoops on my part. But won’t I have a lot of clean laundry?
In the school room: Tuesday was a snow day, because we went skiing. Or rather, we tried to go skiing. Everyone was wearing snow clothes. Skis and boots and helmets and lunches and children were all in car. We made it to within 5 miles of the resort, and there was a whiteout. Like, blizzard. The only thing I could see was the line of cars coming down from the ski area. We made it to the parking lot and were able to see that two of the beginner lifts were closed. Long story short, we drove home with SweetP crying, “But we did all this work! But we did all this work!” The day was not a complete bust, but there was no schoolwork, per se, happening. Anyway, after all that you can see why today had to include math and science and writing and reading and history and music.
Around the house: still packing boxes. What I need are three huge boxes for wind chimes and snow shoes and assorted large sundries that don’t fit in the twenty sturdy-but-small boxes I have.
On my reading table: we just read this lovely picture book about the Chinese New Year. Like many books I enjoy, it describes a universal event (the New Year) through the lens of an individual family. The story of this child in this place was what was important, but through it, we learned about the bigger world.
And for whatever reason, we brought home a pile of Strega Nona books. This one on gardening was new to us.
The books I am reading include Angel with a Bullet (Grant), Tasting the Sky (Barakat), and A Song in the Night (Massie). A very eclectic collection, but so far I’m enjoying all three.
Grateful for: a walk in the snow. Bird song, even in winter. Renee’s gift of child care yesterday. Wendy and Jack’s prayers for me last week.
Shelves in the closet (happy thought indeed).
Praying for: Lori. Mandy. Amy. Betsy. No snow next Thursday.
Learning As We Go 