Frozen

Icicle, originally uploaded by papaija2008.

That about sums up life here currently. We haven't seen temps much above 20 degrees Farenheit for weeks. Our router has gone on strike, siting the cold temperatures. So we don't have internet access at home currently. I've been sewing, cooking, taking care of sick kids and learning to judge outdoor temperature lows by how the snow crunches underfoot and how quickly nose hairs freeze.

See you after the thaw!

Let's not do that again, shall we?

Just a little update to say I'm still here. Had to sneak one in before the end of the year which is quickly approaching!

We woke up Saturday, the 19th, to over a foot of snow. We knew a storm was coming in over night, but it didn't start snowing until late--after 11 pm. What we didn't expect was the power to go out--for a week!!

We spent seven days at my parents' house because they had heat from a wood-stove, if not power. They also have a gas hot water heater, and my dad hooked an inverter to his car so we could have power to run a few things like the fridge and lamps in the evening. And as the week wore on, (and on...)the dvd player to distract the kids.

The power came back on Friday, the day before my in-laws were flying in for a visit! The house was a state because we'd been up every day to feed and take care of the animals, plus check the pipes. We didn't have any broken pipes but I hate to see our water bill from leaving all the taps dripping for a week. As Paul says, it's cheaper than broken pipes and water damage. We were a bit worried because we'd just put our two pigs in the freezers plus about twenty chickens, and it's the first year we've raised our own meat. We ran the inverter from our cars a couple times and since they were both in unheated buildings, all the meat stayed rock solid. Thanks goodness!

Wordless Wednesday #5

See you in Spring!

No, I'm not going anywhere. That's just my message to anyone that knows me locally. I thought things were clearing up here on our hill, but we got some more snow last night, and we are under a storm warning for several more inches of snow. I did manage to get out last week on Friday with Paul's car, but today Paul managed to find an inconvenient parking spot for his car and we are now stuck on the hill. Even my dad's truck is stuck up here because he didn't want to risk trying to get around Paul's vehicle. So I'm staying here until the spring when things will hopefully be well thawed!!

Ready to see what happened today when he tried to go to town?

That's my dad and husband consulting to see how they are going to get it back up again. They decided to try putting it in 4 wheel drive and backing it out. No luck... there it stays. The plan is to put chains on it tomorrow and try to back it out with chains. We'll see...

It's not actually very much snow, but that snow is just the right consistency that it's packing right down to ice. I barely stayed on my feet when I went up to close up the chicken coop this evening. It could have been worse, though. He could have been hurt. Or he could have slide the other direction into the pond. The hood is banged up, and a headlight is busted out. One fender is much worse for the wear. Please let Spring hurry up!

I haven't posted my "Make Something Monday" yet, either. I do have a project in mind and if I could get into the sewing room for just a little while, I could whip it out quickly enough. I'm going to try my best to get it done this evening. So I may manage to post it a bit later!

Housebound, But Keeping Warm

Until our driveway melts, I'm stuck at home. I haven't had my car down off our hill in over a week because of snow and what not. I'm hoping things might melt enough today, because it's supposed to get up around 40F. But if not today, tomorrow is supposed to be around 50F. I could most probably get the car out of the driveway (by sliding down the icy part straight towards the road--a little harrowing) but I probably couldn't make it back up again. And the thought of carrying Holly and groceries back up is something I'm not tackling. My husband has been making it up and down the driveway in his vehicle which is 4WD, but after being laid off for several weeks, he has been back to work again this week. Figures it would coincide with the first time I've really been stuck in the house for the winter. He did bring home milk and toilet paper last night, so we're not without the necessities. And staying in does keep the budget in check!

Our furnace isn't quite keeping up with this cold snap we've been having. We normally don't spend this much time with really cold weather. Plus we've been fortunate enough to be able to add onto our house, but that means the furnace is trying to keep up with heating a larger area. We'll have to make adding another furnace a priority before next winter because we've got a living room addition framed onto the house right now that would really tax our heating system if nothing was done to it. So, I've been baking something every day just to give the house a little extra warmth. Yesterday I made some maple blond brownies and if I could remember where I found the recipe, I'd be happy to give credit here, but I can't remember! Sorry, but if anybody recognizes it, feel free to claim it and I'll give credit where credit is due. As I was saying, I made these brownies/blondies, and my husband couldn't get enough of them. He seriously wanted me to make another pan last night. The bad thing about them is how much maple syrup they use, but I do like that it uses maple instead of sugar. Unfortunately, they used up about half of my jar of maple syrup which is over $7.00 at the store. So they aren't the cheapest baked treat to make, but I got the feeling that if I told my hubby that I needed to budget half the grocery allowance for maple syrup to make these goodies on a daily basis, he would be fine with that!

Here's the recipe:
Maple Blond Brownies

Ingredients:

• 1/2 cup butter, softened
  
• 1 cup maple syrup
  
• 1 egg
  
• 1/2 tsp vanilla
  
• 1 1/3 cups flour
  
• 1/2 tsp salt
  
• 1/2 tsp baking soda
  

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350F.
2. Butter and lightly flour a 13"x9" pan.
3. Beat butter and syrup in a large bowl.
4. Add remaining ingredients and mix until well blended.
5. Spread batter in pan.
6. Bake 25-30 minutes.
7. Let cool in pan before cutting.
   

I also added some walnuts into this because I thought it seemed like it needed nuts! My hubby agreed that the nuts were an important ingredient.

And here's something else that has made me feel warm and toasty! I've received two rewards in the last week or two! Thanks so much to Mary at Mother No's Best and Michelle at The Giving Tree Project 2009.

From Mary, I received the Sisterhood Award which was created by Diana of Diana Rambles (another daily read of mine.) It was inspired by the Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants. I love both those movies and just recently watched the second with my own sister. Mary is a kind blogger with multiple talents, and I love peeking in over at her blog to look at her crochet projects and other things she has crafted. She also posts interesting tips and tidbits she digs up. She's looking for a job now, but I hope when she's back to work she is able to keep entertaining us with her blog!

And from Michelle, I received the "You've Been Tagged" award. I've been following Michelle's year of giving since I stumbled on her blog via another blogger who received a special gift from Michelle. Inspired by The Giving Tree book by Shel Silverstein, Michelle has decided to make an effort every day to find some way to give. I loved this book when I was a kid, and it's still a sentimental heart-breaker. I've been avidly following along with her giving journey and am so glad to have found it so close to it's inception so I can watch the whole thing unfold. I'm supposed to list seven weird or random things about myself, but I'm going to leave that for this weekend, hopefully.

So thanks to Mary and Michelle who both warmed my heart with these awards! Be sure to check both of their blogs out, you won't be sorry!

Who ordered this?

Look what I woke up to this morning! Yuck...it's cold out. It's only November, we really shouldn't be getting this stuff now, should we? I'd like to know who is responsible for this. As a transplanted California girl, this is not my favorite season. At least the kids are thrilled. I should say some of them, that is. When I opened the goat barn this morning, the girls barely wanted to step outside. Even with the lure of their food, they took a couple minutes to conquer their snowy misgivings. Being February babies, I'm sure they have seen snow before, but this is the first snow this season. It was a bit comical. Note to self: remembering gloves for winter feeding times will prevent painful frozen fingers!