Red Sky in morning

Pretty sunrise from my back deck this morning... Red sky in morning, sailor's take warning. I haven't listened to the full weather report today, but I understand 3-4 inches of snow is on it's way tonight and tomorrow. Fine by me -- I don't have to go anywhere! Besides, if it's this cold (yesterday we reached 14 degrees), we ought to at least having a pretty snow landscape to look at. Right now we're looking at bare trees, dead grass, and mud. Snow would be much better!

I went grocery shopping at WallyWorld on Saturday. I don't normally do grocery shopping there, but I had other things to buy so I thought I'd combine trips. I don't know how people shop exclusively at WallyWorld. I came away without buying any meats at all (other than a package of Hebrew National hot dogs). Their meats are very expensive and everything is pre-packaged (as in, no butcher in the back) and just doesn't look appetizing. Other items that I buy regularly (Kroger brand coffee, Millstone coffee, and more) aren't available, so I end up going to the "real" grocery store after going to WallyWorld.

I spent $170, but it included a lot of non-food items -- 3 new shirts (found on sale for $3 each), a new pair of sneakers, new undies, a new mop (Jeff broke mine), two pair of shoes for Brayden (again, on sale for $3 each!), new toothbrushes, and more. I think I spent about $80 on groceries and $90 on "other". If I'd gone to Krogers, I'd have bought more meats, but we'll get by just fine on what I did by. I had to re-make my menu's for the week, since I didn't come home with the meats I wanted. So here are this week's menus.

Sunday - Baked Tilappia (fish), sugar free coleslaw (homemade), salad
Monday - Spaghetti with italian sausage, onions, peppers
Tuesday* - Tomato soup, grilled cheese
Wednesday - Veg stir fry, chicken egg rolls
Thursday - Baked chicken, brown rice, salad
Friday* - Frozen pizza, salad
Saturday - Hot dogs, wheat rolls, leftover coleslaw, baked beans

* Brayden's here all day and I'm too tired to do much cooking at the end of the day, so these days are always fast meals.

I use DREAMFIELDS pasta. If you've never tried it, it's really worth trying. It's very high in fiber, low in carbs, and actually tastes like PASTA (as opposed to meany of the healthier pastas that taste like cardboard - or worse). You absolutely cannot tell the difference between this pasta and "regular" pasta. They have elbow macaroni, spaghetti, linguine, penne and lasagna noodles. Good stuff! Want a coupon? Go here!

Brayden stayed overnight Saturday night. He and Mary met us at the local Chinese Buffet restaurant, and we were all shocked when Brayden ate more than his fair share of chinese food! He loved noodles, chicken fingers and cheese sticks, and along with those ate cantalope, grapes and bananas. The little boy's only fault is that he is a really fussy eater, so it was amazing to watch him "chow down" like he did.

Mary left us at the restaurant and we brought Brayden home with us. He'd brought his harmonica, which he loves to play and actually does quite good (though he hasn't yet developed the concept of a "song" -- but he does love music!). I normally have Sirius radio on "Kids Stuff" channel -- and Brayden now stops whatever he's doing when he recognizes harmonica music, puts his hands up to his mouth and blows, like he's playing the harmonica! LOL! His new words over the weekend were "Warm" "Easy" and "Hard". Easy and Hard come in to play when he's stringing wooden beads -- some are thinner (easy) and some are longer (hard). The "warm" came into play when I gave him a bath -- I taught him that if the water isn't hot and it isn't cold, it's warm. He understood completely.

Today is laundry, laundry and more laundry, combined with ironing. I did iron several of Jeff's shirts last night, but still have more to go. Also washing some fabric for a Box Swap my Yahoo group is doing.

My low fat low sugar dessert recipe

I don't know how I've forgotten about this recipe. I used to make it when the kids were at home and they loved it. It couldn't possibly be easier or have less ingredients! There's another "Pineapple Dump Cake" recipe out there, but you have to add butter and canned cherry pie filling -- both way too high in sugar for what I want. So here's a great recipe - very light but very very tasty: ANGEL FOOD PINEAPPLE CAKE 1 20 oz can of crushed pinapple in its own juice 1 box of 1 step angel food cake mix (1 step kind)* Mix these ingredients together and bake in an oblong cake pan at 325 degrees for about 25 to 30 min. *Make sure you buy the angel food cake mix that requires the addition of WATER only! The other kind (add eggs and oil) doesn't work for this recipe. I bought BETTY CROCKER ANGEL FOOD WHITE cake mix. The recipe doesn't state to grease the cake pan and I don't remember if I did or not, so I think I'll just use Pam Spray.

The Blizzard of Feb. 1978

The Blizzard of '78, as catastrophic as it was for many people (54 lives lost), is a truly fond memory for me. Thirty years ago this week, I was stranded smack dab in the middle of the "Storm of the Century" and by the time I was UN-stranded, I was engaged to be married to my sweet wonderful husband. At the time, I lived in southern New Hampshire, and had been dating Jeff for several months. He lived in North Reading, MA and we only got to see each other on weekends. (Yes, he drove 90 miles every Friday night to see ME!) Jeff's parents went to Florida for a vacation in early Febuary, and he invited me to spend a weekend at his house. I drove down on Friday, Feb. 3rd and was meant to leave on Sunday evening. If I remember correctly, it started snowing late Saturday. Although we knew it was snowing out, being lifelong New Englanders it just didn't occur to us that this storm was going to be anything but a good ol' Nor'easter, and we'd be shovelled out and plowed out in just another day. But it snowed and it snowed and it snowed -- I remember big chunky snowflakes creating almost white-out conditions when you looked out the windows. At one point, Jeff and I went out the back door straight into the garage -- Jeff wanted to start shovelling his van out. I stood there and watched as he lifted the garage door -- and there was a WALL of snow -- and he lifted and lifted and we just couldn't believe that this snow just didn't stop! When the door was fully opened, there was about 1 foot at the top of the door that was open air -- the rest was solid, scarey snow. Despite the fact that the van was parked just a foot or two from the door, we could not see any evidence of a vehicle. That's when we knew -- this storm was different from all others we'd ever been through. The entire state (sorry, Commonwealth) of Massachusetts was closed by Monday morning. The Governor (Dukakis) was on television telling us not to go out under any circumstances -- that you could actually be arrested if you tried to drive anywhere. The reports of people stranded on the highway ( particularly Rt. 128) were heart-wrenching, as well as the calls to TV stations with stories of missing people and families. Jeff's parent's house as on a secondary street, so we thought it would be a day or two before we got plowed out. What we didn't know was that the snow was too deep for snow plows to handle! When we finally did hear the road being cleared, we discovered that they simply started at one end with a bucket loader, scooped the snow into a dump truck, and slowly came up the road to clear it, hauling away snow as they went. I was mortified to find that it was "that time of month" and I was totally unprepared. Now here I am playing little Susie Homemaker to the man I was totally in love with and trying hard to impress, and I had to tell him I needed tampons! LOL! But he solidified my feelings for him when he bundled himself in every imaginable piece of winter outerwear we had, and trudged down those unplowed roads in thigh-deep snow the half mile to the nearest open store to rescue me. Honestly, how many men would do that?!? Jeff and I knew by the end of the week that we both wanted to be married and set up housekeeping on a permanent basis. We were married on July 22, 1978. And to this day, almost 30 years later, I know he'd STILL trudge to the store through 8 foot snowdrifts if I asked him to. Yes indeedie, he's still my sweetie.

Taking a day off

I babysat for Braydon on Tuesday (my regular day) and Wednesday (his other babysitter and daughter had a stomach flu), and woke up several times last night with back pain. I was hoping the phone wasn't going to ring again at 6:30 asking if I could babysit again (who gets over the stomach flu in one day? conscientious babysitters, that's who!), because I'm not sure I could have said yes. Brayden knows I don't pick him up unless absolutely necessary (boo boo's that need to be kissed are, of course, a necessity). If he wants me to pick him up, we walk over to the nearest chair and sit down and I sit him in my lap. But the other thing that really affects my back is stooping over to pick toys up off the floor -- and I tend to do that a LOT. Yesterday it occurred to me that this little boy loves to clean, so when he was done with one toy, I asked him to clean it up before he moved on to the next. He did a good job! Brayden and I were sitting at the kitchen table and he was upset with me for telling him no about something (I forget what). Keep in mind, this little one is not yet two (March 1st). Well, he bit me. Bit my finger in anger. I put him down on the floor, and I simply said, "You bit Umma. You know where you have to go, right?" He nodded his sad little face. I said, "Go ahead." And off he went -- to plop himself down in the "time out chair"! Now, you would think that means that he's been in the time out chair a million times, so he knew the drill. But no! I've only ever had to put him in the chair one other time, and that was about two or three months ago! I looked in and there he sat, with his little hands in his lap, looking very glum. I set the kitchen timer for 2 minutes, and told him to stay in the chair until the timer went off. He sat so quietly in that chair the entire time, I was just amazed. When the timer went off I went in and told him that I'd put him in the chair because he bit me, and that he shouldn't bite people -- it hurts them. I asked him to tell me he was sorry (which he does with a zillion kisses and extra big hugs), and I told him I loved him (another zillion kisses and extra big hugs) and off we went. I can't say which I'm more in awe of -- this little boy's sweet accomodating personality, or my daughter's obvious excellent parenting skills. I guess it's a combination of both, but my heart gives credit to each in their own rite. So today is going to be a back healing day. Usually I just need one day to re-coop from this. I will do laundry today and maybe 30 minutes or so of quilting, but I will not vac or wash a floor or take out trash (luckily, it doesn't need it!) or anything that involves stooping or leaning. I may even ice my back and get on the heating pad for a bit -- and motrin, motrin, motrin.

What I'm reading...

I am a self-help book fanatic. I read self-help books like others read best sellers. I'm not sure they've done all that much good (!) but hey... I'm open to new ideas. Before I talk about the newest self-help book I've read, I do want to mention a book called HAPPINESS by Will Ferguson. It's fiction - wonderful fiction! - about what would happen if self-help books actually worked (the end of civilization as we know it!). Truly a great read with a few belly laughs and a lot to think about. But I digress... I just finished Beth Lisick's HELPING ME HELP MYSELF. It's self-help that reads like fiction. Beth and husband are reasonably successful in their own careers, but careening down a path of chaos and financial ruin. Not normally a self-help book reader, Beth decides to devote one year of her life to improve all aspects of her life, and chooses ten of the most widely known self-help authors and speakers, and pay attention to what they have to say. She reads the books, attends seminars, talks to the authors themselves. If you're a self-help book junkie like I am, you'll know every author she mentions and will have probably read their bestsellers. If you're a self-help skeptic like I am, you may know the ending before you get to it. Beth writes of the basic theories of each author in a funny "Cliff Notes" style. Whether or not you improve your life by reading this book is almost unimportant. What's important is that it's just a plain good read with lots of laughs and no deep introspective thinking required.