the bottom dropped out

It was even colder on Wednesday and Thursday!( -38° & -42° respectively.) David came in to kiss me goodbye Wednesday morning and asked "Were you planning on going anywhere today?"
I say (half-asleep) "No, why?"
He replies: "My truck won't start, and the doors are acting funny."
I told him to take my car. It is SO cold out there! All our window sills are ice cold to the touch. I had to move my little plants somewhere else.
I have got to have one of the sweetest husbands. I woke up Wednesday morning with an extra blanket on me. I peeked in at Gwyneth and she was covered with an extra blanket as well. I guess he thought we might be cold. ♥
I'm such a weenie...After he came home that night, I told him I needed a few things for dinner. He was sweet enough to go back out in the cold and pick up the items for me.
Gotta love him!♥

Christmas packages have been flowing in! I LOVE packages...even if they aren't for me. David brought the mail in the other night (He is officially the "mail-checker" when it is this cold!) and Gwyneth and I swarmed him! :o) We all love mail! We have also received many Christmas cards as well! LOVE seeing those!

Dinner on Wednesday was my all-time favorite soup:
Mexican Chicken Soup.
(You can access the recipe by clicking the pink name. )

The link takes you to the "Beans Blog" I contribute to.
If you're looking to eat healthier and need some inspiration, and access to some delicious tried & true recipes...come on over and take a look! I have tagged the recipes that I have contributed with my name, for easy reference.

We recently tried the Shrimp Pasta Puttanesca and really liked it. I am not really keen on seafood, but the shrimp was pretty good. It is also a really fresh, and pretty dish! :o)
*TIP* resist the urge to salt this dish while cooking! The capers and olives make it plenty salty. I was not thinking and added a smidge of salt and wished I had left it out! Oh, and I also omitted the anchovies!

We also tried the Cajun-Spiced Fish With Fresh Corn Salad that Bonnie posted. (Again, click on the pink name and it will bring up the recipe.)

I used talapia, and absolutely LOVED it! I WILL make it again! It was so tasty, and took no time at all to prepare. David was a little surprised that the beans in the salad were cold. I emphasized the title "Salad." ha! :o) I enjoyed it very much. I was able to use some of the beans we froze from our farm share this past summer. (Find a local CSA- community supported agriculture) in your area by clicking the pink.) I LOVED the red onion in the salad, and the cilantro was divine!
Very fresh tasting! I used canned corn instead of fresh for now. In the summer you can be sure I will make it with fresh corn! I highly recommend this recipe! If you do not care for fish, use talapia. It is a very mild white fish. (It didn't taste "fishy" at all!)

Thankfully it is only -9° this morning. I am thankful because I have a hair appointment this afternoon and was dreading going out in the extreme temperatures we've been having! At least -9° is bearable! (I never though I'd say that in my lifetime! ha!)

Here is a picture of our windows from the inside of our house! The ice is gathering around the areas any warm air escapes! Crazy!


Have a wonderful weekend! Enjoy your family and friends and all your holiday festivities!

frigid


This is what greeted me this morning when I turned my computer on! Brrr... The long johns came out yesterday, and you can be sure we're wearing them today! ick!

edit

I edited my last post on laundry to include a bit more information... As if you cared for more! ha! My friend Bonnie has posted her "Dirty Laundry" on her blog. See it HERE Her post prompted me to share the additional photos. The additional photos were taken in March, April and October. I knew there would be a use for them one day! ha!

airing our dirty laundry

Talking to my sister Rachel today she told me I would be shocked if I walked into her laundry room! She just received her Christmas present from me so she said she'd take a picture to show me...I added "With your new lens!"I told her that my laundry was stacked up too so we agreed to both post pictures of our dirty laundry! Maybe we will provide some consolation to all you women who know just how bad it can get!
No Martha Stewart here!
We challenge you to do the same! If you do post pictures, be sure to let us know!

*EDIT*
Part of the reason that I procrastinate when it comes to laundry is because I hang all our laundry to dry. With the exception of sheets and towels. (I do not have the luxury of warm sunny afternoons to hang my laundry out in the backyard. When we do own a house someday that is on my list of must-haves, a clothes line out back, along with a veggie/flower garden of my very own! I have chosen to hang our clothing to dry to offset our electricity bill a bit, as it can get pretty high in the winter with all the lights we have to use due to less daylight hours. Plus I'm saving the environment one kWh at a time! (The dryer is one of the worst energy consumers!) I originally bought this drying rack when we first arrived here in Alaska to hang our mittens and coats on after fun in the snow. I used it that way maybe twice and it now permanently resides in Gwyneth's bathroom.



In the photo below you can see how I installed another shower curtain rod just for the purpose of hanging clothes. I just open the curtain on the rod that was originally there, and hang clothes on that one and my "extra" one. When laundry is done I store our drying rack in the tub, (we all use the master bathroom for our showers) and close the curtain and no one is none-the-wiser!

christmas time is here...

Fun little experiment! You can find instructions HERE.

Here's what the "device" looks like...

morning fun

If you have kids, or just love animals, then you'll love this site:
National Geographic
Gwyneth and I chose the Orca Whale for our screensaver. She loved the multimedia components. We were able to listened to what a Polar Bear, a Bengal Tiger, and an Orca Whale sound like.
Check it out!

sanity break

(The photo above, shows just how spirited and crazy our little girl can be sometimes...today was a particularly challenging day with this little one! Sorry if this offends anyone, I thought it was hilarious!)

I have a few minutes to myself this evening...
David is spending some quality time with Gwyneth in front of the "boob tube" catching up on their latest cartoon favorite "The Batman."
I've been almost three weeks without my car.
I never realized how much I depend on it until now.
I put rental reimbursement on our insurance...can't believe we were so cheap and didn't put it on before!
Gwyneth was sick almost a week. She ran a low fever for 6 days! Now she has a cough. 'Tis the season...
Going a little stir crazy here without a car. David has had to chauffeur us everywhere. Grocery shopping is the worst. His cab in his truck is not that big. I am trying to make it until this weekend on the food we have before I have to shop! They say Friday my car should be done! Yippee!
Even though she is six years old, Gwyneth still has those days when she is so needy, and hyper like a three year old! That was today! I needed this break. She is hilariously annoying sometimes. I can laugh about it out of her midst...but boy, to be in the middle of it! whew!
We've been keeping up with school pretty well. Ready for Christmas break though. Gwyneth is super smart! This 1st grade curriculum is not very challenging...yet. I have looked ahead a little and know it will progressively get more challenging. For now, she is a little bored with Math, and she doesn't care too much for reading, even though she is an excellent reader. In the new year I plan to incorporate more extra curricular activities. She would like to take ice skating lessons, and is interested in basketball.
We're approaching the shortest day of the year. I think it's December 23rd? Anyhow, our days are short enough now! The sun doesn't rise until 10:30am and sets around 3pm. So only 4 1/2 hours of daylight. It can take a toll on you. When I get my car back I plan to go out and run my errands between sunrise and sunset to take in all the daylight I can!
Here is a picture I snapped on our way to church one day... it was 10:30 am.Lack of daylight=lack of inspiration, or any photos worth sharing. I'm so glad I have a big flash to take the little snapshots around the house such as this one of Gwyneth with her enormous collections of Littlest Pets:

Aren't these just the cutest!? (For the record, we have only bought a few of these for Gwyneth, or they came in sets. She has bought the majority on her own with her allowance.)I have all these grand plans for Christmas cards/letters, but am doubtful I will get to them!
We just received our families names in an envelope from my mom today. My side of the family started drawing names for Christmas about two years ago. With all us young folks on limited budgets and "young at heart" retirees, we saw it as a way to alleviate the holiday pressure. We put every member of the family's name on a little piece of paper into a box and draw out the number of names in our individual families. We only buy Christmas presents for the names we draw. And there is a $25 per person limit. It has worked the past two years, and everyone appreciates it. We were excited about the names we drew today! I can't wait to do the shopping now! I LOVE shopping and giving gifts to others! Because we only get to shop for three people each Christmas I make sure to make every other family member's Birthday extra special throughout the year. It's a little more spread out then...
We have already done a little shopping for Gwyneth. She is almost done. Just a few more items and she is set. I know what I want to buy David, I just have to order it! Better get crackin' on it! It's one of my goals for this weekend.
Our Christmas tree is up and decorated! I just love the twinkle lights! I love to just sit in the evening with all the other lights off and read by tree light! I have tried to convince David to put some lights up outside. Not sure if it will happen. It is only -8 currently! ;o)
We recently purchased the game Clue on sale! We've been wanting to add this game to our collection for a while! Gwyneth loves it just as much as David and I did as kids. I still love the game!I think this brings you all up to speed. Thanks for stickin' it out while I rambled on! I pray each and every one of you feels the "reason for the season", and are enjoying your family, friends, and health!
Take care!
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