Exhibits One and Two

Both at the same time

"why no... I am not pulling the stuffing out of my toys!"
Why do you ask?

um.... it's a good thing we love him so such.

Exhibit Number Two

Caught in the Act

Guilty Face

Exhibit Number Two

Exhibit Number One

Blizzard Remnants

hubby's truck stuck in the snow

the four-wheeler hubby uses to plow the snow - oh - and for fun too



 so.. that is the end product of blizzard-who-cares-what-its-name-is.  I am so ready for spring.

Zackism

In our household we have things known as Zackisms.  These encompass and include all the hilarious things that Zack has said over his lifetime.
As he has gotten older, the Zackism are fewer and farther between but.... he had a great one tonight and I have to share it on here:


My older son Jon was sharing a story about how the Chinese people will make a drink and then they will put the heart of a snake in the drink before they consume it.


So..... Zack asks... "is that because they don't have any cherries it China!" 

The View From Here Pt. 2

So... here is what it looks like outside our house right now.

These pictures were taken this morning right after it started snowing.  By this time it had been snowing about 45 minutes... all the snow had been GONE!!!

Tomorrow I'll have pictures of the finished product!!! 

Weather Update

...WINTER STORM WARNING IN EFFECT FROM 6 AM SUNDAY TO NOON CST


MONDAY...



THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN GREEN BAY HAS ISSUED A WINTER

STORM WARNING FOR SNOW AND BLOWING SNOW...WHICH IS IN EFFECT FROM 6 AM

SUNDAY TO NOON CST MONDAY. THE WINTER STORM WATCH IS NO LONGER IN

EFFECT.



* SNOW WILL ARRIVE IN EAST CENTRAL WISCONSIN SUNDAY MORNING. THE

SNOW WILL BECOME HEAVY AT TIMES SUNDAY AFTERNOON INTO SUNDAY

EVENING.



* SNOW ACCUMULATIONS OF 8 TO 13 INCHES ARE EXPECTED.



* STRONG NORTHEAST WINDS GUSTING TO 35 TO 45 MPH WILL CAUSE

CONSIDERABLE BLOWING AND DRIFTING SNOW LATE SUNDAY AFTERNOON

INTO SUNDAY NIGHT...LEADING TO NEAR BLIZZARD CONDITIONS AT

TIMES.



* TRAVEL WILL BECOME EXTREMELY HAZARDOUS ACROSS THE REGION ON

SUNDAY. THERE MAY BE CONSIDERABLE AIR TRAVEL DISRUPTION AS WELL.





PRECAUTIONARY/PREPAREDNESS ACTIONS...



A WINTER STORM WARNING FOR HEAVY SNOW AND BLOWING SNOW MEANS

SEVERE WINTER WEATHER CONDITIONS ARE EXPECTED OR OCCURRING. THE

COMBINATION OF SNOW AND STRONG WINDS WILL MAKE TRAVEL VERY

DIFFICULT. IF YOU MUST TRAVEL...KEEP AN EXTRA

FLASHLIGHT...FOOD...AND WATER IN YOUR VEHICLE IN CASE OF AN

EMERGENCY. THE LATEST WISCONSIN ROAD CONDITIONS CAN BE OBTAINED BY

CALLING 511.



This is our forcast for tomorrow - straight from our local news website.  
 
How lovely!!! 

Sibling Love

Snow Snow Go Away

See This

And this

And this

It is almost completely gone thanks to a full week of temps in the high 30's and low 40's.  Unfortunately, a new storm system is moving in on Sunday dumping a fresh coat of this white crud... yep, I hate it!

Ti Amo



Ti Amo -
Means I Love You
In Italian



Steam of Thoughts

Killer

Still thinking about my mouse killing mutt.  Hubby, of course, was overjoyed that Ollie was eliminating these pesky creatures from around (the outside of) our house but me... not so much.


Those cookies from the last post were gone by the next morning.  There was one left when I woke up and it was quickly gone by the next time I glanced over that way.  I ended up making 2 doz. more yesterday and if I was a betting person.. I would bet those will be gone by tomorrow.


I did make the other squash for lunch yesterday.  This one was not an acorn squash but, I believe, a pumpkin squash... but I am not taht educated on types of squash.  This kind was actually a bit better tasting... but I am really stoked about roasting an salting the seeds.  Speaking of seeds... acorn squash seeds are ubber hard to clean!!!  Ugh!


Life around these parts has been pretty boring.... homeschooling... and not much else.

Food

This blog will mainly be about food... just in case you couldn't have figured that out by the title.
But first:


See this face?

He may look sweet and innocent but you would think differently if you just saw him do what I just saw him do.  Yes, my sweet little puppy just went out to piddle and then pounced upon and killed a mouse!!  I yelled and screamed at him to drop it (because he was going to eat it) and being the obedient dog that he is... he dropped.... the dead mouse... right at my feet.  How lovely.


Now that you're appetite has been stimulated; on to the food.


Did you ever want to try a food that you didn't like because you saw a picture of it and thought it looked good... yeah, me neither.


Soooo.. I saw a recipe for acorn squash and it looked delicious... but I don't like squash... but I had to try it....

 
and it was.... edible.  But remember I don't like squash.  If  you do like squash, this would be the recipe to try.  I think I might even try this recipe again.


-Cut acorn squash in half and take out the insides. I put the seeds aside to roast later... yum.
- melt butter
- add brown sugar to the melted butter
- spread copious amounts of the mixture on the inside and outside of the squash
-cook at 350* for an hour or so
-add salt and pepper to taste


After experimenting with food I don't necessarily like, I moved on to food I love!!!!!

Yes.... cookies.  Frozen sugar cookie dough with homemade frosting.   Since the vanilla in the frosting made it look brownish.. and since yesterday was valentines day... I decided to add a bit of red food coloring.  My bet is that these will all be gone by tomorrow morning.  Things like this don't last long in our household.


After the cookies I moved onto dinner.  Tonight's dinner was going to be sloppy joes. Since hubby was working and Zack had his last basketball game I wanted something simple.  But when I went to the store.. hamburger was $2.59 per pound while these bone in chicken breasts were $.99 a pound... so, chicken breasts it was. 


- I cracked two eggs in one bowl and beat them
- took a row of ritz crackers, put them in a bag and pulverized them
- added garlic salt and pepper to the cracker mixture

- dip the chicken in egg, then in the cracker mixture
- put on a cookie sheet or baking dish
- put little drops of butter under and around the chicken

Baked at 375* for a about an hour

Enjoy!!  Disclaimer: I cannot take credit for either of these recipes - I found them on the internet.

Basketball

Basketball season is winding down - tomorrow is the last game.  I have not been bringing my camera to games anymore - but a very dear friend came last week and took some photos... and he is much better at taking pictures than I am:

this was a great steal



great shot.. but he did not score on this shot. 
He scored later in the game. 







A Time for Prayer

www.caringbridge.org/visit/mcraekate


This gorgeous little girl and her family are on my mind today.


On my mind a lot.  Making me think deeply about God and satan and the way things work.


You see... this little princess and her parents have just found out that her brain cancer has returned...  harsh treatments might buy her time... but without a miracle... she will likely not survive this. 


The father is a pastor.  Two years ago the family left everything from their previous life behind to follow God's calling and moved to  Arizona to start a new church. Five months later, the doctors found the tumor which turned out to be a very rare and aggressive form of cancer.   During the 19.5 months they have been in this battle, I have followed them as they have learned how to balance the cancer fight, which cruelly weaved its way into their lives, while at the same time staying true to God's will and call. 


Over the past two years I have been involved in the C.O.L.E Foundation.  The foundation was founded by the parent's of a little boy in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan who developed a very aggressive form of cancer and died only a couple months later.  The best part about this foundation is that there is NO MONEY INVOLVED... only time... effort.... and prayer.


C.O.L.E is an acronym that stands for Care Openly Love Eternally.  "Members" of this foundation pray for families who have caringbridge sites and leave encouraging messages on their guestbook pages. 


It is somewhat challenging as I find myself becoming attatched to these children and familes... whom I have never even met.... but not nearly as challenging as the things these families have to endure. 


So join me in prayer for the McRae family as they navagate their way through this difficult journey ahead.

100th Post!

A leftover from Christmas but I just love this picture! 

Super

As in Super Bowl!!!


As in Super Bowl Champions!!!


As in they barely made the playoffs!!!


As in "I still cannot believe it"!!!


For most of the year I have been calling them the best "worst" team ever... meaning their record by no means indicated the depth of talent on this team.


Not anymore.. they have proved themselves a true championship team.... and I  will eat my words about Ted Thompson, Mike McCarthy, and Mike Murphy (previously referred to as the Three Stooges - by me).

Snow Day

Not that I really care that much since I am not teaching this year..... nor is Zack in formal school this year.... but schools around the area were closed today.


We were supposed to get about 4 inches of snow last night - but that is difficult to determine because of the wonderful 40 to 60 mile per hour winds we had the priviledge of having last night.  The real issue, I believe, is the incredible drifting of the snow.


Last night, as we were driving home from Zack's basketball game, the drifts were already pretty bad... but the bigger problem was that with all the snow blowing across the road it created "whiteout conditions".  Most of the time I didn't even know if I was even on the road....and I couldn't see a drift in the road until I was right on top of it. 


Fortunately, we made it home safely... and home is where we will hunker down... at least for today. 


Have I mentioned how much I love living here in this arctic, frozen wasteland......NOT!!!