Sublimation would be sublime

Right now, I wish a giant demonstration of sublimation would occur on the surface of my driveway. I made a rookie mistake and did not clear the snow on Friday when it fell. My wife didn't want to be left alone with the kids. The precipitation switched to rain, which froze the snow. The Subaru was ok, and there were no problems while the snow still existed. Today, however, we had rain, without very high temperatures, and the driveway turned to ice. Combined with an angle of roughly 76 degrees, it was an interesting ride to daycare in the sideways car heading down the driveway. Considering the fact that we had company coming, I headed out with the two shovels, one for chipping and one for snow, I spent two hours getting half of the driveway clear so that a car could make it up safely. Tomorrow should bring a wonderful example of slick, black ice covering the whole surface.

Final Push

Ok, we had a snow day Friday, which is going to make the end of winter/beginning of Spring very long with the make-up days, but what can you do. More difficult will be this week. The powers that be thought we could get in two good instructional days on Monday and Tuesday, with Wednesday (the 24th) our first day off. Right.

I finally got the lights up outside (only broke one), now I have to finish making the tortellini. I've filled one half-sheet pan with the little guys, and still have about 80% of the dough to fill. I hope they taste half as good as my grandma's.

Things I Miss

I miss buying beer by the six pack. People in this state (beer distributors in particular) think that allowing people to buy buy the six pack (rather than the case you have to buy now) would lead to more people drinking to excess. Go figure.

I miss good, cheap cheese.

I miss Woodmans (see cheese).

I miss actual cold weather (not the same when someone declares that it's freezing out and the temp is still double digits).

I miss my mom.

Food Prep

Ok, this is my first Christmas at home since I got married (over six years ago). My daughter is 3 and actually knows what's going on. This is going to be fun. As the last cooking scion from my grandparent's line, I have decided to take up the mantle of the tortellini. I've made plenty of pasta, even some filled, from scratch before, but never have I attempted the delicate ambrosia that is the tortellino. I have all of my grandma's notes and my mom's as well. I hope it will be enough. No meal has ever equaled the tortellini and I only hope that I can do it justice. I am also continuing, for the first time, the various cookies that were made. I'm making the orange cookies (that originally called for sour milk - was that actually an ingredient?) and russian teacakes (my daughter calls them snowballs). I'm not sure when all of this is happening, but it better start happening soon.

Quote of the day

Ok, it's actually the quote of yesterday, but my daughter has some profound words for all of you.

"Two color poop came out of my butt. Is that magic or what?"

Yes it is magic, a holiday miracle.

I'm sitting here dreading a snow day tomorrow. We had a two hour delay today, which I like, but the snow days are no good. We have a stretch from February 6 until April 9 with two days in between that are scheduled off. They are the 1st two snow make-up days. I hope they are not needed, but that is a long stretch (which includes PSSA reading and math - possibly state writing- tests as well). We may need to sacrifice one of them to keep us sane during that stretch. Here's to another 2 hour delay tomorrow!

Sins against humanity

We are getting a fake tree. I still can't believe it. We are getting a fake tree. It makes me sad, like a little part of me has died. We are getting a fake tree.

Honestly, though, it makes sense. The needles killed our vacuum last year. Our cat who gets blocked (apparently male cats have extremely narrow urethra), needing hundreds of dollars in surgery to get unblocked, eats the needles. The cats enjoy climbing the tree. The dog and cats drink the water. We have an 8 month old who will try to do all three as well.

This year seems more fun than the last though. Our 3-year-old is really into it this year and we are going to be home on Christmas morning for the first time since we got married over six years ago. I am attempting my grandma's tortellini (recipe handed down from Bologna), which my I think my mom only attempted once or twice. Hopefully the weather is decent this weekend so I can hang some lights outside.

Vikings actually have a one game lead in the division race and it looks like one more win may be enough to wrap things up. Didn't see this coming after the first couple games.