Wow!!!! COLD

 The temperature is -9 F right now!! Luckily I did my running around early mid-morning. I was all out of polyester fiberfill for stuffing bears and friends and so headed off to Hobby Lobby for a bag , some more pins, scrapbook paper. tissue paper ( for wrapping when sending bears and friend off in the mail!) and craft glue!!

It was cold but not bad. When I walked out of Hobby Lobby it started to snow and the temp dropped. But we needed a few groceries so I stopped at Price Chopper just to make sure we had everything just in case.

When I left PC it was even colder. I tried putting things in the trunk but it was frozen shut... put them in the front on the seat and foot well. As I was about to head home I noticed two cars had had some sort of accident and the owners were talking about who was going to pay!! Right in front of my car!!

When they had things settled and the one at fault drove off, I headed home....I was really cold by then. Traffic had increased... the road was getting slushy.

Bob and I unloaded the car and I put things away... very glad to get home and warm up!!

So all day ( it had stopped snowing) it got colder and colder...and it will get even colder overnight. Neither of us wanted to go out and get the mail!!

Obituaries... and saved by the cooks

 Does that title draw people in??  I have been messaging back and forth with a cousin on Ancestry. She is the great grand daughter of one of my grandfather's siblings. We have exchanged family stories .. correcting at times! lol She is really into genealogy !

Anyway she had purchased some obituaries of family members. I learned what my grandfather had died. from from one of them...hypertrophic cardiomyopathy ( genetic). When I told her my family's heart deaths she bought more obits and laid out the family for both of us, Some probably would not have died today... medicine  has changed...But I am going to pass on some of this to my cardiologist.

ps... did not know one had to buy obits!! Maybe that's only true in the UK?? My husband says "no".... for actual official papers one has to purchase them, here in the US too.

My grand daughter called this morning...She is on winter break from college so has been working double shifts in the kitchen at Houlihan's. She said going to work yesterday wasn't bad but no servers showed up. So just the bar and the kitchen were open. So slow that the cooks taught her how to make Creme Brulee's and to do the topping with the small blow torch.

But when it was time to go home , her car's tires just spun. She tried salt and the restaurant's snow shovel but "no go". The five cooks came out and told her they were going to push her out. Success and home she went! No work today.

what's ongoing

 Went to our local hospital Monday morning for a sonogram... checking the circulation in my legs and feet. The weather outside was gray but no precipitation. But when I was done two hours later it was pouring.

Off to the grocery store with my "stuck in the house" grocery list. Bought more milk than usual "just in case" and three strips of rapid rise yeast in case he's bored and wants to bake again!

When I was done it was still pouring but the store set things up so I could go out to car and drive to the drop off area and a bagger would have brought my cart and would unload into my trunk ... big help!

Bob unloaded at home and I put things away... but by then the rain had changed to big  flakes of snow!!It snowed off and on all evening. By morning all schools were on virtual snow day - everyone stays home and works from online classes! Teachers without students do zoom meetings.

My neighbor - the one that owns a local trash company- put our bin at the end of the driveway so it could be emptied. By 10 the trash company was closed. No emptying today!

I had a doctor's appointment to go over yesterday's test results... but no way. The doctor's office is closed. The doctor called to tell me!!

It's actually very pretty out. We've gotten about 4 inches of snow. With no wind and everything wet from the rain, everything is coated - railings , ground , trees ...even chain link fences! And it is still snowing... tiny flakes!And it's not very cold - 31 right now.

We had a bit more snow and it did get a little windy... From the weather reports we may be hibernating for all of this week... Friday is supposed to be the worst.

One good thing about online snow days is that the the school calendar doesn't get lengthen next May

Bob's bread making

Bob has taken to bread making. The other day it was a UTube/Facebook bread. It had no recipe or real instructions so he slowed the video down until he could actually make the bread. It was good.. first time he had used olive oil instead of vegetable oil. Taking it out to our daughter's house for baking meant it's rising was interrupted. Tasted good!

Today he made bread from the James Beard Bread book... the dough rose dramatically and the bread had great texture and taste. I think this was partially due to his using a  smaller bread pan... 

Other than bread making and teddy bear clothing making it has been a quiet day. They ( weather people) are talking about snow tomorrow afternoon and more off and on ending with a big snow on Friday... we'll see..

Teacher daughter's school district has prepared for snow with online snow days...

Daughter's tasks

Our elder daughter asked if we could come to her house Saturday and help her assemble a new table and chairs for her kitchen.... sure was the answer.  They look really  nice and it is great to be able to sit and "eat" . The box containing the table was super heavy. The UPS delivery person managed to get it up half (13 steps) the front door steps. Not sure how our daughter managed the rest and got it into the house!!

After assembling the table was the task of bagging up the packing material - the dogs really wanted the Styrofoam ! - and the cardboard box. Anyway.. all broken down and into the trash bin for Monday's trash day!!

As we were leaving she asked if we could come today and help put up a ceiling light in the basement. Sure.. we were given dinner and Bob's  (he baked bread that morning) bread! Great ! But no light was put up ... too much time talking around the new table and chairs! Who cares... we'll do it next time.

Wonderful visit

Today I visited a friend I hadn't seen in quite some time ....lots of talking.. lots hugs... lots of catching up!!  What a delight! Why do we sometimes put things off?  We've been friends since our daughters were in 9th grade...

Afterwards I went to the grocery store with my list...found everything but  only milk went down in price. Too many things made a big jump up in price. This makes me shop with sale price tags hanging on the shelves!  One of my favorite baggers came running so she could bag my groceries!! Nice!

Then it was back to a book I am reading mixed in with a bear I am working on!! 

New Year Open House and FIREWORKS

We received an invitation to an Open House to be held today. The hosts do this every year... we've missed several due to Covid and Bob's heart attack . So it was doubly nice to go today and see people we haven't seen in ages. It was catered so food was everywhere  .. and delicious. People were munching, talking  and moving around !

We had a latish dinner due to the munching and finished last night's bottle of bubbly wine!!

And then the fireworks started.. some small booms and lots of huge ones. Tigger, the orange cat, was not happy!!  I have no idea why.. the Chiefs' win was yesterday and NY Eve was last night. It was loud enough that I almost wished to police would show up... it's only legal in Blue Springs over the Fourth of July !

I received and paid for the invoice for the next online bear show .. first weekend in February. Better get going and make some bears!!