Cabin Fever is Setting In



This has been one mighty cold winter!  We had another unexpected snow day last week, which was a nice surprise.  I can appreciate a day off any time of the year. The temperatures have been down-right grueling though.    

 

Something that brings me joy is buying pitiful-looking house plants at Wal-Mart and trying to nurse them to health.  I have an African violet I got on clearance last winter.  The poor little thing had a glimmer of green left around the stem, so I knew there had to be hope.  I had never had an African violet before because I have always been slightly intimidated by them.  This one perked right up, however, and has thrived in my kitchen until just a few weeks ago.  I'm worried about it.  It's starting to look like it's hanging on by a thread...... Well, if anyone is still reading about my house plant, I apologize.  How boring, I'm sure. 

 

Here's is one of my newer additions.  They always look happier in one of Dad's pots.  This one found a new blue home last week and a very sunny place in our cabinet.  Welcome home, little fella. 



We are all stretching out for the sun a little bit these days.

Cozy

More of that fluffy, white stuff is falling down at a rapid rate as I type.  Our house is warm with a nice fire in the fireplace, and there's a sleeping husband and 4 year old on the couch.  There is hot water in the kettle for tea and I am wearing my sweats.  Happy place, right here.

 

Evangeline and I got crafty this afternoon.  We made a pillow out of a Christmas feed sack I got on sale last week.  I sewed, she stuffed.  She wanted her picture taken kissing the Santa on the pillow front.  You can never get an early enough start sucking up to ol'Saint Nick.

 

It makes my heart smile to see a love for crafting continue to bloom in my darling daughter.  I'm going to ride the wave as long as possible.  Who knows what her interests will be in a few years from now.  As for now I am happy with the fact that her interests lie where her mommy's interest lie.  She has been chomping at the bit to learn how to knit, sew, spin, stitch, etc.  I gave her a needle and close supervision the other day and let her try her hand at stitching.  She did a wonderful job and enjoyed every second of it.  

 

My blog book came! How lovely to have my pictures and the journal entries of my year in a nice hardback book.  I am so grateful to my friend Kelsey who introduced me to this form of documentation.  This book of my memories is something I will treasure, and I hope someday Evangeline will too.  

The Snow Has Stopped

Our big snow last week allowed us to stay home together until Thursday.  It was nice because I got to really work on getting our house put back together after the big room switch-a-roo.  Evangeline loves her new bedroom.  It's not very attractive and definitely not very girly, but she's happy and she has lots more room to play.  I think Evangeline was ready to get back to school.  She missed seeing her little pals.  She was getting tired of lounging in jammies until the afternoon hours and watching entirely too much TV.  I was wracking my brain for some fun activities for us to do since it was too cold to play outside.  We made Shrinky-Dinks charms, tried our hand at a few Pinterest crafts and baked cookies in my first finished- unfinished project of the year...the owl apron.

Evangeline always likes to say her own prayer each night after the traditional prayer we say together.  Lately they have been rhymes, like she is trying to emulate the prayers we say at church.  She came up with this one the other night..."The Lord has given us to Mommy and the earth.  Jesus loves us even when we're cursed.  Amen." 

When Evangeline isn't sleeping with a handkerchief head banded to her head, she is sleeping in her new sleep mask.  She has slept in that thing every night since she got it over a week ago.  

I have been enjoying the simplicity around the house with the Christmas decorations down.  There are, however, a few decorations I am not ready to say goodbye to.  I will let them stick around for a little while longer.  I am also going to try to keep my orphan poinsettia alive that was abandoned at church.  I've never had a poinsettia, so we shall see...

My new red cabinet has found a cozy place in the corner.  It looks happy there. 

I sure did get some happy news today...that's all can say for right now, but I want to remember the exact day I received it.  "Adrienne, the happy news came today.  You were at Wal-Mart when you received it."  There, that should serve as a good reminder to myself. 

Inside a Snow Globe: Part II

We braved the elements to go to church yesterday morning.  However, there was no leaving the house for the rest of the day after arriving home.  The snow was falling at 1-1.5 inches per hour all afternoon.  It's beautiful outside.  I don't remember the last time I've seen so much snow.  I think we have about 13 inches out there.  Kyle had to go to work this morning and the car got stuck coming up the hill on his way home.  He spent about an hour digging it back up the drive.  School was cancelled today (this was supposed to be our first day back) and is already cancelled for tomorrow. 

 

The sparkling, frozen snow is breath-taking.  I'm grateful to have a warm home and food here to eat.  The temperatures are at record setting, subzero lows.   I hope our forest friends have found warm places to hunker down.  

 

Kyle and Evangeline built a huge snowman while the temperature was still bearable.  

 

I took this picture after the snow had stopped.  How peaceful it is.  

Inside a Snow Globe

A visit from a feathered friend: Playing in 6 inches of snow: Sledding: Hot chocolate with whipped cream: Milk Mustaches: Finishing sewing projects: Moving Evangeline to her new bedroom: Organizing: Eating veggies and fruit: Sipping hot tea: Folding never-ending mounds of laundry: Plans to visit with friends: Playing with baby dolls: Baking cookies: Being lulled by the living room humidifier: Board games.  What a lovely week.