Yipes!

It has been crazy weather day here! Warm and freaky windy this morning, turning quickly into freezing and freaky snowy! Seriously - full on blizzard weather for more than 4 hours. I even kept Gabe home from school today. I didn't feel quite up to putting all our lives in danger just to get him there, only to have to turn around 3 hours later and do it all over again. The thing about this weather is that it A) stresses me out and B) makes me feel cold, even though I am in my nice, toasty house. I am on my third cup of tea, and I see a fourth in the near future. See, we have no window coverings on the windows of our main floor, so at any given moment I can glance outside and see all the snow and then immediately get the chills. And then that keeps me from doing much besides pacing. Which gets me stressed, because I have lots to do, but I dunno - I just feel all anxious and can't focus. It's amazing I can even type, but then again, this is probably not the most coherent post I have ever done!

And to think this is my first post in over a week! To fill you all in - last week was just weird and a little crazy. We started out the week by trying to potty train Dylan (yes, trying). It's always fun to attempt something so potentially messy and lunacy-inducing with THE MOST STUBBORN and DEFIANT child int he WHOLE world. Ahem. And I'm breathing...it is so, so very good for his well-being that he is adorable. His only saving grace. It all began well, the first day was very successful and so was most of the week, but I am sad to say we got back to where we started by Sunday. I was wound so tightly yesterday I could barely breathe. Today we have done better, so I hope for everyone's sake that it is a sign of things to come!

Simple Sundays

Today's simple pleasure?
Eating all the leftover sweet & sour pork, straight out of the paper take-out container whilst standing over the sink - before its even had the chance to get cold - a pretty top-notch way to cure a bad mood.

Cooking Oops!

So, here's a tip I feel I should pass along to ya'll in case anyone feels the need to do what I did: when you are making chicken and a cream sauce and you don't have any whiskey, but want to try something besides vinegar to deglaze the pan, don't use red wine. 'Cause you'll end up with a purpley-brown cream sauce. And while it will still taste good, it will be, as I mentioned purpley-brown. Not super appetizing! Learn from me, please, learn from me.

Simple Sundays

Of my hubby's New Year's Resolutions, here is my favorite: learn to cook! YAHOO!! YIPPEE!!
*Ahem*
Forgive me for that, but this is cause to celebrate. I think it is fantastic that he is taking an interest in something I love to do and also, it's nice to share the work with someone - it makes it ever so much more fun. And as his Grandma says "Now he will learn that cooking is hard work and the food doesn't just appear out of nowhere." Hee, hee - go Grandma! Tonight we are having his family over for dinner and we are going to attempt our first-ever pot roast, inspired by one of the funniest cooking blogs ever. I'm really not much of a red meat eater, or much of a meat eater at all, for that matter, but there is something about a pot roast that just says "Sunday Dinner", so I figure it is worth a try. Wish us luck!

Simple Sundays

There's something really satisfying about having an idea in your head and then seeing that idea translate well into reality (especially since that almost never happens!). We couldn't decide which art we wanted to hang in our bedroom for ages. One day my hubby had the great idea to develop some of our favorite Virginia/N.Carolina shots in black and white and put them in frames. Then I had a picture of one of my favorite views blown up into a 16x20 and done in a wrapped canvas for Aaron's birthday last week. The contrast of the black frames with our Silver Sage paint looks fantastic (the above pics do not do it justice) and it's fun to have all these reminders up of a place I love so much.

Favorite Bumper Sticker Ever

**Warning: Political Post!**

I saw this sticker on a sign in NC and knew that there was no better way to sum up how I feel. I picked one up for myself on cafepress.com, a very cool website (thanks, Ern!). Only one more year!