Baby, It's Wet Outside

Let the rain kiss you. Let the rain beat upon your head with silver liquid drops. Let the rain sing you a lullaby. ~Langston Hughes

It's raining.

I shouldn't complain, but ... we just didn't have the best weather in the world this weekend, though yesterday was better. Still cold, but not unbearable. However, they are predicting sunshine and near 70 degrees starting on Thursday - YAY!!!

I found bulbs growing UNDER my front steps yesterday. Best guess? The chipmunk that used to live there (the one I live-trapped a week or two ago) must have nabbed them from somewhere and brought them home to eat later. And they grew. I'll frequently find masses of sunflowers growing where the chippie buried sunflower seeds. It must really frustrate them to go back to where they buried their food and find... nothing.

Anyway, I dug up the bulbs and moved them. I don't recognize the foliage, though, so it'll be a surprise for me when they bloom.

DD finished a second 1000 piece puzzle yesterday and nearly finished a third. She's having so much fun working them! I heard somewhere that keeping your mind busy as you get older helps stave off dementia and Alzheimer's. I should be safe.

I made yogurt on Saturday, and the most interesting thing occurred. The yogurt set, but the top of each glass was FULL of liquid that I dumped out, probably 3/4" deep (the jars are only about 4" tall, so that was a LOT). The only thing I did differently this time was use off-brand milk. I almost NEVER buy the cheap milk (I prefer to use either organic or, at the very least, the "no growth hormones, no antibiotics" milk and you can only get that in brand name) but I was at Target and they only had the cheap stuff or Hood and we wanted to use the jug for our greenhouses. Since Hood comes in a "light block bottle", we couldn't use that one, so I got the other.

I found, while reading about food in one book or another, that the way they "make" milk (in all it's various fat content forms) is by skimming off ALL the cream/fat first so that all milk starts as skim, and then adding back in the fat to meet whatever content they're making: 1%, 2% or whole.

I wonder... do you suppose that the cheap milk uses a different process?

I'm puzzled by this and now am driven by the need to find out.

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Your Bed Says You Have Your Head in the Clouds

Outward appearances are very important to you. You do your best to look good and have an attractive home. You try to be an organized person, but you often fall behind. Certain parts of your life tend to fall into chaos. You are very high maintenance. You like everything a certain way, and you're grumpy if things aren't the way you like them. In relationships, you tend to kick back and let the other person be in charge. You tend to be a dreamy, head in the clouds type of person. You think in terms of possibilities. You are a bit of a homebody, but you can also make yourself at home anywhere.

What Does Your Bed Say About You?

Hmmm... maybe 75% right.

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It's a Puzzle

"It is one of man's curious idiosyncracies to create difficulties for the pleasure of resolving them." - Joseph de Maistre

Yesterday was COLD again(though we did walk a few miles...brrr), but today looks like it might be nice enough to get outside and rake the lawn. I just put the feeders out, and although it's cold, there isn't the wind so it's more than bearable. They're talking about weather in the 60's again next weekend. YAY.

DD and I finished our 1000 piece puzzle yesterday, and started a new one. DD loves puzzles, and the funniest thing is this: I never liked doing the kiddie puzzles, so even when she was pretty small (like four y.o.), if she wanted to do puzzles with me, she had to do grown-up ones. I didn't toss her into 1000 piece puzzles right off, usually did 300 - 500 piece ones, but they had the little pieces and tough pictures. It took her a little while to get the hang of it, but now she's AWESOME at doing puzzles. And I didn't have to suffer through 25 piece Barney puzzles.

Our favorite puzzles are the Hometown Collection from MegaBrands and created by Harry Wysocki. DD loves them because there is always a black cat somewhere in the picture. His website discusses that here. We're doing "Winner's Circle" right now, which has the 1924 Kentucky Derby winner, Black Gold, in it. It makes THIS song stick in my head:



As an aside, I only just learned that Dan Fogelberg died of cancer in 2007. Very sad.

In between my walk, doing a puzzle with DD and a few other things, I built the LASR/WC/Aurora website for next week and did some writing.

Tomorrow is Monday. YAY.

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Your Shopping Stereotype is Traditional

You tend to be a very down to earth shopper. You go for function and quality. Price matters to you, but you also want to get the most bang for your buck. You never buy junk. If you find a brand or store you like, you tend to stick with it over the years. You are a loyal shopper. You don't buy the latest thing right away. You prefer to purchase things that have stood the test of time.

What's Your Shopping Stereotype?

That's all very true... scares me when these quizzes are correct.

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I'm Late!

"It must be remembered that the purpose of education is not to fill the minds of students with facts…it is to teach them to think. -- Robert Hutchins

That quote has nothing to do with the post... I just liked it :-)

We've already had a busy morning... I slept in like a lazy slug, until 6:00 and then woke up the DH for snowmobiling. Folks started showing up shortly thereafter and have only just gotten on the road.

So my morning had this -- DH running around the house until everyone showed up (bet my neighbors LOVED that!):



And this -- Dd having to come inside from playing because her feet got too cold (she's pouting, but GEEZ... it's -6 degrees out):



And this -- DD having snowball fights with her cousin (who was going on the ride -- DD wants to start going, but we don't have equipment for her yet):



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Today, DD and I will be hanging out together. Going to get a movie from the library, pop some popcorn and watch it (maybe "Nancy Drew"). Then, we'll pull out a puzzle and work on that some. She and I haven't had much time together lately (real time) because I've been busy and she's had to do school.

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And, on that note, I'll sign off for now. Have a great day!

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