I was feeling pretty good ...

that folks' were complaining that it was -25 in Minnesota and here we were basking in weather warm enough to have wet roads. That kind of wet that is not clean, rather leaves so much crud on your windshield that you can barely see to drive. The headlights are so mucky that you're thankful for street lights. In case you want my honest opinion it is just plain ole gross. Jari has high hopes and does things like take the truck through the car wash, only to have it look the same several hours later. I just keep wiping off the mud and wondering what color my rig use to be.

The other day we had a dusting of snow. Yipee! It is balm for my vision. Put together defroster (which sounds like a freight train) and snow and voila! You have a clean windshield! Oh the joys of appreciating the little things in life.

Now it is -9 at 8:00 in the morning. That's what I get for feeling gloaty about the weather .. and I never even posted that thought anywhere! Good day for projects. Dishwasher is running, washing machine is running, Jari is painting our bathroom and I am heading downstairs. I have a good size box down there that is empty. By the time I bring Anna to work at noon ... it will be full. It will be in the car and it will be dropped off at the local thrift store. I have a closet to clean down there today. Maybe I'll find some treasures!

End of the day update:

I never made it to the thrift store, but I did get that closet almost done. Also managed some damage in the laundry room. I did find this treasure while cleaning.
Tia was reading to me, "You know you're over the hill when you enter a store and totally forget what you came in for."
Then she got a shocked look on her face and said, "Hey, I'm not that old! I'm just blonde!"

No Saturday is complete without a run to the post office. Usually it doesn't mean anything spectacular. I pick up a lot of flat rate boxes when I get my mail. They are usually business stuff that really doesn't hold anything fun for me. Today I did a double take at the return address. I stifled the urge to rip it open right there ... and brought it home to find ...

fresh picked, home grown Arizona oranges.

Thank you so much!

They are scrumptious beyond belief.

My taste buds are seriously tingling.

Husband of the Year Award

going out to my dear hubby this evening.
He came home last evening after being gone for 4 weeks.
(I scheduled his first day for him before he even got here. :) )

Tonight he gets an award for hitting the purchase button on US Airways website.

I am going to the land of sunshine and palm trees for 2 weeks ...
with my two youngest daughters.

I'm thinking about hitting the dollar store when I land.
I'd hit one here if we had one.
I'm bringing sun glasses for all my friends.

My legs haven't seen a hint of sunshine in two years.
Capris for 2 days last summer just doesn't count.

I could just about crow!

I'll just call them Indicators.

Life is full of indicators.

Like finding out that you aren't 18 years old anymore .. and accepting it.

Getting up at 5:15 a.m. and surviving the day works much better if your head hits the pillow a bit earlier. It has been working well. Naps still exist but have become more rare, so it's early to bed and early to rise for this one. It isn't allowing me to get my book read, but it is allowing me to keep my eyes open a little better.

We managed to meet our goals this week. I think. The big things got done. Accident reports filed with the state. Some made it to school. Others made it to work. We actually ate dinner a few times. One night it was nearing 8pm, but it sure was good!

Yesterday the sun was shining. The temps was a wee bit on the chilly side in the morning and then warmed up nicely to a whopping just over 20F degrees. The sun is starting to feel like it has warmth. Or my imagination is really working overtime. Either way, we love it. It rises higher in the sky every day and soon it will be above our heads nearly constantly. The sky was light enough on Friday evening as I was coming home from work that I didn't need head lights. It is coming ... this summer that we love.

That shining sunshine yesterday made me take a deep breath and say ....

okay ... I'll wash you. There is a certain advantage to the darkness of winter. Absence of streaming light lets you live in the delusions that include the absence of dust and dirt.

  

A sad indicator of the amount of snow we've had this year. Even the icicles are miniature in size. It has been a dry winter here, while other places are getting hammered around the nation.

One of my favorite indicators around here is the door that leads from our dining room to the screened porch. The door quite obviously needs replacing, or someone practiced some serious artwork when they put it together. When the temp drops outside, the artwork appears. It is always the same. I have fields of flowers with tall stems that show up in the glass. Some pieces look like flying leaves, others like dandelions about to fly away on a breeze. They really are beautiful. I've tried many times to capture them. This time I caught one with my youngest on the phone in the background.

Then there are the indicators of time. Oh, how it flies. Before I even realize it, another week has gone. Then a month. Then a year. We seem to live by the clock and the calendar. I really don't need this abundance of clocks ... and I have more. I just love them. They never tell the same time. You have to know which clock to look at if you have a schedule to keep. The one on the left is a family treasure. It had been keeping time on Jari's parents' wall for many years before it moved to ours. It seems to have moods. Days where it decides it has kept time long enough and stops for a while. Sort of like me. 

Meanwhile, the clock on the computer is indicating that I really need to start moving. We have services this afternoon and I have a salad to put together, a shower to jump in and a closet to dig through.

In really bright news, I can quit counting scoops and ounces of Tide. Jari will be home Monday evening. Indicators around here have been showing that we really miss him at home. I baked him pulla last night at 11:00 pm.  That, my friends, is a serious indicator.

The end of a 4 day weekend ...

and it felt like I was going around in circles.

Run this one here. Pick up that one there.

In the middle of it maybe sneak off to find some other kinds of circles that are waiting for spring and work to do. They should treasure the break.

Yesterdays accomplishment. 65 cds of photos or worthless discs hit the trash. I ran 2 computers to make sure I wasn't missing something on them. All photos went to the external hard drive, which is organized by year very nicely. Still need to come up with some way to find pictures easily. This morning there are loose cds in the immediate vicinity. Now if I walk down the hall ....

Along the way I found some little treasures.

Don't they just grow up when we're busy living life? 

Evidence that Jari has always been capable of taking a nap in the middle of

everything. This particular one was taken on Thanksgiving. We had quite a giggle about it at the time. 

I must be pining for warm weather and sunshine. I kept being drawn back to the files that held photos from Lake Powell. This trip was done with just adults and no littles. 

Another trip with families. Our family treasures these memories ...

Meanwhile, mother nature has dusted us with a little white powder over nite

and the temp is a balmy 30F. 

Sunday morning ...

when "sleeping in" ended at 5:45 a.m.

Have I come to that new stage of life?

Not really. Just volunteered to give someone a lift to work bright and early.

A look at our week here where the wind has started again this morning

and we could use some fresh snow.

Wednesday morning Brock fell asleep driving. He gave Alyx a ride to work and was

on his way home when he hit the ditch and rode it for quite a length at 55 mph.

He says he caught some "serious air". I nearly had a heart attack.

Thank goodness for seat belts and teens that wear them.

Between the seat belt and being asleep ... he was probably saved from some

serious injury.

This guy looks like he might have a more comfortable place to lay his head

than on a steering wheel.

At least the steering wheel isn't going anywhere now .. the car is toast. 

Friday I started working on these buggers. I think, between Friday and Saturday, I spent about 12 hours working on numbers and paper piles. I'm still not done.

I do have a hint at this point that includes ...

at least a little of this. I have played with my deductions on my paychecks this year. To the point that TurboTax asked me if my income and my federal withholding had been entered correctly. Um, yes. I sort of needed the money all year long.

Money. A necessary evil.

So is laundry soap.

In mid October I went to Costco. Pretty bad when I can tell you when I went to Costco! Actually, I just saw the receipt in my tax quest. 

Please come on this little journey with me.

If you purchase 2 large boxes of Tide from Costco and they say 180 loads on the side of the box, how long do you think they ought to last?

I'm no longer washing wet little people bedding in the morning.

I don't have littles changing clothes every 15 minutes

after jumping in a mud puddle or just because they feel like it.

It is winter and the clothes are much bulkier and layered more,

but 3 months later I was out of laundry soap and there was still a full box with

63 loads written on the side when I bought these.

That means that we have supposedly washed 423 loads of laundry

in 3 months. 35 loads of laundry a week. Once upon a time, yes.

Not anymore. Simply impossible.

Out came the measuring cup and the calculator.

317 loads/180 loads = 2 oz per load

Take out a measuring cup and check where 2 oz is.

It is 1/4 cup ...  if 8 oz is still 1 cup and new math hasn't changed that too.

I'm going to help you out. 2 oz measured against my finger is about the height of my finger nail when I pour detergent in that green scooper.

Unless you are washing the delicates or an itty bitty load of laundry,

who uses 1/4 cup of laundry soap in their wash?

The box doesn't even recommend 1/4 cup for a full load of laundry.

Now I know why the boxes are empty. It is more like 90 loads instead of 180.

Tide has some explaining to do.

The things I come up with when my hubby is gone for weeks on end.

I've come to the point of complaining about laundry soap?

Gotta love a girl ....

who loves her Carharts ...

enough to add them to her Christmas wish list.
Now we just need to find the time to wear them!

An ode to court(ing) and love.

I'm awake and the time is only 5:37 a.m. I've already hit the e-mail box and FB for a quick check. Nothing that I'm looking for in the e-mail box.

Just recently I've put my nose back in The Five Love Languages book. Do you know that there is also a book for teens? I've seen, or heard of, the one for kids. Now I want to read the one for parents of teens. Life's learning curve sometimes throws me for incredible loops. I'll be the first to say that I have a difficult time with teens. Love 'em to pieces, just found it much easier to diaper bottoms and clean up puke. I am trying. That's all I can say.

While I'm on the subject of teens .... Brock has already posted something on his FB about court and the likes. I figure that gives me free reign. If he hadn't, I'd keep my mouth shut. It is irrelevant what he managed to get himself into, the path to correcting the mistake is what I find fascinating. His misdeed is certainly not irrelevant to life. He isn't the first to fall into this trap and won't be the last. It is irrelevant to this topic. Yesterday we met with Youth Court. I had no clue that a "jury of his peers" meant exactly that. I hope your child is never found in this position. I really want to expose you to the other possiblities available. Youth Court is found nationwide, in every state except Connecticut, from what I was told yesterday. High school students train to run the entire court room. They play the positions of judge, defense and prosecuction (with first and second chairs) and everything else. They have the case file before the court date. The defense "attorney" will call his/her "client" and discuss the case. Following the evidence in court, they deliberate and they pass sentence according to guidelines given them. I just took a quick peek at the site and must correct something. It looks as if there are different variations of the Youth Court, with adult judges in 51% of the courts. Whether or not a high school student is headed for law school, or something in the field of law, this looks absolutely fascinating! What a great way to learn about our justice system and see it work first hand. A fantastic way to be involved in your community, to positively influence your peers and make a difference in today's world. Retired Justice Sandra Day O'Conner is very active in the organization as well. If you have a teen, or know a teen, gander over and take a peek.

..... and in other breaking developments around here ...

**I am not only doing our income tax return, but the kids' returns as well. That means we have 5 of them to do. Thank you Tia for not working yet. I got one done last night and was rewarded with a major look of relief on someone's face.

**Manged to move 3 months of cd pictures to an external hard drive. This counts in the pitch 25 things a week category and I need to play catch up.
**The temp this morning is 30 degrees. We saw rain yesterday.