Winter days are here

Winter is really, really here. The temperature has been in the teens during the day, and single digits at night. It's been so cold that the weather folks are telling us to cover all exposed skin if we're going to be out more than a minute. That means bundling up to my teeth just to walk the dog. Thank heavens I have the dog to get me out, or I'd never leave the house! She loves the snow, so I spend about 15 minutes outside every 2 hours or so. No strictly utility walks for her - she wants to dive in and get her nose into every drift! It's doubly good because all that diving through snow drifts wears her out, so she comes in and crashes hard for the next hour or so. That tells me the exercise is doing her good!

Christmas was wonderful after all. I drove to NJ to spend a week with my son and daughter-in-law, and stopped at my mom's and older sister's houses on the way. I was so happy to see them. It really helped me get in the Christmas mood after all. I ate way too much, stayed up way too late, and generally had a wonderful time. On the way home, I stopped at my mom's again, and got to see my other sister and her two kids, so that was a really happy bonus. The only downer was getting caught in a snowstorm on my way through Connecticut, so my 6-hour drive to my mom's turned into 12 hours. Owie. Thank God I was safe, though, and thank Daddy for getting me out of a couple of sticky situations. I kept hearing his voice in my head telling me to "throw it in 1st gear and don't stamp on any pedals!" It worked! I guess the 5 years he lived in Minnesota before he and my mom married came in handy, huh?

So now I have a new year of knitting projects to look forward to, along with a part-time bank teller job to get me through the next few months, until I take the bar exam. Things seem to work out for the best, somehow. The part-time job even gets me health insurance, which was a real concern for me. I think I'm more excited about the insurance than about the paycheck! Well, not really, but it's a close second.

Happy New Year everyone. Make it a good one.

Nice lazy Saturday

Surprise! It's snowing again! Light flurries - it's too cold to do much more than that. 20 degrees this morning, which is a HUGE improvement from yesterday's temperatures in the teens! Lizzie has been sleeping all day so far. She woke up at 7 and had to go out - of course, since Saturday is my sleep-in day - but then she went right back to bed, even without her breakfast! She did get up and wander around a bit when I brought her downstairs, but now she's sleeping again. She has the right idea!

I'm spending my day doing the usual weekend stuff - laundry, cleaning, baking, knitting, reading... it's a good day to be inside.

Tomorrow, the Henry Knox Museum is having their holiday open house, at Montpelier, in Thomaston. Knox is one of my favorite characters from the Revolutionary period, and I haven't been there yet, so the holiday open house will be a nice introduction to the mansion. I may volunteer over there next summer. Or even work there part-time. Could be fun.

I'm off to transfer wash into the dryer, and to put another load in. I love weekends.

Front Yard in Snow