FEBRUARY 20: SNOW DAY????

This morning I woke up early without an alarm. Good news for the feeling ill. I am at least getting rested and caught up on sleep. I also woke up to a forecast for afternoon snow. Will it or won't it? That was the question of the day. We have not had much snow at all this winter.

It is however cold and that means a nice hot cup of tea would be wonderful and relaxing. So the kettle is on.

I was pleased with this picture. I was intrigued by the steam and wondered how it would photograph. I think it did well. AND the tea was wonderful. AND about 1pm it did begin to snow....lightly no more than a dusting at first, but by night fall the ground was all white and it should last till morning since it is below freezing. Unfortunately because it is cloudiy we will miss the total lunar eclipse tonight and now will have to wait till 2010 for the next one!

FEBRUARY 19: CABIN FEVER STRIKES

IT may be a dreary winter day, but cabin fever has hit big time.....It's only been two days in the house, but I need to get out. The window framing is beginning to look like bars imprisoning me. This does not bode well with my word for the year "contentment". I am not feeling very content so I will go do some errands...run by work to pick up my keys and see how I do. Still tired, but making progress.

FEBRUARY 18: PRESIDENT'S DAY--NO HOLIDAY FOR ME!

I am not a good patient....I do not like being sick. I have way too many things I want and need to get done. It may have been a Federal Holiday on Monday, but I was supposed to work...I did not plan to take a holiday, but then I didn't plan on being sick either. These are items my day revolved around. The sinus and cold tea I purchased when we went to the National Pow Wow that was in the District last summer. Normally I do not like herbal teas, but this was wonderful and I think it did help. After I started drinking it was when I began feeling a little bit better. May be a coincidence, but I prefer to think the Native Americans know what they are doing with herbal remedies. I've often wondered why we are so convinced that modern chemical concoctions are so much more effective than natural remedies that people have been using with success for centuries. Here is a link to the company that sells the tea. It's called Native and Natural.

FEBRUARY 17: SICK DAY

We made it home from Philly fine, but the trip took its toll on me. I mentioned to DH on Saturday when we went to bed that I wasn't sure I would make it up at 6:30am to get ready for church.....good thing I did. I vaguely remember hearing him getting ready to go and thinking I'll get up in time to make it to the 10am service. WRONG! I woke up about 10am. Got up made myself a cup of tea, propred myself up in bed and read till about 11am, decided my eyes were tired, closed them and woke up at 1pm after DH was home from church, changed and I think had lunch. So this is a picture of where I existed on Sunday. I didn't think after sleeping most of the day that I would sleep at all Sunday night, but believe me it was no problem........

FEBRUARY 16: BIRTHDAY DAY AND PHILLY

We had a wonderful breakfast at a cafe and then headed into Philly. Our first stop was st the Mutter Museum. A very very strange museum. It is a museum dedicated to medical oddities. My husband labeled it a legitimate freak show. Which in some respects does describe it well.

After a few hours there we walked to Di Bruno Bros. for lunch. This is a delightful Italian market on the first floor and then upstairs is a small cafe and restaurant. We had wonderful pizza in lovely thin crispy crust. After lunch when we wouldn't be so tempted we wandered around the market. This could be a very dangerous place for me if I lived near it!

By now it was about 2:30 in the afternoon and since neither Jerry or I were feeling all that great we decided it was time to wish the birthday boy a farewell and head home. So we took him to the 30th Street train station and he headed back to Malvern where his car was parked at the station and we got lost finding our way out of town. But we eventually made it and had an uneventful drive home arriving tired and in time for dinner.

FEBRUARY 15: TO PHILLY

Okay I am playing catchup again....This time due to illness slowing me down....do I have excuses or what!

Anyway....Friday afternoon we headed out for a drive up to the Philadelphia area to visit with son and to celebrate his 25th (YIKES!) birthday. He lives in a small borough about 30 miles west of Philly. It's called Malvern. We had a delightful drive up, once we got out of the Baltimore area that is....traffic is always nasty and slow around there. It took us a little over 3 hours to get there.

We checked into our Comfort Inn in West Chester, about 10 miles south west of his house, and then went to pick him up for dinner. The restaurant was his choice and so we went to Cheeseburger in Paradise. I had never hear of this chain, but despite my not being sure I could eat anything (I think I was already getting sick) I did. I had 4 little cheeseburgers and I mean little, but they were yummy.

After dinner plans were made to pick him up again in the morning to go to breakfast together and then into Philly for the day. Then it was back to the hotel and some much needed sleep.

FEBRUARY 14: VALENTINE'S DAY

Not much special going on for Valentine's Day here. DH made me a cup of coffee in morning to help pry my eyes open. Had limited success with this. He also gave me the chocolate heart.Then he headed off for hospital for last day and I headed off for dentist. Not my idea of fun activities on any day let alone Valentines but that is our life today. I then went in a caught up on some over due work and then headed home to crash....The coffee as limited as it's effect was had worn off by now...I think I even fell asleep on the couch around 4pm.

Dinner was small, but nice and well...this evening while DH napped I caught up here. Now it is almost time for bed...not exactly an exciting Valentine's Day but probably about all we could handle this year.

I am so far behind with everything I just this evening found the cards I made for family and never got mailed.....I am so pitiful.......forgive me!

FEBRUARY 13: A DAY IN OLNEY

After a very icy and late night at the polls, and a shot nights sleep DH and I headed out for the third of his treatments. Living in a metro area there are many hospitals in our area. He has been going here. It's a relatively small (for our area anyway) hospital about 25 minutes from our home. It's really cool that when a baby is born at the hospital they play a few bars of Brahm's Lullaby over the PA system. That shows you how small it is cause it doesn't play very often....
The ice is melting though still cold and very rainy. Some slippery spots, but at least un like getting into the house last night; getting out was easy as it was going down hill.....I took advantage of being at hospital for most of the day today and relaxed by watching St. Peter on my lap top. A movie with Omar Shariff as St. Peter. The movie was very long--over 3 hours but Omar was wonderful!

FEBRUARY 12: CHINESE NEW YEAR

It's the beginning of the year of the rat! Today is the start of the Chinese new year. I'm not sure which year number it is. but the seem to focus more on what animal it is anyway and I do know it is the year of the rat.

Two weeks ago I attended a stamping group meeting at our LSS the Rubber Chicken and we made items to help celebrate the new year. I made two red gift folders. Red is the color of celebration. The lady who showed us how to make these said they are used very often to give gifts of money or other small flat items. We also stamped and made small Chinese carry out boxes. Then she gave us some chocolate Hershey's nuggets to carry out in them!

Oops I just discovered I am 5 days late. Though my earlier searching indicated the New Year began on Feb 12 now when searching for a link for information on the year I am finding out it was Feb 7. Did I mention a few posts back life has been wacky lately????? Enough said. Oh well here are some rat facts anyway...
Rat Years: 2008, 1996, 1984, 1971, 1960, 1948, 1936, 1924, 1912, 1900

You are imaginative, charming, and truly generous to the person you love. However, you have a tendency to be quick-tempered and overly critical. You are also inclined to be somewhat of an opportunist. Born under this sign, you should be happy in sales or as a writer, critic, or publicist. Some Rats: Charlotte Bronte, Truman Capote, Catherine I, Mata Hari, Wolfgang Mozart, William Shakespeare, George Washington.

Oh today was also the Presidential Primary in MD. I worked the polls, but it was also a night of Ice and so I choose to forget all of that......

FEBRUARY 11: SLEEP

Today began a series of treatments that are truly tiring out DH. This is becoming a favored spot and event that will continue through out the week. I wish I could do the same, but if I were to nap at 8pm I definitely would be writing more about insomnia after bed time!

I WAS WONDERERING WHEN....

I was wondering when my life events would catch up with me and I would fall seriously behind here. Well I now have my answer.....the week of Feb 11! This has been some week. I have continued to take pictures, but there just hasn't been time to upload and write. I have found that I really enjoy looking for a picture opportunity or creating a picture to represent each day. It casues me to slow down at least a bit and think of what is going on in my life or the lives of those around me each day. So when I fall behind I will take time to catch up.

I am trying to figure out how in the future I will handle periods of time (primarily vacations) where I will not have internet access for an extended time period. I think I have come up with a way, but time will tell when I reach one of those periods. For now I have 4 days to catch up on.....

FEBRUARY 10: IT'S PANCAKE SUNDAY!

I've been puzzling today over how to photograph wind....boy is it windy!!!!

Since I haven't come up with anything that works well you will have to settle for some wonderful tasty pancakes. The youth at our church hosted their annual pancake breakfast to raise money for their summer programs and trips.
YUMMY!!!!!!!!!!!

Thanks guys. Great job.

FEBRUARY 9: STAMPFEST

It's Stampfest Day! Here are some new friends working on their projects. If you would like to learn how to make one go to my companion BLOG Stampin' & Kwiltin'

I'm not sure who will plan future Stampfests since our leader is moving with her family to FL in another month. They are so much fun though I hope someone does.....

FEBRUARY 8: GETTING READY

There is a lot of work in getting ready for a stampfest. Not the least of which is coming up with an idea of what to teach the attendees to make. Once you have your idea a model or two must be made, that's the fun part. Then there is cutting and packaging all the kits. Due to the limited amount of time people have I usually do all the cutting and scoring. Finally all the tools needed must be gathered together and the part I like the least should be done....the writing of directions! In my picture for the 6th you can see the project we'll be making on the left and the packaged kits on the right. The tools are scattered around. What about the directions you ask???? Oops!!!! I forgot to do those.........

FEBRUARY 7: MY KIND OF EXERCISE

This picture is for those like me who neither enjoy nor seem to find time to exercise as they should. Thanks to a friend who shall remain nameless (actually has to remain nameless since she is my current Secret Sister whose identity is unknown to me) I now can get my daily exercise of "walking around the block" without even leaving the warmth of my home.

I may even begin walking around the block five or six times....well after I practice a bit. I would hate to fall on my face and break something due to being out of condition and getting dizzy!!!!!!!!!

FEBRUARY 6: HERE'S TO THE LADIES WHO LUNCH!

If you are familiar with Broadway musicals of the 70's you might recognize my title of today's picture. It's from Company a musical starring Elaine Stritch. There was a song titled The Ladies Who Lunch.

" I’d like to propose a toast
Here's to the ladies who lunch--
Everybody laugh.
Lounging in their caftans
And planning a brunch
On their own behalf.

Off to the gym,
Then to a fitting,
Claiming they're fat.
And looking grim,
'Cause they've been sitting
Choosing a hat.
Does anyone still wear a hat?
I'll drink to that. ..."

These are my ladies who lunch. We've been meeting for lunch once a month for too many years to count. We began this when our children, who were all the same ages (except my youngest and Thelma's oldest) began school all day. We had been in a Mom's Day Out Program at our church which we started and didn't want our friendship to end when the kids moved on to all day school. So lunches began.....Today was our day together and we went to a wonderful restaurant in Frederick called Firestones. A great time was had by all and it didn't even storm like it was supposed to.

FEBRUARY 5: WORLD NUTELLA DAY

I don't know if it is truly official or not but one of the foodie BLOGs I read mentioned that today is WORLD NUTELLA DAY. So in honor of this day I had Nutella on crusty multi-grain toast for breakfast. YMMMMM!

If you aren't familiar with Nutella and you like hazelnuts and chocolate you need to discover it! IT is a true taste treat. I think of it a Adult peanut butter with chocolate rather than jelly. You can discover all sorts of wonderful things about it here. But a warning. It can become just as addicting as peanut butter.

So in honor of World Nutella Day here is my picture of the day...I may even have a nutella sandwich for lunch.

FEBRUARY 4: QUILT GUILD SPEAKER

First Monday of the month means it's time for the monthly quilt guild meeting. This month we had a speaker from the Chicago area named Mickey Depre. She was very interesting, had lots of good tips for quilt making and showed a selection of wonderful quilts. Her quilts a very fun and brightly colored. Very nice for a dreary, rainy, gray sort of day!

FEBRUARY 3: SANDWICH SUNDAY

This is a scene we see on the first Sunday of every month at our church. It is affectionately called Sandwich Sunday. The first Sunday of every month we collect sandwiches to be taken to Washington DC to a program called McKenna's Wagon that is run by Martha's Table.

The Sunday School children also gather in Fellowship Hall after the Children's message and make sandwiches. These are the fixen's for that project. We usually fill 4 or 5 coolers full of sandwiches. They are taken downtown later in the afternoon by a team of church members led by my husband. This team then goes out in a van to deliver sandwiches, soup, a dessert and beverage to people living on the street.

FEBRUARY 2: I'M A REPAIRPERSON!!!!

Well that's not totally true....I'm a sewing machine cleaner would be more accurate. Today I finally got around to take a class to learn how to clean, oil and lubricate my 57 year old sewing machine....my baby...my featherweight. I was quite surprised when we took off the bottom plate and I discovered how little there was under there that made the machine run. Not sure what I expected but more than one gear mechanism and two rods! There were a lot of oily dust bunnies, but they are all gone now. I did discover the important thing to remember was you lubricate gears and oil joints. There are only two gears in the whole machine, but there are a zillion joints. I also discovered that it is important to have a sewing machine oil container that has a very fine and long needle type dispensing system; which of course mine doesn't!

Oh and if any one is interested I did not have any loose parts lying around after I put everything back together. That was my big fear!

FEBRUARY 1: A NEW MONTH BEGINS

......and it's a wet rainy one!

Most of the rest of the country is getting snow and lots of it!
It's even snowed in Arkansas and China has had an amount of snow that it hasn't seen in almost a century. We however get rain.

Welcome to winter in the Mid-Atlantic!