We had another nice winter blast this weekend – it’s been bitterly cold and windy since Friday, and it snowed constantly until Sunday night. I’m not sure how much we ended up with because the wind just blew it around, but it was probably somewhere in the neighborhood of six inches. Not even what I’d consider a major snow event around here, but more than we’ve had for most of this winter. Still can’t complain though, with as mild as it’s been. That being said, I’m still ready for spring.
In addition to the weather, C came down with the sniffles the other day, so he’s been a little stuffy. He’s usually pretty healthy, but he was with a bunch of other kids on Thursday, and I guess when you put a bunch of dirty little creatures in a room together, something’s gotta give. I suppose if we try to spin it in a positive way, it helps his immune system get stronger.
Of course, you couldn’t tell that he’s feeling any different – he’s his usual wild self, just with a runny nose. He hasn’t quite gotten the concept of blowing his nose, so we still just have to wipe for now. When do they figure out how to blow through their nose?
Today is the full moon. When C woke up shortly after 5 this morning (maybe the full moon is why he’s sleeping so poorly lately?), it looked outside like the sun was already coming up. The moon was so bright above, and there’s still enough snow on the ground to reflect the light back up that it was very bright for this time of night. Of course, the fact that there was also almost no cloud cover contributed to the seemingly bright sky. My eyes have successfully adjusted to the dull grayness and low levels of light that are typical of Ohio winters, so any time the sun or moon come out, it’s a shock to the optic nerves. The moon was big and orange on the horizon when I left for work, and I took a few pictures. They’re still on the camera though.
Although it’s probably still a little early, I officially started skimming through some of the seed catalogs yesterday. Nothing serious yet, just looking for ideas. And as usual, I have no idea how I’m going to narrow my choices down. I’m looking to add several new things, in addition to expanding some that I grew last year. So far, I have budgeted for adding four new beds, given my current setup, so I’ll have to figure out what will fit where and how much I can do of each.
I guess this is a double-edged sword. The anticipation is a good antidote for the long Ohio winter, but if you get too excited, too soon (it’s still only the beginning of January; we still have months of winter left), you just may drive your house mates crazy.
On the other hand, maybe it’s not too early. Some seeds I could be starting inside in the next month or so, and given the time required to make the actual decisions, then the order lead times… Yep, now is the perfect time to start planning for this year. I’m sure S can’t wait to hear all about my grand plans… right, honey?
Well, we’re just over 10 days from Christmas. Hope everyone’s just enjoying the season and not getting too stressed out (mother). Here in Ohio, we still haven’t had much snow – a few little dustings, but nothing that’s really lasted. This past weekend was our first true cold stretch of the season, where the frost and snow stuck around for a few days, and didn’t melt when the sun came up. On a happy note, the days start to get longer next week!
We took another random trip down to Tower City over the weekend. Kinda bummed, they didn’t have all the decorations up that they usually do. C still enjoyed the Christmas tree and giant toy soldiers, but the flying things would’ve been neat too. In any case, we had a good time walking around, he got to ogle all the “pretties” (lights), and we had some hot chocolate and a latte at a little local coffee shop. And I didn’t wear gloves, so my hands got cold. Good winter fun.
S and I are hosting a bunch of friends this Saturday, which means a lot of cleaning and trying to finish projects that should have been done a long time ago. I did get all the shoe molding cut and installed in the kitchen; it looks nice, and now there are no more gaps between the floor and the baseboard where we can lose crumbs. Regarding the cleaning, I’m going to wait until the last possible minute, because if we had done it already, we literally would have had to clean it six more times between now and Saturday. If you think I’m joking, I’ll let you rent the child for a day… The good thing about this is that it gives us an excuse to pick up around here and get some more projects knocked out that otherwise would have remained idle.
On an unrelated note, anybody ever seen the Syfy movie Yeti? They’re having marathons of winter-related movies (think Abominable, Ice Spiders [another good one], and Snowmageddon), and I caught some of Yeti on Saturday. I’m a sucker for overly cheesy sci-fi flicks (it all started with Alligator when I was but a wee young boy), but only in small doses. I couldn’t handle a marathon. Anyway, Yeti ranks up there as an all-time classic (although, they kind of all do if done right). It’s a newer movie (2006 or ’08?), but has terrible special effects, terrible acting, terrible costuming, ridiculous plot… and by terrible, I mean awesome. Go check it out if you have a few minutes. You may not be able to handle the entire thing in one sitting though. Just a heads up.
Winterfest is the lighting ceremony they do each year on Public Square in Cleveland. We’ve never been before, but we have a little kid that likes bright lights, and the weather was nice, so we headed on down Saturday afternoon. They had carriage rides (that were supposed to go until 5, but stopped at 4:30, so we didn’t get to go), a couple large screens showing Christmas-themed entertainment (Rudolph was on when we walked by), and Santa, who was bunkered down inside the Soldiers’ and Sailors’ Monument. There were also a bunch of food trucks lined up, so we were able to grab a couple bites to eat.
C cooperated fairly well, at least while we were pushing him around in the stroller. When they got closer to the actual lighting event, I took him out so we could see better, at which point he got pretty squirmy and wanted to be put down, which was obviously not going to happen in a crowd of several thousand people, which obviously made him even more squirmy. I think he had a good time though – he liked the lights (for a little while at least), and the fireworks engrossed him, but unfortunately, didn’t last long enough to keep him very still. I don’t like crowds much, but he had fun, so I suppose it was worth the trip 🙂
