Wintry Fun

 This morning,*

Everything was iced over.  Solid ice.

Then came sleety snow, which I took a video of to share with you, so that you could have a full audio experience.  The video won't load.  Lots of you may be hearing the same sounds, so it might have been a bit redundant, I suppose.

One thing I can report, though.  The ice is making it very hard (okay, impossible) for Tap to get a steady footing to relieve himself.  🤭  Turns out, keeping a straight face isn't the hardest part of being a parent to a human child only.  It's also the hardest part of being a pet parent.  

There's scarcely a better day for me than bundled in a sweatshirt, watching football, drinking Dr Pepper and looking out the window at snow.  

*Those are actually rain boots, and have the best sole treads of anything I own.  Safety AND style.

Ice Storm Watch

The ice storm warning went into effect here at 1 PM.  All morning, traffic on the road outside was quite brisk, but it has slowed to a trickle since 1.  Nothing is falling yet, so...  Yeah.

I did order a couple of pizzas, which should tide me over until --- Monday?  Honestly, every time I've looked at a forecast it is different from the one I looked at before.  I do have therapy (re)scheduled for Monday, but other than that, I don't have anywhere to be, so as long as my power doesn't shut down, I'm all good.

How are others of you in the grip of the storm?

Look Not Here

 Looking at some news coverage of fevered grocery shopping around the South, I am especially intrigued with empty bread shelves.

No Keto for us, thankyouverymuch.

There's whole wheat right there!  No white, you understand, unless you get creative and slide down the aisle a bit.  Poor hot dog buns.  This is not an isolated store, either.  In so many of the pictures, shelves are empty, empty, empty until you slam right into hot dog and hamburger buns.  There is surely a bun-wide inferiority complex bubbling up right now.

Speaking of:

What Chef Boyardee delicacy got swept off the shelves while spaghetti and meatballs are left to wait?  Not to mention the short shrift given to Beanie Weenies...  And what is a "plink?"

Food Stuffs

 There is ice and/or snow forecast for the weekend here, so people are, you know

Bread, eggs, milk...  GO!

I've been sort of craving banana yogurt lately.  It is hard to find here.  Not banana creme/cream, not strawberry banana.  Only banana.  Publix is the only store that has it, so, hello Instacart.  (I needed other things, too;  don't judge.  Salad kits.  I have a thing for salad kits.)  I was introduced to banana yogurt in high school, and want to thank Tammy.  Wherever she is.

I baked some cornbread today.  I tried a loaf over the weekend, but it wasn't very cornbread-y.  It was good, but not what I was aiming for.  This looks more promising:

As a Southerner, cornbread is supposed to be manna to me, but I never liked it.  Until, that is, "sweet" cornbread became a thing.  Even then, my desire to have some doesn't come around very often.  When the first loaf didn't work, I was determined not to be defeated.  To fellow Southerners, I do know that cornbread is "only supposed" to be baked in a cast iron skillet.  Forgive my bread machine transgression.

Little Things

Bath Night for Tap.  He is so mad about it that he's growling in his sleep.  All stretched out beside me, sound asleep, growing.  I'd take a video, but if I stir, he snaps to and growls "for real."

Not much else here.  I was supposed to have therapy this afternoon, but woke up feeling miserable.  Sore throat, fever, headache (which may be from the headache.)  How am I getting sick when I never go anywhere to catch other people's germs?

I see an amoeba and a paramecium, but where's the euglena?  In Biology, those were the three microorganisms we always looked at under a microscope.  I guess they came as a package deal or something.

I do see a sperm cell included here.  Now, I requested graphics of "germs."  There's someone out there who seems to feel that sperm=germs.

Hmmm.

More Word Stuff

Do you know what a portcullis is?  (Twinnie probably aces this pop quiz...)  The first word I thought of when I saw these boots was "portcullis."

They may look more like a shield or a suit of armor, but I will always think of them as the Portcullis Boots.

Along the topic of shields and swords and such:

Joan of Arc(h) boots --- are you kidding me??  These are definitely skirt boots.

What Happens

I like words.  There's a Pinterest board of mine called "Words Matter."  Because they do.  They can heal.  They can wound.  They can entertain. There are so many of them!!  They can show wit and intelligence.  They can show stupidity and heartlessness.  And you can play with them:

Whoever is naming boots at Rocket Buster deserves a substantial raise for that alone.

Usually after Christmas I rearrange furniture, because things have been shuffled around for trees and decorations.  Nothing had to get moved for my pop-up tree, but I have been shifting things in the dining room (a/k/a The Cats' Room.)  Yesterday, I wrenched my back pushing/lifting a deacon's bench.  It bothered me all night, especially turning over and back in bed.  The spot is right in the small of my back, and has been twingy all day, but not as bad as I had thought it might be.

Tasting Experiment

 I think I've posted here about leaving snacks for package delivery and mail people.  The latest variety box of chips I bought had this in it:

I'm really not a pickle person, save for pickled okra and pickled beets.  I was curious about these, though. They don't taste much like dills to me, more like salt and vinegar.  They're no sour cream and onion, I'll tell you that right now.

Yes, I Know I Spelled It "Gray" and "Grey"

The other day I posted part of this picture.  I didn't know William was part of The Lean.

It makes Charlotte's refusal to participate in The Lean that much funnier.

Gray day here.  I'm unbothered.  It has looked a little like a snow sky.

This doesn't quite capture the true color.  The word  "snow" has been bandied around, and people are FREE-king out.  Me, I welcome the cold and the grey and even the slimmest glimmer of hope that it might snow.

Tried knitting last night.  I got 31 stitches (of 86 in the row) done and had to quit.  It's pretty clear knitting may very well be behind me.  That's such a shame, especially since the tempting new Knit Picks catalog arrived yesterday.  The format and layout are different, and it's just attention-grabbing and fun to look through.  Have you gotten your copy yet?

Go On, Hum Their March. I Know You Know It.

I.  Love.  This. 

LOVE.

I'm such a sucker for baby animals.  Also, over the last many years I've developed an intense admiration for elephants.  Besides, 

how do you not fall for an animal whose life starts like this?

Two In One

This photo perfectly captures how 1) I would like to be an astronaut and 2) I would never be able to be an astronaut.

Sweets

 

This is really, really good, especially warmed.  I don't see or taste any similarity to chess pie, but Dolly's mama might have made it different than my mama did.  Good chess pie is hard to beat.

I made this little honey pound cake this afternoon

The bread machine was set to "light" crust, but somehow has a mind of its own.  I haven't tasted it yet;  I had pie, after all.  It smells good, though. Not baking bread good, but good.

Catching Strays

 Why is the kitchen always the clutteriest room?

How did four of us ever live in this house?  It seems impossible that there were dinners and Christmases and birthday parties and overnight visitors in the space I look around now.

You have frozen pizzas.  Good frozen pizzas, no less.  Why do you wrestle with the urge to order Domino's?

Humans should be able to shake out like animals do.  That's a design flaw, if you ask me.

There are few things better in a crafter's life than a brand new pair of scissors.

I have developed an intense lack of patience with the word "countless."

Kind of along those lines, how can we be truly, truly be sure no two snowflakes are the same?  Around the entire planet?

Along those lines

"Galaxy Buckaroo" for a cool $1200.