Spring is definitely here!!

How can I tell, you ask? Did I have a sighting of the elusive robin? Or perhaps a brave crocus was struggling to lift its head above the frozen soil? No, dear blog readers, it was nothing of the sort.

I was at a local drugstore and spotted the first true sign of spring. It was.......Cadbury Eggs! They only come out at Easter (a fact that my hips appreciate!) and are the first true sign of spring. I think that they are my most favoritist candy in the world. (My grammar has been overcome by my excitement regarding these fabulous chocolate eggs). There is just something borderline addictive about them. Maybe it's the milk chocolate shell or the gooey inside. And I only like the original ones. Cadbury came out with caramel eggs a few years ago, but I only like the "true" Cadbury Eggs. I know that some people (i.e. Matt) find them gross and too sweet. Well, that is fine with me as long as they give me their Cadbury Eggs!!! Well, since I had to buy important things at the drugstore like posterboard and contact solution, I also purchased an egg, completely ignoring the fact that I had just spent 45 minutes on the treadmill at the gym. I figure that one egg is probably equal to 45 minutes walking on the treadmill so I broke even. The egg didn't make it home. It was consumed before I even reached the last stoplight in the county. Yummmmmmmm.
Unfortunately, all this talk about Cadbury Eggs makes me want to buy more. Maybe I need more contact solution and posterboard..........

Sign #458 that we live in a small town:
Matt was in our driveway after work on Wednesday when the police drove by. And circled around, which is enough to make even the most law-abiding citizen a tad bit nervous. The police chief of our town (we only have two police officers and I think they take turns being "chief") told Matt that he ( the popo, E-town 5-0, or whatever you want to call them) had been told to enforce the clean sidewalk law in town and we needed to clean our sidewalks. Now, I had shoveled the sidewalk clean after the last major snow but it had drifted over in a couple of spots, which made us in violation of the "clean sidewalk act of 1927." Please also keep in mind that we are having the snowiest winter in 50 years with a record-breaking 70+ inches of snow. What I find the most ironic in this whole story is that the only crime the police had to fight at that moment was our snowy sidewalk. There were no dead bodies or burglarized homes to investigate, car accidents to report, or even a run-away dog that needed to be found. Oh, no, we were the major law breakers in our area with our drifted over sidewalk.

But you can relax, we're not going to end up the pokey for our unshoveled sidewalk. Or even on the "Group W" bench. I shoveled the sidewalk when I got home. All the way to our neighbor's property line. Who, by the way, haven't shoveled their walk either!!!!!

Friends

Last night Matt and I visited one of our friends who has been in, as she put it, a "happy depression." She's just been in a funk recently and we thought we'd visit her for a while and maybe cheer her up a bit. We took over some baked goods and canned goods but she beat us in the yummy treats department. Rina, our friend, is a 70 year old Italian lady and she loves to entertain and cook. When we got there we talked for a little bit and then she looked at me and said, "Coffee or chocolate milk?" Well, that's a tough decision but I went for the chocolate milk, which turned out to be the best hot chocolate I've ever had. Rina doesn't simply heat water, or if I'm spurgling, milk, in the microwave, oh no. She got out a pan, poured in milk, and let it heat. She did use a hot chocolate mix but it was darn good. And to round it out, since she's Italian, she got out the Nutella and told us to put some in our hot chocolate. Which we did, since we do what Rina says! Oh, it was good. She also had made something called bumblinoni (not spelled correctly) which were a fried dough flavored with lemon. Very good. And perfect for a chilly evening.

Visiting Rina sometimes reminds me of visiting my grandma. No matter what time you visit, you will eat. Don't fight it because it will happen. We went over after 7 and we still had to have something while we were there. And she sent us home with food, homemade biscotti, yumm. Rina and her husband used to own a bakery and she says that his baked goods were always better than hers, but I find that hard to believe since her's are delicious (he passed away a few years ago).

I hope our visit helped. Rina is one of those people who is just always cherry and full of life. To see her upset is probably more upsetting to me. She's a sweet lady.

Did I mention that 1. She lived in Italy during the reign of Mussolini and 2. she grew up with Pavarotti? And now she lives about a mile from us? Wierd!

Jenny's Meme

My band: The Regar District

(It's in Tajikistan. Yeah, I didn't know that either.)

First album: Lived One's Life Properly

Cover

So I'm guessing that I'm some sort of Euro-pop band? Cool!

On a different note, I've had some thoughts on winter. I read somewhere that Midwesterners show the greatest amount of hope compared to any other region in the US because we know that regardless of how long the winter is, spring will come. There is no doubt about that. I think it's not just Midwesterners but anyone who experiences drastic changes in weather. We all know that spring will come. It's just waiting for the right time.

True for many aspects of life, just waiting for the right time.

For example, Matt and I would love to have a dog. But we're concerned about how our two cats would react. Matt suggested last night that we get a small herding dog who could herd the cats around. And while the thought did make me laugh and think about "herding cats," I'm afraid it wouldn't work. Oh well, eventually we'll get Scraps and Louie (our dogs, Scraps is a little fellow and Louie is a big silly dog) Yes, we've already named our nonexistent dogs! We need hobbies!!!!

The end is here.

Our total count: 15 inches in less than 12 hours. That's a lot of snow.
And it's beautiful!!! It's a heavy, wet snow and is sticking to all of the trees. It looks a little like a Currier and Ives print. I'll try to get some pictures this weekend, when we are supposed to get 2-4 more inches. Yay.....

Don't get me wrong, I love the snow. But I need more time inbetween snows to clean up. It still takes me about 3 tries to get out of our driveway because of the snow.

On a side topic: I thoroughly enjoyed my snow day but I think we need to start a sunny day. Here's my thought: we get out of school, work, whatever when the weather is bad. We should also get out of school, work, whatever when the weather is gorgeous. We should close businesses when it is 80 and sunny outside and not only when it's -13 and snowing outside!!! Let's have snow days AND beautiful sunny days!!!!!!!!

Who's with me?????????

Still more snow

12 inches and counting. It's 2 p.m. here and the snow is going to stop soon.

I hope.

Matt came home for lunch and got stuck in our driveway. Our neighbor and I had to push him out. It's still snowing and blowing. I have never seen so much snow falling all at once. Maybe over a couple of snowfalls but never this much at once.

It's amazing!!!!!!!!

Let it snow, let it snow, let it, well, you get the point

Forecast for today: 8-12 inches of snow. WOW!!!! That's a lot of snow! Everything is closed (except Matt's bank, poor guy)!!! Schools, history museums, governmental offices, and colleges in a nearby town. I think that in attending various colleges for about 6 years, I never had the college close because of weather. Of course, we never got this much snow in one day either!

So I have snow day and I 'm enjoying it by slowing drinking my second cup of coffee, watching Price is Right (just not the same without Bob) and randomly staring out the window, just waiting until I can shovel the snow.

There's a road in there. Actually a major highway in our county (honestly, THE major highway in our county) If you don't see it, don't worry, I don't either and I even know where it is.

Bird feeder. The poor birds are just so hungry but they keep getting blown off of the bird feeder.

Roads are closed, towns are in snow emergencies, etc... You get the picture.

Last Tuesday we were supposed to have an all county historical society meeting, which was cancelled due to the blizzard warning that we were under. We re-scheduled for today. Yesterday, we canceled it again and rescheduled for April, when hopefully, it will have stopped snowing.

Ahh, winter, how I enjoy thee.

Mer's gardening tips for today: Don't plant in a snowstorm. Also, if you have an apartment on a major street in a small town, don't use a glow light to start plants in front of a window in your kitchen. At night it casts a purplish glow out the windows and it looks like you're growing something other than tomatoes and squash.... (voice of experience)

Ode to the Giants and Jane Austen

Or, How two TVs saved the Lee's marriage

Oh for a Sunday night
to relax and prepare for the week
Superbowl between two
and Masterpiece Theater with Jane
Which shall we watch?
I say Superbowl, you say Jane Austen
Which to be????
You stay here, I'll go up there
And watch my Jane Austen in peace
While listening to you and your father cheer
As the Giants beat the Pats
And Jane flirts with men
Hmmm, wonder if Tom Brady ever read any Austen???

As you can tell, we had a slight problem in our house last night. Matt wanted to watch the game and I wanted to watch the next installment of Masterpiece Theater. They're showing all of their Jane Austen works: next week, Pride and Prejudice with Colin Firth. Yay!
Anyhow, we worked it out and inbetween witty barbs in sitting rooms holding cups of tea, I heard "Go, go, go! Yes!!!!" and thought that the Giants must be doing something right!!!

In response to Boy's (my brother, just in case you were curious) question regarding gardening, I try to share some tips:

~Plant only what grows in your zone. If you're not certain of your zone, look at a seed catalog. Here we are zone 4/5 depending on the catalog and where the line is drawn.
~I love heirloom plants, particularly tomatoes, but our growing season is about 2-3 weeks shorter than central Indiana and unfortunately, that is just enough that the tomatoes don't have enough time to fully ripen. Pay attention to your first and last frost. I know that they can be at odd times when you live in the Midwest but they still dictate your growing season
~Compost, compost, compost. Mother Nature gave us all the things we need to grown plants and veggies. Stay away from chemicals if possible. Granted, there are times that you need them, but for the most part, you don't. Find out what your plants like and use it. My tomatoes love my coffee grounds and egg shells. And since I drink coffee every day and use eggs probably at least once a week, we have them on hand. AND they don't smell like other compost. They both just dry out. Crumble them up and mix them into your soil during planting. If you start to see spots on the bottoms of your tomatoes (blossom end rot) add more eggs. Your tomatoes need more calcium.

Any other thoughts on gardening??


Well, now, I'm ready for spring. Which is good since it's going to rain/snow here all day today and tomorrow.......