I downloaded a few photos tonight and realized that today....the 25th....is the first day that I have taken any photos in February. That has to be a first in many, many years. It has been cold and I have not been in much of a mood to go out and take pictures because of it. Today though...is a BIG day. (These pictures were taken in such horrible light, I wish that pretty hair could stay until tomorrow. Plus I was lucky to get 5 seconds of her standing still before she was ready to go!)

Snowball dance! Megan has been talking about this since last year, when we moved here and she was still new to the school. We didn't really know about it and she didn't go. So a year later, this is all she could talk about since the date was set.

A good friend of mine from Kohl's is also going to cosmetology school. She is one of the sweetest girls ever. I asked her if she'd mind doing megan's hair for the dance since I am so hair challenged. Let's face it, if I were to do her hair, it would be in a ponytail, or ironed flat. Jessica made her look like a princess. She brought a bag full of all sorts of professional goodies to our house.

Pretty much the second she was done getting dressed, she was so excited to be dropped off at the dance. I think she was one of the first few there. She's meeting a group of her friends and then afterwards is going to a restaurant in town with a few of them and parents. (I don't know if I was invited....lol....I figured I'd let her have her night.)

It seems like so long ago since we were shopping for this dress. It was actually when my mom was here visiting. Megan was so excited, and has had it hanging on the back of her door since then. Every now and then she'd try it on, or she'd just stare at it. I think she looks beautiful. :)

The dance is appropriately named, since this morning we had more snow. Ugh. Last week was beautiful and in the 60s. Sunny and perfect outdoor weather. I had all these great plans to go for walks and start running again as soon as Mike got home. This week we have returned to cold temps, rain and snow. Luckily, I had bought a pretty jacket/shrug thingie that she can wear over this dress so she doesn't freeze.

What we're watching......

TV shows come and go. Some define the moments in our lives. This week is a TV week!

A current favorite that we can't miss is Police Women of Cincinnati. Those girls are tough. Plus it's cool to see the overhead shots of the city. OK, but really.....you can't judge an entire city on these shows. Cincinnati is not as horrible as you'd think simply by watching. Much like last year when they did Policewomen of Maricopa County. What they show isn't the Phoenix that I know.

- But I LOVE the architecture of Cincinnati. Sadly, so much of the old buildings are in the worst areas. The kids make fun of me because when they show some of these run down buildings these women are chasing some drug dealer into, I always say, "Oh look at how beautiful that building is!" You can see all the old moulding, the details in ironwork, the lead glass and pretty tiles from back when they were probably mansions, now divided into several apartments and multi meth head units. Sometimes you just have to overlook the crack pipes and prostitutes and appreciate the history. lol.

I should mention how the other night I was going to set the new season of Survivor on season pass on the DVR.

When I was scrolling on the guide, I noticed that Blue's Clues was on Nick. I don't know what made me do it, but I hit select and it popped on. I wanted a peek at what used to consume so much time in our lives years ago. I haven't' seen Blue or Steve in ages! Matthew and Trevor heard it and came out from where they were playing......like moths to a flame. They sat on the couch next to me and we watched the last 15 minutes together.

I told both of them how much they used to love this show. (Even though of course now they are too cool, and were mocking how simple Blue's Clues really is.) I told them stories about how during this time in their lives we had several Handy Dandy Notebooks, striped shirts because they looked like Steve's, and how many late nights we'd watch a Blue's Clues video because when we were up sick with asthma, a 20 minute episode is about how long a breathing treatment took. We'd sit there at 2 in the morning.....with a tube in a mouth and that loud machine buzzing away.

It was fun to go back in time a little bit.

For the past ten years, twice a year, our lives revolved around SURVIVOR. Once again, welcome back Jeff. You are like family.

THEN........



Phil from the Amazing Race, he's back too.

Not only is Survivor starting a new season, but the BEST is when both Survivor AND The Amazing Race are on at the same time!! (Can you feel my excitement!?!?!) I love it when their seasons overlap and twice in a week we have 'our shows.' The shows where we all look forward to some serious couch time. We take our competition and favorite teams on these as seriously as some people take football.

It is Friday, which also means that it is SOUP night. Another weekly television tradition. :)

warm winter food

Image taken from web...from the recipe I made. I really need to charge my camera battery.

Trust me....this does not happen often. I have been in the mood to cook. Mike made a big batch of chili and some chicken tortilla soup before he left, and I froze it in single portions so that I could easily heat up a bowl when I wanted to warm up and eat something yummy.

All of that is long gone. I always felt so good sitting down and heating up a quick lunch and sitting down on the couch and watching something on tv. A chance to relax and think about Mike, and me eating something he left for me. Makes for a warm tummy and heart. :)

Earlier this week I took the kids to the library to pick up a book that Trevor had on hold. I picked up a couple of issues of Cooking Light (a magazine I always liked, but did a lot of reading through when I was in the hospital last year.) There was one issue that I was reading and didn't get a chance to write anything down from it. It was one that I checked out at the library.

I leave the magazine in my car for when I am waiting for Megan and Trevor to get out of school. I will sit there and flip through it, and read what sounds good. Usually I mark these pages and show them to Mike and tell him "this sounds good." Then he'll make it. (I'm spoiled, I know.) But right now, believe it or not, I have been in the mood to cook. Big batches of stuff.

I was already quite proud of myself this past week after making chicken in a crock pot. We had some for dinner, then i used the left overs to shred and make street tacos with. I loved how easy it was to warm up a corn tortilla and put in some already cooked chicken. Then I'd cut up a bit of avocado, some cilantro, onion, lemon and hot sauce. Yum.

I still had some chicken left over and actually found in my pantry most of the things needed to make posole. It clicked. For a brief moment I felt INSPIRED. I can do this. I had a recipe in one of the Cooking Light issues that I had dogeared too.

It smells pretty good if I do say so myself. I realize this isn't a fancy recipe, but it's baby steps for me because I actually enjoyed making it. I can cook, I just don't enjoy it. - I am making a big pot to eat over the weekend, and maybe into next week....when even MORE snow is coming.

I'm about done with snow. It's not cute anymore. At least until next year when I'll be happy to see it come around again.

Sitting out the storm today. Really there isn't much going on outside other than it is cold, and this morning very windy. Yesterday our driveway was covered in ice, but the road to school was fine. My house is clean, kids are in school and I am off today, so I figured I would do a little scrapping.

I'm sitting here with a space heater aimed at my feet (and sharing with Piper, who is in her usual spot underneath the desk) and a hot McDonalds coffee. Which I found out because of a leftover Dove Bliss chocolate heart, that if you leave that in your mouth while you take a sip of coffee... tastes like pure heaven.

I also just realized that today is an 'anniversary' of sorts. We have been in this house for a year. It has been a long year. lol. But the good thing is, that means one year is behind me and things are changing.....I'm looking forward to seeing where I am at one year from today!