When I was in our Kansas college, a mere 16 years ago, my California roommate taught me a phrase: Major Buuuuurr!   I miss Merv.  She's the best!  (That's not her real name, but I still call her Merv, though it's pronounced Murv.  I  could tell you were wondering.)

While this photo is not quite accurate (it was -25 *F last night), it does give a glimpse of the recent weather.

That said, I did just come in from my walk with my dog and felt that the +3*F temperature was rather balmy.  We had a lovely long snowshoe walk through the woods.  The snow is just perfect for it.  It's packed pretty stiff in the base, but has some nice fluffy snow on top to keep it soft.  We tried to get lost in the woods by meandering around, but as soon as I thought we'd succeeded, I recognized the low swamp area we had come to.  We followed it around to the previous path I had walked just a week before with my mom.  I came back feeling refreshed and reminded that snowshoes work best off the trail!

During this walk, I started pondering the suggestion that my husband made; that I start writing - for real.  I feel incredibly daunted by this possible task, even though I've had several people encourage me to do just this.  Writing on this blog is really just for me.  It's a place for me to get out thoughts that I have and no one really criticizes it.  At least not the writing part!  It is a safe place for me.  My Christmas letter this year brought many comments, though I can't really understand why.  I guess I pepper information with just enough humor to make it entertaining to read, because really, are update letters really that fun to read?   It was funny, though, to think about what I would or could write.  The only thing I really know a lot about is me.  I can't imagine people would want to read about that.   I also have no idea about format.  Articles, short stories, a novel?  No, not a novel - way too ambitious.  I suppose I could start with an article and see if anyone is interested.  Again, my question would be; about what?!  I guess I could just start and see what pops into my head.  That could be scary!  As often as I change jobs, it would probably be a prudent move to prepare for a possible future occupation!  Yes, I'm fond of alliteration.  It's a cheesy fault of mine!

In an effort to give this little brain of mine some exercise, I am going to try to make writing here a more frequent discipline.  I can tell you are all just holding your breath.  All 3 of you.  Thanks, Mom!  Seriously, I hope this will give me a push to see my world in a different light and find the fun and joy in it!  If nobody reads it, then it will simply be my online notepad!  With pictures.  I like to read things with pictures!

Valentines Day Dress-up

For this Valentines Day, I thought I would dress up a little for Pat to go to church and actually do my hair, makeup, and I even gussied it up and wore my Grandma B's earrings! I guess it's been a while, 'cause I got a LOT of comments! I think it was the earrings, because seriously, my regrowth is becoming horrific. Unfortunately, in our NEED LESS PROJECT, touch up highlights are not on the docket. I digress. Grandma B's FABULOUS earrings:


When we got home from church and redressed in our casual clothes, Pat asked me to help him out in the shop. I thought I would continue my gifting spirit and give him a hand. He asked me to be a guinea pig and test some welding rod that he'd like to use in his upcoming welding lessons.
Oh, you didn't know? Yes, he has had the vision of giving kids an introduction to welding. He is very motivated and excited for this venture and has been working to make up a type of itinerary. He's got one boy on the list to get started this week.
I went out and let him teach me how to weld. I've never stick-welded, so this was a new one for me.

As usual, he was a great teacher! He taught me to strike an arc, how to push the rod into the weld, and coached me to take my time and make sure I penetrated both pieces of metal with the weld. He makes it look easy, and it's a little tricky, but I began to get the feel for it and didn't do too bad!
I think this actually made the better dress-up gift!