Caution: Vent Post

Good morning, my sleepy heads!

I snuck in the room to take this picture a few mornings ago. At the very moment Caleb heard the little beep of the camera, he turned and I caught his sleepy eyes in this photo. Awww!

In case you are wondering what on earth my children are doing, this has become a regular first-thing in the morning scene at our home. The kids both grab the books they are reading (Rachel was nearing the end of The Hidden Hand and Caleb is finishing up The Lord of the Rings) and head to the heater vents located on the floor in front of the big window. They usually sit on the vents, but this particular morning they both huddled over them. This very well might have been the morning it was -7 degrees outside!

It's been way too cold here for way too long.

Usually there's a chair and a half positioned in the center of the big window. When the Christmas tree was up, the vent on the left was opened up (there's usually an end table there) and Rachel claimed it as her own. After the tree came down, she asked if we could leave the big chair and end table where they were so the vents would remain open. Why not! I told her when spring arrives (please hurry!) and the heater vents aren't needed so much, we'll move the chair back.

It's funny how these little things can catapult you back in time. When I was a young girl, I can remember getting up in the morning, wearing my long flannel nightgown, and finding my way to the heater vent located in the floor of our kitchen (which was right in front of the sliding glass doors). The warm air would fill my nightgown into a big soft puff and I would stay all warm and cozy. At least until the heater turned off.

As a side note, I'm sure everyone is familiar with J.R.R. Tolkien's, The Lord of the Rings. But did you know The Hidden Hand, written by E.D.E.N. Southworth, is considered by some to be one of the greatest pieces of literature written in the 19th century? It was penned in 1859. I think Rachel would not hesitate to tell you that it is one of her all-time favorite books...ever. She could hardly put it down! Having read the last pages, tears rimmed her eyes when she came to me with the book closed. Even though the title of the book never appears within the text itself, the story leads the reader to understand fully how God's hidden hand was upon the life of a young girl named Capitola.

It's snowing here...again. And another winter weather advisory has been issued.

Did I mention that spring arrives in eight weeks. Eight weeks. Please, please hurry! Until then, you might find us (at least the kids) on the vents!

Hot Fudge Brownie Cake

The weather has turned so quickly around here. We noticed late last week that the beautifully colored leaves are gone. Gone. I must admit that it's just a little depressing. There won't be much else to lift our spirits except an occasional blue sky here and there. Actually, I went back and looked at my first couple of blog posts (last March) and, well, we had almost two feet of snow on the ground. And here we are again. We had our first snowflakes on Friday.

But God is great and life is good! While time seems to be moving quickly, I am encouraged to know that a warm spell is coming in tomorrow and is suppose to last through the end of the week. Blue skies and sunshine--yes! I am so hoping to get a fire in...even if it's in the middle of the afternoon. There's just something yummy about sitting at a crackling fire wearing toasty slippers and holding a big mug of hot mulled cider. Mmmmm mmmm!

Since we're talking about warm and cozy things, I thought you might enjoy this recipe. I discovered it almost two years ago in my all-time favorite magazine, Southern Living. With the exception of a recipe for baked oatmeal (oh, was it ever disgusting), I don't think I've ever made a recipe that turned out badly. When you see what you do to make this cake, you'll think there must be some kind of mistake. But, no! I can assure you it is fabulous and looks exactly like the picture. Oooey, gooey, yummy, chocolaty and delicious. You get the idea!

Enjoy!

Creative Genius

Let me explain before you go and call the FBI!

This is what happens when you live in an area where the sun doesn't shine for weeks on end, snow has been covering the ground for months, and the kids get tired of going outside and playing in the snow. I call it their creative genius.

Not too long ago I found a rope dangling from the second floor to the first floor. When I realized my son was attached to it, I asked him what he was doing. His response: "Rappelling!" Aw, too cute. It wasn't too funny, however, when I learned he had the other end anchored to the bottom of the upstairs toilet. He changed the anchor to the banister and all was well. He practiced rappelling for days.

On another day, both kids were dressed in their black Ninja outfits. Caleb has Rachel's neck in the crook of his elbow and he's dragging her, with great sound effects I might add, up the stairs. What were they doing, you ask? Why, Caleb was rescuing her, of course. When I realized she was a little red in the face, I told him he probably should try a different method than the choke hold otherwise his rescue efforts might end up differently.

Now on this particular day, I could tell something big was going on. Stuff was piling up on the counter and a lot of running around was happening. The next thing I knew, there was a "bomb" in my kitchen. Let me make this clear...they were not playing terrorists or bank robbers! I'm convinced this was all due to an old movie we had watched where the hero diffuses a bomb at the last moment and saves the day. I took this picture because the creativity it took to pull this together was, quite frankly, amazing to me!

Here's what was used:

• The silver case holds a card game
• The timer is used for our outdoor lights
• The little silver rectangle to the right is a calculator
• The shiny wire attached to the calculator is picture hanger wire
• The red and black wires belong to an electronics building kit
• Who knew we had so many D batteries
• There are some AA batteries in there too
• The cardboard was measured and carefully cut (I remember this took a couple of times)
• And the countdown going-on is just a piece of printer paper
• I think the digital clock is pretty cool!

I remember my husband telling us a story of when he was younger, he and his brothers would tie Clorox bleach bottles to their backs and wear big socks, barely pulled up, and hanging off their feet. What were they pretending to be? Scuba divers!

My childhood creativity probably amounted to a clothes line tied to two trees with a blanket thrown on top. A tent. Yep, that's about as good as it got. Although I do have a fond memory of pulling leaves off of trees, stacking them all together, and using them as play money. We rode our bikes around and around the house. At some point, we would stop on the patio, flip our bikes over, and fill the "gas tank" by cranking the back wheel as fast as we could. Whoever was the gas station attendant got the neatly stacked leaves. Then we'd just go pick more leaves and refill our pocket. Whoever said money doesn't grow on trees!

I'm so glad they love to play and pretend and be creative. Just think of the stories they'll have to tell their kids someday.

The weather has finally come around, so spring is in the air. Now the kids can come up with all sorts of creative ways to play as they move their genius outside!

About Today ...

All was quiet here until just a little while ago. Both kids were working on a writing assignment while I was making lunch. Then I hear a rather shallow scream followed by running feet. My daughter has just come to inform me that some "old" woman is walking up the center of our yard and she has fallen down. I frantically run to the door and open it to find a woman that's probably 10 years older than me (yes, that must be ancient to an 11 year old!) on her hands and knees, buried in the deep snow. And might I add, struggling to get up. She has on boots, but is only wearing a short-sleeved sweater. No gloves, no hat, and nothing else to indicate that it's 21 degrees outside with 2 feet of snow on the ground. I can tell she's embarrassed and I immediately apologize that our front walk isn't shoveled.

Now listen, no one uses our front walk. Ever.

Anyway, she tells me that she was unable to get over the huge mounds of snow surrounding both sides of the driveway. Oh, you mean those 5 and 6 foot mounds that we've been shoveling all winter because it won't quit snowing and it won't warm-up enough to melt? Those mounds of snow? Mmm hmm. The only way she could approach our house was straight through the center of the front yard. Do you even know how far back our house is from the street?! Did I mention we live on a hill?

She was huffing and puffing, trying to catch her breath. I felt just terrible. Who was this mystery woman? Why no other than a U.S. Census worker hand-delivering our 2010 Census forms. We don't get mail delivery here (only a post office box), so they must be hand-delivered. She thanked me for being home. I guess! After all that, I would hate to think she would have had to trek back down the yard only to attempt it again later. As I stood there listening to her explain what I need to do (after answering that I don't have anyone living in my basement), she kept looking back to where she had just hiked from. I could tell she was trying to figure out how she was going to get all the way back to the street. "Come on in!" I said. "Oh, but what about my boots and all this snow?" "Ah, that's OK. A little snow won't hurt anything." At that, she came in, thanked me, walked through the house, out through the garage, and down the perfectly cleared driveway.

Just think, yesterday I was wondering what to write about today.