Snow Day Waffles

On  snow day #2, The Girl left for babysitting and Mr. IM went to  work, so The Boy and I decided to make waffles.  Here's our new favorite recipe:
Mix:  1 1/2 C flour, 3 tsp baking powder, 1/2 tsp salt, 1/2 C sugar, 3T cocoa, handful of salted caramel chips
Add:  1C milk, 2 eggs, 4T melted butter
 "Frost" with topping:  1T softened butter, 3/4C powdered sugar, 1/2 tsp vanilla, 1tsp milk

Delicious!

Note...they were pretty sweet--I think I would include less sugar in the actual waffle mix and maybe use cream cheese instead of butter in the frosting--maybe that would help the over sweetness.  We'll have to wait for the next snow day to find out :)

A Snow Day menu and activities

One of the beautiful things about Colorado is that  it can be 75 degrees one day (yesterday) and blizzard conditions the next (today).  Since we're all home, I figured I could cook.  Mr. IM even opted to stay home--it isn't very nice out there.

Although the response of The Girl was "more soup?"  (We had soup from the freezer last night), it smells tasty enough that I think she'll eat it.

This is a combination of the broth left from the corned beef, a bag of Women's Bean Project soup, a bag of frozen mixed veggies, and the lone tomato that was sitting on my counter.

I'm multi-tasking and also making a couple pans of Chicken and Rice Cassarole, hoping that we have a couple more cool-ish days and can use the oven if I freeze one for later.

For an added bonus, I just popped a couple loaves of whole wheat Oatmeal break into the oven...I may just eat that myself...

Meanwhile, Morrison's status has been upgraded from "forced invalid" to "take it easy", since it has been 19 days since her spay and elective gastropexy surgery.  She was allowed to go outside by herself (no leash) and (gently) play in the snow for a few minutes this morning (while Liberty watched sadly from the window).  Now she is enjoying her morning nap while I cook.

The Girl is allegedly cleaning her room and The Boy is doing something...hmm.. Mr. IM is trying to convince the media computer to cooperate so we can stream a movie on the big tv...snow days are exciting!

Books I read in February 2016

I'm writing this on February, so I suppose there is a small chance that I'll have to come back and add one more book, but its not looking super likely (I mean, its been a month of Downton Abbey, Agent Carter, the X-Files, and my new favorite.....Castles of Scotland!)  Here you go...
1.  Outlander by Diana Gabalton--Yes, again.  That's all I have to say about that.
2.  House of Odd by Dean Koonz--This, and #3 are more of the graphic novels that  fill in the series, quick reads, kind of fun.
3.  In Odd We Trust by Dean Koonz
4.  The Mark of Athena by Rick Riordan (CD in car)--We're taking a break from Harry Potter and listening to Percy Jackson for a while.  We're finishing up book 4 and have book 5 on hold...then we either need a new series or we'll return to harry...
5. My Grandfather Would Have Shot Me by Jennifer Teege-I saw this while sitting in the Breckenridge library and was intrigued.  It was interesting, I've read lots of books by Holocaust survivors and their descendants, this was the first I remember about a Nazi descendant.  I can't say it was the best written book I've ever seen, but it wasn't the worst either.  There was a lot of first person narrative and a narrator that inserted other information that kind of interrupted the flow. It was good, but nothing earth shattering, I guess.

So there you go...now I can go read!

What I read in January 2016

So I'm more than a little behind on blogging (if being behind on something voluntary is possible), but here is my January reading post, posted in March...eesh.

1.  Water from My Heart by Charles Martin--this one may make my top 10 of 2016--I know it is early to be thinking about that, but as always, Charles Martin didn't disappoint.  I might pick it up and read it again.  There is, as always, a love story, a crisis, a twist...it was a good, good, book.  I highly recommend it!
2.  Along the Way by Martin Sheen and Emilio Estevez--This one might also make the top 10--I know I might be getting ahead of myself, picking so many in January.  I've read a lot of "celebrity" autobiographies and often they are hard to follow.  This one was good--Martin and Emilio told the story of Martin's life so far, with insight from Emilio as Martin's son.  They discussed family, faith, mistakes, forgiveness. It was a good read as well.
3.  Thirteen of the Worst Break Ups in History by Jennifer Wright--picked it up at the library off their featured books table.  It was entertaining, some good history tidbits.  Probably about half of the stories were "just ok", a  couple were really sad/compelling and a couple really entertaining (in a sad way?).
4.  Captive by Aimee Carter-I really wanted this to be better--this is the 2nd book of the Blackcoat series.  It was good, but not my favorite ever. Worth the read to find out what happened,
5.  The Lifeboat by Charlotte Rogan--Interesting idea.  Picks up in the middle of a story, with the main character telling about the aftermath of a shipwreck.  It was a good book, worth the read, probably not a top ten-er.
6. Ready Player One by Ernest Cline--I liked this a lot more than I thought I would.  It is another dystopian society book, set about 40 years from now.  Has tons of 80's pop culture and video game references.  It was a fun book, although the irony of calling a dystopian book "fun" is not lost on me...
7.  Queen by Aimee Carter--and (see #4) the final book....same review :)
8.  Superior Secrets by Tom Hilpert-- I re-read this book to get ready for the new one (see #10)--Tom Hilpert's books are very entertaining...this one could make my top 10--unless he publishes a better one before the end of the year.  There is a mystery solving Lutheran Pastor in a small town in Northern Wisconsin...can you get more entertaining than that?  Kind of like Garrison Keiller meets Murder She Wrote....
9.  Odd is on Our Side by Dean Koonz and Fred Van Lente--This is a graphic novel, but if you enjoyed the "Odd Thomas" books by Dean Koonz, this is a good short read.  I had ignored the graphic novels for years, but started reading this while waiting for The Boy in the graphic novel section of the library.  It is a "fill in", covers part of the story not told in the regular novels--I enjoyed it, despite it being essentially a comic book for grown ups..
10.Six Months Later by Natalie Richards The Girl saw this book at school and we had the local library order it.  She hasn't read it yet, but now the library owns it, so she can read it later. It was good--I enjoyed it.  It was about a girl who falls asleep in study hall and "loses" six months. Good mystery, interesting idea/story.
11.  The Nightingale by Kristin Hannah--People kept telling me I should read this and I'm glad I did.  It is flips between "now" and World War 2, and for most of the book it isn't clear who is in the "now".  It was good, sad, as many war books are...
12.  The Guest Room by Chris Bohjalian As with many Chris Bohjalian books, the title has multiple meanings.  This book is about choices and consequences and about modern day slavery.  The story felt a little contrived (as did #13) as the author tried to fit the story to an issue.  It was good, I like how Chris Bohjalian develops characters, so it was worth the read.
13.  Superior Getaway by Tom Hilpert   So I still liked the story, and Hilpert is still one of my favorite authors...but this story tried too hard to connect to the "hot" story of modern day slavery.  I agree it is an issue that needs to be addressed, but in a novel about a small town minister it didn't flow as well as it might have in other plots.