Spring Break 2017--Whoo Hooo!!!

Friday:
Spring break started a little early this year--with a Snow Day! Apparently, the snow day was actually in response to a great deal of my district not having power. The weather in my district was not terrible, but, the Boy's school canceled and the Girl was on Spring Break anyway and was at a friend's house.  I realized school was canceled because when I woke up at 4:45  the weather here was rotten...so I checked the district website just in case...and whoo hoo!  I had the Boy turn off his alarm clock and we slept until 7 (crazy!).  By 8:00, Mr. IM was off to work and I was in the yard, in my pajamas, boots, and an insulated raincoat, using painter's tape to repair my greenhouse.  After it warms up, I can (hopefully) remove the painter's tape and repair the damage with clear tape. Yowsers, was it windy!  The arch blew over, thankfully the tree didn't become uprooted. I used a leftover tree support to prop it all back up until warmer weather.  The Boy and I bummed around the house, made homemade tomato soup and grilled cheese, watched some Lord of the Rings and got him ready for his snowboard weekend.  I also emailed all my classes and wished them a great break (and reminded them that they can turn in their papers anytime, using the electronic features on the school website....)  After lunch and a shower, I sent Mr. IM (who came home early-ish) and The Boy off on their usual ski/snowboard expedition.  I went to Dollar Tree to pick up some 25 cent seed packages (you can never have too many seeds) and to Sprouts to get some veggies and check out their bulk food aisles.  I picked up The Girl and her friend and took them to the church Fish Fry for some hanging out with school and church peeps.  We did a little shopping in the church gift shop (hello, sale!) and came home with a $5 copy of Mom's Night Out (Trust me, it is a classic on the same par as North Avenue Irregulars....).  After dropping off her friend, the Girl and I watched our new movie and called it a day.
Saturday:
Those crazy dogs let me sleep until 7:30!  I puttered around the yard (it's pretty wet) and the kitchen. Found a frozen coffee cake for breakfast, make coffee, puttered some more, did some laundry, wrote a blog (Wonder Weeks).  I decided it was my spring break, so between laundry loads I "read a book" (ie:  napped) on the  couch and came to the conclusion we really need to just go buy a couch.  Sigh.  The Girl wandered in, we had more coffee cake and then went "Swim Suit Shopping"...After successfully finding a suit, we had a late Chick Fil A lunch (yum) and came home. The Girl has spent her Spring Break cleaning her room, resulting in a large pile of discarded and outgrown books, clothes, toys, craft supplies, etc, as well as many "gifts" to family and friends.  She inspired to me clean out my closet today (well, part of it...I cleaned clothes, there are still boxes to deal with).  We spent a few hours in her room sorting books and had "find what you want" for dinner...followed by renting "Grown Ups 2" while doing laundry. We are wild animals.
Stay tuned for more exciting installments!

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!