It’s been a long week…especially considering there were only 4 days.  My goal this weekend…to sleep.  I need to catch up on things around the house, maybe do some scrapping and photo organizing/ordering.  I have some fabric calling my name…it wants to be a skirt.  We’ll see how the hours go by.  

It got up into the 40′s today. A little cooler tomorrow.  Possible freezing rain Sunday morning, then warming up with scattered showers Monday and Tuesday.  Then back to the deep freeze.  

If we don’t miss any school, we will get our President’s Day weekend.  Dennis and I are discussing 2 possible “get aways” for that weekend…Memphis or Kansas City.  I think Memphis is a bit closer and Graceland is on my “bucket list” of places to visit. Both places have great BBQ.  Dennis has been to KC a couple times and leans more towards it.  I’d rather go to Memphis.  I’m sure we’ll eventually make it to both places. 

I’m reading Atlas Drugged.  It’s an interesting satire on Ayn Rand and her “selfish” philosophy, mixed with some current economic/social trends (the 99%).  Kind of scary.  What would happen if we had “free for all” capitalism and everything (even roads and bridges) were privatized…   which is the way MODoT is going…let the contractors do the work and be liable…which  has already had some negative results here in Phelps County.  Do shoddy work, get the $$,  go out of business, and tax payers are left to fix the mess.  On paper it seems cheaper, but in the long run, facts prove otherwise.  Enough on the down side of life.

Dennis replaced the starter in the VW…and it’s running again.  I’m happy.  I really like that car.  Driving the van the past 2 days has made me appreciate it even more.  It’s cute and little and zips around…which is just the opposite of the van.  It’s kind of like the song about Bluto (from the movie “Popeye”)….”And he’s (it’s) LARGE”…

Work has been busy and hard.  Sick kids.  Sick staff.  Needy kids.  Needy staff.  On the plus side, I have had some postiive recognition and thank you’s from staff and parents and kids.  Dennis had 2nd half of mouth/gums scraped & lasered today. Very creamy (thank you Sara & Matt for the immersion blender stick from Christmas past) potato soup tonight.  Grateful to Progresso for cans of soup Dennis can eat for lunch.  

What we originally thought was just a dead battery in the VW seems more serious.  Time to call our local repair hero who works on foreign cars.  Today was a wonderful day (for winter) with sunshine and temperatures above freezing.  We go back into the deep freeze again tonight and tomorrow.

In the words of Madeline Kahn in Blazing Saddles….”I’m TIRED” 

Saturday was Jax’s First Birthday Party!  It had a jungle theme, and he had lots of guests wishing him a Happy Birthday!  Sara baked him a banana cake. He did a good job eating part of it.  He used his index finger to scoop off some icing before really digging to eat it. 

He knew just what to do with the presents. 

He as gracious about posing with ALL the relatives and friends.Here he is with my parents and his dad, Matt.  

Sunday we went to the outlet mall at Osage Beach with my parents.  Found a few good deals on some winter clothing and got a peak at the Spring clothing, which is already arriving.  Lots of scarves.  Orange and bright teal blue seem to be the predominant colors at this point.

 while enjoying my day off, I’m remembering the contributions & sacrifice that Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. made to our country, as well as the significance of the Inauguration of a President.  I try not to take the blessings of living in this country for granted. 

St. James Tigers beat Rolla 58-45 in the semi-final game of the St. James Tournament.  It was an intense game & very close, but the deliberate fouls at the end (by Rolla) actually padded the STJ score.  I was not the only person who works at RMS cheering for the Tigers.  Hope there are no repercussions on Tuesday.  St. James colors are red & white but black has slowly crept into the fans’ shirts. Things looked pretty Goth in the student section tonight. I’ll have to get a better photo at the next game.  Some were wearing black make-up.

It was a busy day.  The stomach virus decided to revisit RMS. Weather is warmer.  Saturday near 60, then back into winter temperatures.  Monday will be miserable with single digit highs and negative wind chills.  Almanac missed it Jan 16-20, predicting snow flurries then mild.  

I finished Along Came A Spider during lunch today.  I’m hooked on Patterson…but will have to read something less intense before reading another of his books.  I think I’d also like to see this movie. 

Jax is enjoying some pre-birthday celebrating…including some professional photos of him.I suspect this is a prop and not a real birthday cake. 

It got above freezing this afternoon…first time since late Saturday night.  More warm weather (right not 40 would be a heat wave) Friday & Saturday…cold again Sunday.  Chance of snow or wintery mix on Monday.  I’m looking forward to my 3 day weekend, no matter what the weather.

I had my usual “shampoo & trim” after school.  It was nice to just heat up the left over sweet potato & apple soup for supper.  Today was a good day at work.  Is it Friday yet??

this is what I plann ed to cook last night. Chicken pot pie.  It was what we had for supper tonight.  It was good.  Dennis and I ate half of it.  No after photos because the middle ran out a bit and made a mess.   Tomorrow night. the left over potato-apple soup and Thursday the rest of the pot pie.  If we I can resist taking it to work for lunch. 

Work was back to “normal” today.  thank goodness.  Besides cooking and cleaning up the kitchen, all I did (after work) was sit on the couch and watch NCIS, NCIS:LA and Vegas.  Tuesday & Thursday are my favorite TV nights. 

tonight was the first night of the St. James Invitational Basketball Tournament.  Rolla beat Blair Oaks in the 6 PM game and St. James beat Union in the 7:30 game.  It was an aggressive and hard fought game. 

It was sunny but didn’t get above freezing (high was 26).  My office was busy.  Lots of coughs and sore throats are now joining the ranks of stomach aches.  Tomorrow is going to be cold again…but maybe things will slow down a bit at work. I ate my soup at my desk, but didn’t actually get to go to lunch today.  Being busy made the day go by quickly, however. 

Dennis tried to donate blood after work, but couldn’t because he is on antibiotics.  The Red Cross volunteers still fed him…he puts up the blood drive posters for them and is their “pet”.  So I didn’t have to cook.  I ate a peanut butter & Jelly sandwich with a glass of juice for supper.  Tomorrow I will fix the chicken pot pie I planned to fix tonight.  

We dodged a bullet last night.  The rain was almost gone before the temperatures dropped below freezing. The warm ground also helped.  Unfortunately it was only 25 when I got up, and at noon it had dropped to 23.  About an hour ago I decided it was not going above 23 and bundled up to scrape the VW from its icy cocoon.  Fortunately Dennis helped me, or I might still be out there.  BRRRR.  

Since we “played” yesterday (and Dennis worked last night/slept til noon-ish), I’ve been trying to straighten up the house and get things organized for next week.  Just 5 more days and then, a 3 day weekend!  WooHoo!   Tonight we are having a brand new recipe…apple & sweet potato soup.  I’ll make biscuits.  I’ve got a bit of left-over sausage to fry and I can take “sausage biscuit” to work for breakfast.  Not a healthy every day breakfast, but a nice treat for a cold Monday morning. 

We got up and headed for Springfield this morning.  Jax was “sleeping in”.  He’s been a bit under the weather with a cough, a fever (a few days ago) and he’s also teething.  He still was charming and fun to be with. He walks…and his walk is almost a run. He likes playing ball and taking things apart.  Let’s hope his skills eventually include putting things back together. 

He likes the Duplo blocks.  He especially likes taking the Duplo blocks apart.  Fortunately Matt & Sara like building things out of the Duplo blocks. He also likes being silly with Dad.

We had to keep an eye on the weather.  While we were there Dennis got a call from work, telling him he was on “stand by” for plowing or spreading salt tonight.  We headed home about 2:30.  It was raining and about 35.  We got ahead of the rain between Rolla & St. James, but it soon caught up with us. I heated up the potato soup, and we’d just finished eating when Dennis got the call to be at work at 7 PM.  

This kind of weather makes me restless.  So far there is just a glaze of ice in the trees and on the power lines.  Losing electricity is always my biggest fear.  I have candles lit and scattered around the house.  Kind of like carrying an umbrella to chase off the rain. 

Snow tomorrow.  Seriously.  Missouri weather. 

In spite of the forecast, we are headed to Springfield tomorrow morning, for some Jax time…including his parents of course.  We will get up & around a bit earlier, to arrive 10-ish.  We will have to keep an eye on the weather.  We will probably head home between 2 & 3 PM.  We need to be home before dark.  The down side is that Dennis may get called in to plow or spread salt at 7 PM.  There is no hysteria, but with a cold/snow front coming from the NW and more moisture arriving from the SW, it could amount to something. Most of the heavy snow is predicted to fall to the north.

Work was a calmer today.  It was sunny and nice out until about 3 PM. Then it started clouding up. It was windy and very cloudy by the time I got home. Lucas and I still had some frolic time before dark.  We both frolicked today. TGIF.