Painting Weekend

This was the long-awaited painting weekend. The previous owners of this house had painted their office a dark burgundy. That room ended up being Sophie's room and it wasn't the best color for a little girl:

So, I've been planning on painting it since we moved in but it is such an undertaking that we kept putting if off. Lots of excuses - can't do it in the winter, it's too cold and we'll want the windows open, can't do it this weekend, ugh, not today, and etc.

This weekend, however, worked out great. Our daycare has been on vacation since Wednesday and both Aaron and I had Friday off. Lots of prep-work later and I painted the walls today.

Oh, and also, Aaron's sister and family are coming to visit in August and this was the only long weekend before their visit.

I used Benjamin Moore's Eco-Spec paint in "seaside blue" (2054-50). It's low-VOC and low odor. Not the perfect "green" paint, but the best I could find around here. If I had planned better, I would have bought a gallon of Mythic Paint online but I kept thinking I could find it around here. Nope. However, I'm very pleased with the Benjamin Moore paint. To cover that burgundy it took ONE coat with a little bit of touch-up rolling after everything dried. Thank goodness because I was really sick of painting by the end. I can see why people hire painters. With tools, etc., it cost me about $60 to paint the room.

I'm so, so happy with it. Sophie came in (she played with Aaron downstairs all day) before her nap and said: 'WOW! It's so pretty!"

It really does look pretty. Bright and cheerful. Her room lights up the end of a now-dreary hallway.

We just need to paint the trim tomorrow (old houses and lots of molding...) and I hit the ceiling by accident a couple of times. So we need to find the ceiling paint to touch that up as well.

Aaron's really annoyed by all of this, by the way. He hates the clutter of moving everything out of Sophie's room. His nose was probably broken at Judo Thursday night so he's sore and grumpy and, thus, doesn't have the patience to watch Sophie for hours on end. He's starting to get two black eyes and his nose is more swollen now than it was yesterday.

He does like the color, but the journey was rough.

Anyhoo, I'm happy, Sophie's happy, and Aaron will be happy when everything is back in its place.

Garden - Weeds?

I planted a bunch of native wildflower seeds in the front and back beds and lots of sprouts and shoots and greenery is coming up. Now I'm having a hard time knowing what was intentional and what is just a weed.

I finally figured out the name of one that sprung up everywhere - Chenopodium album L.: lambsquarters or white goosefoot

Yeah, didn't plant that. It was either in the soil we purchased or it flew in on the wind. Most likely it was in the soil.

I've been waiting to pull it all out until I knew what it was. Now that I know what it is, it's time for pulling.

I think I have a whole bunch of Canadian Horseweed coming up around the yard, too. That I'm going to let be for a while.

Ah, henbit deadnettle - the little purple flowers everywhere.

We also have a lot of clasping Venus' looking-glass coming up after it rains. I like it.

Baking Soda

I've been using baking soda instead of shampoo now for about a month. I have a cup in the bathroom and I put in about 1/4 cup or less and then add a bit of water to mix it up. Scrub it in (it helps to have short hair) and rinse it out. Sometimes I do a watered-down rinse of apple cider vinegar.

I have also been adding baking soda to my face soap as a scrub, but I recently read on Tiny Choices that some people use baking soda as a face soap replacement.

So, I decided to try no soap/just baking soda for a month and see how it goes with my acne. I pour a small handful and then add a bit of water to make a paste. And gently scrub it in a circular motion. Twice a day. You just have to make sure you rinse it out of your nostrils well or you'll be walking around with white powder in your nose. Or don't rinse it out if you want people to think you've been snorting something. Whatever floats your boat.

I've broken out a little in the past few days but I think it's because I had red wine this weekend. Or my skin is just reacting to being scrubbed.

We shall see.

If this works, baking soda is quite cheap and it appeals to my frugal instincts.

Ouch.

We heat our old house with steam radiators. Which means an oil-fueled boiler.

Last year, we pre-bought 1,000 gallons of oil to last through the season. We used around 950 gallons. There is still a half tank left and we're really hoping it lasts through the summer. Our hot water is also heated by the boiler. Last year we paid $2.56/gallon for oil.

I just checked the budget/pre-paid program for this winter season? $4.899!

So, if we pre-buy 950 gallons in order to lock in that rate, we have to pay over $2,200 more this year.

So much for trying to pay off our credit cards and car.

We're lucky we can (barely) afford to pay that. There are going to be a LOT of very cold people this winter. What do people do on a fixed income? They will be paying almost double what they did last year! And with the price of everything going up, there is going to be a lot of hurt. I live in a primarily working class area and this better be a mild winter or it's going to be bad, bad, bad.

I also predict a run on pellets because I hear a lot of people talking about buying pellet stoves. But what happens when there are no more pellets to be found?

Lab Testing - rancid prescription drug

Anyone know anyone who'd be willing to do some testing on my rancid medication to let me know what now exists in that bottle? I'd like to know what I ingested Friday morning.

Know someone with access to a lab?

Pass it on.

Thanks!

Happy Father's Day! (the barftastic edition)

It was a crazy weekend. I had big plans for making a cake and working on a craft project present for Aaron and then Friday night he proved to me why he is the most fantastic person in the whole wide world by cleaning up my barf when I didn't make it to the toilet in time (no, I'm not pregnant).

I think the heat wave turned one of my prescription medications rancid.

I had that "hmm, that didn't taste right" thought when I took the pill Friday morning. Shortly thereafter, I started feeling more and more nauseous and, by the time I made it to work at 7, I was feeling much worse. A stomach bug had been going around and I mentioned to a couple of my coworkers that I was feeling nauseous. "She's pregnant!" (seriously, not pregnant) flashed across their faces, followed shortly by, "OMG, I hope she doesn't touch anything."

I barfed at work around 8. And actually felt a bit better for an hour or so. Granted, I could only stomach water and a Triscuit, but not quite the rolling nauseousness of earlier. I was also sore all over and starting to run a bit of a fever. I finally gave in around 10, sent a note around to the people in my area and went home. I collapsed in bed until almost 3 when I realized Aaron wasn't home yet and he was supposed to pick Sophie up at 2:30. Feeling like I had been hit by a truck, I got dressed and started the painful walk (2 of the longest blocks ever) to Sophie's daycare. We slowly walked home and then the best sight ever: Aaron walking very quickly in our direction.

"I'm sick. Barfing. I've been home since 10.", was all I needed to say. He grabbed Sophie and we all walked slowly home. As soon as I got home, I went right upstairs and fell asleep. Until I barfed again and the aforementioned cleaning-of-the-bathroom by the best husband ever happened.

So, how do you Google "poisoned by medication that got too hot"? I tried that and got nothing.

Anyhoo, I'm feeling 100% better. Poisoning-by-prescription apparently lasts a couple of days. I finally ate a little bit of pasta last night. Today was much better.

We made cookies, Sophie made a little book for Aaron and we were back on track.

This has been a long-winded (and gross) way of saying that Aaron is the best. THE BEST. He's so great with Sophie and he's so great with me. To clean up someone else's barf without any hesitation is the mark of a truly great person. I tried to stop him - "I'm already puking, let me deal with it.", but he sent me back to bed.

Also, he's strong and safe and lovely and, uh, the judo is doing wonders for his physique. Seriously, he's hot stuff. Hubba hubba.

To a great dad and the greatest husband.

I love you.

Clever Girl

I was explaining to Sophie the importance of holding our hand(s) while crossing the street and making sure to look both ways.

Me: "You want to check the road because sometimes cars can't see you."

Sophie: "But Mama, cars don't have eyes."

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We've been trying to leave Sophie's room before she's asleep. We give her some books to show her buddies (various stuffed friends). I've also been showing her how to "click" her eyes shut for the night and go to sleep. Because she'll just sit there with her eyes open for hours. As soon as she closes them, she falls asleep. My thinking was to just get her to close her eyes.

I said, "Remember, click your eyes," making little pinching motions with my fingers and clicking noises with my tongue, "when you want to fall asleep."

"Okay Mama."

A few nights of that, no problem. She didn't fall asleep much faster, but it gave her something to think about. And tell her buddies on the bed.

And then Saturday night. Aaron and I were downstairs, listening in on the monitor. She's still restless, so I head upstairs to talk to her about how it's late and it's time to sleep. She has her purple Care Bear on the bed and she's talking to him about her Frances book. We talk for a short bit about do you have to use the potty? do you want water?

And then I say, "Okay, Sophie, it's time to click your eyes shut. You, too, Purple Bear."

Frustrated sound from Sophie, "Uhh, Mama. He doesn't have fingers. Ugh."

Cue laughter from Aaron downstairs.

Oh yeah...

This is the cliché post about how I forgot about the site for a while.

Lots has happened, is happening, will happen and every time I think about writing something, I get busy with something else.

Let's see.

Aaron's Spring term ended and now he's teaching calculus this summer for the first summer session. He's has an over-packed class and this is great news for summer finances. Not that we know when he'll actually be paid because the university is notorious for being very late with payments. I've budgeted it for the end of Summer, just to be safe. (should I capitalize Summer? I never remember the rule)

He's also very into Judo - going two nights a week to be thrown around and throw people around. He's lost a lot of weight and he's a solid fighting machine. Very, very attractive, if you ask me. None of his clothes fit well at the moment, but he likes things baggy, so that's good. His instructor suggested he compete in the Baystate Games this summer. Exciting! There's lots of Judo talk around the house (another word I tend to capitalize). We play around on the bed with Sophie and she says: "I'm going to Judo you!" and she pounces on us. Quite funny.

Sophie's daycare lost two brothers who have been there from the beginning with Sophie. One of them is very allergic to the big dog at the daycare and he can't come back. Very sad. I guess they're coming on the nice days when the kids play outside. But it now means that Sophie plays with a baby and a new 1.5-year old during the day. That's it. It is a good push for us to find a preschool for her. Montessori is just not going to work financially. We're looking into the local YMCA program. She'd get to swim and do gymnastics during the week and we'd get a family membership. We shall see.

Oh, I cut all my hair off. Well, most of it. I was getting sick of struggling with the frizzies and I always just pinned it back anyway. Now it's easy to shampoo and manage. I've been using a baking soda/vinegar scrub and mix combination on it and then I use a tiny bit of honey mixed with water as a gel.

I'm struggling to find a safe sunscreen for us to use this summer. There are so many that are very toxic and/or unsafe. And then the safe ones are very expensive. Why can't a company come out with an affordable, safe alternative? Like a big gallon jug of safe sunscreen? I'm sure lots of people would be interested in that.

I'm having a similar struggle with makeup. My skin has been ravaged by acne over the years and I still feel like I need something to cover the scarring. At least while I'm at work. It seems that the "safest" makeup is the mineral stuff but it tends to make me break out. Again with the expensive on that stuff, too.

Our garden is growing exponentially. I took pictures at the beginning of May and it's amazing how much everything has changed. I've been picking lettuce leaves (romaine and bibb and spinach) to put in my sandwiches, we had our first salad this weekend and the radishes are ready to eat. Very cool! We were just talking abut adding at least another container garden next year. I think it will be all lettuce since we eat so much of it.

I think the only seeds that have not come up yet are my hot peppers and the watermelon. I'm going to give them another week and then plant new seeds.

Yes, I need to take more photos. The camera is full at the moment with the last set of garden photos and then all the videos we took this weekend at my parents' house. Sophie had a blast with her Gammy. They have such a great space - lots and lots of land and forest and nature and birdies and fish and a huge pond.

Otto is holding steady. He's still eating and he's very playful. He even climbed his first tree! He came galloping across the lawn at full speed, tail in the air, and made it up into the crook of the maple tree branches. He loves our yard and is very good about staying either in it or close to it. He likes to lounge on the grass and watch the bugs and the birds. He's very strong and he's not tolerating the subQ fluids as much as he was in the beginning. We try and get as much in him as possible before he really starts fighting back. I guess the fight in him is good, right? The feisty-ness? He follows us around the backyard and plays with Sophie a lot - talking to her when she asks him questions.

We're not leaving the dry food out for the cats any more. They apparently should only have wet food and if they get the right amount, they shouldn't even need water to drink. So, all the dry food over the years was very bad for them. Plus, it's like leaving endless bowls of chips out. And the dry food eventually just made Otto barf all the time - something about the dry food causing gas build-up. Some cats can tolerate it and some can't.

The bonus is that Tabitha is actually losing weight. And she hasn't squirted poop in a while (knock on wood). And she's actually getting a bit friskier now that she's a little lighter in the girth. Don't get me wrong, she's still quite girthy, but maybe a little less of a sausage now. She's getting more used to the yard, too, and loves hanging out with us by the new-to-us garden bench we grabbed from our neighbor's "Free" pile.

I have a bunch of craft projects in the works - cut bottles for glasses, some new painted soft animals, maybe some more paper maché.

We're in trouble...

Sophie loves to take medicine. She searches her legs and arms for boo-boos and bruises and then insists she needs medicine because "Oh, I'm so sick, Mama." We talk to her about the fact that you don't take medicine for boo-boos but there are times when she gets very insistent. "But it hurts, Mama! It hurts SO much!"

[on a side note, we've been paying a lot of attention to Otto and giving him fluids - "medicine" - and I think she's a bit jealous of all the attention.]

So, about a week or so ago, after trying to talk to her about not taking medicine, I said: "Well, I have this new placebo medicine - do you want that?" "Oh yes, Mama, the placeeeebo medicine." I went downstairs and mixed a little bit of milk with a little bit of honey and put it in her medicine cup. That worked.

Flash forward to this weekend when we went through the same process. "Oh, I have a boo-boo, Mama, I need medicine." Again, no Sophie, you don't take medicine for boo-boos...and then I told her she could have some of the new placebo medicine.

Her answer? "No, Mama, I want the REAL medicine."

Aaron and I just looked at each other with shocked looks. Needless to say, she didn't get any medicine that night. Just a band-aid on her bruised knee.

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And then on Monday: Again with the insisting on medicine and me telling her no. She just wouldn't stop with the anger at me, so I made a big show of picking up her fake telephone and calling her doctor (I'll call him Dr. Richardson).

After punching in some numbers: "Hello, Dr. Richardson? This is Sophie's mommy. She has a boo-boo and we want to know if she should take medicine for it. No? No medicine for boo-boos? Okay, I'll tell her, thank you."

"I'm sorry, Sophie, he said no."

She angrily picks up the phone and starts punching numbers, glaring at me the whole time. "Hello, Dr. Richardson? Is Sophie. Say YES."

My daughter, she slays me.

May Day! May Day!

I wrote this on Sunday, but never managed to finish it and then yesterday was crazy busy.

I put mulch on both of the new flower beds and added more behind the boxwood hedges in front of the house. Yesterday and today. My shoulders are KILLING me now. Great exercise and I'm very happy with the result, but ouch. OUCH.

Before:

After:

Now we just need to figure out the edging - brick? more of the same stone thingies the previous owners used? A different kind of stone?

In other news, we walked down the hill (using one of the very steep paths that connects the hill to the downtown) and to the library for a fun singing, dancing, music event? lesson? thingie? There were two musicians/singers who sang fun nursery songs and others and had puppets and noisemakers and such. We were one of two couples with kids at first (another arrived with a baby later). Apparently the attendance during the weekly version is much bigger. The organizer musician lady thought that maybe everyone was at the town meeting. There is a big, contentious, override vote coming up. They want to raise property taxes to cover a budget shortfall. The lady was discussing it with the other dad - very obnoxious guy - and Aaron was trying to hold his tongue, but then had to jump into the discussion. They finally stopped arguing but it was getting a little heated.

The music and singing that followed was fun, though.

And then today we went to see the May Day parade in the nearby town. Small, but quite fun. A maypole and Morris dancers and people covered in flowers and dancing. There was a guy dressed as a horse and Sophie was obsessed with him. He was working the crowd and using his horse face/mask to steal people's hats and sniff them. She kept wanting to "get" him. And then on the walk back to the car, she splashed and jumped in every puddle she saw until she was absolutely soaked. We took off all her clothes and put Aaron's fleece on her to keep her warm for the ride home.

On a side note, I thought the parade was down the hill in our town but then realized once we got down there (Sophie in the stroller, holding her umbrella and wearing a crown - more on that later) that I had probably mis-read the listing and it was one town over. So, we headed back up the hill to get into the car. Whoops.

Oh, and this is for my mom. We were getting ready to go to the parade and she insisted (out of nowhere) that I make her a crown. And that I paint it and it will make her SO Happy, Mommy! She wore the crown for the first trek to the parade but had removed it by the time we got to the actual parade location.

Even though it was a gray, cold weekend, we had a lot of fun.

Boston

Yeah, so I'm a few days late. As mentioned earlier, I headed to Boston Friday afternoon to meet up with Mia and Emily. Mia has written some great recaps of the trip (complete with photos! I forgot my camera!), so I'm not going to get repetitive.

The trip was lovely. It took exactly two hours for me to get to the Alewife station, park and get on the Red Line T. I switched trains at the Park St station and then got on the Green Line to the Hynes/ICA station. There was a brief break at the Park St station while I tried to figure out how to text Mia back about my location. Good lord, that made me feel old. I actually had to sit down to type out a quick message. I'm sure the teenagers near me were snickering at my skillz.

I walked up to the street at Mass Ave and Newbury St and there they were! Yay! We did a bunch of shopping and eating and laughing and drinking and then I stayed with Mia at her hotel. The next day was sightseeing and acting like tourists (Freedom Trail! Cheers!) and helping a man strap himself into a straight jacket.

Very fun. I'm less intimidated by Boston now. Parking at Alewife was super easy and cheap ($5!) and it was really easy to get into the city from that station. If only the drive there wasn't 2 hours, I'd do it more often.

Girls' Night Out!

/shriek

Yay! I'm leaving work early and heading to Boston to meet up with Mia and Emily. I rarely, if ever, get into Boston even though I live in Massachusetts.

Plus, fun night out (sleep over!) with two gorgeous ladies? Count me in.

I'm wearing my clicky patent leather shoes and I hope I'm not going to regret it. I bought inserts for walking but we'll see.

Sophie's been sick all week. Running fevers in the afternoon and at night and we're wondering if it's the sun. She has a bit of a runny nose (allergies?) and a fever. That's it. Her daycare tends not to put sunscreen on the kids even though we all provide it. That pisses me off. I've tried to talk to her about it, but she doesn't seem to listen. I love that they play outside a lot, but there is no reason for them to have sunburns when you have sunscreen right there.

Anyhoo, Aaron and Sophie are staying home and I'm outta here. Soon!

I leave you with a cute video from this weekend. I drew a hopscotch ... (what is the word?) that had one square and then two squares and then one square, etc. (just so you don't think she can't count) and Sophie had fun hopping.

Ignore my shrieking voice.

I love Sophie's fun little kick at the end.

Weekend Work - dirt and more dirt

It was a gorgeous weekend - high 70's (85 in the sun) and we took full advantage by having a huge pile of loam/compost delivered on Friday.

This is about 1/2 the pile. End of day, Saturday:

All day Saturday and all day Sunday were spent filling the wheelbarrow and dumping the dirt into the two raised beds:

And creating a better flower/plant bed in the front of the house.

We are both very sore and exhausted. But it was definitely worth it. The front of the house looks so much better and now I have beds in which to plant the plants that I want.

Before we bought the house:

After we cut down the shrubbery:

Laying out the beds with the ugly paver-thingies left here by the previous owners:

Filling it in:

Hmm. I thought I uploaded a finished photo but I guess I didn't. I'll have to do that tonight.

We also put in a little walkway from the driveway to the front porch (ignore the lattice work on the steps - that's a project for another day). Also, Aaron hacked away at that stump all weekend. It's quite tenacious. We're going to dig out most of that dirt and fill with some paving sand to lay the stones in there better. Maybe. Or I might plant some low ground cover plants...

In other news, Otto is still not eating enough. We're hoping it was just because the weather was so wonderful and he wanted to be outside all day. We've been giving him fluids and it's less stressful than it was. We're also giving him Pedialyte 3-4 times a day. He's chasing Tabitha around and hunting house flies (the doors were open a lot this weekend) and leaves. He seems to be in good spirits. We just need to get him to eat a lot more. I'm going to get a few more cans of wet food to try. Fingers crossed.

Otto has CRF

(he's sleeping in that photo)

Our beautiful, awesome, wonderful cat, Otto, has kidney failure.

He's lost a lot of weight over the past several months (hard to know when it started as he's a big cat with lots of fur). But when we brought him into my dad this weekend, we found out he's lost 5 pounds since last year. That's a third of his body weight in a year. Not good.

He's still eating and he's drinking a ton of water and he's still a bit frisky.

We're going to try sub-Q fluids to see if we can keep him happy for as long as we can.

Luckily and thankfully my dad is a vet. Who knows how much we adore Otto.

UPDATE: My dad gave us fluids to inject once a day (Sub-Q) to help get his potassium levels up and his BUN and creatinine levels down. We need to help his kidneys flush all the toxins (I'm paraphrasing). We're going to need to set up a mini-hospital in the kitchen so that we can hang the bag of fluids while we give him the injections. He's been drinking a ton of water, but it's not enough. We're also going to be giving him Pedialyte three times a day and adding potassium supplements to his food twice a day.

In addition to changing his food to one that has lower protein and very low phosphorus. And no more dry food for the time being. He's not eating nearly enough wet food, so we need to work on that with him. That probably has a lot to do with his weight loss. We've restricted the dry food that sits in the bowl in the kitchen because Tabitha will just sit in front of it and eat all day. She probably weighs double what he does and she's a much smaller cat. She's girthy. Also, Otto keeps barfing up the dry food. My dad said it might be because most dry food is so small that a lot of cats eat it without really chewing. And then it causes stomach problems - gas, etc. - that can make an already sick cat barf.

So. He's eating the Hill's R/D my dad gave me to try but seeing as he needs to eat at least 2 cans a day of that (and we have 3 in the house), I'm going to look for other options today. The Wellness brand we've been giving him has lower phosphorus but it also has garlic and cranberries as ingredients and those are not good for CRF cats.

[for my reference later - sub-Q fluid administration]

Sophie Update

Yes, it's been awhile. I'm still around and kicking.

Just wanted to get some Sophie observations on the record so I don't forget.

Dragging Sophie outside on (a very chilly) Sunday so that Aaron and I could finish some of the yard work and container gardens. We made her some noodles, stationed her in a beach chair and got to work.

I said: "Sophie, do you like your noodles?"

Sophie: "I not Sophie! I a noodle-eating poodle! Ugh, so fwustwating!"

(Frustrating is a new favorite word. Along with "disgusting" - complete with wrinkled up nose and a "Blech!" for emphasis)

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Getting her ready for bed, talking to and about her "babies" (assorted dolls and stuffed animals on the bed).

Sophie: "When I was a baby. Last year. I was a boy! And I had green eyes! and I could crawl!"

Me: "Wow, you've changed so much!"

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Pretending her purple rainbow Care Bear was pooping on Aaron's head while he was laying in bed.

Aaron: "Yuck! It's a purple rainbow poop!"

Sophie: "No, Daddy, is a POOP-le rainbow poop."

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She likes to pretend she is Brava - an adorable Australian Shepherd that lives down the road. Lots of panting and licking and wiggling while she pretends she's Brava.

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Current favorite songs: "On top of spaghetti!", "This old man, he played one!", "Five little monkeys jumping on the bed!", "Jingle Bells" (she likes to sing it like she's a baby. If I can ever get this on camera, it will make your day), and "I'm the biggest monster that you've ever seen!" (by Laurie Berkner)

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One of her favorite games is to pretend to eat our noses or our bellies or our hands and then say "Burp! Oh, it's gone. I so sorry!" and then we tickle her to "give them back".

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In other news, Aaron and I had a meeting at a Montessori school. It would be a perfect place for her but we're not sure we can afford it. It's a lot more than we currently pay for daycare and a lot more than I have budgeted for potential. Maybe we can get financial aid.

Where did the weekend go?

So much has happened and I'm just getting myself back in normal rhythms. We went away this weekend for my mom's 70th birthday. It was all her (4) kids and grandkids. Very fun. We went to a dude ranch in upstate New York - on the edge of the Adirondacks. Great place - very friendly to kids and families. We even went horseback riding! The first time I've been on a horse since I was around five. Quite nerve-wracking. And they had an indoor pool and jacuzzi and the kids loved it. It was wonderful to see my mom surrounded by her kids and not have to worry or think about doing things around the house. The grandkids ADORE her - she has such a gentle, silly spirit. She doesn't look a day over 50 to me.

In other news, I saw the first little green shoots (sprouts?) of the bulbs I planted in the fall coming up!!! Even though it snowed Friday and Monday. Tenacious little buggers, aren't they? They are coming up through frozen ground. Our front yard is mostly clear of snow, but we still have a lot in the backyard.

I did meet with the new endocrinologist last week and, while quite odd and jumpy, she agreed to try Armour Thyroid in addition to the synthetic T4 medication I'm already on. We lowered the dose of levothyroxine and added Armour - which is both T3 and T4. (yes, this is probably gibberish to you). It's all good, though. I'm happy she was open to it even though she was a bit defensive at first. Also, the visit was covered by my insurance. I was considering going to a doctor in Northampton who is listed on the thyroid sites as being good but he's not covered by my insurance and it would have been about $600 or more out-of-pocket to get the diagnosis, etc.

This weekend's activities threw me for a loop of sleepiness so I'm hoping things even out by the end of the week. It's hard to tell if I'm tired because of the weekend or because of the meds. So, while I was taking 175 mcg levothyroxine, I'm now trying the "2% solution" recommended by Dr. Blanchard - it works out to be 137 mcg levothyroxine and 30 mg Armour.

For those of you who are interested, here is a checklist from thyroid.about.com of the hypothyroid symptoms I was (am) experiencing while on a pretty high dose of levothyroxine (175 mcg) (click the link for a longer list):

____ I'm unable to lose weight with diet/exercise
____ I am constipated, sometimes severely
____ I feel fatigued, exhausted
____ Feeling run down, sluggish, lethargic
____ My hair is coarse and dry, breaking, brittle, falling out
____ My skin is coarse, dry, scaly, and thick
____ I have puffiness and swelling around the eyes and face
____ I have pains, aches in joints, hands and feet
____ I have developed carpal-tunnel syndrome, or it's getting worse
____ I am having irregular menstrual cycles (longer, or heavier, or more frequent)
____ I feel depressed
____ I feel restless
____ My moods change easily
____ I have feelings of worthlessness
____ I have difficulty concentrating
____ I have more feelings of sadness
____ I seem to be losing interest in normal daily activities
____ I'm more forgetful lately

I also have the following additional symptoms, which have been reported more frequently in people with hypothyroidism:

____ My hair is falling out
____ I can't seem to remember things
____ I have no sex drive
____ I feel shortness of breath and tightness in the chest
____ I feel the need to yawn to get oxygen
____ My eyes feel gritty and dry
____ My eyes feel sensitive to light
____ My eyes get jumpy/tics in eyes, which makes me dizzy/vertigo and have headaches
____ I have strange feelings in neck or throat
____ I have tinnitus (ringing in ears)
____ I feel some lightheadedness
____ I have severe menstrual cramps

So, my high blood pressure and arthritis and depression and anxiety and lack-of-motivation are all symptoms of hypothyroidism. Even though my TSH levels are considered normal. This new doctor agreed to test TSH and free T3 and free T4 in two months instead of just doing the TSH-only test I've had for years.

I have a lot of other sites I've bookmarked and printed out. I also brought in a stack of articles for her in case she wasn't willing to discuss the Armour Thyroid option. She had read most of the same research, so I didn't need them. But it felt good to talk intelligently with her. I'm sure doctors hate Dr. Google at this point. I was worried when I was waiting for her in the office because EVERYTHING in there appeared to have been supplied by pharmaceutical companies. The clock and the pens and the pads and the posters and the jars for the cotton balls and swabs.

Pink Eye!

Sophie has pink eye. Woo hoo! She was puffy-eyed Monday morning but we thought that was a result of her bad cold and restless night and then, when I picked her up at daycare, she had yellow-ish "sleep" in the corners of her eyes. Oh great.

So, I went to work for a couple of hours yesterday while I tried to call the doctor's office to get them to call in a prescription.

And then I went home to stay with her because Aaron had to be at school.

4 pm and the pharmacy finally had the prescription. All frickin' day we waited!

Despite being miserable with a cold and sore, red, puffy eyes, Sophie was in a a really good mood. Lots of playing and making forts and space ships.

So now she's home with Aaron today because we have to wait 24 hours for the eye drops to kick in.

And I have a thyroid appointment today with a new endocrinologist. I'm expecting the worse - which is she won't be helpful at all and will laugh at all the research I've done.

More on that later.

Happy Easter!

I will have to post pictures of Sophie's Easter basket and the doorway/arch we made to let the Easter Bunny know he was welcome in our house. Sophie left a carrot out for him and a very specific note: "Dear Easter Bunny. I love you. Please will you bring me some animal crackers?"

We're not sure where that request came from, but it was very definite. Not chocolate, not flowers. Animal Crackers (which we never have in the house, so it was interesting).

I also made some fabric eggs from an old sweater, some old flower fabric and I experimented with painting muslin. I like the effect a lot and made Sophie a bunny as well with a pink sweater made from more of the old wool sweater.

I have photos, but my camera's batteries died and they need to recharge.

Sophie has come down with something - cold-like - and so she was trying very hard to not be miserable yesterday with Gammy and Gumpa and my brother and SIL and their two boys. There was lots of toy-playing and egg-hunting and food-eating. It was FRIGID outside - it maybe reached 30 degrees when we were outside. So cold. Still, the men hid the eggs and the kids went searching. They abandoned the Easter basket for push trucks and had a ball. Despite all the parents and grandma outside shivering.

I had Friday off due to a Catholic CEO. Aaron and I went shopping while Sophie was at daycare. It was a nice day. We had hoped to catch a movie but the timing didn't work out. So we bought some wine and some brisket that we cooked all day in the crockpot on Saturday. It was the first time I've eaten beef in about 10 years. But it was organic beef - so that is okay, right? It was yummy, I'll admit. And very tender due to cooking all day long.

ALSO, Sophie wrote the first four letters of her name Friday morning! I was getting ready and Aaron was distracted working on some homework and Sophie was drawing on one of his manila envelopes. He looked down and she had written SOPH all by herself! With no prompting! I have a photo of that as well.

In other news, this is Sophie two years ago today:

Tonight

I'm going to be making spinach bread for my friend's green-themed party (S: yes, I'm coming!) and I'm going to watch the premiere of The Return of Jezebel James. A show with both Parker Posey and Lauren Ambrose? Sign me up.

Sophie Vignette - Red Phone Edition

Sophie has a red phone rattle she's played with since she was a baby. She likes to take it with her in the car to call people while we're on the road. Gammy, my sisters, Aaron's sisters, Aaron's parents; everyone has been called at some point.

Yesterday, she discovered it again when I drove her home from daycare. We were about to walk to the store to get garbage stickers* and she wanted to take it with her.

We're walking along the sidewalk to the store and Sophie's talking into her red phone: "Hi Daddy! What's up? I walking to the store to get garbage stickers for my POOP! Okay, bye!"

I explain that now that she's using the potty all the time her poop is now going in the toilet and not the garbage. The garbage is mostly filled with cat poop.

So she calls Aaron back and excitedly tells him: "Daddy! Is Sophie! We need stickers for Otto's POOP!"

Just as we were walking into the store. I think the lady behind the counter was quite amused.

*our town makes us buy stickers to put on the top bag in our garbage can. They won't take it if you haven't bought a sticker. At $3 a pop, we usually put out our garbage every other week. Which isn't bad in the winter because everything stays frozen. We'll see what happens in the summer.

No more diapers!

We've been quietly working with Sophie on the no-more-diapers front. She is doing amazing. Beautiful Jen sent us some of Charlotte's old cloth diapers with a waterproof (or maybe just resistant) outer shell. Perfect timing, too, because we had Sophie in underpants during the day and were almost out of disposables.

So, Sophie wears "night pants" (the cloth diapers) at night and then underpants during the day.

Three dry nights so far! And only one accident during the day for the last 4 days!

AND, Sophie and Aaron called me at work this morning to tell me that Sophie pooped in the potty this morning. That, in itself, isn't that exciting. What's exciting is that Aaron was upstairs when Sophie had to go. So she went, by herself, over to her potty, pulled down her pajamas and used the potty!

Aaron came downstairs and Sophie said: "Daddy! I went poop!" and Aaron thought, "ugh, great" (thinking she had gone in her pajamas). But then she showed him the potty and, lo, there was much celebration.

My sweet little girl is growing up so fast! If I had known that chocolate was going to be such a motivator we would have tried this sooner.

Uh, It's SNOWING again.

Who told Mother Nature?

Aaron and Sophie actually went to the playground after work and now everything is covered with snow again.

There was about 1/2" out there this morning to push off the car. It's a thick, sticky snow. Heavy. Kind of like sugary frosting.

So sticky that the walk across the parking lot at work added about 3" to the bottom of my shoes. I just kept getting taller and taller until one of the stacks broke off and then I hobbled the rest of the way.

Shh - the snow is melting!

Please don't tell Mother Nature I've noticed. I think the big snow banks surrounding our house have melted to almost half their size from last weekend.

In other news, I'm giving up on the month of lists. Woo - made it almost a week!

I'm having issues with my thyroid medication and it's taking a lot of effort to even make it through the day with my sanity in check. Trying to think of a list every day is throwing me over the edge.

I'll still keep trying to post every day. And maybe throw in the occasional list. Wait until I list the thyroid symptoms. That list's a doozy.

Heavy Snow Warning

This is just so I remember for next year. Yes, I know, I chose to move back here. But holy crap, this is too much.

A HEAVY SNOW WARNING REMAINS IN EFFECT FROM 10 PM THIS EVENING TO
12 PM EST SATURDAY.

THIS WARNING INCLUDES MUCH OF MASSACHUSETTS ALONG AND NORTH OF
THE MASSACHUSETTS TURNPIKE AND NORTH AND WEST OF ROUTE 128...
EXTENDING NORTH INTO SOUTHWEST NEW HAMPSHIRE.

They were saying ~6" yesterday. Now it could be 12" or more by tomorrow afternoon. At least it's coming on a weekend. I'm sick of trying to get to work in the snow. And Aaron's sick of getting up early to shovel us out. At least we can be more lax about it tomorrow. I'm assuming Sophie's dance class is canceled tomorrow.

More Snow Tomorrow Night

I'm not sure how to express how OVER winter we are in our household. More snow predicted for tomorrow night - 6-8" or maybe more. Yay! Woo!

At this point, it's going to take until July to melt all of our snow. According to my count, as of today we've received over 70" of snow so far this winter. That is just too much. Global climate change, anyone?

This photo is from Saturday. Before we got the 4" Tuesday this week.

I thought this doodle was funny:

Doodle by Lee. The code for this doodle and other doodles you can use on your blog can be found at Doodles.

Sophie's first recognizable drawing of a person

If you don't see the person, click on the photo for the notes.

And Now I Stomp You!

It was actually quite warm yesterday (in the '40s) and I decided to walk to pick Sophie up from daycare. We live a block or two from her daycare, so it's a good way to get some fresh air.

I brought her snow boots because the warm temperatures meant a lot of puddles on the way home (we were going a longer route because I had to pick up a garbage sticker at a store near our house) and there is not much Sophie likes more than stomping in puddles.

She was in a jolly mood - happy, laughing, acting silly. She discovered that she could see herself in the puddles (before she splashed them), so it was a long walk to the store and then home because there were lots of puddles and we had to wave at each other in each of them.

She'd crouch down and wave and say Hi! to herself and to me.

The best was when she crouched down and waved said (to her reflection): "Hi! I Sophia! I nice. I walking with my Mama to the store. And now I STOMP you!!"

She was squealing and yelling (happily) and I kept shushing her, telling her that there were people in all these houses and that they might be tired and grumpy and they might not want to hear her yelling so loudly.

She thought about that for a bit and said: "I make them happy, okay Mama? I have my kazoo please?" And then she proceeded to toot on her kazoo while marching along the sidewalk home.

I don't know about our neighbors, but she made me happy, that's for sure.

A Case of the Mondays

We had a fun weekend of playing and cooking and romping about. We ended up getting about 6+ inches Friday night and Aaron shoveled us out Saturday morning so we could get to Sophie's dance class.

We got there - no one there. We waited and waited and had to answer Sophie's questions about why we weren't going into school and finally we gave up. No phone calls from the center, no emails, nothing on their website, nothing on their answering machine message. (I finally found out today that it was because it was school vacation week...well, let those of us with kids not in school know, okay?! Luckily we live close by, but one of my coworkers drove 25 minutes to the school only to find out that it was closed. She's pissed.)

So, we went grocery shopping and put Sophie's tutu and ballet slippers on as soon as we got home so that she would stop asking when she was going to school. (It's a good thing the snow was light and fluffy this time, or Aaron would have been angry about shoveling first thing in the morning).

Saturday night, I started a potty chart for Sophie. Four squares. Each time she goes pee or poop in the potty, she gets a sticker. Four stickers and she gets a surprise! (a metal kazoo I picked up for her the other day) She thought surprise meant chocolate because the girl loves her chocolate. We gave her two small squares of dark (70%) chocolate for Valentine's Day and she almost flipped her lid. So, we said, yes - if you use the potty four times, you will get a piece of chocolate. AND a surprise! And by Sunday night - she did it! With a little prompting from us.

But now she knows that it all leads to something. Especially her one true love - dark chocolate.

Next potty chart has five squares. The stickers she decided to use? My free address labels from the World Wildlife Fund.

On a side note, we've been trying to get her to eat more yogurt because it's good for her tummy and has calcium, etc. We figured out she'll eat yogurt if it's Stonyfield Farms chocolate underground yogurt. Yes, I know - BUT it doesn't have artificial sweeteners and is actually quite healthy despite the bit of chocolate. And she chows down because she thinks she's getting a special treat.

Sunday, we made the decision to not turn the TV on at all. I knew Aaron would start to go a little crazy about the clutter of a two-year-old playing all day, so I gave him a reprieve and let him go upstairs to work on his homework as much as he wanted while Sophie and I played.

Here's evidence - even though we kept playing "Pick it up! Pick it up!" all day, he still followed us around organizing the clutter:

It made me realize how used to winter I am and how he has a really hard time with the lack of sunshine and fresh air. Sorry Aaron. Again.

There were blocks and I made a huge box (left over from moving) into a house with windows and doors and she played in it and around it for most of the day. Towers and caves and rocket ships and boats. Elaborate play where she would be in the house and I would be the mailman and I'd pass letters to her through the window. The house became a rocket ship that was going to explode her to the moon! And then she came out of the rocket ship and pretended she was a robot.

We listened to the radio and to Ella Jenkins and Laurie Berkner music all day.

We made butter cookies and cut out shapes and then ate them.

The temperature finally got above 30 degrees, so we all went for a walk around the neighborhood to get some sunshine in our systems and work off the stir crazies.

Oh, and I never did buy wool felt or polyfill this weekend. Our bank accounts are a bit low now that we are trying not to put anything on our credit cards (almost 3 months now! A record!) and I don't think I'm going to make my pledge of 5 by Leap Day. I'm going to see what I can come up with without buying material.

I did finish George the Gerbil (Bear, Mouse, Baby - it keeps changing in Sophie's head) but he's not going into the store. Sophie has adopted him. I will do G is for Gerald the Giraffe once I figure out the fabric thing.

I leave you with a self-portrait of me wishing the snow would just go away:

Ploopily

Sophie has started making up words. Her favorite, by far, is "ploopily"

She mixes it up by saying: "plee-ploopily" and "scoopily" and "sloopily", (and later cat-ily and Otto-lilly and Tabily) but ploopily is the go-to word.

Evolution of a friend: she made a little block guy from some Duplo blocks. We have a set that has a pair of eyes on one block and a smiling mouth on another. She put them together, put on a different-colored block for a hat and "Blocky" was born. There was lots of talking to Blocky about the events of the day. We'd be in the kitchen and I'd say something like: "Sophie, do you want a pear?" and she'd say: "I'll be right back." and run into the other room to excitedly tell Blocky that her Mama was getting her a pear and she was so excited because pears are so TASTY.

Then she later made a yellow tower of square blocks with a big rectangle block on the top (for an extended nose). That was Ploopily Monster.

Blocky soon merged with Ploopily Monster's blocks and now it's a big yellow tower with eyes and a mouth and big rectangles at the top and bottom. This is now just Ploopily. She requested his presence on the table with us at dinner and she fed him pieces of pear and chicken. Ploopily apparently loves the green skin on the pear while she does not.

I love this age.

Gray, gray, gray

This week started off miserably Tuesday night when we received 10 inches of snow and then turned to an 18-hour torrential downpour. I think we received something like 4 inches of rain during the day. Everything flooded. We even got water in our bone dry basement. Aaron tried to go out early in the morning to shovel the driveway but he managed a narrow little path and had to come in panting: "Each shovel-ful weighs 50 pounds! Can we call someone to plow today? Please?"

I agreed because I wasn't going out there to do it if he couldn't. We called 3 different snow plow people and two of them had broken plows from the night before. The snow was HEAVY. Finally got someone but it was going to take "several hours" before he could come by. Meanwhile, Aaron had to be at school by noon (campus was opening late at 11).

No plow, no plow, no plow, and finally Aaron went out to try shoveling again. He managed to do the driveway and we were all able to leave.

Until I almost flooded the car by driving through 3 different impromptu lakes on the way to work. The whole time I was driving, I was thinking: "What the hell am I doing? Why am I driving to work?"

The rest of the week was no better. It was gray and cold and all that rain and snow froze to a hard, bumpy mess.

And now the weekend is gray, too. I can't count how many times Aaron and I have muttered: "Okay, I'm officially done with winter."

It's hailing and raining outside right now.

Stop it. I get it. We're done.

We haven't seen our lawn since November. It's been covered by at least a foot of snow since the weekend I planted our new trees.

I hope it's Spring soon, or we're going to all lose our minds.

Hop on Pop!

Last night, as we were getting her ready for bed, Sophie was jumping up and down on Aaron. So I started singing:

"Two little Sophies jumping on her Dad. One fell off and bumped her head. Mama called the doctor and the doctor said: 'No more jumping on Sophie's Dad.'"

Sophie stopped, looked at me for a few moments and said:

"You don't call the doctor again, okay, Mama?"

Groundhogs Don't Lie

We woke up to temperatures of around 0 degrees with a windchill factor of -15. And now they are predicting SIX to TEN INCHES of snow and sleet tonight until tomorrow afternoon.

Ugh. Blech. Yuck. I'm so ready to see some frickin' green grass. I'm done with winter. Done. Do you hear me, Mother Nature? Game over.

A First

Saturday night was a first for our little family. It was the first time we, Aaron and I, went out and let someone else help Sophie with bedtime.

The honors went to my Mom. A pro and Sophie's best buddy. Sophie hadn't been feeling well all week - cold, coughing, not eating well, etc., - and she was overtired by the time we got to my parents' house. One look at Gammy and she was all smiles.

Bedtime went well, with just a few wakeups on Sophie's part.

It was so reassuring to know that going out, just the two of us, can be done.

Yes, I know, we waited over two years to try.

We were invited to a friend's birthday party. I've known Sarah since Kindergarten and she has a fantastic group of friends. It was such a fun party! Everyone was laughing and joking and the conversations were all over the place. From who is the hottest male actor to multi-variable calculus to merchant marines to the Navy to politics. It was so great to be surrounded by smart, fun people. Our spirits were definitely lifted.

I made Sarah a rhinoceros for her birthday. Rumpy. When we were in middle school, we went on a little shopping excursion and pooled our funds to buy a little rhinoceros that we named Rumpy. This rhinoceros is in honor of Rumpy I. Even though he's much bigger. And gray.

A bunch of people at the party said they didn't really see a rhinoceros, though. There was mention of a mouse and Piglet, but not rhinoceros. What do you think?

Planned for tonight is the next Alphabet Animal: "D is for ..."

Here's a hint:

Bartholomew Bat - Alphabet Animal

B is for Bat. The next in the Alphabet Animals collection.

Tutu

Sophie's second dance class. This time, we came prepared with a tutu (that I made earlier in the week). And this time, she was less hesitant about the dance moves.

Here she is, waiting for the teacher to arrive.

Thank Goodness

After her bath tonight, Sophie wanted to play in her room. I found her in there, naked, in front of her mirror. She had her arms raised above her head and was saying: "Yes! Yes!"

I asked her what she was doing and she said: "I saving the world!"

Life Changes

I've been meaning to write about all the changes we've made in our household but time and life get the better of me. It's a long list, so bear with me.

We're working towards building a healthier future for all of us. Most of the choices and changes lean towards a greener and more organic. I have to say, the more I research and read and hear, the more alarming it all gets. It's overwhelming and I feel like I'm just barely staying afloat.

This list is in no particular order.

Changes already implemented:

• Plastics: recycled my Nalgene bottle and bought a SIGG. Sophie also received a SIGG water bottle from my sister from Christmas. Although her first experience with the lid didn't work and she's hesitant to try it again. Baby steps. This is a step toward getting rid of all the plastic. We still have a lot of plastic IKEA dishes for Sophie that I need to replace.

  Also want to replace all the melamine because that isn't good for anyone, either. Most kids plates are melamine, so this is going to be hard. I'm looking for stainless steel or enameled tin sources, if you have any. Also, I just read that the lining in the aluminum(!) SIGG bottles is a secret and there is a possibility that your water could be leaching aluminum over time. Great. Just when I made that switch. I'll have to switch to Kleen Kanteen products or some other stainless steel container. Or just bring glass jugs.

  Also, I switched my travel coffee mug from one with a plastic liner to one that is stainless steel. Putting hot liquids into plastic seemed like a very bad idea. I also bring extra coffee with me in a glass jar with a lid.

  Oh, and I sold all our plastic tupperware containers at the tag sale this summer (Glad, Ziplock, etc.) and we bought some glass containers at IKEA. We need to get more of these because we only have two. And Aaron always has one with him at school. We need more for home for leftovers.

  And I finished up our plastic wrap and won't buy more. Haven't found a great alternative yet, though.

  I switched to natural, unbleached wax paper bags for carrying sandwiches, snacks. They're great, because I can put my veggie/fruit scraps in them from work (like banana peels and apple cores) and then just put the bag and the scraps in the composter.

• Composting! Received a composter for my birthday! It's in the backyard and we've been using biodegradable bags to collect egg shells and coffee grounds and vegetable scraps and dryer lint and paper towels (more on that later) and wax paper bags (more on this, too). I aim to buy another composter so that one can sit for a season and do it's work while we fill the other with new material. We plan on doing some container gardening this summer in our new yard and I cannot wait for Spring.

• Parabens: I threw out (I didn't know what I was supposed to do with them. Drain them down the sink? That seemed wrong. I didn't want to give them away because then I'm just passing the toxic chemicals on to someone else...) all of our personal care products that contained parabens. Methyl-, ethyl-, etc. Bad, bad, bad for you. Aaron still has one or two products he uses but as soon as they're empty, I'll switch him to something better. This one was tough. Pretty much everything I was using had parabens. I'll get more into this later regarding makeup, etc. I'm still looking for a good cleanser that is "safe" and will work on acne. I'm in the midst of a bad breakout and I'm not sure of the culprit. Stress? Check. Diet? Probably a bit. Products? Yes, probably, too.

• Grocery Bags: we bring reusable bags the majority of the time to the grocery store. I bought some nylon-like Trader Joe's bags (not the best, I know I should just make some canvas ones - see Future Changes below). I say majority of the time because there have been a few times when I'm out and about and I realize the bags are at home. Oy!

  I've made a few t-shirt bags but I'm trying to sell those (see the money below). We have significantly reduced the plastic bag pile we had in our house. Aaron really likes the plastic bags for cat litter and stinky poop diapers but now he's using the plastic bags from the bread we buy. We also save plastic bags from other things we buy. I'd like to reduce all of that, too, but plastic is everywhere!

  I also need to find an alternative for the plastic produce bags. I see people mentioning mesh bags, etc., so that is being added to the Future Changes section. I mostly attempt to buy loose fruit, veggies with no plastic produce bags but it can get unwieldy. I just wash all the produce when I get home. Reduce, reduce, reduce.

  UPDATE to remember later: tutorial for produce bags.

• Cat Litter and Waste: this goes back to the plastic bag issue. How to dispose of cat litter? We used to use the plastic grocery bags but that was so wasteful. I bought a box of (I forget the brand name) biodegradable dog poop bags. They are made from cornstarch and will (obvs.) biodegrade in the landfill. Plastic bags will just hold that cat litter forever. Aaron hates the dog poop bags because they are small-ish and we have two cats. So now I'm on litter duty most of the time because it was my choice to switch to these bags.

  The other recent change was to switch our cat litter to something biodegradable as well. After hearing great reviews, we switched to World's Best Cat Litter. I was worried how the cats would react because the time we switched to pine pellets was a disaster (Tabitha is quite finicky and she'll pee everywhere to show her displeasure). But they use it! With no issues! It helps that this litter looks and feels a lot like the other kind. And it clumps! Awesome. You can also flush it but our toilet upstairs sucks and I don't want to tempt fate. Also, how do you accomplish flushing? Do you carry it scoop by scoop to the bathroom? The logistics are not clear.

• Cleaning products: we're gradually switching to all-natural products. No more toxic chemicals that do more harm than good. Although now I'm reading "Organic Housekeeping" and the switching is going to happen much faster. For cleaning, I've been using a spray bottle with distilled white vinegar (made from grains) and water. It smells vinegar-y at first but the smell goes away when it dries. It works GREAT on the stone counter top in our kitchen. Everything else I used left streaks, but the vinegar cuts through all that and just leaves shine. For our toilet, we use a soy cleaner. That might switch, too.

• Electricity: in addition to switching as many light bulbs as we could to CFLs (some of the current lighting just doesn't work with the CFL bulbs, we put our tv, cable box, DVD player and VCR on a surge protector plug strip. A HUGE amount of electricity is sucked from these appliances even when they're off. We make a concerted effort to switch off the plug strip when we're done using the tv for the night and before we leave for the day. We also switch off the plug strip for the computer and all its accessories every night and before we leave for the day. Did you know that when your computer is off, it's still draining electricity? Nasty vampire. We've noticed a significant reduction in our electric bill from just these changes. Our electric bill is half what it was at our previous residence.

• Lead: we live in an old house. There is definitely lead paint on the premises and outside. We wet wipe down surfaces (should do this more), use the Method O-mop to wipe the floors (switched from the Swiffer because I can wash the microfiber pads on the O-mop and the other disposable pads can be composted. However, they can't be composted in our composter because it's not the right kind... The washable microfiber pads are good, though.) and take our shoes off as soon as we get home. I read somewhere that you can reduce your lead dust by about 60% by just taking your shoes off at the door. The chips outside need to be handled come springtime. The plan is to repaint the surfaces (little deck, railings) at the back of the house to contain the chips. And to plant a lot of plants around the perimeter of the house to stop Sophie from playing there. There are plants that actually help remove lead from your soil, so I'm looking into those. We're going to have our soil tested by the local university to see if it's safe to plant vegetables in containers in our yard. If there is a lot of lead in the spot we've targeted, then I need to put something under the containers to prevent the roots from going into the leaded soil.

  As far as lead in the house, we're going to work on Sophie's room first. We need to repaint it anyway, and the window sills will be part of that. We have encapsulating paint from when we did the floor on the sun porch.

  The basement is also an area of concern. Our long-term goal is to finish the basement so we can all use it. The walls seem to be painted with lead and we need to take them down. How to do it so as not to spread lead dust and chips everywhere? Also, it looks like the linoleum-like tile on the floor is asbestos tile. We need to cover all that up (recommended rather than trying to pry it all up) and then dry wall, possibly, and paint.

• Personal Care and Beauty Products: as mentioned above, removed all the paraben-containing yucky ones. That got rid of all my Neutrogena, L'Oreal, Almay, Cetaphil (cleanser), etc. Ugh. So, where to start to replace them? I start by going to Skin Deep and looking for safe products. And then I make a list and try to find the "safe" products either online (drugstore.com has a lot of them) or at the local coop. It's frightening when you start looking up your current products. CANCER! Toxic! BAD! I'm still looking for a good foundation that is not-as-toxic as what I was using. I have bad skin. Acne scars, chicken pox scars, pimples, etc. I can't go without makeup. Yet.

  I stopped putting product in my hair. I shampoo only a couple times (or less) a week and condition the ends of my hair every day. Sometimes I leave a bit of conditioner in there and then dry my hair. The frizzies are mostly controlled. I'm letting my control issues over the frizziness go. I have curly hair - it's going to be frizzy! I pin it off my face and try to make it look intentional and then I get on with my day. I may go back to really short hair again.

  I stopped dying my hair altogether. Let the gray hair come. I'm okay with it now. And besides, I prefer to think of it as pin-striped, anyway.

  I stopped using nail polish. I have not found a single nail polish that isn't toxic. I keep my nails short and clean and I buff them occasionally.

  I switched to a non-aluminum crystal deodorant. It works pretty well. There are days when I'm less than perfectly flower-fresh, but it's mostly contained. I don't mind it; Aaron doesn't mind it; Sophie doesn't know the difference. If I really need to not stink for a long time I'll use Aaron's bad deodorant. And then I feel very guilty about it.

  I wear sunscreen every day as my moisturizer and I'm still looking for a safer alternative. I was using my favorite Neutrogena dry-touch SPF 50 but it's bad, bad, bad, very toxic, bad. I was sad to get rid of it. Please, someone make a non-toxic sunscreen that isn't like putting white wax on my face. Thanks.

  I switched to a non-fluoride toothpaste for me and one for Sophie. Aaron doesn't believe the research that fluoride is bad for you and that calcium actually works better. So he continues to use the other brand. Our dentist even confirmed for him that they recommend no fluoride for kids until they are at least 6. I wonder why that is? I've been using Jason toothpaste for the past 4 or 5 months and I just had the best dentist visit in a long time. I take calcium along with a multi-vitamin.

• Organic foods: apples, grapes, berries, milk (don't buy a lot of milk, anyway), chicken, carrots, potatoes, and peanut butter. Others when we can. I didn't realize that peanut butter was one of the foods highly recommended to switch to organic. Apparently peanut farms use a lot of pesticides and other yuckiness when growing their crops. We buy grind-your-own organic peanut butter at the local coop. It smells FANTASTIC when it's grinding. Yes, it's more expensive, but there is no added sugar or salt or trans fats. Just pure peanuts.

• Recycling: we already recycle paper and boxes and glass and cans and plastic but I've been working on recycling other things as well. Gifts for Christmas were made with mostly recycled cloth. I've been reading more about not just recycling but re-using. Getting a glass cutter to turn bottles into glasses and vases. Using the plastic containers that make it into the house for the sowing of plants and vegetables. I plan on winter sowing some seeds in those containers. Other ideas?
  

I feel like there is so much more, but this is a start.

FUTURE CHANGES:
- change out our vinyl shower curtain for something cotton or hemp
- make cloth napkins and stop buying paper towels
- make cloth rags and stop buying paper towels
- make cloth shopping totes for the house
- find plates and cups to replace all of Sophie's plastic and melamine stuff
- find safe makeup that doesn't make me break out
- make my own safe face cleanser?
- potty train Sophie and get rid of all the disposables
- next kid (no, I'm not pregnant) will use cloth diapers
- buy a drying rack for clothes to reduce the amount we use our dryer
- alternative to plastic produce bags
- plant lead remediating plants around the house
- paint Sophie's room to contain lead
- paint little deck off kitchen and railing to contain lead
- vacuum (with HEPA filters) the paint chips outside the house and inside the basement
- finalize switch to all natural, non-toxic cleaning products
- buy second composter
- construct container gardens for vegetables
- switch dimmable can lights in kitchen to CFLs
- buy HEPA shop-vac to deal with lead dust and paint
- buy bottle cutter to make bottles into glasses and vases

Once Upon a Time

This weekend saw the start of story time. Anything that was remotely book-like got the "once upon a time" reading treatment. My business card, Aaron's wallet, a card from Erin. (That she explains to us every time she reads it - "oh no! the monkeys are going to make a mess! Steve!")

"Once upon a time, there was a little girl named Sophie." With many funny endings. Yesterday Sophie was a rabbit who liked to lick and lick. Today there was a walrus.

I'll translate:

"Once upon a time, there was a little girl named Sophie. Her someone named a mom. And her said "How do you do? Sophia."

"...little girl named Sophie. Who got a walrus. Said: Aaah! Then Sophie's mommy said: Baaaah!"

You be the toast

Sophie loves pretending and role play. Many hours are spent play-acting events from her days and also pretending to be other people.

"You be the baby and I'll be the mom." "You be the dad and I'll be the baby." (when she's the dad, she talks in a really low voice. It's adorable.) "Let's go to work. Get in the car. Seat belt. Click!"

Today, there was a shift in the winds. Instead of "You be the baby", etc., she told me:

"You be the toast." (we were sitting by her play kitchen)

"How can I be the toast?" I sort of sat up straight and made a funny face.

"No, you lay down on the ground." And then she pulled out the bread tray that came with the play bread and said: "No, you lay down on this."

So, I was toast. I lay down on the bread tray and she cut me (gently) in pieces with the play knife and put butter and cheese on me. And then she ate me. "Chomp! Chomp!"

Second Christmas

We're home from Second Christmas and it was fun to be together again. The little kids get along so well and Sophie is exhausted from her whirling dervish weekend.

Here, at last, are some of the gifts I made.

[if you click on the photos, most of them have links to the sewing tutorials.]

Little soft balls for my one-year-old nephew:

Coffee cozies for my sisters and brother-in-law:

Crayon Roll for my 2.5-year-old nephew:

Rolled up:

Artsy clutch for my (almost) 7-year-old niece:

Simple tote with photos of her grandkids printed onto the fabric for my mom:

Another variation on the simple tote for my sister:

And you may have already seen the monkey for my other nephew. I also made a felt banana to go with it:

And last, but not least, a stick for the littlest nephew. His mom was joking that he loved sticks and so I made him a "safe" stick:

There was also fudge, hand-drawn stationery for my nephew, hand-made drawing pads for my niece, several t-shirt bags, and chocolate-dipped marshmallows.

Now I'm off to finish a present for ANOTHER niece who's turning two next week!

TMI - The COUGH

The Cough is still here. I managed to get an appointment on Thursday and basically paid $20 to have her tell me to wait it out. It's a post-nasal drip cough and my lungs sounded fine. I should email her if I run a fever or start coughing up anything.

I took Friday off because I was just so sore and cranky and tired. She recommended Mucinex DM, but I didn't pick any up on the way home from the appointment because I had to pee and with all the coughing, having to pee spells disaster for me.

After having a child, my, um, muscles don't stem the flow very well when I'm overcome with a hacking cough. It's been quite unpleasant on more than a few occasions.

And after some miscommunication with Aaron, I didn't start taking the Mucinex until Friday afternoon. Still, it seemed to help lessen the coughing even though it's an expectorant. (side note: doesn't expectorant sound like someone who's pregnant?)

Anyhoo, it's still here. I'm now coughing up lovely thick green and yellow yuckiness (mmmm, tasty) and yet no fever. I'm waiting it out a bit. I'm hoping it blows over.

And to top it all off, I feel like now I'm coming down with a cold. Itchy throat, the works. Sweet!

AND, Sophie just started coughing a bit, too. Yay!

This weekend is Second Christmas with my family. We're all finally together for stockings and kid presents and then also three birthdays. I'm still attempting to make everything but I forgot about the birthdays and I didn't plan on being sick. Ugh. I've sewed up a lot of lovely little presents and plan on making fudge and one or two other goodies but I may have to break down and buy some more stocking fillers. I'm happy with the gifts and have been taking photos but I can't post anything until after the weekend as my sisters and my mom read my site occasionally and their surprises would be spoiled.

It will be quite the relief to be finished because this whole experience has strengthened my confidence in my sewing skills and I have a lot of ideas of things to sell on Etsy.

Stay Tuned.

Checking in for Aaron news? He's taking Judo over the winter break in addition to teaching a Calculus class at the university. He's mighty sore from the Judo; his ribs and back and arms hurt. He's taking two classes a week. Last night, he accidentally chipped a woman's tooth. He likes the class despite the pain. (and I like the uniform: hubba hubba)

Update: Aaron thinks this reads as though he's proud of chipping her tooth. This could not be farther from the truth. He's very upset about it. Her husband and kids were there to witness and it was truly an accident.

Karma Barf

Let this be a lesson to you: don't laugh about nephews being hit with a stomach bug else your beautiful daughter will soon be covered in barf in the backseat of the car. Approximately 15 minutes after said laughing.

Sophie: "Uh. I burped up my crackers and raisins. Yucky."

Erika: "Aaron, find the first exit! It's okay, Sophie, it's okay. FIRST EXIT AARON! She's still barfing! It's okay, Sophie, it's okay."

We finally pull into a parking lot somewhere in Connecticut. I carefully remove Sophie from her seat by keeping her in a sitting position in order to keep most of the barf in her lap until she is outside the car. Luckily, we had a car full of clothes, etc., since we were heading to my sister's for the weekend. Aaron takes over cleaning the car seat because he knows that I wouldn't be able to handle it without barfing myself.

Aaron: "I need gloves and water. Stat!"

The silver lining: she seems to be cured of her raisin addiction for the time being.

Snowstorm

(click on photo for more info)

We drove home from my sister's family's house yesterday. The weather report (the last one I read) on Saturday called for about 3 inches on Sunday. I guess we should have read or checked the weather again yesterday because we got another 12 inches. Luckily, one of our lovely neighbors snowblowed (snowblew?) the entrance to our driveway after the monster plows did their usual mass plowing. There was still 12 inches in our driveway for Aaron to shovel early, early, early this morning.

I have no idea what the total snowfall is around here at the moment. I'm estimating at least 3 feet so far this winter. You can't even see the stop sign at the corner because of the piles. It's crazy. I knew it was going to be a rough winter. Tonight is supposed to be very cold (-15°F wind chill factor) and then next week hit almost 60. Maybe we'll lose a lot of the piles? A bummer for the snow-loving folks, but hopefully a break for us. Our driveway is getting more and more narrow with each storm. There is just nowhere to put the snow.

In other news, I still have a bad cough and I'm exhausted. My back and stomach hurt from all the coughing and it's starting to piss me off. I called my doctor's office today but the first appointment they have is for Monday. I hope it's gone by then and I don't need the appointment. I went to bed with Sophie last night (around 7:30) and I'm still tired.

I have so much to do to get ready for Second Christmas (still attempting to make everyone's presents) and it's a packed schedule. I did not plan on sickness.

Brown-eyed Girl

Photo courtesy of my very talented sister

In other news, we're all battling annoying coughs made worse by a jam-packed weekend with no rest.

Sophie's latest is to tell us what she's going to be when she's a "big girl"

The list so far:

"When I a big girl, I gonna be a bird and be in my nest and take care of my babies (gesturing with wings and hugging her babies)."

"When I a big girl, I gonna be a airplane, Mommy!"

And, after showing Aaron a gnome ornament and after he began singing: "I'm a lumberjack and I'm okay!": (yes, sometimes the train of thought is less than linear)

"When I a big girl, I gonna be a lummerjack 'cause I okay."

Another story I forgot to mention happened recently. We've been working on Christmas cookies for presents for our neighbors and family and there were cookies in dishes all over the table in the kitchen. We gave Sophie a taste or two of the chocolate ones and it was all over. She kept insisting: "One more, Mommy and that's it, okay?" (imagine lots of hand gestures)

I tried explaining that Christmas was about giving and thanking people for being our friends and that we were going to send the cookies to our family and give them to our neighbors to say Merry Christmas.

She thought about this for a bit. The gears clearly turning in her head.

"And then they give them back, right?"

Merry Christmas!

Another whirlwind weekend. We intended on staying at my parents' house until Monday after lunch so that we could be home Christmas Eve and Christmas day to start our own tradition. But Sophie was having such a great time (Despite being sick. Again.) that we decided to stay Monday night as well.

She had a blast with her cousins and aunts and uncles. We made graham cracker houses and birdseed ornaments and decorated cookies and went sledding.

Sophie was an adrenaline junkie on the sled. My brother smoothed the path to one of my dad's barns and it made a great sledding hill. Not too steep, but you could get going pretty fast. Sophie started off going down on the toddler sled - one into which we could strap her, but she soon wanted to go down on the round saucer. We told her to hold on and not let go and I waited for her a little ways down the hill so that I could catch her before she got too far. She held on and was having so much fun that I let her go by me. She was yelling the whole way: "Here me come! Watch out for Sophie! Beep! Beep! Honk! Honk!"

As soon as she made it to the bottom, her first words: "Again, Mommy!"

She went down a couple more times. Her last run, her uncles were on the path building a better rampart wall and she headed toward them. The first uncle in the way was going to just let her go between his legs, but she veered suddenly and he had to jump out of the way. She screamed and then the next uncle managed to make a tunnel for her. He said that her eyes were shut tight and the sled was spinning and spinning and bouncing off the sides of the path. "Wheeeeeeee! Here me come!!!"

She was too much. What a great kid.

Her imagination is hitting new heights. One of her favorite buddies was a photo of my parents' cat. She kept talking to him in this little high-pitch voice about how she was going outside and he was telling her to have a great time but he was going to stay inside.

My sister also said that she was helping Sophie get out of her snow boots, etc., and her sock came off so Sophie's toes started talking to her about how their sock was missing. Crazy little lovely girl.

Oh, and when decorating the houses and cookies with frosting, she kept "accidentally" getting frosting on her fingers and would ask me if she could lick it off. At a couple of points, she said: "Mommy, you sit over dere so you can't see me, okay?" hee hee hee. You're cute, but nice try.

There's more but I'm pooped and I've got to get some sleep. One of us has to work in the morning.

Snow Angels!

We have over 2 feet of snow out there right now. Ugh. Another 8 inches or more came down on Saturday night/Sunday. Aaron had a review session on Sunday that was not getting canceled, so he had to dig out of the driveway to leave. And then I was all prepared to take the car in the garage and just leave for work this morning, but I ran into a wall of solid-packed snow at the end of the driveway that I could not get through. The regular ergonomic snow shovel was not cutting it, so I start hacking away at the wall with a garden spade. Aaron finally came out and relieved me. Blech.

Anyhoo, on Saturday, before the second storm, we drove up to my parents' house to cut down a Christmas tree for them.

There was already about 8 inches of snow on the ground. Perfect opportunity for snow angels, right?

Plop! Into the snow, Sophie!

TGIF

We ended up getting about 10 - 12" last night. It's hard to tell - it is a very light, fluffy snow and the wind picked up last night.

The snow plows last night were intense. Two enormous plows kept circling our neighborhood. It seemed like they went by every 10 minutes at one point. They sounded like tanks and the house shook when the went by. It was hard not to laugh at one point because, with each pass, they added another foot of snow to the front of our driveway. I had to work this morning, so we were going to have to shovel the wall first thing in the morning. And by we, I mean Aaron. No sense shoveling it last night with over-eager snow plows on the prowl.

Word on the street is that they are trying to make sure as much snow is off the ground as possible before the next storm hits Saturday night.

The sunrise this morning was a thing of wonder. The pink sky made the snowy trees look like cotton candy. I kept kicking myself for not bringing a camera with me to work. It was absolutely amazing.

Snow Update

It started snowing around 11:30 today. From gray, ominous sky to blizzard in the blink of an eye. I was planning on leaving around 2 but now I'm feeling panicked. Sweaty, nervous. Is it safer to leave now, with a bit of snow on the ground or wait a bit longer to make sure things are plowed/sanded/salted?

The majority of schools closed early so they must be plowing to make sure the kids get home safely, right?

I always panic when there's bad weather. And it looks especially bad out there right now.

Aaron's still at school and he has a longer trek than I. He's all nonchalant about getting home.

I live about 3 miles from work and I'm panicked. Who's the New Englander again?

Ruh Roh, Snow!

...HEAVY SNOW WARNING IN EFFECT FROM 1 PM THIS AFTERNOON TO 11 PM EST THIS EVENING...

A SHORT DURATION BUT POTENTIALLY HIGH IMPACT SNOWFALL WILL AFFECT NORTHERN MASSACHUSETTS AND SOUTHERN NEW HAMPSHIRE THURSDAY AFTERNOON INTO THURSDAY EVENING. SNOW ACCUMULATIONS OF 4 TO 10 INCHES ARE EXPECTED WITH THE HEAVIEST AMOUNTS IN NORTHERN MASSACHUSETTS.

And then a Nor'Easter is headed our way on Saturday night. With the potential of a foot of snow or more. Holy cow.

Happy Birthday Aaron!

Today Aaron turned 35.

("yeah, it's that year that's divisible by 5. and 7. One of only three such years that I'm likely to live through.")

If I understood that, it would probably be depressing.

Happy Birthday to my sweetie! Even when we're stressing about money and schedules and life, I always look at you and know that I wouldn't want to be arguing with anyone else.

And, I love your beard. Don't shave it.

-----------------
In other news, you might want to ignore the weather reports if you're already depressed about being over the hill:

Weather Spoiler Alert!

A WINTER STORM WATCH IS ISSUED FOR THE POTENTIAL OF ACCUMULATING
SNOW OF 6 OR MORE INCHES IN A 12 HOUR PERIOD OR 8 OR MORE INCHES IN A 24 HOUR PERIOD. ANYONE TRAVELING IN THE NEXT 24 HOURS SHOULD MONITOR LATER FORECASTS AND BE PREPARED TO MODIFY TRAVEL PLANS SHOULD WINTER WEATHER DEVELOP.

Sophie Says...

[I'm in the kitchen, working on the soup/chili for dinner]

Sophie: walking into the kitchen: Mommy, what you doin'?

Me: I'm cooking soup. For dinner.

Sophie: COOKIE SOUP!?!

Me: Ah, no. I'm cook-ING soup. Not cook-ie soup.

Sophie: I some cookie soup? I love it so much!

Me: Not cook-IE soup. I'm cooking-INNNNGGG soup.

Sophie: Okay, Mommy. I hungry!

She was not amused when I set the bowl of black bean soup in front of her.

Sunday, Sunday, Sunday!

Well, just a dusting of snow so far out there. We accomplished a lot today. We went grocery shopping and kept a week's worth of groceries under $65 (including a big bag of yummy fair trade coffee) (I almost wrote "free-range" coffee...). The grocery store at 9 on a Sunday was not busy at all. Word on the aisles was that everyone did their "Sky is Falling!" shopping yesterday afternoon.

We got home, worked with Sophie on some thank you cards for two elderly neighbors who gifted us with Halloween cookies and Welcome to the Neighborhood cookies. We went on a short walk to drop them off at the two houses. Sophie was uber-grumpy, so we didn't stay long. The woman across the street seems so lonely. She invited us in, wanted to chat for a while. Very sweet. We did stay and talk for a bit. She has a lovely house. She seems sad.

Then, Sophie and went inside to warm up and Aaron stayed outside to deal with some of the leaves in the yard. It seemed like everyone was out doing leaves today in the twenty degree weather. It was frigid! Everyone complained about the neighbor next to us who has an enormous yard of oak trees and never does his leaves. Probably because all his leaves blow down the street toward us. The lovely boxwood bordering our property is all entangled right now. We've decided to leave most of the leaves over the winter to insulate the hedge. It has a lot of recovery to do seeing as the previous owner did everything he could to kill it. Or so it seems.

Then, Aaron finished with the leaves, took a break and started clearing out the garage so we could fit one of the cars in before the storm. This involved lots of huge boxes taken up the attic and lots of rearranging. The original plan was to park the CR-V in the garage as it is the first one to leave in the morning (me) but it barely fit. So, the Civic is in there.

If we get as much snow/ice as expected, Aaron may have a snow day and I can just drive the Civic to work.

Why can't Mother Nature just dump on us on a Friday night? Then we'd have all weekend to play in the snow and not have to worry about traffic accidents on the way to work. I live a short distance from work, but people drive pretty obnoxiously and I'm dreading driving during an ice storm. There is no way my work will close for the day.

I'm almost finished with my stuffed cat. In hindsight, I should have sewn the eyes and nose on before I turned the fabric and stuffed it. Now I think I might paint the eyes on. The tail area is also a little wonky. Still, for no pattern and a first attempt, it looks pretty good.

In other DIY projects, I cut down some greenery from the enormous arborvitae in the backyard. I'm hoping to fashion a wreath or garland out of it for decorations. I'll post photos if I like how it turned out.

Toodles. Stay warm. All of you in hot climates? Shut it.

Ruh Roh

We finally got three trees into the ground today. Holy hell, it was cold outside. I had to use a pitchfork to get through the top layer of frozen tundra. Aaron's determined to rake up a bunch of leaves tomorrow because this is on the horizon:

Sunday Night: Periods of snow and sleet, mainly between 9pm and midnight, then periods of freezing rain and sleet between midnight and 3am, then periods of snow and sleet after 3am. The snow could be heavy at times. Low around 24. Calm wind becoming east around 5 mph. Chance of precipitation is 90%. Little or no ice accumulation expected. New snow and sleet accumulation of 3 to 5 inches possible.

Other local radio stations are predicting 6 or more inches Sunday night. Tomorrow is also going to be spent going to the grocery store early to beat the hordes and cleaning out the garage so we can get at least one car in there before the snow.

Update from the National Weather Service: (it's in all-caps, so it must be serious)

A WINTER STORM WATCH REMAINS IN EFFECT FROM SUNDAY EVENING
THROUGH MONDAY MORNING.

LIGHT SNOW WILL MOVE INTO NORTHWESTERN MASSACHUSETTS AND
SOUTHWESTERN NEW HAMPSHIRE SUNDAY AFTERNOON. SNOW WILL BECOME
HEAVY AT TIMES THROUGH SUNDAY NIGHT WITH SLEET MIXING IN WITH THE
SNOW PERIODICALLY. SIGNIFICANT SNOW ACCUMULATIONS CAN BE
EXPECTED.

A WINTER STORM WATCH IS ISSUED FOR THE POTENTIAL OF ACCUMULATING
SNOW OF 6 OR MORE INCHES IN A 12 HOUR PERIOD OR 8 OR MORE INCHES
IN A 24 HOUR PERIOD. ANYONE TRAVELING IN THE NEXT 24 TO 36 HOURS
SHOULD MONITOR LATER FORECASTS AND BE PREPARED TO MODIFY TRAVEL
PLANS SHOULD WINTER WEATHER DEVELOP.

Stick a fork in it.