WHITE IS GRAND

SNOW, SNOW. and MORE SNOW!!! I had forgotten the true meaning of "winter" having spent the last 11 in South Texas. The true meaning of winter is that you do not see the ground for 3-4 months, literally! I had forgotten how the "white" is very definitely blinding when the wind is blowing it around and each of those tiny little 6 pointed "creations" can accumulate so fast. OH how I wish I could see the intricasies of each one. I am told they are all different and my curious mind "wants to see for myself".

I shoveled the driveway in MN for 1 1/2 hours before we came over to WI on Sat. Last night and today they are predicting a snow fall of between 8-12 inches. Yesterday I spent 2 hours cleaning off the condo driveway down to bare pavement. The association cleans off the most of it but always leaves an inch and it turns to hard packed snow and is slippery. So I got that off. Then the snow began to fall in the late afternoon again. The plow came in the night and cleaned off some but it is still falling. I cleaned off our small walkway and about 3 feet in front of the garage door before bed last night , and just did it again before breakfast. I like to do it in small doses as it is easier to handle. Matti was helping me shovel the back deck yesterday which is not but 12X12 and after two shovelfulls, she announced "It snowed a lot!" and was ready to "throw in the shovel" on helping Mamaw.

AND it is still falling and will be most of the day. All the schools are closed and Jodi is home today with the grand daughters baking cookies for the exchange on Sat at her house. I hope to join her later. I want to make several kinds, so haven't picked my recipe to share. I also want to make some pint milk carton sized Gingerbread houses with Matti and Emma. My goal today is to find a recipe for the cookie dough, make some templates (after I go buy a couple of pint milk cartons to use as a base), and then make it to the store to get all the ingredients. Emma wasn't feeling well yesterday, so we took care of her and Matti from noon to 6pm. I made a big pot of chili for our supper and it hit the spot on a cold snowy winters eve.

My first order of business is to go to Fleet Farm and find me some warm boots that I can wear to shovel in. Tennis shoes work in Texas winters but not up here in MN/WI winter snows.

AND I AM LOVING IT! I guess they have taken TX out of the girl( I was born in Dallas and lived in TX until I was 23!) I miss the travel and the friends we have made traveling, but I do like winter and all of what that means....snow, snow and more snow! Anyone wanting a snowball, I do ship them for a fee.