Be Ye Separate

Coming right along:)

Blessings!

   As with all things, whether it be fast or slow, it's coming right along:)

   We did manage to finally have our gathering with brother, wife and niece. It was such a wonderful time and some pretty tastey food I might add:P We exchanged gifts and just spent time talking and enjoying each others company:) It's been a very long time since we've been together for any holidays and this was such a blessing:)

   Things are getting put away slowly and just as soon as I think I've organized something to my liking, I go and change it again! Do I keep doing this because like the work involved? or maybe it's a control issue:P Controlling my environment seems to be the only thing I do have some say in these days:) God has control of the rest and one day I might just give this over to Him too:P

   Our sewing projects that we have had on the ready for the last several weeks are...finally...STILL IN THE READY POSITION! Hehe! I found so many other things that needed doing instead and so, as usual, it all got put aside. Ugh! Perhaps this week I'll get around to more of that and less of the distractions:)

   The girls started new jobs today so I'm all alone! It's odd to be alone. I am not sure I'm enjoying it so much as enduring it. Well, it's only until 3 so it isn't so bad I guess:P I sure do miss them though. They can fight like cats and dogs and sometimes make me feel like pulling my hair out but you know, I just don't know what I"ll do with myself when they one day leave my nest:s

   Miss Sarah's room is coming right along (hehe). For all of our hopes and wishes, time is what we have and slowly but surely is far more productive than quick and messy:) My brother comes over nearly every weekend to work on the room (and some other to do's) and it is slowly coming around to looking like a real room again! Yay!

   I have pictures of it but I want to wait until we have it completed and then I can show you from start to finish what it looks like! It's so exciting and Miss Sarah is thrilled! She has been working side by side with the men up there from the start and she feels like she's contributed in a big way (which she has) to helping get things done and settled here:)

   The girls went skating on the lake yesterday and last night were feeling it:P With the pending job this morning they weren't looking forward to having to be on their feet all day. But with a little slow achy push this morning they were off and running:)

   We woke up to the most beautiful display of Gods artistic work that I've ever seen. The frost on the treest was crystalized and has everything looking like a frozen wonderland! It's so amazing! Those beautiful branches just sprouting with the most intricate designs of crystalized ice! Absolutely stunning! Thank you God!

   Well, it's just after noon and I need to get some more things done before those two get home. I have to "stage" some things so they can help me with the heavy parts since I can't do that part myself:P Oh and I am redoing the kitchen...again! Always reorganzing that place. One day I think I'll be done with that just in time to move again! hehe!

   The kitchen is just wonderful and big and I am trying to make the most out of my workspace. I still have some things that need unpacked in there but I ran out of steam a few weeks ago and of course the boxes just sat on the floor in the kitchen (out of the way) while we began to live life around them. I can't stand it anymore! I need organization...it makes me crazy! :P

   Okay, I'm done ranting...off to make use of my time:)

God be with thee!

Sister Lori

An Indoor Day!

Blessings!

It is a brisk -11* this morning! So indoor day it is!

Yesterday we got all the Christmas decorations down and put away except for one lone wreath that needs a home:( I was hoping to find another wreath box this year but after searching yesterday at two differen WalMarts I'm pretty sure those are all sold out! They were going for such great prices that I knew I should have purchased one more but thought I had enough:( Oh well...we'll figure it out:)

It's nice to reclaim the house though! This means that now after all the holiday stuffs is over for another year I get to turn my efforts back to the house:) Thank you Jesus!! Our goal is to be completely finished with unpacking (with the except of Miss Sarah's things) by the end of this week! Of course we are also praying that Miss Sarah's room can be finished up this weekend, in which case her thing will be unpacked too:)

I have several sewing projects that need doing and I am hoping to get back to those by next weekend:) I have a wool coat to make, three dresses, 3 flannel blushers, half dozen flannel undies and two flannel under slips to do. Doesn't take long (except the coat) and the girls have their own list of "to do's" that we will all work on together:) It makes my sewing time much more pleasant when I have someone to share it with:)

I'm not sure if we'll be seeing my brother and his family this weekend afterall. I'm sad about that but we have a "chill advisory" that came in last night until noon on Sunday. We decided that if we do go, we'll take a motel room near them so we don't have to try to drive this at night when the temps are expected to drop to -25*. Yikes! They do expect a high of 4* today though hehe!

We spent our New Years Eve, playing some games, eating lots of unecessary snacks and reading together:) We were going to watch a couple old movies but we ended up getting sidetracked with the games instead:) Always a welcome thing:) We much prefer just playing and being together anyway:)

Well, I suppose I should get breakfast up. I let Brother Craig sleep in a bit as he had a very late night last night (twice in a row makes for a grumpy hubby) A good breakfast after a nice sleep always seems to help:) I think the kitchen is warmed up enough now:) I turned the cannon on at 7 and then huddled under my blankie in my room on my lounge:)

Have a very blessed weekend!
God be with thee!
Sister Lori

Who need botox?

We have ICE STORMS!

   Blessings!

   There is nothing more invigorating than a brisk walk in brisk weather:) However, there is something to be said for getting to the end of your drive and finding that you can no long feel your face! I say we get rid of all those needles and just send wrinkle faced people out into the ice storms (temps at 31 with a windchill of 2!!) and I guarantee they won't be able to move enough muscles in their faces to smile, scowl or blink! haha!

   Ever since the blizzard a few weeks ago, we've been walking into town (maybe 1/2 a mile away) and getting a little chilled. We would fog up our glasses as we walked because we were talking incessantly and seeing our breath before us. We had fun trying to make rings of steam from our mouths. We could warm up our hands by breathing on them. We would walk past the lake and see if it was frozen enough yet for skating (not yet:() and get to my husbands work to shake the snow off the boots, buy a drink, get a hug from him and then walk home:)

   All these things aren't even remotely possible when there is a windchill of 2*!!! You see, by the time you get 30 feet from your home, you cannot feel your ears anymore. They are covered by your headscarf but the wind is so fierce that it's blowing right through...you might as well not have anything on your head at all! Once you have realized you cannot feel your ears, you begin to feel a pinching at the ends of your gloved fingers. These gloves are rated for -30...but I don't think they meant WITH A WINDCHILL FACTOR! You make it out to the main road to cross it and walk over the bridge (which has no sidewalk or human lane), but are held up by fast moving big rigs that don't know there's an ice storm happening around them! They slip and slide across the bridge and, without slowing, rush past you spraying you with muddy snow and ice and MORE WINDCHILL!

   Now you are across the bridge, and can still see your house across the little river that runs between you and the main road. By this time you realize that your glasses have stopped fogging over! This seems great and when you open your mouth to comment you notice that not only is there no steam coming from your mouth but you are speaking in tongues...because your lips are frozen in place and your tongue can't get past your chattering teeth!

   Once in town you reach the market and open the door to greet your sweet husband and grab something warm to drink before heading back home again:) He takes one look at you and asks...what have you done to your face? hahahahahaha! Completely expressionless (your face is literally frozen in place ergo no wrinkles, no sags) you look at him and ask..."why whatever do you mean?". His boss comes around the corner, stops and looks you square in your frozen face and asks, "You didn't actually WALK here did you?" I try to nod but my neck seems slightly stiff. He says, "are you nuts? Who in their right mind would come out in an ice storm and walk across town?" I say through clenched teeth (remember my mouth is still frozen)..."An Oregonian?" hahahahaha!!!

   Having taken this short trek out I announce that I am NOT walking home I am stealing the car! I have no intentions of going back out in that to walk ANYwhere! What was I thinking? I run to the car (nearly breaking my neck which is too stiff to look down and see that there's ICE forming on the pavement) and get inside to find that the snow from my husbands shoes 4 hours earlier hasn't even melted yet! In fact, I could still make a snowman out of that! It's so close to home that bothering with the heater is completely ridiculous but I turn it on anyway...why? Because I MISSED THE WINDCHILL FACTOR!!! :D:D:D

   I finally get home, drag the girls and the dogs into the car and run a single errand. It was quick, it was much warmer doing it in the car and it was over! Home again, inside a warm house, trying to thaw out! In fact...my ears started hurting about a half hour later so I knew they were finally thawing and I can finally raise one eyebrow.

   If you don't have to be out in something like this...DON'T :P Botox...what a silly concept...just stick your head in a freezer and you can have it even on the hottest of days!

Have a very blessed and God filled Christmas!!

God be with thee!

Sister Lori

Ice in the Kitchen?

Blessings!

   Okay, I'm on to do much complaining but when it's THIS cold...who can help it? haha!

   Last night, Miss Mary-Ann took the dogs out the front door (bad idea) where there was a buildup of snow drifts against it. Thus the snow fell into the foyer on her way back in. No big deal...in fact I figured it would meld and I would just mop it up shortly. Well, we had decided to watch a movie, so after supper and all, we went into the frontroom and set up the projector and watched it. Several hours later all of us were tired and ready for bed so out of the nice warm frontroom we went and into the foyer to go upstairs...I looked down and sure enough...THE SNOW WAS STILL THERE! Yikes! I knew that room was cold but cold enough NOT to melt a little snow? And yes...it was still there UNmelted this morning:P

   Brother Craig was on his way to work early and I hadn't quite woken up just yet. I've been a little under the weather (no pun intended) and was still to my bed. Anyway, he came in and said he had to walk to work because the car wouldn't start...huh? Why not? He says the car sensor says it's -11 out there!!! Wow! Soooo, the car wont' start (which means our planned outing today won't happen) and if that wasn't enough he says he had the gas stove on with the vent heating out into the room because there was ice on the windows and counters in the kitchen! Wow again! It seems that when the kitchen freezes that the water spills from doing dishes the night before become skating rinks for the ants and mice! hehe:P

   Now I'm not really complaining here, but what about the basement? I have to go down there today to put up some more boxes of glassware from the move. With my legs not liking to do much moving around in the cold, the girls are going to have to go down to be sure there's no ice for me to slip on. Sounds mean, doesn't it? I send my children down to break their legs first? hehe! Not really, it's just that they are able to get down there and back up without having their legs seize up on them:P

   This is all new to us. We have lived in snow before, we have lived in cold before, we have had to deal with frozen pipes and icy windows before, but it never got down below 0 and only for a short time:P

   We experienced our first blizzard AND real snow here at the same time. By the way the blizzard was AMAZING! We watched it intently (from inside the house of course) and really enjoyed the power of it. The result was a stunning display of white covering even the most hideous of things turning them into a masterpiece! God is an awesome artist!

   Today? They are ice fishing! I didn't think it would be that quick before the lake was frozen over enough to do that! Ice skating is next! I can't wait to get into the city and visit the Mississippi. I cannot fathom the idea of that river actually freezing solid! To think, folks drove their covered wagons and did cattle drives across that frozen river! What a sight that must have been.

   Well, that's it for now. Just wanted to share my awe at this new experience in our lives:) God has surely brought us to where we are to be and to experience new and different things in His Name is more than I could have hope for:)

God be with thee!

Sister Lori

Blizzard Alert

   After all this time waiting for a little snow, it appears we are expecting a blizzard instead! The blizzard alert was announced by the National Weather Service in La Crosse, WI.

   We already have about 6 inches of snow on the ground and they expect the blizzard to begin around midnight, accumulating another 12 - 16 inches by morning. This will continue until Thursday morning. Lord willing it won't be too bad for folks.

   If you think of us, please pray for safety, warmth and calm hearts:) It's my first time out here for a winter...and to think, I thought Oregon was snowy! hehe!

   We have plenty of food, plenty of lanterns, plenty of alternative heat sources and plenty of lapwork to keep us busy:)

   Today, the girls went to their uncles house to feed his cats and check on the corn furnace. On their way they got partway across the bridge at the end of our road when a semi hauling two trailers came across. It bounced it's cab a little against the guardrail and then the second trailer fishtailed and tapped the guardrail too. The girls were on the other side of the bridge and they said he never even slowed down. He just drove on! Yikes! They have been forbidden to cross that bridge unless it is completely clear in both directions with no cars or trucks in sight! Once the lake freezes, they can take that as a shortcut and avoid that bridge for the rest of winter.

   Praying that ya'll are safe, warm and out of harms way:)

God be with thee!
Sister Lori