Storm of the Century or not!

It's been one heck of a week!  My daughter's house was broken into Saturday, she and the girls stayed at our house that night. It's very hard to see the pain and anguish of being invaded upon,  to feel again the mind numbing, ugliness that the scum of our society produces.  Her laptop was stolen, one of the biggest losses.  Skype is the link between them and her husband who is in Afghanistan, it's hard enough coping with everday problems and then this.  And the sentimental items, the ones that have NO value.  Irreplacable!

My husband went to nail the door shut until repairs could be done thru a snow storm.  And on Sunday I went to  stay with at our daughter's (at her request), the stay was extended thru Thursday.  The Pacific NW has been hit with snow storms, then ice storms.  At our house we estimate 12 to 14 inches of snow, I understand why the weather stories feel this one is so bad;    most storms are not so big (from Oregon up to Bellingham),  rain is predicted 1 - 3 inches) and with the snow melt we'll have devastating floods.  We made National news!

The granddaughters had so mcuh fun in the snow, they went out multiple times everyday and became quite expert (and eager) at garbing up and peeling off.  V looked like a pink marshmellow in her snowsuit!  We walked, made snow people and threw snow (no packed balls, a 3 yr old doesn't understand) V giggled a lot.  The girls loved to fall over again and again or make angels.  E practiced with sourdough and made some good bread, fresh is the BEST!  The power did go out Wednesday night at 10:30 (time for bed!) and came on 6:30am, the kids never knew!  That's not so bad, some family  had power out much longer and 2 separate times.

My son came and picked up E for a little shopping trip, he installed chains and still slipped around once in while but did a good job driving (better than most out there, driving too fast or hogging the road).  I came home with him,  Thank you!!!

Beau-ti-ful !!!

My favorite kind of day: cold, crisp, blue sky, SUN !!!  When coming home today, from a particular point on the road I can see Mt. Baker - Mt. Rainier - Mt. Pilchuck, Three Sisters and the multitude of mountains surrounding them.  All glowing in the mid afternoon sun and from my kitshen window I see the Olympics in beautiful shadows against the setting sun with a colorful sunset.

I am thinking that one of the goals for this year is to implement 'changes' in how we eat.  We like oatmeal and cream of wheat but I woud like to take it further.  For instance, using brown rice not white.  I love brown rice, it will be the thought put into meals that needs working on because of cooking times, etc.  Instead of listing goals I will create a 'living list' (making the list as changes are incorporated into meals.

Good Food!

I made ham bone and beans today!  Brings back memories of Mom's soup, so good!  I boiled the bone (with plenty of meat left on it) with an onion and garlic for an hour then took it out to cool for shredding. Then I cooked the Anasazi beans, they cook in about 1 hour and originate from the Southwest. Nice, huh!  When the beans were done, I combined them with the meat, broth and a packet of Knorr Vegetable soup mix simmering for 10 minutes. OMG, so good!  My soup is more like a chowder, very thick.

For brunch, I made Bannocks (Scottish pancakes) using sourdough and rolled wheat flakes (I didn't have oatmeal).  The wheat didn't absorb the moisture well and so I will try again with the oatmeal.  Good but could be better!  Both these meals left me full and satisfied for hours with no heartburn that I have been experiencing lately.  Flour, cream of wheat, sugar so far seem to be the culprits.

I have a challenge on Pinterest, getting rid of 100 things.  Five garbage bag liners full, 4 grocery bags and 1 box went to the Goodwill box, Yeah!  Going to work on another 100 items!