(we didn't buy the $20 bunnies, either.)

I'm so glad we decided to go out Friday to get the Christmas tree.

It's kind of a little game around here:  Jeff makes grumbling and complaining noises whilst cutting and hauling and dragging and strapping and bringing into the house, and I clean up and oversee decorating (and do the high spots the girsl can't reach) and monitor the near-constant watering and tending through the month, and thank him sincerely for putting up with his wife who grew up on a constant diet of yearly-cut-trees.  (Who is the one who clips the coupon for our favorite farm?  Yes, him, of course.  It's a game I tell you!)

Friday felt much too early, just after Thanksgiving, but with a non-stop December and a nice long weekend handy, it was lovely to go.

(p.s.  Despite that look on Kaatje's face, we came home with only the dog we brought, even though I suppose $400 for Golden Retrievers is a great price.  "I just need to see the puppies once more before we go!"  Oooh you 6-week-old puppies, it's a good thing you're cute... I just remember too well the chewed-up walls and wintertime housebreaking!)

before the *real* cold

This is the park where the dog gets to run (known around our house as "Toffee's park").  It was a downright warm just a bit ago, 38 degrees F (these pictures were from before Greta stripped her coat off) and we took our before-lunch outside break in the playfields down the street.  The day before was 14 above, I threw the frisbee around a bit for the creature, and we ran and stomped, but had to head home when fingers and toes soon started to tingle.

Right now it's -6 F and still falling, but the sun is beautiful on the arctic days, streaming through all our big old south-facing windows.  If the dog's not curled in a little ball on the couch, he's following the sun across the carpet.  He doesn't seem to mind going out, though, even in the -13 this morning.

Talk (and life) kind of revolves around the weather here in the winter.  How could it be different?  Negative ten degrees gives one pause when running the thirty feet out to the garage to look for something.  The thick of winter!  We sleep in a little more, read under the blankets a little more.

(and I do dream of ninety-five degrees, dewy glasses of ice tea, and trees full of green.)

around the house this summer

~ yesterday my lovely neighbor gave me 3 tomatoes.  I immediately made caprese salad.  (And immediately ate it.  Nevermind Jeff was warming up dinner at the time.)

~ this sour cream is lovely with meat, or on sandwiches.  Especially if one has a tarragon plant that thinks it is a perennial in zone 3 and is now 3 feet tall.

~ lots of projects on and off the needles.  Anyone else with a fall baby?  I've found the Perfect Baby Sweater (thank you, all in the round).

~ the girls know they're on borrowed time, those evenings outside after our late suppers...we're pretty sure that's why they play so nicely. ("five more minutes, please!!"  and we usually give in...)

one picture, one thought

after this week, we will feel like the Yiddish man 

who was told to put the farm animals in his house...

it will seem so calm without them!

(but oh, they love to play together - 

at least they wear each other out!)

the right idea.

he knows how this bitter windy february day should be spent.

(we were so mean as to cut off all his hair, 

so I suppose he's allowed a few concessions for 

lying around with his nose under his tail.)

cards, and snow. lots. of. snow.

Cards were mailed out for "kids craft weekly"'s handmade card swap.  We had so much fun with this last year, K wanted to do it again - and this year was even better.  K did so much by herself and helped so much, it was completely worth it!

(Jeff reminded me that last year I was wondering if I'd do it again, it was a lot of work for me to prepare and send out 10 cards around the world... I love the girls getting older!)

We signed up about a month ago, then got our addresses the beginning of December.  The ten families we send the cards to also send cards to us.  K wanted to write them letters, so then little g did too (which she dictated to me).  I got to thinking about the things I like learning about these families from all over, so I wrote a little note, too, talking about where we live and a bit about who we are.

Then K made 10 origami stocking ornaments, one for each, the girls helped me stuff envelopes, and we made our way to the post office.

(and by the way - if you complain about postage rates going up, you really need a reality check.  I send 10 over-thick cards, 4 overseas - one to the OTHER SIDE OF THE PLANET, and it cost less than 8 dollars.  Give me a break people - mail is CHEAP!!)

Another mildly creepy note:  whilst looking up a zip code that was missing in an address, I realized something.  For many of these families who are receiving our cards (and us included), their homes can be seen on the map street-view.  So yes, I can see the house of the family who is going to get our card in England.  crazy.

And, if you follow the NFL at all, or are in the midwest, or watch the news, or pretty much are alive in the U.S., you've probably heard about our metrodome-imploding storm.

(please look up the video of the roof falling in the metrodome - it's incredible!)

The girls played outside some Saturday, the day of the snow, but yesterday was too cold for them, as today will probably be.

Nothing is too cold for the dog.

Now, if only we could keep him from escaping from the yard by using the snow piles.  The snow is higher than the (4-foot tall) fence a couple places in the back and all along the front yard...  he'll be on his lead when he's outside the rest of the winter!

(we're not afraid of him running away, he stays right near the house - he just wants to jump over to meet people!  but we do live on a busy street.)

Now I just have to do our family cards...  sigh.  Stay warm this week!

oh, he keeps an eye on them.

The girls have been loving to play outside recently.  I have been loving that I can stay inside while they do so.  With a dire warning about watching for snow-plows, they have created a fort/cave/play area in the 5+ foot tall snowbank at the end of the driveway, and, even with highs in the teens, they'll stay outside for an hour or more in the afternoons.

That's not to say they don't have supervision, however:

 

(he's so helpful that way...)

bzzzz....

When my dad was a kid, growing up without extra money in Chicago, he says that every summer, first thing, all the boys would get their "summer hair cut" - i.e., shaved. Saved on time, energy, and money!

We didn't mean the same for the dog, but a couple weeks without good combing and all the humidity and playing in the hose has cost him 5"+ of fur....

...ready?

We traded our fuzz-ball into the groomer and

were given back a poodle!

Although I was mentally prepared for the difference in appearance, I wasn't prepared for the mental problems he seems to be having.... he hasn't been himself since he's been back - he's skittish and shy and exuberant and crazy all at the same time, impossible to walk, won't listen to any of the commands he used to follow so well.

I told Jeff that evening: if Pippin stays like this, I'm giving him away.

Fortunately, recently he's doing better and is more like himself, for better or worse.

And, as we reminded ourselves even before we brought him in - "hair grows!"

(I'm sure he's happier yesterday, also, with it being 90 degrees w/ a dew point in the upper 60's. I wish I had 5" of hair to cut off all over my body!... no wait, I don't wish that.)

Wanna see that again?

before:


after:


um, yeah, it's the same dog... and he's not minding so much now that we don't have air!