Baby, it's Cold Outside...

You can't deny it. It is c-o-l-d! I am trying to plan my day and figure out how to keep warm. I am thinking that there will be a lot of cooking going on this weekend! The cold always makes me think of a warm kitchen. When we were little and it would snow or ice my mom would cook up a storm. Or at least that is how I remember it. I think she cooked so that the oven would heat up the house, especially if the power was out. We had and still have a gas stove. And for those of you who don't know, I live in the house that I grew up in. Childhood memories come back pretty easily, although we have changed things in the house a lot.

So what should I cook? I need to bake some bread sometime. We went through almost 2 loaves this week, using it for sandwiches and with dinner. I am also thinking of making some zucchini bread. Yum! Cooking a whole chicken is on my list. I love to roast a chicken then make stock out of the bones and extras. From the stock I want to make a hearty minestrone. It is definitely soup weather. I have been craving squash casserole, but Dave won't eat squash. I'll share my casserole with my 93 year old neighbor or is she 94 now? We always share what we have with her. She hates to cook. Maybe I'll give her some soup too. I can't forget breakfast. I love breakfast. Nice hot grits. Yum! 

On to some pictures from the holidays. First, our cutie cute niece. How can you resist that smile?

Here is the family on Dave's Dad's side. Here we have Dave's sister, Dad, Aunt & Uncle, Grandma, Dave, me, Another Aunt, Brother-in-law, and Step-mom.

And a shot of Dave and I. Isn't he cute?

Oh, an update on my mom. She is doing well. She went back to work half days this week and she made it. She'll do that for another week and then try 8 hour days. She still has a low energy level, which the doctor said is normal. And she had someone clean her house for the first time this week. The doctor recommended it so that she can save her energy! The house will be cleaned every 2 weeks once it gets in shape. Mom is relieved. Thanks for praying! She still a lot of healing to do but she is on the way there. Also, she needs to have a couple of other surgeries that she knew about before all of this happened at Thanksgiving. She has to decide when to try to plan one of those at least. The other she wants to put off until she can't stand it anymore. Sigh. I'll let you know when she makes her decision.

Work is shaping up. I got my schedule and I love all of the teachers that I work with. I only have one or two difficult students and I am coming up with a plan on how to handle them. I can handle the schedule I have right now. Usually it changes a couple of times though. I am hoping that I get to keep what I have. Hopefully the year will go by quickly and before you know it I will be thinking about next school year.

Well, after talking about food I am hungry. I am off to make some grits! Thanks for reading.