Day 6 - SNOW

We got a few inches of snow today, nothing like the DC area. If we are going to get snow, I want enough snow to actually cancel something around here. Nonetheless we still had a pretty fun day, a first for this February.

Lilly and I did some sledding together and Jim did the polar bear plunge into the Susquehanna River with his friend Josh at the ice festival.

I agreed to the polar bear plunge under 2 conditions.

1. Pictures be taken
2. They be posted on my blog

He conceded, but under the conditions that the pictures only remain on my blog for 5 days and that I post his favorite quote about the Susquehanna.

Deal.

Click here to see video courtesy of Josh's wife Maddi.

"And when I had asked the name of a river from the brakesman, and heard that it was called the Susquehanna, the beauty of the name seemed to be part and parcel of the beauty of the land. As when Adam with divine fitness named the creatures, so this word Susquehanna was at once accepted by the fancy. That was the name, as no other could be, for that shining river and desirable valley."

-Robert Louis Stevenson from Across the Plains

Bright side

I forgot one major high point to this year's February: The Olympics! I really love to sit on my couch eating popcorn, while watching other people exert themselves physically.

I was perusing some knitting blogs when I came across an idea to have a knitting Olympics. In 2006 the yarn harlot hosted her own knitting olympics. What I got from the 2 minutes that I scanned the blog post was the vague idea that you start a really hard, but not impossible, knitting project at the opening ceremonies and finish it by the closing ceremonies.

Fun! I love self-imposed challenges that add unneeded extra pressure to my daily life. So I am starting my own 2010 project olympics. Don't you want to do it with me? All the nights you sit in front of the TV watching the olympics you can work on your own olympic project. There has to be someone who wants to join in the challenge with me. It doesn't have to be knitting, it can be anything. Sewing, painting, learning French...I really don't know what your hobbies are.

I am going to make Fiddlehead Mittens.

I actually started this project earlier in the month, got all the way to the thumb and had to undo it. I am cheating a little because I already started it, but it is slightly insane so I feel a head start is fair. These mittens are lined with mohair on the inside making them really warm and cozy.

Some other women from the local knitting shop are working on these mittens as well. I am only going to knit them in two colors and not the 6 that are shown in the picture.

I didn't think I would have them done before summer, but maybe with my new self-imposed stress maker I can!

I hope someone else out there wants to join me in my new February fun maker and start an olympic project!

Day 5

Congratulations February, you get worse by the day. You win.

Last night my sister called me to tell me that her husband is being sent to Iraq for a year, scheduled to leave this summer. We cried together for a minute and then sprung into action making plans on how to conquer this particular challenge.

Brian is excited for this adventure. He has never been over seas and he is looking forward to serving our country. They are finding the silver lining on all the clouds.

We are so very proud of Brian. The Barnettes do not want pity, but pride in their soldier.

Jessamyn will hopefully come stay with me for awhile and finish decorating the rest of my house like the good Cinderella she is.

So today on my blog I salute Brian and all the other soldiers and I try once again to see the bright side of February.

(pictures from Jessamyn's blog)

Day 4

Well, February, you kind of suck, but it's only day 4, right? My friend Jocelyn has committed to a month of service in February. That's a pretty good idea, maybe that will help me achieve my resolution, which has now changed from "Make February fun" to "Make February suck less."

My keys and my salt and pepper are missing today. It is the first day this week that Lilly could even think about leaving the house and she was loosing it when she realized she might not get to pre-school. My friend graciously bundled her children up drove to my house and picked up Lilly and took her to pre-school for me. Thanks for saving the day Tina. I am still on the look out for my salt and pepper, because seriously, who looses salt and pepper? My soup was not as tasty today.

These adorable pictures that I lifted from sisters blog sure cheered me up. I wish he could come to my house and just be cute for me.

February (not really fun yet) month, Day 3

Well, I'll be perfectly honest. Yesterday sucked. I had my positive fun attitude until about 12:30 when exhuastion and sickness hit in and I realized I had only left my house twice since Saturday.

I did call Jim at 4pm and asked ever so kindly that he come straight home from work and rescue me so that I could escape my house and screaming children.

I went to a Zumba class at the gym and then hit the yarn shop for open knitting night. That was fun, so there was a highlight to the day.

When I got back Lilly was still awake sick and miserable and then the carbon monoxide monitor started making weird noises so we had to turn off the coal stove that heats our house. Oh that's right, we have a coal stove that heats our house. Coal. That we (jim) shovel in and out day and night. We'll be lucky if we don't get black lung and or carbon monoxide poisoning before winters end.

So I start day 3 of my resolution sick, exhausted from another night of taking care of children, and a little defeated.

As soon as the sun comes up we are going to the closest town for serious retail therapy.

February fun month, Day 2

Lilly is still very sick with ear infections, fever, and general nastiness. She woke up at 5am to tell me she was hungry for carrots, crackers with melted cheese, animal crackers, and a peanut butter sandwich with no peanut butter.

I went into the kitchen to find a pretty wretched smell similar to sewage..long story not so long....our dishwasher and garbage disposal drains backed up into our laundry sink down stairs, which in turn backed up all over the floor...again.

Now we have to stay home to wait for the drain man to come fix our really cold (open windows in an attempt to air out the house), smelly, sick house.

Any other February I would have thrown in the towel, crawled back into bed, and demanded Jim take a sick day to take care of us. However, since I knew this was my fun month, I decided to make the best of it.

After a lot of thought, I realized that these things are no big deal at all. There are so many worse things that go on in the world, we're actually really lucky. For my fun day today I am going to list all the things that I am grateful for...specifically today.

1. Beautiful babies to hold

2. Husband who let me go back to sleep for an hour before he left for work

3. A house

4. Dishwasher/garbage disposal that need fixing

5. Windows to open to air out the smell

6. Hot water

7. Sleeping babies who are taking naps at the same time!

8. Sick Lilly who still loves to cuddle her brother, no matter what.

After I decided to have a positive day, really great things happened. I had 2 high bank fees removed from my account and Lilly found a library book that has been missing for 3 months. Hurray!

My birthday present will probably end up being the fixed drains...but isn't that better? I know I would prefer to have working appliances and a clean house than anything else.

Jim taught Lilly about groundhogs day and she spent the morning looking out the window for the beaver to come and tell her about the sun and winter.

Even though the sun is not out and babies are sick, we are going to have a really fun day today.

My Birthday Wish List

1. Lap top.

2. Day at the spa

3. Scissors to keep in my knitting bag (I just always forget to buy these)

4. Apple's newest gadget: I-pad. (Although I would call it the I-Liz)

5. Subscription to Martha Stewarts Every day Living and Every day Food

6. Weekend Trip to NYC

7. Tights to go with my leg warmers that I am going to make

8. Maid service, because seriously I cleaned my bathtub last month.

That's it for now. I think it's completely reasonable.