Tip of the Hat to John Edwards

We were fans in this house and are sorry to see his campaign come to an end even though we knew he didn't have a chance to get the nomination. He made an appearance at the Hibbing Memorial Building shortly before the 2004 election. Ellen was in second grade at the time, but we felt she was old enough to drag to a rally. I even made her a shirt for the occasion. It was a very exciting thing to be part of and I'll always be glad that we were able to hear him speak in person.

And yes, we had another day off. Every school in the area is closed.

Another Recipe

It turned out really well that we had the day off. Carly had a bit of a cough yesterday and this morning it was worse. She looked really pale and washed out. We knew if we didn't take her in today that we'd likely be taking her in tomorrow. Paul brought her over to the clinic where she was able to get in with our regular doctor right away. She'll be taking Zithromax the next few days. There is a pharmacy in the clinic, so it was nice that he was able to just do one stop with her. Hopefully she'll perk up quickly. Paul did say that the roads were very icy on the bridges and no one is out today.

Right before they left I made up a pan of bars. I got this recipe from the parent of a student. Back in the days when we allowed parents to bring in homemade items, she brought these in for her son's birthday. I made these on Saturday when Royce & Lynn came up. What is nice about this recipe is that I almost always have the ingredients on hand. Ellen even likes them which says something since she is my Simon/like food critic. My camera battery is charging right now. I'll add a picture later.

Peanut Butter Bars

Mix together:
1/2 cup butter/margarine (I use butter flavored Crisco)
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup creamy peanut butter
1 egg
1 tsp vanilla

Add:
1 cup flour
1/2 cup quick cooking oats
1 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp salt

Spread into a greased 9x13 pan. Sprinkle 1/2 bag of chocolate chips over the top. Bake at 350 for 20 to 25 minutes or until lightly brown. Cool for ten minutes.

While the bars cool mix together:
1/2 cup powdered sugar
2 Tbsp creamy peanut butter
2 Tbsp milk

Drizzle the icing over the bars.

Snow Day!

I was feeling like the odds were good that we'd stay home today. It was 40 degrees here yesterday and there was just a wet, sticky feel to the air all day. It started to rain later in the early evening and within a couple hours the roads were very icy. When Paul was at the fire hall he heard over the scanner that the state highway department was advising no travel. You take icy roads and throw in severe windchills, and you have the makings of a snow day.

I turned on the tv before I hit the shower and they were just showing that the Duluth area schools were closing. I got the call around 6:25 that we would be closed. We turned on the tv and saw that almost all of the Iron Range schools were closed. It's possible that we'll be home tomorrow too. We are supposed to have windchills as low as 50 to 60 below.

Carly has a cold, so it works out well for her to stay home. Ellen got up when she heard the phone ring and then went back to bed. I plan to watch a movie, get some little jobs around the house done, and just relax. I have been pretty tired of school, so this is a nice little break.

This morning as we were getting ready

for school, Ellen got a round brush caught in her hair. It sent waves of horror through my entire body. That brush was within an inch of her scalp and fully entwined. I told her we had two choices - cut it out or pull out as much hair as possible from the brush. One choice would be painless but would have lasting visable effects. The other would hurt, but would probably not be noticeable. So I worked at getting as much hair out of the brush as possible. It didn't take too long, but it was uncomfortable for Ellen and the brush had lots of hair in it when we were done. Her hair looks the same and that was the desired outcome. Ellen will never use a round brush again. I gave her a Tylenol afterward. She said it actually helped a lot.

I'm hoping for a late start or snow day Tuesday or Wednesday. It could happen.

More Gracie pictures

While Royce & Paul were out collecting driftwood, the rest of us hung out at our house. Lynn & I started watching the movie "Away from Her" which we did not finish. I'm going to do that this afternoon. We played with the playstation. We made up some cream cheese/shrimp wontons that I baked instead of fried. I also made up the classic cream cheese/cocktail sauce/shrimp dip - I love that stuff. Paul fried up some crappies for dinner. We had a salad and baked potatoes to go with it. I ate entirely too much (and did a really hard and long exercise dvd that I got from Netflix this morning).

I think Gracie is going to be an animal lover like Ellen. She was quite taken with Daisy the hamster. She was making cooing and squeaking noises when she saw her. She'd reach out and touch her gently. It was really cute. Ellen took Daisy out again later to show Royce & Paul how Gracie liked her and she was just as interested. I think a few years from now, I might have to be that bad aunt who gives a hamster as a pet.

Gracie

These are the pictures everyone wants to see. We didn't think Gracie looked much different than she did at Christmas, but we thought she seemed a lot older. She sits up well. When she is on her tummy, she can really hold up her head. She interacts with people more. When they got here, Ellen's friends were still at our house and they just loved playing with her. Gracie enjoyed being right in the middle of it. Nancy, you'll recognize the outfit she's wearing in the first couple of pictures. It really looked cute on her. I'll get a few pictures up and then do another post.

Royce/Taxidermy

About 5 miles from Keewatin is a lake that is a great source for driftwood. Two years ago Royce came up and filled a trailer. He was getting really low, so came up this weekend to fill it up again. Royce and Paul went out to Blue Lake yesterday afternoon and spent a few hours collecting. Royce should be good to go again.

Royce was also going to drop off a fish mount to a guy in Hibbing this morning. This guy had a son who was in Paul's class last year. Royce did a goose mount for him last year. He also dropped off two bucks at our house this fall. You have to like a client like that. I think this is a pretty impressive looking mount and that you'd like to see it.