Cold, wet snow!

This is what we woke up to today. The kids' school was canceled also. I hope the weather improves. I've been home with a sick boy since Monday and I'm getting a little stir crazy!

They're here....

Our friends arrived safe and sound last night. Pete got home about an hour later from the DC area. Ben and Emmy live in Taiwan and came to the states to see Ben's family for Thanksgiving. Their daughter, Florence, is the cutest little two year old. She has dark hair like her mommy and curls like her father's side. They said people stop them in the streets in Taipei because she is so cute. I believe it.

For dinner last night I cooked poached salmon (aka Nana's salmon), steamed rice and green beans. Ben was so impressed that I had a rice cooker. I guess they aren't common in the states for non-Asians and I had to remind him who I was married to. Yes, my husband and his family had lived in Taiwan when Pete was little. They love Asian cuisine and my mother-in-law used to be a really good cook. The salmon had lemon, rice vinegar, white wine and some olive oil on it along with some herbs and Dijon mustard. It turned out perfect! The juices were ladled over the white rice. The green beans were simple with a little squirt of lemon juice and salt. For dessert, I made the apple tart again. Ooh la la. Ben brought some very good red wine from Napa valley and we opened our Riesling brought back from New Zealand. We were saving it for such an occasion as this.

We're going out to eat tonight. Yay for baby sitters! Emmy wants Thai food and since she is 24 weeks pregnant with their second child, I figure we will indulge her!

As far as the plans for the day, we haven't figured anything out to do. We woke up to a steady snowfall so I doubt we'll be playing outside much. I doubt there will be enough to build a snowman.

Domestic Goddess...

After my shower every morning, I put on some comfy clothes (until I figure out what I'm going to wear) and my house shoes. For those of you not raised in the south, house shoes are also known as slippers. Today, I could only find the left shoe of both pairs of house shoes. It seems Lilly likes to run off with a shoe in her mouth when she's excited about something. So, I am like the guy from The Best in Show and I have two left feet. If you've never seen the movie, you should rent it. It's a hoot. Anyway, I had to walk around the house like this this morning. I later found the right shoe for one of my pairs of house shoes so now my feet are a little more comfortable.

We are having company this weekend (Yay!) so I need to clean, clean and clean. I also need to go to the grocery store and get some food for our friends. And of course, there are all the other errands that I need to do. But one thing I MUST do today is sweep in the unfinished basement. It seems our old cat pooped down there back in the day when I would forget to clean his litter box. Pete has been after me for a week or so to get to it. I never knew he had done that since I try not to go to the basement EVER. Since it's been brought to my attention, I don't have an excuse now. Dang.

Happy Thursday, y'all.

My day

I got this beautiful card in the mail. It came from South Africa! It was sent from my blogger friend, Char. There is a nice message inside, too. The photo doesn't do it justice, but she also made a charm for my key chain. I love it! Thanks, Char!

It started out as a nice day and got better as the day went on. I met the mom of an old high school friend for lunch at Cozy Thai Bistro. It's nice to catch up. Her daughter will be coming for a visit right after Christmas, so I'm looking forward to that. I found out, though, that she and her husband ate at a restaurant for Thanksgiving. Ugh! I felt so bad to hear it. I knew I should have called her to see what she was doing that day! I (wrongly) assumed one of her daughters would be visiting her or she would be visiting them. You know what they say about 'assume'
don't you?

After lunch I went shopping at Kohl's. I bought a sweater for me (Merry Christmas to myself, I say) and found a cute dress for Kendall. I got a couple of things for my-gulp-great niece. She was born in August so she's just a young thing. Oh, and I did get something for Clayton earlier in the day. I'm doing fairly well with this 'getting ready for Christmas' thing.

I had a few minutes to kill before picking up the kids so I went to Walmart. I really want a 32" flat screen LCD TV. A girl can dream, can't she? I'm tired of the words and pictures being cut off of our curved screen. I only watch about 3 shows, but what the hey? They should be enjoyable!

And then I got home and had that great card! That is one thing I like about this time of year--getting all that mail!

Time is flying by...

Wow! I can't believe it's December already, but when I let the dog out, it certainly felt like it. The cold weather has ushered in. We've been lucky with the weather so far this fall with the exception of that snow storm mid-October. I start wishing the days away around Dec. 21. I hate to say it, but I don't like the short, cold days.

My kids went back to school today. They were home since the Wednesday before Thanksgiving. It was fun hanging out but by Saturday night, I was needing a break. Of course, the kids fought a bunch but they played a lot, too. Pete took the kids to school today. It was nice to wave "bye-bye" to them! :)

So, let the day begin. I need to do some Christmas shopping, set up our nativity (it hasn't been up since before kids), wrap some presents that my mom left here from her visit, and grocery shop. And if I have time, I'll mop the kitchen floor since Clayton spilled some orange juice last night. I doubt the dog licked all of it up!