CCD Lesson

The Beatitudes are today!

Matthew 5:1-12

The Lords Prayer

Matthew Chapter 6:9-15

A few other parables in Matthew, too!

So....

I know I wasn't going to discuss the weather...But...

My daughter walked into the dining room and said "mom, why is the dining room table full of water?"

We have a leak through the attic/roof.  Thank goodness the new roof rake just came in yesterday.  We did the back of the house yesterday and today, my son got on the front half of the roof and knocked the snow off - it took a few hours, there was so much!  Then, my daughter and I had to shovel all the snow he knocked off the roof.  It is all done now.  The leak in the dining room has slowed down, but the ceiling of the dining room doesn't look too good.

I seriously hate this weather.......

The aftermath of the storm

My son's new car got hit yesterday.  It was just a fender bender, but a woman backed out of her driveway because she couldn't see over the piles of this snow and my son just happened to be coming down the street...

My other son got out of work at 11:30 pm at night...attempted to get home, got as far as our hill and couldn't make it up (8 inches of snow at that point).  Slid back down the hill and parked at the grocery store parking lot, BUT forgot he left his hazard lights on.  Started to walk home and someone gave him a ride up the hill.  We went to start his car at noon yesterday and it was dead, so my hubby was able to come and jump the battery.  My daughter doesn't have school again (yesterday or today) - 5 days off so far this winter and April vacation will start to be shortened!  Same with all the other schools in this area. 

The weathermen are saying this is the worse January on record EVER and that this is the highest total of snow for any month in CT ever.  Aren't we so lucky!! 

And I think I am DONE talking about the weather this week.........I have to move on  :)

And more snow!

We got four inches yesterday morning into the afternoon.  I left work at 1:00 to come home.

Overnight, we got 14 more inches.

Total = 18 inches of snow and no place to put it!!!!!!!!

My daughter and I have been shoveling for a couple of hours.

I am waiting for the plow to do the driveway.  I cannot get out right now.  Hopefully, I can go into work for 1:00 today............I will try to post pictures later!

Verse

I saw this verse posted twice in the last two days on two totally separate and different types of blogs....I think it is speaking to me, although I'm not sure why yet:

Do not forget to show hospitality to strangers,

for by so doing some people have shown hospitality to angels without knowing it.

Hebrews 13:2

We have heat...sort of!

As I stated in an earlier post this morning, we have no heat in our building today.  My wonderful boss went out and bought everyone a mini space heater for our desks!  My right hand was numb, even with the glove on, but it is feeling pretty good right now!!!  I have a great boss!

More Misc.

The hens are fine......(-2 degrees) at 6:30 this morning and they were ready to get outside!

The STEELERS won!  We went to a great party at a friend's house to watch the game last night.
Sorry, Jets Fans!

New Zumba Sessions start this week.  Monday, Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday!  Email or comment me if you need any information!

We could be talking about 6 plus inches of more snow this week (the weather forecasters are not too sure yet).

Have a great week...........

Brrrr at work

And would you believe it....NO heat at work today. 

I am wearing my coat, a scarf and mittens.  It is very difficult to maneuver a computer mouse in mittens......

And this is why my hens stay in the kitchen

Jenna from coldantlerfarm lost some hens last night.  Granted, she is farther north than I am and it was colder, but hens aren't the smartest animals and they didn't stay inside her coop and so, they froze to death.  And this is why my hens stay in the kitchen.  If you have a chance, take a look at her blog.  I have been reading her for years and she is pretty awesome!

I just hope the local feral cats were okay last night. 

Stay warm my friends....

Coop pictures - edited to add pictures

Pictures of the coop taken from the patio.

One of the boxes where the chickens stay at night - they have plenty of room......

The hens coming out of the coop at about 10:00 am this morning.  Hubby had put them back into their coop at about 6:30 this morning after their evening in the house.

Jumping over their boxes to come on the patio and eat the cat food.  I had to shoo them back to the yard. There will be too much poo on the patio if we let them hang out with us......It is going get up to be 20 degrees here today, and tonight it is getting down to (-2) again.....I know it is worse north of here and west of here, but these temps are pretty bad for right HERE!

These are the two boxes with the hens in them taken in at 10:00 pm for the night - it is about 10 degrees right now and is going down to below zero.....But the hens are happy!

Chickens in the Kitchen

And I don't mean in the fridge or in the oven!!!!

We just brought the hens into the kitchen.  They are in large cardboard boxes so with plenty of fresh hay on the bottom so they can't get out and walk around.  Temperatures are going below zero tonight.  I believe it will be -2 tonight and possibly colder tomorrow night!  There is no path through all the snow to the shed (where I would prefer to keep them!).  So, they will be in the kitchen each evening for a few nights until these temperatures start to warm up a little bit.....God Bless my husband and kids because they don't care if there are chickens in the kitchen....but I think the family would prefer them in a pot on the stove or in the oven!!!!  Oh well....

The week in review

Monday - My brother's surgery, worked all day, Zumba, then church
Tuesday - snow/rain/ice - went to work for only 6 hours, had to cancel Zumba
Wednesday - Work, cousin arrived from Cape Cod, dinner with family, Zumba
Thursday - Work all day - Another Free zumba class, babysit for Nonni
Friday - More Snow - 4 more inches, my brother came home from the hospital (Thank you for your prayers) and I made it to work for 11:00!

It definitely wasn't a boring week, and I'm thankful the sun is out right now, hopefully melting away that snow!!!!

I hope your week was a little less hectic!  I thought winters were supposed to be "down time"!  HA!

Just an FYI - there is a possibility of a BIG storm next week again - I guess it is Connecticut's turn this year!!!!

PSA - Zumba Postponed

I had to postpone the Free Zumba Class for tonight at OE.  It will will be held on Thursday this week at 6:30 instead.  Hopefully, the weather will cooperate on Thursday!!! 

Tomorrow night is still the free class at the DVCC.

Ice Storm and Surgery

So, the Farmers Almanac was right - this is turning out to be a DOOZY of a winter!

I made it to work today - there weren't too many people on the roads, but I drove really slow.  I got here around 9:45 and I'll only stay until 3 or so.  Two inches of snow and now ice and rain!!!!  We won't know total accumulation until later on tonight.

As of today, it looks like 3-6 more inches of snow coming on Friday and maybe more next Tuesday.........whatever!

My brother's hip surgery was successful as of last night.  He is only 44 and had to have a hip replaced.  He will be out of commission for awhile, but the hip socket was disintegrating and he really needed this.  Please pray for his recovery! 

Football

Hubby was happy!

Go STEELERS!  Bring on the J-E-T-S.....Jets, Jets, Jets......

There is some irony there, isn't there??? Let's see who understands it!

CCD Lesson

Subject for the day:  Jesus' work of Healing, Anointing of the Sick and parts of Luke Chapter 8.

I figure they are all appropriate subject matters for right here, right now!  Healing, help and the miracles of Jesus.  It is very difficult to explain the Anointing of the Sick to 9 year olds......But they seem to get the fact that Jesus can do anything including raising a 12 year old girl from the dead.  I hope something I teach them sticks with them at each class but it is hard to tell!!!

Cancer update

My dad is back to everyday radiation and a new Chemo called Gemzar.  They have stopped the Avastin now (it was recalled for some people with breast cancer) as it was extremely expensive (I want to say $8,000.00 per bag) - just ridiculous!  The two cancers in his lungs have shrunk (the good news) and the one on his shoulder and the one on his lymph nodes grew a little (this was because they had stopped radiation for three months. 

So now we are back on a new track.....Let's hope THIS train knows where it is going.

January 14th, 2010

As of 4:00 this afternoon, I can truly say that I now have two children (they are actually adults :)) who have graduated from the University of Connecticut. My goodness, where does the time go???? I am getting all weepy just thinking about how far they have come, the troubles they have endured, and how well they have fared!

I could not be any prouder!

Congratulations Dominic.....I can't wait to watch you walk in May!

PS - I need to change my profile information :)
PPS - he now has his own blog  http://www.thinkyoucantrain.blogspot.com//

Zumba...

After taking a little break through the holidays, I will start back up at the end of January teaching four Zumba classes a week. 

Next week, I have a free demo class at Orangewood East on Tuesday night (snow date is Thursday night) and then on Wednesday night we have a free demo class at the DVCC.  Everyone is welcome to come to either of these.  Let me know if you need more info or directions!

And the total is.........

18 inches!


My back is killing me from all that shoveling, but it is done!!!!  


Now we just need some sun!!

The Snow

We have about 15-16 inches right now (8:00 am) and it is still coming down quite heavily......I'll post the full amount when I go back out there.

We had a plow come and do the driveway and I did the front walk and the path to the chicken coop.  But there is a LOT of snow to move!  Hubby was able to go to work and hopefully he will call me when he gets there!

Enjoy the snow........

Happy 1/11/11

Happy 1/11/11.....I hope you make it special.......


My 1/11/11 is an ordinary day....Work, meeting at the school, take care of Nonni and then come home late tonight and await the 18-24 inches of fluffy white stuff.........Yep!  up to 24 inches.  We shall see how the evening progresses.

Enjoy the snow day (off) tomorrow!!!

Hens on the Mend

We spent the weekend integrating the hens a little better. We kept some in the coop and some in a box (shelter) outside the coop, then we switched it up, then we let them all free range together.  My hubby stood outside for hours (literally), with stick in hand and showed who was top of the line pecking order (him!). 

I think we have finally got them integrated where, although, they don't hang out together, they won't peck each other to death! 

The Silver Wyandotte's head is healing very nicely. 

It is partially my fault that one of my hens died.  I should have known better. I have been integrating hens for a long time and usually there is a considerable amount of flapping of wings, pecking, and showing who is boss.  I have never had such an aggressive hen as the one I got from my dad.  I saw this hen every day over at his home for the past 10 months and had never seen aggression in it.  But it just didn't take too kindly to a silver hen (it looked different) and to a weak hen (the weakest link) and survivor of the fittest obviously took over.

So we kept them all in two separate boxes last night - it was about 12 degrees and I put them all out this morning to free range at 6:30 - in the dark.  And there was not one squawk!

I am praying for the peace to continue!

More Snow (But no Blizzard!)

We got about 7 inches last night (hubby thinks we got 8").  We were only supposed to get 3-6".

We shoveled from 7:15 to 8:40 pm.  And my daughter had done the patio once already after the first three inches and we had a friend with a plow do the driveway for the first three inches.

We are exhausted (me, hubby and daughter).......And my son didn't show up again!

Macaroni Dinner

Hubby decided to experiment yesterday.  We have decided to use up what is in the cold room and freezer this month.  There was leftover plain penne pasta in the fridge (nothing on it), leftover marinara sauce from Tuesday night (not a lot though), a small bag of collard greens in the freezer, 1/2 jar of marinated red bell peppers, some of my dad's marinated eggplant, 1/2 can of chick peas.....Sounds like a mess, but it was delicious.  He sauteed garlic (of course) in oil, added the rest of the ingredients one at a time to heat, added the sauce and then macaroni last and stirred it up....Dinner last night and lunch today!


We have so much stuff in the freezer and cold room because my husband likes to have a stocked pantry.  He only buys what is on sale, but I think he goes a little over board sometimes!  And , we just got the ShopRite Can-Can sale flyer yesterday, too......that can only mean one thing...I need to clear a shelf!!!! :)

New Hen Update

I took the two hens outside this morning (the ones that we have been keeping away from the flock), but unfortunately, one had died during the night.  The one who couldn't see out of one eye.....I am pissed about it because I did the nice thing and took on two additional hens and then I lost one of my good ones....but it is what it is and I took it to the woods and put her there.  The ground is frozen, so I couldn't bury her. 

I am down to four one year olds (in March) and only one egg yesterday.....

Update on the Hen House

The two hens that we took from my dad are the top of the line pecking order....and for some reason, they are typical "MEAN GIRLS" and have decided to hurt two of my three hens.  One of mine, the silver laced wyandotte, was bleeding from the head.  They were pecking (picking) on her quite badly while we were at work yesterday.  Another of my hens cannot walk good, we thought she must have done something to her foot, to avoid being pecked by the mean girls.  However, on closer inspection, they pecked at her eye and she can not see, so her foot is fine.  She cannot walk good, because she can't see where she is going!!!  And the last of my hens, gets along famously with the new girls....I can't figure it out.  We kept the two hurt hens in the house last night (they have a special box). 

As of now, we have separated the two hens who are hurt.  I put them outside this morning and they can all see each other and be with each other through the chicken wire. 

But I don't know what is going to happen once the snow flies tomorrow. 

I really don't need this aggravation, but I am getting four to five eggs a day...so I guess I will deal with it!!! :)

Venison

As many of you know, I only eat meat if I know exactly where it came from (like the farm or my sisters back yard!). 

This week, we were given two packages of venison.  My good friend Kathy's son shot a deer (and his friend got a buck) about two weeks ago.  It came from the woods near my sister's house....

We cooked up one of the packages of steaks - they were small, but oh so good!!!
Hubby pan fried them in butter, onions and garlic (we use garlic for everything!) and just kept them cooking for about 45 minutes, constantly turning.  They were delicious, tender and didn't taste gamey at all!  There were five small pieces.  I had three for dinner last night and two are for lunch today (I didn't share......I only gave my hubby a small piece!) 

Usually, when we get venison from someone, we just cut it up for stew and it is wonderful in the crockpot, but this was such a better flavor! 

Thank you Kathy and Nick!!!  Let me know if you get another!!

Changes in the Hen House

A lot has been going on in the hen house.....First of all, we have got rid of our two older hens (almost three years old) to a farm in Southbury.  We have taken on two of my dad's hens (both under a year old). 

My dad had to get rid of his four chickens for various reasons, so we took my two old ones (red crosses), one of his old ones (a beautiful blue Plymouth Rock) and one of his new black sex links to Southbury. 

Right now I have four black sex links and one silver Laced Wyandotte.....it was bedlam in the coop this morning.  The pecking order was a little crazy.  Suffice it to say, no one was happy...not my chickens or the new ones.  The new ones actually got out of the yard after I had let them out to free range.  So, I put them all back in the coop and my son is going to watch out for them a little later on this morning. 

Who knows what I'm going to find when I get home tonight!

Uconn Football

I KNOW they are the underdog....I KNOW that NO ONE is predicting them to win or come even close in the score...but since I have two kids who have gone there, I have to say....

GO UCONN!!!!!!!!!!!