Down Days

There is something great about a down day. After getting ready for Christmas the entire month of December, today was just a day to kick back and relax.

I could not help but capture this great picture of the boys. They were sitting side by side laughing together as they looked at something on the computer.



Hope your Sunday was great!

Happy New Year!

Well, I did it. I went an entire year without blogging at all! Hopefully 2012 will find blogging a regular part of my life.

Every January I choose a focus word for the year. This year my word is "Comfort." I have decided I want to concentrate on making our home comfortable, giving comfort to the family and friends in my life and bringing comfort to others outside of my circle.

So I have a word for the year and I've posted on my blog. 2012 is already off to a great start!

Snowman Envy

I wanted it to snow. It snowed. I love snow. I wanted to make a snowman. And we did. Sort of. This little fella was given a place of honor on the roof of the car. Not quite the snowman I had in mind. I drive by and see all the large ornate snowmen and I wonder....is my little guy envious or is he just too busy trying to figure out why his arms are so long?

Return to the Office

Alas I woke up yesterday to discover that I indeed DID NOT retire but merely went on a two week honeymoon. I pulled myself up by my snow boot straps and ventured to the car; nearly killing myself on a patch of ice. From my apartment this newly formed family of four went to a nearby grocery store to buy food rations to sustain us through the day - Lunchables for the boys and canned soup and peanut butter crackers for me. From the grocery store we drove to my soon to be new house (dear husbands current house) so that the boys could pick up their Nintendo DS games. From the house we proceeded to the daycare facility where we passed off the kids for what was sure to be a day of floor sitting and hand held game playing. From daycare we drove to my work where my new husband kindly helped me walk from the car to the office door, fearing a repeat of the cobblestone fall I took on my last day of work oh so many weeks ago. Once inside the office I was greeted by two co-workers. After a brief chat I turned on the light in my office to find:

1. One inflated beach ball

2. One fluorescent pink plastic sand sifter with yellow plastic shovel

3. One large wooden handled yellow plastic sand shovel leaning against my desk

4. One portable beach mat

5. One blue sand bucket with yellow shovel

6. One small Dixie cup with tropical fish motif, filled with sand and two paper drink umbrellas

7. One inflated "Palm Pool Valet" which looks somewhat like a swim ring but has drink holders and a palm tree coming out of the center

8. One boogie board

9. And, last but not least, my desk chair sitting in one red lady bug looking sand box, unfortunately not much sand included

Either my colleagues have a warped sense of humor or they were simply trying to give me a few more days of that island feeling. I'll let you know which one after I take off my snow boots and dip my toe in my Dixie cup of sand.

When Marshmallows Hurt

My dear husband was truly a single dad since he and I lived apart during our engagement. He and his two boys have been living the life of bachelors for a couple of years now. Enter me. Female and a bit compulsive about organization. Don't get me wrong. My husband is a good dad. The dishes are washed, meals are on the table, laundry is done, sheets are clean, bathrooms are maintained - he really does a great job.

But then there is the pantry. The pantry drives me nuts. I like the soups to be lined up, the canned vegetables in a row separate from the canned fruit, etc. - I'm sure some of you get the picture! He on the other hand enjoys putting away groceries with the randomness that comes with just finding space for everything. It really does not bother him if pasta sauce ends up in the same row with the canned chicken. And, he loses track of how long something has been in the pantry so I really must check expiration dates.

Just before we were to be married I went over for dinner and I suggested to him that we clean out the pantry together. It quickly became apparent that a lot of food had expired. In his words "I sure bought a lot of food in 2008." But we were not deterred; onward we forged! When we got to the top of the pantry, he stood on a stool to reach the treasures he keeps on top - sweets, snacks, chips and other things that he enjoys.

I was sitting at the table and heard him say something and when I looked up I saw a bag of marshmallows being tossed at me. Let's face it, marshmallows are not dangerous if they land on your toe. They are soft and fairly light. Or, so I thought. These particular marshmallows, maybe circa early 2000, were like rocks. The bag hit my arm and yikes! I promptly yelled - "hey, marshmallows are not supposed to hurt!" This caused the boys to explode with laughter. My then fiance even eventually found the humor in the situation.
There is always a moral to every story and this one is no different. Remember, when marshmallows hurt it's time to clean out your pantry!

Wish me luck as we begin to merge our lives, stuff and pantry items this week!

What a Difference a Day Makes!

The title of my blog "For the Love of Winter" should give some indication about how I feel about winter. That being said, it was REALLY hard to go from this yesterday...
to this today...

Our honeymoon was cut short a day early so we could get home prior to the snow storm. As hard as it was to leave the warm weather, heated pool and palm trees, it's just as fun to be curled up watching it snow.

We are quite happy that this did not occur two weeks ago today when we were married!

Time Marches On

Can my last post really have been in September? That was LAST year for goodness sake! As sad as it is, it is the truth. The last post I made was in September...2009!

I'd love to say that I've been jet setting to far away places...

Or learning a new talent that occupied all of my time...

But both of those would have been false. In reality I have been doing a lot of this...

My fiance suffered a terrible and nearly life changing back injury in late September. After a lengthy operation and eight days in the hospital it was home to recover from his injury. This week, three months after his injury, he returned to work.

Fiance's injury and subsequent lengthy recovery coupled with planning one of these for January 2010:

has taken up almost all of my time these last three and a half months.

Today though, a new day dawned and so did a new year and the start of a new decade. What better day than today to restart my blog?! I hope those of you that stuck around will continue to visit...there are lots of fun things on the horizon!