Snow Day!

I got a call at 5:30 this morning saying there was no school today.  To be honest, snow days are just as much fun for me as they are for the students!

My very scientific measurement :o)

About 7 1/2 to 8 inches anywhere I measured.  As you can see here it's still coming down pretty heavily too.

I was just thinking I was sick of snow.  A snow day totally makes it worth it though!

Today's Miscellaneous

I'm so over winter.  Maybe not winter so much but definately over the cold weather.  Today with the wind chill it was 4 degrees at noon...and it felt warm if that tells ya anything about how cold it has been lately.
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After lunch recess my boys came back to the room and got ready for handwriting.  They got through their assignments with little whining, which was a bonus.  I turned my back on them for just a minute while I turned on the -SMART Board for social studies.  When I turned back around I realized one of students had left the room without asking.  I walked out toward the drinking fountain and saw that he was filling my water bottle. Before he saw me, I asked him what he was doing.  He turned to me with a huge smile on his face and said, "I filling you bottle." 

Yes, a pretty sweet thing for him to do since he had noticed my bottle was nearly empty.  What he apparently thought was even nicer was that he decided to test out my bottle for me by taking a few drinks before he gave it back. 
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I was craving a salad from a local restaurant all day.  Thinking it'd be cheaper, I decided to go to the grocery store and buy some items to make my own for supper. 

I bought this dressing:

I got my salad assembled and decided to give the dressing a try before I actually put it on the salad.  Eww..it was horrible.  So I ran out to Walmart quick to get more dressing because I was determinded to have my salad tonight.  I got three bottles just to be safe...

Luckily all of them were pretty good.  So...$18 later I had my "cheaper than the restaurant" salad.  Should have just gone the easy and cheaper route and called for carry out on the salad I really wanted!

I had this with my salad and it was really good (for a microwave meal).

I cooked mine on the stove though since we don't have a microwave.
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Has anyone else been watching this?

It's one of my guilty pleasure shows.  David kind of thinks I'm dumb for watching it.  I wouldn't say he's totally wrong about that one but I watch it anyway.  One of the moms is a South Dakota girl so I'm always trying to spot things I recognize from her area in the show.

Fab Five Friday

My friend Frizzy is hosting Fab Five Friday where you share your five favorite photos from the week.  It's too cold right now to take pictures of anything outside so I went through some of my old photos so I had something to share.

A couple butterfly shots from the local gardens a few summers ago...

A swan that lives on the lake in my hometown...

A hot air balloon that went over us one day as we were leaving Dave's mom & dad's house...

Cottage in the local gardens....

Shots from Saturday and Sunday

On our way to the library Saturday morning we saw this accident.  No idea how they ended up on someone's front lawn.  Must have been quite the ride though.

New library books

Ate one (or two) of these this weekend.  I love Easter candy.

Snow pile on our patio

Grocery shopping

Weekend Recap

Well we spent another weekend at home.  I think I left our place three times - one Walmart trip, out for supper Saturday night, and grocery shopping on Sunday.  So..we spent a lot of time at home over the weekend and I enjoyed every bit of it too!

The snow started to fall again yesterday around 11a and it's still falling now.  Not sure how much more we've gotten...maybe 4 or 5 inches.  We got to start school late today due to slick roads.  It was a nice way to start out a Monday morning!

A snowball that "grew" on the tree today...

Well...it looked more like a ball in person.

Hope you all have a great week!

Crockpot Chicken

Our supper tonight was so good and so easy.

I can't decide if that picture makes it look gross or appetizing.  Anyway, I just did a little prep work last night of washing potatoes, carrots, and the chicken.  This morning I just threw the potatoes, carrots, and some onion in the crockpot and poured a little water over top.  Then I put the chicken on top of that, put the lid on, and turned it on low.  Super fast and easy.  When I came home from work I just turned the temp down to keep warm so the chicken wouldn't dry out before supper time.

This was only the second time I've thrown a whole chicken in the crockpot.  I'm not sure why I don't do it more often.

Do you have any good crockpot recipes?  I'd like to start making more meals in ours since it's so darn easy.

The past few days (or week, whatever)...

Today is my last day of Christmas vacation. Looking back I didn’t do a whole lot over break and I'm ok with that because it has been one of my most relaxing and favorite breaks.


-David and I spent Christmas Eve and Christmas Day here. Earlier in the week the weathermen had forecasted a decent snowstorm coming our way so we changed our plans to head to my parent’s house from Christmas Eve/Day to New Year’s Eve/Day. The storm totally fizzled out and left us with only an inch or two of snow though.


-We had Christmas with David’s side of the family on the 26th.


-We met my parents for brunch at The Cracker Barrel in Sioux Falls to exchange gifts on the 28th. Another snowstorm was forecasted and it didn’t sound good so we thought we’d better meet up while we had a chance.


-December 30th the storm started with rain. I can’t remember a time when we had rain in the end of December. It made for a "nice" layer of ice once the snowstorm started.

-New Year’s Eve thru New Year’s Day - Dave and I hung out at home. We got about 5 inches of snow and lots of wind. Good thing we’d already cancelled our plans with my parents because no travel was advised due to the blizzard covering much of the state. Dave hooked up the surround sound he bought me for Christmas. We also ventured out to Walmart…not our smartest move since the snow was still blowing and visibility was horrible. But, we did score some Christmas ornaments for 75% off and I got Eclipse (the first movie we watched with SS hooked up).


-I finally took care of that laundry pile. We added to it for a couple more days before I just couldn’t handle it anymore.


-I relaxed…a lot.  I got to spend a lot of time with my husband, watch movies, read magazines, take naps, bake, sleep in, and stay up late and not feel guilty for doing it.

Hope you all had a relaxing holiday too.  I know I'm a little late but Happy 2011!