Fueled By Sugar

You can't help but love children's programs, especially at this time of the year. Bike man and I drove over to Farmington/Hampton, MN this afternoon because his two grandsons were participating in their church school Christmas program. Ian is on the left in the burgundy stripped shirt (arms up high) and Quentin is on the left in the white & brown stripped shirt (arms not lifted high).

It was a great program, but.........

The parents, children and guests were invited to a dinner prepared by the church ladies, before the Christmas program.

After the dinner, which consisted of ham sandwiches, German potato salad, 2 jello salads, pistachio pudding salad, red cabbage and LOTS of Christmas cookies, let's just say ALL the kids were wired.

And I mean wired.....like pinging off the wall wired!

Ok, so now the kids are going to go upstairs in the church and sing there little hearts out. Yup, that's exactly what they did.

They were fueled by SUGAR.

Those children (29 in total) sang as loud as they could. You couldn't help but smile when you heard their singing voices.

Bike man's daughter, Traci, posed for a quick glamor shot before the program!

It was a good family day. The grandsons were excited we came to visit and we spent several hours watching the boys play and talking about their school activities.

This was also a major day for bike man's granddaughter, Alex (the boy's older sister.) Today was Alex's first official day working at a brand new McDonald's. We stopped by the McDonald's before leaving Minnesota tonight to see our granddaughter. I can't believe how grown up Alex is and now she's talking about attending UMD where our daughter is graduating from in two weeks.

The circle of life continues..........

Mexican Horchata

Sometimes my job takes me in the direction of Eau Claire, just like today. I needed to pick up a few special things (supplies etc.) that I cannot find in my small town where I work. Bike man rode along for the joy ride, so of course we had to make a special stop at Infinitea Teahouse.



I love Infinitea Teahouse!



After picking up a few needed tea supplies and Christmas gifts, I ordered a nice hot cup of Mexican Horchata......a combination rice milk, tea, sugar, cinnamon and other spices. I've never had this drink before until Infinitea owner's Drew and Jeff started making it for the holiday season. It's delicious.....trust me!



Teahouses are so unique with all the different varieties of tea to purchase. I also love the individual tea pots each customer receives when they order their tea in-house.



Tonight was music night at the teahouse. Too bad we couldn't stay to listen to the folksinger.



Tomorrow's another busy day.

Brrrrrrrrr Factor

And the day after the storm? It was down right cold. I think we had a high of 5 degrees this afternoon. The sun was shinning all day, so at least that helped ease the cold snap.

I'm not sure why I did this, but when I had to run errands outside today, I caught myself running.

I ran to the Post Office....... I ran to my car when I went to deliver library books to an elderly person.

Then I ran back to my car again when I had to run another errand on my dinner break tonight. I asked myself......why are you running tainter girl???

I think it's just an early winter thing. As soon as I get acclimated to the cold temperatures, then I will slow down and stop running.

Does anyone else run or walk fast when it's cold outside?

Blizzard Conditions Today

This is what we woke up to this morning. Imagine 35-40 mph winds blowing, after receiving almost a foot of snow last night.

Remember the wood we were splitting and stacking three days ago? Where did the wood go?

Our Kiwi bush on the lake side of the house.

Beautiful snow swirls are every where you look.

Annabelle is very lucky to be a house cat, however, she still is curious about the white stuff.

This is what happens when your house is hammered with an Arctic cold wind. The prevailing winds on Tainter Lake always come out of the Northwest.

On a side note:
I'm so glad I could stay home from work today. I made the decision to close my public library because of the blizzard warning today. It truly is dangerous to be outside today. Wind chills are expected to be minus 20 below zero by later this afternoon as the air temperature continues to plummet.

My Little Secret is Revealed

Even in the mists of a snow storm, I filled in for Mark's spinning class tonight. I did have people show up for class. Wow, that was amazing despite the blowing snow.

I arrived home tonight really hungry, so I decided it would be Enchilada night. I took a picture of my favorite enchilada sauce that I prefer to use when making enchiladas. Hatch is the best.....well, in my book that is. The sauce is rich, thick and flavorful. I highly recommend using the Hatch brand. It's hard to find, but you might find it at a food co-op or Mexican market.

Someday I hope to visit Hatch, New Mexico during their green chili festival.

My Chicken Enchiladas turned out really tasty, but that might just be because I ran out of regular sharp cheddar cheese, so I secretly used some of the five-year old cheddar cheese that bike man bought weeks ago. Oops, my secret is out!

I used just a little, especially since it was $8.99/lb.

All I can say is, it's like the difference between using butter or margarine. We all know butter is superior right? Well, aged cheddar is truly a little piece of heaven.

Monday Night Spin

Had a full class tonight, which included two high school students. I love to watch the expression or body language of the teenagers. The one boy hopped on the spin bike with his extra large sweatshirt. In my head I'm saying to myself ....."Lis, just watch the young guy cuz shortly he'll be hurting and all sweaty." Yup, after the second song he was removing his sweatshirt. Ha! Never under-estimate a middle-age woman instructor. I wonder if anyone saw my little tiny smile!

Hey, Hey, Hey......it's happening people. Tainter Lake is finally freezing over. The ice depth must be around 3 inches. Enough ice for our son to drill a few holes for fishing. I'm so glad I was at work today because Chris came out to our house late this afternoon and ventured out about 50 feet from shore to drill his holes (sorry Grandma Shirley, you better stop reading right here!!!). Bike man assured me he was very careful checking the ice level every 10-20 feet before drilling.

I was ok with that until bike man told me Chris had to try a little ice skating.....geez! I guess he stayed close to our shoreline while skating, so he said. Actually, the lake is perfect for skating. Tomorrow will change due to a major snow storm heading this way. It's hard to say how much snow we'll get, but I hear the conditions will be windy with blowing snow. I'm not ready yet......help!

The Woodswoman In Training

Something happened this week! Bike man hired a tree service to come in and cut down 8 oak trees in our wooded lot next to our house.

Yesterday, while we were in Minneapolis, our son was busy working on buzzing up the oak trees into logs chunks.....well, that's what I call them!

Not sure how we will use ALL that oak wood, but I'm sure we will use quite a bit for campfires during the summer and and for ice fishing.

So what was the theme for today? Wood, and more wood. Did anyone read the "Woodswoman" by Ann LaBastille (1976)? I love that book....one of my favorite reads of all times. This awesome woman moved to the Adirondack mountains and built her own log cabin and lived by herself. She had to learn all the skills to survive on her own, and she did it quite well. She actually went on to write more books. Well, for some reason bike man & the son decided I needed to learn the skills of the woodswoman. Somehow I think I failed. Well, maybe with a little practice everyday I could learn to split wood. Never say never. Maybe next year I'll put that on my "to-do-list."

Splitting wood is hard work. I tried this afternoon to learn the skill, but it was soon apparent that I just don't have the power & arm strength....Brut strength as the son called it. At least I got a little workout trying to split wood. Kind of light weight training!!!!!