Beautiful weather

The weather has been gorgeous this weekend, in the high 60's both days. The kids even had me turn on the air conditioning in the car!!

Marian has taken her cookie selling very seriously, and taken advantage of the warm weather. She and I went out yesterday and Bogdan went with her today. She has sold over 180 boxes of cookies, and really hopes to make her personal goal of 200 boxes.

Anna has sold over 25 boxes, which was her goal, so I guess both girls are happy. Of course, they will be happier when the cookies are here and they can eat them.

Gabriel had a good time at his erg competition yesterday, but felt a little daunted and short compared to the other competitors. He is out today making some kind of fort with his friend Matt.

This week so far

Marian has sold 83 boxes of Girl Scout Cookies so far, and may not reach her goal of 200 boxes, but there's always next year!! Many of the girls in the troop have sold well over 100 boxes each. There is still another week in the sale!

Anna had a meeting about the Gold Award in Girl Scouts, which is the most prestigious award in scouting, much like achieving Eagle Scout in Boy Scouts. She thought about it and has decided to do something on Alzheimer's disease. We contacted the TN chapter of the Alzheimer's Association and may set up a meeting with them soon.

Gabriel is looking forward to his big day at UTC (Univ. of TN at Chattanooga) for his rowing competition.

I have declared tomorrow a "Minecraft-free" day here, it is the latest obsession of Gabriel, Marian and Bogdan. So, no games tomorrow!!

Sour Cream Pound Cake

1.5 cups butter
3 cups sugar
6 eggs
8 oz. sour cream
1 tsp lemon extract
3 cups flour
1/4 tsp. baking soda

Mix butter and sugar together. Add eggs one at a time. Mix in sour cream and lemon extract. Stir together flour and baking soda. Gradually add flour mixture to wet ingredients. Pour into 2 greased and floured loaf pans. Bake at 325 for 1 hour 10 minutes, or until knife comes out clean when inserted into center of cake.

Cool and enjoy.

Go Steelers

Bogdan and Gabriel are pretty excited that the Steelers are headed to the Super Bowl. Anna could care less. Marian says she wanted the Red Sox to win. :)

We went to the Charismatic mass last night and had a nice time. It is always worth the 2 hour drive there. We had to listen to the football game on AM radio, but that was fine. Anna got her homework done in the car on the way there. Thank goodness for laptop computers!

The week in review

Marian had a nice birthday and Bogdan was able to put together a computer for her (albeit used, but it's her own!)

Gabriel is off to a Math Team trip to Alabama. They will spend most of the day today at the US Space and Rocket Center in Huntsville, AL. Then they have an all day Math Meet tomorrow, and he returns late tomorrow night. Next week he has a big rowing event at UTC. They have an erg competition, which is a competition on the erg rowing machines.

Anna is busy with LOTS of school work, piano lessons, Girl Scouts and "Wizard of Oz" practice. She is an extra, and has 4 parts in different scenes in the musical. She loves it!

Bogdan's division has disbanded at the Lab. He knew it was coming, and they made the announcement public this week. He has been asked to join another division and is happy for the change.

Happy Birthday!!

Happy Birthday to both Marian and Jeff. Marian is 8 today and Jeff is 45!! I'm sure you can guess who is who...

Girl Scout Cookies

The sale is on!!

It's that time of year, Girl Scout Cookies sales are on and my girls are at work. I fear that with 11 girls in the troop this year, I will have to use our trailer to bring the cookies here from the warehouse in February. My daughters have already sold 60 boxes just this weekend!

Singing weekend

Anna and I just got back from an all-singing weekend for Girl Scouts in NC. It was a blast and we learned and shared songs all around. And we sang all weekend. It was so fun, but we are very tired.

Marian has her birthday party tomorrow and she turns 8 on Thursday, while her uncle Jeff will be 45. Remember, age is just a number...

Blue Man Group

Bogdan and I saw Blue Man Group last night. They were incredibly talented, but mostly they were incredibly funny!! We laughed so hard at points. If it ever comes back, we will definitely bring the kids, they would have loved it.


The audience wasn't packed, but then again it's TN and since the weather was iffy, many people stayed home.

School was canceled again today and I think it was a bad decision, the roads are completely clear! Oh, well, we'll pay for this in June when school is prolonged for these snow days.

Bonus Snow Day

Well, we just got the call that they are canceling school again tomorrow! At least they called now, instead of waking us all up in the morning!

The kids want to pour a bunch of water down the back hill to create a sheet of ice to sled down. We'll see how fat they get tomorrow.

We were able to get out today to do some errands (groceries, pharmacy, post office). In addition, Gabriel was checked for strep throat, but was deemed to have bronchitis instead. He is now on meds and hopefully it will clear up soon.

We sent out Marian's Birthday party invitations today, she wants to have a party with friends and then do skits and have Anna video tape them. Should be fun watching them afterwards!

The kids have been playing computer games all day. I have been catching up on much needed cleaning and my to-do list.

Snow Day

Yes, it's snowing and I would call this real snow. In fact, I think that this would even be a snow day up north. Of course, we would all have loved to know LAST night that it was a snow day. But, our superintendent is always hesitant to call it until the last minute. So we got the blast phone call at 6am! UGH. It is supposed to snow all day today. The kids are excited.

Recycled Wine Bottles

There are lots of ways to recycle things nowadays. But, the most unique way to recycle wine glasses is into drinking glasses. Here is our very nice and unique Christmas gift we received this year.

Back to school

Kids are all back to school, with sunny skies but cold weather. It must have been cold today because even Gabriel, the die-hard shorts person, was wearing pants and a sweatshirt. The boy will not wear a coat, so a sweatshirt is at least a step in the right direction.

Soy Milk convert

Admittedly, I really hated soy milk when I first drank it ages ago. But, now that I have tested and have high cholesterol (no surprise there with the family history), I am a soy milk convert. Now I drink more than regular milk!!

Now, I have to find the cheapest place to buy it. At the United Grocery Outlet, it was $1.99 a half gallon, which is a steal! But, it is not always there and I will have to find an alternative. Aldi's sells a comparable product at $2.39 for a half gallon, so I guess that will be my backup plan.

I have until March to try to get my cholesterol numbers down, so we'll see if the soy milk (as well as other changes) make any difference!