Yet Another Pinewood Derby Saturday

I attended my second Pinewood Derby of the season today. Unfortunately, I arrived when they had a lot of lag time. There was 45 minutes to the next race, and even though most of the racers were present, they were still waiting on one to arrive. Figures.


I still had a great time looking at the cars; this one was my favorite. God Bless America!

These made me ready for lunch! A hot dog and Ice cream sandwich. WHat more could you ask for?

Gotta love racing season!

Happy Sweet...17?

My baby is 17 today. Wow.


How did he get to be so old? (How did I get to be so old?)


He asked for his favorite cake, the holiday poppy-seed cake with orange glaze that I make for Thanksgiving and Christmas. And apparently Nick's birthday now.

A little piece stuck to the pan, so I just stuck a candle in the boo-boo.

Huff and puff and blow them all out!

Happy 17th birthday, Nick! Hope you enjoyed that cake!

Icing on the Trees

Got some more ice overnight.

Luckily, the roads are fine. 


Where's the real snow, though?

An Icy Derby

Yet more wintry weather. Nothing much to speak of, though. Here's what I woke up to this morning...

Some areas got some snow--we had snow last night that turned to freezing rain. Left some ice. Lovely. Thankfully the roads are clear. I have places to go today.


Early this morning Kiki the kitty was going crazy at the window. There were lots of birds out and about, especially the cardinals! They wouldn't stay still too long for pictures, but I managed to snag a couple...

Around lunchtime I headed to my former Cub Scout Pack's annual Pinewood Derby races, held at my church this year. As a Unit Commissioner, I try to visit each of my 5 units every month, and I thought the Derby would be a great opportunity for a visit. It was.


Here are some of the cars from the kids:

Love the Snickers car! It actually did very well in the races, too.

The adults have their own race, also...called the Mad Max. The Cubbie rules don't apply to the adults, so there are lots of overweighted cars, and cars with a little extra oomph!

The one with the doll face scares me a little.

The Cubmaster put a lot of work into his car. His is the box the block of wood came in.

There are always fabulous prizes for the boys whose cars do well. Look at all these trophies!

And they're off!

The Derby is always a highly-attended meeting, and everyone has a great time. Who wouldn't, with car races, food, and fun opportunities to have your picture made?

Of all the days to not wear make-up. :) 


Great job by all!

What Is This?

I was in a classroom all day with no windows. I came outside at lunchtime and found a few snow flurries. No indication of this on the weather reports, but it IS January, and cloudy, so a few flurries are OK.

This is near the public library just down the street from the middle school.

 After school when Nicky and I left, it was still snowing. Hard. Here's the view from the car as I was driving home...Nicky took the picture on my cell phone.

By the time all was said and done, here's what we had:

And still coming down at night.

When it finished, we were only left with about 3/4 of an inch of snow. Nothing much at all. But every bit of it unexpected. The weather guys were very surprised.


They weren't the only ones. Gotta love these DC/Maryland winters!

First Snow of the Season!

Heh, heh, heh....

OK, so this is barely a trace. But it's still snow.


I kept seeing on Facebook that the kids were refreshing the school page to see if school had been called because of a snow day.


I mean, really, kids??  For this?


It's still early. Don't fret. I'm sure the good stuff's coming. 

A Good Night for Chili

Winter has finally arrived here in Maryland. A cold front moved through early this morning, bringing winds and much colder temperatures. It seemed like a good night for chili.


I made tonight's chili recipe a while back...recipe and story here. After that fiasco, I put the recipe in the back on the recipe file and forgot about it. I dusted it off last month for the Christmas party at the pantry I volunteer at, and it was the hit of the night. I decided to make it again.


The chipotle chili referenced in the recipe has changed in the stores a number of times, but is now Hormel Chipotle Chicken Chili. That's it on the left in the picture.

 The recipe turned out so much better than the first time I made it! It's a wonder what you can do when you follow the recipe.


Here's Eric's bowl before eating...he fixed a slice of buttered French bread and a glass of red wine to finish off the meal. 

This one is definitely staying in the front of the recipe file from now on!

Happy 2012! A To-do List for the Coming Year

It's been nearly a year since I've posted to this blog. One day shy, to be exact. Last year was a crazy one. I got a full-time job at the middle school where I sub, teaching the modern day equivalent of Home Ec. I was responsible for all lessons, grading, subject to evaluations at the drop of a hat, meetings out the wazoo with school officials, parents, you name it. In January, I began, at the School board's request, classes to obtain my official teaching certificate. After 26 years out of school, it was very difficult to go back to school! By March, that position was eliminated due to budget constraints in our county. My schedule eased a bit, as I no longer took classes, and when school was out in June, I heaved a huge sigh of relief.


I resumed subbing this school year, and I'm much happier. I just finished a long-term job, teaching 6th graders Reading for 2 months. No stress, because there was an end in sight.


In August 2010, our nest became a little emptier as we dropped JJ off at college at the University of Iowa, 15 hours from home. He did very well in his first year away, but I fretted the whole time he was gone.


And I ate. A lot.


All the hard work on Weight Watchers, out the window. At this point, I've regained all but about 10 pounds. I'm heartbroken, and angry at myself. I did pinpoint that I'm a stress eater. Go figure.


So this new year brings a fresh start. New beginnings. I don't like to think of these as New Year's Resolutions, but as a to-do list of things to accomplish in the next 366 days. (It's Leap Year, don't forget!)


So without further ado, my to-do list for 2012:


1. Make better food choices.
2. Write my choices down. I do better when I'm accountable, if only to myself.
3. Make time for exercise! At least 3 days a week.
4. Keep up with the housework. When I work a lot I tend to let the house slide, and then we live in a mess until I get around to cleaning. A little every day gets the job done. 
5. Make time for crafting. I really enjoy crocheting and cross-stitching, but never make time for it, because I think I should be cleaning, or something. This relaxes me, and makes me happy. If Mama ain't happy, ain't nobody happy!


Here's my first project of the new year:

I decided on this series that I printed from the free patterns at The Vermillion Stitchery. The cute snowman is Father Time. I had all the supplies on hand, except the fabric. I made a run to Michael's earlier and finished my supplies list.


I hope your to-do list is as fulfilling as mine. Happy New Year!