pogonip

So we got some pogonip last night. I had to look it up though to see what exactly it was. Apparently it is when there is a heavy fog and the temp suddenly fall below 0 and it freezes in the air and settles onto every available surface.

Another name for it is white death because if you breath it, it can cause lung damage. Anyway, it is pretty and so I thought I would share some pics.

The first pic is obviously of a pine tree. I love how the frost is on every needle of the tree. It reminds me of the flocking everyone used to spray on their Christmas trees.

This second pic is of the dead stalks of a poppy plant I never cleaned out of my flower beds. It is probably the most extreme case of pogonip in the yard. I like how delicate and feathery it looks.

The last pic is of my windchimes. I don't know why, but I just really like this pic.

So I got to wondering what would happen in a survival situation if pogonip were to occur. Other than the obvious (stay indoors and warm), what would something like this mean for me and my family?
I don't have an answer yet, but it gives me something to think about.

My New Years Resolutions

Personal:
1. Spend more time with the Boy having fun, and less time yelling.
2. Get back in some sort of decent shape.

3. Quit smoking (again).

Personal Stuff:
4. I would really like to get a hand grinder, but considering the price of the ones I like, this is more of a hope then a resolution.

5. Also, I want to co-op with a friend's family this year for a garden. The Boy is old enough to help out, they have the land, and then have school-age kids who are willing to help out. I love fresh fruits and veggies, we just don't have the space. Also start a small herb garden at the house.

Financial:
6. Start an emergency home-stash of cash.
7. Rebuild saving to 3 months of expenses.
8. Continue using Mint.com to better track/save expenses.
9. Continue to not make stupid choices.

Skills:
10. Go shooting at least once a month.
11. Take knitting or quilting class.

12. Enroll the Boy in Swimming classes.

Preparedness Stuff :
13. Add a stock of various Batteries.
14. Purchase some lighting setups. I.e.: various lanterns and flashlights.
15. Stock up on firewood this winter, perhaps get DNR permit.

Gun Stuff:
16. Save some money each month for a handgun. I know this sounds small, but seeing as my gun knowledge is extremely limited, I'm working with what I've got now.

Food Rotation:
17. This year, be much more realistic about what I'm canning and what amounts. Having lots of fruits and jams is nice, but realistically I should have canned much more veggies. I'm much more likely to use 10 quarts of spaghetti sauce then I am to use 10 quarts of pickles.

18. Purchase a small dehydrator to use for drying own herbs and veggies.

The joys and fails of my holiday week!

I had a roller coaster week. Christmas eve we let the girls each open a present and then we got them to bed. Santa came that night and we woke to gifts galore. Bug was in heaven but poor Squeak was overwhelmed. I think she opened two things before she just sat and stared at all the packages, lol. Hubby bought me my shelf-reliance system which rocked the world, lol. We spent most of the weekend letting the girls play and watching tv or playing games, it was great.

Then Monday happened. I went to the store for groceries and to spend the rest of my Christmas money. When we got home I pulled Squeak from her car seat and took her and a couple bags of groceries into the house from my Durango parked in the garage. When I came back out for more stuff there was an entire gallon of milk on the ground spreading it's liquid goodness. Knowing the stench that would follow if I didn't clean it up I hopped into my SUV to move it and pulled forward. Guess who forgot to close the rear hatch and pulled her garage door apart while ripping the rear wiper off? ME!!! Yeah, it was great. I called a garage repair dude and proceeded to wash/sweep the milk out of the garage. I called the hubs to warn him so he could get the mad out before he saw me and decided to bury me in our back yard. The garage guy came and said we were screwed and needed a completely new door. There went $1200. Hubs just thinks it is funny as hell and ribs me all the time.

The next day I got to see one of my brothers for the first time in months. He and I are very close so I was excited to see him. He lovingly filled me in on his life and mutual friends and all the family gossip I hadn't heard. We hung out, played games, and took the girls to the park. It was nice.

NYE was approaching and knowing how my father loves to see Bug and at the Brother's prodding I arraigned for Bug to spend NYE with my brother, father, and step-mother. I think that was pretty big of me seeing as how my father has nothing but critisism on how we are raising the girls. He hates the LDS chirch and feels we are doing a bad thing by raising the girls LDS. He also has huge issues with me staying home with the girls and seems to assume I do nothing but sit on my butt and expect the Hubs to make money and then come home and take care of the house and girls too. I swear it has to be a miracle neither girls is dead since I do nothing for them or our little family. I also invited everyone to our house to celebrate Squeak turning 1. His first comment after the invitation was, "Who's going to be there?" See if my adoptive mother (his former wife) and my siblings from her or my LDS in-laws were going to be here then he would avoid it at all costs because he doesn't want to catch the evily contagious Mormon bug. I said "No one but us." meaning my little foursome, my brother, and my father and step-mother. He agreed to a breakfast for Squeak. So he came. I planned it as a breakfast so we could all hang out, play games, do whatever. It was the first time he had my brother and I (his only children) in the same place in about a year. HA. Shame on me for hoping. He ran out of here faster than I could blink. I don't think he was even here two hours. He throws a fit about how I don't make an effort, about how the girls are raised, about my laziness, about how he wants a relationship with me but I put up a wall. So I do make an extra effort and he throws it in my face. I guess the effort is only acceptable if it is his way and his terms. Uggg..... WHATEVER.

Then the good! My Mom came in that evening with her amazing guy. We played games and ate dinner and talked. It was exactly what I had hoped for with the earlier get together. The next morning Squeak opened her presents from Grandma and had a ton of fun. My Mom left for home and we watched movies, played, and I read some of my new book stash.

So overall there were some awesome highs, some crappy lows, and a bunch of moments in-between. Overall the week was amazing. In a 10 day period Hubs was home for 7. We laughed and enjoyed our rare time as a family. I cried a bit but I am a crier so it was all good.

Little Johnny Said..

Gracie sent me this, I laughed so hard I had to repost it.

It is near the end of the school year. The teacher has turned in her
grades. There is really nothing to do. All the kids are restless because
there is nothing to do and it is near the end of the day.

The teacher says, "Whoever answers the questions I ask first and
correctly can leave early today." Little Johnny says to himself, "Good, I want to get outta here. I'm smart and will answer the question".

The teacher asked, "Who said 'Four Score and Seven Years Ago'?" Before Johnny could open his mouth, Susie said, "Abraham Lincoln". The teacher said, "That's right Susie. You can go". Johnny was MAD. Susie answered first.

The teacher asked, "Who said, 'I Have a Dream'?" Before Johnny could open his mouth, Mary said, "Martin Luther King". The teacher said, "That's right Mary. You can go". Johnny was even MADDER than before. Mary answered first.

The teacher asked, "Who said 'Ask not, what your country can do for
you'?" Before Johnny could open his mouth, Nancy said, "John Kennedy". The teacher said, "That's right Nancy . You can go". Johnny was BOILING MAD. Nancy answered first.

Then the teacher turned her back, and Johnny said, "I wish these b*tches would keep their mouths shut".

The teacher asked, "WHO SAID THAT?"

Johnny said, "TIGER WOODS! CAN I GO NOW?"

How to kill a rosemary tree

Hubby started the South Beach diet ( more on that in a later post ) and a lot of the recipes call for fresh rosemary. I can't get fresh rosemary here so I have been using dried. I found this beautiful little rosemary tree in the store for $10 so I picked it up. I took it home and lovingly read the care instructions which said "Water when soil feels dry". I stuck my finger in the dirt and it felt dry, so I watered it well and set it on my counter to brighten my kitchen for the holidays. I went about my day and when I came into the kitchen a few hours later, my tree was gone! I looked and looked and couldn't find it. Now, I know it didn't grow legs and walk away so I rounded up the usual suspects and demanded to know what they did with my tree. I was met with blank stares and "I dunno, what tree?"

Argghhhhh! You know the only tree in the house!

"Ohhhh, that tree! It's over here behind us in front of the fire."

I grabbed my tree from the intense heat and placed it back on the counter. I noticed a few of the branches in the back were wilting where they had been too close to the fire. I thought it must be dried out so I watered it again. The next day the wilted branches were black and there were tons more wilted branches. I panicked and watered it again. A few days later, half the tree was black and the other half was wilted. Yikes! It must need more water!

I did some research online and found out that these plants like poor soil that drains well and very little water. I rushed out and bought a clay pot and transplanted my poor tree. It was seriously root bound and actually dripping wet. I was actually able to wring out the roots before I seperated them and transplanted it into the clay pot. I used some potting soil that was extremely dry and I am hoping I can save it. I still see a very very small ammount of green so hopefully it will pull through. I doubt it will ever look like it did before, it was 2 years old already. But if I can get it well enough to actually use some of it in my cooking from time to time, I will be happy.

And that my friends is how you kill a rosemary tree.

Happy Holidays

Hope everyones holidays are happy and safe! Talk to you all in a few days!

I thought it was funny

Women's birthing rights!

I am all about a woman's right to choose. When and how and if are human rights and a woman is a human being last time I checked. I saw this story on CNN and felt a bit surprised that still hospitals are refusing to do certain things for "safety". Yes a VBAC can up the chance of complications but if your doc is skilled and you want to at least try for one then they hospital should support that. I choose a c-section with Squeak because my birth experience with Bug still affects me and I was so glad I had the choice. Every woman should have a choice

Friday Funny

Fiction Awesomness - True Detectives by Jonathan Kellerman

I am all about the mainstream fiction. Now don't get me wrong I can dig literature if the story is right. I can bury myself in stories with meaning and a tale to tell. However I am all about reading for fun. A good novel can take you on an adventure. You can become the hot witch, the private eye, the murder cop, the deep in love English lady, the down on your luck mom. You can become anything that your imagination allows and I love that. It is a huge part of why I write.

Anyway one of my favorite authors is Jonathan Kellerman. He writes crime books of the fictional variety. I adore him!!!! So this week I picked up one of his books that doesn't focus on his usual main crime fighter Alex Delaware but instead dealt with two brothers. One a homicide cop and the other a private eye. Both very diffrent. They share a mother but they have different fathers. Each was a cop. One died in the line while the other drank himself to death. This made for some interesting dynamic between the brothers. They each were working a case of a missing college girl that lead to a Hollywood double murder. The story had everything I love about Kellerman. The psychology side of crime as well as the mystery and suspense he is so good at. The story was quick. I read it in 2 days. I am a very fast reader though, lol. I wholeheartedly recommend this book!!!