Oh yay! I love that we have inspired each other. Sin e we had to postpone Christmas celebrations to New Year's due to the blizzard, I took a 3 day break from sewing. I needed it. I resumed today since I have two quilts to complete by Saturday night. Both are quilt tops waiting to be quilted. I would be hand sewing the binding on one by now were it not for the fact that at 4 pm, I broke the needle on my sewing machine, and then realized I do not have anymore. I can't do anything until I go to the store first thing tomorrow morning to buy some.

This is just sooooo cute!! Our honorary daughter and son in law are having their first baby in May. She really does not like girls' clothing because she does not like pink, lavender, ruffles, and frufru. She likes classic, simple, and in coral, peach, mint green, pale yellow, toasty beige, and aqua. So I am going to sew for baby. I have found some wonderful quilt fabrics and a vintage pattern that produces simple baby layette items. You have inspired me!

Awwwwwwwww😍

This. In reality, I think that temperate is probably best for anyone's health.

When I was a stable hand, we had these bucket warmer things that we plugged in which kept troughs and buckets from freezing. Never did we have windchills below -15 when I worked there. I have to wonder if they would have been robust enough to keep up with anything worse.

I am very happy that the children loved their gifts, and that the visit is going well so far.

Bagel in the morning with peanut butter in the morning. My mom made a ham, mashed potatoes, green beans, and gf cheesecake. I would like to have had a lot more veggies. However, we didn't have them because I had a horrific headache in the night, and felt terrible in the morning so I didn't make roast carrots and broccoli salad as I had intended. We really didn't feel like eating much tonight. We just ate the leftover spinach artichoke dip from the night before. We did not over eat by any stretch. But, we also didn't get five - seven servings of veggies either. Oh well, it is a holiday and frankly, I think we did pretty well given what most Christmas festivities look like in terms of tons of meat and sweets.

I never get free paper! Bummer. That is awesome that you do not have to buy any.

Yesterday was very laid back. We ate finger veggies and dip, boiled eggs at lunch, and one of Mark's yummy homemade bagels a piece. Dinner was spinach/artichoke dip, finger veggies, and tortilla chips.

Much joy and peace to all of you and your families!!

I save bows all the time, and then try to reuse them for other occasions. Dh's nephew got married last month, and I used plain, silver wrapping paper and gorgeous silver and gold ribbon and bow from a gift we received the previous year. For our family unit though, I made a big bunch of fabric gift bags in a variety of sizes. Every person has a stash, and we just gift them back and forth to each other. I prefer that to wrapping paper going into the landfill. But I haven't made any for other occasions like weddings. Not only will the bag not remain in circulation with immediate family, it will end up chucked into the garbage if the receiver is not a person who values reusing it, and fabric is expensive enough for that to be cost prohibitive and not environmentally friendly since paper will at least bio-degrade in a somewhat reasonable period of time. If we get a nice size piece of wrapping paper that is not torn up badly, I will trim the tape pieces off the edges, fold, and re-use.

Ukrainian Bell Carol, the Bach Prelude in C/Ave Maria, and anything Christmas by the Piano Guys. I really enjoy playing their arrangements, and have a local cellist to play with. Their arrangements are easy enough for both of us that we can sight read them and it doesn't take much time to pull them together, very enjoyable. Other than that, I adore Have Yourself A Merry Little Christmas for the harmonies. Our whole family sings parts so we belt it out a cappella which is so much fun. Silver Bells is another one we like. Middle son who speaks Danish has been trying to teach us some Danish Carols as well. It is a ridiculous language for my tongue, and I am hopeless at it.

This sums it up! Someone should mass produce it. 😁

$410???? Faint. Frankly, that is INSANE price gouging.

Pure ice here. You can practically see our reflection in the road. Winds howling at 60 mph. Though the plows are out, it doesn't do a bit of good in terms of making it safe to travel, if anything, it is worse. It is too cold for the salt work, and while getting stuck in snow drifts is not ideal, it often doesn't cause injury. Ice just causes people to lose control, and those accidents can be very, very bad. Of course if one tries to walk away from a wreck, the ice makes it so you risk breaking your neck while walking. So I kind of wish they had not plowed, and then just used the plows to pave paths for EMS, fire, and police as needed.

I am perfectly fine with dissing on those books! Have at it, Kelly! 😁 I have such issues with them, and hope my daughter does not read them to our grandsons. There are better options for literature about that era and settlers difficulties. The Ingalls parents were not good parents, even for the time period and accepted culture. I suspect Ma of narcissism, and Mary was the golden child with Pa enabling Ma which is typical in marriages where one person is very narcissistic. Laura was nothing more than a wage earner to Ma. Pa did seem to have some emotional bond with Laura, and it should be noted that though Laura had money to travel, and was in a position to do so, and made the effort to see Pa before he died, but she never went back to see Ma or Mary ever again though they lived many years. Letters and diary entries indicate that her mother and sister did not appreciate her at all, and showed no care whatsoever for Rose, the only grandchild and niece. As for the Long Winter, they were rationing food despite there being supplies in town, money available, a milk cow and a heifer that could have been butchered. I think Rose probably made Laura fictionalize the whole thing and made it sound a LOT more dramatic than it was. School was never canceled. The superintendent for the district visited more than once that winter and noted that daily attendance was good. Though the town did run out of coal, they weren't actually that low in lumber because it had been stockpiled for a large building push expected in the spring, and that was used when the coal ran out. Pa made Laura work with him like an insane bear to produce hay sticks to burn because Ma refused to use "Mary's college money" for the higher priced wood even though it would have kept them a lot warmer. Other main supplies that ran low and noted in the historical record was tobacco, sugar, and of course eventually flour, but no mention of running out of cornmeal or canned goods which were typically on store shelves at that time because so many settlers were bachelors that didn't cook. As for the flour, Almanzo and Cap didn't need to go after the wheat. Newspaper and other records of the town indicate that the settler sold wheat to the town and Charles Lamson (Alamanzo's cousin) ground it into flour and sold it. But no where was mentioned anyone risking life and limb to go get it. She clearly believed it happened, some sort of family lore or Almanzo making himself out to be a town hero to her while courting in order to make her feel a little indebted to him. http://www.pioneergirl.com/blog/archives/5096 The family suffered because Ma would not allow the use of golden girl Mary's money to be used for the needs off the rest of the family which had catastrophic costs for Laura, Carrie, and Grace's future health especially Carrie who had issues even before the other two and was weak and prone to fainting spells because of the malnutrition. Mary never suffered any of this, and though all 3 sisters died of type 2 complications linked to malnutrition in their formative years, and all 3 younger girls were WAY shorter than their parents which is not normal, Mary was 5'8" which means her growth was never inhibited. For a family who had frequent food insecurity, how on earth did that happen? I supsect by depriving the other children of a fair portion of what food there was and giving it to golden the girl. Since I have known families who did similarly, my own brother has five children, one golden child, and he literally deprived his other children of needed things like winter coats and boots in order to pay for ski vacations and other crap for his golden daughter, I do not have a hard time believing it happened.

We canceled the festivities due to the weather. Non essential travel is still banned in the county while the road crews work, and everything is a sheet of ice. You can practically see our reflection in the street out front. Salt doesn't work at these temps. Mark really needs to go check on his mom, and since she is 87 living alone on a side road, it does meet the essential travel requirement because either they left him do it or the sheriff/police need to do a well check, and ya, they would prefer to hope he can make it safely there because they are dealing with a ridiculous number of accidents this morning plus stranded folks. Last night's call volume at 9 pm was 1400 calls an hour for a tiny dispatch in a county of only 50,000 people. Lots of going and retrieving elderly folks, sick folks, etc. whose heating systems went down. I guess the camp out at the hospital waiting room was epic because that was one main place they were being taken since the Moose Lodge warming center was at full fire code capacity. We will be hunkered down here since I am leery to have both of us venture out because if something happens, that leaves no one to help the other or deal with any emergencies the mothers might have. Christmas Eve just the two of us. I think we will stream Nutcracker, and I am making spinach/artichoke dip for supper with celery sticks, red pepper sticks, and tortilla chips and salsa. Simple. Very scrummy as Mary Barry would say. I should be quilting. When it became evident that our sons would not be able to travel here (that call was made on Wednesday evening), I relented from the insane push to get the last two quilts completed. I have not taken up the cause again. So I REALLY need to since we are going to host Christmas/New Year festivities next weekend, and those quilts need to be done. I was just so weary of sewing so many hours a day that I am struggling to pick it up again, and my fingers were sore from so much hand sewing on the bindings. Maybe I can make myself get going this afternoon by putting a time limit on it. Two hours, then put the quilt away. Mark is tackling cutting and etching a new power board for a model train engine that had corroded electronics, and then wiring and soldering. He is in his element! He and electrical engineer son have been on the phone numerous times discussing the project. Meanwhile the bachelors decorated their tree. Having no bank of Christmas supplies, it had white toilet paper with red felt marker drawings on it for ribbon garland, a stuffed llama tree topper, fishing lures, pop cans, other stuffed animals, and candy wrappers for ornaments. 😂😂😂 I give them credit for creativity!

Kungfu, I forgot one. Waste oil furnace. Unless you run a lot commercial vehicles who have frequent oil changes, this one is not particularly practical unless you are going to run around area businesses, collect their discarded oil, and then store it for your emergencies, not mention that waste oil furnaces are rather expensive. It works for Mosquito Control in the county west of us. My dad installed their system many years ago, and they rarely ever have to buy any oil to supplement. Very cheap heating doe the county given how many years of use they have for the return on investment. I think it has been going for 25 years ish.

Kungfu, Pellet stoves all require electricity. You could get a generator to run the electric components (the big problem being the auger and you should not run it without the auger working) but you need to think about where you would run the generator which is a safety issue, and where you would store the fuel, how you would store it. Also, one of the biggest issues with pellets is whether or not you have a manufacturer within 400-500 miles of you. As a general rule they get very price unfriendly if they have to be shipped further than that, and in some areas of the country, finding pellets is not easy. Tractor Supply often carries them however, they are rarely a reasonable price if they are being shipped from very far. Wood, less efficient BTU wise, is the most simple method of back up heat source. Your basic fireplace if used only for emergency and ambience is a good option. If all you were doing was burning wood for something like a 3-4 day storm, a face cord of wood will suffice. A facecord , depending on the region, will run anywhere from $60-$200. You can't burn pine, ever, due to creosote build up, but you could harvest downed hardwoods on state land if you watch for the announcements. Usually it is a limited time, and you would need your own trailer, chain saw, and splitting axe, but this is one way to get free wood. A blower greatly increases circulation and of course that runs off electricity, but I also know folks that have battery back up just for the blower. Consult an expert about the batteries. Off gassing is a thing so you do not want a blower in your living space hooked up to car batteries in your living space. Wood stoves can, if the ducting/ventilation is set up properly, heat an entire house with great efficiency BUT they are of course a lot more expensive, and the installation of all the ductwork, the higher efficiency chimney, etc. is not wallet pleasant. Corn burners are popular in some midwest states. They are more efficient than wood, but there are draw backs because the sugar molecules crystallize as they burn, and form nuggets of hard nastiness that must be removed often. It is also controversial as an alternative energy source due to the diverting of cornfield production from food and ethanol (I have feelings about ethanol which is a subject for a different day) to heat. It isn't practical either if you do not live in a heavy corn producing state. Kerosene is the cheap, go to emergency heat source for some folks. Kerosene heaters are way cheaper than having any kind of alternative energy installed in your house. But, and this is super important, the fumes can be dangerous if the area is not super well ventilated, and even then some folks, like myself, are so sensitive that we get pretty much instant migraines as soon as a kerosene heater is powered up. I would not even recommend anyone use a kerosene heater inside a home without a window in the room being left open an inch, and that of course can defeat the purpose entirely. A lot of local folks only use them to heat garages, take the chill off, when doing woodworking or repairing cars in the winter. They are only on intermittently, and in such a large space with non sealing garage doors usually just fine. Other options, which are really expensive but are long term solutions to having heat and even cooling that is not dependent on the power grid are: Geothermal - I am a big, big fan of this. It is generally only done for new construction since that is the easy time to do it, but in some instances can be added to an existing home. We have friends who spent the up front pricey ouch dollars when they built their new home, new about 22 years ago, and have never regretted it. While others are paying $200 or so a month IF on natural gas (in this county only two towns have natural gas) or $300-500 a month for propane (worse if on fuel oil), and they pay at worse, and friends pay $60 in electricity per month to run the system. They have just enough solar panels wired to a battery pack, in a closet in the basement to keep those electronics going in the winter when power is down. Geothermal is a sustainable energy source, and of course it keeps their house at a steady 68° all year round so they also do not pay out the nose for cooling. A closed loop system costs more than an open loop so they went with an open loop and that was their one regret. A closed loop system keeps reusing the same groundwater over and over again, and that water goes through a filtration system so over time all the mineralls are removed. In an open loop system, it just dumps water and then pulls in new water. In terms of water use, it is very efficient, and in our area, we have a ton of groundwater and none of the water is being lost so it is environmentally fine. BUT the water is extremely mineral hard. So at about the 10 year mark, many mechanical components of the system began to wear out due to mineral deposits and erosion. The replacements parts cost them about $2000 and the installation would have been easily that much as well with what geothermal contractors cost in the area (there are not many at all), but friend and my Mark were able to do that work together and save the labor charges. Solar is the most popular alternative. If coupled with a geothermal system for heat and cooling, it is probably the most environmentally friendly. It is not cheap!! Now that said, if one were only looking to run electrical components of a heating system off grid for power emergencies, probably two or three solar panels from Harbor Freight, and the inverter they carry would get that job done, but you need to be able to do the installation yourself. Cheap but varying in success depending on how well insulated the house is, and how many are installed, are earth tubes. You can install these yourselves if you want to rent the excavator to do the digging. I highly recommend the excavator.and especially if the frost line in your area is deep because you have to get below that to install the lines. Doing that with a spade is a back ruining thing, like digging a well by hand. You can find YouTube vids on earth tube installation or if you want to see the dirty, fast fix, you can watch the episode of Homestead Rescue on Discovery Channel in which Marty installs this for people who will be living in a ConEx steel container, tiny house in the desert. It is not nearly anything as good as a professional, geothermal system. On the other hand, for a very small investment, a homeowner can make a couple rooms of the house minimally heated, minimally cooled and especially if they go deep with those tubes. This ends the TED Talk from "Faith's dad owned a heating and cooling business, and grew up heating with a variety of alternative energy options so Pa could show off the house as part of the business and take tax deductions for them and then compelled Faith and her brother to help fetch and stack endless wood piles so when she went to college and later got married thought those days were behind her but her husband had the bright idea to heat the house with in-floor heating run off a wood boiler, and here we go round the mullberry bush again". 😁

Love it!

Mark made bagels, and they are delicious. So we have eaten on them all day with a variety of fruits, veggies, and meatless chilli. I also made some more mushrooms. We have been loving them! No hard and fast meal times, just grazing while we nap, read, babysit the wood fire, watch movies, and listen to the storm howl. Probably not our healthiest day! But it also hasn't been heavy or rich food, just enjoyable.

We are okay in town for visibility. But, there was a nine semi-pileup on I94 in the west part of the state during daylight hours because none of the other drivers could see the overturned semi in the road. They couldn't see it. That huge vehicle in the daylight with headlights all of them traveling at reduced speeds with headlights and taillights. During the day here, two sheriff's deputies were hit by a car when the visibility was so bad that the approaching car could not see burning flares! Thankfully, that car was driving slowly and the deputies were warming themselves in their car so the injuries were minor. While I think it is uncommon to need a rope to walk to the barn and back, I think there are probably some rare times when it is that bad.

People have been ordered off the roads in my areas. Sections of I80 have been barricaded with police turning folks around. Several sheriffs have issued warnings to stay off the roads unless you are First Responders and medical personnel or road crews getting to work. It is bad. Two deputies injured from being hit by drivers who had no legitimate reason to be on the roads. 20 car accidents in four hours in the county north of us. Also, dispatch and the county Facebook page messaged that the towing companies are done. They will take no more calls until morning, and they are pulling their crews in because it is far too dangerous for them to continue working. We also have numerous folks in the local stitch and ditch ERs/urgent cares bring warmed up and evaluated for frostbite just from being outside 10-15 minutes. If you are in the bomb cyclone band, it is not safe to be out, and to rescue you is putting a lot of other lives at risk. If you are not in the band, but have family wanting you to travel into the bomb cyclone or near it, just don't. There will be more roads closed by morning, more travel bans.

Wasn't there an animated movie years ago about appliances taking over the world? I feel like we are there now! 😁