snow bunny

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short takes

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We're having a snow day today. Alex is out of school, the roads are covered with slippery snow, and we're stuck inside. Today will be a day to relax, make some Christmas crafts, and spend time as a family.

Today, I'm baking a Cinnamon-Apple Cake using some bruised apples from the grocery store.  I don't know if I accidentally bought bruised apples, or if Katie bruised them while shuffling the bag around the house once I got it home.  At any rate, no one has wanted to eat these things and they are about to go to waste.  So, we're going to have a treat.

I'm also planning on making some salt dough ornaments with the kids today.  We'll give these as Christmas presents to teachers and some family.  I can't wait to see how they turn out, as I've never made them before. 

At some point, we'll likely go outside to play.  We're expecting 3-6 inches of snow today, according to the latest reports.  This afternoon, it will turn to sleet and freezing rain, so we'd better get out there while we can!

it's cold out there!

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How cold is it?

It is so cold, the politicians have their hands in their own pockets! -- Johnny Carson

It is a cold, cold morning here. Our low of 10 set a record this morning, but the windchill is 8 below. Yikes! I'm trying to avoid going out today, but my son must be picked up from school and we're in need of groceries.

I'm a guest blogger over at Losing the Baby Weight today. One commenter wrote about how, as a teenager, her mother would warn her not to touch the thermostat.  What's funny is that my mom had this rule, too.  I wonder why?  I mean, obviously it had to do with the heating bill, but what else?  Is this a secret code for parents of teens?  As in, "if you touch the thermostat, I'll know, so imagine what other, more important things I find out about."  Or, is the thermostat a euphemism for a penis?  "Don't touch that boy's penis, or I'll KNOW!"

bwahahahahaha.

Yes, the evil laugh.  Because moms were just out to ruin our lives and make us cold back in those days.

Photo Credit: It's Cold!! by Mr. T in DC on Flickr via a Creative Commons Attribution-- No Derivatives license

how to survive a trip to Colonial Williamsburg

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Recently, my husband came home from work and informed me that he would soon have to go to Williamsburg, VA for a some sort of conference in which Karl Rove would be speaking. He was hoping I wouldn't be upset because he would have to bail on some plans that had been on our calendar for ages. Mad because of flaking out on plans for work? No, not me. Never. Mad because he was going to the very place I had mentioned hundreds of times and not taking the kids and me with him? Not quite angry, but very jealous. So, after sleeping on the idea (and thinking about it a lot), it was determined that we would get to go. The aforementioned plans that I had? Dropped like a hot potato in a crowded kitchen.  Colonial Williamsburg, here we come!

 

So, um, I was going to have to take the kids on the historic tour without my husband, because he did have to be somewhere that day.  And, Katie had an ear infection.  And, I had to pull Alex out of school to go so I felt like I had to make this trip super-educational.  And, my feet hurt after walking however many miles in 40 degree temperatures.  But, it was so worth it!  

We had a great time.  Really, we did.  It wasn't crowded (at all), we were able to just walk right into all the demonstrations we wanted to see, and most of the buildings were decorated for Christmas.  Alex stood in the jail cell that once held some of Blackbeard's pirates, Katie enjoyed gingerbread and a rousing lap around the courthouse green, and I drank hot chocolate.  LOTS of hot chocolate.  

And, while we were there, we learned a great deal.  Don't believe me?  Keep reading for the inside scoop on surviving a cold day in Colonial Williamsburg (which is in Virginia, for those of you who didn't pass elementary history).

1. Take the stroller and make your child ride in it!  Your back will thank you.  Just remember that you cannot take strollers into any of the buildings, except for the Visitors Center (they trick you at first, you see).  So, make sure you pack lots of treats to lure your child back into the seat after they've been lifted out for the upteenth time.  Also, if you pull a tired, desperate, sad face at some of the Colonists, they might let you take the stroller in anyway.  At the very least, they'll let you park it as close to the door as humanly possible and try to entertain your children while you listen to the spiel that only you are actually interested in.

2. Go in lots of stores and buildings.  Even the ones you aren't interested in!  Trust me, they have fires in there.  You'll be warm.  You'll be happy.  Ahhhhh...... 

This was taken outside the Mary Dickinson store, which sells lots of fabric and hats and aprons and girly stuff.  I saw a cute waistpocket with embroidered birds that would have been perfect for my clothespins... but not for $46.  They can live in a walmart bag for now.

3. Get a map and mark the bathrooms as soon as you arrive.  After drinking all that hot chocolate and apple cider, your children will thank you.  Also, do not, DO NOT, request that your child turn around for a picture while his is running off to find the bathroom.  He will not be happy.

 

4. Promptly show your kids what happens if they misbehave.  But, don't forget that a child can't get out of the stocks without some help.  Definitely don't walk away, expecting your son to follow you.  He won't.  If he's smart, he'll scream for help.  If he's lucky, you'll hear him.

5. Pose your kids beside some garbage and take a picture.  Don't worry, you won't look like a fool.  See those barrels?  They're trash cans.  See the shopkeeper in the background?  I annoyed him later in the day by ordering some cold hot cider.  I didn't KNOW it would be hot!  I'm surprised he didn't plant a "kick me" sign on my back after that one.

6. Learn some stuff from very knowledgeable tour guides.  This gentleman went on tangent after crazy tangent about Revolutionary history, which was incredibly fascinating.  (yes, really!).  The bonus: We were inside where it was warm.

7. Then, go meet some of the other awesome interpreters.  If you go in the down season, you'll have a chance to actually talk with them.  This guy was a really cool silversmith who spoke in modern-day slang while wearing a period costume.  The whole experience felt awfully Back To The Future-y for some reason.  Equally awesome was his pimp who stood on the street, ushering unsuspecting tourists into this incredibly entertaining demonstration.  Very, very cool and unexpected.

8.  Follow the signs.  Upon leaving the Magazine (where the Colonists housed their guns and other weapons), we saw a sign pointing around the corner to another place.  I can't remember the name of the demonstration or this gentleman, but I'm glad I followed Alex around the corner of the building.  This guy would have been part of the military, working to make bags and hats and things for the soldiers. Upon entering his shop, he immediately put Alex to work, soaking leather for shaping.  While most of the shopkeepers and demonstrators attempted to show how boys Alex's age would be in some sort of apprenticeship position by now (one store owner even offering to keep Alex in the cellar with his cats), this guy actually gave my boy a hands on experience.   Upon questioning about his costume, he also explained that the color of his lapel and cuffs, as well as the type of buttons on his coat, denoted his rank in the military.  Very, very interesting stuff.  

photo by ComputerGuy, via a Creative Commons license

9. Then, get lost in a maze.  Explore the gardens behind the Governor's Palace (you don't need the super ticket to go to the gardens).  If you look hard enough, you'll find this hedge maze.  If you get out of the maze and go around it's perimeter, you'll find the "Mount" from which this picture was taken.  Obviously, we didn't make our way all the way through so I had to rely on someone else's skills to share.

10.  See what you can and smile.  Know that, unless you have more than one day to spend here, you won't be able to see it all.  Enjoy the nuggets.  Take lots of pictures.  Live in the moment.  Cry "Huzzah!" and "Encore!" Especially if there's a particularly satisfying scene.

 

 The Magazine houses more than just guns.

 

a little too comfortable

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As our fall weather quickly turns winter-ish here in the mountains of Virginia, I sit and listen to the tinkling of heat coming through our floor vents.  I am at once both grateful for the year-round comfort that a heat pump provides, and nostalgic for the seasonal temperature changes within the house as well as out.

not my house

When I was a young girl, I would spend the days with my granny while my mother and father worked.  My granny lived in an aging apartment complex with cast-iron radiators for heat in the winter.  There was no air-conditioning at all.  During the summer, she would crank the windows open and place a large electric window fan at the other end of the room, to get a "cross-draft."  She would sit in front of that window for most of the day, enjoying the cool breezes while I played outside in the heat.  Unlike my son, I wouldn't say that it was too "hot" to play outside, only coming in for an occasional glass of cool lemonade.

When the weather turned cool and the leaves began to change, the window would be closed for the season and the heavy drapes drawn across.  There were no floor-length drapes in her home, though, because a radiator sat beneath each window.    As the superintendent turned the heat on each year, there would be much popping and crackling while the radiator stretched its seasonal legs.  A funny smell would appear as dust burned away from the large, heavy coils.  And, the heat would be on again.

not my granny's radiator

The radiators were topped with huge slabs of marble.  I don't know if it was something that my granny had acquired over the years, or if they were provided by the apartment owners.  However, the huge pieces of rock turned the radiators into hot-topped tables during the winter.  While I would place my cheek against the cool surface in the warmer months, I knew better than to touch those burning slabs of marble if the heat was on.  At home, my mother would reheat her coffee in the microwave.  Well, I can't remember if my granny had a microwave or not, but she didn't really need one as long as she had her radiators going. I can recall that she would set her coffee cup on the table-top each morning and the liquid would stay warm throughout the day. 

As I sit here this morning, sipping my own coffee, in my own home, I fondly remember those days when there was a true hot seat in the house.  A place that was warmer than any other.  The other corners of the room may have been drafty, but there was always that coveted seat next to the radiator.  I remember the mornings of waking to rush down and cold hallway to use the restroom.  The days of entering a cold room in which my dad had turned off the electric baseboards and wishing the heat would just hurry up and rush out at my cold feet.  The evenings when the seasons could surely be felt in your bones and you cuddled together under warm afghan blankets with hot cups of cocoa.  And, I sit here in my t-shirt, listening to my heat drift up through the floor vents, watching my daughter run around bottomless (we're potty-training), and I'm completely comfortable.  A blanket is on the couch beside me, for comfort, but I do not need it.  I know that, though the sun shines bright, the air outside is quite cold for an early November day.  I realize that, when we go out, we'll have to put on coats.  Yet, for now, it is 72 degrees in every corner of my home.  The perfect temperature.

For that, I am grateful.  I know that there are many people in this country, my own parents included, who are not blessed with the supreme heat pump that we have.  They don't have super-tight, energy-efficient homes.  They don't necessarily have heat pumps.  They may still have baseboards, radiators, or just plain fireplaces and wood stoves.  I know that we are blessed.  And yet, maybe we'll turn that thermostat down a little bit and throw an extra blanket on the bed.  Not just to save money, but to teach the kids just how blessed we are.

not me, not my bed

Oh, and when I'm camping in 28 degree temperatures this weekend, I will definitely miss my heat-pump.  Bundle up, ya'll!