Cruciferous Vegetable Night

Season 4, Episode 2 of the Big Bang Theory is called "The Cruciferous Vegetable Amplification."  When my husband saw me preparing 1/2 of a head of cauliflower for consumption this evening, he insisted that I suit up with Beano and warned me that his evening sleep may be taken on the couch.

He sees a replay of Sheldon's Cruciferous Vegetable Night.  Of course, the most hilarious portion of his night was not on You Tube, but this will suffice.

Let's hope that we don't have a re-run. At least I can tell you that I am not designed for nor do I run. (Well, not unless it is an emergency.) Falling down steps while running shouldn't be a problem for me.

Wintertime vocabulary lesson for the masses.

I realize that not all of the readers here live in the cold, white north.  We have a different vocabulary up here during the winter.  Here are some words/phrases you may here:

1.  I've got to snap my blades.  That means that if you are really good at it, you can drive down the road, reach out your window and grab hold of a moving windshield wiper blade while in motion.  You need to do this to "snap" the ice off the blade to make it so that it can start clearing ice, road sludge, salty water and whatnot from your windshield.

2.  Drifts.  We're not talking about hints that people are dropping.  Oh no.  We're talking about swirling measurements of snow that collect and block the worse possible places.

3.  Beet juice.  Where I live, they use a beet juice cocktail on winter roads for ice treatment.  No, we don't drink it.  Surprisingly, it doesn't turn the cars pink or purple like I thought.  Well, I suppose it is hard to tell under all of the gray road gunk.

4.  Parking lot sludge.  Gray and black semi-frozen matter that is a result of salt melting and driving over ice and snow.  It will ruin pants.  When you walk through it, you end up with a stripe of gunk all the way up the back of your legs.  Nice.

5.  Give my car a brush, please.  No, I don't drive the dog mobile from Dumb and Dumber.  Brushing a car is simply taking the lovely snow brush and brushing the snow off the windows and lights.  My husband usually brushes my car off, but this morning, I was on my own.  :(

6.  Snowman snow.  Snow isn't just snow.  There are different degrees of snow and just because you have it doesn't mean that you can make a snowball or snow person out of it.  The warmer it is, the more the snow sticks.  The colder it is, the fluffier it is.

7.  Car blanket.  You don't have this to tuck your car in.  You have this in case you end up in a horrible traffic jam because someone decided to stomp on their brakes or because your car failed to cooperate.  A nice, toasty blanket in your car may never be used.  In the winter up north, it is a necessity, though.

I know that I'm forgetting a ton of things here.  Feel free to keep adding to the list.  :)

Getting ready for our storm.

We're supposed to have 8-12" of snow today.  By Saturday, we're supposed to have 19"+ on the ground.  Hubs returned to work today after being off on vacation time.  I get to greet the Christmas Sale crowds (ugh) and then we are to be slammed late this morning and on through this evening.

I'd rather be hanging out at home.

Hubs thought I was ridiculous to pack him a bag with a blanket, water, gatorade, foil packs of tuna, granola bars, fleece pants, a sweatshirt and wool socks.  Oh, and because he's been suffering with a cold, I sent him with a box of Puffs and a disposal bag.  He also has a little shovel with him.  The road out to where he works was shut down and blocked for an obscene number of hours (as in overnight +) so that particular stretch of road doesn't have a real good track record.

My MIL has asked that K stay over so that we don't have to worry about going out to get her.  K has her bag packed, her doll's bag packed, an extra blanket and pillow (she got yesterday) as well as a doll bed and a doll barber chair.  Methinks she packed a lil heavy.

As for me, I work just up the road.  I'm blessed to work for people who will and have sent us home early.  If it is getting ugly, they will send us home.  I'm looking forward to that today.

I've gassed up both cars.  Hubs is in front wheel drive and I have 4 wheel drive.  We'll be okay.  It's the driving of everyone else that concerns me.

We pray that everyone remains safe.  For now, we're under a Winter Weather Advisory.  Up towards the lake, they are under Blizzard warnings because of wind.  Who knows what this will really hold?

Merry Christmas!

Having a wonderful day with family and hoping the same for all of you!

Praying.

Rachael recently asked me about someone on my prayer list.  "I read that, you know."  Updating the prayer list had slipped my mind.  I have updated it today.  There are some pretty chewy things on there that need our prayerful help.

We have Sandy Hook.  That goes probably without saying, but I've heard that people have been taking Christmas decorations down.  I don't know that people are boycotting Christmas, but their hearts are hurting so bad.  We need to continue to lift this community and the affected families in prayer because Christmas isn't about gift giving.  It is about hope.  So much would I love to grab them all up and just hug them.  Say nothing.  Just listen and hug these poor people with every ounce of energy that I have.

We have families with health issues and no money.

A family that has dropped off the radar and though we haven't heard that anything is wrong, my heart tells me that there is something not right.

We have families who have lost and are looking to lose.

We have family members who will hopefully get past the issues that they are having and come together in love.

So many prayers.  So many needs.  If you have one that you would like to add to the list, please contact me to let me know.

Oh, and don't think that I mind getting the poke to update.  I sort of fell off the wagon when the computer crashed.  I promise.  I'll be better.