Oh no! It's a Man Cold!

I have a pretty healthy immune system, but every once-in-awhile I get a bug. Sometime during our Snow Days, I caught a cold. I was too sick to teach Sunday School yesterday. (Thanks to my son-in-law Nolan for bailing me out and teaching my lesson.) I'm on the mend, I think/hope! DoJo is about a day behind me in symptoms, so today was his day to be absolutely miserable. I will just say, if the hubbs skips work, well...it's serious! This whole episode reminded me of a video that a male co-worker shared with me a couple of years ago. It was his way of explaining to me how he was more sick than I could possibly imagine. I'm not saavy enough to figure out how to put it on my blog, so you will have to go to YouTube and watch it. It requires no further explanation. Enjoy!

Gloves

After my last post, I had a couple of friends question my gloves. (I only wear them when I'm machine-quilting or sewing something bulky.) DoJo and his employees use gloves like this at the Ice Plant. The palm and the finger tips are rubberized, which gives you a nice grip on those cold, slippery ice bags. Really, they are the best gloves ever, and they are multipurpose! I have a pair I wear for outside work, but I save a clean pair just for my machine-quilting projects. I discovered their quilting usefulness quite by accident. Several years ago while quilting a large quilt on my regular-size sewing machine, I found that I needed more control of the fabric-batting sandwich. (What I really need is a long arm quilter, but that's another item on my already long enough wish list!) Anyway, the quilt was getting the better of me. My shoulders were achy and my hands hurt even worse. I was on the verge of giving up when I had the brainstorm...Ice Plant gloves, and presto! problem solved! It's kind of redneck, and I know it seems goofy, but it worked for me and I've used them ever since. At the time, I didn't know that they actually market quilting gloves. I Googled it recently and found out that Atlas, the maker of my Ice Plant gloves, also sells quilter's gloves. They come in much prettier colors, like fuchsia, granny apple green, purple, and blue (like mine!) Too bad I didn't come up with this idea years ago. Perhaps if I had, I would have enough money to buy myself a long arm and eliminate the need for the goofy gloves.

*Note to Mel: You don't need gloves for making the blocks. Plus, I have an idea for finishing our across-the-pond quilts. Check out my friend Deidra. She has the long-arm quilter I covet and she knows how to use it! Paying for her expertise is better than buying a pair of gloves. Her work is beautiful.

Snow Day!

This morning, I woke up to this. It may not seem like much to my friends in Utah or Scotland, but in the Four Corners area, this is called a Snow Day. School was canceled and I celebrated.

First, I dressed like this. Comfy pants, a.k.a. sweats, and my special gloves.

Then, I sat at my sewing machine and had some fun with a little machine quilting.

DoJo came home early and made me some lunch. (Yes, his hair looks funny, but it usually does unless he's wearing his church clothes. He doesn't know about this, so don't mention it when you see him in his everyday-work-clothes.) Lunch was good and I was impressed. This is actually the first time I've seen DoJo use the microwave for something other than nachos or popcorn!

Not long after lunch, these two sweethearts came to visit with their little ones. They invited me and DoJo to join them in the snow. Who could resist these two sweet smiles?

Kourtney patiently waited for her turn on the sled.

Lexi spent her down time making snow angels.

Our yard is somewhat level, so there's no downhill experience. The dad's provided the horse power for a lot of fun.

Olivia and Lexi have a snow snack during their ride.

Drew does his best to just hang on. Olivia, on the other hand, practiced her parade wave each time she passed the camera.

Nolan gives Kourtney a wild ride.

Jeremy decides to show Amanda just exactly how wet the snow is.

It seems that Jeremy would know better. They've been married for almost 10 years. Guess he's a slow learner.

Yeah, that snow in the ear is REAL cold! Live and learn, Jeremy!

If you've seen The Christmas Story, then Andrew should look familiar to you.

All the snow clothes made walking difficult, so he resorted to hands and knees.

This is FUN? Save me Grandpa!

Time for cocoa. Grandpa decides to show the grandchildren the wonders of whipped cream in the cocoa, only his whipped cream never makes it to the cup. DoJo likes his straight.

Lexi tries it.

But Kourtney sticks with the tried-and-true.

Kourtney assures me that you can't have too much whipped cream in your cocoa. Plus, it is okay to scoop it out with your fingers!

What a day! Everybody needs a Snow Day every now and again.

Excuses, anyone?

I'm a 6th grade teacher and I LOVE my job. I especially love those freaky little "tweeners" that I spend my days with. One of the really fun things about teaching is hearing all the excuses these kids come up with. I thought I'd heard them all...until yesterday! I just had to pass this one along. The conversation went something like this:
"Mrs. W, my mom can't come for Parent-Teacher conference on Friday because she said I got her sick."
Oh really, how did you get your mom sick? I bet she caught your cold.
"No, I had an asthma attack. Wait, maybe it was appendicitis. Yeah, that's it!"
So, your mom caught that from you?
"Uh huh, and she's really sick."
Hmmmm....(I was pretty proud of myself for keeping a straight face!)

Today I received a note from the mom. She didn't say whether she was suffering from asthma or appendicitis, but she is going to be too sick to come in for a conference. I bet she has asthma AND appendicitis.