Sorry, folks! I’m running a bit late (again)! Hope all is well and you all have a wonderful week. Thanks for playing Monday Madness. The following 2 questions come from our friend, tricia… Thanks, Tricia, and thanks for the idea!

1. Do you ever use all caps when typing online messages?
No, I usually don’t, since it’s considered bad online etiquette.
2. Does it bother you when other people use all caps in their messages?
Yes, because I find it hard to read.
3. Do you use abbreviations (i.e. lol, brb, etc.) when typing email messages or text messages?
Yes!  LOL!  (LOL mostly, though!)
4. Do you ever receive faxes or other correspondence from a professional office that are typed in all caps? If so, what do you think of that?
No, I don’t think I’ve ever seen a message all in caps, at work.  I don’t think I would like it there, either.
5. Do you rely on the computer program to catch your typing errors, or do you proofread your material before sending it out?
I think my brain is a better spellchecker, than the spellchecker on the computer, since there are so many words, that aren’t the right word for a certain context, but are still a word, like rein, when you mean rain. Although, it’s much easier to catch spelling and grammatical errors on someone else’s work, than your own.

It’s been snowing continuously, since 11am.  It’s just a light snow, but it just keeps on coming and did amount to some inches, over the course of the day.  I’m going to have sore muscles when I wake up in the morning, from shoveling.

The kids helped me clear the end of the driveway, after the snowplow went through, so we could go to the store.  The mess was about 2 feet deep, heavy and hard to shovel.  We got it cleared, though.

Here’s from Weather Underground:

 3.1 inches of snow since 7am. Current snow depth of 11
            inches. Two day snowfall totals of 12.1 inches.

Yet, it keeps on snowing.  So, no actual blizzard, but even light snow adds up after a while!

What a big bust that storm was for us.  We got maybe 3-4 inches, hardly worth the “blizzard” warning we got.  It was more like a normal snowstorm.  Churches cancelled, all over the area, but I’m not sure why.  We had no trouble taking the kids to Love Bowls (sell soup to make money for Meals on Wheels), where they are volunteering right now.  Pfft.

Those weathermen sure like to over-hype the storms.  Then we get the storm and it’s nothing extraordinary!  Bleah.

Our nice neighbor shoveled our sidewalk and the end of the driveway.  He keeps doing that for us.  We gave him homemade cookies to say thank you, for the last 2 storms.  Today, he said they were delicious.  (chocolate chip cookies!)  Gary was having a ball, going all over the neighborhood to blow snow, for others who hadn’t gotten to it, yet, since he had time to do that, today.

We are supposed to get a little more snow today and tonight.  I guess I’ll believe it, when I see it.

7PM: It’s very windy and much colder out than before, but still no snow!  The radar looks like we should be getting snow, but I didn’t see any snowflakes, when Jasmine was out going potty.  It’s snowing like crazy in Milwaukee, as they keep showing us on the news, but none here, yet.

It’s 30 degrees outside, with a windchill of 21, and 12mph winds, with gusts to 26, according to Weather Underground, which keeps saying the snow is coming.  It sure felt colder out there, or maybe that’s because I was watching TV, all snug under my covers, before I went outside!

11:30pm update: It’s finally snowing!  I thought it would never start!

Our snow was doing such a good job of melting, (and revealing the dog presents, that I didn’t get picked up before it snowed!  LOL!)  We were all getting comfy with the idea of spring coming, too.  However, man plans and God laughs.  We could get 10-12 inches of snow this weekend!  So, right back to winter.  That gave me the incentive to go pick up the doggie presents, so I don’t have them peeking at me, when the snow melts again.  We are expecting 1-5 inches tonight and that’s not the big storm!  LOL!  On Sunday, along with STRONG winds, we are supposed to get another 6-8.  It will be a mess.  We have nowhere to go on Sunday, though, so we can just sit home and let it happen. 

Unfortunately, the dog will still need to go outside, so I don’t get to watch it all, from the comfort of my home!  She likes company outside with her.  If it’s nasty, though, she is quick and runs back to the house.  She likes her warm house, too.

I hope that nothing happens to our power, since we have feasts planned for the weekend.  Citrus Chicken tomorrow, a pasta dish for lunch on Sunday and bean soup for supper on Sunday.  I’ll post the recipes later.

 I didn’t actually upload this entry until now.  We are under a blizzard warning today, starting at 6pm, and going until noon tomorrow.  We are supposed to get 10-17 inches of snow!  Yikes!  My only concern is that the 2 nurses who are supposed to work tomorrow, at the walk-in clinic, both live out of town.  I wonder if I will have to work tomorrow, because one of them can’t get in!  I will just have to wait and see.

We already got about 5 inches of snow, overnight, but that isn’t the main storm!  That is coming later!

It’s 44 according to Weather Underground.  I just know that it feels so much warmer outside.  I don’t like that severly cold weather, like we just had!  Ugh.  Fortunately, we are in the last week of February now, so it probably won’t get THAT cold anymore.

This morning, Gary and I went to the laundromat, because we had quilts to wash.  I had clipped Jasmine’s nails the other day and the last one I did, I cut too short and made her bleed.  I didn’t realize THAT day, that I’d gotten blood on our new quilt.  The quilt is new and so puffy yet, that it wouldn’t have gotten clean, in our washer at home, so we went to the laundromat and put it in the 50-lb machine!  Well, all the blood came out!  We used Tide powder to wash it with.

We brought it home and hung it outside, but ever after being outside for 2 hours, it still wasn’t close to being dry, so now it’s spread out over a living room couch.  We didn’t have time to wait for the quilts to dry at the laundromat.  We took another quilt with us, too, as long as we were already going. 

I have mending to do, on the downstairs quilt.  I didn’t realize some of the seams had come apart.  Shoot.  We’ve had that one a while.  It’s for covering up, when you are in the basement watching TV.

This week’s questions come from 3 of our fellow MM participants. Thanks to you all for your faithful participation in my meme! =)

From sleeping mermaid:
If you could rewrite one pivotal moment in history, good or bad, to make a change, which moment would that be AND what are some of the consequences that you believe might come from that change?

This is in regards to the Children’s Blizzard, which took place on January 12, 1888.  The day started out warm and cooped-up kids begged to go to school.  Then the blizzard started and they didn’t have warm coats on and buildings were wrecked and kids that tried to go home, ended up freezing to death.  It’s very sad.

 I would like to be able to go back and warn those parents to keep their children home, because they would have been safer there.  They didn’t know the blizzard was coming.  They lived on the plains of South Dakota and there just wasn’t that much communication going on, to have warned people of the bad weather on the way.  Maybe some of those young kids would have lived longer lives.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Schoolhouse_Blizzard

From beth:
What’s the most unusual hobby you have? How did you get started with it?
I don’t have any weird hobbies, although, my less computer-literate friends might think the whole web-page thing would be weird.  I can’t even talk to them about it, because their eyes glaze over!  So, it’s not weird to me, just weird to other people. We got the internet right after Christmas of 1996.  In early 1997, we bought a new modem and got internet access.  I was always going to a message board at what used to be Parent’s Place, but is now iVillage.  People were always posting pictures and showing the rest of us how to do it.  I realized that if I had a website, I could store pictures there and be able to show off pictures of my kids on the message board.  I was already learning html, from the message board people.  At first, I did the quick start page, at Geocities, but eventually learned to code my own pages and got quite good at making webpages.  Then Yahoo bought out Geocities and started taking all the perks away, like FTP and Front Page extensions.  They wanted you to pay to get all that stuff.  Well, that’s when I got my own domain, so I could have FTP and Front Page extensions and all that stuff.  Well, http://www.christianwebhost.com  had much better deals, than Yahoo Geocities, so I went with them!  Now, I don’t even use Front Page anymore, because we got Dreamweaver a few years ago!  So, even though I know html, I don’t have to code my pages, anymore!  Also, with my own domain, I can play with php, perl, and host my own blog and my own tagboard and not have ads.  It’s a wonderful thing!  I just wish I had more TIME to tinker!  I never did get Valentine’s Day graphics on my website, because I never had time.

From shelly:
Name one thing for each of the following:

Favorite smell: Bread baking in the oven or a freshly-bathed baby
Texture:  The feel of a hand-knit sweater 
View:  This is hard!  The view from Eagle Tower, in Door County, WI.  You can see Ephraim, WI, Green Bay, several islands and a little sliver of Michigan.  I also loved the view of standing right by Niagara Falls, and the view of the Black Hills on the Spearfish Canyon Scenic Byway.  From someone who lives in relatively flat WI, it was quite an experience to be dwarfed by the Black Hills!
Sound: Well-played symphonic music and a baby’s giggle
Taste: A bratwurst cooked on a charcoal grill, Christmas Eve lasagna, homemade chicken soup, and a Dove Bar ice cream treat!

This morning, Sheboygan wasn’t in the snow advisory.  Then around 3pm, it started snowing and quickly became heavy.  Then they announced we WERE in the snow advisory area!  LOL!  We had already figured that out.  Now it’s about 8pm and we have several inches on the ground and it’s still coming down!  I have to go pick up my kids from pep band very soon and I’m not looking forward to it, since the roads are a little slippery!  Ugh.  Oh well, the new snow looks so pretty now.  The old snow was getting dirty and icky looking.

The kids and I had breaded porkchops for supper, with steamed broccoli and cauliflower, and baked potatoes with sour cream and cheese.  Yummy!  I’ll post the recipe for the pork chops, when I get back from picking up the kids!  Off I go, into the snow!

Breaded Pork Chops:

Prepare Pork Coating Mix (below). Dip 4 pork rib or loin chops, (1/2 to 3/4 inch thick), into 3/4 cup milk.  Shake each in Pork Coating Mix, coating both sides.  Cook on rack in shallow pan in 425 degree oven until done and brown, 30-35 minutes.
4 servings

Pork Coating Mix

2 tablespoons yellow cornmeal
2 tablespoons whole wheat flour
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon ground sage
1/2 teaspoon onion powder
1/2 teaspoon sugar
1/2 teaspoon paprika

Shake ingredients in medium plastic or paper bag.

Yummy.  It smelled so good in my kitchen with potatoes baking in the microwave and the pork chops roasting in the oven!  I should cook at home more often.

Thank you all for playing Monday Madness. With Valentine’s Day coming up this week, I thought I’d use questions offered by one of our very faithful MM players, rach. Thank you, Rach! Look for YOUR questions to be used in the future! Have a great week, everyone! =)

1. How do you celebrate Valentine’s Day?
DH and I will probably go out to eat, on the weekend.  We both have to work, on Valentine’s Day.
2. Name a special gift you received during Valentine’s Day.
I’m sure I got flowers, when we were first married.  Now, I probably won’t get anything.  I know he loves me, though.
3. Define Love using each letter: L.O.V.E.
Longterm commitment
Overlooking bad habits
Validating each other
Enjoying each other’s company

Toddler girl dies from exposure

What is with people?  She was just being a 2-year old (even if she wasn’t quite 2).  They don’t always cooperate!  It wasn’t enough to knock her unconscious, but then he had to take her outside and leave her to die.  Parents are supposed to protect their children, not kill them.  I was so sad, when I heard this on the radio.  Poor little thing.  {{{HUGS, sweet little one!}}} 

How could he go back to his warm house, knowing she was out there freezing to death?