Wanted: Cleaning Person and Slightly Warmer Temperatures

It's been cold in the Northeast (and much of the country) this week.  Bitter cold.  It was -2 when I left the house yesterday morning, but my car's thermometer refused to go below 0.  As though it decided that 0 was cold enough and really, is there a difference between 0 and -2? 

The house has a sunroom that is basically an enclosed deck with nice walls and a floor.  It's raised in the yard, so there is no foundation under the floor (it's where we store the kayaks and the lawn furniture!), it's got three exterior walls and a glass slider that opens to the kitchen.  A nice cool place with a cross breeze in the summer, and what we refer to as a walk in cooler in the winter.  The kegirator lives there and at New Year's we decided to put all the drinks (sodas, champagne, bottled water) out there so they'd stay cool without needing to by bags of ice for coolers or take up awkward space in the fridge. 

And since then, we've been lazy and haven't brought said beverages back into the kitchen, just bundling up to go out in what is essentially arctic temperatures just to get a caffeine fix. 

Last night Dave was doing paperwork in the office and I was playing video games in the living room.  The kitchen is in between and sunroom is off the back of the kitchen.  Dave came in to the living room and asked, "What fell?"

Me: Huh?

Dave:  I thought I heard something fall in the kitchen.

Me:  I didn't hear a thing.

Dave went out the kitchen and poked around but didn't see anything out of place.  This morning, I received the following:

So since we didn't have any plans for the weekend, I guess now we'll be spending the morning clean the soda off of the floors, walls and ceiling in the sunroom.  At least it will still be frozen so it'll be less sticky.  But of course, that also means we'll be cold while we clean.  Lesson learned--bring in the soda when the temperatures dip below freezing or you too can be cleaning Coke Zero off your walls.

Riddle Me This

I just got off a flight to Florida to visit my friend Lisa and her husband and meet their sweet baby girl.  I needed to use the restroom on the plan. Explain to me why if smoking is illegal on a plane, the why is there an ashtray on the door about a foot and a half below the no smoking sign?

Sleds & Snow

On Sunday morning, Dave and I got our stuff together and drove again up to Hollis, NH, to take our snowmobiles out for a little drive.  We belong to a group called Hollis No'Easters, a group of snowmobilers who maintain the trails in the Hollis area.  We went to Silver Lake again and this time, we went on a different set of trails, a little wider, a little more rolling, and as it turned out, a little more fun.

Shortly after getting on the trail, we found ourselves in an apple orchard, which was pretty cool.  Then a little while later, we were in a town park.  The trails are multi-use, meaning they aren't just reserved for snowmobilers.  Again, we saw people hiking with their dogs, snowshoeing and cross-country skiing.  This was a pretty popular area because the trail cuts through the park, but either side of the trail is restricted and snowmobiles aren't allowed, so people can play with their dogs, make snow angels, etc.

We ended up going almost 9 miles out on this trail, crossing roads and bridges, going around some quick turns and bumpy patches.  It's starting to get a little warm for January so some spots were sparse with snow, but it was still fun.  After a little break, we turned around a headed back.  Dave and I can't figure out why, but the trail was a lot more fun on the way back.  Maybe it was because we were familiar with it. Maybe because we were going uphill.  Or maybe because we were a little more comfortable with our snowmobiles.  Regardless, we had a good time. 

Then we got back to the orchard.  There were a few other snowmobilers out, but not many and the orchard was empty.  Even though we couldn't talk to each other, apparently Dave and I both had the same idea: Time to open this sucker up.  I hit the throttle and just went for it.  When I did look down and see that I was just shy of 30 mph, I laughed and let off a bit, pleased that I had the guts to do it.  Dave had a similar experience, but his sled was a little quick on the gas and he shot forward, getting up to 30 pretty quickly.

We had a great day out. It'll be too warm to be any fun this weekend, but hopefully over the next few week's New Hampshire will get a little more snow (notice how I qualified where I wanted the snow to be?) and we can go play some more before the end of the month.

Cozy Homemade Gifts

This year I made five snuggly blankets for Christmas gifts to share with friends and family.  I was pretty happy with one of the patterns and made three different versions in different color combinations.  It came together pretty quickly--I finished half of one on the flight to Charlotte for Thanksgiving.  I first made a pink and purple one, doublestranded, double crochet V-stiches for Rachel and John to snuggle up when their little girl arrives next month.  I forgot to take a picture, but then I made a brown/beige one for my friends Mere and Nick, and then a third one in browns and greens for Annette.

The next was a repeat pattern from last year, the diagonal blanket I made then for Madaline & Ernie, Jeff & Jo, and Kate & Andy.  This year I used the same cozy Lion Brand Homespun yarn in a royal and a light blue to make the pattern for my friend Stacy. 

Finally, the last blanket I made was again from the cozy Homespun in shades of green for my brother JR and his girlfriend Jen.  It's a little chevron wave and I like how the colors blend together.  JR was very kind when he left me a message that Mom would be proud of the work I did on that afghan.

All three patterns were free from either JoAnn Fabrics or the Lion Brand website.  If you're interested in the specific pattern, leave me a message below and I'd be happy to share it with you (I just don't have them handy right now).

First Run...Almost Made It

So last night, Central Massachusetts got it's first meaningful snow for the season.  We got a dusting for Christmas and about an inch on Friday morning.  But last night, we got about 10 inches of fresh, fluffy snow.  And Dave couldn't be happier.  All night he kept running to the windows,checking the accumulation.  Actually, I'm surprised he didn't wake up and jump up and down on the bed, exclaiming about how much snow we got.  I'm very proud that he didn't.

While we wanted to take our snowmobiles out, we haven't registered them yet and today the agent office was closed.  So we went cross country skiing at Great Brook Ski Touring Center.  It was a great day for it.  The sun came out, the powder was perfect for gliding, and I only fell once (over some ice at the very beginning). 

Dave and I came back home and cleared out some snow from around the house and Dave killed the downspout with the snow blower.

The little dark chunks to the left of the downspout are more pieces of downspout.  Dave is ashamed.

Then we decided to have some real fun.  Even though our snowmobiles aren't registered, we can ride them on our own property.  Behold: Dave turning our backyard into his own private, albeit tiny, snowmobile trail. (My apologies for the sideways-ness of this video...I actually thought I was taking it correctly.)

It was actually pretty fun.  Until we went to put the sled back on the trailer and Dave came up the slight incline only to run out of gas.  We didn't have that much gas in it to begin with, and I'm sure the slight tilt didn't help, but it was pretty funny to see that after going around the yard about 8 times, he didn't have enough in the tank to bring it home.

So close, yet so far.  Dave is again ashamed.

So on Dave's agenda for tomorrow is registering the snow mobiles and stopping for gas on the way home so we can get the sled back on the trailer (and hopefully go out on a real trail later this week).

Harpoon Brewery or Beer at 11:30 am

Dad came up to spend Christmas with Dave and I this year.  So we thought the perfect thing to do would be head to the Harpoon Brewery in Boston and take the tour.  If you remember, Dave and I visited the Harpoon Brewery in Windsor, VT, and took the tour, which resulted in a lot of beer consumption, specifically because another woman on the tour didn't like the beer and kept giving her portion to Dave.

Well, the Boston tour was equally fun.  It happened to be Ugly Sweater Day, so most of the tour guises were dressed in hideous Christmas sweaters which was of course, amazing.  The fun thing about the Harpoon Brewery in Boston is that because of Prohibition, the Harpoon brewery license is noted as 001, the oldest continuously operating brewery in the state of Massachusetts. 

The tour starts with a tasting, this time of their Rye IPA.  Then we got to taste the IPA straight off the line, unfiltered and very cold.  Then later another taste of the filtered IPA for a comparison and finally a free for all at the tasting taps.  I tried the Harpoon Dark, the Raspberry UFO and the UFO White.  Dave tried some of the more dark and unique offerings, and both Dad and Dave tried the Apple Pie, which is the combination of the Winter Warmer and their Apple Cider.  It legitimately tastes like apple pie in a glass.  So we bought a six pack of each of those to enjoy with Christmas dinner (since I didn't make apple pie for dessert, it seemed appropriate. 

Then we had to get lunch, cause we were getting a little tipsy before 1 pm.

This Is What Happens When You Don't Say No

So after last year's Halloween's snowstorm followed up promptly by a winter of, well, no snow, Dave is very anxious to get this winter started and bring on what he predicts will be snow of epic proportions.  I won't lie, I am kind of interested in it snowing so we can go cross-country skiing, since there are trails near our house.  Dave's excited by that prospect as well, but he's more excited about this.

Yes, those our snowmobiles and yes, they are ours.  Because I never told my husband no.  Truth be told, I'm excited about them too.  A few years ago, we took a winter trip to New Hampshire for some cross-country skiing and decided to rent a snowmobile.  It was kind of awesome.  Freezing cold, but awesome.  So when Dave told me he had "the need for speed" (yup, he used those words) and then made his argument, I could find no holes to poke in it, no ill-founded logic, and no reason to say no.  I never actually said yes, but I didn't discourage him.

So now, thanks to Craig's List, we have 2 sleds that will each hold two people (so we can take friends!) and a trailer to pull them with.  We decided to get two sleds so we could each drive (which is really the most fun part) and because on that bitter cold day a few years ago, we realized it's the driver who stays warm, so if we intend to go out for a few hours, we both want the advantages of the hand warmers and foot guards.  (Don't worry, friends.  These sleds actually have heated handle bars and foot guards in the back, so you'll be safe.  We didn't know that was an option until we already decided to get two sleds.  And I'll let you drive.  Maybe Dave will, too.)

November snow in Boston.

Thanks to the snow we got recently, Dave's quite anxious to get on the trails.  I could wait a bit, but yes, I'm looking forward to it too.  Especially looking forward to some snow over Christmas so we can take my Dad out (that sound is my brother getting jealous). 

But for the record, since I didn't say no to snowmobiles and let my husband drive a Lamborghini, I'm still waiting for my medal and/or cash prize (eh, just cash prize) for being the best wife ever.