A Serving of Swedee

Teachers get just as excited about snow days as kids. Especially when they happen before Christmas because it gives me an extra day to get things done! By the looks of things, we will probably have another snow day tomorrow. It's close to 4 p.m. and it's still snowing. My ruler measured the snowfall at 10" and I expect at least another couple of inches according to the weather report.

Snow days mean baking for me. I'm not sure why but I always bake cookies on snow days. Today I made spritz which is a traditional Swedish cookie that everyone in my family makes for Christmas. It feels good to relax and not think about anything for a while. I will enjoy it now because soon I will have to figure out how to remove 12" of snow from my LONG driveway!

Since I've been in Iowa, I've seen foxes, raccoons, rabbits, possum, turkeys (there's 11 in the picture above), deer (I counted 17 deer within 5 miles on one day driving to work), a mountain lion, an eagle (maybe), and a black squirrel. Whoever heard of a black squirrel? Most of the squirrels are reddish brown in Iowa and gray in Pennsylvania but I have a black one in my back yard. According to my sister, they had black squirrels in Lincoln when she was in college and they were known to be the mean ones. I have a history with squirrels (had one in my house two different times!!) so I'm keeping my distance and my windows closed.

Wow. I haven't posted anything since mid-September. That really shouldn't surprise me as a lot was going on back then.... I moved to Iowa, bought a house, and started a new job at a school that was an hour commute from my parents. I could barely keep my head above water then life just gave me a sucker punch to the gut.

Most of you know that my mom died September 23 - just seven weeks after I moved back home. We had talked about this for years - me moving back to Iowa. She was just as excited as I was to have me back home. But for some reason I had only a short time with my mother.

We must have received hundreds of cards from family and friends. So many commented on her smile - she always had a friendly smile for everyone. Mom touched so many people's lives. I was surprised to see Eddie, a former classmate of mine, at the viewing. Eddie was in my class until second or third grade, when he then attended special ed classes in a different town. I don't know what happened to Eddie, except that he worked at the local Wal-mart for the last few years.

After he walked through the receiving line, Eddie came back over to me and said, "I remember the good times that we had at your pond." (We had a farm pond for swimming and picnics.) "Remember those things that we tried to catch - the things with the tales?" Tadpoles? "Yes, tadpoles. That was a good time." Then Eddie walked away with a small wave and a smile. I was amazed that Eddie remembered me from over 40 years ago and came to my mother's viewing. Little did I know, Eddie was not there to see me but to pay his respects to my mother who was his friend. You see, every time my mother went to Walmart and saw Eddie, she would take the time to talk to him. That was my mom - a beautiful person who was kind to everyone. My mom won a lot of awards for different things but she will be remembered most for all the small, unnoticed acts of kindness she showed to others... the hundreds of cards sent, cookies baked, and visits made. I'm glad she was my mother and I miss her dearly.

Well... I've been in my new home for almost 2 months now. I still have boxes to unpack but I think I can locate something if I need it. Henderson does not have cable so I'm hooked up to satellite. Been trying to watch movies because I have free HBO for three months. Here's a picture of my family room - my favorite room as it has windows on three sides (there's a window behind me).

Here's a picture of my house that shows my MANY garages. I have the two-car garage attached to the house, another two-car garage to the left of the house, and another one-car garage behind that one! Now I need to get more vehicles or a man who needs a garage for all his vehicles! :)


To the left of the second garage is another lot which is part of this property too. It has a number of big trees on it now. (The property is a block wide - runs from street to street!) So, I have one acre of lawn to mow next spring. I wish they had riding mowers for sale on Black Friday!! More pictures to come.

Not only do smaller schools have better food, they serve it up on actual plates! I didn't think schools used regular plates and silverware anymore. The schools back in PA use paper or foam plates and plastic silverware. (Can it still be called "silverware" if it's plastic???) Think how much waste is generated from 1,200 students in one day. And that's just from one high school.

Oh, the cooks actually cook and bake here. And there is a salad bar! It's a good thing.

Check out the fancy paws on my kitties! No, they didn't get their nails done at the local salon. Maverick and Jesse (James) are sporting soft paws - little plastic covers to prevent damage from scratching. They don't seem to mind them at all. In fact, I think they were quite proud of their new nails by the way they were pussy-footing around. But then again, they always have attitude. What cat doesn't?

After living here a few days, I noticed "sprinkles" on the toilet seat in the morning. Then I noticed them again later in the day. After living with a teenage son, I figured Dad was getting lazy about lifting the lid. I didn't say anything because, well, it's his house and he is my dad!

This went on for a week. Then one day I noticed the sprinkles were in groups, like 4 or 5 together in one spot then another group a couple of inches away. That's odd, I thought. Then it hit me... that's not my dad sprinkling the seat - those are kitty paw prints!! My kitties were drinking out of the toilet and making the seat wet!

I told my dad about how I thought he was sprinkling the seat and he informed me that he always lifts the lid. Thank goodness. Now I need to teach those kitties to do the same.