March 24 and 25: Home Days

Monday morning Phil worked on cleaning out the storage trailer. He built himself a desk, and moved boxes of books. He has many more boxes of books yet to move.

We had a much-loved visitor come Monday afternoon. He made good use of our miracle glider and recliner chair. Although it was chilly out, the boys played outside for a few hours, and then they watched a movie, letting us visit with minimal interruption. It was a good day. They are good boys.

We woke to snow. For us, from Colorado, that doesn't seem terribly odd. Even though it is early spring, snow isn't unexpected. But I think most of our Charlottesville neighbors are so over the snow. They are tired of snow days, tired of snarled traffic, tired of shoveling, and cold and grey skies, and mountains of dirty snow in parking lots obscuring the view.

Our refrigerator maxed out at about ten gallons of milk. Even if we purchased more jars, we don't have more space. What to do with the extra? Without an ice cream maker, the excess has been stacking up more quickly than ever.

Phil has poured milk on the trees in the nursery, but this morning he simply fed the calf the milk. I think it's hard to know what is the best use of that precious fluid: if there was a garden plot ready, that would be the priority. A castrated calf that will be turned to food hardly seems like the best dumping ground for excess milk. And yet, it is the quickest and easiest option, and it's good for the calf. On a snow day, it's probably a good choice.

The snow fell steadily until dinner time, gorgeous, large flakes outside the picture window. Delightful. As Phil cleaned the office, he came across some CDs we hadn't seen in five years. All our operas! Isaiah put one on right away, and we basked in a bit of culture. (History of Opera was one of the most pleasurable classes I took at university, and I managed to convert Phil, too, not that it was a hard sell.)

Today Isaiah realized that there were a few other albums besides opera. My old Best of Queen CD! We listened to "Another One Bites the Dust" on auto-repeat for an hour, and the boys jumped around and I danced while folding laundry. PE for the day? Check.

And I figured out an easy way to get through a half gallon of milk: make it into hot chocolate. Martha Stewart has a delicious recipe (3.5 cups sugar, 2.25 cups powdered chocolate, 1 T. pink salt). A cup of that mix in a half gallon of milk, and we all had happy tongues and warm bellies.

Tomorrow we have a delivery scheduled: bathroom vanity, among others. It will be amazing to have another sink and mirror! With the snow, I'm not completely certain it will happen, but it might!