Freezing Rain

Yes, we got freezing rain. Yuck!!! I will take snow over freezing rain any day. The roads were icy, the lawn crunches while you are walking on it, and the sidewalk/driveway is a skating rink. We are supposed to get more freezing rain, then snow and then more freezing rain through tomorrow. I’m staying home where it is nice and warm and safe.

In an update on the conservation efforts to save paper: I updated my calendar in Outlook so I’m not using the paper one, I found the Homeschool Tracker software and got all my lesson plans entered that I had on paper and ones I had in my head so that is now paperless, and I ordered the charging/syncing cradle for the Palm that we have. It should ship out today or tomorrow and then when I get it, it will be like having a new toy. I did do some research into graphics tablets and drawing software for his art stuff. I think that is going on the birthday list so I have some more time to figure things out and to figure out the cost.

Fri. we watched National Treasure. The next movie is coming out soon so I wanted Tyler to see the first one. He liked it and paid attention to the history parts of it more than some of the action stuff.

Sat. saw us model train shopping. Trent & Tyler are going to do this as a hobby, together (this being the most important part of things.) We went to a few places and Trent got to ask some questions. I think he has it all figured out, but they have to do it together. Well, that’s not totally true. Trent is going to get the initial set as a Christmas present for the 2 of them. Tyler is going to get to open it at Christmas and doesn’t get to go shopping for it. (And please don’t mention it to Tyler since he doesn’t know this is a for sure, he still thinks it’s a maybe.) After that, they make all the decisions together and do the work together, etc. We also did some cleaning around the house and rearranged a few things in the basement.

Sun. took us to Grams & Grandpa Randy’s for decorating and cookie making. The grandkids decorated the Christmas tree over there. Then there was cookie making with cookie cutters and sprinkles. Tyler really liked rolling out the dough and my niece’s favorite was the sprinkles (pink and purple, of course.) My nephew did a little of everything, but I think his favorite was eating the dough. Then everyone got to eat ice cream and cookies.

I have the ingredients to make chex mix and I’m thinking about having Tyler help me with that this afternoon. I’m sure he also wants to make cookies again so he can roll out the dough. We have the ingredients, but I don’t know about him making 2 things in the same day. I take that back, I don’t know if I can handle him making 2 things in one day. Maybe we’ll hold off on the cookies until tomorrow and then I’ll make some more biscotti at the same time (the oven will already be on for one of these things and we might as well not heat it up twice.)

I’ve been researching Christmas e-cards. I have found the top 3 for Trent to have an opinion about. My favorite is from a company in the UK, Envirowise: http://www.envirowise.gov.uk/ I also have one picked out from http://www.ecards.com/, and http://www.nwf.org. Yes, I’m supporting causes. Envirowise’s big campaign right now is to get businesses to send ecards instead of regular cards for the environment. If you send ecards from ecards.com then you are donating money towards saving the rainforests. And NWF is all about the wildlife. The Envirowise one is not my fav because of the cause it is supporting (even though it is one dear to me), but because of the picture. We’ll see which one Trent picks.