Snowy and cold

No, I didn't decide to take a 3-week vacation! Just very busy and still cold since we returned. Too cold for beads, still...and so I am really reevaluating how I'm going to go forward.

This is not a normal winter here, but I can't afford to have the same thing happen in the future (little to no beadmaking from November through February, or will it be March???) and there's no way my other plan - to stock up enough during the year to make it through - will work.

So I am contemplating whether to move the studio into a small room off of our garage. It has everything I need - the right power supply, a built-in bench, pegboard for tool storage, etc. and it is a lot smaller (probably about 6 x 10) - insulated - and with a door I can close. So it would be infinitely easier to heat with a space heater. Trying to heat that shack is like trying to fill a leaky bucket with water. So, we'll see...and hopefully some time in the next few weeks it will get warm enough to return to the shack!

We've had a lot going on since we returned, most notably John's 3rd birthday on February 1. He requested the Cars theme back in November, thank goodness because I'd already bought the cake pan. It was just the four of us and they were off school that day (snow day) and the first thing he said when we awoke was "Party, Mommy, party?" I love the 3rd birthday because it's the first one where they really understand what's going on.

We are going to Dallas next week - I have a meeting on Wednesday so I am taking the boys with me to see Tom's parents, sister and cousins. Sam and John are way excited - it will be John's first plane ride ever, and Sam's first in a long time...first that he remembers, for sure. I am already spending a lot of time preparing them for how to behave on the plane, ha ha. Hopefully between the toys, juice boxes, snacks, and a few movies we can enjoy rather than endure the 2 hours and 21 minutes!

In other news, vacation week was also potty-training week for John - major excitement for all of us! He got the urination part within 2 days, now we just have to work on the other...but I remember with Sam, conquering #2 may take another month or so. But for the first time in 5 years, 2 months...no buying diapers!

You might think that would free up at least $20 per month in the budget, not having to buy diapers and wipes. But Sam's blue-jean budget has increased exponentially. I swear he wears a pair of jeans less than a month before a hole develops in one or both knees. Usually the right knee first. So guess where we are headed today? Sears. We will be buying 6 pairs of size 6, reinforced knee Toughskins. I don't understand why almost everything you see in the stores is "distressed" - acid-washed or whatever - and the knees are always more distressed than any other part. Do little boys really need distressed jeans? You can feel how thin they are to begin with...there is no way they will last. Maybe that's their way of ensuring you have to buy a lot of jeans. If the Toughskins don't work, then I'm going to have to start patching.

In the post below are a few pictures of the birthday, and our front yard this morning.

Birthday and Snow!