Snow Days Just Aren’t Snow Days Anymore

About three weeks ago I learned that snow days just aren’t snow days anymore.  Thanks to virtual schooling, the show can and must go on from home.  We woke up to flurries coming down, which turned into flakes, which also turned into a full-on snow shower by 7:00 AM.  Our district determined that traveling wouldn’t be safe, so we were all told to carry on with our regular school day schedule from home.  Naturally, if I couldn’t just get a REAL snow day off, this was the next best thing to me!  My son’s school completely canceled, even online, so he got the free day.

It made for some pretty pictures, but by day’s end the sun came out and the snow melted off.  Only remnants could be seen the next morning in shady spots.  Still, working from home was nice and we enjoyed lots of coffee, cocoa, and sausage balls.

The last time I posted was January 9.  Wow!  Life just got busy again.  Mainly with work….getting back into the groove after the holidays and after being allowed to work from home until the 18th was difficult.  I was so much more effective at home.  I was able to work and also oversee what the kid was doing with his school work.  Now, it’s back to being exhausted on the weekends and trying to keep all the balls up in the air at once.  To say I’m looking forward to Spring Break in March would be an understatement!

Covid Update

Fortunately, we have all remained healthy.  However, my mother-in-law has not been so fortunate.  She was diagnosed with Covid last week and has been placed on a ventilator in ICU.  She is holding her own, but we are very worried about her, and being at least 8 hours away and unable to visit her in the hospital (their operating rules) has made it difficult for my husband especially.  Thankfully, the hospital has set up Zoom calls so my husband and his sisters and the extended family can see her and visit amongst themselves.  This has been so very helpful for him and I was able to join in with them Saturday evening.  I hate this for my mother-in-law so bad, but we are praying for her healing.

Whatcha Got Cooking?

I’ll admit between work stress and now being worried about MIL, I sort of fell off the meal planning wagon.  I’m slowly climbing back on, but I wanted to share this amazing recipe we tried that was really, really good.  It’s Sweet & Sour Vegetables with Pork Chops.  This was a recipe that hubby and I tag-teamed.  We work pretty well together in the kitchen.  I definitely added it to our go-to recipes for the future.  It really is that good.

This weekend our Saturday night meal was our favorite stand-by…..steak with green beans and Hidden Valley Potatoes.

I’ll probably just make a pot of taco soup for the first part of this week.  I only really cook anything different when hubby is home.

And so begins another week of Pandemic Times.  I really have to admit that all of a sudden this pandemic is really getting to me.  I’m trying to do fun, creative things at home, but I miss visiting my mom regularly, I miss my students, I miss going places without fear of germs.  It’s hard to believe we are almost a year into this and the numbers just don’t look any better, at least where I live.  I say it all of the time, but we are living in strange times, indeed.  I hope you and yours are well and staying safe.