A long and rambling post...

Can I just say that I am very tired of the wind. It has been howling here for days. And it's terribly annoying at night. I guess I notice it more at night because the house is quiet, but sustained wind speeds of 40mph, with gusts up to 66mph, make it hard for me to sleep.

I don't normally have a hard time sleeping. There are rare exceptions, such as when John is out of town (like he was last week), but last fall I discovered Tylenol PM, and now I don't even really mind it when he tells me that he has to be gone for a few days. BUT the wind. Oh my goodness, this wind is killin' me. When it gusts, it makes an annoying whistling sound and rattles our screens and shutters so hard I think they're going to blow off, and makes it almost impossible for me to sleep. I'm so ready for a good night's sleep, and if the wind is howling tonight, I think I'm going to have to take my last 2 gelcaps...and find a pair of earplugs. And okay, I'll stop whining now.

As you can imagine, wind like that makes it feel colder outside than it really is. Yesterday, it was sunny and warmed up to almost 30 degrees, but the wind chill made it feel more like 10. When I went to pick Abbey up from kindergarten, I pulled my toboggan on, partly because it was cold, but mainly because I hadn't showered yet and my hat covers a multitude of hair woes. I was driving to get her and kept trying to pull my hat down over my ears, but it kept creeping back up leaving my ears exposed. I could not figure out how my well-loved toboggan shrank overnight, and finally positioned my sunglasses on the outside of my hat to keep it in place. A few minutes later when I was opening the van door for Abbey, I caught a glance of my reflection in the window. I looked like the cat in the hat with a foot-long toboggan on my head. I pulled it off to find my gloves, a pair of the kids' gloves, and one of Abbey's hats stuffed inside it. Who knew? No wonder I couldn't pull it over my ears! It was quite comical if I do say so myself, and I had a good laugh. I learned a long time ago that being able to laugh at yourself is a very good thing.

I was supposed to hike this morning with my friends, but we all decided to skip today because of the crazy wind. We hiked on Monday and nearly blew away, and this was a more wide-open and exposed trail, so I'm hoping that we can go on Monday. There's a chance of snow, so we'll see. I hiked through some pretty deep snow last week and I'd liken it to running on the beach. It took effort to trudge through that stuff!

See...I told you this was long and rambling.

Actually, I probably would have had to opt out of a hike anyway, because Sarah is home with me today. She coughed throughout the night and she's working on a cold and looks kinda run down to me. I let her stay home (she wanted to) so she could rest. Truthfully, I like it when someone is home with me, so I'm a sucker when my kids tell me they don't feel well. "Sure sweetie, why don't you stay home with mom today?" I'm hoping we can watch Little Women together later!

On the way home from Denver the other day, Abbey and I stopped at the Gap outlet. I think I've mentioned a time or two that I don't like to shop, but I always, always find fabulous stuff at that store for Will and he was desperately in need of some long-sleeved tees. I ran in quickly and found what I needed right off the bat. I found 4 shirts for him (4.99 each-score!) and since Abbey was with me, she wanted to look at the girl stuff. They had Valentine's t-shirts for 4.99 too, so I let her pick one out, and I picked one for Sarah. Sarah is quite the opposite of her sister and doesn't like anything pink or purple. So, I chose green. They both wore their shirts to school yesterday, and Sarah came into the kitchen before we left and told me (sheepishly) that she wished her shirt was like Abbey's. I reminded her that she didn't like pink and she said, "Well, Abbey's isn't pink, mom, it's actually blush". I learn something new every day. She finally decided she liked the green. Here's a photo...in green and pink respectively.



Tomorrow I am going to get away for my personal spiritual retreat. I still have no idea where I'm going to go. I've been trying to pray about it, and I have some ideas, but nothing is firm yet. For some reason this has not been an easy thing to plan, and I'm tempted to just give up on making it work this weekend, but I really believe that you have to "fight" for the things that bring you life. John and I talked about it before he left for work and he told me he woke up feeling like I really should go, so I'm going. Tomorrow. Somewhere. And I'm praying that it will be all that I need it to be and more.

And now, I must go and tend to the girl. And start some laundry. And shower. And make some phone calls. And you get the picture.

One more thing. I haven't forgotten your questions I still need to answer! I'm working on it...promise!

Enjoy your weekend.