>So the “ground hogs day blizzard” is supposed to produce over a foot of snow tuesday in mid-michigan (which according to scott’s calculation really means 3″-6″ or so of the white stuff). Still, a ground hogs day blizzard just sounds exciting. I mean, there is no possible way the ground hog can see her shadow is there??? By my calculations that means less than 6 weeks left of winter!

It’s taken till just about february to get a real blizzard (or at least an official weather service blizzard watch). Enough of this 2″ of snow a day! Personally, I’d rather have all of the snow in one big dump rather than spread out.

Anyhow, we read that the blizzard is widespread and is going to impact much of the bartobreezy readership area (yes, all 5 of you!). So, how are you preparing? We followed Bee and Frankie’s suggestions and made cake balls today. That should help us to weather the storm. The blizzard isn’t here yet, and maybe we won’t even get it, but we have our cake balls!

>


Poor Molly had to undergo emergency surgery. I bet you can guess why!

>21:25 is the amount of sunlight we have gained since the winter solstice. A decent 5k time. Would it surprise you if i told you our 5 day extended forecast called for 24F and 40% change of snow each and every day, except tomorrow, which is set at 70% chance. In other news i think the Davises are winning the pushup challenge. I shall now drop to my office floor and do 10.

I would report on the new & cool dishes we’re having for supper but we are eating the same old bean soup, pasta, and heuvos rancheros with a little sushi & pizza thrown in for fun.

>For sharing this week, Bee decided that she would like to share Cho Cho with her class, and demonstrate some of the tricks that Cho Cho can do. We thought this was a great idea because Bee loves to play with Cho Cho and she can get her sit, stay, down, jump, shake, and more! So, here is Cho Cho at school!

>Bee wanted me to remind everyone that today is 1-11-11 and that the windchill here is 11. Have a great 11111 day!

>OK, just kidding on the title but seriously this push up challenge is hard! We’ve decided to do 2 things: 1.) repeat week 1 until we can get a solid complete days worth of push ups done with decent form; and b.) revise the plan so that there are more than 90 seconds between sets. Something like a few hours will do. Ha Ha. Pathetic? Maybe. But much more reasonable. We will still get there, it just may take till Christmas! Slow and steady wins the race….

>This morning we had a snowbow. None of us have ever seen one before so this was extra special. The weather was super cold this morning. At 6am it was 5F and snowing, then by 8am it was 1F and the snow squall gave way to a beautiful sun rise. The snowbow was in the east and more like a line going straight up in the sky. It was beautiful and amazing. It made the crisp winter morning worth it! We didn’t have a camera with us, so i found a picture on the internet that captures what it looked liked almost exactly. (Why does not it surprise me that the picture i found was taken in michigan!)

I looked up snowbows and did not find too much information. What i found out is that the snow has to be a particular crystalline shape to allow for the refraction and it has to be very sunny. Its suppose to be pretty rare. Cool.

>Frankie learned about latkes (potato pancakes) in her kindergarten class (as part of holiday traditions around the world). Bee thought that they sounded really good. She found a cook book for kids on recipes around the world on the internet, so she printed it out and asked if we could make latkes. We ended up having to use a mix of sweet and white potatoes because that was all we had around the house. I pretty much only supervised the activities (and did the cooking on the stove). Otherwise, the girls did everything by themselves. They were so very proud! Bee decided that the latkes tastes really good with catsup! Frankie and Scott liked them plain. As for me i thought they needed a ton of hot sauce.

From Zefronk’s kids around the world cook book…

2 cups shredded potatoes
1/4 onion, grated
2 eggs, beaten
salt and pepper to taste
1/2 oil for frying

Directions
In a medium bowl stir the potatoes, onion, eggs, flour and salt together.
In a large heavy-bottomed skillet over medium-high heat, heat the oil until hot. Place large spoonfuls of the potato mixture into the hot oil, pressing down on them to form 1/4 to 1/2 inch thick patties. Brown on one side, turn and brown on the other. Let drain on paper towels. Serve hot!

>Bee was bouncing and apropos to nothing she started saying “Believe or not! Believe it or not!” and this is where my brain went automatically…. Enjoy.

>We are picking up steam, having gained an entire minute of sun today!! And it only gets better from here. By this time next week we will be gaining 1:30 a day! But, by this time next week we will be entering the coldness abyss, which translates to the 2 coldest weeks in winter for the mid michigan area, according to historical records. I think i stare at that seasonal average temperature chart for minutes on end at this time of the year. So, i guess that explains what i do with my extra minutes of sunlight.