Ice, a birthday, and Valentines Day

Some of you have been asking if Jeremy and Mike's power came back on since I posted on Saturday morning.  If you looked at this picture Mike sent me this morning you would probably think "no way!"  But thankfully, it was already restored on Saturday afternoon.  They had freezing rain all last night, and this picture was taken this morning.  

Here's what their street looked like last evening! It's a good thing that their temps are going to go up into the 40's today. 

Today is Jeremy's birthday.  He missed Valentines Day by 45 minutes, but we realized last evening that if he had been born in Portland he would have been a Valentines baby, haha!   I never thought about how time zones could determine birth dates.

Jeremy's was a home birth, something I wanted very much and convinced our doctor to do.   Here's a funny story from that day.  

That week I put an ad in the newspaper “drapes for sale.” We had just redone the family room and had gotten new ones. On Valentines Day I took a call about the drapes. A lady was interested in them and wondered if she could come to see them the next day at 2:00. I told her she could, not realizing that I would be going into labor in a few hours. I didn't even tell her I was expecting a baby. 

So the next day the lady did come at 2:00 to see the drapes. (She bought them.) Imagine her surprise when I also showed her the new baby I'd had overnight, haha!!

Yesterday morning we participated in our essential staff only online worship service at GGRV.  It was a somewhat icy, misty morning, but we didn't have far to go.  Here's a picture I took from the church parking lot.  

Then we came home to watch Calvary's online service.  I spotted a bird at our feeder while we watched the service.  We still don't see very many.  Maybe it's because I seldom sit on the couch in the daytime.  

I decided in the afternoon to make molasses ginger snap whoopie pies to take over to Anthony and Lori and the boys.  They love those cookies.  I made pink filling.   I test tasted one of them and wasn't sure they were that good.  Seemed like an awfully lot of sweet, maybe because we eat sweets so seldom anymore.  

But after we dropped them off Lori soon texted me that Austin LOVED them.  We got these pictures as we drove away.  These benches look like they have peaked snow roofs!

Dick loves to see his hunting shack as we drive down their road.  He's eager for warmer weather so he can sit there after work and enjoy nature. 

After we left their place we drove further out into the country side just because we had the time.  We saw this massive field of white!

I gotta show you this ADORABLE picture of Sammy and Bianca taken before they left for school on Friday!!  Someday they need to be in their high school plays and musicals!!

Elizer dressed for Valentines too!  Red pants with suspenders and a shirt with red hearts!  

An update on our nephew's wife Jenn Stauffer.  She has now had two chemo treatments through a port which was put in place.  She's feeling very little pain, which is a tremendous blessing.  They are relishing every day that they all have together at home.  They are surrounded with supportive family and friends.  

My sister Betty and family are recovered from COVID. Betty went back to work last week.  She was going to try shorter days.  I hope she was able to do that.  

I'll finish here with a picture of a meal I made on Saturday, one of our favorites.    Skillet Shepherds Pie - I just made that up.

I brown a pound of ground beef with an onion, salt and pepper and Italian seasonings.  Meanwhile I peel and cook a few small potatoes in a small kettle, and I cook a whole lot of green beans in the microwave.   To the browned ground beef I add some tomato sauce and sprinkle some shredded cheese, then I layer the cooked green beans on top.  I mash the potatoes with some milk and sour cream right in the pan in which I cooked them, then spread them over top of the green beans, add another layer of shredded cheese, put a lid on top till everything is all melted together.  If I had some green onions I would have sliced those to garnish on top.  Because there is a lot more meat and green beans than potatoes, it's a pretty good low carb, but tasty meal, which is of course a necessary goal around here.   

I just remembered when I looked at the picture that I actually put some French Fried onions on top and then put the whole skillet under the broiler to brown them and the cheese a bit.   

That's all for this time!  Stay warm!