Polar Bears

This week, an abnormally cold front is invaded from Canada and pushed our temps into the negative range.

Monday, we hid out from the cold.  Jake would not even get out of his nest near the wood stove until almost noon, when the pizza was done.  I cooked chocolate chip cookies and pizza on the stove and kept a kettle going all day so I could run out and pour it in the dog water bucket and keep that open.  The animals have all been in and out, back and forth.  My carpet is shot, I will have to clean it soon.

Kuma deems Nia worthy for a temporary cuddle buddy.

We don't usually have THAT much wood/flame going at once, but I thought it made for a dramatic shot.  

I made 5 batches of kombucha, after checking out the scoby, I had enough for another gallon already!  I just moved to 4 gallons at a time the last batch.  I will have to find someone who wants a scoby or two soon, I don't have space for more.

Who knew the little flip-open shelf in the flour cabinet would be so perfect for holding jars?  Or that my prolific hat making would come in handy as breathable covers?

 Tuesday, it warmed up a LITTLE.  I think it hit mid-20's.
We opted to go hang out with some teens for a couple of hours, that turned to 4 hours and we had to head straight to rehearsals.

The first play rehearsal, they blocked scene 1 and did choreography for their song.

Chan was sweet to sit for a full 2 hours while we waited on the brothers!

And Jake's big solo-AND he is over-acting already. 

Wednesday, we planned to stay in and the kids were going to marathon their math for the week.
They got up and got going with that, I like all of their computers in one room, SO easy to just keep an eye out and see if they need help. After making sure they all had something to snack on and a warm drink, I went to feed the dogs.  I stumbled on Ben's shoe and stepped back to get my footing.  My feet ended up on the cat food bag and I slid, feet flying out from under me.  The back of my head hit the windowsill, I had a pumpknot the size of my hand swell up within seconds.  Chan freaked and called Matt, I barely recall most of the day.  He was home and took care of the fire and the kids and they finished their math and did some science and history as well, trying to keep quiet.

My head felt like it was going to split open, my shoulder, foot, ass, back, head, and mainly my teeth all throbbed and ached, I slept a good bit, we may have seen a doctor, there were lights in my eyes and lots of questions.  

Thursday, it actually 'warmed back up'.  Our frozen kitchen sink pipe thawed out Wednesday afternoon and everything inside was back to normal.  Except-remember how I thought '12 days' for the load of wood we piled up?  More like 8 days.  Matt has Friday off, we will be out cutting all day again.  Good thing we discovered how well privet burns, that stuff is prolific.  We may make it through the winter and in the spring, have no weed trees.  :)

There are a bunch more kids in class, I was surprised how many kids are learning ballroom dance.

We went to dance and rehearsal Thursday afternoon/evening and Chan went home with Emily and Brit (Suzette was surprised!) and today, Britney came over here while Emily finished up her school stuff for the week.

Friday, we worked on costume ideas for their eel roles. I think we got a few things nailed down, but need to hear back from the costumer to make sure we are not getting too far off the mark. (heard back, too far)

The main problem is, even though they are eels, they can't wear anything too revealing/tight because it's a children's theater.  It's REALLY hard to convey 'slinky underwater creature' in baggy clothes.

The plan was that the black parts on their faces would match up and make an eel face when their heads are together.  I did their lips kind of like a parrotfish, because eel lips are icky.  haha!