January 20, 2012

Outside Temp: 39 F (Are you kidding me??  Where did winter go?  I guess this is one of those 'chinooks'.)

What I cooked today:
Pancakes AND Cream of Wheat: I offered pancakes, and my daughter looked at me, with those pleading eyes, and said 'Can we have Cream of Wheat?'.  I was stunned.  Who picks Cream of Wheat over Pancakes?  Apparently, my daughter does.  And since I can't deny her with those pretty eyes, I made both.  Of course, when the first batch of pancakes came off the griddle, she was right there, grabbing one.  Spoiled kids.

Pasta: Too lazy after a day of shopping to make dinner, we had pasta.  Just pasta, with butter and Parmesan cheese.  No sauce.  No vegetables.  No side dish.  No protein.  Just pasta.  Really starchy day.

Pita Bread: We went out to a Greek place for lunch in town, and I'd forgotten how much I love Greek food.  So, I picked up some yogurt and some cucumbers in town today, and when we got home, I found a simple recipe for pita bread.  I love it.  I'm too lazy to make a proper dinner for my kids, but I have enough energy to make bread.  Makes no sense, I know.

Update:
The kids don't have school on Fridays, so today became our day in town. 

Allen and Patrick both were having problems with their ski boots, so we brought them into the ski place to have the boots looked at.  Apparently, the boots become harder and harder to put on as they get colder.  That is why they have boot warmers in the ski lodge (who knew???).  The guy at the shop told us to make sure that the boots were warm (like sitting next to the heater in the car on the drive up to the mountain) before trying to put them on.  We'll probably go up on Sunday, so we'll see if his advice works.

Patrick's boots were a little more complicated.  He bought these boots about 5 years ago and he has always had problems with him.  Wide feet.  So, the guy spent about 2 hours with him, adjusting, bending, splinting and other modifications to a pair of boots that were 5 years old.  Patrick said they were more comfortable than they have ever been.  He might even go up on the mountain on Sunday!

We got to go out to a local Greek place, where we spent about 30 minutes chatting with the owner.  She explained how they made their lemon chicken orzo soup and where they get their gyro meat.  She has a place out by our house, a little closer to the mountains, and we told her to give us a call if she wanted a local weather report.  I love it out here!  We meet the nicest people!

We then stopped for some thermals for Connor and Ryan (since they didn't end up with any... how did I miss that one?) and a few extra sweaters and long sleeved shirts.

The weather had been around 5-7 degrees in Great Falls all day.  It was still around 8 or so, when we headed back home.  About 10 minutes outside of Great Falls, I happen to glance up at the temperature gauge and it suddenly went from single digits to 35.  In an instant.  Okay, maybe like 2 miles, but it was so fast we didn't even register the 10's or the 20's.  When we got home, it was 37.  Oh my goodness!  It's like summer out here!  We immediately turned off all of our space heaters and we just have the pellet stove going.  It's a nice 65 F in our house right now, and I'm typing without gloves.  Hmmmm, not sure how I feel about the sudden change, but it's definitely interesting.