Our high tomorrow is supposed to be 16 degrees, with more snow. I think cabin fever may be setting in by then.

I'm supposed to baby sit the neighbors' dog this week, which entails walking over to their house every two hours to let him out, scratch his ears, talk to him, and walk back home.

I called the owner a bit ago and let him know that if he goes to work tomorrow he needs to bring Sammy to my house. I don't know how I'll manage three male (but neutered) dogs, especially with Harry being old, crotchety, and too submissive; my Sam being too dominate, and Neighbor Sammy just being a nut case - but I will manage.

I have a heavy duty gate up so Sam or Sammy can be confined to the 10x12 mudroom; I have a XXL large kennel the other Sam or Sammy can rotate in and out of every two hours, and of course Harry the Perfect will have his loveseat and free reign until I know the other two will behave. I'm sure it won't take too long before they are all three piled up on the loveseat - as long as they don't crowd Harry!

Wow!! Yes, that is a lot of cold and snow!!! I will immediately stop feeling sorry for myself and the pups that it has drizzled or light rained all day. We got soaked this morning and then rained on again just a little while ago, but I think the worst (such as it is) is over for now. Our "arctic blast" is coming with very cold temperatures but at least it will be dry!

I have a chuck roast and vegetables in the crockpot today and it smells so good. I had coffee this morning. My only outing today was to run to the post office to send off some cards and a package that needed to go.

I was asked to put together a budget for next year for the farmers market this morning for a meeting on Thursday. I don't really feel qualified to do that, so using numbers I have already been given, I put together a summary showing numbers for 2015 and 2016 and I asked the current manager to project for 2017. I don't have the history to know which expenses will go forward and how much income to expect. I hope that will do for her. We shall see.

I still have a couple of hours until the stew is done, so I think maybe a cup of tea is in order.

Stay warm everybody and be careful if you have to go out.

I am happy to see the tea thread! Wow Caroline. We had 45, but cloudy. My husband decided to et our tree and outside wreaths. We usually have to make a few stops as he is fussy with his choices.

My tea today was at my kitchen counter, after getting home from buying the tree. I was multitasking getting veggies cut for chili for tonight's dinner.

Shades, good for you for taking time for yourself.

Murrays, I see we posted at the same time. Your roast sounds delicious.

I like snow, but not sure I'm ready for what you got Caroline. Like murraysmom, no snow here - just rain and drizzle all day. And it's downright cold!

One of us left the inside garage light on at my Mom's house when we met with the buyers on Sunday. A neighbor down there called this morning to let me know. So I drove to town and took care of that, then got a few groceries at the market. As soon as I was finished printing off thank-you cards for those who donated to the church in her memory, I put the kettle on and settled down with a magazine.

Both inside/outside cats decided that felt like a good idea to them as well and spent all day in the house curled up on their favorite furniture. I never thought I'd allow cats on my vintage mohair chairs but I haven't the heart to deny them. ha. I do lay cloths down on the seats which help a bit. My little Dirt Devil hand vac gets a good workout once or twice a week. Then at 5pm. I took them to the basement for the night along with their supper. Haven't quite got the nerve to trust them overnight upstairs. The permanent inside cat enjoys that privilege.

It's still snowing and blowing. The lentil soup is bubbling away. I thought I'd mix up a skillet full of cornbread and call it good. The soup is almost vegetarian (it has chicken brooth) but DH will feel abused if he doesn't have "real meat" on the table.

I have a nice chunk of left over ham so I'm going to dice it, heat it, and put it in his bowl of soup.

I think the lentil soup is supposed to be pureed, but I don't really want to pull out, assemble, use, take apart, and clean the Cuisinart. Do you think "chunky" lentil soup will be okay? It has canned tomatoes, diced celery, onion, and carrots along with the lentils.

Thankfully the neighbor didn't go to work. Hwys 18 and 2 are both closed, so we're landlocked. I wasn't looking forward to dealing with a third dog in the mix, although I love little Sammy to pieces. He's half boxer (from his "waist line to the tip of his nose) and half Labrador (from his "waist line" to the tip of his tail.) He's a hoot.

Shades - I wish I was there having a pampering session with you. I am a mess!

Eld661 - I have lights and two outside snowmen up, but I haven't gotten a tree yet. I want a new one to go on the chest in the den and skip the living room tree this year. The room is too small, and the dogs are too big, to mess with a tree on the floor.

Murray's Mom - I'll trade you a bowl of lentil soup and a hunk of cornbread for a slice of roast beef!

SchoolHouse - I wasn't ignoring you; we must have posted at the same time. I hope your evening is cozy and peaceful.

I never bothered to look at the temp today. It is what it is and it is pretty cold feeling. Even with the sun out the snow on the road did nit melt and not sun has gone down and getting colder.

I decided a total pamper day was not my way to decided to claim hubbies drawer in the bathroom and did sorting in three drawers and a bit in one cabinet to make sense of all of it.. OH good grief I just glanced out the window and it is snowing again but the sky is blue??? As simple as this little project was it took me quite a bit of time.

Back to pampering. What do board old ladies do when hair dye is available. Hahaha. I think i will be sporting a very light lilac shortly. I also finally trimmed off the long thin ends left over from the vacuum stuck to my head two+ years ago. I am almost trimmed up to the largest missing chunk. Hopefully taking better care of my hair will let it grow back and not keep breaking.

I am back to pomegranate tea this evening.

Caroline your soup sounds delicious. And I am glad third dog owner is staying home. No one needs the added stress. Even when you like the little guy.

Murraysmom so does tour roast in the crock pot. I can do roast in the crock pot with out the veggies and have some nice broth to drink.

Waving at Eld and Schoolhouse.

Time to rinse the color off my hair and see how it turned out. course it will not show up much until it is dry and I have sworn off dryers so it will be several hours for results.

Editing to add after cutting off so much hair my natural curl is showing up while my hair is wet so I put a little styling gel on it and scrunched the curls. Hope they stay. I know straight hair is the fashion but I have always preferred curls. Good thing because when I was young my hair was really curly. Some one on one of the youtube videos I watched endlessly this morning said this conditioner I bought really brings back the curl. This would make me so happy to not have to set my hair every night and just let it go natural. Keeping my fingers crossed.

Forgot it was Tea Day. I've been reminding myself all day that it's Dead Like Me night. I missed most of it last week.

Colder today than I expected and the snow that melted yesterday got replaced over night. Still, just an inch or so. I'm not complaining as much as I will before the winter is over.

I've been thinking how nice it is in the house. Warm. A roof over my head. Food in the cupboard. I'm pretty lucky.

And I remembered Dead Like Me!

While I now hate cold weather, I'd welcome snow to cover all the leaves the dogs are still bringing into the house. The leaf molds have been very bad this year and are causing me major allergy flare-ups. Bah! Humbug!

Supposed to get down in the teens the next few nights. Good sleeping weather!

How to Recycle a Box. She's in there, way to the back.

My cat does that! She turns every box into confetti.

Caroline, your soup sounds delicious. Lentil is my favorite. I never puree it.

What a mess but the fun she must have had. :) Mine do not chew up boxes just hide in them.

Her most favorite thing is shredded paper. I don't have a shredder so have to depend on others for it. It's messy but it saves my woodwork. and shoes. And broom. And the little rubber thing on the dust pan. Actually, it saves everything in this house because once she starts chewing something she will return. My prayer plants are a favorite. She started on the case of copy paper yesterday so I'll have to watch her close to be sure that doesn't become her latest project.

Oh no the copy paper could become expensive when talking a whole case.

Curious what every one sets their house thermostats for? I have been keeping mine at 64 and thinking it might not be enough heat for me. I know Joe had it way high and about cooked me. Even moving around doing things I keep getting cold and I am fully dressed in two layers on top long pants long socks and shoes. Fingers are like ice. So am I just being a sissy or turn the heat up??

Forgot to add I finally managed the hole drilling in cabinet and feeding cords through. With a whole lot of cord management ties I no longer have a wrist sized cable coming around the out side edge of the cabinet and everything is nicely tucked away behind the VCR. I left enough loose cord to be able to slide the VHS and DVD and ROKU boxes out for cleaning. No big tangled mess behind the cabinet either. I feel much better about this. I was not sure the TV would work where I put is at first ans did not want to drill through the cabinet. Not that the back shows much but it is an antique. course it was painted a hideous pink at one time and the inside still is and so is the back. Some day the pink will become purple. LOL

64 is pretty chilly, I think. I have mine set at 70 during the day and 68 at night. I might keep it a smidge cooler if I didn't have the animals. As it is I have to put blankets on them when we are sitting around watching tv and being on the computer. I keep a throw handy because my legs get cold.

I used to set mine at 70 during the day but in old age have moved it up to 71. I wear a turtleneck cashmere sweater (with camisole under it), leggings and boots pretty much every day. I have fingerless cashmere gloves for when I'm on the computer in the only partly finished basement - it's cold down there and my hands get very cold.

At night, my downstairs furnace is turned back to 66; upstairs one is turned off entirely - room is usually between 54-58 when I get up in the AM and then I turn on heat to 65, and when dressed to go downstairs, I turn it off again unless it's VERY cold outside.

I refuse to wear gloves when I watch tv at night.

Well then I think I will turn my heaters up a little bit. I am tired of being so cold. After all it is only money. Hahahaha Paying the electric bill that is. I do have all windows covered and when it is this cold out I only open them just enough to get a little daylight on the house plants and I do not do this every day. Mostly just when the sun is out.

I have some of those gloves with finger tips open. Not totally fingerless. I love them when I am reading my kindle in bed at night. I ever put leg warmers on my arms when I am in bed. Throw on a couple of cats and call it good. Sleeping does not bother me. it is mostly the day time.

Thanks for the input on this. I never paid attention to the temp on the heaters. I just let Joe handle it. He was the one with his thermostat a mess from all the chemo.

I keep mine at 68 all the time unless it's really cold and windy out of the west. Usually I can stand it but occasionally I will put it up a couple more degrees temporarily. I will put the clamp light under the desk pretty soon. That keeps it warm enough my feet don't get cold. I refuse to be cold. I use a mattress warmer at night. I thought the new flannel sheets would be enough but they aren't. I can't sleep if I'm not warm. I don't care what it costs, I won't be cold.

This will definitely be the last outside animals I have. When these are gone, that's it. If there are barn cats coming and going I will leave a bag of cat food and a heated water dish. I'll check it but not twice a day. I'll leave the cat beds and probably make some other arrangements, too. I have piglet heating mats. Those, I'm told, cost the same as a 60 watt light bulb.

African violets and Christmas cactus are blooming. Peace lilly will be soon. The poor old geranium that was one of those seedling things how many years ago... is blooming on the kitchen windowsill. I thought it was a goner last spring when I put it out but summer was good to it.

when it was so freezing cold I turned up the heaters to 68. I turned them back down today. Temps are warmer now it is snowing like crazy.

Yes outside animals in winter can be difficult.

Yesterday was 43, but cloudy and windy. So, not an enjoyable day. still, the pooch has to have his walk!

I live three blocks from a park, but when it is cold, I drive there! Then I just have to do the loop and then back in the car. The dog loves the car so win/win.

HEY! EVERYBODY! It's a new tea time! This is Tuesday.