I am...I am not

I survived November! Now here comes December and all it's wonderfulness...

Yeah, I'm not the gal you'll find in the kitchen baking delectible holiday treats. I'm not the gal you'll find spending hours in the craft room, making the perfect hand-made gift for every extended family member. I'm not even the gal you'll find putting out a trillion holiday trinket decorations.

Nope, I make a few treats..."Puppy Chow" is the only thing I must make every year. It's the Chex chocolate recipe...check the side of a chex box! I'm also not the type to share recipes.

Nope, IF I find a crafty thing that I think I can actually complete, and have a person that will LOVE it, I will do it. But mostly, I'm the gal who goes to the craft fairs and buys other people's hard work. My hands thank me for that.

Nope, I have a few boxes of decorations. Most of them for the tree, itself. I do have zillions of lights...but those aren't my fault. They were left in the garage by the previous owner, and hey, why not use them?

BUT! It's already December, and if you didn't know...it's freaking freezing here in the Last Frontier. The outside lights weren't put up when it was still somewhat warm, so unless we get a warm-up there won't be any outside lights. Sorry folks, ya wanna come do it for me?

So you're thinking, "This girl's not Martha, who is she?" What? You're not thinking that? Well, I'm going to tell you anyway.

I believe myself to be a moderatly great amature photographer. I didn't pay for the kids' school pictures this year (I'd need to take out a loan for four kids). I'm going to take them myself with my wonderful 35mm!

I am a struggling homemaker, who has the task of doing dishes and making dinner down, but cannot find the right schedule for doing the loads of laundry this family produces.

I am the crazy lady on the road who will take out the trash or dog or feed the horses in my pajamas. There have been many neighbors who get to see my PJ bottoms in the morning. I like to think that the people just down with the little red car prefers the white ones with the green and blue paint splash-like spots. *

I am also the crazy mom who will walk out the door and shout for her kids. Others on the road have bells, whistles or gosh the telephone to wrangle their scattered children. I yell. I like to pretend I'm calling pigs in for their slops.

I suggested to Captain (my wonderful hubby) last night that if we could train the horses to enter doors, we could bring them in the house on nights like last night. ** It was all a wonderful idea until he pointed out that while the manure would be no problem, the urine would. Hmmmm...the tiled floor is looking better and better! Until then, I guess they'll have to be happy enough outside.

The weather...I guess all great conversations either start with, or end up with the weather. At least they do in my world. So, what's the weather, besides freaking freezing? Well, folks, its a balmy 14 degrees out there, with wind out of NNE at 26 mph, with gusts WAY more than that. That all totals a wind-chill factor of -5 and lower. (wind chill is the wind blowing and makes the actually temp FEEL colder). While this is not even close all that Jack Frost can throw at us, it is the coldest it's been so far this winter, and we're not liking it at all!

And so, to combat the little trips that I must make outside to do various chores and things, I make a giant pot of coffee and drink it. Thus ending up jittering all over the house getting some done, but mostly just trying to remember what it is that I'm trying to do.

With that, it's light out enough now to feed the horses, so here I go...I'm sorry neighbors with the red car, my PJ's today are the blue ones, not your favs. ***

* I've never actually MET these neighbors. We've lived here over a year, and I haven't even said hello to them. Course, they haven't said hello to me, either.

**The horses HATE the wind, mostly because it deadens their ability to hear what's going on around them, not because it's cold. They do have a stable, which is always open and available to them, but they will only go in it if it's raining!

*** The thought does cross my mind, that maybe if I actually get dressed before doing outside chores, I wouldn't have to drink so much coffee to stay warm. Hmmmm...but then what would the neighbors gossip about?