Currently in January '25

taken through the screen. i wasn't going out there.

Loving. 

3 snow days in a row. I'd love to stretch this out for a week, to be honest. I'm going to spend today getting some schoolwork done, so I guess it's not wasted time. There's nothing so delightful as to add an extra week to Christmas break in this way. 

If you're interested in deep snow day thoughts, in the current landscape of education, I sent this out this morning on Substack. 

Doing to stay warm. 

In Missouri, we have "heat pumps". I grew up with coal and oil furnaces. In Wyoming, Alaska, and Pittsburgh, we had natural gas. But in Colorado we had electric heat plus a wood stove because it didn't actually get that cold. In Wyoming, we also had a real fireplace plus a pellet stove. In Alaska, we had an electric fireplace. In Pittsburgh, we also had two real fireplaces but we didn't use them. 

But anyway, I learned real quickly in Missouri that if it gets really cold, the heat pumps can't keep up. We had a pellet stove here and it's been a lifesaver over the last two winters. It keeps the whole end of the house warm (it was an addition not accounted for in the square footage of the heat pump range). Back in 2021-2022 before we had the new HVAC hooked up, it got really cold because the pellet stove also didn't work upon move-in (shocking, I know, with the track record on this place). But Scott repaired the pellet stove and now we rely on it. We also have a whole pallet of pellets to use up this winter, left over from last year. 

Resolving

I posted some habits I've working on the other day. But my Goodreads goal for 2025 is 40 books. I'm already about 4 books in, so I'd love it if we could follow each other on that platform! (this is where I'd link to my profile but Goodreads has the least user-friendly platform around and regularly, also, stops working so..)

Organizing

I've organized and reorganized this entire house multiple times over the last few months. I struggle with the kitchen because I don't feel like I have the space in the cupboards. But really: the kids' rooms. How do you organize the rooms of small children? I'm constantly wondering where I went wrong. 

Wearing

I have not changed out of sweatpants for the last week. Tomorrow is going to be real hard if I have to go back to work. 

**I couldn't stop watching the coverage of the fires in California last night. We've lived in many types of climates/weather areas over the years. There is nothing worse than fire weather. I'm certain this is where my weather-related anxiety originated. It's horrific, what's happening in California. We should all pray for the people and pray that those responsible for failed policies are actually held accountable. 

Linking up with Jenn!