Snow Day

 Apparently, I'm not that MARRIED TO THE BLOG after all, eh?  Yeesh.  It's been weeks since I last blogged.  Yeah, sure.  I could talk about how busy I've been.  But really, I was a total lazy bum there for quiiiite a few days.  Turns out it's pretty exhausting to go on vacation for over two weeks!  Whew.  The day we drove back I left Austin around 9:30 a.m.  Picked Mr. Siss up from DFW around 1.  And we got back to the Lil' Apple at 10:30.  It was a long day, and snowing in Dallas no less!  We just beat the nasty weather here in Kansas.  We passed a couple of overturned cars outside of Wichita.  That black ice will get ya!  Once the conditions got a little slick, I gladly passed over driving duties to Mr. Alaska, thank-you-very-much.  I wasn't going to take any sub jobs for Monday because I figured I would need a day to recover.  But guess what?!  It was a snow day anyway!  Score!!  So I got to spend the day guilt-free.  It was lovely.  I love the snow.  The picture you see here was taken TODAY, not the snow day from a week and a half ago about which I speak.

 Isn't it beautiful?  When we move back to Texas, I can't say I will miss the bitter cold and the gray, wintry days all that much.  But I WILL miss the snow.  And distinct seasons.  That's okay.  You can't have it all.  Wait, can you?!

Our neighborhood has been taken over by flocks (I almost said 'swarms'....hahahahaa) of CROWS.  This is what you see my little Lola girl staring at with intense concentration here.  She was frozen in this pose for quite some time.  She prefers squirrels ("Squirrel?!"), but in their absence, crows will do.  Crows really like to go through your trash.  We don't need a picture of that though do we?

 I knew, just KNEW, I was going to regret not putting on a wee bit of lipstick for this photo.  My lips are almost the EXACT same color as my face.  Oh well.  Then it would've seemed too formal and contrite, and Mr. Siss would've been on to me.  Cute pic though, no?  My friend has this link party on her blog called "Embrace the Camera Thursdays."  I would link it, but I couldn't find it.  Maybe later.  Anyway, that was the spirit of taking this photo.  Just a commemoration of a day in the life.  It's so easy to just get swept up and carried away with it, isn't it?  One of the big blessings in my life right now is TIME.  I am not working a stressful job, and usually not even forty hours a week either.  Neither is Mr. Siss.  And we don't have children.  And we hardly know anyone around here.  So we have...TIME.  Yeah, sometimes I can get a bit restless.  But most of the time I'm just glad to have it.  When you are busy and running around a hundred miles an hour, it's hard to stop and take photos like this and just be GLAD.  GLAD that you are healthy.  GLAD that you are safe.  GLAD that you are loved.  And so many others.  Do not mistake me.  There are days when I'm not always glad.  Gratitude is something I am working on.  I think my default mentality is sometimes to look at people that have what I want, and feel envy, wanderlust.  This leads to negative feelings.  Or pointless feelings anyway.  Then I thought, well, look at all I have that others do not.  Why are you not looking at it that way?  That paints an entirely different picture!  I know.  I know.  This is SO basic.  But just because it is a fundamental truth does not mean it is an easy one.  There is a difference between knowing something to be true extrinsically versus intrinsically.  I'm working on it.  A wise man once said, "You can't think your way into right acting.  You've got to act yourself into right thinking."  That applies to so many things.  Exercising gratitude (although it's somewhat more abstract and therefore the actions can be harder to pin), and getting fit.  How many times have you made a plan of action about fitness, from your couch?  I know I have!  Talked about it.  Thought about it.  But then when it came to actually doing it, I fell short.  I'm back at trying again.  This time trying to put my thoughts away when they are telling me I don't want to work out.  Just do it.  Don't think about it.  Just do it.  And then hopefully, after a few weeks/months of the same pattern, the thought patterns will have changed also.  That's the plan anyway.  I'll keep you posted.  It's only week one.  Dang.  Calm down.

I like our cute little plants in the kitchen window.  Why is it that doing dishes in front of a window is SO MUCH more tolerable than a wall?  I don't know.  But it IS. 

It's ten p.m. and this girl needs to study and get to bed!  What are you grateful for today?