Cold would be a Heatwave.

Polar Vortex, phrase of the week. It means that the cold that is coming so directly from Siberia or the Artic circle will make your car cry, your front door not shut…not because there is ice in the door but because the "hydraulic pump" must be froze. It means that I do not want to go anywhere – grocery store, out to eat, out to get the paper, NO where. To be honest, I don’t know how cold it actually got, I heard rumors of -50, but to be honest, once you get to zero, does it matter, it’s cold and yucky. We are hoping there is an eventual break but until then, we’ll continue to deal with the ice and fun.

MJR: I can tell it’s cold out, my hand stuck to the door handle.

This weekend was somewhat relaxing with a mix of productivity. The big highlights were that we got a bit more cleaned and organized and Matt decided to make the day by putting up my backsplash that we picked out last year. He preplanned on Saturday night and then got it going and complete with Stage 1 (of 3) that afternoon. It looks amazing. I know that he had doubts when we picked it out, but I wouldn’t change it at all. On Monday, we completed stage 2, which was harder than stage 1, grouting. But after grouting it looked even better. After letting it sit for a bit, we’ll finalize with grout sealer and then I can have my kitchen back to normal. I’ll admit, it’s worth it, but it’s been driving me crazy.

The cats weren’t extremely helpful with this project and all made their way through the kitchen at one point. The only interest was when we moved the oven away from the wall.

MJR: Nike, GET OUTTA THERE!

ALR: What was she doing?

MJR: Eating the stuff where the oven was.

We tried another freezer/crock pot meal, chicken fajitas. Not as good as salsa chicken, but we’ve decided we can make it again, it worked out exceptionally well as the stove has been unhooked.

Best meal: We got it out of the box, we seasoned it, and we ran its inaugural meal! We are talking about the smoker. RIBS!! That’s all we ate, two pounds of ribs, as a picnic watching “My Big Fat Greek Wedding”.

MJR: I was thinking we could have pizza for supper.

ALR: Okay.
MJR: You know, like go get it.
ALR: Tonight???
MJR: Well, we are going to have to eat tonight.
ALR: I was afraid you were going to say that. I don’t want to go anywhere.
MJR: Well, it’s hard to get pizza buffet ordered in.
ALR: I bet you haven’t even tried.
MJR: You are being difficult.
ALR: I don’t care. I don’t want to go out in the cold. Get Domino’s. It’s right down the hill. You could walk down and grab it.
MJR: You won’t get in the car to go get food, but you think I can walk and get it.
ALR: It was only a suggestion, now who is being difficult.

In honor of my father-in-law’s birthday, which is coming up this weekend,

here’s my favorite picture of him.

(For the record, Kevin DID NOT want me to post this picture.)