What is Art?

I don't tend to think of myself as artistic. People who can take pen, pencil, paints, canvas, or other art material and create something that other people can see the beauty in, those people are artists. People who can sing, perform Shakespeare in front of an audience, write poetry, crochet blankets, make jewelry, or knit a sweater are artists.

The first definition of art on dictionary.com is:

the quality, production, expression, or realm, according to aesthetic principles, of what is beautiful, appealing, or of more than ordinary significance.

"Of more than ordinary significance" I like that. Art should lift us above our daily existence and show us something special.  It's possibly the best way to share how we see, hear, feel, or otherwise experience the world in a way that others can (hopefully) understand.

And this is where I think, "But I'm not an artist!" I have some very talented people in my family, people who draw and paint, write poetry, and play music. I have a very talented son who can make Shakespeare understandable. I love to watch him on stage! And my daughter can crochet an amazing blanket in an unbelievably short amount of time. I have absolutely no idea how she can take a bunch of string (yarn) and create such gorgeous things. I'm not sure where my kids got their artistic talents, because their dad and I have none of that. It must have skipped a generation and come from their grandparents, though that doesn't explain my musically talented brother and the serious photography skills of my youngest brother. (I'm sure my other brother has some great skills with that truck he drives, but I'm not sure that's art. Or is it?)

Another definition under 'art' on dictionary.com reads:

the principles or methods governing any craft or branch of learning: the art of baking;

So truck driving absolutely can be an art. We already know that it takes some serious skill, and most of us would never dream of driving one of those big trucks, let alone trying to back one up. In fact, I know a truck driver who does not back up. She lets her partner and husband do that. But she's very skilled in all kinds of other artistic things.

But let's get back to that last definition of art and the example used - "the art of baking" - I bake! And I cook. And apparently that can be viewed as an art. Which would mean that I am artistic after all. I may not be able to take a blank canvas and create something you'd want to hang on your walls, but I can definitely create something you'll want in your belly!

It's not quite the same as this video I saw on Facebook the other day, but in a way it is. The artist takes the sounds she hears, and sees as colors, and creates gorgeous pictures. I can usually read a recipe and know what it's going to taste like before I've even tried it, which is why I'm always changing recipes instead of actually following them. They're more like guidelines, anyway.


So now that I know I actually am artistic, what am I going to do? Oh yeah - feed people!

What will you do with your artistic skills?

I Was Going to Bake Bread

I bake! (Photo credit: bcmom)

I do a lot of baking.  I'll probably do even more now that the weather is starting to cool down.  I've told you my favorite ways to warm up on a cool day haven't I?  Bake something!  Or wash dishes.  They both work really well.  Of course, baking is more fun, but it does usually mean there are dishes to be washed.

Anyway, I was planning to bake bread this week.  I had my sourdough starter pulled out of the fridge to warm up.  And that's as far as I got.

I was planning chicken wraps for dinner Monday night, and I turned the oven on to heat.  Then I got busy taking care of other things while I waited.  And waited.  And waited.  Now, this new oven has always taken longer to preheat than my old oven, but I eventually realized that it was taking way too long.  So I checked, and the oven, which was supposed to be heating up to 400° was barely even warm.  Yep, something was definitely wrong.

I had to bake the chicken in the toaster oven, which worked fine, but dinner was really late.  We tried turning the oven off and back on, resetting the breaker just in case something hadn't been done right after our power outage on Friday, though everything else seemed to be working fine.  Nothing changed.  No heat.

It still did not immediately occur to me that I wouldn't be baking bread the next day as planned. Finally after dinner and dishes I realized that wasn't going to work, so I just fed the starter and put it back in the fridge

Thankfully, when we bought the house, we asked for a Home Warranty, so the next day I called to have somebody come and fix my oven.  First they said it would be next Wednesday before someone could come look at it - more than a week - but then they found someone who can come sooner.  Hopefully it will be tomorrow.  They needed my oven's model number and serial number so they could be sure to have the right part - hopefully it's just the bake element - and be able to get it fixed the first time.  However, finding those numbers proved to be a challenge, since there was nothing in the oven where it was supposed to be.

No numbers anywhere

She thinks she figured it out anyway, so here's hoping they got the part in and will be calling me in the morning to come and fix my oven.  If it's something more serious than the bake element, at least it can't cost us more than $100 because of the Home Warranty.  However, it might be a while longer before I can use my oven again.

It's been hard enough living just this week without an oven.  At least it's not Thanksgiving.

An Update is Long Overdue

I haven't had much chance to blog recently - or even get online for much more than a quick perusal of Facebook.  What have I been doing?

It involves a bunch of these:

A big one of these:

Some really hard-working people to pack and load and then unload again.  And then we got to start unpacking and organizing and deciding where things go - and how long is this going to take?

You really don't realize how much stuff you have until it's time to move!  Really.  I know there are kitchen counters there somewhere.

I'm gradually getting organized, at least in the kitchen - along with finding clothes to wear and the things we need in the bathroom, all the important things.  I even made bread yesterday in my new kitchen.  Because sourdough starter must be used or fed regularly - though mine is pretty forgiving even when I neglect it for a bit. 

We got a few groceries the other night, and get to eat real food now, even if the only refrigerator we have is in the garage.  We bought a new fridge and even a dishwasher - I've never bought a dishwasher before, never used one either for that matter - but we've had to postpone delivery.  Twice.  Not so handy having the only fridge in the garage, but it's better than nothing, and I'm so thankful we have that.  And definitely thankful not to have to eat any more fast food.  I don't know how Jeffrey stood it for so long.  A few days was long enough for me.  We even had dinner outside on our patio this evening, because the weather has been glorious.  Absolutely wonderful.

We are gradually getting organized, and it's starting to look like a real house.  I might even have time soon to sit down and post that really long, overdue update about everything that has been going on.  Since March.

Where's the Heat?

So, Thanksgiving is this week.  I'm supposed to be thankful, right?  And I am, really I am - for so many things.
 

Source: foodnetwork.com
via Anna on Pinteres

I'm also busy, because I've got pies to make, rolls to bake, a turkey to cook, and all the other things that go along with having Thanksgiving dinner.  I started today by baking a Bourbon Pecan pie that smells wonderful. 

But now I'm a bit frustrated, because, when the pie came out of the oven, I turned it off for a bit, until I got ready to bake a pizza for dinner.  And when I turned the oven back on, it seemed to be taking forever to heat up.  I waited and waited and waited - and finally went ahead and put the pizza in anyway, but it just wouldn't cook properly.  I finally just finished it up in my roaster oven.  Thankfully I had that down and ready to use, because I already planned to cook the turkey in it tomorrow - while I was baking the pies and rolls in the oven.

So now, I'm hoping it was just some random glitch and the oven decides to work tomorrow.  If not, well, I guess everything will have to be cooked in the roaster.  I started by baking a pumpkin pie tonight.  It looks and smells great, so I know it's possible to bake everything in the roaster oven - it will just take a lot longer than I'd like.

This happened about 3 years ago, and we got it fixed, but it's not something I really wanted to have to deal with again - and the timing is really bad.  Still, I can be very, very thankful that I do have the roaster oven, right?  As well as plenty of food that needs to be cooked.

True Love?

chocolate chip cookies
(Photo credit: Wikipedia)

From my email: 

A very old man lay dying in his bed. In death's doorway, he suddenly smelled the aroma of his favorite chocolate chip cookies wafting up the stairs.

He gathered his remaining strength and lifted himself from the bed.

Leaning against the wall, he slowly made his way out of the bedroom, and with even greater effort forced himself down the stairs, gripping the railing with both hands.

With labored breath, he leaned against the door frame, gazing into the kitchen. Were it not for death's agony, he would have thought himself already in heaven.

There, spread out on newspapers on the kitchen table were literally hundreds of his favorite chocolate chip cookies.

Was it heaven?  Or was it one final act of heroic love from his devoted wife, seeing to it that he left this world a happy man?

Mustering one great final effort, he threw himself toward the table.

The aged and withered hand, shaking, made its way to a cookie at the edge of the table, when he was suddenly smacked with a spatula by his wife.

"Stay out of those," she said.

"They're for the funeral."

I really did not see that coming! So I had to share.

Call the Repairman First

Every time that I spend the day baking, like today, I really appreciate my stove - and Appliance Repair. I like to think that I didn't take the stove for granted before, but a few years ago, the oven stopped heating properly.  You really find out how much you depend on something when it stops working!

I ended up calling an appliance repair company to come out and take a look at it.  I thought it was the heating element in the oven that was going to need replaced - because, of course I know how to diagnose a problem like that!  The repairman who came out tested that, and that was not the problem.  It was bigger than that - the computer chip that controlled everything was bad.  The oven was just the beginning, this thing controlled the burners, the clock, the timer, everything.  That's when we had to decide, either go ahead with the repair, or buy a new stove.

A new stove was tempting... but in the end it would have cost more, and really my stove was in perfect shape - except for the not working part, of course.  So, we went ahead with the repair, and for about $300 we got, for all practical purposes, a new stove. Its body was in good shape, and with a new brain, it could again do the things it was made to do.  There is no way we could have actually gotten a new stove for that kind of money.

If any of your appliances stops working properly, I would strongly suggest calling an appliance repair company first, before you rush out and buy something new.  You can have a repairman come to your house, diagnose the problem, give you an estimate, and oftentimes fix your problem right on the spot, so you can get back to doing the things you need to do, all at a significant savings to buying something new.  Mine took a bit longer because the part wasn't one he carried in his van, so he had to order it in and then come back to fix the stove a few days later.  In the meantime, I realized how much I use the oven, even more than I'd realized before - and that's why I still appreciate it pretty much every time I use it.

How to Warm Up on a Cold Day

Yesterday it was in the 70s.  Today it was 31° when I got up. Talk about a major temperature drop!  It did get up to 48° today, and I did turn the heat on before I went to bed last night, because they were talking about wind chills in the 20s this morning.  Wind chills!  I think winter is on the way...

Here are some ways to warm up on a cold day, without turning the heat up, which can get really expensive.

1. Bake something.  The heat from the oven will warm up your kitchen, and you'll have some yummy baked goods, too.
2. Wash dishes.  You know there are always dirty dishes - especially after you just baked - so warm up by getting your hands into a sink full of warm sudsy water.
3. Curl up on the couch with a blanket and a good book.  Who said you have to accomplish anything?
4. Curl up on the couch with a warm cozy cat. Or a computer.  Or both.
5. Exercise.  There's nothing like getting your body moving and your blood pumping to warm you up.  Even running up and down the stairs a few times will do it.
6. Drink a hot cup of coffee or tea.  It will warm you up from the inside.
7. And the most basic of all - dress appropriately!  Put on some socks and a sweatshirt. It's winter.  You're not supposed to be able to run around the house in shorts and a tank top.

I'm sure there are plenty more tips for getting warm and staying warm on a cold day.  Let me know your favorite ones.

Tuesday Tidbits

I'm trying not to let Tuesday get away from me again - but Tuesday is doing a really good job of it anyway.

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We had a good weekend.  Saturday was the annual Barn Party our friends host at their house/barn.  We get to see lots of people we don't get to see very often.  We have church in the barn - unfortunately we can't cybercast for or Skype with our friends who can't be there because there's not enough bandwidth, but thankfully we'll see you soon, Mary!!  After church there's always lots of food - chili, hot dogs, cornbread, chips, etc.  And, of course, the desserts.  So many desserts!  Then there's the bonfire and the hayrides and talking to people....  We had lots of fun.

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Cory had to leave for a while in the evening/night to go to rehearsal.  He's understudy for 2 plays, with rehearsals for both going on, and he has to learn 3 parts for one play and 10 parts for the other - that's 13 people in his head, besides his own self.  I think he's the only person in the universe who could do it, but it's certainly going to be quite a semester!

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It's been cool and rainy the last several days.  Yes, this post has degenerated to the point of talking about the weather.  Good, huh?  That's what I get for waiting until the end of the day/night to post.  And what did I actually do today? Recycled papers, cut out coupons, worked on updating the nametags we're getting printed for the Feast, baked bread, washed towels, etc., etc., etc.  Always so much to do, and I put off the posting until the end.

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Tune in next week...

Homemade Bread Sans Gluten is Now Easy and Delicious

Moms with kids who suffer celiac disease know the hardships of having to live a life gluten-free. They watch their kids go through life unable to consume such staples as cereal, bread, pasta, and oatmeal. They themselves have to be ever-vigilant of the ingredients in the foods their child eats. Usually this results in a family-wide forgoing of foods with gluten in them. This is perhaps for the best because it rules out a lot of highly processed baked goods we'd otherwise stock the house with. But honestly, a home without bread is just not a home.

Gluten-free bread and other typically gluten-laden foodstuffs can be made with alternative ingredients from scratch, but tracking down the necessary ingredients is a pain. Then there's the dealing with the messes of making baked bread from scratch. After all of that, there's still the anxiety that comes with worrying about whether or not the right ingredients were used and the proper steps taken. It's a lot to ask for in the struggle to make bread an available edible for the family.

Luckily, for families with a member or members who suffer from celiac disease or have gluten sensitivity, there's a homemade gluten-free baking option that's non-messy and delicious. Bready is a bread baking machine that supplies those who purchase their machine with prepackaged gluten-free bread ingredients. You simply follow the easy steps that take you from a package of dry ingredients to fluffy, warm fresh bread that's gluten-free but flavor-packed.

Bready's gluten free bread machine can also be used to make gluten-free cakes. Talk about an awesome birthday present for somebody who can't consume gluten. There's no way a family used to tip-toeing around gluten foods isn't going to be happy about this product. Your next concern is going to be how to control your collective carb intake now that you can have as much bread as you want.

Simple Coffee Cake

Written by my friend Betty Walls

Paula Deen is fun to watch with her southern charm and accent. She makes every recipe sound so easy to prepare even though I know that isn't always the case. The other day I was watching her show “Paula's Best Dishes” on my satellite tv from www.direct.tv. She was baking an Orange Coffee Cake. This really did look easy to prepare. Paula used a tube can of refrigerated biscuits. She cut the biscuits then placed them around the bottom of a round baking pan. Next, she brushed the biscuits with melted butter then sprinkled them with a mixture of minced walnuts, sugar, and orange zest. That was it! She then put the pan in the oven to bake for about 20 ! minutes. I even think I could handle making this. The hardest part was the glaze which was a combination of powdered sugar, cream cheese, and orange juice that was whipped until smooth and thin. Just drizzle this glaze over the warm cake and you are done. It's ready to eat. I put all of the ingredients on my shopping list for my next trip to the grocery store. With Paula's directions and these simple ingredients, I think I will be baking this delicious coffee cake next Saturday morning.

Mmmmm, Cookie Dough!

Image via Wikipedia

I just finished making those cookies for Cory.  It wasn't until I got to the very end that I realized that I hadn't eaten any cookie dough.  Usually I can't help myself and eat enough cookie dough to have me feeling bad because of all the sugar and wondering if I'm going to have to worry about diet pill side effects.

I'm not sure what the difference was today, but to make up for my neglect, I cleaned off the spoons I used to drop the cookies onto the cookie sheets.  It was really good cookie dough!  And, of course, I had to try one of the cookies while it was warm and soft, and that wasn't half bad, either!

Now, I wonder how many of these cookies I'm supposed to bag up for that son of mine....

Because I'm the Mom

I mentioned that Cory is in his first college play and going to be here at the elementary school in town on Friday.  So, since I'm planning to be there, Cory left me a message on facebook asking me to bring him some stuff.  He wants his quilt and his old watch.  Sure.  I can do that.

And then, another request:

also. if you have time this week, and if you want Allison, Blaine, Anthony, Ham, Ebeth and I would love it if you'd make us treats to eat on the way to racine. :P

Cookies? brownies? Rice Crispies? Chocolate Covered Pretzels. something fun and tastey to snack on in the Dodge Grand Caravan. XD

because you LOVVVVVVE me.

He expects a lot, doesn't he?  But, since I'm the mom, and I really do LOVVVVVVE him, I'll be baking some cookies tomorrow.  He better appreciate it!

It's good, though - because I like to bake cookies, but we certainly don't need a whole batch around here!  The recipe makes so many I can't get them all into the cookie jar.  Being able to share them with the Calico Tiger cast will save us from needing any of the top fat burners available.  Well, it will save Jeffrey anyway.  I like the cookies, but they don't call to me the way they do to him.

Related articles

• The Calico Tiger (alwaysbcmom.com)
• Cory on the Radio (alwaysbcmom.com)

Feed Your Passion

Image via Wikipedia

This is a Sponsored Post written by me on behalf of Haagen Dazs. All opinions are 100% mine.

What's your passion?  At Häagen-Dazs®, their passion is creating the world’s finest ice cream.  I can get pretty passionate about their Rum Raisin!  But the ice cream really isn't what this post is about.

It's about an original online series called Passion Profiles that Häagen-Dazs® is sponsoring.  In this series, ET Canada's Cheryl Hickey takes you into the lives of some of Canada's most entertaining personalities, people who are living their passions.  Chefs Anna & Michael Olsen have already been featured, and coming up next on August 11 is designer and HGTV star Sarah Richardson.  I think Beth might really enjoy that one and perhaps get some inspiration and ideas about how she can turn her interest in interior design into a career she loves.  And that seems to be the purpose behind this series, not just to entertain but to inspire people to live their own passions.

It's something I've been thinking about recently as I try to figure out what I'm going to do when Cory goes off to college and I don't have any kids left at home.  We've got to help put the boy through college, so Jeffrey says I should get a job.  And, since I've been mom for all these years since the kids were little, I don't really know where to start.  What do I want to do?  What can I do?  I keep coming back to something dealing with food.  Maybe I could bake bread somewhere.  That would be awesome.  Somebody's gotta bake the bread, right?  I'd be happy with a knife and a cutting board chopping vegetable somewhere.  I don't really know, but it would make it a lot more enjoyable to be doing something I like to do instead of just working somewhere because I have to.  Maybe all the stuff that isn't getting done at home won't seem so bad then?

Be sure to visit www.passionfiles.ca and check out the Passion Profiles series.  Perhaps you'll be inspired to pursue your passion.

Now, about that Rum Raisin...

If We Didn't Have to Eat...

At 3:00 I realized I forgot to have lunch today.  I guess that's not horrible, considering I usually don't eat until 12:30 or 1:00, but still.  I just got busy and didn't think about it until my stomach started grumbling.  I have a nice Chocolate Zucchini Cake and some Chocolate Pudding sitting on the counter and some Cinnamon Rolls baking in the oven to show for all my efforts, though.  Of course, none of those are available as lunch because they're all for something else - and I'd be needing the best fat burners I could find if that's the kind of things I ate for lunch.

So I ate a nectarine and some cheese & crackers.  That ought to hold me for a bit.  And now I need to go wash all the dishes I made with all that cooking.  I'm not one of those people who washes the dishes as I go along.  No, I wait until a whole bunch of dishes piles up, and then I wash them.  Hopefully they'll have time to dry before it's time to wash the dinner dishes, because while I don't mind washing dishes, I really, really hate to dry them.

Dessert Decisions

Image via Wikipedia

There's a special Spotlight Concert tomorrow night where the choir members and band members are going to be performing their pieces for Solo & Ensemble, which is this weekend.  It gives parents and friends a chance to see them perform, and it gives them an extra chance to practice and the opportunity to perform their pieces in front of an audience.

The Band Booster Association is running a bake sale during the concert in an effort to raise some money to help our band students attend a performance festival in May - the High Note Festival in Gurnee, IL - where they will perform before an adjudicator and then get to spend the rest of the day at Six Flags.  Sounds like fun, at least for those kids who like roller coasters and amusement parks.  My kid isn't one of them.  Sometimes I wonder how our kids can be ours, since neither one of them likes roller coasters, and Jeffrey and I love them.

Anyway, the cost for this festival is $50 per student, and we're hoping to help offset the cost to the families with a little fundraising.  Now, if I can just decide what to bake tomorrow.  I thought I'd make these Peanut Butter Cheesecake Brownie Cups, but then I started scrolling down the dessert page on my recipe blog, and there are so many other things that look so good.  Sometimes I forget all the good things I've made.

Help me out, will you?  What do you think I should bake tomorrow for the bake sale?  What would you most like to have?  Pretend there's some kind of multivitamins you can take so that you can eat any dessert, and the calories don't count.  In fact, while you're pretending, pretend that taking those vitamins and eating dessert means you lose weight and get in shape, too.  Sorry, I got a little carried away there.  I just need something for the bake sale.

If It's Not One Thing, It's...

In the last couple weeks it seems there have been all kinds of extra expenses:

• A trip to the vet for Weasley to get a check-up, shots, and fixed - approximately $300
• An oven that just stopped working - approximately $300 to get it fixed
• Beth hit a coyote and cracked the bumper on the car she drives - $100 deductible
• and yesterday Jeffrey's car got hit in the side by a big chunk of ice - another $100 deductible, I'm sure

Seriously, if it's not one thing, it's another.   At least you don't have to hear me talking about diet products or fat cell mass - but I'm sure that would end up costing us, too!

How to Lose Friends

A while back Beth came home with a bag of that Amish Friendship Bread starter. You know the one I mean - the stuff that makes you want to run away when someone comes your way carrying it. Now, I'm not complaining about the bread. It's pretty good - even when you don't really follow the recipe like Beth and use the wrong kind of pudding. The recipe calls for instant pudding, which she claimed she had used, but the box clearly said it was the cooking kind. So her bread was too soft and didn't come out of the pan very well, it still tasted good.

The problem is that she divided the batter up like she was supposed to - into the bags to give to friends. Only, she never took them and gave them to anyone. So, today was the day that those friends she was supposed to give the batter to would have added 1 cup milk, 1 cup sugar, and 1 cup flour. Now, one of those bags was supposed to be mine (oh, yay) so I added my milk, sugar, and flour, but there's no way I wanted to do that with the other bags. That's a lot of milk, sugar, and flour!

Of course, the milk, sugar, and flour that was already in the bags was mine, too, so I didn't want to just toss it - so we put it in the freezer. Someday, when we're ready for more of this friendship bread, we can pull a bag out of the freezer, thaw it, add the milk, sugar, and flour, and continue with the recipe. We get to enjoy the bread without making our friends run the other direction.

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• Amish Friendship Bread: Have You Ever Made It? (thekitchn.com)

Pies and Prizes in Branson

I've won a pie contest or two in my life. The secret? Make chocolate! At least it seemed that way. One time I made this really complicated, caramel apple pie which I thought was amazing, but that didn't win. The next two times I made chocolate pie and won both times.

What does this have to do with anything? I just found out about the first annual Great American Pie Contest which is going to be held in Branson April 24-25 this year. Al Roker from the Today show will be there, and first prize is $2,500 cash, plus a trip for two for a 4-day/3-night fun-filled vacation in Branson. There are special room rates available at the Hilton Branson Convention Center Hotel, which is adjacent to the Branson Convention Center, where the pie contest is being held. This special block of rooms is available for April 20 – 29 and can be reserved through March 22 or until they're sold out.

So, a vacation to Branson, with special room rates, to enter the pie contest could mean another vacation to Branson. Two for the price of one! And pie. The more I look at things to do in Branson, the more I think I want to go there someday. I like the idea of the pie contest, but Jeffrey probably wouldn't be too excited about that. He'd rather have me make that chocolate pie just for him. I think he'd like playing golf and seeing some shows, though. I'd like to visit the Titanic museum and Silver Dollar City, and that's only the beginning. There's so much there that you definitely need to plan your visit beforehand, and stay for a while - or win that pie contest and go back. Remember - chocolate!

I Need New Cookie Sheets

I think it's about time to buy new cookie sheets. I used my first set for I don't know how many years, until they got all nasty looking. Then I found some non-stick ones on clearance and bought those. Unfortunately they weren't real high quality so the non-stick coating started coming off pretty quickly. I guess you get what you pay for, huh? The ones I have now started out real nice, but at some point in time my kids didn't dry them properly, and now they rust very easily. That also adds an unpleasant taste to the food, so I am going to have to break down and get some new ones. The question is, what do I buy? Do I just buy the same kind, or do I try to upgrade in the hopes that they will last longer? Maybe even something completely different like this silicone baking sheet?

I'm looking at this infinite circulon bakeware because it says it's designed for frequent use. I do bake a lot, so I want something that will stand up to that and not have to be replaced frequently. I really want to get something that I can use without ever having to worry about it again. At least not for a long time. These circulon steel elite pans come with a lifetime guarantee, so I take that to mean they will last a good long time.

While I was browsing the bakeware, I got distracted by these art and cook utensils in all kinds of fun colors, but I think I've got plenty of utensils. Still, they are kind of fun. What I'm really thinking I want to try is the silicon bakeware. It comes in all kinds of fun colors, too, and it's completely nonstick, odorless, and saves space. If you've tried it, please let me know what you think. Do you like it? What kind of new bakeware should I buy?

How to Warm Up

According to my computer, it's -4°F outside. That doesn't count the windchill, which makes it even colder. The wind is certainly whipping the snow around out there, so I don't even want to guess at how cold it might be when you factor in that windchill.

Even on a cold day like this, we don't like to turn up the thermostat. There are always other ways to stay warm. Here are two of my favorite ways to warm up on a cold winter's day:

1. Wash dishes
2. Bake something

I may be crazy, but I actually enjoy washing dishes, and putting my hands into a sink full of warm sudsy water is a sure way to warm up. I really enjoy baking too, and turning the oven on helps to warm up the house really well. Sure, it uses more power like turning the thermostat up would, but at least we get something good to show for it. If you need some good ideas, try visiting my recipes blog. (Note the shameless plug) As in all things, use moderation. I don't want to be responsible for your needing Anoretix to slim down.

Another great way to stay warm is to snuggle up in a soft blanket and read a book. Or, as a friend suggested last night, enjoy a warm drink such as Bailey's and coffee!