Lanterns & Longish Weekends

It figures that the first week of the year, the week I'm all gung-ho to jump back into blogging we had a big snowstorm. Which caused a power outage, followed by an even longer Internet outage which essentially put a halt on all blogging enthusiasm. 

Ironically I had planned to publish a post about how one of my intentions for the year is to do less multi-tasking and how I thought I might be able to manage life one thing at a time. As it turns out multi-tasking is a lot harder when there's no electricity. For starters it eliminates the option of watching TV along with anything else. And since I was 95% prepared and not 100% prepared my cellphone wasn't fully charged which eliminated the option of listening to music or Podcasts as I went about my afternoon and evening.

I found a book and blanket and cozied up on the couch and read for almost two hours without interruption. When supper time rolled around I made some guacamole and ate by lantern light without any background noise. Then I went back to reading until the power came on a little while later. I won't pretend I didn't leap up to charge my phone and make a hot cup of tea but I also didn't immediately turn on all the lights and fire up Netflix. I kept reading and being content just reading my book and enjoying the quiet. 

Shortly after that I realized that the power came on but the Internet did not. In fact it was gone from Thursday at 3:30-ish until Saturday afternoon at 3:30ish. I tried to enjoy it and I did pop in Friends DVDs to watch while I worked on my Project Life album but I seriously felt like I was disconnected. I wasn't totally disconnected, my phone was fully charged and I was using data to scroll through Twitter for the latest news and check in on Instagram but it sure felt that way.

It left me wondering if I should re-evaluate my plans to go an entire week without multi-tasking, a week is a long time when you're only doing one thing at a time. And it really left me wondering how I can incorporate some regularly scheduled technology breaks into my life. 

Sunday mornings or afternoons seem like the most logical time to implement some slow down time but then again so do Wednesday evenings. Maybe it should be a daily thing instead of a weekly thing, although I know that's not realistic. 

Do you have mandated technology breaks? I know I go long stretches without my phone or computer if I'm out and about but if I have an evening or day at home it's likely I'm going to be watching TV and texting and aimlessly browsing....possibly all at once and there's no way that can be a healthy habit!

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Forward to February

My weekend started a little earlier than anticipated. There was a storm forecasted for Friday but it didn't start in time for work to be cancelled, instead 20 minutes after I arrived at work we got an e-mail saying we were closing at five. The roads were far from ideal so it was close to six by the time I got home. I had grand plans to spend the evening catching up with TV and doing some crafting. Unfortunately we lost our power at 9 p.m. Friday night and didn't get it back until Sunday afternoon. Thankfully we have a generator so we had some power, enough to run the heat, water and a few electrical outlets for most of the day. 

I spent most the weekend reading, colouring and eating storm chips. I briefly went outside Saturday to take some photos but the adventure was short lived. We had about 35 cm of snow fall on top of the snow we already had from earlier this month. It was impossible for me to take more than a few steps in the snow without sinking up to my waist. It was also very cold out and I was much happier indoors with a blanket and a book. Except that half way through the book it stopped being interesting. Now I'm halfway through though so I feel obligated to finish. Maybe it will take another turn and I'll be interested again before it ends. 

Sunday afternoon when the power did come back on I took a nice long shower and set to crossing a few things off of my to do list. None of those things were particularly strenuous...I had some things to put in my online shopping cart and leave there until I decide if I want to invest. (Is anyone reading Savor by Shauna Niequist? I'm looking for a daily devotional type book that I has daily readings and ideally I can use year after year. Suggestions welcome!) I also got all of my January Project Life photos organized and ready to print. Ideally I'll get them printed this coming weekend and then craft to my heart's content! 

The snow was the wet and heavy type, perfect for snowman making...not that I made any snowmen but I thought about it a few times. I think this weekend J. and I will try to have some sort of outdoor winter adventure, unless the temperature rises and come next week all the ice is melted and the world is covered in slush. 

I've always had a soft spot in my heart for February. I think Groundhog Day is the best 'holiday' in all the land, my mom's birthday happens in February and regardless of the commercialization aspect I happen to love Valentine's Day. Plus, it's Leap Year! And I really love Leap Years. If you haven't seen the 30 Rock episode with Leap Year William you need to make that a priority this month. And of course the Leap Year movie with Amy Adams. And it just so happens I published my first blog post in these parts in February of 2013. All things considered I think February is going to be a good month.

Sharing my weekend here. 

Snacks & Snow Storms

Lately it seems like my weekends revolve around snacking and storms. This one was no different.

J. invested in new pots and pans so I throughly enjoyed showing on my domestic skills Saturday evening and Sunday morning while christening a few of his new pots. Saturday night I made us chicken parmesan. Which was pretty tasty, but would have been tastier with regular pasta noodles opposed to the whole wheat/whole grain ones that J. had bought. There's no photographic evidence of this meal because neither of had eaten all day so by the time supper was ready there was no time for pictures just eating. Sunday morning we woke up to what appeared to be a meteorological miracle, only 5-10 cm of snow had fallen opposed to the 30-45 cm that was predicted.

We were mistaken. By the time I made pancakes (side note: does anyone else struggle to make perfect pancakes that are cooked all the way through and not burned??) & bacon for a late breakfast it was clear what we had witnessed earlier was just the beginning of the storm. It didn't look so bad outside so J. determined it was safe enough to drive me home. I live "out in the country" about half an hour away...let's just say that there was a lot more blowing snow and drifting near my house than there was near his and I was really glad when he texted to tell me he made it back to his house. It was also a good thing he took me home when he did because the storm really did keep getting worse and the high winds lasted all night so there's no way I would have gotten home if we hadn't of left when we did.

I spent the afternoon watching the storm outside and making one of my favourite meals. I am definitely not a big sandwich person, but I discovered a delicious combination of things a while back and it's so tasty that it doesn't even matter that it's very sandwich-y. Chicken breast with cajun seasoning, red onion, cheddar cheese, some mixed greens and spicy chipotle dipping sauce all on a ciabatta roll. My mouth might be watering just thinking/typing about it. I made a small portion of homemade fries to go along side it and it was a very satisfying snow day supper.

The snow was still coming down steadily and the wind picked up again making for a very messy Sunday evening. I've reached the point where not only am I tired of all the snow and cold, I'm also tired of complaining about the weather. I just want to see some dirt/pavement in my life rather than snow and ice. 

The bight side of it all is I made a blogger leap and installed Disqus! I'm hoping that I did it correctly and it's fully functional. I was getting really frustrated with no-reply bloggers and glitches resulting in people's comments being erased once they press publish. I was also able to plan out some posts for this week so check back tomorrow to see what's on my reading list!

I'm linking up here to share my weekend!