Hartsock happenings: snow day #4

And today marks snow day #4 - and I'll admit that I was hoping for this one! It's been a long, cold week back at school . . . and I think I was still dragging from staying out too late to watch the Orange Bowl on Tuesday night. So I was super excited at the prospect of the day off . . . I know, I know, we won't be so pleased come June - but I figure M-P is still ahead of most schools when it comes to our last day, since we had school until 12/23!!! (thus a shorter winter break).

Today's agenda, you ask?

Well, we sort of have a standing breakfast/brunch date with friends (another teacher and her daughter) when there is a snow day (hey, we all live in town, and usually we can at least make it a few blocks to the restaurant!) . . . so after getting "the call" (oh JOY!) and making plans to meet later in the morning to eat, Braden and I snuggled up to sleep in for a couple more hours.

He's the best snuggler. Really.

I had fully intended on taking him to daycare today (even if school was canceled) so that I could do my own thing - and had even proclaimed this intention yesterday when speculating the possibility of a snow day at school - but you know, when it comes down to it, I really like hanging with my little man. Yeah, I complain sometimes that it's hard to get anything when he's around (like right now - he is hanging on my arm and trying to reach the keyboard and "type") . . . and I was sort of bummed that our daycare provider happened to take the whole week that I was off for winter break off for her own vacation . . . but REALLY, Braden is so much fun, and is generally an agreeable companion.

Anyway, when we finally dragged our lazy selves out of bed and showered, we discovered that Grandpa Ed had come to visit - and shoveled our driveway! Yay! (And thanks, Dad!)

After enjoying our late breakfast, we headed home and I was surprisingly quite productive! I stuck chicken in the crockpot (tried this recipe - see our reviews later in this post), did several loads of laundry, sorted out/cleaned out our chest freezer (since Billy's parents just gave us a bunch of meat - thanks sooooo much!) - it was time to figure out what was really in there - you know, way at the bottom . . .

Then Billy showed up! :) - his vanpool decided to head home early due to the snow, so we all got to hang out together. Braden napped with Billy while I did some touch up painting that I have been meaning to get to - drove me crazy whenever I saw that spot on the wall, vacuumed, and cleaned our our linen closet . . . whew! I did get to snuggle up with a good book and take a nap of my own later on (you know, since I had supper made in the crockpot!).

So - the new recipe. It smelled fabulous all afternoon, and I thought it had good flavor. Braden really loved it, I thought it was tasty (although not visually appealing - shredded chicken over brown rice looks sort of blah), but when asked, Billy said he'd rather I not make it again. Oh well. I used up a bag of chicken breasts I found buried in the freezer.

And like I said, Braden really liked it.