Brrrrr...

It has been soooo cold and snowy here! As for the cold, I'm finding that I'm really keen about the celsius system... doesn't "eeks, it's -6 out there!" sound a lot more realistic than, "oh, it's in the 20s... can't be too bad!". I'm here to say that -6 (or in the 20s) is bad--especially when you're walking everywhere in it. Sometimes I really regret not bringing my long johns with me, but I know that if I did wear them I'd just absolutely melt once I got into a store or onto the bus.

But then there's the snow. Yes, it's pretty, but the worst part of it all is that it is really hard to just go on with life as normal here. It takes quite some time to get the roads cleared and then only half (maybe) of the home owners/renters shovel their sidewalks, so I'm forced to push the stroller on the street a lot of the time. They do truck snow out of the city (which is interesting in and of itself), but it takes several days to get to the point where I can easily get the stroller on and off buses on my own. I've been rescued by strangers numerous times, for which I'm very grateful.

Anyway, the snow and ice ended up cancelling our dinner party last Friday night, so Jared and I had a huge ham dinner to feast on! It was really quite good (if I do say so myself!), but we missed having good fun and conversation with our friends. This Saturday we are trying to host another party... surprise, surprise--snow is predicted! Hopefully the weather reports will be wrong because if they aren't we're going to be eating chili for a week.

On a new topic (even I was getting tired of complaining about winter weather!), our church is starting a choir! Jared and I are trying to work things out so that I'll be able to go to the practices, which are on Wednesday nights. It runs from 7:45 to 9:00, but then the Men's Quartet (which Jared would like to be in) will have practices from 9:00 to 9:30. That's awfully late to have Ruby out, so we're thinking of trying to get a babysitter for an hour or so (8:30-9:30) so that Jared can leave in time to go to practice and then I'll come home and pay the sitter. Our best chance is our neighbor girl (Josie). She babysat for Ruby one other time and seemed to do okay. Of course in this scenario she'd just have to sit and watch TV or do her homework for an hour because Ruby will be asleep by the time Jared leaves. Anyway, I hope that it will work out because I would really enjoy being in a choir again.

There is also talk of a new small group that will go through the "Toddler Talk" book. I haven't read it, but our friends, Danny & Claire, live by the "Baby Talk" book and say that it's excellent. Does anyone have any experience with this series? Is it worth the time commitment? This will be once a week as well, so it looks like our evenings will be getting filled up if we decided to do it.

Starting in February some time Ruby and I will be spending a few hours a week with her buddy Carter while his parents are in Danish lessons. I think that it will be good for both of them to get some time playing together. When the weather is nicer, I'd love to take them both to the zoo, but I'll have to figure the logistics of that out since we don't have a double stroller. By then they may both be walking!! I'm also thinking of joining a moms'n'tots group, as much for my sake as Ruby's. I think that it would be good for me to try to make more friends with other moms...

Regardless of my complaints about the weather, it does seem to be cheerier lately as the days are getting longer. The sun helps to make even the coldest days enjoyable.

Well, I better get going with dinner preparations. Ruby will be up from her nap soon and then it's hard to get anything done until Jared is home. She's totally obsessed with the only three things that are off-limits: the tv/vcr, the houseplants, and the wood stove! Adios for now!