The Sewing Mom

Snow in Texas, originally uploaded by the_sewingmom1.

It is hard to believe that this is what I was looking at less than 2 weeks ago when I stood outside my front door. We live just northeast of downtown Dallas and we received 13 inches of the white stuff in a 24 hour period. This set all kinds of records and made me question why we ever left Chicago, leaving our snow blower behind!

If you live somewhere that gets snowfall on a regular basis, it is probably difficult for you to understand why this is such a hardship here in the Dallas area. Basically, it comes down to this. Texas doesn’t own a snow plow. Not a single one. As you can see from the photo, the roads were completely covered and this photo was taken around 8 in the morning. Up north, these streets would have all ready been cleared!

We also don’t own a real coat anymore. We left the parkas behind when we moved south, along with the snow shovels, sleds and snow blower. This was excellent, wet, snowman building snow. So, my daughter and I layered up the best we could and headed out. We built 2 of the best snowman we’ve ever built (I forgot to upload those pics) all while wearing jeans (you know how they soak up the cold moisture), sweatshirts, and some thin driving gloves. But, we did have a blast and enjoyed the beauty of the day.

I am glad the snow is gone though. As pretty as it was it made for very dangerous conditions here. There were mass power outages, people without heat, and people, including me, who couldn’t get to work. I am definitely looking forward to Spring.

WOOHOO! It’s Friday (almost!)!! I am really celebrating because Friday is my final day of having to drive in for my training class. I get to go back to working from home starting Monday. While I will definitely miss the personal interaction, I won’t miss the commute and the expenses connected to commuting. My life will start feeling more like normal again and it will free up more of my time.

To celebrate, I’m getting back to something very normal for me, my favorite meme. If you want to participate in < a href="http://funcraftsandrecipes.com/index.php/2010/four-foods-on-friday-107/" target="_blank">Four Foods on Friday, feel free and be sure to visit Val and leave her a comment!

This weeks questions:

1. Name two items on your kitchen counter. Coffee maker and toaster

2. What’s in your sink now? Something I hate, dirty dishes. (I haven’t had time to unload the dishwasher so I can reload it!)

3. What’s on your stove now? A teapot.

4. What’s in your oven now? Not a thing!

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

The last few weeks have kept me running way more than usual so, of course, I got sick. I get up, go to work, struggle to keep my head from falling onto my desk, come home, try to get at least 15 minutes of downtime before heading out to pick my daughter up from school/play practice and head out to whatever else we may have planned for the evening. It’s been absolutely crazy. During all of this craziness, one thing remains constant, wishing I could feel strong enough again to get back onto some sort of wellness program.

When we first moved here I started walking around the subdivision. It doesn’t sound like much, but when I checked it with my pedometer, one time around the circle was about 1 1/2 miles! If I walked at a fast pace, I could certainly feel the burn. I also felt myself feeling stronger and even losing a couple of pounds. It helped that I was eating healthier too, especially once I learned my cholesterol levels were high.

I have to admit though, my good intentions sort of came to a halt once I became bored of the neighborhood scenery. I haven’t walked much at all in the last year. Recently I was introduced to www.wellnessdaily.com, a website that encourages personal wellness through exercise, good eating habits and daily balance.

I became even more interested in www.wellnessdaily.com when I discovered on my own that it is sponsored by Jennie-O, the makers of the turkey bacon that my daughter loves so much! They also make many other low sodium food products that I enjoy feeding my family because I know it results in all of us having a healthier diet. Anyway, back to the website, it has a ton of ideas for staying fit, eating well, and balancing exercise and healthy diet in our daily lives.

If you sign up at www.wellnessdaily.com, be sure to enter the Twitter contest for a chance to win a WellnessDaily.com prize package which include coupons for a year-long supply of Jennie-O Turkey Store product and a one-year gym membership, valued at $1,250. The suggested tweet is: “Enter to win $ towards a gym membership & JENNIE-O turkey products. Just follow @wellness_daily & RT this! The Twitter promotion ends March 10.

By the way, when you sign up, you can also print a $5 rebate good for any one Jennie-O Turkey Store product.

snow Feb 12 2010 003, originally uploaded by the_sewingmom1.

Sorry for my absence of late. I’m accustomed to working from home but have been in training for the past 4 weeks and so have been commuting to work every day. In addition, I’ve been sick this past week, but still having to attend training, so, by the time I get home, I’m exhausted!
Finally, I wanted to share a photo of our dog Plinko. It’s been a while since you’ve seen her, but last week, we got 13 inches of snow here on the NE side of Dallas and Plinko loved it! She absolutely refused to stand still so I could take her photo, she was having way to much fun. This is the best I could do as she ran straight for me in her excitement!

Thanks to Parent Reviewers, I was sent a couple of books to read and review. I received the 2 books in the mail and have received no other compensation. These opinions are strictly mine and I have chosen to share them with my readers.

The first book I read is titled Snow Takes the Checker! written by Demi Knight Clark. The story’s main character is Snow the race horse and her love of racing and her love of friends. I have to admit, I loved the artwork that was done throughout the book, but I’m somewhat unclear as to what age group this book was written for.

At first glance I thought it was directed towards young children, i.e., toddlers. But, after reading the story, I’m not sure. The story begins with Snow telling the reader about her dream of racing and introduces her family which supports her dream. The storyline then takes a turn and introduces her friend Tula, a turtle, and her arch rival, a raccoon named Robbie. The long awaited race takes place and all of the different animals participate. There is quite a bit of jostling for position and an attempt by the author to teach the importance of good sportsmanship, but in the end, the race is a tie thanks to Snow waiting for her friend so they could cross the finish line together. I thought this was pretty thoughtful on Snow’s part, but it also show Robbie in the background looking exhausted and losing the race. So, while Snow was quite polite during the race, she certainly didn’t do any favors for anyone other than her friend. This story seems to have a conflicting message, or maybe it’s trying to get too many messages across in one simple story book, but then again, maybe I’m just over thinking it!

The second book I read is titled Catty Wompus and is written by Julie Howe with drawings by Chason Matthams. Catty Wompus is the story about a lonely girl who has all the material things a girl could ever ask for. Unfortunately, Catty has everything but the thing that matters most, friendship.

Catty Wompus is a wonderfully written story for tweens. I think every girl and boy has met someone like Catty, they may not have realized though why they were so unhappy. In today’s environment of having so much, it can certainly be difficult to understand that having things isn’t what makes us happy. This is an important lesson all kids should learn. It wouldn’t hurt for a few adults to learn this as well! I do recommend Catty Wompus.