Happy Birthday to my 12 Year Old and the Quiet of Break

So break seems to be over. It shall go down as the quietest break I think I have ever had....well, despite two house concerts. Apart from the days I did a little Christmas shopping, I stopped by Fries & Peanuts a few times and went to Convenient Care twice. That's it. I barely left the house. When I think back to this snowstorm, as I did to others from my life the other day, I will picture myself lying on the brown leather couch, a roll of toilet paper and cough drops at the ready, watching the fire in the fireplace, and reading on my iPad. I really can't complain. On one hand, while it seems a waste of vacation days, it would have been a lot more miserable had I been dragging myself to work and trying to be productive. All that was productive was my cough. Ha!

Besides, it's bound to be warmer at work than it is in our house. Our furnace is new and wonderful but our house is outrageously drafty, with no insulation, so the first floor just can not get warm when it's windy. Try walking into the two additions, the media room (an old porch) and the bathroom, that aren't over the basement, and the temperature drops even further. And of course we have some frozen pipes in the bathroom. I guess we shouldn't have gone with a shower on an exterior wall, huh? In the past we've never had pipes burst...they always thawed o.k. so I have my fingers crossed. Sigh.

Ernie and the boys adamently refused to go get me more firewood yesterday....so I'm hoping today, as it warms a tiny bit, they will kindly restock so I can assume my rightful position on the couch in the evening.

Despite the quiet, we did celebrate Owen's birthday. We still owe him a trip to Chicago but we had a good time celebrating at home. Ernie made his cake but Owen worked on the frosting himself. He didn't think the one Ernie made was quite good enough so he busies himself adding various ingredients and damned if he didn't improve it. He also did the decorating himself, writing Happy Birthday Owen and putting 12 candles on. My pictures came out lousy as I had accidentally switched something on my camera settings. Whoops.

And the sweetest thing of all? Fats Kaplin, the second most wonderful boy with a birthday on January 4, called to wish Owen a Happy Birthday. Owen was thrilled. As though we could love Fats and Kristi Rose any more!

And one last note....doesn't it seem like Owen should be older than 12?

Weird.