Chill Before the Storm

Nate came over today and that was nice for Maddie.  After school, Maddie was doing some board games with Nate, some rathe complicated ones that involve dice and cards and things like that.  It seemed easy to get the hang of though, so Maddie caught on quickly and they wound up having a good time.  They also had tacos tonight, and that's always a good thing of course.  

I'm working on the Spring Training booklets, but also I got the skit done for this weekend.  But it's one of those things that I doubt we'll ever get to, given that the forecast is so dire.  It's still one of those bleak midwinter sort of recipes.  They're using words like "DESTRUCTIVE" with what is to come, so we'll just have to wait and see if the disaster hype lives up to reality.  I think, as in all things, it'll be somewhere in between.  We're going to be prepared as we can.  To that extent, I stopped and picked up some wood for the fireplace, although not a ton of wood.  Enough to get us through, I think, should there be power issues and we don't have heat.  Not that this fireplace can heat the entire house.  But it will be nice, regardless, gathering around the first fire of 2026.  Mom got some kindling together and we have it ready for this weekend.  

Mom was doing a good bit of housecleaning today, and we've also gotten all those ornaments down and off the trees, cleaning up a few other things too.  Mom put this new drain catcher in one of our sinks, and has enough for the others, a cool device that will be cleaner and more effective for cleaning up the drains.  The garage is a little cleaner right now now, and we got new lightbulbs put in one of our hallways.  We'll be really attacking some areas soon as we try to declutter the house some.  That means donating a bit more and getting rid of quite a few items as we pour through each room.  Example:  we have too many jigsaw puzzles.  I mean, how many do you need?  The library will appreciate those I'm sure.  

As promised, tonight's movie was the 2003 version of "Peter Pan," which is one of Maddie's favorite movies ever.  She really couldn't wait to see this one again.  Mom and I saw this in theaters, and man, if I could only go back in time and tell myself in that theater that some day you'll have a daughter and it'll be one of her favorite movies ever.  Crazy how time flies.  I remember liking this movie quite a bit back in the day. 

Okay, moving on:  it's time for bed tonight.  We did our reading from "The Fifth Elephant," following the adventures of Captain Vimes and his friends into Überwald, a place on the Discworld somewhat like Transylvania.  Meanwhile, some of the City Watch remain in Ankh-Morpork, looking into a mystery that is no doubt tied to where Captain Vimes and his men are. 

Tonight we said our prayers afterwards, and then after watching some more weather reports, got ourselves under those warm blankets for a good night's rest.