Opening Ceremonies

Busy night tonight!  I was over at the church helping with the movie night we had planned.  We didn't have much time to promote this one that was on the schedule, mainly because the last two Sundays we haven't had church.  But we were pushing it online and a decent amount of kids were there.  Over time, we've come to the decision that the newer movies are actually not the ones that hold the most interest of the kids, mainly because in most cases they've already seen the movies.  That being said, we're in this interesting season where we're going to older movies that are legendary in our own minds, but these kids haven't seen them yet.  In fact, these kids were born years after these movies were released.  So movies like "The Emperor's New Groove," "Epic," or in the case of tonight, "Meet the Robinsons."  Such a classic movie!  All the feels, and one of the greatest villains in Disney canon.  It's one of our favorites.

So today the 2026 Winter Games officially started, and we were watching the Opening Ceremonies as they were happening live, somewhere around 1:45 pm or so Eastern Time.  

This ceremony was really well done.  It had the feel of a traditional Opening Ceremony with some really amazing visuals and stunning epic moments.  Listening to Nessun Dorma never gets old, Andrea Bocelli's version tonight was just magical.  It's a song I remember from so long ago, from somewhere in the 90's when I had season tickets to the opera.  Those were some of the first dates Mom and I went on, dressing up and heading out to the opera.  Good times!

We read tonight as Commander Vimes continues fleeing for his life from a pack of werewolves - a nightmare, but one exciting ride.  This part of "The Fifth Elephant" has been a fun adventure, including an inevitable visit from DEATH, who always brings some unexpected laughs.

 

Big Burrito

Okay, so today after college we dropped by a place called Big Burrito.  With a name like that, it was inevitable that we drop by.  Maddie likes the Mexican food, and of course any opportunity to add hot sauce to her meals.  I made a vow some time last year that I would have to drop by here some time soon and, and yes, I wouldn't get a taco because if you're going to a place called Big Burrito, you need to get a burrito, right?

And yes, it was in fact a big burrito.  I was not able to finish it.  I think I got a little over halfway through it, in fact.  I think that if Mom and I split a big burrito, we still wouldn't have finished the whole thing.  Anyway, it was a nice visit.  The place was very busy - it took us a second swing around the parking lot to get a parking space.  

We got home and I've been doing a lot of work today with a KidPak event tomorrow night.  But I did get to marching towards Memphis, virtually at least.  While walking along, rather than do another Elvis movie, I got to see the Elvis 1968 Comeback Special for the first time.  It was great - it's been a great theme to walk to.  I think there are only a few more days left until I get to Graceland.

Maddie had taekwondo tonight, and I was sneaking off to get a Valentine's Day card I spotted a few weeks ago, something picked up from Cracker Barrel of all places.  I saw they had some cards there, something a little different.

I got to see Maddie helping out with the younger kids, and then training some more with leadership afterwards.  It's Master Edge's birthday today, and that was fun for everyone.  

Happy birthday!  There were all kinds of gifts and balloons and celebrations tonight.  We went straight home after this to get to Mom, who's been feeling a little rough with this detox thing lately.  On the way home, I had this CD playing with this didgeridoo - we got this music back in 2015 when we saw a guy performing at what was Downtown Disney.  It was such a unique performance with a didgeridoo.  Maddie recalled getting a guitar pick from this performer, and we neither Mom or I remember that at all.  And yet, sure enough, when we opened up the CD package, out fell a guitar pick with the performer's name on it.  Pretty fun!  

Today is Day Negative One of the Winter Olympics, and we watched the Big Air competition, watching these thirty or so athletes compete to see who can be in the top twelve for the final on Saturday.  We were happy at least one American made it in - and disappointed two others fell short.  The one Australian guy that came out of nowhere with a huge jump was the big moment of the day for sure.  Tonight we watched Norway versus the United States in curling's and I thought for sure at the end the Norwegians would get the win, as they had the "hammer" and we had left an opening for them to win.  But their stone fell just short, and after such a long game, it was awesome to see the United States win.  We're watching the US women's ice hockey team later here - the camera is showing the Vice President and Secretary of State watching from the audience, which is cool.  The Olympics are here, and it's going to be a fun two weeks!

We closed up the night with a different sort of winter event - Commander Vimes running for his life in the cold and snow, trying to escape some treacherous villains in Überwald.  

It's an exciting little segment and we're wondering how Vimes will make his escape!  The Plush Entourage was on hand as always to hear this latest development, and I'm sure everyone will be excited to see what will happen next!

We said our prayers after this, and yeah, it was time for some sleep!

Worth Melting For

Maddie's working on her Marcom project, the advertisement for an Easter production that we're not doing this year, but may be doing a year from now.  One big bit of news is that we are certainly doing a Christmas production this year.  Or at least that's the current plan, okay?

The temperature has been warmer, but our snowman is hanging in there.  The seeds all over him keep the bird visitors coming.  We've ordered so many seeds lately because we have such a huge bird population on our back deck.  It's an impressive collection of visitors!

Today is Day Negative Two of the Milan Winter Olympic Games, meaning the Opening Ceremonies and official start is in two days.  Nevertheless, the schedule is such that there are a few events and games already starting there in Italy because there's so many teams and competitions to squeeze in a set time.  Any reader of this blog knows how much of a fan we are of the Olympic Games, so that said, you know what we were watching tonight:  curling!  Yes, we watched the entire match between Great Britain and Norway.  

Both teams were really solid, and the score seemed close, although Great Britain had the hammer at the end and it was sort of theirs to lose.  But it was great fun to watch, and after that we watched the premiere of something really great:  The Muppet Show.  That's right, it's time to play the music, it's time to light the lights!  

The old-school Muppet Show is back, and it was a half-hour of nostalgic fun with some genuinely hilarious moments.  There was such creativity and such wonderful magic.  We loved it so much.  We'll probably be watching more Muppet stuff in the coming days, mainly because I'm just a big kid I guess.  We actually set aside a half-hour today at the office to sit and watch this, that's how much we're big fans, folks!

Anyway, it was a fun day today.  I'm still marching along towards Memphis with this virtual Elvis-themed walk - we should be done with that in a few days, and then I'll earn that medal.  Can't wait to get that one!  Tonight we read from the Discworld before bed, and we said our prayers.  Time to get some sleep.  Mom and I are doing this parasite cleansing thing with the detox program, and let's just say it's been a little too effective lately.  Let's try to get some sleep!

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It's Groundhog Day. Again.

Here we are at Groundhog Day once again, and this is a unique one because there's actually snow on the ground!  You can see our own groundhog here has seen his shadow in the snow, and yep, that means six more weeks of winter.  We've got his t-shirt turned to show six more weeks, but what did Phil see (or not see) up in Punxsutawney?

Mom and I watched the celebration this morning, just like we've been doing for many years now, and this year looked cold!  It also looked pretty packed up there, with everyone jumping up and down and having a great time.  The Inner Circle came in and the ceremony got going, and sure enough, Phil came outside into the cold air - although he looked a little sleepy this morning.  Did he see his shadow?  Yes, he did - and that means six more weeks.  But what about General Beau down in Jackson?

Not the greatest video quality there, but General Beau ... also saw his shadow.  Looks like we're in for a longer winter, folks!

Yes, it's cold out there, but not as frigid as this weekend.  Our snowman is melting somewhat, nevertheless.  But there is another polar vortex event heading our way, and perhaps these clever groundhogs have seen the forecast for February:  it's going to be a cold month!

Maddie was off to school this morning - the roads were fine, although the one area in front of our house in the shade is still a big long patch of completely-covered-with-ice road.  Once you get past that, you're okay.  While Maddie was at class, we were with our specialist who is helping us through the detox program.

Meanwhile, Maddie is making her own ad campaign for the Easter production (that isn't taking place!) at Free Chapel this year.  She's been doing some good material for marketing, and learning to use the programs. 

Tonight, Maddie was at taekwondo.  But look who else was here to watch the team practice and train!

It's a tradition for our groundhog Chuck to show up at taekwondo if it falls on Groundhog Day.  He was positioned at the window, and got some funny looks from the students.  He was enjoying his big day though, watching Maddie do some practice moves.

Meanwhile, I was getting my walking in for the day - outside.  It was in the low 40's, but I kept moving and it was all good, mainly because I was discovering more on this trail.  Usually I'm going off to the left, past the Chicopee Church there and into the woods.  I thought the trail dead-ended to the right, but in fact, it goes underneath the busy road via a tunnel.  And the tunnel is actually painted in places with a mural!

Not only that, the trail goes through the woods, over a stream and straight over to the college.  Pretty cool!  And yes, and speaking of that it was pretty cold outside.  I walked back to the martial arts place from that point, having been out in the cold about an hour.

But hey!  That added another couple miles to my virtual path I've been walking, and that put me over 80% done on my march towards Graceland, and it also got me another post card!

Just nine miles to go!  I've got to pick one more Elvis movie here for the virtual path, but thus far I've seen a lot of 'em along the way.  There's plenty more if I want to do this again next year - he made a lot of fun movies.  And speaking of movies, tonight's flick was obvious:

We ate some Groundhog Day cookies and watched "Groundhog Day" tonight before bed.  It's such a classic, one of my favorites ever. 

Tonight we got to sleep pretty quickly, after reading from our latest book and saying prayers.  It was a good day today, made sweeter by the time we get to spend together.

February Cookies

We made cookies tonight!  These are "February" cookies, ones shaped like groundhogs for tomorrow, and ones shaped like hearts for the Valentine's Day holiday coming up too.  Maddie decorated the heart-shaped ones, and I did the groundhogs.  We were watching a few things while decorating cookies this afternoon, including the latest "Great American Bake-off" show that has a football theme to it - the Super Bowl is coming up soon.  Here below are some of the cookies we made tonight!

The traditional angry or sad faced cookie!

 

Okay, I took this picture because it's a full moon tonight, and there's snow on the ground.  Apparently this is a thing, a "Snow Moon."  We had to go outside and snap a picture of it in the bitter cold.  I got inside, and showed everyone the picture and said "Here's a picture of a Snow Moon."  At which point the family as a whole replied, "That's Snow Moon.  It's a Space Station."

I love our family.  Oh, and check out this funny meme I got from Josh.  This is unique thing about February this year:

It was a good day today.  This morning we kept the birds fed outside - the snow was really thick on the ground and for a second week in a row, our morning in-person services were cancelled, so we all joined the service online together, first with the Free Chapel service, and then we joined a small group online with the Gwinnett children's ministry, and then we watched KidPak online too - a lot of online ministry this morning there.

The snow is thick though, and not really packing snow either.  Light, fluffy, and with plenty out there.  Lots of depth to it, and it's just bright and beautiful, and some of it sitting on a layer of ice that's been there for over a week now.  We were out there from time to time, but not long.  It's really cold today.

I wasn't walking outside, but rather inside on the treadmill.  Today's Elvis feature was a Cirque du Soleil recording of "Viva Elvis," a tribute to the King of Rock and Roll by Cirque.  I didn't get to see the entire thing, but what I saw was great fun as I marched along for almost an hour there, keeping in step with the music.

We were under layers of blankets tonight at bedtime tonight.  It's super cold out there.  The roads might be clear enough for Maddie's college tomorrow, and that's good.  We read tonight, and then it was time for some sleep!

Snow Day at the Love Shack

So here we are with another weekend snow day!  I have to say I was a bit skeptical about this forecast, as it was "bands of snow here or there" and early on the precipitation wasn't pushing this far west towards us.  But there was a shift sure enough and "I'll believe it when I see it" became "wow, I can really see it!"

We made sure our birds were fed, and there were just so many there on the back deck, including some new arrivals we haven't seen in a while:  we had a thrasher or two, and also a rufous sided towhee (which is just fun to say!).  But the other usual rabble was there too, including numerous bluebirds, cardinals, mockingbirds, chickadees, tufted titmouse, sparrows, mourning doves, finches, downy woodpeckers, hairy downy woodpeckers, our yellow-bellied woodpecker, nuthatches, and those annoying grackles.  I didn't get to see any blue jays today, which I thought was odd - we usually do.  Hopefully they're being well-fed elsewhere.  Anyway, it was quite a bit of activity back there, especially at the table around our "Love Shack" birdhouse!

And we were fairly active too, of course.  To begin with, we had a magnificent skillet breakfast that Mom prepared.  

Afterwards, I was out there making our traditional "bird feeder snowman," or in this case a "snow person."  The snow was not the packing kind at all, so as you would expect, this project took a very long time to complete.  I had a big pile of snow there, and couldn't figure out how to get it any higher when suddenly the though occurred to me that I could take the frozen disc of water inside the bird bath, and use that as a flat surface to put on top of the snow pile, and then add another pile on top of that sheet of ice.  The head just took some time to get into shape because again, it's just not packing snow.  

We'll call this snow person Helga.  She looks like a Helga!

But eventually we got the hat on and eyes and of course the carrot that I just got yesterday at the grocery store.  Unlike last time, the birds flew to it right away to get some of the bird seed the snow person was holding.

Next I was out there with a snow shovel, which is a tool I don't use that often!  But I got the driveway and the sidewalk cleared.  

Maddie was out there doing some taekwondo moves, and posing with her plush friends out there.  Here she is on Riverstone Drive.  We were just ice skating here a week ago!

Georgia's state bird, the Thrasher!

It's pretty cold outside.  The temperature will be below freezing for another day, never going above 32 for I think about sixty hours straight or something like that.  And tomorrow morning it'll feel like negative five degrees with the wind chill, or something like that.  So it was cold and windy out there, so we weren't out there for a terribly long time more... although Maddie was out there committed to some martial arts practice in the snow!

 

We worked on the puzzle some, and then we watched the stage version of "Frozen" that's on television now.  Maddie just saw the high school play, and of course we saw the City Springs Theater version of "Frozen" back in 2024.  This version here was incredible.  There's a costume change that happens - if you know "Frozen," you know the one - and it's so fast it feels like digitally enhanced effects.  But the sets and costumes and talent are amazing on this one.  Now we're all singing "Let it Go" again...

It's cold and windy out there, just the very definition of inhospitable.  We're glad to be indoors.  Time to get some reading in, and then it's time for prayers and a long winter's nap.  No church tomorrow again - second weekend in a row for that.  We're hearing reports of terrible, terrible conditions of roads in Hall County, and the stories from North Carolina on the highway - and a train collision too - all of it sounds terrible.  Glad to be inside tonight.