Winter Images

Can I admit something that has me slightly unnerved?

Last week, I did every single thing on my to-do list. As in, on Sunday morning there was nothing but crossed off items on the list from the week prior and there was absolutely nothing that I was supposed to do last week that needed to get rolled over into this week's to-do list. Let me assure you, this never happens.(Usually at least two rather important items have been kicked down the road each week.)

I mean, things that never get done have been accomplished. On Saturday, I washed the floor, a task that's been on my to-do list, since, I don't know, early summer. In the span of less than five days, I wrote, edited, queried and received payment for an article I'd been thinking about writing for over a month. And look, my Valentine's Day decorations (such that they are) are even up, a good three weeks ahead of schedule. What the heck?

Either I've really taken my new year's resolution and willpower challenge to start each morning at a decent hour and stop procrastinating to heart or else I'm forgetting to do something. Something big. (I am sure my recent burst of productivity has nothing to do with the fact that we're trying to conserve internet bandwidth at the moment, which means Facebook cruising, blog reading and other internet time sucks have been at an all time low - although, honestly, my busy-bee mentality did start before this most recent demise of the internet.)

So while I scratch my head and wonder what exactly it is I'm forgetting to do, here are some photos from the week gone by. (Sorry- no photos of mopping the floor. It was so filthy, I had to change the mop water halfway through. Bleck!)

It's been a windy winter so far and standing out in a bitter north breeze in the middle of the lake to ice fish hasn't sounded like a terribly good idea. So last Wednesday, we drove out on our lake so that we could still get a couple hours of fishing in and not totally freeze.  Don't worry, we tested the ice thickness in several spots before heading out: the thinnest ice we found was 14 inches.  Exercise: 0. Staying Warm and Comfy: A gazillion.

Okay, so the photo above is kind of deceptive. I actually spent most of this particular ice fishing trip inside the truck cab, finishing up Luisa Weiss's A Berlin Kitchen. Hey, it was windy out and it was a darn good book, even if it did make me really hungry. (It's a memoir with recipes.)

On Friday, we discovered what all of that wind was blowing in: snow.  

By the time the snow stopped on Saturday, we'd received a good 6 (8?) inches of fluffy snow. (I always underestimate snow accumulation which is how you can tell I don't own a tourist business in the area. ;P)

The winter forest really does look much better when wearing a snowy coat. I hope the winter enthusiasts are happy now!

Now that's the snow's fallen, the cold temperatures are here. We'll be lucky to see highs on the positive side of zero most of this week. Bundle up!