#FiveFavorites: From the Deep Freeze

It's really cold here. First we were snowed in. Then we were frozen in sub-zero temps. 

So, there's not much to do but be domesticated. I've been baking, writing and reading. 

And now you get to see my Five Faves for this week:

This is how mine turned out. Beautiful, no?

1. Personal-Sized, Individually-Topped Baked Oatmeal

This stuff is the bomb. It is best with chocolate chips and craisins. 

Or chocolate chips and walnuts. 

Or chocolate chips and pecans. 

Okay...It's best with chocolate chips.

When I made them, I used honey instead of stevia 

and I used 2T Flaxseed meal + 2T Water - mixed up as a paste - to replace the eggs.

Find the details here at SugarFreeMom.com.

 2. S'mores Dip

More Chocolate. Are you sensing a pattern?

This stuff is actually really, really rich. 

Don't double the recipe unless you have a horde of hungry creatures to feed.

Get the recipe here at Pinterest.

Or here at the image page.

3. 22 things I learned in my first 10 years of Parenthood

Jennifer Fulwiler is pretty slick to have only taken 10 years to figure this all out. Heck, mine are all grown up and I just figured this all out. If you're a mom, this one will make you laugh.

4. Bloom Where You're Planted

Sarah Reinhard, my friend in real life, has been working on a series on St. Francis de Sales' spiritual classic "Introduction to the Devout Life". As usual, Sarah has managed to take reading that made me go "Huh?" and distill it down into something that I could really sink my teeth into. 

That's a real gift she's got. She's on Week 11 of 14 (leave it to me to be a late-comer) so I'm going to have to go back and read the rest.

Anyway, I love this whole blog. If you subscribe they send you an email every morning, so you can start your day with some spiritual food. It's worth the 10 minutes you will spend reading. 

Promise.

5. Honor Your Inner Monk

I wrote about this yesterday, but it bears repeating: This is a great little app and is really helping me get back on track with my prayer life. It's short, sweet and gives you real ways to improve your spiritual life. You can read my mini-review here.

Bonus - Hallie Lord's "Love in the Time of Scarlet Fever"

Truly, this is a beautiful post on the sacrifices of the love of spouses. It kind of moved me to tears. I don't appreciate the gift that I have in my husband nearly enough.

Got Five Favorites of your own? Head over to Hallie Lord's blog at Moxie Wife and see what everyone else is nuts about this week + share your own five faves!

Snowball Fight of the Giants!

It's a regular Winter Wonderland around here. I love the snow. It makes the cold all worthwhile.

All over the fields around our house there are balls of snow. 

Big balls of snow.

It looks like a thousand little kids all started a snowman and then went inside for hot chocolate after getting the base started.

Or like the frost giants, Fafnir and Fasolt, were having a snowball fight.

In any case, it's a fairly uncommon thing to have happen here in Central Ohio (well, at least for the past several years.) We haven't had much snow each winter and even when we do, the conditions for snow rolls weren't here.

Basically what happens is that the snow got a little tiny bit warm and clumped up on the top layer. Then the wind picked up the edge of a chunk of re-frozen snow, and rolled it up like a scoop of ice cream.

This year, we've got plenty!

It's really rather amazing and made me think about how small we really are, and how very grateful I am to have walls for the winds and a roof for the snow.

Taking a breath

Sometimes things happen and you're not sure why Fate is so cruel. For example, we had a Blizzard over the weekend. In about 36 hours, the sky had dumped 20 inches of snow on us here in Columbus. All my plans for the weekend were out the window. No shopping trips, no birthday party, no masses to sing for...everything stopped. The city was more than quiet, it was silent.

I don't remember seeing this much snow since I was 7 years old in the Bizzard of '78. I can remember opening the drapes of my parents' house and not being able to see the house across the street through the snow. It never got that bad in our neighborhood. We didn't really have much wind, but there was plenty of snow!

But, it wasn't so bad. I got to really clean my kitchen. I made homemade chicken and noodles and fresh bread. I visited with my kids. We walked over to my in-laws and had a lovely, small-scale birthday party. I slept soundly and took a couple of naps with my husband. I even did some long-overdue sewing. We all snuggled in and enjoyed the down time.

Sometimes, when I am moving at the Speed of Sound, I need God to step in and slow me down. I am sure that the rest of the city does not appreciate the means by which it was done, but maybe more of them needed to slow down, too.

Now that I am all rested, I am ready to take on the snowdrifts, and tonight, I think we're building an igloo in our back yard. We'll see how much we get done...

Snowfall

I do not remember when I realized that snow was one of my mother's favorite natural phenomena, but I think I was quite young. I have a very hazy memory of sitting on her lap at the front door of our little post-war house in Colonial Hills watching the snow fall. We would sit with the storm door shut, but the front door open so we could see more. I can remember her telling me that she loved the snow, because it never snowed where she came from. Mom came from the deserts of southern Arizona. Since then, I think I have always loved the snow, too, but until just recently, I never wondered what made me like the snow so well.

I was a winter time baby (born in early March) and so, when I got my driver's license, I had to learn how to drive in the snow. The test was to take DAD in the car and not scare him. This was a tall order. I couldn't exhale in the car without scaring my dad. I remember picking up my Grandmother (his mom) from her house for dinner. He dutifully rode over with me (since it had recently snowed) and coached me the whole way (now, tap your brakes...not too fast, now). Once my Grandmother got into the car however, he became a bit more frantic that I do a good job. Finally, Grandma told him, "Be quiet, David! For heaven's sake you're making her more nervous and she's doing just fine!" He, being a perfect child, (har-har) did stay quiet and I did manage to "pass the snow test". I always considered myself a good snow driver and actually liked driving in the snow. But walking in the snow is a totally different kettle of fish.

Walking in the snow requires attention to detail, balance and the reflexes of a cat. You never know what may be hiding under that clean white layer of snow. It could be ice. One day, it was doggie doo-doo. Sometimes it is a thin layer of ice on top of a very deep, very cold puddle. I have managed (knock wood) not to fall on the ice at all this year. I am feeling pretty good about my snow walking skills now, too. So maybe one of the reasons I like snow is that it provides a challenge that I am able to meet.

But, I think the real answer came out when I was discussing the snow with a friend. He also loves the snow. Being from Northern Ohio, Columbus is a bit of a disappointment where snowfall is concerned. After all, significant snowfall here is 2-4 inches. That's just a light dusting where he comes from.

I asked him why he liked the snow. He told me that he thought it was mostly nostalgia. It got me to thinking why I liked the snow. I decided that I liked it because I liked the way it looked on the trees and because it quieted the city. Both are true. I love waking up in the morning after a snowfall and seeing all the trees, bushes, cars, houses...everything covered with a clean layer of white; still undisturbed by feet and shovels and salt trucks. Everything is slightly muffled and the city is quieter and looks cleaner. You can hear the blood rushing in your ears. It reminds me that I am alive, still.

When I was in my twenties and early thirties I would actually wake up during snow falls. I couldn't sleep. It was almost as if there were an electrical charge to the snow. I remember being pregnant with Michael and waking up suddenly, as if some one called my name, only to find that it was snowing. Then sitting at the picture window of our first apartment looking across to a ravine and watching the trees fill up with snow. It was breathtaking. I just sat there in silence and watched the snow.

So, I guess if I boil it down to the heart of the matter, it is nostalgia. It is remembrances of learning to drive, of sledding down the ravine hill across the street from our house in Clintonville, of standing up to my hips in the snow after the blizzard of '78 (snow so deep that we couldn't sled!), and of "School without Schools" that February. Memories of taking Joe and Sarah out to sled and coming home to hot chocolate or warm cider and fresh cookies. Memories of my first apartment and preparing to have our first child. It is the memory of sitting on my mommy's lap hearing her tell me about a dry, barren place where the magic of snow never happens and hearing her spin the magic into a lifelong joy that springs up every time I see flakes of white falling from the sky.

I can't wait for it to snow again...