Okay, Jack you brought it, but guess what.....

.....many of us wore SKIRTS with leggings yesterday. Take that Jack Frost!

And so we woke up to this.....

Actually, my phone said -30 when I woke up. Let this day begin!!

As this phenomena of a pseudo-ice age is affecting us, funny things happen and are said:

As I was wrapping my son's face in a new, black fleece scarf, he tells me,
      "I'm a ninja!"
and
       "A guy threw a class of cold water and a glass of hot water in the air and the hot froze first!"
and
       "When I go outside and my nose-hairs freeze, that's when it's the best!"
and I respond, "I love the way the cold air feels in my lungs while I'm getting over a cold. I feel like I can breathe."
and dropping off my other son at school
      "Doesn't your heater work?"
                               I reply, "Um, well not until I get to campus - or we replace the water pump....."

Okay, so I get to class and here's what I hear:

"The temperature is -30 with a -47 wind chill"

     "My hair turned white from my breath freezing on it."

          "I live in a place where the air hurts my face!"

               "Half of my ear has frostbite - there's a line where my hat wasn't covering it"

And as I'm getting into the car for my mid-day break.......

I have to defrost the ice from my lenses. I pretty much have to choose from covering my face with a scarf and fogging up my glasses, or go without one or the other.

(Oh, and I just have to share that there's a guy sitting across the library from me with earphones plugged into his laptop and he's busting a gut laughing!!!!!! Man, I love this library!)

And my son calls me at work to see when I'm coming home. He wants to show me a trick. (I'm thinking - great, he's going to make me stand out here all night while he does donuts on the dirt bike in the snow)

.....Instead, he comes running out in shorts to throw a cup of hot water in the air for me!  It was amazing!! It came down as really heavy snow.

I love this place. 

sources: college students at MSU
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Bring it on Jack Frost!

I love the way the light goes
through the panes.

So, it's a little "nippy" this week. Who would have thought it would make the city even more beautiful?





Just look at the sculpture walk at the library.......breathtaking!

 Speaking of breathtaking -.................

For some reason, the cool, crisp air makes everyone a little hyper. What do all those Bozemanites do on days like today?

I kid you not, they are out walking their dogs, wearing shorts to campus, and taking their kids and senior citizens to the library.

                   

Proof!

Ultimate chill-spot

     

And now that I have good traction with my new tires, it's a      

great day to chill in Bozeman.    

                                   

I must have reached 88 MPH....

...and generated enough thrust to pass through the time-space continuum because:

     Today my 4x4 driving-gas money needing- teenager went to work...at MY work...I mean OUR work....

.......and I stayed HOME!!!!!!

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I'm still here! What have I been up to???

Well, so much of this........

Or in my case, cooking and helping with their homework....

This would be a welcome from
Phi Kappa Phi Honor society
for  making the top
10%  of MSU Seniors!

That this happened.......

That would be a congrats from the Pres
for a 4.0 semester

                   And this...........

















     And a nomination for an award for Excellence in the Dept. of Education at the college.

     Half of my boys are nearly men and I am savoring the two younger boys' elementary years. We are all about snowboarding, Duck Dynasty, 4X4's and Minecraft now.

What does all this mean??  My life is FULL, FULL, FULL!  But it's all good!

    And the blog? In case you are wondering if I went by the wayside....I have not.  Just this morning I was having my coffee and "a Stumble" (Stumble.com) and read this amazing article written by John Scalzi, a seasoned writer, to teenager/future published writers (I sat that because all people can be writers- just some get paid!). He was giving advice about all the things he did when he was young that helped him even though at the time they seemed lame.  It was like a letter to himself as a teen. It made me really miss my blogging time. 

     So, what do I do with my one class-free/homework-infused day while my kids are away? I work on my blog layout.....ALL....DAY..... It was not funny - I've been through two internet providers and any blogger knows you have to use your PAID internet email to log into Blogger (or so it has been this way and I was mid-change). What happens? I get nuttin'. I mean no blog, just my sign in on Google. I panicked! All those years of blogging and I get BLANK?  I kept trying combinations of sign-ins while my heart was pounding thinking all was lost.

     And then it happened!  My temporary layout popped up and I got in.  Do you think I was productive after that?  Well, nope! I spent the next few hours trying to find a good, free layout. I'm still looking so feel free to suggest. I even started looking at some that come with a price because I just really need this to fit me like my best pair of flats. 


So, pop by and drop my a comment - I miss everyone and I need something to get me through my last semester of classes!

Leah







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Looking for a new design.....

.....any recommendations?

I just received word that I'm losing my free template, but I guess it's been awhile and this blog needs a new outfit. Does anyone know a good blog designer?

Please hang in there with me as I try on some new threads.....

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Here it is - The Story of Solutions

I'm a week late with this, but here it is - Annie Leonard's 9 minute follow up to The Story of Stuff

The Story of Solutions

What I really like about Annie Leonard is that instead of pointing a finger at factories or governments, she's helping us take a closer look at our daily choices. It's not really about Walmart bags......

What changes have you made recently? Do you reuse things that make people think you are weird?  I remember being told I needed to buy some Tupperware when I was eating lunch out of a "repurposed" cottage cheese container.... That was ten years ago - does that make me a hipster? Reusing containers before it was cool???????

What happens when IBBUGGIN' tries to slay dragons....

waiting for the wrecker

Poor lil' IB came home on the back of a wrecker yesterday. Fortunately for me, I did too. 

 Sadly, as I was leaving campus last night, my car stalled. When I tried to restart it, it just kept cranking, but as I noticed the accelerator was stuck to the floor someone walked up and said, "Hey, your car is smoking - it's on fire!" So sad to stand there and watch my fun little car burn. A couple guys got fire extinguishers and put it out and the firetrucks came and cleaned up all the fuel it had leaked.

some days the dragon wins....

 Such a bummer.............