Ringing in the New Year

Thankfully, New Year's is not quite as bad without Chris around.  I'm doing what he and I would be doing anyway.  You know, just sitting around.  Granted, it would be much nicer if we could do this together, but I'm not as sad about it as I was about Christmas.  I'm looking forward to the new year, so I've got that going for me.  We actually had a New Year's party last year.  It was really fun and all, but it was a lot of freakin' work.  And also, a lot of tired kids.  But the food was good.  I made a bunch of southern food.  It's tradition in the south to have collard greens and black eyed peas for good luck for the new year.  Well, I didn't actually make the black eyed peas, but I made collard greens (and they were actually good!) and a bunch of other delicious greasy fattening food.  I'm thinking I might make all of that yummy stuff when my brother comes up to visit with my mom in tow in a couple of weeks.  I have hambones from Christmas that need to be used.  Don't worry, they're frozen.

Speaking of frozen, it's been so incredibly cold here lately.  I think it stayed in the twenties all day today.  It's killing me!  Our house is kind of old.  I mean, not really old, but it was built in the 60's, so it could use a whole lot of upgrades.  Our windows are all original, which means they're crap.  Our furnace is also original, which means it is pretty much the crappiest.  We also have a wood stove in the basement, which is original, but surprisingly not crap at all.  So I heat the house at night with a fire.  Because Idaho is the last frontier, I guess.

I never knew there was anyone left who actually heated their home with a wood stove by choice until I came to Idaho.  My in laws don't even have central heating, but their stove is huge and it heats their house easily.  They also cut down their own wood on their property and pay $5 for electricity in the winter.  Okay, so I'm guessing on their electric bill, but I'm sure it's not the awful amount that shows up on my bill every month.  Although, my sister has since told me her in laws use a wood stove to heat their home in the winter, and they live in Georgia.  But they also used to live in Idaho before they moved there, so maybe they got the idea from their frontier life out in the Idaho sticks.

Hey, look!  I'm huuuuuge!  With hopefully 7 weeks to go!

Anyway, wood heat is pretty nice, but it's getting harder for me to bring wood in from outside.  I only bring in an armful each night, maybe two if I start a fire earlier than usual.  I will probably have to start actually asking people for help soon.  You know, either that or do everything myself and go into labor.  I have such a hard time asking for and accepting help.  I'm not really sure why.  It's not like I'm cold calling folks and asking them to scrub my toilets with their tooth brushes.  So very many people have offered to help me in different ways, and I haven't taken many of the offers yet.  Well, I haven't needed to yet.  But that time is finally coming, and I have anxiety from it.  Like I said, I don't know why.  I really like helping people because I like how it makes me feel.  Why would I want to deny others of that?

Well, I must go tend to a choo choo crisis in the dining room now.

There's a choo choo crisis every five minutes in this house.  I'm not even exaggerating.