really really cold outside, but warm in the house!

Cold means 0F or -18C. It was -9F last night, which i think is like -21 or 22 C? However, it's still warm in here....warm fuzzies, heart full kinda warm in the house.

requisite cute Neah sleeping photo

First, the set up--a note about Anchorage TV and the weather. All news stations look like they film in community colleges. There's a blue backdrop, some big screen tvs that run illegible ads for the stations' websites with various strange pictures that bear no relation to whatever they are talking about. They have three fixed cameras that jump around the blue screened area to individuals standing in front of another flatscreen. Yeah, when things are video--it's powerpoint. Painful stuff. But the really painful stuff is the "forecast" which is never farther than one day in advance....the last forecast i heard (mind you, it was like 17F (-9C) when it was said) went like this. "It's gonna be cold tomorow."

I can hear what you are thinking already. Cold, huh? Never coulda guessed that. Ah my dears, cold has a whole new meaning here. It means, single digits and negatives in F. It means when you open the front door and massive version of the dragon breath when you breath out in cold weather happens and there's a cloud of steam. It means even wonder-dog doesn't want to play in the snow. In fact, she had to be carried home from her last walk because her paws were too cold. (collective awwww. Thanks.) Here's what cold looks like inside the house. It looks like your husband breaking the doorhandle because the door (and the screws in the door) froze shut and the screws snapped. Of course, husband will tell you it's because his muscles are made of steel.

 

These are inside our house--which stays at 72.

So you have to find ways to stay warm. We had two new ways this week.

1. The Bradens.

Dia and Jake came over to be our first house guests :) Dia made an incredible apple pie from scratch and yummy brownies. She also brought some beautiful orange roses that are starting to open. Jake and Adam talked philosophy, we played some Kinect and Neah tried to learn to be social. She came around eventually, but we clearly need to get her our more often.

It was great to feel like we were starting to settle in a little more, have company, etc :)

2. Full Circle Farms

We got our first box of yummy veggies. Fruit and veggies here are very expensive and not really tasty. So we opted for getting every other week deliveries of veggies to devour. We made a yummy Kale and Chicken stew, a delicious salad last night, and i am working on something for the parsnips this evening :)

Recipie contributions are of course welcome.