Winter continues...

As you can see, winter is still in full force around here. This picture of winter wonderland was taken outside my van window, waiting for my half-decaf/double-double at Tim Hortons.Except for the shoveling, and shoveling, and shoveling, it's not really so bad and there are still plenty of things to do, like:

#1. Adding one gigabyte of RAM to the computer in preparation for another medical transcription job.

As with most things in life, one thing leads to another. The dust bunnies get cleaned out, the wires are all untangled, then plugged back into their respective ports (hopefully) and...

...this looks much better. Best of all, the machine is running just fine. Phew.

#2. Eating.

As I work 12-hour shifts and the kids often have one activity or another in the evenings, meal planning and prepartion can be crazy at our house. Instead of picking up a pizza or throwing some nuggets and fries in the oven for a quick meal, I have been looking for ways to put decent and nutritious meals on the table especially on school nights. I heard on the radio about a place where they provide the recipes and ingredients for make-ahead meals, and they do all the prep work and clean-up. How does baked pasta Florentine, balsamic pork tenderloin, creamy herbed chicken, maple-kissed pork chops, salmon with herbed couscous, or steak with tangy raspberry sauce sound? These were just a few of the dishes on the February menu at Supperworks, so my sister and I had to check it out.

After a brief orientation and a few instructions by our wonderful hostess, Nicole, the two of us set out to make six nutritious meals to take home, freezer ready.

Here's my sister at one of the work stations where the food is freshly prepared and measured, all ingredients and equipment are on hand and clearly labeled, and everything is kept spotlessly clean. Once your meal is prepared, packaged, and labeled, it goes into a bin labeled for you and then refrigerated, as you move along to make the next dish.

"Salmon with Herbed Couscous" ready for my freezer at home...

And a package of ready-to-bake cookies for me ~ or perhaps for dessert one night this week if I'm in a sharing mood.

#. Knitting.

Yes, I have found some time to do a bit of knitting. Here's my foot still on pins and needles, getting ready to finish the toe of a sock made from Patons Kroy. I am going to have to frog back a few rows as the toe is getting too pointy with decreases every other row.

I am also well underway with the Tilted Duster, having finished the fronts, back, and sleeves. I have picked up the stitches for the bottom skirt area and am working my way down to the bottom hem. The Peruvia really does roll at the edges though and I am toying with adding an I-cord or garter stitch edging.

And so, Mr. Winter, throw us some more snow...I can take it....I'm never bored!

~Through our garden gate~