Brrrr......

It's been a bit cold here lately -- the coldest winter in something like 25 years or so.

But, our furnace is cranked up....Marc's been starting a fire in our wonderful fireplace (with an insert with a blower) each evening. We're thankful to God for the warm clothes we have. We're staying warm.

Is the Utecht Family laughing at us? They used to live in Green Bay, WI.

Is my blogging friend, Candice, laughing at us? She and her family too live up north.

Are our good friends, Tammy & Reynold, laughing at us? They live up in Manitoba. Their winters are colder than this, and their winters last a lot longer.

It's O.K. to laugh at us as sometimes, Marc and I laugh at northerners whine about the heat in the summer.

Despite staying warm, Luke and I, however, are getting a bit cabin fevered. Admittedly, we're not used to being cooped up this much.

Yesterday (Friday), after Luke's nap, we ventured out for the second time in the day (we went to the library for Toddler Story Time in the morning). We merely made a quick trip to Dillon's -- a grocery store chain down here.

Luke's not completely used to the "mitten" thing yet. When I put them on him, he kind of holds up his hands. I personally think it's rather cute. But, I'm biased.



Last year, during winter, I didn't one time put mittens on him. First, our winter wasn't nearly as cold. Second, he was always in his carseat/carrier. I put a hat on him and used blankets. He was fine that way. Here's a photo -- just for fun.

This photo was taken December 20, 2008.



Anyways, back to this year....

Some have asked me about Marc's running in this cold weather. Well, we do have a treadmill -- a good one at that. But, I'm mainly the one who uses it, and that's even been sparse lately -- more in an upcoming blog post on that one.

Marc generally only uses the treadmill when it's lightening out (I'm thankful he does that).

So yes, this morning, with a balmy temperature of -6 degrees Fahrenheit (for our Canadian friends), Marc went out running 15 miles. Yep -- 15 miles!

Here's what he looked like when he came home. He was a bit "frosty."



He was in several layers. He said he kept warm and even sweated some.

I won't complain. Marc knows how to take care of himself, or maybe I'm just used to Marc.

He's training for some big races coming up -- a 50k in March (31 miles), a 50-mile at the beginning of April, and a 100k (62 miles) toward the end of April.

Gotta get those miles in...

*****

My mom has been going through my old bedroom at their home. I haven't lived there full-time since 1994. When I moved out, they just kind of "shoved" a bunch of my old stuff in the closet. Then, they made it into a guest room.

Last weekend, my dad showed up with several boxes of my old stuff.

I used this cold week indoors as an opportunity to go through some of it.

I found mostly stuff to garage sale, throw away, or recycle (I'm not really a packrat).

But, I managed to find two poems I wrote in the sixth grade. I never realized I was a poet (insert sarcasm here).

Feel free to laugh, but I'm sharing one of them. Keep one thing in mind -- SIXTH GRADE.

Friends -- by Sarah Koehn on March 2, 1988

Friends are people
Who you can spend the night with.
We talk, play games, and listen to music.
Sometimes we do get in a fight
Maybe over just a simple word on a paper.
Yet it always turns out all right.

**I'm guessing I must have had some dramatic argument with a friend over a word on a paper to prompt that one line.

Anyways -- is this an award winning poem or what?

Like I said, "Feel free to laugh." I certainly am, and Marc certainly did as well.