What A Flake

 I often joke that Mother Nature and I clash whenever I have an event planned. I won't call having friends over for a fun lunch an "event" but I did make a lot of food and was so looking forward to enjoying a Sunday afternoon with friends.  The winter weather has hit our area and we had our first really measurable snowfall last week. But as we gathered wood in on Saturday and prepared for more snow on Sunday we didn't realize it was going to be as bad as it got yesterday.  Snow was falling quickly and accumulating fast. First reports said it would be that way in the morning but by noon it would be done.  Nope, nope and nope. Church was cancelled as roads were slick. And the flakes kept coming.  And the weather folks moved the end up to late afternoon.  Canceling our lunch with friends was the safe thing to do as we live out in the country and roads in our area weren't getting plowed and in town it was just as bad.  I'm a plan ahead gal and had all my food prepared.  So Jack and I had a nice lunch and I called my son Phil and said when roads are safe come and get it!  Last night Phil came over with his girls and happily took home the bounty!  The kids got to play with Annabelle and I was happy no food would be wasted.  A win-win I guess!  Here's a few pics of our crazy weekend.

Chicken soulvaki...fancy shish kabobs!

Beef soulvaki...again, just fancy shish kabobs.  They were yummy! 

Some cheesy braided bread. It's an easy and pretty bread to make that's filled with swiss & cheddar cheese and Italian spices. I also baste with butter when it comes out of the oven and lightly sprinkle some garlic salt on top.  It's one of my favorite things to make.  I also made Greek style potatoes, fresh green beans and was going to make a Greek salad but didn't make that after cancelling.  Oh, we had a beautiful apple pie to be served warm with icecream.  Phil and kids enjoyed taking the pie home too. I did save a piece for Jack's lunch today.  Yes the weather made us "flake" out but nothing was wasted and it was a beautiful looking day outside with the snow softly falling.  When it was done we headed outside to clear the driveway.  Why is it that snow blowing machines always break down when needed most?  Maybe it's just us and Mother Nature playing tricks.  So shovel we did. We worked off any calories from lunch!  As soon as we hit the end of the drive a sweet neighbor stopped by and said he was going to plow us out and felt bad we had already shoveled.  He asked if he could do it if we get snow again and he didn't want paid to do it.  He wants his kids to learn to do service for people. What a good Dad!  What a nice neighbor.  Oh, we are going to get a battery powered snow blower with the hope it's more reliable.  

Annabelle doesn't mind the weather at all.  All snug in her coat and boots she's stylin'!  She's been doing really good.  Her biggest issue is not being potty trained.  Is potty trained the right term or "house broke"?  What ever.  I do believe she's got the idea now.  At first it took her a long time to do her business but she's not stupid and frankly it's cold out also so she's finally going pretty quick.  After only one week I think that's a good thing.  She's very curious and it makes me mad to think what a fun pup she would have been instead of being used as a baby machine.  She still can't go up the stairs but she's trying hard to learn and I know soon there will be no barriers to what she can do.  She went with me to Home Depot and seemed to enjoy that outing.  I'm trying to give her lots of new experiences and also it helps me know what will or will not work in training her.  

Last week I introduced her to the Creepy Woods.  Again, she was enjoying sniffing around every nook and cranny.  Being  a small dog I did carry her up and then let her down to roam.  

She was happy to trek home following in my footsteps.  More snow is heading our way this morning. By noon we will be back in a heavy snowfall event and Mother Nature can do what she wants.  I'll bring in more wood before then and get prepared for the deep freeze also heading our way.  This last week in January is looking pretty cold and snowy.  Makes April so appealing!  My last thought for this day is about my nephew, Jonathan. (My sister's son).  He passed away 18 years ago today, Jan, 24th.  He has been gone as long as he had lived. Hard to believe even now.  He's missed and loved by his family.  My sister has decided to start blogging again.  Her blog is on my side bar or if you'd like to visit her site the link is:https://hopeseternal.blogspot.com/ .  Have a safe and warm week everyone!