Normally I like winter.  I welcome the cooler weather and don't hate the snow, but this year I'm definitely having a case of the "Winter Blahs."  Lately it's snowed almost every other day, it's too cold to go outside, and just about everyone has the flu, leaving me unwilling to leave the house.  This particular winter has been more blustery than usual, causing a mad case of cabin fever.  I've been lacking the motivation to get anything done lately, making me feel even worse.  I could really use a nice warm(er) sunny day, but until that happens I'm trying to stay busy with crafts and scarf making. 

This week the polar vortex returned, as did Katherine's Christmas cold.  Awesome.   I spent the week making drip beef sandwiches, potato soup, and flat apple pie.  It's true what they say about winter:  cold weather causes the "winter munchies." 

In addition to eating everything in the pantry, I started working on some Valentine's Day crafts, including a Valentine's paper garland.

I used a punch cutter to cut hearts out of glitter paper, then I sewed the hearts together using my sewing machine.  Basically, I just started a thread going, then attached the hearts one after the other.  Super easy. 



Hopefully I can keep the productivity going.  On another note, all fashion scarves are now just $12 at the etsy shop!  Get a cute scarf to carry you into spring.  Ahhhh spring.  I can't wait.

This week Mother Nature dropped an arctic blast on St. Louis (as well as a majority of the northeastern part of the country), which included 10+ inches of snow and temperatures in the negatives.  Monday the high was literally -1 with wind chills in the -20s.  It's times like this that I'm thankful I don't have to get out and go to work. 

It wasn't all bad.  We had a warm house, lots of groceries, and no reason to brave the frigid temperatures (except Jason had to go to work, poor guy). 




On Sunday morning I made chocolate gravy.  Every time is snows, I always make chocolate gravy.  Since moving to St. Louis, I was surprised to know how many people here had never heard of chocolate gravy.

Chocolate Gravy

Ingredients
1 cup sugar
2 tablespoons cocoa
2 tablespoons flour
2 cups milk
1 teaspoon vanilla
1/2 stick of butter

What To Do
Mix the sugar, cocoa, and flour together in a saucepan with a whisk.  Slowly whisk in the milk and cook over medium heat, stirring constantly.  Remove the pan from the heat when the mixture is thick like pudding.  Add the butter and vanilla and stir until completely melted.  Serve over biscuits.



So good on a cold day!  Happy "Polar Vortex" Week!  Stay warm!

I'll always remember 2013 as a great year.  Our lives changed so much last year and I can't even begin to count all of the blessings.  I don't believe in New Year resolutions, but I plan on making 2014 the best year yet.

For Christmas, I got The Pioneer Woman Cooks:  A Year of Holidays cookbook.  I love it for two reasons.  One, I love The Pioneer Woman (Ree Drummond).  We're best friends in my head.  Second, I love that this cookbook is divided into holiday chapters.  Recipes with holiday themes?  Yay!

On New Year's Day, I made a few traditional New Years items from the "New Year's Day" chapter.

{Baked French Toast for brunch}

{Black-Eyed Pea Salsa for lunch}

{Hoppin' John with Loaded Cornbread, and Collard Greens for dinner}

I'm a little sad to see 2013 go.  Normally I'm eager to usher in a new year, but a lot of great things happened for us in 2013.  Katherine's birth was by far the greatest thing that happened in 2013.  I'm so excited to see what 2014 holds!