Today I scraped the snow off the entire porch...except this last corner. I had no strength left to lift one more shovelful and dump it over the railing. Not a bad storm...6" under a covered porch!

Things are starting to melt. Yesterday my bottom window had a snowdrift blocking it. Today it is half the size. Henrietta the rooster came out of the playhouse for the first time in a week. The goats also came out and romped about their pasture.

Maryland's Eastern shore has miles and miles of poultry farms. Purdue chicken is big business there. So it was sad to read that 15 major chicken houses had collapsed under the snow. Our county suffered two more building collapses.

As for my food update from yesterday's post, the tandoori chicken was delicious. Sorry for the lousy picture. I used a Tandoori chicken mix from Arora Creations. It has many spices...cumin, coriander, garlic, ginger, chilies, onion, nutmeg, mace, pepper, turmeric, and lemon. Yummy! Today for lunch I shredded the leftover chicken and made chicken salad. Everyone loved it.

We made the potato dumplings, too. Good...but we like Ruthie's better. Nice experiment...but not good enough to buy again.

Maggie teaches four children piano: Alec, Faith, Grace, and Abby. When they come for piano lessons, Ruthie teaches Grace how to sew on her treadle machine. For the past month, Grace has been asking me to teach her how to sew using a pattern. So last week she chose an apron pattern and laid it out. We had spent so much time browsing through patterns that we didn't even get to cut out the apron!

I wasn't sure which machine to let Grace use. She doesn't like Ruthie's treadle machine...but I'm hesitant to let a beginner use my computerized machines. So when I walked into the thrift shop and saw the above beauty for $10...I grabbed it! As usual, it took a good amount of oil and a new needle...but now she purrs. Perfect for Grace.

When Grace comes to lesson next (whenever THAT is...too snowy to get in or out), she will bring her mom's vintage machine for me to get running. Hopefully I will be able to do my oil trick again.

Hubby gave me this wonderful oil thing with a super-duper nozzle which made oiling the machine so much easier. Thanks, Mike. You weren't expecting it back...were you?!

Anna has been dreaming about teaching sewing/quilting classes, so if I keep up my thrift shop finds, she'll have enough sewing machines to go around! Tonight I went to my first ever PTA meeting! And in my pajamas! Don't panic, I haven't given my children away to be taught. This year Sarah has taken over homeschooling my four youngest. Why? Because she has the gift and passion of teaching. And she's much better than her momma!

So tonight we sat down and assessed our progress. Excellent! Only a few things to address, but much better than anything I've ever done. PTL

My Dad has been chauffeuring my children: Maggie to her appts, Sarah to my brother's home for babysitting. We no longer have a four-wheel drive vehicle, so Dad uses his 4x4 to get everyone where they need to go. He admitted today that our road is indeed dangerous. Like he said, "If you were to ever meet someone coming the opposite way, it'd be all over!" So we're homebound, and loving it.

A friend from church sent me this picture of my daughters and some friends at church. They were all helpers at the Sportsmen's Banquet last month. Maggie, Anna, and Lizzie went. They had so much fun. Anna kept commenting that she'd forgotten there were other kindred spirits her age. She said they giggled all night long. Thanks for the picture, Carol.

Enjoy your weekend. Tomorrow we're going to get serious about restocking our woodpile again.

Many blessings ~ Kathie