Awesome!

I made chicken quesadillas tonight, y'all. They were lovely. The only thing I did differently is that I warmed the tortillas on the stove, but then assembled the quesadillas on a cookie sheet lined with foil and then baked them at 350 until the cheese was melted. I think I'm going to do that from now on- it took less time and I could get an assembly line going- shredded mild cheddar, sauteed green peppers and onions, shredded cooked chicken, and cookie sheet. Cook up a tortilla on the stove, lay it down on the cookie sheet and assemble your ingredients while you cook the top tortilla. Then by the time you have one built you have the top ready. Be preheating the oven this whole time so when you have a tray ready you put it in the oven for about 5-6 minutes (just until the cheese melts) and then you are ready to eat. We just had boxed black beans and rice with it but it was just lovely, and a good way to give the finger to this ridiculous cold we've had these last few days. I know people farther north will think we're babies, but this is just annoying. I could never last in Alaska or North Dakota with cold like that. And the snow? Forget it. I used to get really excited about snow days, even well into my adulthood. But this year something changed. I am really looking forward to spring this year. I want to learn to garden, and I want to grow vegetables and fruits and beautiful flowers. I want to come home from work in the evening and be able to sit down in the yard and plant tomatoes. Or dig in the dirt with E. I want to be able to send her out there to pick something for dinner, or to water the plants at night. I think because when I was younger, before E, I used to do most of my fun stuff indoors, or at night, when it wasn't so seasonally dependent what we'd do. I wouldn't get up until noon or 1 anyway, so even in summer the sun was waning and the day was almost done. Now with E I am up by 6 most mornings, and I see the whole day through, and I find it awesome. When the weather's warm we pack up the to-go bag and grab the stroller, and head out for an adventure during the day- to the park, out shopping, to a relative's house to visit. This cold weather just makes me want to hunker down, make some soup and cake, and knit. Bleh. Those things make me happy but I'm ready to sit outside in the evening, eat something off the grill and catch lightning bugs at nightfall. I can't wait to share all that stuff with E!

Don't mind me, I'm all schmoopy today. Damn Sesame Street even made me get all teary today. Jeez.

We're definitely staying in tomorrow- it's cold as hale and the Steelers are going to hopefully beat the Ravens. Making chili, and putting away the last of those goddamn Christmas decorations. Almost done with the brim of my hat, so then it's on to the fun part with the concentric circles. Happily, I managed to find my size 6 circular needles, which are a lot better than the stainless steel DPN's I was trying to use. Knitting alpaca with those was too slippery to be fun.

Brr!