where's the snow???

One week down.... 51 more to go in 2012!

I hope your first week of this new year has been good. Work at the ski hill has been slow because of the up and downs of the weather. It gets cold enough for us to make snow, and a day later it melts because of rain. grrr... I just read/heard that we're supposed to get a big storm this weekend which will be great because it's Martin Luther King weekend. Most people have Monday off- not all schools do. Let me give you a little background.

Martin Luther King, Jr. was a civil rights activist and preacher in the 50's and 60's. He was assassinated on April 4, 1968 and the great band U2 wrote a song Pride (In the Name of Love) about MLK. Last year, Dr. King (yes, he got his PhD in theology/philosophy) got his own memorial in Washington, DC. We celebrate his birthday, January 15, on the 3rd Monday of January. All federal and state offices observe his birthday and are closed. When I was in elementary school, we went to school on his observed birthday and we learned about what a great man he and other civil rights activists were. About 15 years or so ago, Vermont decided that all schools would have that Monday off so that kids/families could observe the day together and go to various MLK celebrations. Recently (+/- 5 years), Vermont or at least Addison County Schools decided that kids WOULD go to school that Monday to learn about MLK, but would have the following Monday off as an inservice (teachers have meetings, kids have off). At least we learn about Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. and what he did for our country.

Enough of the history lesson for today. I finished work early because no one was skiing.We had some kiddos this weekend, which is good. Yesterday was exciting. My computer's network connection has been giving me problems on and off since we opened mid-December. Yesterday I totally lost connection. Usually, I would go over to the box zip-tied to the wall and unplug it and plug it back in, and it reconnect and be fine. Not yesterday. The guys at Killington IT know me well and I'm sure never want to talk to me again. I'm not stupid when it comes to computers and I try to figure things out on my own (I amaze my parents at my computer knowledge- "you can change the background picture? How'd you do that???" that's me, amazing Moriah) So, back to my network computer problem. I need to connect to the Killington network to see students who are coming in skiing, sell tickets, look at instructors schedule and private lessons... lots of stuff. The great guys at IT came down TWICE to save me. I now have a wireless internet connection (that went on and off a few times today, but I got it back much quicker without a call to IT) and the internet connection connects much better and is faster which is always helpful. No more unplugging and plugging back in the power source!! Whoo hoo! It's the little things that make my job a wee bit easier...

How are your goals for 2012? Thank goodness I didn't have a resolution/goal to loose weight (I do, but I didn't write it because that's just cliché) because I think I've gained the 10 lbs I lost 2 months ago! darn holiday cookies and candies...  but I have been working on my 5 goals or at least #3. New Year's Eve I made Tortiere (French Canadian Pork Pie) and that was pretty good. The other day- Thursday- I made a pumpkin roll. I had never made a jelly roll before and didn't think we even had a pan. Of course we did. Whew! The pumpkin roll was pretty good, too, by the way.

Saturday, my mom wanted to make a soup. She cut up carrots (that I grew), potatoes, onions, garlic, celery while cooking a few pieces of bacon to mix in the soup later. When the bacon was done, I cooked the veggies in the bacon fat (can't waste good oil!). While that was cooking, I put the left over pumpkin that I didn't use in the roll and another can in a pot with some heavy cream and a can of chicken broth and mixed that well. Add the veggies, salt and pepper and cook until the potatoes are done. I crumbled the bacon, stirred and scooped out the soup and put shredded cheese on top. ooh... good stuff.

Not sure what's next for the cooking item of the week. Woopie pies maybe? mmm.... haven't had one in a long time. I have to get on the other items on my list- 1. money for a course... I get paid this week and need to look at what courses I might be interested in that I have to take. blah. #4- grow something- I need to look at my seed catalogs and get ordering. #2- go somewhere new... I'm still working on that- the year's still early. And I'm always working on #5- having fun! Hope you are too!

I think I'm going to get back to knitting... stay warm and pray for snow (at least in the mountains!)