SNOW DAY!!

Today is one of those rare days in Georgia when the weather shuts everything down. We started with snow in the early evening last night. It changed to sleet and snow during the night. Then it changed to sleet this morning and freezing rain in the late morning. Despite the fact that there is ice in the trees and on the power and cable lines, there isn't enough to disrupt any of our power or cable services. Here's a view out my front door this morning.

And here's a view of the backyard out my bedroom window.

As you can see there isn't a lot of snow but what there is is covered in ice. It's a pretty sight nonetheless.

I cooked enough food over the weekend in preparation for the snow and ice to feed a small army. The army and I could be snowed in for a week and not run out of food. I've got chicken spaghetti (thanks Pioneer Woman!), white bean chicken chile, curried chicken salad, and chipped pork barbecue and hash. There's a chicken theme here because that's what was on sale at the grocery store. I made a run out to my favorite barbecue restaurant on Saturday and picked up the meat and hash. That's for supper tonight.

In light of all of this cooking, it's a good thing this box arrived this week.

After a couple of hours of relatively easy assembly, this is what was in the box.

It's my new recumbent bike - and I assembled it all by myself! It fits perfectly in a corner of my bedroom so I'll be able to watch the tv while I work out on the bike. It is almost completely silent when you pedal which is a nice feature. It has various levels of resistance and it also has a little computer that has five or six programs in it that gives you different types of workouts. I ordered this from Amazon and couldn't be happier with how substantial and how well made it is. I had such a workout just getting it from the front of the house to the bedroom and putting it together that I didn't ride for more than about 10 minutes yesterday. I'm hoping this will help me get some good exercise without putting any more strain on my already bad knees. As absolutely wonderful my love of needlepoint is, it is such a sedentary hobby and when you tend towards sedentary activities anyway, it's a double whammy. Wish me luck!

I made some nice progress on Gus last night and finished up his satin stitch wrappings except for his arm and hand. I also stitched the beaded gecko that he holds. The gecko is a nice glittery addition to all the beige and brown on the wraps. I'll post some pictures later in the week.

Hope your week starts off bright and sunny,  unlike mine!