Do you like your Virginia winter weather cold or hot?

So, I got my hubby a new alarm clock.  It projects the temperature and time on the ceiling of the bedroom.  Lying in bed you just look up and you know how you should dress in the morning.  This is a very important thing living in Virginia.

Last week the clock projected the temps in the teens and not 3 days later we almost broke 70 degrees!  That’s Virginia weather.  There is truth in the saying, “if you don’t like the weather in Virginia, stick around fro 24 hours. 

It’s hard to believe that the temps can fluctuate so drastically.  One day you are grabbing your heaviest sweater, gloves, hats and coats, and the next you are looking for tank tops and flip-flops!  Last Christmas we had to turn the air conditioner on, and two days later the fireplace was blazing and we were pulling out the fleece sheets.

Let me be clear, this is not Florida and Mother Nature better get on the ball here.  So she just needs to pick a temperature range and stick to it. 

Maybe this is happening because of the complainers.  Mother nature is simply trying to make everyone happy.  As soon as the temps reach the 30’s everybody from the TV newscasters to everyman on the street starts complaining about the cold.  These same people rant and rave about the awful the heat and humidity when summer rolls around.  Mother nature needs to realize that you cannot please everyone.

So, my suggestion to this Mother Nature is to just give it up.  Let the seasons be what they are meant to be.  Summers, hot, winters, cold, and spring and fall temperate.  Will that please everyone?  Nope.  

Bank on this?

A multi- cup coffee morning

So, it's raining.  It's raining hard and I'm late.  That not so unusual you say.  I still have one errand to complete before I go to work.  Yes, I got going earlier than usual because I needed to stop at the bank to make a deposit.  I't just a small deposit in my personal account.  Easy, peasy you say.  Just go through the drive thru window right?

Well, It's pouring harder and harder and the windshield wipers are slapping in sync with the music on the radio.  If you know me I'm not a fan of rain.  I know it's necessary and all that, but it's dreary and this kind of rain in 40 degree temperatures is just plain bone chilling.

I get to the bank drive thru and although it is well after 9 a.m. all the lighted signs say closed.  Hmmmm well, I turn my car and try and find a parking space to just go in and be done.  Thrice around the building and I still can't find a space.  Geez, it's only thursday morning , what's up with that?  Finally on the fourth pass I grab a space recently vacated.

I get out and the wind whips my umbrella inside out.  You knew that was coming didn't you?  I toss it back in the car and run to the bank doors.  Wet, bedraggled and frustrated I open the door and the line is almost 7 deep.  Whoa, this may take some time.

Here is the scenario...there are two tellers for four windows.  From my vantage point I can see there are four tellers in the drive in window area milling around.  In the main bank there are three tellers walking behind the two working tellers with one (apparently a manger of some sort) Just staring towards the customers with her arms folded.  Every customer at the working windows are doing some major banking.  I wait, I wait, I wait.  When, I ask, did the bank turn into a Walmart?

From my position in line I can see the large clock ticking away.  Finally after about 30 minutes for a banking job that should have taken three, I arrive at the teller window.  She quickly makes my desposit and I tell her that the drive through window says it's closed.  She tells me she will tell someone to turn it on.  So she calls over to the three standers behind the worker bees.  One of them thanks me for letting them know.  Um, your welcome.

I arrive at work a bit late.  It's just another rainy day in my world. And after all, in the words of Scarlett Ohara..."Tomorrow is another day."

Meat loaf cook off—and the winner is…

How do you make your meatloaf?  Do you make it with gravy or do you add a ketchup mixture on top?  Is your meatloaf moist and delicious comfort food or could it double as a weapon or building supply?

In my house I make two kinds of meatloaf.  My husband prefers the ketchup topped one and my son chooses the one covered in rich brown gravy.  Both are good if I say so myself so when my son came home from the air force for a visit I had a meatloaf cook off to settle the question once and for all which meatloaf is better.

I’m the judge, so maybe there is a little conflict of interest but it’s all in fun.  Admittedly they are both delicious.  (I told you there was a conflict of interest) So (drum roll please) which meatloaf won the cook off?

Rat-a-tat-rat-a-tat-rat-a-tat

It was hard, but the ketchup covered one was just a teeny bit tastier. These meatloaves pair well with mac and cheese or mashed potatoes.

The recipes follow: 

Ketchup style meatloaf

1 lb. Meatloaf mix (ground pork, veal and beef)

Breadcrumbs (about ¾ cup seasoned or unseasoned as you prefer or whatever you happen to have on hand)

½ small onion finely chopped

Clove of garlic minced

1 tsp. grill seasoning

1 egg

Dash of worcheshire sauce

Salt and pepper to taste

Topping:

In a small bowl combine about 1 cup of ketchup, a teaspoon of dry mustard and a tablespoon of brown sugar. 

Mix all the ingredients (except the topping) together and form into a loaf.  Place into a baking pan.  Mix together the topping ingredients and cover the top of the meatloaf with this mixture and place in a 350 oven for about 45 minutes.  Use a spoon to remove any dripped grease from the pan before serving. 

Runner up meatloaf:

1 lb. meatloaf mix

3/4 cup rolled oats (Yes oats, you won't even know it's there)

½ onion finely chopped

1 clove garlic, minced

1 egg

½ tsp grill seasoning

Dash of worcheshire sauce

Can of beef gravy

Mix all ingredients together and form into a loaf.  Place in a baking pan and bake at 350 degrees for about 40 minutes.  Remove from the oven and spoon out any dripped grease from the pan.  Pour a can of beef gravy on top and put back in the oven for about 10 minutes.

Weather wimps just need to put on a coat and realize…it’s winter

Lately I’ve been wondering what in the heck has happened to people these days.  We have a cold snap and it’s 0 degrees at night and in the 20’s during the day and they close schools for two days!  Yes, in Virginia they closed schools because it was too cold. Today there was no school again, because it rained and it might freeze! Tomorrow they are predicting the temperature will reach 65 degrees with thunderstorms!  Yes I did say thunderstorms. Guess my little dog will be hiding under the couch for a while.

The way you hear the weathermen and women talk you would think that we are on the meteorological eve of destruction…

“Listen up people you better button up that overcoat because if you walk out that door you are going to freeze in your tracks!”

“Icicles are going to be hanging from your eyelashes.”

“Oh gosh Steve how long do we have to suffer in these crippling temperatures?”

“Well Linda, an artic front is moving in and will arrive by noon, so hop under those covers and stay there till March!”

The way they go on we must be heading to a second ice age!

When I was a kid, we weren’t lucky enough to get a “cold” day off from school.  It had to snow to be able to leave that homework unfinished. We sometimes had entire weeks of single digit temperatures and no one batted an ice encrusted eyelash.  We just put on a coat and went about our business as usual. Are we breeding a generation of weather wimps? 

I live in Virginia.  It’s not Antartica and the temperatures are usually rarely extreme in the winter. This past week was the first time I used my coat in 3 years.  I was beginning to think it would out of style before I got any use out of it.  We haven’t had more than a dusting of snow in four years and my snow shovel is gathering cobwebs somewhere in the basement.  And everywhere you go all anyone talks about is how cold it is. 

Before you know it, though, winter will be just a memory and the winter weather wimps will go into hibernation and out will come the summer ones…

“Geez it’s so hot you can fry an egg on the sidewalk, how will we survive this deadly heat wave?”