"An Early Spring it will be!"

Happy Groundhog Day!
Can you stand the excitement of the townspeople in the video when they hold up the groundhog? This is what they've turned to for entertainment. Winter has driven them to madness.


Dear Punxsutawney Phil,
I've changed my mind. I think you're alright, after all.
Sorry I killed your sister.

Excited for Spring,
Meg

We've been suffering from Cabin Fever, here in the Willy House, as well. I've made a list of a few things I do to fight the Winter Blues:
-Run
y'all saw the Winter Warrior video...it's pretty acurate.
I meet up with 4 other girls once a week after our kids are in bed and go for a night run. We wear thermals, hats, gloves, jackets, etc. and run 5-7 miles with our headlamps and reflective gear lighting the way. It's a blast. We jam to good tunes, talk about food, and solve the worlds problems while we run in the dark.
Yes. We stick together, and we all carry pepper spray.

-Every day is a party
Really. Our most recent party was a Tangled Party (Reese and Quincy's choice). There were Tangled plates, Tangled cups, Tangled napkins, Tangled dolls, Tangled dresses, balloons, and a heart shaped confetti cake with rainbow chip sprinkled frosting. Why? Just because.

-Host
I love playing hostess. Book club, baby showers, or dinner with my little family. Any excuse is good enough to pull out the pretty dishes, clean the house up a little extra, dress up, or serve dessert. I recently hosted a baby shower (that I have yet to blog about) and made some fun decorations for it. I can't wait to use them again for Easter.
Winter survival means that I always say YES to playing hostess.

Did anyone else think of cupcakes both times they read the word Hostess? just me?

-Anticipate
Having something fun scheduled on the calendar is a winter must have. Looking forward to something fun is a great distraction from being cold in ugly weather. I like to stay busy. "Cease to be idle..."

-Purchase Flowers
I find it 100% worth the money to keep a $5 bouquet of fresh tulips or other bright colored flowers in my kitchen all winter long.

-Play Games
We play games at the table after dinner every Sunday night
Have you played Farkle? I sat at my parent's table for hours over the weekend laughing while we played this mindless dice game. Love it. AND I should add that I scored 6000 on one roll, I did. (lady.)

-Watch Movies
When we are snowed in, Redbox is a lifesaver. I also swap movies around with friends (because it's free) and the kids love having "new" movies to watch on the weekend. I also love having a movie date with Aaron or a girls night out to look forward to.

-Serve
This is pretty much a guaranteed way to cheer up. Making other people happy makes me feel happy, and it doesn't take much to brighten someone's day. An unexpected phone call, a thank you card, goodies, dinner to a sick friend, flowers, shoveling snow, saying thank you, babysitting. Simple things-a package of pens for your friend who can never find one, cleaning up a mess that you didn't make, a note or email telling someone you appreciate them. Emails take what, 2 mintues? less? Great way to fight the doom and gloom of winter.

-Read
This can also be found under the "great ways to avoid doing anything else" list. Once I start a good book, I can't put it down until it is finishes. I'm soooo not a one-chapter-a-day reader.
I put together a book club last year and I loooooove the girls in it. We have a lot of fun, eat delicious food, and unlike so me book clubs I've attended, we actually read and talk about the books. A few books we've read recently are:
A Tree Grows in Brooklyn by Betty Smith
The Help by Kathryn Stockett--loved it!
These is My Words by Nancy Turner
The Memory Keeper's Daughter by Kim Edwards

I'm currently reading Perilous by my friend Tamara Hart Heiner
The girls and I just started reading The Doll People by Ann Martin

-Cook
I love to cook, but thinking of what to make for dinner can be a monotonous task that adds to the dullness of dark and dreary winter afternoons. Planning ahead and creating menus with new and interesting recipes brings the joy and excitement back into cooking meals for my family. I'm very behind on posts, but I plan to have a massive recipe post, eventually. I love to eat, so knowing I am going to eat something really good, paired with the satisfaction of making it from scratch makes me very happy.

-Bake
similar to above. Who doesn't love fresh bread? I recenly made some citrus blueberry muffins that were gone gone in less than 24 hrs.

This would be a good place to plug in...
-Exercise
since we're eating plenty of delicious junk food. I get together once a week with my friend, Darcie and do workout videos. We have fun, the kids play, we laugh, talk, dance, and get fit. It's a great setup...expecially since it is too cold to take the kids outside right now, and having a workout buddy holds us accountable to actually do the workout!

-Purge
Closets need emptying. Often. I feel so refreshed once the kids and I have tackled a messy toy basket or sorted through closets.

-Groove
Spontaneous dance parties in our house happen regularly. Particularly when laundry is being folded...becuase when laundry gets me down, I can always count on Duffy to "yeah yeah yeah" us through our chores. Go ahead. Sing it. You know you want to. "You got me begging you for mercy..."

-Craft
I feel the need to get my craft ON today. Creativity takes time, and time is the one thing we've got goin' for us on a long winter day. The girls and I are going to make some valentines today.

-Laugh
If you're not one of those people who finds humor in everything, well first of all, I'm sorry.
But don't worry, because there is a never ending supply of stupid and/or inappropriate people on youtube just waiting to help you out.
Here's my latest favorite:

she makes me laugh every time!
My brother, Mark, just introduced me to Tosh.0 over the weekend.
My face hurts from laughing so hard.
I need to get a good laugh in, every day....yeah, even if it is at the expense of others.
I'm not above that.

-Celebrate
Gringo Fiesta is only 16 days away, and I need to create a menu. If you have good recipes from south of the border, send them to me, por favor.

What some simple things YOU do to chase the Winter Blues away?