Old Man Winter is back with a vengeance. If I thought yesterday’s temperatures of the low 20’s were something it had nothing on today’s temps of 9 icy degrees. And all of this after having temps in the 60’s on Wednesday and Thursday. Have you ever gone outside and it was so cold that tears welled up in your eyes? That’s how cold it is today. So what is the best thing to do on such a cold blustery winter’s day? Stay inside and make homemade clam chowder of course. That will be this afternoons project. We went to the seafood market and bought 16 cherrystone clams to steam for chowder. The only other time I have made homemade clam chowder was in 1993 when we lived in the coastal area Maryland and it didn’t turn out too well. This time we are using a recipe. Considering the cost of the clams I really hope it turns out well this time.



I am a little bummed today and not just over the weather. You see I am one of those geeks that collect coins. I have 2 sets of state quarters and books of old pennies, dimes, nickels and quarters. We don’t spend out change at all. We just empty our change into a piggy bank every day or so. Then once a month I will empty the piggy bank and go through the coins to see if there are any I need for my collections. For the coins that I don’t use for my collection I merely roll them in coin wrappers and cash them in 2 or 3 times a year. I keep the rolled coins and my coin wrappers in a certain box in a certain hidden –place. It is very lucrative. There have been times when I have cashed in $150 in coins. I knew I had about $40 in rolled coins in this hidden place already. So I pull the piggy bank down last night to go through the coins in there and roll the coins I don’t use for my collection. I get the hidden box out of its certain hidden place and I open it. As soon as I opened it my stomach went in knots. The box was empty. Even the empty coin wrappers were missing. Someone has found my hidden box and has stolen all of the contents. And some of the coins I had I there were dollar coins and dimes from the late 1800’s and several coins from the early 1900’s. There are only 4 people it could have been. I can’t begin to tell you how disappointed I am about this situation. I am going to lay low about it right now but I tell you, where I find the unused coin wrappers will tell me who the culprit is. What a sad situation.



And speaking of sad situations, everyone around us is having a party and we didn’t get invited to any of them! The guy on the corner is having his usual monthly party. He is always having a party it seems. He usually has about 75 people at his parties. And the guy next door to us is having a party. That is unusual for him. He is pretty much a hermit until recently. He is the same age as my daughter and they went to high school together. He was the shy one who didn’t speak to anyone. Things didn’t really change after high school. His parents moved in with his grandpa a few months ago to help him and now Brandon has the house to himself. So Brandon moved a girl in about a month ago. Now he isn’t so quiet and shy anymore. Funny how that happens. It looks like there are about 20 people at his party. I hope it doesn’t turn out to be a loud night what with all of the parties going on around here. And I hope no one drives over our lawn this time.

My eldest son has found a vehicle already. He plans on purchasing it in about a week when the finance plans are final. I am a little jealous about it. It is a Jeep Wrangler. Actually I am more than jealous, I am pissed. I should be driving a Jeep Wrangler, not him. He is at the age where he should be driving the family man cars. I am at the age where the kids are almost grown and I should be driving the fun vehicles. And now that G-man knows how to drive a stick shift a Wrangler would be perfect. Or a Porsche. But when I feel too jealous I will just think about the car payment he will have and then I will think how grateful I am that we don’t owe anything on the Tracker. Now who’s the jealous one?!