Split Pea Soup

It's cold out. It's been cold as hell the last few days (which, is that even possible? Modern theology would have you believe Hell is hot, a burning inferno....but we often say cold as hell...is that a simile?!? Damn, I should have paid more attention in English)

Anyway, I made a gigantic pot of split pea soup today with the leftover ham and ham bone from Christmas. I managed to do it before it got funky! Yeah to me! But it turned out very yummy; quite like my Grandma's. Which is awesome. There are somethings you just have in your head how it should taste and when you do it right, it's such a feeling of accomplishment.

I still have a bit of ham leftover, so I'm going to check for recipes for scalloped potatoes and ham; a favorite of my Dad as I was growing up. He always just used the boxed scalloped potatoes, but I'm interested in testing if homemade scalloped potatoes are worth the extra effort.

I've worked everyday since the 1st and have 2 days left in my marathon. Then I'm off most of the following week due to asking off for my birthday.

I turn the big 3-4 on Friday. It's funny, going through all the old photos, I see how 'young' Gumby and I looked when we had Baby Girl. And then I look at myself now. And holy shit, I look old. The little badgers have sucked the life right out of me ;)

New Year's Eve was a quiet night with the in-laws. We had fillet, lobster tail, crab legs, shrimp, baked potatoes, roasted carrots and hot cabbage salad. I remembered to pick up some sparkling juice when I ran into Walgreens, so we did a nice toast at midnight and the boys handled the pyrotechnics.

We are going back to school. I feel like I've wasted the past 6 months, not being in school. But with everything going on, it was for the best. Hopefully I'll be able to get classes that affect the kid's minimally. I'm hoping Thursday night works for Gumby and I to take a class together. Perhaps a Saturday morning class too, but I won't hold my breath. Those are hard to come by.

It will be nice to be back in school, finishing the seemingly never-ending degree. It's time. Time to be done, time to move on to the next part of my 30's.