February: back-to-school, skiing, and letters

February marked the beginning of the spring semester, which is crazy this year. Half of my course load was changed, which meant new schedules and (relatively) new lectures. The first week was so disorienting that I left my wallet (with lecture) home one morning and my purse in the library over the weekend. Thankfully, I was able to retrieve them without trouble.

Decompressing at home was crucial. While Nikita was at chess or climbing (where he picked up the nickname, Spider), Ivan and I watched old "Glee" episodes or listened to an Elvis CD. In the kitchen, I discovered a talent with leftovers (finally!), and made Katharine Hepburn's brownies nearly every weekend. The recipe is so easy, I don't understand why box mixes exist.

For Valentine's Day, I made Red Velvet cupcakes and bought moldable mustaches for the boys:


The mustache theme extended to the adorable cards the boys made for their classmates.


Meanwhile, I was pleasantly surprised by the dozen roses Igor gave me - especially since he thought Valentine's Day was the day after!

We spent the boys' winter break at a place with snow: Colorado. We couldn't ski immediately because Ivan had a huge toothache, which meant an emergency visit to a dentist. He ended up getting a cap on a molar. Ski Cooper, however, was perfect for our developing skiers (myself included). Nikita and Igor would race down the slopes, while Ivan and I kept to the bunny slopes. The "magic carpet" was nicer than rope tows, except when the carpet got too slippery to hold the skis - a real pain for me because I couldn't easily take my telemark skis on and off. For the record, I am NOT a telemarker; I just use the skis to go down the hill.

The shops of nearby Leadville were pretty cool. The boys especially wanted the replica guns, but the $40 price tag and heft of the guns proved they were not playthings. The house where we stayed was far from Leadville, but had a piano for Nikita, National Geographic for Ivan, and a lovely view for all of us.


The only drawback of the house was that it was 3 hours away from the airport - something I didn't take into account for our 7 am return flight. Our 2-wheel drive SUV (Budget SUCKS!) got stuck in the driveway, but the roads were clear. We just didn't sleep that night.

In the midst of this super busy month, I somehow found the time to participate in a Month of Letters Challenge. Here is my tally:

• 8 occasion cards (birthday, V-Day, thank you, get well)
• 6 notecards
• 5 postcards
• 3 recipes
• 2 articles
• 1 telegram

The letters were sent to 19 unique recipients, including Igor, who was really touched by the letters. As you can tell by my tally, I'm glad that notecards counted. Otherwise, I would not have gotten through the month. And I was so surprised to find that telegrams still exist (this link is more fun)! Perhaps next year I'll be able to sneak in a few real letters. And use my fountain pen.