Five days without power and snowed in.

Day 1: It's a beautiful winter wonderland more enjoyable than I could have imagined. Mother nature made up for not providing us with a white Christmas. No school for the kids; they get to build a snowman. Life is good.

Delaney is all bundled up to go play in the new snow. Two stocking caps and she still has hair sticking out. I love this photo.

Day 2: More snow...we now have over 16" and it's absolutely gorgeous. The chickens don't love it, but the dogs do; they are leaping and diving in it. The kids are having loads of fun creating amazing tunnels in it, and the snowman is now humongous.

Keegan is measuring the snow on my Sequoia which is shielded by our garage.

It's fun right up to the point where it freezes and the trees and branches start to giveaway to the wind and the weight of the snow and ice. We are surrounded by woods here, and it sounds like a distant fireworks show with constant crackling as they fall to the ground. Somewhere in here Delaney gets sick and works up a fever of 102 degrees. She coughs all night, so we try sleeping on the couch in an upright position. Day 3: It's freezing! I'm exhausted. The chainsaw's are finally working to clear the downed trees from the driveway and road. My husbands truck slid off our 'incline to heaven' driveway 3 times trying to get out. An hour and a half later, with help from our oldest son, Payton, some shovels, some chain, and our neighbor's truck, he made it out of our cul-de-sac. But not a single gas station nearby has power to sell us gas for our generator (which is almost out), or diesel for our tractor (which is empty). Along with everybody else, the post office closed. Still no power, internet, or cell phones. A network extender is needed to pick up cell reception out here, but without power, there is no option for cell phones. It's estimated a few more days before power is restored. Day 4: It's raining like crazy. But it's still frozen out and the trees are still dropping under the weight of the snow and ice. They are extremely dangerous. The tractor now has a flat tire, but my amazing husband got the driveway clear enough for me to get to the laundromat and grocery store before it happened. I took my laptop hoping to find WI-FI so that I could catch up on some e-mails. By now the hotels are booked solid, but those of us who've stayed home have adjusted. Our teapot is going constantly for hot chocolate, or tea, and I'm boiling pots of water for dishes and baths. Day 5: It's still freezing. Delaney is still sick. I'm still exhausted, and heading back to the laundromat. I pick up Mexican food for dinner, and as soon as I pull into the neighborhood I detect power. Glorious Power! We had one heck of an adventure, but I don't dare relax because I hear a storm is headed our way.

Thank you for your feedback!

Elizabeth ordered two custom bracelets that I thoroughly enjoyed designing (I wish I had better images to share with you) and wrote the following feedback.

The bracelets were GORGEOUS!! I absolutely loved them and holding onto them for the week before the rehearsal dinner was THE hardest thing to do - I wanted to show everyone and give them to my aunt and cousin. As I told you, my cousin (the bride) lost her father about 10 years ago. When I gave her and my aunt the bracelets at the rehearsal dinner, two nights before the wedding,....I wish you could have been there. I wish you could see just how much all of your hard work and talent means to the recipients of your creations. They were both speechless and crying. The day of the wedding, they both wore them all day long - they went perfectly with both gowns - and my aunt thanked me for a "gift that she will treasure for the rest of her life." I then, of course, heard from a million people (my mother included) "those are beautiful - I would love one..." so there is no doubt that you and I will be doing business again in the near future ;) I gave out your name and contact info to anyone who asked and my aunt and cousin have your card on them because they KNOW people are going to ask them every time they wear their bracelets. I really cannot thank you enough - I am a gift-giver. I love buying things and surprising people...however this was, by far, one of my most favorite gifts I have ever given because it held so much meaning and is so unique and special.

And this is why I say, " my job is what I do when I'm not working". Thank you Elizabeth for taking the time to write me.

Time for Pinterest?

Oh my gosh, I finally opened a account. I love it! I only did it because all of my friends had one, and I was feeling like I was missing out on something. I completely knew that I didn't really have time for it because all my friends talked about was how their kids started feeding themselves, showers weren't happening, and fast food became a staple after they discovered Pinterest. But I knew I had better boundaries, and I would not let it take over my days like that, so I took the plunge. I was wrong! It had me for two full days! Like a black hole they just disappeared. It is so much fun, and a great place to search for recipes. Well that is what I tell myself every time I realize I'm there! Again. I don't know how it happens so fast. But it does. So I had to come up with a reason to go there, and some rules for using it. Easy peasy. My new rule is that I can't leave without a dinner recipe; it's the law. If you have a Pinterest account and you love to share recipes, come find me (Pinterest.com/DelaneyJewelry), I will most likely be near by. Here's one for you:

Ingredients: Glutenfree 1/2 cup of thin rice flakes ground coarsely 2+ Tablespoons chickpea flour 1 teaspoon flaxmeal 1/2 teaspoon salt or to taste 1/2 teaspoon dried basil 1/4 teaspoon cayenne or black pepper or to taste 3-5 Tablespoons warm-hot water 1/2 teaspoon oil 8 BSprouts(brussels sprouts), stems cut, halved and outer leaves removed. Directions: Mix all the ingredients, except BSprouts, to get a thick pasty mix. Let sit for a minute. Then coat halved brussels sprouts with it. The mixture is not very sticky, so just press on both sides to cover as much as you can. (See ready for baking picture above) Adjust water and chickpea flour if needed. Place on parchment with halved side up. Bake in preheated 365 degrees F for 20-25 minutes until the batter is dry and some outer leaves start to brown. Pasta: Prepare 2 cups of any pasta of choice. Add tomato basil sauce and toss. You can also use any pesto sauce with it. Top with breaded brussels sprouts, nutritional yeast(optional) and chopped fresh basil. Dig in! My simple tomato basil sauce: Add 1 teaspoon of olive oil in pan, add in 3 cloves of garlic finely chopped. Cook for 1 minute on medium heat. Add 1/2 teaspoon chili flakes and 3 medium tomatoes finely chopped. Cook covered for 5 minutes. Add in 3-4 Tablespoons of chopped fresh basil leaves or a teaspoon of dried basil and salt to taste(1/2 teaspoon). Mix well and cook for another 5 minutes until the tomatoes are mushy. Enjoy! For recipe credits visit the image on my Pinterest page.

PRESS RELEASE

{Olympia,WA} – January 23, 2012 – WeddingWire, the nation's leading wedding Marketplace, is excited to announce Delaney Bridal Bouquet Memorials has been selected to receive the prestigious WeddingWire Bride’s Choice Awards™ 2012 for Unique Services! The esteemed annual awards program recognizes the top local wedding vendors from the WeddingWire Network who demonstrate excellence in quality, service, responsiveness and professionalism within the wedding industry. While many industry awards are selected by the organization, Delaney Bridal Bouquet Memorials was selected based on its stellar reviews from past newlywed clients. Delaney Bridal Bouquet Memorials is recognized as part of the top five percent of wedding professionals in the WeddingWire local vendor community, comprised of over 200,000 wedding professionals throughout the United States and Canada. The Bride’s Choice Award recognizes the best local wedding vendors across 20 service categories, from wedding venues to wedding photographers, based on their overall professional achievements throughout the past year. “WeddingWire is thrilled to honor the success of the top-rated wedding professionals within the WeddingWire Community,” said Timothy Chi, CEO, WeddingWire. “Since the launch of the Bride’s Choice Awards™ program four years ago, thousands of outstanding wedding professionals have been recognized by the bridal community for their supreme service and dedication to the wedding industry. It is with great pleasure that we congratulate Delaney Bridal Bouquet Memorials for their continued professionalism and commitment to enriching the wedding planning experience for engaged couples.” We are happy to announce that Delaney Bridal Bouquet Memorials is one of the very best Unique Services professionals within the WeddingWire Network, which includes leading wedding planning sites WeddingWire, Project Wedding, Brides.com, Martha Stewart Weddings, and Weddingbee. We would like to thank our past clients for taking the time to review our business on WeddingWire. Thanks to their positive feedback we were able to receive the WeddingWire Bride’s Choice Awards™ for 2012. For more information, please visit our WeddingWire Storefront today at http://www.weddingwire.com/biz/delaney-bridal-bouquet-memorials-olympia/17bda5d461bc1186.html. To learn more about the Bride's Choice Awards™, please visit www.WeddingWire.com. About WeddingWire, Inc. WeddingWire™, the nation's leading marketplace serving the $70 billion wedding industry, is the only online wedding planning resource designed to empower both engaged couples and wedding professionals. For engaged couples, WeddingWire offers the ability to search, compare and book over 200,000 reviewed wedding vendors, from wedding venues to wedding photographers. WeddingWire also offers a comprehensive suite of online planning tools for weddings, including wedding websites and wedding checklists, all at no charge. For wedding professionals, WeddingWire is the only all-in-one marketing platform for businesses online and on-the-go. WeddingWire offers one simple solution to build a professional network, improve search visibility, manage social media and reach mobile consumers. Businesses that advertise with WeddingWire appear on WeddingWire.com, ProjectWedding.com and other leading sites, including MarthaStewartWeddings.com (NYSE: MSO), Brides.com and Weddingbee.com.

I was so excited to receive the following information: We are excited to announce Delaney Bridal Bouquet Memorials has won the Bride's Choice Awards™ 2012. This prestigious award is determined by reviews from your past clients and recognizes the top 5 percent of local Wedding Professionals from the WeddingWire Network. This means that I am in the top 5% of Wedding Pros nationwide! The WeddingWire Bride's Choice Awards recognizes the top local wedding professionals from the WeddingWire Network that demonstrate excellence in quality, service, responsiveness and professionalism. Unlike other awards in which winners are selected by the organization, the WeddingWire Bride's Choice Awards are determined solely by the reviews from over 1.2 million newlyweds.

Are you a Tumblr?

I am new to Tumblr and would love to connect with you there. You can find me here: http://delaneyphotojewelry.tumblr.com/. Come see my latest work; and say "hi".

Happy new Year!

It does not matter how slow you go so long as you do not stop. “— Wisdom of Confucius