I *looooove* mail!

Today was a good mail day.

1. The dresses have arrived. After trying both on, I have a clear favorite. We'll see what Dave says tonight when I show them to him.
2. No bills!
3. The new Parents & Real Simple arrived!

Thank yous.

We've been writing thank you notes. Usually Finn is good for a couple per day, so it takes us awhile. Mommy writes the thank you and Finn colors it with his crayons. It's always nice to say thank you when people go above and beyond... or even just do something small. Gratitude and gratefulness is something Dave and I both want to instill in Finnegan.

We've had a lot of things to be thankful for. Aside from the overload of Christmas gifts, my friends have done wonderful things for us. They've been gathering pictures for us to replace those that are missing because of the grinchy bastard that took our laptop.

It makes me sick to think that all of the day to day photos of Finnegan from his whole life are gone. Family photos that we had, photos of my friends learning that I was pregnant, videos of Finnegan in the pool for the first time, of him cooing into his mirror as an infant... it all makes me incredibly weepy. I could care less about the stuff, it's the sentimental irreplaceable things that break my heart. Anything that wasn't uploaded is gone. Thankfully, we've been pretty good about printing pictures for the grandmas so we can get copies of those things.

Back to those amazing girls... they put together a great cd of photos from different things we've done together. Lots of Finnegan pictures. Some I hadn't ever seen before that made me smile. I'm so thankful to those girls, especially Amy for collecting them in the midst of her own craziness lately.

And then there is Danielle. I can't even express my thankfulness that she contacted Jennifer and got the digital files of Finnegan's photos. I had nothing from that timeframe, I cried when I opened the mail and got her touching letter. So thank you to Jen and to Danielle.

Snow.

We got 12 inches this weekend.

That's what she said.

We're supposed to get another 9 inches this week.

That's what she said!

I'll post pics tomorrow when it's light out. We've been removing so much snow that we haven't had time to take any pics. Oh, and by we, I mean Dave has been removing snow and Finnegan and I have been inside watching and drinking hot cider. Oh, that reminds me when I post the snow pic, I need to tell you all about my new hot cider love.

Left over pork for New Years? Make this.

We made a traditional pork roast, sausages, homemade apple sauce, potatoes, and cabbage dinner for New Years Day. So what do you do with all of the leftover pork, aside from eating it for days and days? Make these super delish sandwhiches!

Caramelize some onions in a pan with olive oil. After they've started to caramelize, add 1/3 cup dried cranberries to the pan along with some thyme, sage, black pepper, and parsley. Allow them to plump a bit, then add a couple tablespoons of balsamic vinegar, some apple juice (maybe 1/4 cup?), and a little white wine. Allow to cook down for a minute or two, then add the leftover pork that you shred between two forks, cover and let it simmer until most of the liquid is absorbed into the pork.

To assemble the sandwhich, place a slice of swiss cheese on the bottom of a bun and top with the pork, cranberry, and onion mixture. So so sooooo very good.

I served it with chips and this salad made of romaine, cranberry, pecans, cranberry white cheddar cheese, and crunchy chow mein noodles.