What you do when you're stuck inside

Last year, around Christmas, I bought at the craft store three gingerbread house kits. I buy everything in three's now. :)

I figured we would get around to decorating them for the holidays. As it turned out, we never did. So I carefully stored them with my Christmas stuff, completely forgetting about them - as I'm inclined to do.

I was getting my lights out two weeks ago (before the blizzard) and lo and behold! there they sat, waiting like good soldiers.

Can gingerbread kits be too old to use the next year? I mean, no one eats them; they're for decoration only.

Fast forward to this week. School has been cancelled for Wed, Thu, Fri. My car (of the two, Prius and Land Cruiser, is the only four-wheel drive) has being taken by hubby because he has to drive to Bellingham and I'm left wheel-less. Jen's car is great in the snow but it's snowing like the North Pole so no one is going anywhere anyway. We had already played several times in the snow (and made a really cool sledding hill) but I wasn't ready to get wet and cold again. What to do???

And so, voila!

Felix's home. The overhang of gingerbread finally had to be hot glued. Frosting wasn't going to do it this time.

Robee's home. Great idea unwrapping a Hershey's kiss for over the door!

Owen's home. At this writing, most of the dot candy has been pulled off. Home improvements you know.

The kits came with candy - thank goodness since I was not going to be able to venture out to buy some - but luckily my kids had leftover Halloween candy (yep: not big candy eaters except chocolate and a couple of other things ... which is why they have no cavities - that and they don't drink soda pop) which they put to really good use on their houses (and I'm so glad I didn't toss it like I was going to at Thanksgiving).

Now I just have to figure out what to do for the next two weeks for their official break. Ugh.

And we just received about four more inches of snow last night. Double Ugh.

And I've barely touched my Christmas shopping because I thought I would have all last week to do it and then the great dumping of snow started. Triple Ugh.

And they say there is no Global Warming. 20 inches in the Puget Sound? Sounds wrong to me.