Make an abominable snowman. It’s like a regular snowman, but less friendly to passers-by.

Practice multiplication and script with your kids. That’ll put them in a REALLY good mood. For older kids, break out the practice tests.

Delete all of the expletive-laden “music” from your teenager’s Napster playlist on the family computer, while she’s not looking.

Make snow ice cream, slushies or ‘tinis. Harvest icicles for the latter.

Fill squirt bottles with water and food coloring and make art on the snow. Let your dog help out.

Trudge around town for a store that hasn’t sold out on sleds.

Wash the floors by hand. Or use a toothbrush.

Do that mending and ironing you’ve been putting off since 2004.

Groom the dog. Then suck all the fur off your couch.

Make freeze-ahead dinners. The ones you wish you had right now.

Go rooftop luging.

Get kids the Lil’ Capt. Robert Scott Antarctic Expedition playset.

Shovel through piles of climate change theories.

Shred your pile of old documents. Better yet, multitask. Use them to light up the fireplace.

Change the batteries in the smoke detectors, since you forgot during Fall Back.

Find all the lids to the Tupperware.

Play Monopoly with the rules that make the game go slower.

Go through your junk drawer. Do not be afraid.

Clean your silverware and jewelry. Alternatively, pine for silverware and jewelry worth cleaning.

Sort mementos into keep and toss piles. Spend time poring over the keepers—after all, that’s why you’re keeping them.

Make a master calendar for gift-giving dates. Shop ahead online. Or for yourself. Pretend there are sales.

Invite over neighbors and children you rarely see for a potluck dinner.

Make a list of all the things you love about your valentine for a card or scrapbook. Make stuff up if you have to.

Actually use those cross-country skis, or skates or showshoes you were always planning to try out after a big snow. C’mon, you can do it!

Put on your fanciest evening dress and jewelry, grab your cocktail and pretend you’re in an old movie. That sounds a lot better than, “Sit around your house and get wasted.”

Scan old photos and make a photo book. Then force the kids to look at pictures of their parents when they were little.

Do your taxes! April 15 only feels far off.

Chug a shot and break open your financial portfolio.

Order seeds and plants for your spring garden. Yes, spring will come eventually.

Update your resume. Hey, it’s better than doing it at work and leaving it in the copying machine.

Go through clothes (for you and your children) in drawers and closet. Try on and toss.

Upload your CDs, finally. Now, this may be difficult: Toss the CDs and the CD player.

Take out all the beach chairs, umbrellas and boogie boards and make a beach day in the snow.

Google yourself.

Collect all the pennies from the corners of the house, coat pockets, sofa cushions, jeans in the laundry. Maybe you’ll have enough for a cup of coffee at Starbucks. Then again, maybe not.

Write a letter. You know the kind, with pen and paper.

Make snowflakes out of paper. Tape them to your windows to block out the white piles outside.

Teach haiku—five, seven, five—and make a book of illustrated snow haiku.

Create air fare alerts for deals to your dream destinations.

Play this fun game with your kids: Let’s Clean the Bathroom!

You know that neighbor who won’t stop blasting music? That’s where your shoveled snow goes.

Play family-friendly spin the bottle with your chore list. Hope it doesn’t point to you when it’s time to clean toilets.

Mani-pedi, scrub or mask, deep condition. You choose the body parts.

Bubble bath. Turn down the lights, light a candle and pretend you’re in a spa. Doesn’t do it for you? It’s not completely impossible that a real one is open.

Experiment all day on devising the ultimate chocolate chip cookie. Tasting mandatory.

Begin your memoirs.

Take pictures of all your belongings to inventory for insurance. Now do a written inventory.

Sleep. If that doesn’t work, make some nookie!

Send hate mail to your friends and relatives in warm-weather places. Or block them on Facebook.

Look at Florida real estate online, so you never have to read this again.

-Leanne Italie

But, at this rate, that might not be so bad.

The groundhog made his “prediction” on Gobbler’s Knob, a tiny hill in the town for which he’s named about 65 miles northeast of Pittsburgh.

Temperatures were near freezing when he emerged at dawn—unseasonably warm—and were forecast to climb into the mid-40s in a winter that’s brought little snow and only a few notably cold days to much of the East.

Thursday’s ceremony is largely that: Phil’s prediction is determined ahead of time by the Inner Circle, a group who dons top hats and tuxedos and decides in advance what the groundhog will predict.

Organizers expected 15,000 to 18,000 people to witness the furry creature’s prognostication ceremony just before 7:30 a.m. EST.

This year’s crowd was warmer than most. The average early-morning temperature usually hovers around 17 degrees, according to the National Weather Service.

Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Corbett was among the spectators this year. Those who couldn’t make it to Gobbler’s Knob could follow the groundhog on Twitter and Facebook, or watch a webcast of the event on his website.

“What started as a small gathering in 1887 has now evolved into tens of thousands of visitors from around the nation and even the world coming to Punxsutawney to participate in this time-honored Groundhog Day tradition,” Corbett said.

The Groundhog Day celebration is rooted in a German superstition that says if a hibernating animal casts a shadow on Feb. 2, the Christian holiday of Candlemas, winter will last another six weeks. If no shadow is seen, legend says, spring will come early.

Phil has now seen his shadow 100 times and hasn’t seen it just 16 times since 1886, according to the Punxsutawney Groundhog Club’s Inner Circle, which runs the event. There are no records for the remaining years.

The tradition attained a large following with the 1993 Bill Murray comedy “Groundhog Day,” in which a weatherman covering the event must relive the day over and over again. Before the movie came out, Phil was lucky to have an audience of 2,500, said Mike Johnston, vice president of the Inner Circle.

And while the group has records of Phil’s predictions dating back to 1886, what it doesn’t have is a tally of whether Phil was right.

Johnston said the reason is simple: “He’s never been wrong.” Phil is “incapable of error,” he said, because the groundhog smartly avoids being site-specific in his prognostications.

If Phil predicts six more weeks of winter, said Johnston, “I guarantee you someone’s going to have six more weeks of winter.”

———

Online:

http://www.groundhog.org

http://www.twitter.com/groundhogclub

Don’t get me wrong.  I love the ski resorts!  There is so much to do at our wonderful ski resorts that doesn’t involve skiing. I’m just not a big fan of pain, and I never have been.

(No, the person in that photo is not me. This is a stock photo by Wia-Tirol.)

Even though I hate skiing, I love skiers! A lot of my friends ski. My husband is a skier. My daughter will probably be a skier one day. I, on the other hand, am not a skier. In all fairness, what I do cannot be called skiing.

There is not that much screaming in skiing.

Every time I ski, things go downhill. Literally.

It all started when we moved here in January 1999. Our friends had told us about the super-deal they were running for this brand new thing called a “Buddy Pass” (the precursor to the Colorado Pass). Even if our big move to Colorado got postponed, the price of the pass was less than a ski trip to Colorado. Luckily, we did move to Colorado, so the deal was even better.

We got all our gear, and we all piled in the car. We had a plan: They would ski, and I would take a class. I’d never had anything longer than a flip-flop on my feet, and I didn’t want my lack of skill and experience to hold them back. What we hadn’t figured into our plan was the traffic on I-70. We sat on the parking lot of an Interstate, time clicking away. By the time we got to the resort, the morning classes were gone.

“Oh, that’s okay!” my friends said. “We’ll show you what to do!”

Against my better judgment, I listened to them. “As long as I have a flat place to practice before we get started, I’ll be okay.”

I rode with them up the Colorado Super-Chair. I somehow made it off the lift and was greeted by the top of a mountain. To this day, my husband claims that we weren’t at “the top” of the mountain. I disagree. When everywhere I look is down from where I am now, I’m at the top.

“Where’s the flat part to practice?” I asked with a building, frantic desperation. None of this was flat. I’d made a terrible mistake.

“Just ski over here,” they said. “Snowplow!”

“Where!?” I screamed, looking around, wondering why a snowplow would be all the way up here. That’s the last thing I thought I had to worry about.

“No, not A snowplow,” they said, making a wedge motion with their hands. “MAKE a Snowplow with your skis.”

They made it look so easy. My husband said he’d show me what to do. I decided to give it my best shot, and that’s when all the falling began. And so began the crying and yelling. There was crying, and yelling, and more crying and more yelling, and our friends went ahead and left us to our crying and yelling. (I’ll let you figure out which one of us was doing what.)

My husband learns how to do things in a totally different way than I do. I don’t respond well to yelling, and he doesn’t respond well to crying. This was going nowhere pretty quickly. Again, I’d made a terrible mistake.

After what seemed like an eternity, I realized we hadn’t even made it much farther than from where we began. I told him to go ahead. I was done. I clicked off my skis. I gathered my poles, and I trudged back up to the lift. It didn’t take much convincing for the lift operator to stop the lift and let me ride back down. The tears streaming down my face, were genuine. I’m not sure which hurt more: my knee, my hip, or my pride.

That has to be one of the most humiliating experiences of my life. Luckily, my ski goggles had completely fogged up from all the tears, so I couldn’t see the smug looks of those who actually knew what they were doing.

When I got back down, I realized there was an afternoon class starting in a few minutes. I gathered what pride I had left, and joined them. I was told this was a “Never Ever Class,” for people who had never ever skied. Did this fit everyone in the group?

I raised my hand. “Well, my friends just made me go to the top of the Colorado Super-Chair,” I sniffled. “Does that count?” I said, my voice cracking. I was holding back the tears.

“Oh no!” the instructor said. “Was there a significant other involved?”

“Yes,” I squeaked.

“Oh no! Did you get out before any permanent damage was done?” he asked.

“I think so,” I said with a sigh.

“Well, that’s good,” he said. “We always say, ‘Friends never let friends teach friends how to ski.’”

Honestly, I had a great time in the class, but I never could let go of the fear. My first experience on the mountain was burned into my psyche. Had I learned to ski when I was 4, rather than 24, maybe things would be different. As it was, I was ruined. The mere thought of going fast freaked me out. The lack of control threatened to crush me.

Because my husband found such joy in torturing me skiing, I tried really hard to like it. Honestly, I did. For three years, I tried really hard to like skiing. For a couple more years, I didn’t do so well at hiding my disdain for the sport. Eventually, I didn’t renew my pass.  My husband was devastated, but he got over it.  He got to go skiing with his buddies without having to deal with his basket-case of a wife, and I got to not be a basket-case.  It was a win-win situation.

In the years I skied, not once did I make it down a ski run without having a near-death (at least in my own head) experience.  I did, however, meet such nice people on the slopes. Usually, they were tiny little kids just learning to ski. “Ma’am? Is this your ski?” they’d say. “Is this your pole?”

“Yes,” I’d say from where I was lying flat on my back in the snow, my things strewn about me. “Yes, those are mine. Thanks.”

They’d give me back my items, smile, wave, and zip away chanting “Pizza! French fry! Pizza! French fry!” while I got myself into an upright position. Again. If there was one thing I was really good at, it was getting up.

You wanna know something else I’m really good at? Saving a spot for you at the lodge.

So, what about you? Do you ski? It’s okay to admit the truth.

“Teachers are reporting increased participation and attention from students and a dramatic increase in endurance,” said principal Nikki Westfall. “Our families are happier too. They are reporting much less stressful mornings.”

The in-class breakfast model is not new to the state, or even the metro area, but Colorado is trying to expand it through the No Kid Hungry campaign, which includes an awards program for schools that serve breakfast to more kids.

At Clayton, breakfast participation in 2011 reached about 90 percent of students, with an average of 405 breakfasts served daily, up from about 91 breakfasts served per day in April 2010.

That increase earned the school a Gold award in the Colorado School Breakfast Challenge.

The award, which came with a $5,000 gift, was presented by Lt. Gov. Joe Garcia on Tuesday.

Besides knowing more kids have had breakfast, and using anecdotal data to monitor classroom behaviors, Clayton officials compared data from August through December in 2010 and 2011 and found that student tardies dropped by 15 percent. Discipline referrals dropped by 50 percent.

Officials working throughout the state as consultants to help schools find grants and change their breakfast programs have noticed similar results.

“When schools move to a universal breakfast program, we have seen it removes the stigmas associated with eating breakfast. School nurse visits and behavioral problems drop,” said Kathy Underhill, executive director of Hunger Free Colorado, one of the organizations supporting the No Kid Hungry project.

Underhill said programs also are trying to serve healthier foods.

At Clayton, kids get a piece of fruit, a carton of milk and an entree such as a nutrition bar or cereal bar.

Westfall said she plans to use the award money to develop health-and-wellness classes that can be tied to the breakfast program. Some of the funds will also be used to purchase additional insulated food bags and carts so that when the school expands by a grade level next year, those kids could also eat breakfast in class.

The program’s startup cost came from about $6,000 in grants, a sum managers say is an investment that pays off in real dollars and in student outcomes.

“I’m a big believer that if we’re serious about ed reform, we will have to look at making sure children are fed,” Underhill said. “It’s not an either/or. If you have not eaten, your mind is not there in the classroom.”

Yesenia Robles

The three recently opened their separate shops under the same roof in a former mercantile space at 51-59 Broadway.

At Fancy Tiger Crafts, owners Jaime Jennings and Amber Corcoran have created an open, airy shop featuring shelves bursting with yarn from more than 30 vendors. Many of the vendors are small, local companies like Lonesome Stone of Granby. Bolts of colorful printed cloth line shelves along one wall, while a rack of Liberty of London prints sits front and center. Bookshelves brim with guides to knitting, crocheting and other needle arts, and an upholstered chair gives customers a place to peruse the works. Old-fashioned lettering painted on the wall advertises “Handsomely Decorated Cloth Fabrics.” In the back of the store is a long community table where people can gather on open crafting nights and for classes on making everything from baby quilts to Japanese coin purses. A fireplace and cheerful yellow- print wallpaper lend a homey feel. “We wanted it to be like an old prairie schoolhouse,” Jennings said.

And in two rooms farther back, the real magic happens: 15 sewing machines and several cutting tables are available during classes and for rent by the hour.

Next door, Jennings’ partner Matthew Brown runs Fancy Tiger Clothing. The store has a contemporary yet rustic feel, with plenty of hand-hewed wood furnishings by Fin Art and barn- wood-paneled dressing rooms.

Brown carries a number of lines for men, including Top Man, Kill City jeans and Billykirk Bags. Among the women’s clothing lines

Read more: Like-minded fiber and clothing merchants team up in Baker neighborhood’s “anti-mall” retail area – represented are Tulle, and such local designers as Melissa May and Fallene Wells. Many of his jewelry offerings are created by local designers, and Brown also likes finding select vintage bags and jewelry to resell. “Our goal is to try to buy local and repurposed as much as we can, and to educate people on what we’re doing,” Brown says.

Buffalo Exchange has been doing a brisk business since it opened early this month on Broadway, according to owner Todd Colletti. It buys, sells and trades clothing at the store. Men’s is up front, while women’s clothing and accessories are at the back of the store. Free parking alongside the building is a nice perk (but mind the signs and don’t park in the urgent-care spaces across the lot). After more than a dozen years at 226 E. 13th Ave. (which remains in business, selling clothes) Colletti says he’s happy to be near like-minded merchants.

“I love Broadway. It has a long Denver tradition and was once called the ‘Miracle Mile,’ ” Colletti says. “With all that drive-by and walk-by traffic, we’re a lot busier. And because we bought the space, we were able to do things with it. We have more light, garage doors we can open up, evaporative cooling, storage for back stock, a kicthen and space for employees for functions.”

A former Woolworth’s and J.C. Penney location, the building has features that work for retail, including shelving and a conveyor belt.

“I’ve always dreamt of doing an anti-mall and now we have it,” Colletti says.

===================

Tigalo time

What do you get when you cross a tiger and a buffalo?

A Tigalo, of course, which is the amusing moniker created by the trio of merchants who have joined forces at 51-59 Broadway. The name calls to mind the quirky movie “Napoleon Dynamite,” whose title character draws a “liger” and says: “It’s pretty much my favorite animal. It’s like a lion and a tiger mixed … bred for its skills in magic.” Tigalo Block Party grand opening celebration, 7-10 p.m. Feb. 3.

More at buffaloexchange.com and fancytiger.com; complete class roster at fancytigercrafts.com

By Suzanne S. Brown

Or rather, first attempted to ski (see photographic evidence here).

Four years later, my daughter and SolVista Basin are still going strong. Touted as one of Colorado’s most family-friendly resorts, this mountain offers some fantastic terrain, an expanding base area with new facilities and a knowledgeable staff.

You may be asking: Colorado has many world-class ski areas so why bother with a small resort two hours from Denver?

This season, we’ll tell you why these GEM resorts (smaller, inexpensive) are worth a second look. Not only are they more affordable but they’re free of crowds, paid parking and over-the-top prices.

And with SolVista Basin’s top-notch ski school, s’mores roasting, night skiing and tubing, you’ll find it’s very much worth it.

The Mountain

SolVista Basin has 406 skiable acres that cover two interconnected mountains. East Mountain is primarily for beginners and intermediate skiers, while West Mountain offers more advanced terrain (though don’t expect any death-defying chutes). If you want to get your thrill on, the Terrain Park has 6 progression parks. Lift tickets prices: Kids 5 and under ski free, Junior (ages 6-12) are $38 and adults (13-60) $56. Prices vary during Spring Break.

Learning to Ski

If I were to grade many area resorts on their newbie terrain, they would get an “F” because their magic carpet area is often too flat, the bunny slope too steep or the whole area is just difficult to access.

SolVista Basin, on the other hand, gets an A. The Pony Surface Lift (magic carpet) is adjacent to the ski school, the Milestone lift (bunny slope) is just steep enough to provide a challenge for magic carpet graduates but is not overwhelming. All the trails filter into this Snow Play Area so it is easy for parents to monitor their kids’ progress in ski school. Best news of all: kids 5 and under ski FREE!

Ski & Ride School

Ski school. Uttering these two glorious words brings to mind FREEDOM! At SolVista Basin, ski and ride school is affordable: only $99 for a full-day lift ticket, equipment rental, group ski lesson AND lunch. To put this into perspective, many large resorts’ lift tickets are over $100.

The instructors are conscientious as they teach direct-to-parallel skiing using the latest shaped skis. Their unique philosophy: rather than teach new skiers the wedge, they focus on getting children to hold their feet parallel as early as possible.

The enrollment policy is a bit of a Catch-22. They won’t turn anyone away (good), however this sometimes results in larger classes (bad). Holidays and weekends are obviously the busiest so reserve your spot early. Go here for additional information.

Saturday Night Fever

During the week, SolVista Basin is slow-paced and peaceful. Enter: Saturday when an influx of families and activities ignite the resort. From 3-4 p.m., roast free s’mores by the firepit. Vista Vibe is a free après ski concert series from 3-6 p.m. in Seven Trails Grille in the Base Lodge.

SolVista Basin offers Grand County’s only night skiing and snowboarding from 5-8 p.m. Cost is $12 for the flood-lit hill that also includes the three terrain parks.

In an innovative move, a snowcat transforms the beginner slope into a three-lane, lift-serviced tubing hill. Night tubing is $14 for a 45-minute session or pay $20 for both night skiing and tubing. Children must be 6 and older to tube or meet the minimum height requirement.
Tip: Avoid the sold-out tubing sessions. We had long lines and were only able to tube three times before the next session began.

Couple’s Lessons

Though I know some couples who enjoy skiing/riding together, many don’t due to different ability levels, lack of patience or that tempting spa treatment. SolVista Basin is trying to help couples bond on the slopes with their private Couple’s Lessons.

Though my husband and I have comparable ability levels, my form is better and he’s a faster, more aggressive skier. We were paired with Tom McNamara, a retired lobbyist who knocked us back to square one on the bunny slope and rebuilt our skills correctly. Thought humbling (and at times frustrating), it was the best lesson I’ve ever had and I’ve never skied better. Jamie and I jokingly called Tom “The Drill Sergeant.” For obvious reasons.

Sweetheart of a Deal: 2-hour Couple’s Lesson, $180 (regularly $215) in February. Does not include equipment or lift ticket.

The Ultimate Family Event

Saturday, February 4, 2012–Kids’ Totally Insane Winter Blast. Enjoy fun activities like a treasure hunt, Family Quest, hide-and-go seek, a rail jam and live music, followed by night skiing and tubing. Tip: Sign your family up for the Family Quest and be sure to watch out for the Abominable Snowman!

Area Activities

Less than 10 miles away, Snow Mountain Ranch at YMCA of the Rockies offers indoor basketball and roller skating. If you want to stay outdoors, ice skate at Cooper Creek Square in Winter Park; skates can be rented at Viking Ski Shop or Christy Sports. Lake Granby, Grand Lake, Hot Sulphur Springs and Shadow Mountain Reservoir are also nearby in Grand County.

Getting there

SolVista Basin at Granby Ranch is 85 miles from Denver. Take I-70 West to the US-40 W exit. Exit 232 toward Empire/Granby. Merge onto US-40 over Berthoud Pass. Continue 15 miles past Winter Park towards Granby. Turn right onto Village Road, just before City Market. Continue 2 miles to Granby Ranch. For lodging, call 888-850-4615 or reservationcenter@granbyranch.com.