Winter Weather???

Usually by now Mother Nature has blessed us with 3-15 feet of snow. Well maybe not 15' but it sure feels like it when you have to shovel. The forecast for this weekend are temperatures in the 50's not the 20's. The 50's!!
Our winter has been off and on with the snow and the warm weather. It's like MN can't decide what she wants. Warm, cold, warm, cold. Is she having hot flashes? Then cold chills? Or is it global warming. I do not know but I wish it would stay with one or the other. When the snow melts it's gross and muddy. The chickens love it because they can run around and scratch till sunset. I don't like it because there should be snow.
I'm worried that my children will not enjoy the snow like I did growing up. The 5 feet of beautiful untouched snow that my brothers and I crafted into whatever our imaginations desired. A playground of fun, with snow angels, forts, sledding hills, snow people, etc... Mud just isn't the same and it sticks to you. Then you have to take a bath and wash everything because it follows you into the house. With snow, it will melt away when you bring it in.
Now that it's a new year, we've been talking about home improvement projects that we would like to get done over the course of the summer. A new energy efficient furnace, a door off the reading room, maybe 3 new windows in the kitchen to be, new lighting for the studio, insulating the basement, etc... Out of this list I can see maybe 2-3 getting done. That maybe pushing it but you have to have goals to reach for, right? It is to early to be think about stuff like this?
The new furnace will help cut down on the clutter of the current furnace. It's huge! The one we are looking at getting is 2 times smaller than the one we have. It's like a monster furnace that no one wanted and was tossed in our basement. At least we were able to get rid of the original coal burning furnace that was in the basement last summer. That was actually bigger than the thing we use now! It could have fit 4-5 people in it. When the house was built, they had to put the furnace in the basement first and then built around it. It was seriously that enormous and probably not that energy efficient!! Summer is still 6 months away, still lots of things to add to the to do list.