Alternatively entitled: Snowmageddon
So, the blizzard … that was fun, right?
Okay, don’t answer that. Actually, I’m okay with snow, it’s the ice that terrifies me. So I’m really thankful ALL we got was snow. I heard St. Louis and Indiana got a lot of ice.
Poor saps.
My mom disagrees – this wasn’t really a blizzard, at least down here in the Ozarks, it was a snow storm. A blizzard, to my mom, is when conditions are so bad that you literally can’t see two feet in front of you, when you are forced to stop, on the road, get out and make sure you’re still ON the road. (True story – go read about it on her blog). A blizzard is when it takes you an hour to drive a mile.
Uncle. She wins.
But we did get a lot of snow here. Not as much as my sister, though. She posted a picture on Facebook with a measuring tape – 14 inches. We only got about seven here. I think my brother got around 10 inches where he lives.
And did you hear about Chicago?? TWENTY inches. Oy.
So we were lucky. And I’m thankful, truly. Seven inches is hard enough to navigate.
This is the third day that the kids have been out of school. We all stuck around the house the first two days, Kevin and I are back at the office today.
*Side note: There has been A LOT of groaning, moaning and complaining about having kids home because of snow days on Twitter. Though I understand that kids can get underfoot and are frustrating, especially when they’re bored and we’re trying to get stuff done, I can’t help but wonder if their (the parents) attitudes aren’t being picked up by their kids? I’m betting most of the parents that complain about having their kids home on snow days don’t, in any way, relay that to their children, that they are, in fact, trying to be “cool” on Twitter and join the “Ugh. Kids home. Help me,” bandwagon and they are fun and supportive to their children’s faces, but still … Has our society gotten so used to pawning our children off on other resources that when we’re forced to deal with them it’s a chore?? Like I said, I’m just wondering. These are the kinds of things I think about.
We all did our own thing Tuesday, though we did get together at meal times and do the family bonding thing, but for the most part, we all stuck to our own devices that day. Yesterday, the boys and Kevin went out and shoveled snow from our driveway and sidewalk. I stayed in the house and cleaned up the lunch mess.
*Side Note: Kevin made us some potato soup for lunch yesterday. OH. MY. GOSH. Good stuff, ya’ll. It’s my new favorite. I like it even more than Panera Bread’s potato soup. Here’s the recipe.
We only have one snow shovel. So we told the boys they needed to take turns shoveling the driveway and Kevin would use the dirt shovel and work on the sidewalk. I’m telling you this so you’ll get an idea where my guys are proximity wise. Our driveway is at the side of the house, our sidewalk is at the front of our house. So Kevin was out of the boys’ sight most of the time.
I peeked out of the window and was quite amused to see my two teenage boys, who otherwise act cool and way more grown up than they’re feeling, having a little fun in the snow.
I had to tape their clowning around, of course.
Sweet, right? They made snow angels. You can hear me laughing on the tape.
Did you notice Jazz stomping on Dude’s snow angel head? That’s boy code for, “I really do love you, bro.” LOL
I also thought it was funny that they immediately stopped their “playing” when a car drove down our street. LOL
Boys are funny.
I just really got a kick out of them horsing around in the snow. They eventually got the driveway cleared away, but it took them a while. In fact, I was quite surprised that they willingly stayed outside for a little over an hour. Though it was a nippy twelve degrees yesterday, there wasn’t any wind and the sun was out, so it really wasn’t that cold, if you kept moving.
I was afraid, at first, when I saw the guys clearing off the car that Dude drives (I hesitate to call it Dude’s car because 1. he doesn’t really care anything about the car or driving and 2. he hasn’t put any of his own money into the car so instead, it’s an extra car that the boys can drive – I just call it the Cavalier) that Kevin was planning on taking Dude out driving. I mean, fine, the boy needs to learn to drive on this stuff, but at the same time .. ACK! I didn’t say anything. I’m really trying to tone down the “girly-mom” reactions (it annoys Kevin), but they must have been getting too cold to deal with it by that point because they simply cleaned off the car (we park it outside), and shoveled out a path for it, they didn’t take it out for a snow drive.
Whew.
I built a fire yesterday. We have a fireplace insert that puts out some serious heat. The only problem was, we didn’t have any wood. We haven’t bought any this year, so we used our “show” wood instead.
Yes. You read that correctly.
Kevin bought a really nice firewood holder thingie to hold our firewood in. Only, since we hadn’t bought any wood (and Kevin didn’t feel like fooling with having a half of a cord of wood in our backyard to mow around and spray for termites), he bought two log sets from Lowe’s. Expensive, but nice, dry, bug-free wood. (That’s another problem bringing wood from outside into your home – bugs). Since it was so cold yesterday and everyone was home, I talked Kevin into allowing me to use the show wood. So, we had a roaring fire burning all day yesterday.
It was quite cozy and I love that fireplace. (For about two times using it and then I’m DONE dealing with it. Keeping a fire going all day is a pain. Not to mention, you smell like smoke all day).
We all played the new game I got for Christmas last night. It’s called “Carcassonne” and it’s by the same makers as “Settler’s of Catan.” We had a pretty good time playing it though Kevin got just a LITTLE too much into it. lol We also played quite a few hands of a new card game that Santa stuck in my stocking this year, “Scrabble Slam Cards.” That’s a fun, fast-paced game and we had quite a few laughs at Jazz’s attempt to make up words.
I enjoy being snowed in with my family.
But I think I’m ready to get back to normal again.
Did you hear that Mother Nature? No more snow or ice this season, please.
Write From Karen 