Blog log...

6:30 – Got out of bed and stumbled into the living room where Marvin was already snuggled under a blanket on the couch, watching the news. Made my way to the kitchen, where I debated whether I needed to get warm (coffee) or wake up (diet coke) worse. Warmth won out.

7:00 – Packed a lunch for Marvin so that he wouldn’t have to worry about negotiating the icy streets at noon. Put in two extra pieces of banana bread…just because.

7:15 – Made sure the garage door shut as Marvin pulled out…it has a habit of popping back up if the temp is below freezing. Went back in to find that diet coke.

7:45 – Got in the shower…cascading, hot water is sooooo fabulous!

8:45 – Left to run errands before the weather hits. The wind is blowing, and the temp is cold, but the air is dry. Thick, heavy, grey clouds blanket the sky above me. I watch for deer…hoping that they have the good sense to stay curled up in a nice warm thicket somewhere. I pass a opossum pancake in the road…I blink back tears as my heart breaks for his opossum family in the loss of their loved one…I hate PMS.

9:05 – I picked up printer paper at Office Max…where I was offered a cup of hot coffee by a monotone 20 year old…whose mindless inquiries reminded me of an old ‘B’ movie…in black and white.

9:15 – I went through the drive through at the bank to make a deposit. The girl in the window pronounces my name right…I wonder if she knows my son.

9:20 – I am perusing the food aisles in Dillons while I wait for my prescriptions to be ready. People are subdued…most in a hurry…all on a mission. I call both kids to offer to run errands, pick up groceries for them etc, so that they won’t have to brave the snow packed streets after a long day at work…both decline.

10:10 – I finally leave Dillons after correcting a mix-up over prescriptions and insurance. I am reluctant to let a carry out person help me…the weather has intensified while I have been shopping…and I am sure that by the time they leave work today, every carry out person here will be frozen to the bone. I take my own cart out. Once outside, I regret my decision. Not only is it snowing …the wind is blowing so hard that it is snowing sideways. I open the trunk and reach into the cart for a bag…the trunk blows shut. I turn to reopen the trunk and the cart takes off. I retrieve the cart, hook my foot behind the front wheel, hold the trunk open with my left hand and empty the cart with my right. All the while, my purse is beating the crap out of my side as it flaps in the wind…and my face is covered with a thin coating of watery eye goo, running make-up, and snot…and it is frozen. I wonder if this is what a chemical peel is like.

10:30 – I pull into the garage…unload the trunk, and wait again to be sure that the garage door stays shut.

11:00 – The mailman pulls up to the house next door…I watch out the window, hoping that he drives right on by our box. Nuts….he stopped. I pull on my heavy coat, scarf, gloves, and slip my feet into the shoes that I left by the door…then decide that if I am going back out there…I will make it count. I go back upstairs, pull the trash bag out of the kitchen can, put in a fresh bag and tie the full one shut. As the garage door opens, it moans and groans…I think to myself “Shut up you wiener!” Stepping out into the blizzard I am reminded of the trunk incident…as I fight with the garbage bin.

11:15 – Boogie with Stu (Led Zeppelin) helped make quick work of cutting out another blanket! Rock is awesome!

1:13 – After taking time for a bowl of the nastiest chili soup I’ve had in a while (Campbells Southwest Chili), I finish tying the third blanket! It is still snowing…like the very Dickens (whatever that means). I begin to cut the fourth blanket.

2:32 – Just as I finish tying the fourth blanket, “Old Time Rock and Roll” begins to play…and I pause to feel it. Heavy snow is still coming down, though the flakes are smaller (usually a sign that the end is near). Weather.com shows much more heading toward us…we’ll see...but I think they are wrong.

3:36 – The snow has stopped. I think about going out to measure it…but the wind is still blowing…hard. The high winds have drifted the snowfall enough that I think an accurate measurement will be almost impossible…there are huge areas that are barely covered…while the areas next to those appear to be several inches or more deep. It is beautiful.

Be Happy!