Weather

I'm sure I've blogged about how crazy the weather here is. This year has been the craziest yet. Our temperatures have been 20 degrees above average. In time where we usually see some snow, we have been outside in our t-shirts. Sure, I technically live in the 'south' but we do have a winter. Our winters consist of 8-12 weeks of near freezing temperatures and several snow falls.

This year has been different. Our average temperature has been 70 degrees. We have yet to see a flake of snow. And today, while visiting my parents, the kids and my mom all hung out in the hot tub for an hour or so. Yes, the hot tub is heated, which definitely makes a difference...but still. Outside in the hot tub on January 8th?

Just for fun comparison pics...

January 2011
January 2012

Now, That's a Lot of Snow!!

This morning I had to go to work and when I woke up I was amazed at how much snow we got. I don't remember this much snow ever since I moved her 12 years ago. I had the pleasure of going to work at 6:25a in this stuff. It wasn't easy.

First I got stuck in my driveway. It took almost 30 minutes to get out, and had my dad not been there to help push and steer the car, I wouldn't have made it. Once I got on the roads, even the main ones were still coated in snow. The one nice thing was that no one else was crazy enough to be driving, so I had all three lanes to myself which meant I could go very slow and stay right in the middle of the road! My normally 15 minute commute to work took me over 50 minutes.

While I was at work, the kids had fun though. My dad helped them make their first ever "big snowman". The twins alternated between playing outside in the snow, and snuggling on the couch with some hot chocolate.



I kind of hate that I missed it, but seeing as I got to stay home for Christmas, I really couldn't complain.

I'm Dreaming of a White Christmas...

Well not since 1947 has this area had a White Christmas. But this year, not only was it White, it was a Blizzard!! This area rarely gets a snow fall that accumulates. Usually we get a few flurries which barely coat the ground and is melted away within a day or two. Well this year we got about 8 inches!!

The twins of course were thrilled! Since it was dark S didn't want to go out and play, but K decided to risk it :0) They will have so much fun tomorrow while I'm at work. I just hope the whole town doesn't shut down!!

SNOW!

Today we had the first snow of the season. For our area this was very early and quite a volume.


The kids of course had to run out and play in it as soon as they could. The twins threw snowballs and I think ate their weight in it. M didn't know what to think. He liked to look at it, but wasn't so thrilled on sit in it, nor could he figure out how to walk in it. We took the necessary photographs and then M and I went back inside.


By the end of the day, most had melted, but there was still a light coating on the ground. I wouldn't mind having a little bit of the stuff around for Christmas, but then it needs to go.

TORNADOES!!

Yikes! Tonight has been a rough night. From about 5pm until 1am there were nothing but Tornado warnings for this area. None of the really bad spots came over top of us, but they came close. All in all they are saying 8 Tornadoes touched down. One hit right where the kids take gymnastics. A daycare right across the street was destroyed and one of their buses was thrown to the other side of the road, but from what I can gather the gym itself avoided physical damage but has lost all power...so no gymnastics this week.

SNOW!!

Well the East Coast got slammed with a winter storm and we weren't spared! While this area may get one or two snowfalls per winter, it's rarely enough to stick to the ground for more than a few hours. Through the night we got around 8 inches! This town will be kept to a stand still for at least a few days!

The twins were super excited when they woke up and had to go out a play. They each lasted 10-15 minutes and then had to come in. They dried off and got warm with some hot chocolate. We even made Snow Cream which is apparently some sort of Southern Tradition when it snows, as I grew up in Canada and never heard of such a thing. It was super yummy!! I'll definitely have to put the pot out if it snows again!

Recipe if you're interested...

8 cups of snow - put a large pot out early in the snow fall to catch fresh snow

1 cup Milk - we used whole

1/2 cup sugar

Vanilla Extract to taste

A Southern Snow Storm

I live in a part of the US were we might get one or two snowfalls each winter. When we do get snow, it's gone by that night. I have lived here almost 11 years and only one other time do I remember getting a decent amount of snow.

Well last night we got the big storm that pounded the East Coast. This area got 4+ inches. It was great, fluffy snow too! The kind perfect for snow balls and snowmen. The twins were beyond excited and we spent quite a bit of time outside today. Although cold, it was sunny so playing outside was not as painful as it sounds.

We took plenty of pictures...because who knows the next time we will see anything like it. And just to point out the weirdness of this weather...it's supposed to be in the high 70's this weekend.

S & K with their snowman. We had to use grapes for the eyes and mouth.

The House from the end of the driveway.

Can you see the dog? LOL

...

I hate the weather. It drives me nuts. After an entire summer of no rain, why must it rain on a day that I had put so much effort into.

I had arranged for a local photographer to take family and children portraits at a local garden for the MOM group. For three weeks I worked out cost, date, time, logistics and scheduling. I worked with thirty families trying to figure out who would be able to come, what time would be good for them and where to meet. After all of the madness I had ten families scheduled in 15 minute slots this Saturday. All consents were signed. Everyone had confirmed. The photographer had everything ready...and now 70% chance of rain all day Saturday. S#!T

This photographer only works with natural light so we can't move into an indoors location. She has offered to do next weekend for us but of course people are bust and for most next weekend does not work.

I think the picture says it all...

Since I Don't Really Have Anything to Say....

I will talk about our weekend plans :) They ended up starting our running around tonight because I told K about all the places we needed to go and she insisted we go to the store tonight. Well I kinda felt like getting out of the house, so I didn't object. First we went to Toys R Us. I wanted to find some Scooby Doo things I had seen online for the twins for Christmas. I found what I was looking for - a car set and the set of figurines - so I was satisfied with that trip.

We then went to Babies R Us and looked at cribs. My cribs were part of the recall and I got my vouchers for two new cribs yesterday. It's funny because my vouchers are for $329.99 each and I know for a fact that I didn't spend much more then $200 on them. Since it was a recall though, the company had to issue the vouchers for the maximum price the item was ever listed at. I found a few cribs I liked, but I thought I would sleep on it a bit. The one I had found online and fell in love with, well they didn't stock it in the store.

Tomorrow I need to go to the post office and send the remainder of the advertising packets for the MOM group. I also need to find a bunch of red shirts for cheap for something we have planned for Christmas - more info to come :) Then Sunday we will go to a Church home coming celebration with a friend. Hopefully I will be able to relax some on Monday (after gymnastics) because the rest of the week is looking busy.

And finally a thought for my friends in Texas who are currently starring down Hurricane Ike. I hope you guys make it through in one piece without any significant damage. It has already caused Gas prices here to jump almost $1 per gallon in less then 12 hours. I know many are calling it a major threat. Keep safe!!

This is an actual picture of Hurricane Ike.

Why Are People So Self Destructive?

Today at work I cared for a 33 year old woman who had end stage cirrhosis. She is an alcoholic and killed her liver. She can barely feed herself, she is confused, her eyes are bright yellow and she wears a diaper because she is incontinent. Sadly she has two children including a toddler. They will be calling in palliative care to help her and the family during her period of death. The whole time I'm in the room I just think about how pitiful the situation is. She has chosen to drink herself to death - and yes I know addiction is a disease and it's a hard one to overcome - I'm not trying to deny that. Heck, I use food as my outlet and if I don't get that under control in several years when I have my first heart attack or have some great diabetic complications, I will be just as responsible.

On other news, this great hurricane Hanna 'hit' last night. It rained until about 10 am this morning and stopped. The sun came out, the clouds went away and the skies turned blue. No flooding, no heavy rains, no wind. In fact, if I didn't know it was a hurricane, I would have just assumed it was a rainy day. I hope we are as lucky with Ike.

And the final note for the day....I am getting sick. I just know it. K has had a cough for a few days. Now I am getting a tickle in my throat and my left ear is really hurting. CRAP! I hate getting sick when I have so much to do!

Nothing Very Important to Say...

Went back to work today after 5 days off. It sucked. I was so tired after only sleeping about 3 hours. I should go to bed early tonight, but I'm sure I won't. I have to work tomorrow and the weekend too. ARGH. For the most part I like my job and then there are other times I don't want to work at all. This is one of those times.

Hurricanes Hanna and Ike are threatening the coast and there is talk about severe weather here. We got dumped on by Fay and we still haven't dried out. I am a little concerned about flooding especially since it got so bad so recently. And then of course 2 hurricanes back to back isn't good either. My life can't take a direct financial hit so I just hope that whatever happens, any long term or expensive damage does not occur. I will already be out $500 when I finally get the gravel dumped here to repair the driveway. I think I will wait until the end of hurricane season to do that.

Rain, Floods and Tornados

That pretty much sums up today. It started raining yesterday and still hasn't stopped. And this isn't the cute, droplet rain. This rain has been coming down hard for over a day. Everything around here is wet or worse, flooded. Half of my driveway was washed away. I just finished shovelling gravel from one end of my driveway to the missing middle part. The best part is, my driveway is about 500ft long. There have been reports of several tornadoes touching down but luckily no major damage or injuries. I'm not sure that will be said about the driving though. People are idiots and can't drive in any sort of weather. I think on my way to work I saw/heard about 15+ accidents.

On the trip from the parking lot to the hospital I got soaked from the knees down - even with an umbrella. My tennis shoes were soaked right through. Oddly enough, by the time I was ready to come home, my shoes were dry but my sock were not? Luckily the hospital has socks for patients so I went home in some snazzy green socks with rubber treads :)

Work was okay. A long day of scheduling and dealing with whiny people. If one more person comes to me asking for a day off I will strangle them. Really, I will.