Hey! Its Snowing!

But Hey! You knew that! Because that's ALL its done for the last 4 years. ...alright alright, slight exaggeration. But I can't think of a day there hasn't been snow on the ground here. Oh sure, there have been days where its warmed up enough to COMPLETELY melt away 6 inches of snow. ....until it 4 hours later when it drops 15 degrees and dumps another 2" on us.

Just for good measure.

We were threatened forcasted to get 10+ inches of snow overnight. I'm quite happy to report, we got...2? Luckily, it stayed just warm enough most of the night to rain/drizzle. It only turned to snow in the wee hours of the morn. (or so I'm told, I'm not awake, let alone coherent in the wee hours of the morn).

But, now good ol' "gotta be right" magic crystal readers weather forcasters are saying we're due for 8-12 inches throughout the day today. I'm pretty sure they'll be DEVASTATED if it doesn't happen. ...they live for this.

Massive snowfall and tornado warnings make their life complete. If they can't interrupt regular programming at least once a week, with EMERGENCY weather alerts, they wouldn't be whole. ...what better place to do the weather than the midwest? It warms my heart to see them so happy. ...except for when they're right.

Having said all that, let's look at some pretty snow pictures from just outside my front door this morning! (and I mean JUST outside my front door. Remember, its snowing and cold? I'm not going out farther than the mailbox today)

ah, isn't it peaceful and serene? ...that's because everyone is holed up in their houses, with 3 weeks worth of groceries they ran out and bought yesterday afternoon. Because people like to do that here...I'm not sure why. Its like unspoken tradition. Snow forcasted? Follow these steps:

1. Watch the tv, there will be a scroll bar at the bottom cancelling every activity/meeting/event known to mankind for 37 hours leading up to the forcasted snow. You're not doing anything for the next 3 days.

2. Wait until the day before the snow, (or even the 2 hours before) go to the grocery store, buy at least 3 gallons of milk, 4 loaves of bread, enough meat to pack your freezer, and as many 40lb bags of rock salt as you can fit in your trunk. Feel free to add to this list, but this is a minimum. Its like an honor code.

3. Now USUALLY, the third step is "feel stupid when it snows all of an inch and a half". Its ok. You're not alone. If it actually snows, skip 3 and proceed to 4.

4. Raid that half ton of groceries you just bought, find something to eat, and curl up on the couch. Spend the next 4 hours watching the 'weather team' froth at the mouth alert you to the developing weather situation. Putting as much urgency and distress in their voice as they can muster.

*it should be noted, that 90% of the time, when you've reached step 4, its safe to go out. The plows have been out for hours, and the only real danger is going mad from being locked in the house.

Repeat these steps as needed for the duration of the winter. Soon enough, you'll start with tornado season. :)

Scissors + Shaggy Hair + Too Cold to Leave the House

Oh yeah, I did it. I did the mommy faux pas. I cut my son's hair a couple of weeks ago. ...With $1 scissors from Walgreens. In my defense, it was 20 below and we'd been in the house all week. Cut me some slack.

See, he NEEDED a haircut. He was starting to look like a child we found out in the alley. The haircut isn't much better. But at least now he looks more "unfortunate victim of a do-it-yourself-haircut" than "neglected barbarian".

- the aftermath -

- what an...interesting look -

- you can only get this level of quality in prison -

- please, I beg of you, take her scissors! -

(I will say, the last 2 weeks have been kind, and it doesn't look quite so "my mom cut my hair with a dirty razor blade and a blindfold".)

January In Illinois

Oh, HI! Remember me? Yup, I'm still here, puttering around the house, trying to catch up on projects around here. ...trying. :)

January in Illinois is enough to commit a person to a psych ward. Its always cold and dreary, but this year has been EXCEPTIONALLY so. To the point where I haven't blogged in a while, because NOTHING has happened! And no one wants to listen to my daily weather reports (its cold, its REALLY cold, its too cold to go get the mail, its not AS cold as yesterday, its snowing)

So while I've missed my blog, and all of my blog 'peeps', I just haven't been motivated enough to bore you all to tears. (well, there's no guarantee I still won't!) :)

On the upside, I DID get my attic cleaned out. THAT was fun. (and if you believe that last statement, have yourself commited, you've been in the house too long)

And in doing so, I found the title for a car we traded in almost 2 years ago. Along with 3 boxes of stuff for goodwill, 5 boxes of trash (mostly outdated paperwork, like the 27,000 copies of breastfeeding instructions I must have been given the entire duration of my pregnancy. Since he's 3 1/2, I figured it was safe to toss those) AND now the attic is arranged in a somewhat-logical fashion.

I'm not talkin' Martha Stewart anal. (though, tempting, I did stop myself) But all the christmas 'decor' is in one area, old high school stuff finds a home together, the stack of random pictures and empty frames is co-habitating nicely, all is well in the attic world.

....just don't look at the rest of my house.