What do you get when you predict enough snow and ice to close the roads?

Did I mention I live in the South?

NO? Oh, well, then I can sum it up in one word. Insanity!!

Grocery store shelves are bare, the streets are full of the remnants of snow and ice....you know, slush.
Nothing is open. Not the grocery store, not the gas stations. A 15 minute drive might take an hour if you are going slowly enough that you're not spinning.

I foolishly had not been checking the weather while slowly going stir crazy over the last few weeks, and I don't turn on the afternoon or evening news because I don't want the kids having to hear about all the people being shot, or drugs or whatever other nasty things the world holds for them as they grow up. Perhaps it's too much of a shelter, but they're only young once, and it's not like I'll never watch the news again, it's just....not a priority. AND since soccer season ended I don't pay attention to any of the weather aps on my phone or have it installed on Firefox (yet). I had been looking at the weather twice a day while we had practice and soccer to attend, and once I even managed to see the bad storm coming before the people at the field even had time to look at it! (which makes me consider being a volunteer soccer mom for next years team and being the leader of the phone tree for weather cancellations...because NO ONE knew that a "tornado spawning storm" was headed right for the fields.


So, anyway, all week as my level of 'stir crazy' increased, I proposed a "Mom's Night Out" (MNO, or GNO for Girls Night Out) for Saturday or Sunday night, no one wanted to go out Sunday, so I said "Ok, how about Saturday!". I added MNO to my list of "things to do" on Saturday. First thing in morning I started making up my grocery list and menu, and planned on doing some pretty light grocery shopping for the week after Soccer Boy's final evaluation. Then my mom called, she was on her way to Ace Hardware, wanted to know if I wanted two sleds. Uh, well, yeah, but why now? Oh, it's going to snow, lots of snow! Then I looked at facebook. Omg. One friend, local, says 8-10 inches for us. Mom said 5-7 for them. Oh lordy.

So, the boy and I head out for the appointment, only upon arrival I do not have my debit card. Or any other way to pay for groceries. Great, I have to go home. Finish the eval, and by the time we get home it has been decided that the Hubby will be taking both kids to the store, and I'm going to stay home alone. Well, alright!! After they were finally ready to go, and gone, with my entire list, and only a small number of things highlighted, I started up the dishes, the laundry, and tidied up all over the place while waiting on their return. It was slammed. The bread was nearly gone. My husband, bought 4 loaves. lol But he also bought 2 doz eggs, 2 gallons of milk, the all important coffee creamer and a few more things that we needed in order to make some decent meals while we were stuck at home.

After he got home, I finished getting ready and then headed out to run an errand, then I went to the mall for a while, and then I finally got to go enjoy dinner with a friend, and one of her friends :) It was nice, and we are penciled in to do it again next month ;) Joan is one of the few mommy friends I've had since I was pregnant with my first, and we NEVER see each other enough. I'm looking forward to next month! I came home after dinner and waited for the snow to start. I'd been waiting actually, ready to head home the moment it began.

I awoke Sunday morning to everything looking just as cold, and just as Earth-toned as when I went to bed. We waited, and waited and waited, not going anywhere for fear of the people that didn't go out on Friday evening, or Saturday for food and supplies. Though I considered heading out for kitty litter (for the driveway) and potatoes and other things for fixing a big pot of soup. But I stopped there.

Finally after tucking the children into bed, I peeked out and it was snowing. Finally. In 10 minutes there was an obvious layer, you couldn't deny that it was snowing. In 30 minutes, it already looked like an inch...by midnight 2 inches, maybe 3. And then we went to bed.

My husband took pictures with his phone....I can't find my camera (or my camera cord, so it wouldn't matter anyway) Hopefully I will have some pictures to share later after he sends them my way :)

We made great use of the sleds from Gamma, we spent 2 hours yesterday sledding down the driveway! 

And now, we can no longer continue to put off our schooling for the day, plus make up work. It's going to be a struggle, and I'm so not looking forward to it, but it must be done! We have lots to catch up on, and only until late May to finish it all!!