Stir crazy

The last two weeks have been totally crazy. I was in the office for only 1 out of the 10 working days, and the boys' school was closed for 8.5 of those 10 days due to snow and ice. That's a LOT of time to be cooped up. And you know it's bad when then kids groan about yet another school closure because they just want to see their friends (and get away from their mean old mom who won't let them eat snacks every minute of every day), even if it means going to school!

Our first "winter weather event" happened on Monday, February 16. I was already home with Lorelai for President's day (daycare teacher workday) so it was no big deal when school got out early. We ended up with more sleet than snow, so many secondary roads were skating rinks. With more snow on Wednesday, school was out all.freaking.week because it was just too bitterly cold to melt the ice/snow. I guess I didn't really get how bad some roads were until we picked Aidan up after a sleepover on Saturday morning. 5 days later, and his friend's road was still solid ice.



We thought we were in the clear last week. Monday was a normal day at school and work. And then everyone was completely surprised when we woke up to more snow coming down on Tuesday. Some buses had already left to get students by the time the school delay call came in at 6:30am. By 7:45, it was very clear the roads were too bad to go to school, so we were at cancellation number 5. I think we ended up with 2-3 inches before it stopped. The kids loved it though--real snow, better than the ice last week.


Adam ventured out to work every day, making me a nervous wreck (I'm paranoid) when every single time, he forgot to text me that he got there safe.


The biggest punch in the gut from good old Mother Nature came at 1am on Thursday when our power went out due to the heavy, wet snow taking down trees and power lines. It sure was gorgeous though!


We don't even own a snow shovel--we had to borrow the neighbor's.


We keep our downstairs thermostat really low at night so it didn't take long without heat to drop down into the 50s. We tried to warm the house with our first fire in the fireplace in I don't know how many years. Since before Logan was born maybe. It became very clear that the poor Duraflame log was not cutting it. Those things are not made to give off much heat.



My work laptop was completely dead, and with no indication that our power would be back on soon, I couldn't run my cell phone battery down by calling in to my work meetings. Worst use of a vacation day, ugh. With no power and no coffee and most importantly no heat (I was SO cold even with multiple layers under blankets!!), we packed up and headed to Adam's work down the road. Thankfully the main roads weren't too dicey because some plows had made it through. We happily mooched off their power, wi-fi and coffee until our power came back on that afternoon. And then my mom happily mooched off our power until hers came back on that evening. :)


This is the clubhouse of one of the apartment complexes Adam manages. Cinnamon roll keurig coffee and a huge media room for the win.


Of course (because we're in the south) the secondary roads still weren't safe for buses by Friday, so that was cancellation numero ocho. Ouch. And now the boys have officially lost the first week of their 3-week intersession at the end of this month. At least there's no Saturday school for us, so that's an up side?

The snuggles were also a big up side. :)



This has been the first "normal" week in a long time, and now we're looking at another wintry mix on the way tonight that could possibly delay or cancel school tomorrow. While I actually didn't mind going into full hibernation mode--no makeup/yoga pants/curled up under a blanket at the table in front of my computer and only stepping outside to take a couple of quick pics of the kids, I was happy to be back in the office this week. I will echo the sentiment of pretty much everyone when I say I'm SO DONE with winter. Hurry up, Spring!