Again? .... and a proud moment for our city!

I heard the wind howling all night and fell asleep to sleet, but then woke up to snow, yet again! I posted on my Facebook page yesterday that I was sick of the cold winter we were having and my brother replied "You should move back to Minnesota where the winters are milder".... I got a good laugh from that one!

The good news? Even though it was coming down fast and thick at 6:00 am, there was no call from the school and no closing on the news! It appears the City of Virginia Beach has accepted their fate in the climate change and are just going to roll with it now... I am very, very proud of them!

More good news - the forecast for next week shows temps in the 60's... you know where I'll be this weekend - in bed! The outside beds, that is! Now I'm off to rearrange and repot seedlings, hope to update on that finally later today.

You might be a redneck...

...if your bathtub and 1978 vanity is currenly residing in the front yard, can you tell we don't have an HOA? :)

Bathroom reno is sloooow going due to my husband working 14 hour days and when he's home the weather is either snowing or icy rain, so all the cutting work keeps getting put off. He's not allowed to get sawdust all over my house this time!

And what's this? AGAIN??

just 15 minutes later, it's coming down fast

My kids are already at school, so it will be interesting to see how the lovely city of Virginia Beach handles this one. Perhaps they will just keep the kids overnight for me? A busy mom can dream, can't I? (and for those of you up nort' wondering... yes, this is considered an emergency by Virginia Beach standards, lol! If this winter keeps up the way it has, maybe it won't be such a novelty next year. You should see our roads, they have been plowing with front end loaders with the teeth on the bucket :)!)

Snow and Subaru Love

Have I said lately how much I LOVE my Subarus? I have owned a few since the early 90's and honestly, it's probably all I will ever drive. Here are the current residents in all their glory...

Daddy's Subie

Mama's Subie

They run forever, have tons of room for us and the dogs, get incredible mileage for an SUV, and climb the dunes and traverse the snow right alongside pickup trucks. But my love today has nothing to do with the above. It has to do with my visit to the gas station today.

I roll up on the gas station, and egads!.... about 20 people in line at every pump. What's going on I wonder, is it the 70's again? I look, and nobody is in ANY of the left side pumps. So I roll up and ask the guy in the disgustingly big SUV across from me what's going on. "Winter Storm's a comin' in, everrbuddy's fixin' to get ready". Oh, that... keep forgetting I live in the South where they cancel the city at least 24 hours before the first anticipated flake. And if I forgot I lived in the South, I was sure reminded when he said "fixin' to get ready".... does that mean they were actually going to get ready, or just scope out the pumps while they thought about getting ready? Anyways, they are all staring at me in my SuperSubaru as I rolled up, gassed up, and rolled out of the left side pump while 20 cars were waiting on the other side, and they weren't nice stares, either. So, gas caps on the right side of the car.... that's Subaru Love. Subaru should have been filming a commercial during this. And as I drove away I couldn't help think of when people used to drive normal size cars and would just get real, real close to the pump and stretch the nozzle around... guess they kind lost out on that technique when they decided to drive the big 'ol SUV.

So that got me thinking, jeez, I better get fixin' to get ready for the impending "Winter Storm". 8-12 inches expected tonight through tomorrow, which is a big deal here, I guess. So my version of preparing involved me with son in tow hitting up Trader Joe's for some convenience foods and snacks, then heading to the craft store for some yarn, then to the used bookstore for a knitting book.

When we got home, I dragged this out of the shed, which I might add was all the way up in the loft where no one goes except mice.

I suppose the sheer fact that I even own this stuff is strange enough here. As I put it on the deck, Finnegan says "what kind of shovel is that for?". Ha! "You'll find out tomorrow, Finn... it's a surprise"! And I didn't think I would get the chance to make my kids shovel snow. Heck, I even moved the Subarus out of the driveway in order for them to get the full effect. :)

Bring it on!

Friends, Fun, Chaos & Snow!

Today is a lazy blog of pictures, but when it comes to the kids - pics speak volumes! We had a Christmas Party Saturday night for a few of our friends, all of us are stuck here for the holidays. This is probably a good thing, since many people we know had to cancel their plans for road trips Friday. The start of the military's Christmas leave period coincided with the largest snowstorm in years and record snowfall amounts across several states. Most everyone we know travels from 600-1200 miles one way to get home for the holidays, and usually by car since cost prohibits us from flying with children, pets, etc, so the storm put a damper on plans. Parts of the state of VA here received 28 inches in less than 24 hours!! Here, however... different story, only a dusting near the coast, although the bad road conditions started less than an hour from here. The kids were a bit disappointed, and I was too - I was looking forward to being able to make my kids shovel the driveway!

Here are a few pics of our party the other night. We had a dinner of Elk Chili, Buffalo Wings, assorted appetizers and way too many cookies!

Hubby keeping an eye on the food

Great friends!

All my baking efforts of the past week!

A little bit of Christmas came early for the kids

Did someone say "sugar"? Apparently cookies were enough to remove the gas mask and take a break from whatever game required it...

Best friends Liz & Nick can always be counted on for a get together of any sort!

"Military Family" cousins! Note that it was ALL BOYS, except for one gorgeous girl that hung out with us in the other room... can't say I blame her!

Our "Military Family" Christmas Portrait... first of several we will take between now and Christmas Eve & Christmas Day. Drop-ins are welcome too!

I am not sure this video needs any explanation... I will say, however, my house was spotless before the invasion of the children! Listening to this from the other room we commented that in a few short years our homes will be quiet and we will miss this!

...and did the child seriously ask me for a ladder?!!

After dinner it started SNOWING, yay!

Snow on the Blue Star Juniper

Snow on the Mugo Pine

Snow on the deck

Snow on the winter container garden

** this morning's update: the sub freezing temps and snow didn't hurt the Giant Parsley or the ornamental cabbages and only damaged a few leaves on the Chard!

Hope you all are having fun over the holidays, whether you are with family or making your own family wherever you are!