Dance updates and happenings, and has spring abandoned us?

Happy mid-May everybody! Usually, by this time of year, spring has sprung, but not this year. Weather here in WNY (and I think this is somewhat prevalent throughout the east coast and midwest this year) has been on average 15 degrees below normal, and this is the most rain we've had in a number of years. It has been a bit of a downer, if I'm being honest. You all know that I don't mind winter the way many of my compatriots do, but even I'm sick of it at this point. I love having 4 distinct seasons, I just wish they would all stay in their assigned months, kwim?

Fall: September/October/November (granted, a transition month, we can all live with this)
Winter: December/January/February
Spring: March (another transition month)/April/May
Summer: June/July/August

Is that too much to ask? Instead, the past several years, it's 85 degrees until late October, and winter starts in late January and goes through April. White Christmas? Who ever heard of such a notion. White Easter is the new thing. 😬

I enjoy each of the seasons, but it seems like summer and winter have been overstaying their welcome, while fall and spring have become nearly nonexistent. Yes, even summer can last too long. I don't want to be sweating while we're picking pumpkins.

So, at any rate, there's been some seasonal affective sluggishness around here. The diocesan track meet that Henry is participating in has gotten moved due to rain (you know, AGAIN), and my friends with kids playing softball have gotten nary a practice or game in due to either rain or sloppy field conditions. Nobody can wear sandals with bare legs yet, and everybody seems to be walking around in a confused and dazed state. :-0

But we're getting there. The kids' school year is winding down (they go until late June around here), and we're making summer plans. I've resumed dancing, following the calf injury I reported a few weeks ago. It's going well, the leg has continued to improve, but I'm very aware of the fact that it's not 100%, and it won't be, for probably 4-6 more weeks. I struggle with this, to be sure. I'm able to take my dance and Piyo classes (though I've skipped my Zumba dance fitness class for the past 2 weeks because I'm afraid all the twisting and hopping could potentially re-injure it), and I can pretty much do any movement I'd like now, but I have to be very careful. When I'm practicing everything is generally great, but attempting a full out rehearsal for the project I'm working on, with performance level energy, resulted in my leg reminding me that it's not 100% yet, which got me down a bit. I applied some ice last night, and am going to take it easy for a few days. I've been stretching daily, and using my foam roller on it, and I know that this is all I can do aside wait for the full 6 weeks for it to heal. I'm hating it. :(

But it's a reminder that we are not in control of everything, and that sometimes we have to be patient. This patience can even result in new opportunities, but it's so hard to let go. Today, I'm going to work on my upper body from a seated position, and this is an excellent little secret tip for dancers: When you're not thinking about what your legs and feet need to be doing, it's amazing how much you can train your torso, upper chest, hands, arms and face to do that you wouldn't ordinarily focus on. And I rarely take the time to do this, so this is the perfect opportunity to rest my leg and do it. It isn't easy to not be able to do everything that I want to, physically, but I'm doing my best to make the most of it.

So that's how it's going over here. How is spring in your part of the world? Donna, how is that snake bite coming along?! 😬

On snow days, knitting is always the best medicine...

Well, happy Wednesday to you all! I hope that you are well. For my part, I am back at work after my snow day yesterday. I am feeling decidedly sleepy and wishing that I was back at home sipping tea and watching Team Umizoomi with Anne rather than preparing for a reference shift. As well, every muscle in my body is aching for my foray into a Hipfit class on Monday night.

#ouch

It was incredibly fun though. I do need to be CAREFUL, however, because that muscle in my left leg is feeling a bit sore again. This is the one respect in which I hate not being 20. It's so much easier to injure yourself the older you get. And by "injure yourself" I mean that when you're 20, you may injure yourself playing rugby or having a trampoline jumping competition. When you're 40, you injure yourself by stepping the wrong way when you walk down the stairs. Not fun. And with all of the dancing and fitness stuff that I enjoy, when you injure yourself by walking down the stairs, you can very easily aggravate things via a spin sequence or jumping around too much. Oh the woe.

Thus, it was nice to take it easy yesterday. Although granted, I did go outside to help Mike shovel snow because I wanted "to get steps in" on my Fitbit. I am ridiculous, I tell you. But I drank lots of tea and coffee, and I did lots of knitting.

So, my Downton Abbey mystery craft-along progress is going slowly but surely. I wish I was keeping up with the speed at which the clues came out each Sunday, but I realize now that by taking on both the knit-along AND the crochet-along there was no way that was going to happen. Hindsight is indeed 20/20. And in a sense it's good, because in many of the weekly clues updates were made after they were published, and I got the benefit of not having to be confused and rip out rows due to minor errors in the original clue. So, we'll take it.

I've put the crochet version aside for now to just finish up the knit clue, and then will go back to the crochet shawl when I'm finished. I can tell that I have more momentum when I just stick with one version, and I *really* want to get these girls finished. I'm enjoying working on them, but I have other things in the queue that I'm anxious to get to.

And so here is my weekly accountability report. ;-) I finished clue 4 of the MKAL, and here she is:

More Detroit Red Wing comparisons, yes I know

That's the center back motif, plus a single side wing. I also started clue 5 yesterday, and we've picked up some reserved stitches along the other side of the motif, and have re-begun the lace pattern for the second wing. Clue 6 is the decrease section for the second wing, and then clues 7 and 8 are still a mystery to me. We're getting there! I started my second skein of yarn, so I do feel like I'm making good progress.

I'm also working on some gift knitting, a hat and a pair of socks, and I really want to get those done too. THEN I can move onto new projects, and there's a few things in there that I am over-the-top excited about. They come along with extremely exciting crafting news. Stay tuned! :0

How are your Downton Abbey shawls going? Are you working on any other winter craft projects? I'd love to hear all about them!

Tomorrow, we'll have tea time. Next week I'll indeed have a Lenten book review, which will be of Jeff Cavins' When You Suffer: Biblical Keys For Hope and Understanding. If you're reading this book too, I hope you'll join in!

Of cold snaps and Adoration seeking adventures...

Hi all! I am with you today from my snowy home in Western New York. Technically, the library I work at is open (it takes a LOT for schools and businesses around here to close due to the weather). That being said, however, we've gotten about a foot of snow, and the driving conditions at the morning commute were pretty treacherous. So I used a comp day to stay home. Ironic that I took this photo on Friday:

...and it looks pretty much the same outside right now. :0 The snow is still going strong, which is another reason I didn't want to drive in to work today. It's only going to get worse.

So that's been the story over here for the past several days. We've had an incredibly mild winter here, but February is always dicey, and true to form, we had our first cold spell beginning on Friday. Temperatures hovering around 0 degrees Fahrenheit, and some fresh accumulating snowfall. Dance was even cancelled due to the poor road conditions, which is always a bummer.

And this ties into my Saturday morning Lenten adventures with young Henry. ;-) We woke up all excited for our Mommy/son date to go to breakfast and Adoration.We bundled up and headed out onto the freshly plowed roads. It was a clear and beautifully sunny winter day.

Our first stop was the local IHOP, where Henry and I sampled ridiculously dessert-like pancakes and chose extravagant omelets. I powered up on coffee, Henry on juice, and then we trudged back out into the tundra to drive to the perpetual Adoration chapel. It was just really cold out, no other negative weather conditions.

I was excited to get Henry to this particular Adoration chapel because I tried to take him once before, last Christmas Eve. But when we arrived at the church, we found a sign tacked up saying that the Adoration chapel was closed between Christmas and New Years. Not so perpetual. ;-) But I imagine it's difficult to keep their regular schedule of adorers around the holiday travel season.

So Saturday, Henry and I pull up. We grab our rosaries and devotionals and hop out. I'm explaining to him the logistics and reasoning behind genuflecting (since he's very forgetful in this realm), when we get up to the door, and wham!

"Adoration Chapel closed due to severe cold."

*LONG SUFFERING SIGH*

I didn't see this one coming. It was indeed very cold, but I was surprised. I imagine, though, that many of their scheduled adorers are elderly, and the cold is very difficult for them to come out in.

Henry and I trudged back to the car, discussing the one other perpetual Adoration chapel in our area, but that one would be more of a drive. Henry had the excellent suggestion of stopping off at his school parish since they have a small chapel that is open during the day. It's not for Adoration specifically, but it would do! And it's quite close to our house. So off we drove.

When we arrived, we found a hearse and assorted other cars in front of the chapel.

:0

BUT, the main church was open, and we know what's in there, right? The tabernacle! So we went in there and prayed for about 15 minutes. All was well with the world. But I STILL want to get Henry to that Adoration chapel! We're going to try again in two weeks, and hope springs eternal that it's actually open.

And with that, I must sign off to attend to my chat reference shift. Yay? No, not exactly, but a librarian's work is never done! And such pleasing ambiance over here at home, with me in front of the desktop, and the kids fighting in the other room as I should "STOP IT!" every few minutes. Such joy. ;-)

I'll be back tomorrow with likely a crafty post. Snowy days cause me to knit a lot. I think I'll be able to post a Lenten book review next Wednesday, check the side bar for details!

I'm off to heat the kettle. How is your Lent going? Does anyone else have a Lenten resolution to go to Adoration? Any other Lenten details you'd like to share? I'd love to hear from you!

Snowy times here in WNY, and the comfort of Catholic rituals when someone you love has died...

Good morning everyone, and a blustery one it is here in my corner of Western New York. The developing story throughout the day yesterday was rather surreal. Where I live and work, there was literally NO SNOW. It was a sunny and beautiful day, just a dusting on the ground. But not far south of here? Holy smokes. :0 Well, I think this speaks volumes:

This the reality of lake effect storm systems, they are intense and heavily localized. Those unaffected are *really* unaffected. :) But we all had survivor's guilt yesterday, because we were seeing all of these photos in social media of our poor friends digging out from feet upon feet of snow. And we're used to snow around here, as you might imagine. But this was SNOW in volumes that even ski country rarely sees. The storm sat over the same area for something like 12 hours and just dumped snow with no stoppage in play.

We had a storm that was somewhat similar back in 2000, and although it lingered like this one did (causing the same sort of roadway and trapping of people problems), it didn't linger for nearly as long. I was at work and got stuck there, and I wasn't too happy about it. :) I remember sleeping on the floor of my office, using my suit jacket as a pillow, and thinking that maybe I should move.

I did change jobs and career fields, but I obviously didn't move, and I'm not sorry I didn't. I love WNY, despite it's weather "eccentricities." :) It keeps things interesting, that's for sure. And I do love the four seasons, it makes me appreciate everything that much more keenly.

But anyway, today the storm moved northward, and so HELLO! Picture me on my commute in to work begging for the intercession of St. Christopher to get me to my destination safely. It did look rather snowy when I set off, but I said to myself:

"I'm Western New York stock, I'm HEARTY! Onward into the snow!"

Well. :)

As soon as I pulled out onto our street I could see that visibility was poor. I pressed on and turned the first corner. Oy. I contemplated going back, but for stupid reasons, kept going. Soon, I was nearing a more populated road but could barely see a foot in front of my car. My back window, completely clear when I pulled out of the garage, was already coated with heavy, wet snow, and despite my rear defroster being on, it would not clear. I could hardly see in either direction.

By the time I was onto the main road, there was no turning back. At least there were other car lights to use as markers, but it was impossible to pull off the road if you wanted to, for fear of someone accidentally hitting you. It was a rough go.

I felt grateful to make it onto campus in one piece, but now, a mere hour later...things are totally fine. :0 Sunny, zero snow. The storm has moved further north, obviously deciding that it had had enough down time. We're only supposed to have about 5 inches total by end of the day *tomorrow*. So, we're really in very good shape up here. South of here, they're totally trapped. It's going to be a tough end of the week for them, with more snow on the way tomorrow, followed by a warmup over the weekend that is causing major flooding concerns. Joy.

Before I sign off, I wanted to mention my experience last night at the wake for Claire's mom, Betty.

What a lovely family she raised, and the photos at the funeral home were a testament to her beauty, faith, and family. Betty and family are all Catholic, and I brought a Mass card indicating that I had enrolled Betty with a local religious community who would pray for the repose of her soul throughout the year, and in the years to come. I always find such cards to be so soothing in the aftermath of a person passing away. Betty was dressed in a beautiful blue dress she had sewed herself, and was holding light blue rosary beads. Her Mass of Christian Burial is being held today, and that liturgy is SO meaningful, I remember it well from when my grandma passed away. This is a lovely explanation of the Catholic funeral liturgy, for anyone unfamiliar with it.

When I was visiting with Claire, she mentioned that her mom had declined very quickly over the weekend, but remained conscious until Saturday, and she passed away soon thereafter on Sunday. On Sunday, Claire called her mom's priest to come administer the Sacrament of the Anointing of the Sick. An hour after the priest left, Betty passed away. Claire felt like her mom was waiting for that, which just made me tear up. So lovely!

The instant I got home, I filled Mike in on the proceedings:

"...and that's how I want things, should anything ever happen to me, ok?"

*look of intensity*

Mike doesn't like it when I raise such issues, preferring not to think about me predeceasing him (he's so sweet :)) but he could tell I meant business last night.

"Don't worry, I will call the priest."

"Yes. Last Rites. Mass of Christian Burial. I don't care what else you do or don't do, go to town. But those are a must."

"I assure you, the most Catholic things possible will happen."

:0

So that was my evening and early morning. How are you doing, dear reader? :)

My blizzardy life - March edition

A wind whipping snowstorm in mid-March - sounds like perfect Lenten weather, no?! PENANCE and SACRIFICE people, clearly God is trying to communicate with us. :0

This was the scene above my head yesterday. I mean it, it really followed me around. :0

So, yesterday was a bit kooky. I do live in the Northeast, and I do live in Lake Effect storm system territory, in a city known for it's snowfall. HOWEVER. The worst is usually behind us by late February. Do we get snow in March? This is certainly not unheard of. But being under an official blizzard advisory in mid-March? Not so usual. Plus, we really don't get as much snow as everyone thinks.

*sanctimonious tangent alert*

The metro area is nowhere near #1 in the country for average snowfall, let that just be said. South of here, in ski country, is where the larger snowfall numbers come into play. But I digress.

*haughty sniff*

;-)

March is certainly a wet transition month around here, with huge piles of dirty snow plowed up and waiting for the sun to work its magic. Spring is on the horizon, but is not yet in the air. Nevertheless, a blizzard is pretty unwelcome. We have endured the winter and are still standing. We're now ready for a change.

But we knew this one was coming, our weather man warned us. Schools were cancelled, and our happy melting phase wasn't long for this world. Except at the university I work for. Since it is part of the state system, it can only be closed by *the Governor.*

How often does that happen, you ask? Not very often, my friend. He's in Albany. We are not. It makes no sense for him to make the call as to whether or not our campus has to close due to weather. But appeals to reason have not changed this unfortunate policy.

So yesterday morning found me headed into work for the early reference shift. It was already starting to snow, and I was feeling a bit mutinous. As my shift began at 9 am, things were looking swirly outside. I fielded a bunch of phone calls asking if the library was open while keeping an eye on the window. Closer to 10:30 am, things were looking a bit Apocalyptic. I was getting worried about the drive home. Refreshing the home page for the university let me know that "University officials are monitoring the weather conditions."

*eyeroll with a nostril flare*

Them monitoring things while hundreds of people are already on campus to potentially become stranded does not help us at all. When my shift ended at 11 am, I immediately packed up and headed out. I did not want to risk having to *sleep in my office.* You think I'm exaggerating, but that has actually happened to me in the past. :0 And if that ever happens again, prepare yourself for an EPIC BLOG POST relaying all of the gory details. Because I'll have nothing else to do. Assuming I have power and Internet connectivity.

Ugh.

Anyway, it was a bit of a production to chip my car out of its icy and snow coated covering, but I persevered. It took me longer than usual to get home, but I made it. Classes were cancelled as of noon, and the library closed at 1 pm. And the world heaved a collective sigh of relief.

And so, Mike and I were marooned at home for the day, with the kids predictably climbing the walls with boredom. Anne is also cutting a molar, adding to the joy.

But we made it. I did some knitting, and Mike and I attended to the house. Our kitchen ceiling was  repaired this week, let's strike up the Hallelujah chorus. The kitchen needed major TLC as a result from drywall dust, so we took care of that. It was nice to be home.

I'm back at work today, and it's pretty cold, so all of the snow is still with us.

"Hello Snow!" Anne would say.

Tomorrow it will be above freezing, here's hoping for some meltage. (new word: officially coined).

Tomorrow is 7 Quick Takes Friday, and I'll talk about how Lent is going so far, some dance stuff, and my weekend plans. Scintillating stuff, y'all! Was anyone else affected by the storm yesterday? Leave me your story in the comments! :)

A game of what's that sound?

10 pm last night: Mike and I retire to our bedroom for some, you know, alone time. We firmly close our door, secure in the knowledge that both children have white noise machines on in their rooms (BEST INVENTION EVER) and are blissfully ignorant of any sounds about to be made in the house.

Some time later: Our door re-opens. I want to use our upstairs bathroom to finish getting ready for bed, so Mike heads downstairs to use the lower restroom. As I'm washing my face, I hear...

10:45 (?) pm: "Sweetie!"

I panic. Why is he stage whispering up to me when he could wake Anne?! We all know that waking Anne is a crime punishable by death.

"What?!"

"Something is wrong with the sump pump, it's making a funny noise. I'm going down to investigate."

And see, we had just been reveling in the driving rain outside, saying how romantic it was. It *is* romantic, if you have a working sump pump in your basement. Oop, getting ahead of myself...

10:46 pm: I hear Mike in the basement swearing. This is a very bad sign.

10:55 pm: Mike comes upstairs.

"The sump pump is broken, I can't get it to restart, and there is water pouring into the basement."

!

We both rush downstairs. Mike heads down before me and when he reaches the bottom I can hear a horrible *sloshing* sound. I quickly see that the water is about ankle deep in one half of the basement and is stealthily making it's way across the floor. This is very, very bad. Mike works to get stuff up off the floor and attempts to bail some water while I call the hardware stores to see if anybody is still open. They aren't.

11:05 pm: Meanwhile, the water bailing in the basement is going poorly. Our ancient laundry tub can't drain the water as fast as it is coming in. It's still raining.

11:10 pm: Mike mumbles something about a submersible pump and calls his dad and a few friends. Nobody has aforementioned submersible pump. We come to the terrible, but inevitable, conclusion that we're going to have to call an emergency plumber, and we can't imagine that's going to be cheap.

11:15 pm: We call the emergency plumber. They charge $79 to come out, and then of course whatever the repair and labor costs. And I imagine they charge double their usual daytime rate. They say they'll call us back with an ETA.

11:30 pm: Mike is downstairs torturing himself by bailing water. We only have 1 bucket (we're so lame in emergencies), so I'm up in the kitchen waiting for the plumber to call, sipping chamomile tea and praying a rosary. 

Near midnight: Mike comes up to tell me that the rain has stopped and the water is receding a bit. We check the local radar and find that the storm has passed and we're not expecting any further rain tonight. When Mike goes back to the basement, the water has completely receded to the sump pump well.

Personally, I credit the power of my prayers. :)

The plumber still hasn't called with an ETA, and we make the decision to cancel the request. With the rain stopped, If we can just make it to 6 am when Home Depot opens, Mike can get and install a new sump pump in the morning.

Shortly after midnight: Mike goes down to secure the basement for the night and make sure everything is a-ok. I head upstairs to find...

12:05 am: Anne is crying.

*long suffering sigh*

When I retrieve her for a cuddle session, she pushes me away and throws her stuffed animal.

Fantastic.

12:30 am: Anne is unhappily back in her crib but going to sleep, and we are finally in bed trying not to worry and fall asleep.

6:20 am: Mike wakes and heads right to Home Depot. I get Henry up and ready myself for work. I have to call in for the morning since I need to wrangle Anne for Mike to install the pump, but I'll be able to go in in the afternoon.

7:25 am: Henry heads to school, unhappy that he is missing all the excitement.

8 am: Mike returns from a second trip to Home Depot for an additional part. He commences sump pump work.

9 am: We have a working sump pump and a dry basement.

Amen.

Hoping for some snow, and about to embark on my Christmas staycation...

Today is my last day at work until January 2nd, I'll be on a "staycation" for almost 2 weeks, which will be really nice. I was remarking to Mike recently that we have never taken a family vacation. Which is fine, really. I mean, I'd rather have our current, flexible job situation than have more money and thus be able to afford vacations (where you actually go someplace, that is :)). Someday, maybe. But I'm also a person that HATES crowded places, hence my moratorium on ever going to Disney World ever again. EVER. And I mean it. I actually hate Disney World, I don't care how many cute cartoon characters they have there. We'd like to do some things like go to Vermont to see the fall foliage, or maybe go to Hershey Park (in the middle of the winter, ha!). Maybe someday.

We're a little nuts in that we really like cold weather. Mike and I talk about driving up to the Ice Hotel in Quebec for our anniversary (in January) one year. I think we're quite abnormal, actually.

And so, you won't see blog posts for about a week and a half, but I promise, I'm coming back. :) We're down to a single decrepit computer at home (hoping to get a new one soon) and although we have high speed Internet, the age of the computer makes things pretty slow going. Plus, we're all sharing it, so I just have little motivation to carve out the time to attempt to compose thoughtful posts when I don't have access to my speedy work machine. I'm battling Anne trying to climb on me and rip letters from the keyboard, Hank whining about when it'll his turn to play a game, and sharing time with Mike who uses the computer to actually work. It's a very competitive computer world in our house.

But happily, we are in for some snow, FINALLY! We haven't had significant snowfall in western New York since I was pregnant with Anne. Yes, seriously! This region is known for it's snowfall (although, for the metro area, that reputation is actually unfair; south of here is where the major accumulations occur, and as one would expect, that is the ski country) but the past winter and so far this year have been uncharacteristically mild. Read: muddy and overcast. I'd much rather have snow, especially in December. I'm hoping that we get snowed in. :) In such a case, I have plenty of yarn and books on my Kindle. I won't be bored for a moment, no sir.

I'm *almost* done with my Christmas shopping, although I still have the majority of my wrapping to do. I'm aiming to get that done tomorrow morning while Henry is in school. I'm very much looking forward to Christmas with the children this year. This will be Anne's second Christmas, but really the first one in which she'll be interactive and into it.

If there are short things that I can share while I'm off I will post then. But expect me back on January 2nd with new and amusing tales. Most of all, MERRY CHRISTMAS and happy new year to all of you!

For the first time in months, last night I...

...used my CROCK POT!

I know that most normal people wouldn't get this excited about using a slow cooker, but what can I say? I love using my crock pot. And I only use it when the weather is cold. It's just not summery to use the crock pot. This is partially because we don't have air conditioning in our kitchen and thus it heats up with just the slightest provocation in the summer. But it just screams "Fall!" to me to use the crock pot. So I busted it out for the first time last night.

I put some chicken in there with carrots in a cream of chicken soup mixture. SO good. The meat gets so tender and the vegetables so soft. Boil some water for pasta, and voila! Instant meal.

I love coming home and smelling the dinner cooking. I love how easy it is to have everything ready before I even leave work. Easy, easy, easy.

And the weather is finally cooperating. We're actually *above* average this month for rainfall. The grass is green again! It feels damp and chilly. Love it.

My new winter hat is nearly done. I'm on the final round of the decreased entrelac rectangles. Query: does anybody know how to graft live stitches onto a selvedge edge? My YouTube searching is only bringing up Kitchener stitch results, which isn't what I need. I think I can finagle something loosely based on Kitchener, but I don't know what the heck I'm doing, so looking for a little guidance. After this, I embark on a pair of mittens, plus start gift knitting!

Mike and I are set to watch a movie tonight after the kids go to bed, and I want to also work on my falling leaf sock. This sock is quite an investment. I've already been working on it for a month, and this is only sock #1. I think I feel a case of Second Sock Syndrome coming on. I don't think socks should take this long, but maybe it's just me and my slow chart reading skills. These better be extra cozy when I'm done with them.

Sometimes karma comes back to bite you in the behind...

Yes, I'm still whining about the weather. But you know what happens to people who whine, don't you? Bad things happen to them. Remember how I complained the other day about us not getting enough rain? Do you know what happened THAT VERY DAY?

I packed up my stuff to leave work. I looked out the window. It was pouring.

I was happy. I mean, we need the rain. But then I realized that my umbrella was in my car. Useful place for it, don't you think? But hey, I'm a big girl. A little water won't kill me.

By the time I was finished checking out a book downstairs I could see that this was more than just a casual rain. Cats and dogs were about to appear from the sky. I decided to walk via the above ground passageways so that I could get as close to the parking lot that my car was in as possible without going outside. As I walked, I could see huge puddles forming by the sides of the roads and lots of people wrestling with umbrellas.

When I got to the final door, I didn't hesitate. I mean, what good would it do to stand there and bemoan my fate? It wasn't slowing down anytime soon. Out I went.

In the short time it took me to run out to my car, I got *drenched*. As in, my clothes were soaked to the skin and my hair and face were dripping.

I scrambled into my car real quick-like and laid my drippy bags on the passenger seat. I turned on the car and the defogger. Because, since it is still HOT out, the windows began to fog immediately. I put it on full blast and set off.

Pretty soon, my hands were all sticky from being wet and collecting some kind of dirt from the steering wheel (lovely), and I was sitting awkwardly because I hate that "my clothes are stuck to me" feeling. Halfway home I could feel my hair drying, but I knew this was bad. A glance in the mirror upon arrival at home confirmed it: I looked like a poodle. When my hair gets wet and dries by itself, it waves up and generally acts very irritating. It was all kinked up right at the scalp. Since it was half wet, half dry, when I tried to pull my comb through it it behaved precisely like a rat's nest. Not a pretty sight.

When I got out of the car, I could still feel that icky damp clothes feeling and my hands were even stickier. My hair was a complete lost cause.

I rushed into the house and thought to myself that I shouldn't have been so bad tempered about the weather. We did need the rain but there's no saving the grass here this year.

Next year is another year, I suppose.

A HOT Labor Day, followed by Henry's first day of second grade...

I'm recovering (snort!) from a lovely, but at the same time, challenging Labor Day weekend. Where to begin...

Well, I'll start with the weather. I'll be frank. The weather is starting to really tee me off. It's Labor Day. It's supposed to be COLD. Chilly, I could live with. A slight bite to the air, I would also welcome. I DO NOT WELCOME 90 DEGREE HEAT. I'm sorry, but that is wrong. It doesn't get up to 90 degrees in this area very often (3 times per year on average) in mid-July let alone September! Yesterday was the hottest Labor Day that we've had in 102 years.

!

I am not a happy camper. And then, in the midst of all this, our drought continues. We have had some rain, but very little, and we're still WAY below average for rainfall. This all means that my seasonal allergies, which are never a walk in the park, were so bad this weekend that I broke down and bought some OTC allergy medication. This may not sound all that revolutionary, but I tell you, for me to actually take allergy medicine is no small feat. I stick it out like a True Allergy Martyr. I don't know why; I'm not expecting to be canonized for navigating my ragweed allergy sans Claritin any time soon. But I'm just so resistant to it if I feel that I can just stick it out. Because some days will be fine. I'll have a not-so-great day, and then it'll go back to being fine again.

But this weekend. I was ready to SAW MY OWN NOSE OFF to stop the agony. There was non-stop itching. There was sneezing. SO MUCH SNEEZING. I'd have to brace myself, because no sir, I wasn't going to sneeze just once. If I feel a sneeze coming, this means that at least a half dozen other sneezes are waiting in the wings (and sneezes, after you've birthed a baby? Well. I'm just going to leave you with the word "leakage" and let you figure out the rest from there. At any rate, it's not very dignified). There was stuffiness and subsequent nose blowing (aren't you so glad that you are reading this?!) that led to my nose being raw by the end of the day Saturday. There was eye watering. There was a general malaise.

And there was lack of sleep. Yes, Anne is back to night waking again. And each time, she is a drooling, fist biting menace in clear distress. She's teething, and she's taking it out on the rest of us.

"Anne! NO BITING!" is a refrain often heard in our home these days. Because she bites HARD. It *hurts*. She bit me on the neck the other day, and it just took my breath away. It leaves a red welt, and then leaves a bruise. She's just not herself these days.

And we're tired. We're all so tired. It's like having a small infant again. She wakes every night, and then stays awake for an hour or two. I had a really hard time getting out of bed for work this morning.

But it was Henry's first day of school, and I was anxious to see him off, since I knew he was nervous about it. He comes out in his little school uniform, and I tell you, he looked *adorable*. He adjusted to having to go back, and was in good spirits this morning. He was looking forward to finding out what days he'll have his "specials" on (gym, art, music, computers). Little cutie.

And this weekend, I even took both children with me to Mass, ALL BY MYSELF. *waits for medal that is so rightly deserved* Anne did pretty well. She fussed a bit during the consecration, so I paced with her off to the side, and we didn't have to actually leave the sanctuary. She was happy to be out of the pew and have some things to look at and touch. When Henry was a toddler, I was attending a parish that had "divided pews," if that makes sense. Each long pew had a divider in the middle, and it was great. I'd position myself at the end opening, and then he could walk between me and the divider, with no chance of escaping. Our current parish is not like this, so Anne has to be in my arms the whole time. Not so fun, but she did well. She's so friendly; she tried to go off with the random woman sitting behind us during the sign of peace. Overall though, it was a success, and if she's awake during the Mass I go to now, I'll take her with me too.

That was my weekend. I'm feeling a bit diminished, but I'm hanging in there.

Weather change is in the air...

I love August; the heat of July is over, and you can actually feel the changes in the air as the temperatures start to get just a hair cooler, especially in the evenings, and the sun starts to set earlier. The anticipation of autumn is palpable.

In keeping with this theme, I moved my wool yarn bin to the top of my stash area, over the cotton bin. I have them both in our guest room closet, so it's tight quarters in there. I can only have 1 in the easy access point, and it's definitely time to break out the wool to begin toasty fall projects.

This got me to thinking about fall holidays/events, which led me to think about Halloween. This led me to think about candy corn, which led me to think about knitting candy corn inspired socks. This may not be the course of a stream of consciousness for a normal person, but it is mine. In searching for the perfect sock yarn to knit candy corn socks, I found this etsy seller who has some Halloween themed yarns that she hand spun and dyed. One of them is a self striping candy corn colorway. Xanadu!

Needless to say, I snapped it up. Candy corn socks! A lifelong dream. I can't wait for the yarn to arrive so I can start knitting them.

This is my kind of weather, and ponderings on Church weddings...

Ah, the past few days have been overcast and breezy. I love this kind of weather. Clearly, I should be living in the Pacific Northwest.

There has also been some "rain activity" but I wouldn't actually classify it as "RAIN," unfortunately. I mean, little drops have come down, but they never pick up their pace nor last for longer than 10 minutes at a stretch, so total accumulation is something like .000567 %. This is not going to make the grass green again, people. Maybe if it kept doing this for 3 weeks straight, but I'm doubting that will be the case. At any rate, I'm grateful for the break in the heat and the hope of rain, so I'll take it.

On a totally unrelated note, I read an article last week about Katie Holmes coming back to her Catholic faith. Did anybody else see this? It was from a reliable source like Yahoo News *rolls eyes* so I take it with a grain of salt, but it piqued my interest because I had always wondered about this.

I knew that Katie Holmes had been raised Catholic, and that when she married Tom Cruise, they were married in a Scientology ceremony. These are the only two facts that I'm certain of, you see. Thus, everything else that I'm about to say is pure conjecture, but that's what blogs are for, no?

When they married, I remember thinking to myself, "her parents must be heartbroken that she's leaving her faith." I don't know the Holmeses, so I have no earthly idea how they felt about their daughter's marriage, but this is how *I* would have felt. I'm also presuming here that Katie did not pursue and receive a dispensation from canonical form, because if she had, then her marriage would have been valid in the Church. So, I'm making a lot of assumptions here, but bear with me.

My whole point is that the situation got me to thinking about our children retaining their faith as adults. I pray for this intention weekly at Mass, that my children always stay close to Jesus and His Church. Do I think that in order to do that, my children need to marry other Catholics? No, I don't think that, actually. Would it help if they did marry other Catholics? Yes. But is such a marriage *necessary* for them to remain Catholic or even grow deeper in their faith? No, I don't think that it is.

But presuming that Katie here didn't seek out her parish priest prior to her wedding to receive Catholic marriage preparation and a dispensation to marry outside of a Catholic ceremony, this is what I'm getting at. When a Catholic person does not seek out the Church for their marriage, and marries outside of Her authority, that makes me sad. Because that's often the impetus to them leaving their faith entirely. In that state, they cannot receive the sacraments, and without the sacraments, their faith will suffer. Plus, the fact that the person didn't care enough to go through the Church for the dispensation demonstrates (at least in my opinion) that they don't feel very attached to their faith to begin with. And as a parent, this would break my heart.

Many times, it seems to me that the people I see not pursuing a Church wedding lose interest in religious faith altogether. This would bother me the most. It would bother me considerably less if my child became a member of another church. And even that has degrees. I would rather they stayed Catholic, but if my child became a very devout Anglican or Methodist, I would be ok with that. (But I'll just admit that I'd always still pray they would return to their Catholic roots :)). I would struggle, however, if they became a member of a non-Christian faith, probably nearly as much as if they lost all faith in God entirely.

In the end, all we can do is pray. Once they become adults, it's their choice, and we have to hope that something we did as parents acts a springboard to them making their faith their own and growing in their relationship with God.

This is all a bit rambling, but back to Katie. According to Yahoo News, she is now a registered parishoner at a local Catholic Church. If true, I think this is good, and I'm sure her parents are thrilled. :)

So, our thought-provoking question for the weekend: what in your childhood (if anything) caused you to remain attracted to religious faith as an adult? Or alternatively, what in your childhood acted as a spark to reignite your religious faith after leaving it for a time?

I'm back, and I'm hot

It's the unofficial start of summer, and as usual, I have a frown face. I know it's odd, but summer is actually my least favorite season. I hate being hot, and we don't have central air conditioning. Plus, I'm anti-social, and in the summer, everyone is out in their yards and want to talk to you the instant you step out of your house. It's just the season in which I am out of my comfort zone.

But we had a very nice weekend. We got some gardening done. I have a black thumb, so I try not to touch flowers and other plants lest I kill them. But we do have success each year growing tomatoes and peppers. We love the small cherry tomatoes, and those plants PRODUCE. With two plants, we get more tomatoes than we can use. The bigger tomatoes, on the other hand, don't like me, so I don't push that envelope. We don't want them influencing the other plants with their negativity. :) We also planted several types of bell peppers, sweet banana peppers, and lettuce. Out front, we finally put in a new small bush to spruce things up a bit and some mulch to hide the ugliness. Plus, I won't have to weed as much. I HATE weeding with the fire of a thousand suns. Another reason to dislike summer.

Happily, the heat wasn't bad this weekend. We don't have our window a/c units in yet in our bedrooms, and we didn't need to put them. We were fine with just our fans, including Anne. Who has been sleeping from her bedtime at 7:30 pm until 6:30 am every morning.

*angels sing*

Both children played very cute this weekend. Henry and I worked on a 3D four seasons puzzle (dreaming of autumn...) and Anne has been sucking on the faces of her new dolls. I could tell that Henry was wishing that he had a brother when he convinced Anne that she "enjoys" this new game whereby he charges into the room and tackles her to the floor. Also heard from the living room this weekend:

"*I* am Optimus Prime."

"Anne, you're Megatron."

*Transformation noise*

It was nice to be home more, and now it's a short work week, yay.

HOT

It's freakishly hot here, and frankly, I'm not liking it. :) We had a barely recognizable winter here, and now it's 80 degrees in March. I don't want to *sweat* in March. There's just something apocalyptically wrong with that.

So, not only am I hot, but my hair is sticking up. *sighs* Remember how I mentioned the postpartum hair loss thing? Yeah, that thing. Well, after both of my babies (I still did have hair left, don't worry) I would get regrowth *right* at the front hairline. And right now, it's at that awkward phase where it won't lay flat. And it's right in the front. I keep wetting it, and it'll still stick up the instant it dries. I got desperate. I stuck a bobby pin over it, and I just left it in. I mean, at work and everything. It actually looks kind of cute. Better than a tuft of hair sticking up in front anyway.

However, significantly cheering me is news from the world of my Kindle: She has shipped.

!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I even got a special email from Amazon, congratulating me on her impending arrival into my arms.

I am SO EXCITED. She's due Monday, even earlier than I anticipated! Oh sweet day!

I've been perusing the ebook options both at our public library and via the Kindle store, and I've made even more exciting discoveries. Some old, out of print romances very dear to my heart but that I no longer own are available for the Kindle. And they're like $3-$4 per book! I'm so super thrilled. I used to love this Harlequin romantic comedy series called Love & Laughter. It became defunct in the late 90's. They're all available in the Kindle store as reissues under a "Harlequin Treasury" imprint. The public library does not catalog these old Harlequins, so this is pretty much the only way to get your little hands on these old titles. Well, there is the used bookstore, but she tries to get rid of the old series romances quickly because they're not hot sellers. I am *so thrilled* that I'll be able to pick the exact ones I want again!

I'll have to calm down a tad since I'm not reading any secular books until after Lent. But still, I can play with Kindle and load on some spiritual classics while I'm waiting.

SO EXCITED.

The heat continues...

"It could always be worse you know, Sweetie. We do have our window units in the bedroom (thank GOD). What if the power went out?"

"DON'T EVEN SPEAK THOSE WORDS ALOUD."

I mean, can you imagine? We'd be camping out in the basement with the washer and dryer and old kids toys. I guarantee it.

HOT

Since Saturday, we've been experiencing a heat wave here in Western New York. And for someone who loathes being hot and sweaty, it's been excruciating.

I guess the real problem isn't necessarily the temperature, more so the humidity. We get high humidity around here near the Great Lakes. It doesn't reach 90 degrees that often around here, but we're expecting that tomorrow. Oh joy.

And it's one of those heat waves in which you get through one day, and then check the weather:

"Oh great, tomorrow is going to be *worse*. And the day after that even *worse*. What's that? Ah, the entire 7 day forecast looks like the apocalypse is just around the corner. Fantastic."

It's just painful. And without central air conditioning, our little two story brick house has been like an oven. And what happens when the Catholic Librarian's family gets hot? They get CRANKY.

As I sit on the sofa, feeling like I may burst into flames at any moment, Mike comes in, and I inevitably complain about something. Because, you know, he's somehow responsible for how hot and miserable I feel. And my weather-optimistic husband tries to make me feel better:

"You know Sweetie, it's really not that bad."

Really? We're all covered with a sheen of sweat. My thighs are sticking together. Anne's hair is one big wet brown curl. You can feel yourself sweating in the SHOWER. I can hear that weird bug sound outside.

YUCK. A lot of people around here feel that since we have harsher winters, they shouldn't complain about the summer heat. Well, I like the winters and don't complain about them (usually). Therefore, I feel justified in bitching about the heat all I like.

And for the love of all that is holy, MY SON. His behavior has been *atrocious*. I suppose it could be the new baby. But naturally, I blame the heat. We're all home all day right now, sweating, and it's not pretty. Being home all day with two sweaty and fussy children is a heck of a lot harder than going to work, let me tell you.

We'll get there. But it's been a long ass week. The worst of the heat should abate on Sunday. Thank goodness.

Trying to end on a non-whiny note, I will say that this summer has been a real blessing, heat notwithstanding. I've loved being home with the children, and with Mike. It's been a joy. I go back to work at the end of August, and I know that it will be very emotional for me. It's been a very special and rewarding time for me.

The joy of winter weather

We're experiencing our first major snowfall of the year here, and like always, it bring a whole host of things out of the woodwork. I live in an area affected by storm systems moving off the Great Lakes, and lake effect snowfall is always big talk around here. In many ways, I don't like the attention it gets, because I think it gives people a negative impression of this region, one that I believe is undeserved. We get snow here, yes. But NOT, by quite a bit, the most snowfall in the country, or even in the state. This is not known by all. :)

I think the reason for the attention is that occasionally, this pesky lake effect issue causes a storm so magnificent in its proportions that the Weather Channel camps out on location for a week and CNN puts it on the national news. Thus, people get the impression that this is par for the course around here, but it isn't. Another factor is that we do live near an area known as "ski country." They, in fact, record much more snow, but it gets lumped in with the nearest metro area, when in fact, we don't see half of their snow.

Anyway, I do love winter. I know it can be cumbersome, but it's beautiful, and I love having four seasons. Many people complain about having to scrape off their cars in the morning, but really? There is an easy solution to this problem: A garage. Most houses have garages around here, but often, people do not use them for their cars. I'm not judging :) I'm just saying. If you kept your car in the garage overnight, you'd only have to brush it off when coming from someplace during the day where your car sat for some length while snow accumulated. This happens to me at work, since we have open parking lots here, not a parking garage. But we have a garage at home, and we squeeze both cars into that puppy. Thus, very little scraping. Life is good.

The first big snowfall is always accompanied by calamity, and this is an interesting phenomenon. If you've grown up around here, you are very used to snow. And if you're driving, you've been used to snow for at least 16 years. However, the first big snowfall always causes everyone to temporarily lose their mind and believe that they've never seen this mysterious white stuff before. "What? What is this?! And why is it so slippery?!"

Yesterday morning was a perfect example. I saw the snow. I mentally prepared myself. I do get nervous about driving in it, even after all these years, but like everyone, I've become adept at the coping mechanisms to deal with it. Drive slower. Pump your brakes when trying to come to a stop. Step on gas slowly when trying to accelerate from a complete stop. That's really all there is to it. It's still slippery, and despite your caution you can still be involved in an accident, but if you take these precautions you make yourself and all the cars around you safer.

Right? Well. Anyway, I saw the snow, and gave myself a few extra minutes in the morning. Hank and I left the house at 8 am, like usual, to get him to his before school program at our daycare. It's about a mile from our house. We took it slow, no problem. Hank was dropped off and I was back in the car by 8: 10 or so. Then I set off for work. This is *maybe* 10 miles from my house. It usually takes me 10-15 minutes to get there, depending on traffic lights.

60 minutes later, I'm still in my car, fuming. For unexplainable reasons, this happens every year. Every year! Traffic grinds to a halt. Everyone is paralyzed with fear in their car. We're all bumper to bumper, and I just can't understand why. The roads weren't bad. There was some slush on them. It was actively snowing, and sticking, but it wasn't deadly by any stretch of the imagination. I think people just forget how to drive in the snow from year to year. It takes a day for everyone to get re-acclimated. I finally got to work around 9:30, all stompy. I mean, the snow did accumulate, I will grant. It's all just a bit odd to me.

By February, we could all drive from home to work on a straight sheet of ice while blizzardy snow pummels our windshields and no one blinks an eye. But that first snowglobe effect? Chaos.

HOT

So, it's been a long heat-related week for your Catholic librarian. As I've mentioned many times on this blog, I don't like heat. I live in the Northeast, in an area known for its sheer volume of snowfall, and frankly, I like it that way. To each their own, right? :) I know that I'm in the minority on this, and most people do enjoy warmer weather, but strangely, I am defective in his heat-seeking gene.

Like many homes in this area of the country, our house does not have central air conditioning. This adds to my hatred of heat. Given that our house has steam heat in the form of a boiler with room radiators, rather than a furnace, the chances of my ever acquiring central a/c are slim to none. And most days, this really isn't an issue. The temperature rarely gets to 90 degrees around here, even in the hottest part of the summer.

However, when it does, the humidity in this area makes those sorts of temperatures incredibly uncomfortable. And in an un-airconditioned house, all I want to do is sit on my couch in my underwear and not move. Given that I have a 4 year old, that "not moving" part is a thing of magical dreams. Sort of like sleeping when you have a newborn.

This week, we've had a little heatwave, with temperatures hovering near 90. And the humidity? About 1,000% When I turned on the Weather Channel yesterday evening for the local forecast, that little monotone voice came on to describe the current conditions:

"HOT."

Yes, thank you for that. I wouldn't have realized that unless he'd said it. See how punchy I am? I have been reduced to practicing my dance solo in my office (door closed, of course) during lunch because trying to do so at home is excruciating. Running through the routine 3 times results in an immediate trip to the laundry basket with my clothes followed by a shower. YUCK.

And my car. *shudders* It's only for a few days. It's really not that bad. It's just that we're not equipped to deal with heat here. It's very comparable to a small smattering of snow in the South. Lack of proper equipment = total shutdown. It's just the way it goes.

I should have a couple of other fun posts this week. I have a meeting tonight about the Vacation Bible School coming up at our parish, and my big bellydance show is on Saturday. *gulps* "Nervous" doesn't even BEGIN to describe the level of anxiety I am feeling about this. Til tomorrow...

Feeling cozy

We got quite a bit of snowfall yesterday, and today we woke up to cooooold temperatures. Definitely the most of winter we've seen so far this year. It took me quite a while to get home from work last night, as blowing and drifting snow was creating whiteout conditions. It's particularly bad here on campus, where some of the wide open spaces between the main spine of buildings and the busier roadways are a haven for aforementioned blowing snow.

But crazily enough, I enjoy such weather. I'm definitely a four full seasons kind of girl. This morning, Mike went out to apply the snowblower to our driveway, and Hank and I stayed inside to get a crockpot full of chili ready for tonight's dinner. He was super cute, helping me put ingredients into the crockpot, washing out the cans of beans and then taking them downstairs to the recycling bin. It was totally adorable. One of those instances wherein I get babies on the brain...

I'm working today, but Henry is home with Mike for the full week. I'll be off starting Thursday though, so it's not too bad. Mike is very good with the stay-at-home-parent role during these breaks when Hank doesn't have preschool. When I was on maternity leave and home full-time I was a crazy woman. My hormone level was hovering around the super galactic level and I jumped and cried at every sound Hank made. My prayer is that should God bless us with another child, my knowledge of and experience with those post-baby blues will aid me in having a much better experience right after the birth. That was one instance in which winter was not my friend. Hank was born in November, and being shut up in the house by myself with a newborn all day, feeling afraid to take him out, was tough stuff. Next time, I'll be informed and plan differently. Grandmothers are more than thrilled to come stay with the baby for an hour so that I can get out to the store by myself, and next time, I'll take advantage of it.

I just called the school district to make my appointment to register Hank for kidnergarten. My baby!

Anyway, I digress. Today, Henry and Mike traveled to a second mall in our area (we went to the one near our house last night) in search of half price calendars. We're calendar freaks in this family. Disappointingly, our stop at 2 separate Day-by-Day Calendar kiosks elicited no wall sized Thomas Kinkade calendar nor the Monet one Mike wanted. Their stock seemed to be much slimmer this year. Mike and Hank's second trip today didn't go any better. The kiosk was closed in the other mall and no calendar salesperson was in sight. Many sighs of disappointment ensued. They were going to try the local Barnes & Noble this afternoon, otherwise we may have to order them online. This is a change from our usual pattern and we're very opposed to change around here. Every December 28th or so, we nerdily put on our winter gear and head to the calendar kiosk, all excited. We come home with 4 or so calendars (freaks, remember?) and hang them up gleefully in the kitchen, our bedroom and the office. Hank actually has a wood Melissa and Doug magnetic calendar, which he loves and eagerly changes the magnets on each month. He's obviously inherited the calendar freak gene. Precious dumpling.

Halfway through Advent, and weather-related calamities...

Well, almost. This coming Sunday is the Third Sunday of Advent, and as those of us who are nerds know, that particular installment in Advent includes the lighting of the ever noted pink candle on the Advent wreath. I never knew what the heck it meant until recently. Pink candle Sunday is actually called Gaudete Sunday; it marks the approximate halfway point of Advent and reminds us to keep joy alive, because Christ is coming. Advent is technically a penitential season (hence all the purple), though that's certainly not the way it's really portrayed in the culture at large. Christmas season is the joyful season, which does not begin until Christmas Day, and runs through the feast of Jesus' baptism in the second week of January. Mike and I were married on January 8th, which is still part of Christmas season according to the Church's liturgical calendar. Interesting stuff.

We're keeping up with all of our Advent traditions at home; Hank loves his Advent calendars. He's all excited about the pink candle this week.

In other news, today marked the first winter storm of the season for us here in the Northeast. We had some snow last week, but accumulation was pretty negligible. Last night, the storm system moving in was so windy that it kept me up for most of the night. We have old windows in our house, and they rattle something terrible when it's windy. So I was fairly cranky upon wakeup.

I was pretty surprised, though, to find that many local schools were closed for the day. I mean, really? We're Western New Yorkers - we are hardy with a capital H. There wasn't *that* much snow on the ground. Probably an inch or so (and I know this sounds crazy to people that don't live by the Great Lakes) but less than 3 inches is what we call a "dusting" of snow here. I think because it was the first storm of the year, and the wind chill got down pretty low, that's why people got all ferhoodled. Because seriously - we navigate snow around here as measured in *feet*. The snow plow and salt truck comes by, *snorts* we're good to go.

Amusing anecdote of the week - Last New Years Eve, Mike, Hank, myself and my sister Shauna'h (who was home for the holidays but en route back to her house in Charlotte, North Carolina) packed into the car and headed for the airport that blustery morning around 4 am. Mike, Hank and I were headed for Central Florida to visit my in-laws. The weather was so bad I feared our flights would be cancelled. It was snowing like crazy, and it was windy. But the kicker was that we were at that point deeper into winter - thus, previously existing snow drifts sat around everywhere. When wind gets to these previously existing snow drifts and blows them about, theeeeennnn you got yourself a bad situation. So, this is happening, and we make it to the airport safely while I bite my nails in the passenger seat. We park and get out of the car. Heavens to mergatroid, I thought we'd all blow away, get stuck in a snow drift, and be frozen there until the spring thaw. The snow had blown around and created *new* piles, and they were so deep they went to my knees in some places. We had all the luggage, so I literally could not carry Hank as we made our way to the shuttle; I held his hand and prayed he wouldn't disappear into a drift.

I don't ever remember feeling so cold as that moment as we tried to navigate our way to the shuttle stop. A shuttle suddenly drove by, and despite all the signage that shuttles only stopped at the designated stops, we looked up pleadingly, and the driver stopped and let us on. I'm certain our dragging of the adorable 3 year old through snow drifts that went to his eyebrows helped our case a bit.

When we got to our gates, our flights were not cancelled. They were merely delayed while the planes were efficiently de-iced. As we watched out the window, gigantic snow plows raced furiously up and down the runway clearing them off with nary a speck of snow remaining behind. And then we took off without incident. Snow has met its match around here.

Ah, winter related memories. Despite the above, I love where I live. And I actually prefer the cold and snow of winter to the heat of summer. I'd never survive in the South. Freakish? Yes, most likely.