Jen's excitement meter: 1 - Dud, 5 - now we're talking, 10 - AWESOME!!!
Let's rewind the clock to Thursday night....
Weather forecasters: Blahh, blahh, blahh....snow, mixed with rain, sleet, blaahhh, blahh
Jen's excitement meter: 3 - Peaked my interest a bit
Friday: Nothing!
Drive home from work: tink, tink, tink. Oh great is that sleet? Hope the temps don't drop. GRRR!
This could be an ugly commute.
Saturday
Weather Forecasters: Blahh, blahh, blahh snow
Jen's excitement meter: 4 - what? SNOW?
Weather Forecasters: Blahh, blahh, no snow today but watch out for Sunday night to Monday morning. This could be the one.
Jen's excitement meter: 5 - now we're talking. Did someone say snow, possibly by Monday morning?
Weather Forecasters: Monday morning Commute can be bad, 3-6 inches possible.
Jen's excitement meter: 6 - I'm seeing at least a 2 hour delay
Fast forward to Sunday morning:
Weather forecasters: This is a good clipper, will bring us snow. Not sure in the amounts yet.
Jen's excitement meter: 8 - Could we get a day off??? 3 day weekend, 3 day weekend, come on everyone chant with me....3 day weekend
So I run my errands with the family of course. Do several loads of laundry, made a home made pizza with the codster, put some ribs in the oven - baking slowly of course, go outside in the unusually warm 50 degree day to prune back my crepe myrtle - spending a hour to do that, come inside, and fold laundry. I decided to turn tv on a 5pm to get a quick look at the weather update and wouldn't you know it. Drum roll please.......
Weather forecasters: Well, we're not sure what this clipper is doing. We had really warm air today and it looks like it will be fine in the morning, possibly rain changing to snow and possibly end on Tuesday morning.
Jen's excitement meter: 0 - now you are really pissing me off. I did all this crap all day long thinking tomorrow would be a fun day in the snow with Cody and now you are talking rain? Maybe snow? What happened to the 3-6 inches? Oh my goodness, why do I fall for this every single year?
So, I'm going to watch tv one more time tonight. I'm going to give them one more chance.
But right now, I'm a steaming. So we'll see how this all turns out in the morning.
Goodnight!
Sunday, January 25, 2015
Saturday, January 24, 2015
Come on Snow!
I'm going to admit it but I'm really ready for one good snow storm. With the tease of snow yesterday driving home the snow turned to sleet at times during my drive. I kind of thought, what a waste to see it snow but yet be to warm to stick.
I know, sounds crazy coming out of my mouth, the sun goddess, but...today Cody and I went grocery shopping and my pantry is stocked. Well maybe its still missing a few items from Costco but all and all, it's stocked. I got out the crock pot and found a new recipe I thought I would try. It's suppose to be chicken stroganoff and its just about done. I put some croissants in the oven and I even made chocolate chip cookies so to me, with all this cooking and baking, the snow has got to come.
A few years back, we had a snow mageddon. I don't remember all the details but we were off almost a week, snowed in and I loved it. Every single minute. Cody was just a little toddler and Ken went out and shoveled all the snow from the driveway and sidewalk. Nothing major, we had a townhouse at the time so it was so much easier than now but I swear there must have been 20 inches or so. So to him, it must have practically killed him to shovel that much snow. I should post a photo.
Anyway, it was nice cause we had our food and best of all we had each other to spend time with and it was so much fun. Since Cody was a toddler, he took naps so I got some R & R too. Ahh the memories.
So if I could just get one blizzard this winter, I'd be happy. To just shut everything down, slow down and relax, that would be such a dream.
P.S. My boys didn't like the chicken strganoff. They liked the concept but didn't like the taste of the cream sauce. So I'm a little bummed. Even though the crockpot did all the work, I still had to mix the ingredients, time it, cook the noodles and broccoli and put it all together in the end. Don't plan to use this recipe again but it was worth a try.
I know, sounds crazy coming out of my mouth, the sun goddess, but...today Cody and I went grocery shopping and my pantry is stocked. Well maybe its still missing a few items from Costco but all and all, it's stocked. I got out the crock pot and found a new recipe I thought I would try. It's suppose to be chicken stroganoff and its just about done. I put some croissants in the oven and I even made chocolate chip cookies so to me, with all this cooking and baking, the snow has got to come.
A few years back, we had a snow mageddon. I don't remember all the details but we were off almost a week, snowed in and I loved it. Every single minute. Cody was just a little toddler and Ken went out and shoveled all the snow from the driveway and sidewalk. Nothing major, we had a townhouse at the time so it was so much easier than now but I swear there must have been 20 inches or so. So to him, it must have practically killed him to shovel that much snow. I should post a photo.
Anyway, it was nice cause we had our food and best of all we had each other to spend time with and it was so much fun. Since Cody was a toddler, he took naps so I got some R & R too. Ahh the memories.
So if I could just get one blizzard this winter, I'd be happy. To just shut everything down, slow down and relax, that would be such a dream.
P.S. My boys didn't like the chicken strganoff. They liked the concept but didn't like the taste of the cream sauce. So I'm a little bummed. Even though the crockpot did all the work, I still had to mix the ingredients, time it, cook the noodles and broccoli and put it all together in the end. Don't plan to use this recipe again but it was worth a try.
Monday, January 12, 2015
Are you kidding?
Cody's school - 2 hour delay
My work - 2 hour delay
and a few minutes later...
Cody's school - closed
Oh brother, are you kidding me? It's just raining out. Ughh!
So that's the verdict from all the weather drama the forecasters were hyping up. Yes, we got some freezing rain but by the time it was 8 am, the temps started to rise and the freezing rain turned to plain old rain. It was nice to get a 2 hour delay for work. But the 2 hour delay for Cody's elementary school turned to a school closing kind of frustrated me. Not that I want children's safety put at risk but our county is very large. I say the more populated areas can open school and the more rural areas can miss school. But the problem is that the teachers don't all necessarily live near the schools so how do you account for that?
Well, just 2 more months and winter (cross my fingers) will be over!
My work - 2 hour delay
and a few minutes later...
Cody's school - closed
Oh brother, are you kidding me? It's just raining out. Ughh!
So that's the verdict from all the weather drama the forecasters were hyping up. Yes, we got some freezing rain but by the time it was 8 am, the temps started to rise and the freezing rain turned to plain old rain. It was nice to get a 2 hour delay for work. But the 2 hour delay for Cody's elementary school turned to a school closing kind of frustrated me. Not that I want children's safety put at risk but our county is very large. I say the more populated areas can open school and the more rural areas can miss school. But the problem is that the teachers don't all necessarily live near the schools so how do you account for that?
Well, just 2 more months and winter (cross my fingers) will be over!
Sunday, January 11, 2015
Freezing rain or just plain rain?
That is the question that faces me tonight.
What do I want you ask? No rain at all, in fact I would love to have it be 80 degrees and sunny. But nope, it's winter here in Virginia and the weather is so unpredictable. This morning I watched the news and guess what, yup you did, a potential wintery mix is in store for the Northern Va commuting area and yup, you guessed it again, during rush hour. What we're going to get is as good as a guess as mine. It will either be rain or freezing rain depending on the temps. I of course am rooting for rain since last weeks drama had me take a day off from work and I seriously just don't feel like slipping and sliding all over the roads tomorrow and I certainly don't want to get in a car accident.
So, I guess we'll see how things go in the morning but I can almost guarantee that if there is freezing rain, the schools won't open due to the madness and the uproar from parents last week.
So shall we flip a coin? Heads it's rain, tails its freezing rain.
FLIP
Turn, turn, turn up in the air
Hit the ground and roll
Landing on......
TAILS
Oh crap!
What do I want you ask? No rain at all, in fact I would love to have it be 80 degrees and sunny. But nope, it's winter here in Virginia and the weather is so unpredictable. This morning I watched the news and guess what, yup you did, a potential wintery mix is in store for the Northern Va commuting area and yup, you guessed it again, during rush hour. What we're going to get is as good as a guess as mine. It will either be rain or freezing rain depending on the temps. I of course am rooting for rain since last weeks drama had me take a day off from work and I seriously just don't feel like slipping and sliding all over the roads tomorrow and I certainly don't want to get in a car accident.
So, I guess we'll see how things go in the morning but I can almost guarantee that if there is freezing rain, the schools won't open due to the madness and the uproar from parents last week.
So shall we flip a coin? Heads it's rain, tails its freezing rain.
FLIP
Turn, turn, turn up in the air
Hit the ground and roll
Landing on......
TAILS
Oh crap!
Tuesday, January 6, 2015
SNOW!!!
Normally I would be jumping for joy with the possibility of a snow day. But, since I just got back from taking off a few days from work during the holidays I thought, lets wait awhile to take leave again. But of course, mother nature had other ideas in mind.
So here we were on a Monday night, going into Tuesday. The forecasters called for a dusting to maybe 3 inches and those 3 inches of course would be to the north and west of DC. In this particular snow fall, west meant west of I-81 and north meant Northern Maryland/Pennsylvania. So I wasn't even getting the least bit excited. And even though the forecasters said the weather would start around rush hour, I didn't pay it no mind.
Fast forward to 5am. I get up and yup, there's a dusting. But no schools are closed and work is open so I proceed to get ready.
6 am, I get Cody up. Our school is still open, work is still open yet I'm starting to see some sort of accumulations.
6:30 ish, Ken calls me and tells me the roads are really slippery and to be careful. Humm....
7:00 am, Schools still open, work still open...guess we are going to head out soon.
7:30 am, Heading out the door. Wow, this stuff is really coming down and geez, there is a lot on the ground. I slowly drive down the road toward the school and Belmont Ridge is packed and the turn lane to Cody's school is filled with no one going no where. Since we were stuck, I took a photo with my phone.
7:45 am, I see an entire group of people with children cross the road toward the elementary school. A bunch of cars including me had the chance to turn left toward the school. We're actually going to be late today. I can see the school but I can't pull over. All I can do is wait in the line of cars and eventually get him there. I called work and told them I was on my way in. My co-worker laughed and said see you in 1 1/2 hours. Is he crazy?
So that's what I did. It took me approximately 1/2 hour to drive maybe a mile. And then I turned around and it probably only took about 15 min to get home and that was still driving around 5-10 mph. Of course as I'm driving home, there is a car stuck in my lane on a hill so I had to change lanes maintaining my speed to go around and make it up the hill myself which I really didn't think I would be able to do it. Funny how you never notice these little hills until snow and ice come in to play.
As I made it pass the car and onto my street, I was just about home. The teenagers were outside at the bus stop waiting for their bus. Suddenly, 3 of them decide they want to cross the street right when I'm driving by. I honked on my horn so loud. It was like they had no clue what was wrong.
HELLO IDIOTS!!! I CAN NOT STOP MY CAR!!!
Oh I was so pissed.
So when I finally got home I had to let out a huge sigh of relief. I just couldn't believe how poorly the Camry handled in this weather. I was also shocked at how bad the weather was. Visibility was poor and it was accumulating much quicker thank anticipated. So I jumped on FB and I turned on TV and it was utter madness. Parents were pissed that schools weren't canceled. Weather forecasters were saying they warned us this would occur during rush hour, accidents were all over the place, including school buses and it was taking people 1 1/2 - 3 hours to get to work. Wow, by my car sliding all over the place, maybe it was a good thing that I turned around and went home when I did.
Ken made it to work with no issues since he did leave early. But those who left after 7:30am were doomed to have a long commute today.
So, as the day went on, I was frustrated. I had to take off from work, not because I wanted to but because I had to and the fact that Cody wasn't home to enjoy his 1st official snow of 2015 was a little annoying too. I didn't rest today because I had to shovel the snow so Ken could get in the driveway when he got home. I guess the one thing good about today was I did take some photos to chronicle the event and I did end up walking over to Cody's school to pick him up (there was no way I was driving today) and in fact, he thought it was cool that we were walking home too.
The walk home was very nice. The cold air and snow brought back the kid in me. Cody had to throw snow balls of course. When we got home, our neighbor June and daughter Natalie came outside which made Cody thrilled! The kids played while us moms chatted about what a crazy day it was.
So, lets see how the day will play out tomorrow since the temps are suppose to really drop to all time lows.
So here we were on a Monday night, going into Tuesday. The forecasters called for a dusting to maybe 3 inches and those 3 inches of course would be to the north and west of DC. In this particular snow fall, west meant west of I-81 and north meant Northern Maryland/Pennsylvania. So I wasn't even getting the least bit excited. And even though the forecasters said the weather would start around rush hour, I didn't pay it no mind.
Fast forward to 5am. I get up and yup, there's a dusting. But no schools are closed and work is open so I proceed to get ready.
6 am, I get Cody up. Our school is still open, work is still open yet I'm starting to see some sort of accumulations.
6:30 ish, Ken calls me and tells me the roads are really slippery and to be careful. Humm....
7:00 am, Schools still open, work still open...guess we are going to head out soon.
7:30 am, Heading out the door. Wow, this stuff is really coming down and geez, there is a lot on the ground. I slowly drive down the road toward the school and Belmont Ridge is packed and the turn lane to Cody's school is filled with no one going no where. Since we were stuck, I took a photo with my phone.
7:45 am, I see an entire group of people with children cross the road toward the elementary school. A bunch of cars including me had the chance to turn left toward the school. We're actually going to be late today. I can see the school but I can't pull over. All I can do is wait in the line of cars and eventually get him there. I called work and told them I was on my way in. My co-worker laughed and said see you in 1 1/2 hours. Is he crazy?
I finally dropped Cody off and headed toward work. My car started to fish tail a little. I was only going about 5 mph if that. What's going on? I came to the end of the street and had to stop. Unfortunately, my street had a slight incline and my car got stuck. It wouldn't go up the teeny tiny hill. Don't tell me I'm going to get stuck here. Oh crap, I don't have my shovel in my car with me. Well, thank goodness I'm dressed for the snow. Boots, hat, gloves and snow jacket. Finally after reversing and forward, reversing and forward, my car got unstuck and I was able to make a right turn. Yup a right turn straight into traffic. Well, I've gotten myself in a dilemma right now. I can't turn left cause the snow plows didn't plow the very small intersections so I know if I make a left where no one has driven yet, I'll get stuck. And I can't make a right because that will take me through a housing development that's not connected to my development and with it not being plowed yet again puts me in a pickle. So I decided to stay put in my lane till I got to the traffic light and then instead of making a left turn, I will just make a U-turn, heading back to the house. There is no way, I'm driving to work in this crap.
So that's what I did. It took me approximately 1/2 hour to drive maybe a mile. And then I turned around and it probably only took about 15 min to get home and that was still driving around 5-10 mph. Of course as I'm driving home, there is a car stuck in my lane on a hill so I had to change lanes maintaining my speed to go around and make it up the hill myself which I really didn't think I would be able to do it. Funny how you never notice these little hills until snow and ice come in to play.As I made it pass the car and onto my street, I was just about home. The teenagers were outside at the bus stop waiting for their bus. Suddenly, 3 of them decide they want to cross the street right when I'm driving by. I honked on my horn so loud. It was like they had no clue what was wrong.
HELLO IDIOTS!!! I CAN NOT STOP MY CAR!!!
Oh I was so pissed.
So when I finally got home I had to let out a huge sigh of relief. I just couldn't believe how poorly the Camry handled in this weather. I was also shocked at how bad the weather was. Visibility was poor and it was accumulating much quicker thank anticipated. So I jumped on FB and I turned on TV and it was utter madness. Parents were pissed that schools weren't canceled. Weather forecasters were saying they warned us this would occur during rush hour, accidents were all over the place, including school buses and it was taking people 1 1/2 - 3 hours to get to work. Wow, by my car sliding all over the place, maybe it was a good thing that I turned around and went home when I did.
Ken made it to work with no issues since he did leave early. But those who left after 7:30am were doomed to have a long commute today.
So, as the day went on, I was frustrated. I had to take off from work, not because I wanted to but because I had to and the fact that Cody wasn't home to enjoy his 1st official snow of 2015 was a little annoying too. I didn't rest today because I had to shovel the snow so Ken could get in the driveway when he got home. I guess the one thing good about today was I did take some photos to chronicle the event and I did end up walking over to Cody's school to pick him up (there was no way I was driving today) and in fact, he thought it was cool that we were walking home too.
The walk home was very nice. The cold air and snow brought back the kid in me. Cody had to throw snow balls of course. When we got home, our neighbor June and daughter Natalie came outside which made Cody thrilled! The kids played while us moms chatted about what a crazy day it was.
So, lets see how the day will play out tomorrow since the temps are suppose to really drop to all time lows.
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