Snow!

Happy Valentine’s Day!  I was supposed to have clinical today, but I have decided to spend another day with my family and worry about it later.  Bad me.  I have done three of my eleven required days of clinical, and it is going very well.  I would say that school is rolling right along, but the last two in-person classes have been cancelled because of snow and ice, so we are behind, but hopefully they won’t overload us with make-up work.  Come what may, it will be over by May 1^st.

So we have had snow twice this year!  It snowed the last week in January, and it snowed again this week.  There was a time in my life when snow meant long, fun days off of work or school.  Then came long, hard days of bundling kids up, taking them out to play, and removing cold, wet clothing times ten.  Now my kids are old enough to do their own bundling, playing and unbundling.  The mountain of laundry is the same though.  The main difference these days is that I have a job that I have to get to regardless of the weather.   Every time snow is in the forecast, my mom calls me to ask if I have seen it and if I am planning to try to go to work.  It kills me.  I have been a critical care nurse for three years now, and she always asks if I am going to work.  I just want to say, “Nope.  They are taking all the patients off life support and closing the hospital at 4:00 pm”. 

On January 28^th, the snow started falling around noon.  I had worked the night before, and they called me at 1:00pm to tell me to go ahead and come into work.  Well this chick does not answer her phone at 1:00pm because that is like a day shift worker getting called at 1:00 am to come to work.  Sorry, it ain’t happening.  I did leave earlier than normal though.  My dad insisted on driving me in his 4-wheel drive.  We left my house at 4:30, and I barely got there by 7:00.  That was the night of Atlanta's “IceJam 2014”.  Roads were treacherous.  The next morning he came back to pick me up, and I was scheduled off the next several nights.  Instead of sleeping that day, I made snow cream with the kids and then went sledding.  It was awesome powdery snow.  I can sleep any day, but playing in the snow is special. 

This time I got to work fine on Monday night in my van, and it started snowing and sleeting on me on the way home on Tuesday.  It was mostly fine.  I slid a little bit when I got on the back roads close to home, and then I got the van stuck at the bottom of our driveway and had to hike up our big hill.  After a daytime thaw, I borrowed my parents’ 4Runner and went back to work on Tuesday night.  My bags were packed and I was prepared on spend the next day sleeping in an empty hospital room because it was supposed to be very icy.  It turned out that temps were hovering right around freezing at 7:00 am, so I decided to try to make it home.  The roads were very slushy, but I made it fine in the 4-wheel drive.  I didn’t have to go back last night, so I was able to enjoy a beautiful snowy evening at home with the family.  The kids went out after dark and built snowmen.  Ice was building up on all the trees and bushes, and it was a winter wonderland.  This morning we woke up to no power, but it came back on late this afternoon.  It was a minor inconvenience, and everyone took it in stride.  Everything melted today, and my dad came over to help me and Matt get the van unstuck.  It took an hour and a half, a towing rope, a 4-wheel drive, 2 shovels, several planks of wood, and a bag of kitty litter, but it is free.  Oh, and did I mention cutting down a big post that was ½” from the door of the van?  Fun times.  We have a man coming to look at the driveway tomorrow, and hopefully we’ll get it fixed in the next week or so.  It is in horrible shape.  It's embarrassing. 

So remember that ski trip?  After the first snow, I casually mentioned cancelling that trip and going somewhere warm during Spring Break, and everyone readily agreed.  So my new travel effort is to St. Mary’s, Cumberland Island, and the Okeefenokee Swamp the first week in April.  Also in that deal was painting the boys’ bedroom during the week I was off work.  It is now a beautiful bright Smurf blue.  My dad is working on double loft beds so they will each have a personal space underneath to hang out in.  New mattresses and lime green curtains are on the way.  Before and during pics are below and "after" photos will follow when the beds are installed.

Daddy picking me up for work on January 28th

Gathering snow for snow cream

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It's kinda like snowbording.

 

 

Even Sailor loves the snow!

Obligatory couple pic

Boys' room before

See.  It's bright.

These are from this week’s snow:

The snow fell last night after dark.

They really did have a snowball fight.  It's not just a photo set-up.