ICE BLAST WINTER STORM DEEP FREEZE FEST '09

We're having a snow day today, although there is no actual snow on the ground. We did get a good bit of ice, enough to cancel school for the first time since we've moved here. The kids were excited enough to run outside and whoop it up for a full five minutes before running back in, soaking wet, begging for hot chocolate. This is the place where I would produce a photo of the ice, but there was none left by the time I got up, and besides, I don't go outside in the cold if it can be helped.

The media in Texas, of course, goes completely nuts with this sort of thing and immediately sends its reporters out to stand pitifully underdressed on some overpass and proclaim, "Just look at our truck! There's like 1/4 inch of ice on the windshield and the worst is yet to come!" Also there is usually some sort of graphic involved with a title for the storm, but I haven't seen any of those yet. One channel, however, has earned my loyalty with a commercial advertising their website proclaiming, "The snowflake is coming! The snowflake is coming! Check out our website for closings." Well played, NBC5, well played.

So today we are sitting around in our PJ's, watching Bugs Bunny and maybe a little Planet Earth, eating blueberry pancakes and sipping hot chocolate. Later on I might make some cookies. Cold weather and low carbs don't go well together at all, can't you tell?

Speaking of snow, I was thinking today about a blizzard we had when we first moved to DC, back in 2003. My sister Wendy had come to visit with her two small children and I warned her that it might snow a little bit while she was here. Overnight we got two feet of snow and found ourselves completely stranded in the house with four very small children for several days. I still wake up in a cold sweat thinking about it. The really bad part was that we had only lived there a few weeks and did not own a snow shovel. Here's Greg attempting to make a dent:I don't know what he thought he could accomplish with that ice scraper, but you have to admire his optimism.

So now I'm off to make some cookies and play some Uno!