Dream Come True

When the children were little I remember getting "cabin fever" even before they did. I just needed to get out of the house!! Now that I have teenagers I find we spend so much time out and about that my new "dream day" would be to stay home with all of my family for an entire day wearing pajamas and doing nothing but hanging around. That sounds heavenly!!

Last week a major storm system arrived in our area.  The temperature plummeted 60+ degrees. The temperature did not get above freezing for several days. Along with the cold temps came ice, straight ice and lots of it. North Texans are not used to this type of weather.

Here is the thing, it was still warm when the storm arrived so the first of the precipitation was rain, then the sun went down and everything froze. On top of that, we had even more freezing rain and sleet. The result was 2-3 inches of ice. There are very few snowplows in the area because we get a storm like this every two to three years so it isn't a high priority on city budgets. A number of people from this area don't know how to drive on icy roads and those of us who have lived farther north know better and don't want to drive on icy roads. In the end, it is just easier if everyone stays home if possible until the temps warm up and the ice thaws. Schools were closed, all church meetings were cancelled, businesses did not open, roads were closed. The city came to a standstill.

When we woke up the next morning, this is what we found. Everything was coated in ice.

The girls took full advantage of the snow day and break from school to play outside. Gratefully, we still had proper attire since we moved all our snow gear down with us. We just don't pull it out very often.

They soon discovered it was not snow. It was ice and only ice. That made it less fun but, they still enjoyed playing outside. At one point I noticed the girls were simply playing with an ice scraper. How fitting!!

They weren't the only ones that learned to improvise. Friends and neighbors posted photos of the children using cookie sheets, cardboard, pool tubes, laundry baskets, and tote lids as sleds. Any tiny little hill became a gigantic snow sledding event.

The ice didn't melt for days. Life stood still for four days. As the ice started to melt on the fourth day, the girls went sledding. Is it still considered sledding if you only use a piece of cardboard? Even then, they didn't even really need the cardboard.

Long time readers know that I am not a fan of winter, snow, and cold temperatures. Winter is best enjoyed standing inside a warm house looking out the window while drinking hot chocolate. This card sums up my feelings on winter....

We were grateful that we had power. There were 500,000 people that at one point that did not have power. We had plenty of food. I stopped by the store while I was out running errands the day before the storm arrived. Apparently, I wasn't the only one......

This isn't so far from the truth. It wasn't quite this bad, but the shelves were getting pretty bare. It took almost a week for Target to get milk back on the shelves.

As the days came to a close I loved the effects the ice had on our outdoor lighting.

My dream day turned into a dream weekend. It became the never ending snow day  A four day weekend where we stayed in sweats and pajamas and didn't leave the house. I was pleasantly surprised that I quite enjoyed the wonderfully cold, icy, days. They were actually a dream come true.