How We Survived the Ice Storm

Well, we did it.

We survived.

Rainman stayed at a hotel for 2 nights, just a few shuffling blocks from work.  They fed him a few times - which was awesome for him, since he put in  a 14 hour day on Wednesday and a 12 hour day on Thursday. 

We had Pooh Bear stay over at our house.  I think he loved us.  We sure ended up loving him.  V-girl cried when he had to go home.  We all moped around the house a bit after he left....even me.  He is a good, quiet, well behaved dog.  (Pssst....Cindy, if you need us to watch him again....you know where we live!)

(Can you see him tucked in right next to A-man?)

We pulled the little girls mattress off their bed and had a camp-out in my room.  D-man declined to join us.  But, he missed out....we had a lot of fun.  (Don't tell Rainman, but we were all a little sad when he came home and everyone had to go back to their own beds!)


We got sleet, freezing rain, and snow.

It sounded like Minnesota.  You know that hushed, peaceful sound of......snow.

It looked  like Minnesota.  (Granted this was a small amount of "Minnesota")

It even smelled like Minnesota.  The cold, crisp air felt really good in my lungs.  You forget those kinds of sensations when you don't have them anymore.  I suppose it is a little bit like going back to your old elementary school and remembering its smell (that you didn't even realize it had when you went there).

I loved it.

Thankfully, we never lost power at our house.  It flickered and went off a few times, but came right back on.  We held our breath everytime....because being housebound and able to watch the Olympics and Hallmark movies you have taped is waaaaay different than being housebound with only boardgames and candles to occupy yourselves!  Although the kids were equal parts fascinated/horrified about how I told them we would be flushing toilets if we lost power.  I kind of wish I would have gotten to demonstrate for them.  :)

I really didn't let the kids go out too much because I was afraid of them being hit with a falling branch because the limbs were so heavy with ice.  They did a little skating around the yard/sidewalk/driveway....but I was too nervous to let them just enjoy it for long.

We lost a lot of branches, but no actual trees.

So, all in all....it was good.  Mean homeschooling mom that I am/was, we went ahead with our normal lesson plan and got school in.  I did break my no t.v. during the week ban though, since we weren't sure we were going to continue to have electricity....so, it was all good!

Thanks for your prayers and well wishes for us during the ice storm.

Ice-Aggedon 2014

Well, we are hunkering down for our 2nd big battle of this winter.

We are expecting freezing rain/ice in the next 24 hours.


Yesterday, there were no grocery carts available....at Publix



or Kroger....



no milk....




no bread....no eggs....no bananas even...

.
(Photos courtesy of I Heart McDonough Facebook page)

Rainman has been called into work 2 days earlier than his next shift was scheduled....so, he is heading in tonight and  will be staying at a hotel, 2 blocks from work. 

The kids and I will brave the storm from home.

I am just praying that we don't lose power.  This house has an electric stove....so no using a lighter to use the stove anymore.  We have a little bit of propane left in our grill....so we can use that a bit....but probably not too much. 

To complicate things even further, we are dog sitting for a friend who lives in our neighborhood....but their house is up and down a few really big hills that I am sure will be undrivable with the ice.  We have talked about possibility trying to bring the dog to our house....but aren't sure how this 15 year old dog, who lives with a quiet couple, would adjust to a new house with 6 kids....we will see what happens.

I will let you know how we do....hopefully with a few pictures.

Just pray that we don't actually lose power....we are hoping to entertain ourselves with a lot of Olympic coverage and the snacks we were able to grab at Kroger! 

Snowmaggedon 2014

I live in Georgia.

Did you hear we had a little snow storm here recently?

Coming from Minnesota, it really was a "little" snow storm.  It started with a little sleet that turned into snow.  Where I live we got maybe 3 inches.  In the Atlanta area, they got probably 2 inches.

And here is the result....when you live in Georgia.



And this wasn't an exaggeration.  We had friends that were truly stuck on the freeways and roads for 17 hours for what would have normally been a 30-45 minute drive!

At our house, we were pretty happy.  The storm and its aftermath have landed on Rainman's days off, so we just sat around here and enjoyed the snow and ice.  The kids went sledding with my cookie sheets.  They had snowball fights.  Even though my constant mantra was "no throwing at anyone's face!"....we had a few "incidents" and even one that involved blood from being hit in the face with the snow.

Our neighbors were wonderful.  One of them let the kids sled in their yard/driveway when they wore away all the snow in our yard.  She also took pictures for me, because my battery pack in my new to me camera (by the way....thanks Alison and Justin....seriously...this camera has been a total blessing to us!) has died and won't recharge....and I can't get to the store to get a new one!

(The little boy in front is a neighbor.)

 

 

 

 

(D-man took some pictures with his new, fancy, phone he got for himself....but I don't know how to get them.....so I will maybe put up some more pictures later.)

Another neighbor saw them out there and gave them a big bucket of hot chocolate mix.  The coolest thing for me is that it was the same kind my mom used to make when I was little.  None of that store bought nonsense for us!

Thanks to my new Keurig from my friend, Sherri, we had a constant supply of hot water for it.  It was wonderful and creamy.  I loved it.  It brought back memories for me.  My little kids didn't like it as much, being totally used to store bought packets.  My big kids loved it.

Our area has essentially been shut down since Tuesday.  No school, no mail, no garbage pick up.  Most stores are not open.  It makes for a quiet, peaceful way of life.  No rushing around.  No running to the store for things that are "necessary".

Just time spend hanging out.  We have watched a Brady Bunch marathon. (We have all decided, with the exception of Rainman, that we need an Alice!)  We have played Scattergories.  We have had ping pong tournaments.  The kids have spent countless hours trudging in and out of the house to warm up and dry off their mittens in front of the fire.

I have piles of damp socks, mittens, boots, and articles of clothing, scattered in various places.  I forgot what that smelled like.....until I was once again surrounded by it! 

Yes, I have buttoned, unzipped, rezipped, helped with boot removal and replacement more times than I can count.....even though I repeatedly uttered the phrase, "Go potty before you go out."  But, you know what?  I am fine with that.

They love it.  They are having fun.  D-man on down to V-girl have had a blast. 

The big kids have been telling the littles about storms and sledding in Minnesota.....tales of tall snowmen and icicles taller than a person, cheeks that hurt from the cold, or when it hurts to actually breathe.... to tales of woe and broken legs from sledding on "homemade" ice that they made with their cousin.....on a path that led right to the wooden swingset in the backyard.  Explaining the virtues of snow pants, "real" mittens and gloves, and actual snow boots.  (Mine are wearing those one-size fits all thing gloves or socks or a combination, rubber boots and cowboy boots - because we gave away ALL our snow gear/toys when we moved).

Once again, this has reminded me what a pretty world we live in, and that we need to slow down and live our lives....together....

Christmas Our Way

I love beautiful Christmas decorations and even "themed" Christmas trees.  I have friends and family that have gorgeous trees that have evenly spaced lights and ornaments that all go together.  They are lovely.  Really, they are.

Our decorations are not "themed".....unless you count "kid" as a theme.

Here is our tree....

I know....it is sort of jumbled mess, isn't it?  I love it!

Our most important ornament....

....reminds us who and what the Christmas season is really all about!

Get a load of our outdoor decorations....

Yup, people come in from all over the state to drive by our place at night!  It is truly a sight to behold!

The closest thing we have to "nice" decorations are my village that I got at Sam's Club sometime in the early 1990's....I think....

And this Nativity set that I think I got as a gift from my sister-in-law (I think she got it at Sam's Club too)

In a Christmas miracle, the kids have only broken one wise man's head off....the one right behind the donkey!  (You can hardly tell, thanks to this mother's best friend, Super Glue!)

My mom made this for us....

I do have a kid friendly nativity since little hands can't seem to keep themselves from handling baby Jesus and (as noted above) the wise men!

Thanks to my friend, Sherri and her daughter, E, we rediscovered the joy of making paper snowflakes this year.  Which, since we live in Georgia, has the added bonus of being the only possible way we will see snowflakes at Christmas time.

So, from our "kid" Christmas house to yours....Merry Christmas and...

Peace on Earth....Goodwill Toward Men!

Okay...Here is a Random One...

I can't put together a coherent post today - so I will just put together a little random post.

1.  Thanks for everyone making me feel better about letting my kids have cereal for breakfast.  I really was starting to wonder if I was the only one doing it.  It was those darn freezer cooking....plan ahead menu websites...with their breakfast menus of waffles and egg sandwiches that got me all paranoid.  But anyway, thanks for the input and uplifting encouragement that I wasn't scarring my kids for life!

2..  We are in a food co-op and at our last pick up day - we got a big bag of frozen breaded okra.  My neighbor who is also in the co-op was VERY excited.  She loves okra....would eat it everyday if she could kind of love.  She gave a little tutorial on how to fry up the little suckers.  Long story short,  I enjoy fried okra.  To me, it sorted tastes like broccoli....brocolli...you know that green tree kind of vegie?  I don't feel like looking it up in a dictionary - you know what I mean, right?  The rest of the family is pretty much split down the middle with half liking it and half kind of indifferent to it. Since all the kids are huge vegie lovers, it doesn't worry me at all. 

But, we have all started calling it something other than its God given name lately.  S-Girl announced after her first bite...."I love Oprah!  Can I have some more?"  So, yes....we now eat a little deep fried vegetable and call it Oprah.

3.  The kids got one of these for Christmas...

 S-Girl has once again renamed an item in our house.  She calls it the "Spit and Sin".  If you didn't catch it the first time - slow down and read it again.....

4.  We lived in a house with 3 bedrooms in Minnesota and when we moved to Georgia, we upgraded to a 4 bedroom house.  We figured with 6 kids, that would be two people per bedroom, right?  Instead, this is what my kids like to do....

Can you tell there are 5 people sleeping in this room?  Yes, 5!  Maybe this shot will help you see a bit better...

See?  Three kids in one twin bed!  They did this by choice and they picked the smallest bedroom for some reason!?!  If they could, they would have a slumber party together every night.  Sometimes we let them because it is so funny to hear them breaking into giggles and cracking each other up.  Sometimes we yell that everyone has to be in their own rooms.  Much whining and asking for second chances ensues.  I have to assume this is one of the things from their childhood that they will remember!

5.  A-Man lost his very first tooth last week.

He looks kind of puffy and beaten up in this photo and his tooth area is still a little bloody...sorry....but he pulled it out himself and was very excited even though there was blood which usually sends this rough and tough guy straight into Sissyville!

6.  This is what we grown ups did during Georgia's recent snow storm....insert dramatic newsworthy music here.....


aka, Total State Shut Down 2011

It is a glow in the dark puzzle of the Las Vegas skyline....very cool and very hard.

I will put together a post on what the kids in our house did during the Total State Shut Down 2011 next time!