Winter Wonderland

It's difficult to truly get into the spirit of the Christmas season when the temperatures we mild.  At least that's the situation for me.  It just doesn't feel like Christmas time until the winter weather kicks in.  Give me some chilly temps and a few snow flurries and I start feeling like a happy little Christmas elf!

This past weekend, Winter decided to make its presence known a good two weeks before it's official arrival.   And this was no mild little cold front and some flurries. It was a full on winter storm with 10+ inches of snow!

All week long they had been predicting a slight chance of snow.  Maybe up to a half inch.  Nothing much at all, really.  By Thursday the weather man was saying... "perhaps 1 to 2 inches in some areas".

When I woke up Friday morning, that 1 to 2 inches they had predicted was already on the ground and the snow was pouring down.  At that point the forecast was for 3 to 6 inches.    And by 9am it was updated again to 6 to 9 inches.

By the time it was all said and done on Saturday - we ended up with over 10 inches of snow at our house!

The Week That Was

Here we are at Friday.  And to be completely honest with you - I have no idea how that happened.  No wait...  I mean, of course I know how that happened in a logical sense.  First it was Sunday evening,  then Monday and one day follows another, then...  BAM!  It's Friday.  Just like that.  But HOW did all that happen so fast?  That's what I don't get.

Sunday was, of course, Super Bowl Sunday.  And after what can only be described as an Ah-Ma-Zing  season, the Carolina Panthers were one game away from the big trophy.  Sadly, it was not to be.  And that's all I have to say about that.  The pain is still too fresh.

It seemed as if everyone around us was getting snowed upon this week; but all we saw was a bunch of flurries.  It's still at it this morning.  Or, it was...

The grand baby had a bout of the stomach flu mid-week.  I've never seen the little guy so sick.  But fortunately it was a brief 24 hour thing.  And no one else in the family has fallen ill.

Other than that, it was a quiet week.  No blizzards, hot water incidents, or flooding to deal with.  Thank goodness!

The Man of the House and I have plans tomorrow for an early Valentine's treat.  We plan to take advantage of our annual passes and visit the Biltmore Estate.  However, seeing that weather forecast has the high temperature as 26 degrees tomorrow, we are questioning the wisdom of that right now.  If we stick with the plan we might have the whole place to ourselves!

Hope you all have a wonderful weekend!

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Let It Snow, Let It Snow, Let It Snow (and snow, and snow, and...)

Let me just warn you right up front - this post might be  little heavy on the photos.  Because, you see, today is a snow day. And who doesn't enjoy snow pictures? If you're thinking that you personally don't care for snow pics, you should probably just go on and click to a different website.  We'll catch up on some other day.  As for the rest of you - Enjoy!

This is not just your typical southern "we got 3 inches of snow, y'all" kind of snow day.  This is bonafide!  It started out as sleet and freezing rain last night, switching over to snow after midnight.

When I woke up this morning there was already about 6 inches of snow on the ground.  It has kept coming down on and off all day.

We've enjoyed a quiet day with the entire family snowed in.  We've spent a great deal of time just watching  the snow fall and commenting on it frequently, and the female offspring made snow cream for the grand baby.  I have a big pot of vegetarian chili simmering on the stove and the Keurig has been busy all day long making warm beverages.

The bird feeder has been extra busy all day and we have enjoyed watching all our feathered friends.  Including a very bright cardinal and one very fat little ball of feathers who we decided looks very much as if he belongs in an Angry Birds game.

As of 4:00 this afternoon our very unofficial measuring tool tells us we are sitting in about 10 inches of the white stuff.  Which is still falling and expected to continue into tomorrow morning.

Yep,  I'm quite enjoying this weather!  As a matter of fact, I'm gonna go give the chili a stir, make myself another cup of tea and do a little reading.

Have a great evening everyone!  Stay safe and warm!

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Finally... Winter

As I write this Tuesday afternoon it is a whopping 24 degrees Fahrenheit here where I am located in western North Carolina.  That's the "official" air temperature.  Toss in the wind chill and it feels like half that.

publicdomainpictures.net

My outside thermometer says 27 degrees.  Keeping in mind that this is the time of day it usually tells me the temperature is a little warmer outside than actuality - due to things like radiant heating or something like that.  Things I'm not going to try to explain to you.  Mostly because I don't really understand it myself and no one likes to be schooled on something by someone who doesn't really know what they're talking about.  (There's a lesson many people still need to take notes on.  But that's a rant for another day...)

The point is:  Winter has finally arrived.  Finally! Which is just fine with me.

I'm not gonna lie.  Earlier today as I was reading a post from another blogger located in Texas; I had a tiny twinge of nostalgia for warmer weather as she described a weekend of grilled hamburgers and outdoor dining.  Then I remembered that we're looking at a snow chances later thus week and I perked right back up.

'Cause...  snow, y'all!  (fingers crossed)

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What Made Me Smile: Prints in the Snow

When it last snowed here on the day before Thanksgiving,  I was pleasantly surprised to look out on my back porch and see little bird footprints in the snow.

Wisdom From Oma

The day you really need to buy groceries will be the same day they call for snow - leading to that southern phenomena of a stampede on bread and milk at the store which you will have to wade through. 

Snow Much For Winter Storms

Last Thursday night we were under a Winter Storm Warning.  2 to 6 inches of snow were predicted for our county depending on elevation.  I, for one, was looking forward to it!  I like to see at least one reasonable snow fall each winter.  I shopped for groceries a day early and was all ready to bunker in for a snow day of resting and relaxing. 

Wanna see how much snow we got??

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Oh yeeeeeeh....  Just look at it!  That's right!  I can't wait to have a snowball fight, and sled, and build a snowman!

Welcome to winter in the southern Appalachian mountains.

It's (mostly) OK

Linking up with A Complete Waste of Makeup for It's OK Thursday

IT'S OK...

That sometimes I just want an hour or two alone

To hope it really does snow so I have a reason to be lazy and just write and craft all day

To let your kid cut school the day after exams

To start getting ready to go to the gym and decide to forget it because it's rainy, cold, and you have other things to get done.

To have a half dozen (or more) partially completed crochet, craft, and DIY projects

That there are two baskets of clean laundry waiting to be folded

A Snowball's Chance

It's not a big thing.  But for whatever reason it bothers me.  A LOT!

There's this DayQuil commercial on television featuring Drew Brees - quarterback for the New Orleans Saints.  Or maybe it's a commercial for NyQuil.  The exact product isn't the important part.  The point is that it shows him running in different weather elements.  One of which is a heavy snowfall. 

Um, WHAT?? 

Now, I know I'm not by any means an expert on the weather down there in the Big Easy.  But I feel pretty sure that heavy snowfall is NOT a common meteorological feature down along the Gulf Coast.