Iced In for Days!

     Ok, this is the 4th day we have been stuck at home.  It started sleeting on February 1st.  There were very high winds, thunder, sleet, and snow!  I woke up at 2:30, when I thought I heard water running somewhere in the house but it was sleet pounding on the windows.  It was strange hearing thunder with snow.  Its been almost into the single digits during the nights.  Our water in the well-house froze but Jon managed to get it going again.  He had taken precautions and wrapped all the outdoor pipes and other things like preparing the anti-freeze in the vehicles but still, it froze.  The first night the wind caught the back door and busted out the lower window.  It is sitting in the frame still in giant shards, a few on the ground.  Last night it snowed again.  At least it wasn't more ice.  I think we only got an inch or two, but the storm system is coming back, so who knows what the total will be.  Our food seems to be holding out ok.  We haven't missed a meal which is unusual since it seems we are always having to run to Wal-Mart for food.
     Schools have been closed everywhere for 4 days now.  News reports that parents are about to go bonkers being stuck at home with kids for that long.  The big babies!  I'm here every day.  Friends on Facebook complain about cabin fever after two days.  Jonathan didn't even feel like he was getting cabin fever.  I told him it's because the people who complain, are always out and running around, going here and there.  They aren't used to sitting home.  But we are, so for two days it doesn't bother us too much.  After 4 days though I'm starting to worry.  If the food runs low is my only concern.
     They had to do rolling brown-outs on the second day because the demand for electricity was so great.  Whole sections of cities would suddenly just lose power.  It was supposed to be for 15 minutes, but sometimes it was an hour, two, or more.  Also some people had no electricity because of the ice and wind damage to power lines and transformers.
     It sure has been a mess here.  Jon tried to leave yesterday but didn't get very far.  He said cars were in the way trying to cross that first little bridge on Silver Creek, some in ditches or blocking the road.  So he managed to get back home safely without trying to go past all the others having trouble.  Last year we had tons of snow, it was so pretty but at least it wasn't ice.  The cities (big ones like Ft. Worth) don't worry so much about the side roads or residential areas.  They try to sand or salt the main highways and overpasses.  They were getting in sand/salt from many other areas of Texas because they couldn't keep up with the demand.  Yesterday they showed on the news, 8 snowplows scraping the ice off of the highways in a convoy, side by side.  Since you don't see snow plows in Texas, that is just very unusual.  They had to borrow them from other communities that do get snow.  We are a small city and I haven't seen any city trucks at all on these back roads.
     The main news (according to the tv)  is that this is the first year that the Super Bowl will be here and oh, no, how will this affect people getting here, shopping, partying, etc.?  That is all the news talks about.  The celebrities who are having trouble getting here, and then once here, yada, yada, yada.... I know all the tourist type businesses and restaurants have prepared to have a whooping sales boost because of all the fans from other states coming in but for 3 days everything has been pretty much frozen and at a stand-still.  Those that do venture out are really risking it.
     Vendors have had to make new plans and move things to other times and places if they could.

Trouble Sleeping, Birthdays & Funerals

Jon had to perform a funeral today for his uncle R.D. and it was during a thunderstorm.  Jon said the women who were in heels were sinking in the mud.  It was so wet Jon was worried that where the grave was dug under the casket, that the whole thing could cave in.  He was under an awning but even standing on the artificial turf carpet, he said the carpet was sinking with the weight of feet.  Jon's suit got all wet.  I was going to go but my head and face have been hurting all day.  When we were at the funeral home for the visitation yesterday, his other uncle had a stroke.  We were wondering why they hadn't appeared at the funeral home so that explains it. So Jon went to the hospital to visit him before going to the funeral.

I've been very busy trying to get a new church website put together, trying to get the house cleaned and homeschooling.  Once the weather gets warmer, I think I'll be more up to cleaning.  I get cold and can't get moving.

Wendy went to Oklahoma with Jennifer for 4 days and I didn't even know about it.  Soon she will be going to Tennessee to visit Lori & Nate.  We will be going in May to celebrate Suzy's birthday.
We went to Kennedy's birthday party yesterday.  She turned 7.  Today is Lisa's birthday, Wendy's is Wednesday, and mine is Sunday.  Dad's was on the 17th.

I've been having so much trouble sleeping.  It seems like for the last year or two its been happening.  I'll fall asleep, maybe for half an hour or hour, then I see something and I wake up screaming and trying to get away.
What I see is almost always the same.  Black lines, squiggly black, moving lines.  Thin, thread-like lines.  Either coming down out of the ceiling, down along the walls, or on the closet door.  One time it was something orange coming out from the crack in the closet door toward me.  Sort of like an orange plant thing.  Two nights ago it was just one string thing slithering down the door.  I screamed loud and wanted to wake Jon in my panic but I didn't.  He didn't even hear me scream.  But my heart was pounding hard.  I sleep better in the living room.  So I slept there last night and again I will sleep there tonight.  I've been staying up too late though.  It is rough when you can't sleep.   
I'll write more later.  I'm tired now.

It's Still Cold, Even in the House!

I am so ready for spring to get here; will the cold never go away?  We had 2 days in the '50s but now it is rainy again and has dropped to a bone-chilling temp.  Our electric heaters are having to work overtime.  This house is old, built in the '70s.  It is drafty around doors & windows.  These windows aren't like the new ones people put into houses for energy savings.  To me, it feels like a sheet of saran wrap instead of glass.  I can feel air blowing in around the doors and outlets.  We've even taped along where the door closes and all the other edges of the door to block the wind. It was nice when we replaced all the old carpeting with floor tiles, but they are cold in winter.  Oh well, it supposed to get nicer this week.
This is the first day of March, a busy month in our family.
Birthdays:

• My sister Lisa, March 8
• My daughter Wendy, March 10
• My birthday March 14
• Kennedy March 16
• My dad's birthday March 17
• My anniversary (of my first marriage) March 18

I'll be heading to 52 this year.  I don't know what happened, one day I was young and now I'm not.
I feel like I've lived for a very long time, but at the same time, I don't feel like its been long at all.
I feel like I've lived different lives also, BUT not like those strange people who believe in past lives!  I mean different phases of my life.

• Childhood
• new bride at 19
• a mother to two daughters
• a widow
• a single mom to two teen daughters
• a college student
• a new bride again at age 37
• new mom again
• home-school teacher
• pastor's wife
• mother of the bride twice
• grandma...

Time goes on, so who knows what surprises the years ahead will bring, only God.

Snow Storm!

I spoke too soon in my previous post, saying, "At least we aren't in the D.C. snowstorm"  The sky unleashed about 12 inches of snow on us overnight.
Can you imagine that much snow in Texas?  This year we broke the record for snowfall in the past 32 years.  Oncor stated that at the moment there are 70,000 people without electricity because of the giant tree limbs that have been falling onto power limbs.  This left many people without electricity to run their heaters or appliances.

Luckily we still have lights but with our power pole leaning (see previous posts), who knows for how long the lights will stay on. 
It started leaning after the Christmas Eve snow which stayed around for about 7 days.  It just saturated the ground so much that the pole started leaning.  Then we've had many days of rain after that.  This pole has been leaning since January 1st and it continues to lean more each day it seems.
Oncor came out to check, started a work order.  About 3 days later a crew came out and marked utilities that were located under the ground.  A few days later 3 guys came out and dug around the pole.  The ground was so saturated that the hole kept filling up with water and caving in, so they had to quit.  A day or two later another man came from the company and he pretty much said the ground was too wet to do any work on it.  Now with the snow piled up about a foot, it may take a few days to melt, which will saturate the ground even more, causing the pole to continue its lean.  The only thing keeping it from falling is that there are wires attaching it to two other poles.

Christmas Morn

Today in the town of David a Savior has been born to you; He is Christ the Lord.                           Luke 2:11

Merry Christmas!   It snowed and the wind howled all day & night on Christmas Eve.  This is a picture of my backyard around 10:00 p.m.   The wind was blowing so strong that the snow was going sideways.  Sounded like the roof was shaking sometimes.  It looked like one of those movies about people lost in the mountains during a blizzard.  It was like a white-out at times.

What a great day we had on Christmas Eve.  It was so peaceful and relaxed around here.  We aren't a large family now that the 3 other kids are grown, but we still enjoyed being homebound in a storm with each other.  It just seemed special to me yesterday. 

Wendy and Hector were supposed to come over about 5:00 p.m. for turkey dinner and to exchange gifts.  But the roads and temps were supposed to get worse around that time so it was decided by all for them not to try to come over.  They will be here today once the roads get thawed and the temp rises a bit.  The meal was delicious turkey, potatoes, gravy, dressing, and green beans.  I didn't put the rolls in the oven because we will save those for when Wendy gets here today.  She loves those brown & serve rolls; I think they are her favorite part of the meal. 

Jon won't let us open gifts until Christmas morning so Jonathan was itching to get this one gift from Wendy & Hector last night.  Jon was busy in the kitchen cooking something and being pestered constantly about opening a gift.  Finally he announced  we could open all the gifts after we eat!!!  I was so excited, like a little kid!!!

I got a couple of Knifty Knitters, 3 skeins of yarn, a new cd/dvd external disk drive for my computer, 2 sweaters, a sweater dress (which will be returned: sweater dresses show every bulge!), Julie & Julia movie (from Jonathan), and a few other items that I don't remember right now.

I really am glad to get the knitting looms.  I had bought one for Lori for Christmas and wanted one myself (wanted one for years).  Well, I've got it now so I'm a happy camper! 

Jonathan is outside playing in the frozen wonderland, probably needing sunglasses because of the glare of sun shining on the snow.  It looks so pretty right now but I know in a little bit it will be a muddy mess  :-(

Is It Still Winter???

OK, I love winter in some ways.  Beautiful heaps of snow covering everything.  Everything looks clean and new.  Love it but in this house, we don't have central heat/air and do have tile floors.  It always seems chilly to me.  There are 3 electric heaters and one central gas heater but it always is cold to me.  Especially when I see pictures of snow and ice.  BRRRR......

I grew up in Maryland/Pennsylvania and thought snow was wonderful when I was little.  In Texas, we don't get it as often as the northern states.  When it happens here, snow or sleet, everything pretty much comes to a stand-still.  Everything becomes still and quiet.  No outdoor noises, it's all cushioned with snow. Oh the peacefulness that seems to come to the world for just a few days, it's great.

At least in this small town, it is still, but if you turn on the tv though you hear of all the people in the "city" who are trying to drive in it.  What a mess they cause.  I don't know why people feel they can handle it when they aren't used to it.  They end up spinning and landing in ditches everywhere.

Of course the cat doesn't like going out in it.  I don't blame him.  I don't even go out in it if I don't have to.