Mother Nature must be pissed. . .

So, this past weekend was not exactly what I was envisioning for my two days off that I get a week. When I heard they were predicting winter weather (4-7 inches of snow) I thought to myself, well that's nice, it'll be a good time to get things done around the house. We are remodeling the basement and have organization to do down there, cleaning, cooking, etc, etc. I envisioned myself cozily cuddled on the couch, watching a movie with Brady, sipping hot chocolate after going out and playing in the snow.

Boy, was I wrong.

When the 7 inches they were predicting through Saturday night had fallen by 7 pm Friday, I figured they had miscalculated. When Brady and I were watching the snow fall out the window and I saw the sky lighting up green I figured either the little green men were invading or the transformers were blowing. When the power officially went out at 10:30 pm with a foot of snow on the ground, I knew we were in for it.

After the house got down to the mid 50s Friday night, we went into survival mode. Luckily, my hoarder husband had an alternative fuel source that we fired up inside the house (air pollution be damned).

Saturday morning I went out and shoveled the 18 inches of snow that had fallen by then to expend nervous energy. I was determined to be optimistic. We live in a highly populated area and our power lines are UNDERGROUND for Pete's sake. Talking to my neighbor dimmed my enthusiasm a bit, as his dour prediction was that it would be an extended period of time before the power came back. I figured we would just wait and see.

When the power goes out, there is nothing left to do but socialize. We do that pretty well as a neighborhood anyway, but when there is nothing to look at but the dark, people start pouring out of their houses. I have said it before and I'll say it again, we have the best neighbors in the world. . neighbors that give unseen and intangible value to our house that cannot be measured. We had one neighbor who fired up the snow blower and cleared our sidewalk and part of our driveway. We had another neighbor who ventured out before the streets were even touched to help get supplies. Our neighbors across the street who hooked up a generator asked, multiple times, if we needed to stay with them.

Sunday we were still without power and decided to venture out to Mike's parents to shower, do laundry, warm up and live in the 21st century for a bit. I did not doubt for one minute that the power would be on when we got home (we had been out for over 36 hours by that point). Again. . .wrong. The roads were also still horrible. . .passable, but snow packed. Mike compared it to driving on the Alaska tundra. Not exactly what you want to be experiencing when you have precious cargo strapped into a car seat in the backseat.

However, through it all, Brady was miraculously unaffected by any of it. He had a fantastic weekend in fact. . . which goes to show that at the end of the day, all they need at this age is us.

We were awakened at 1:30 on Sunday morning by lights and beeping as the power finally came back on. But now, once again, I am in my house watching the snow fall outside. Part of me is very concerned that we are in for round 2, but then again I know if we are, there is nothing I can do to stop it anyway.

After all, I'm finding out, when the going gets tough, the tough start shoveling. . .

Things you never thought you would say. . .

(Note: I envision this being a multi-part series).

Don't lick the dog. Yucky.
Those cookies are for puppies, not for Bradys.
How would you like it if the doggie drank your water?
Poopy needs to go in the potty.
Where are your pants supposed to go? Not there, silly!
No, we can't wear your monkey jacket today. The monkeys are sleeping and we don't want to wake them up.

December Rush

Now that the holidays are over I feel like I can finally sit down and take a minute to breathe. They went exceptionally well this year. We got to visit with friends and family, we got to take some (much needed) time off work and most importantly, got to spend a lot of time with Brady.

He still doesn't quite grasp what all the hoopla is about, and doesn't yet understand Santa, but was enthralled with the Christmas tree and the ornaments. The few train ornaments we have he immediately dubbed "Tommy" and he loved the presents, which he calls "Happy Birthdays". By the time Christmas morning rolled around, he was saying Merry Christmas and was more than ready to rip into the "happy birthdays" that had been under the tree.

Speaking of those, I will remember 2009 as the year of the obnoxious noise-making toys. It seems like everything he got this year sings some little ditty which Brady delights in playing over and over.

Day after Christmas saw a few days worth of visits from my mom and dad, who, thankfully, brought toys that are both 1) self powered and 2) non-noise making. It was a great visit and Brady provided constant entertainment to my parents. Apparently the feeling was mutual as Brady has been asking where they are ever since they left.

New Year's Eve was uneventful and to be honest, I was in bed before midnight and don't regret the extra hours of sleep for one minute. The New Year itself started off a bit rocky as Brady woke up in a snit and was completely miserable for about and hour and a half before he snapped out of it. I never cease to marvel how a child can seem to almost get too much sleep, while I can't seem to ever get enough.

Tonight brings the end of our respective vacations, and with that our "normal" routines resume tomorrow. Back to work and daycare we go with New Year's resolutions, or lack thereof, hanging out there. . . hopefully 2010 will bring many good things.

My New Year's resolution involves running the Pittsburgh Half Marathon, which happens the first weekend in May. 13.1 miles is a LONG way to run for a girl who hates to run. However, I will be running it with some friends and my goal is merely to just finish. . .and maybe not to die in the attempt. :-)