Storm Preparations

We are all settled in here at home, waiting to be snowed in. Let's see if this winter storm actually lives up to all the hype! Forecasters are predicting massive amounts of snow. So far we have about 5 inches, I would say, although about an inch of that is left over from the last snow. I've been keeping up with the forecast on the Capitol Weather Gang site , where they are predicting snowfall of 1-3 inches an hour for the night. To get ready for all this expected snow, we of course made some preparations last week.

1. I went to Sams and Walmart on Tuesday. Actually, this was just a happy coincidence, because Luke, Caleb, and Jonathan were at co-op, and Nathan was at home with the girls, so it was a good time to do my regularly scheduled shopping. It just seems like I was really organized and avoided all the crowds! Of course, I had to go BACK to Walmart Thursday, however. This was because Wednesday night Caleb, God bless him, called down while getting ready for bed to announce that he was out of Zyrtec. I told him we should have several more bottles in the closet in his bathroom because the last time I bought some, I bought like 6 bottles. Nope--those were all gone. I asked if ALL the medicine in the last bottle was also gone. Yep--totally empty. Grrrr. I was quite frustrated. I asked rather pointed questions about how the Zyrtec fairy was supposed to know to bring us more Zyrtec if he never. told. anyone. he was running out of bottles. Good grief. So anyhow I had to brave crazy Walmart crowds of people getting bread so I could get Zyrtec! Six more bottles!

2. I cleaned out one side of the garage so we could move my van inside. We haven't had my van inside since um . . . late spring? Early summer? A long time, anyhow. The last time we had a huge snowfall, when we were in PA, we had my van in the driveway, Bob's van in the street where we usually park the big van, and we were of course in the big van. Bob's van was totally buried from the snowplow, and it took about a week before we could get it out. So I decided that this time we would put my van in the garage so we would have room in the driveway for both Bob's van and the big van. Plus, this means less driveway to shovel. The big van takes up a lot of driveway real estate!

3. I did 6 loads of laundry, and we found all the flashlights. So we have clean clothes, plus light to see by when putting them on, in case of a power outage. Since this snow is so very wet and heavy, I wouldn't be surprised if that did happen. Our lights have flickered a few times, but they stayed on so far. The boys think that would be very exciting, but I think it would get cold in here! Plus, I like hot food.

Hmmmm . . . I guess that's all we've done. I baked banana bread, and Bob and I made sure to lay in plenty of ice cream supplies when we were out Wednesday night (we had a romantic date at Home Depot). So we're definitely set. The kids have all already been out playing outside, and they are looking forward to a weekend of snowy fun! The last time it snowed, I mentioned on my Facebook page that I was getting out the beach towels to deal with all the wet mess. A friend of mine who lives in Colorado said that she puts down an old plastic lined tablecloth on the floor with the plastic side down. I thought that was a great idea! We actually have an old tablecloth like that, which we use for picnics when the ground is wet. So I have brought that in, and it is in full use now. Keep the snow coming! We're ready!

P.S. If you have read this far, then let me fill you in on what we decided about the assignment. After much angst and going back and forth, we decided we would stay here and not move. Bob resubmitted his paperwork, faxing it is twice just to make sure. Nathan asked, "If the papers come back again, then will we move?" LOL, I guess that would for sure be a clear sign!