This is me...

 

...thanks to the first real snow of the season.  When all is said and done, by the morning, we could have as much as 19 inches on the ground.

This snow, however, is really making me miss my Buster.  I can see him right now, running, jumping, just generally frolicking in the mounds of snow in the yard.  He was always happiest in this kind of weather, and would instantly become that playful puppy again.

~~sigh~~

Magnum and I spent quite a bit of time clearing snow today.  He actually plowed twice here at home.  He went out early, before church, and did our driveway and sidewalk, as well our neighbor's.  By the time we got home from church, it looked like he hadn't done a thing.  We went to my parents' and took care of their driveway and sidewalk, before coming home and doing ours again.  It was a tiring, chilly few hours, but it was a good workout.  Plus, it looks so darn pretty out there!  Ok, I'll stop now, before Jen reaches through her computer and smacks the crap out of me. :-/

Oh, one last thing.  Stud and I will both be enjoying a Snow Day tomorrow.  Love it!! =)

Brrrr....

It seems we're dealing with the polar vortex again.  It's currently -6 here, windchill of -24.  It's going to get colder as the night goes on, and the windchill is supposed to be around -40 tomorrow.  My parents are supposed to be flying out at 7:25am to Tampa, FL (Hi, Suz!) so I'm praying their flight isn't cancelled.  Believe it or not, CPS cancelled school today, and already announced tomorrow is cancelled, too.  Between the two days this week and the two from the first polar vortex experience, the school year is going to extend into July!

I guess that's all I really have to say for now.  Well, except for......



I got a job.




No, no joke.  I'll be back to share the details when my teeth stop chattering, and my fingers aren't numb.

Ahhh...it's cooled off rather nicely...

I'm sure some of you have heard about the crazy weather we've been having here recently.  Lex snapped these pictures on Friday at my parents' house.  You know, while I was shoveling!!!  The little jerk...

He was fascinated with the icicles hanging off the garage.

This kind of weather always brings out the puppy in Buster.  It's like The Fountain of Youth for him. =)

This is what I woke up to on Sunday.  I didn't really have time to deal with it before church.  Plus, Magnum was in bed, sick, so I was on my own.

After church, I went straight to my parents' house and shoveled again.  It was really hard this time, as the weather was much more severe than it was on Friday.  Every time I moved a shovelful of snow, the wind would blow it right back in my face.  After finishing at my parents', I went home to do our driveway, only to find Magnum up and dressed, and heading out to do his parents' driveway.  I convinced him to let me go with him.  From there, we came home and did ours, as well as the neighbors.  Let me tell you, my back, shoulders and arms are really feeling it today.  It's ok, since I didn't get to the gym.  Although, I am seriously tempted to go to the gym solely for a massage.  I'm hurtin'!

Today, we've broken records for the cold we're experiencing.  The actual temperature is about -18,  with a windchill of about -41.  Our high, which happened right after midnight, was -3, which was a record-breaker.  Then, the "official" low, -16, was also a record-breaker. 

We knew this was coming, so many suburban schools decided last Friday that they were going to cancel school for today.  But, CPS said no, school will be in session.  Shocking. 

But, THEN, around 5pm yesterday, they changed their tune.  Apparently, the union president, a powerhouse names Karen Lewis, basically TOLD him, school must be closed!!  For the safety and well-being of the children, they need to stay home.  In this weather, it takes less than 10 minutes to get frost-bite.  You can't have kids walking to and from school, or waiting on bus stops.  I'm waiting to hear what they decide for tomorrow, as this wacky weather is going to still be around.

Oo, as I was typing this, they broke into the programming with a news conference about the weather.  School is cancelled for tomorrow!  I'm seriously shocked!  Too bad they're going to have to make up both of these days in June. =(  But, hey, I WON'T!!!  =)

And so it begins....

Dorky Dog just woke me up to let him out. It's just after 6:30 am (thank you Mr. Margarita for helping me sleep in!) and my weather widget says -1. The actual temp is supposed to plummet today. I turned the morning news show on when Buster woke me up, and the weather guys just said the windchill factor is going to remain around -15 all day. That's actually much warmer than originally predicted. The other day they were calling for ACTUAL temps between -5 and -20, with windchills as low as -40.

Guess what I'm enjoying...

...after an awesome dinner.
That, my friends, is one of the BEST margaritas I have EVER made!! Look at how perfectly thick it is. My straw stands straight up!! I had lots of leftovers from my Girls' Night last Friday, so I figured, what the hell, today's a SNOW DAY!! Enjoy yourself, ChiTown!!

I made a freakin' awesome dinner, if I do say so myself. It's actually the same stuff I made last Wednesday when the girls from school came over. My favorite crock pot chicken recipe, and the Mexican/Spanish (?) rice my mother-in-law taught me how to make over 25 years ago. YUM!! I really outdid myself tonight, and it was 10 times better than what I made last week. Hell, it was the best I've ever made. I stuffed myself with chicken and rice, and now I'm washing it all down my gullet with a smooth, creamy margarita. What could be better?

Timelapse of West Beverly Chicago Blizzard of 2011

Bestest Friend just sent me this video. TOTALLY COOL!!!


(West Beverly is a neighborhood, not too far from my own. One of Stud's besties lives there. For those who aren't in the know, Chicagoans refer to their neighborhood when telling people where they live, as the city is so HUGE, you can't just say, "I live in Chicago.")

Oh my freakin' hell, NO WAY!!!! (updated)

WE'RE GETTING ANOTHER SNOW DAY!!!

I can't even believe it!! I just received a call from Stud's school, letting me know that they were canceling school tomorrow, and as I was hanging up, my cell phone rang. It was Bestest Friend (have I ever mentioned that she is also a CPS teacher?) telling me that CPS also canceled school! WHAT?!?! As I was talking to her, I got 3 text messages from other friends telling me the same thing. I'm seriously in shock. Hell, they might as well give us Friday off, too, since it doesn't make sense to make us come in for one day, then have the weekend off, right? Stud is going to enjoy a lovely 5 1/2 day weekend, and he couldn't be happier.

I have a feeling that tomorrow's day off has more to do with the plunging temperatures that are predicted. Truthfully, I don't care WHY they made the decision, I'm just going to enjoy the blessing.

*UPDATE* This was recently posted on the online version of The Chicago Sun Times. Also, New Principal sent out an email to the staff asking us to let her know if we think we'll be able to make it in on Friday. The principals are all supposed to poll their staff, then let CPS know. I'm sure this will play a big part in their decision about whether or not to open school on Friday. You KNOW I told her I probably wouldn't be able to make it, right?

He never ceases to amaze me... (updated)

I was sitting on my bed, talking to Bestest Friend, when I heard a snowblower in my neighbor's driveway. I assumed it was the guy across the street, who usually shovels/snowblows for her. Suddenly, massive amounts of snow were being thrown against my bedroom window. I didn't really give it too much thought, since I knew it was being thrown from the machine. I did, however, get up after a few minutes to look out the window, and saw several of my neighbors out shoveling in front of their houses. As I joked with Bestest Friend about my industrious neighbors, and my ABSOLUTE laziness, I wandered out to my living room. I took a peek out my front door and saw this:

Oh my hell, it was CSJ!!! I had been listening to the snowblower for about 30 minutes at this point, but like I said, I assumed it was my neighbor.


He literally just left. All told, I think he was out there for nearly 3 hours. He did pretty much the whole section of street in front of my house, my neighbors' sidewalks on both sides of me, and both their driveways. My driveway is crazy big for a typical Chicago lot (it's a double-wide, and about 100 feet long, if not more) so it took him a while. He must have had his dad drop him off, and he used his snowblower, which is a really nice one.

Right before he left, I suddenly heard a loud "BOOM" on the side of my house, which scared the shit out of me! I ran to Stud's room to try and look out the window, but couldn't see anything. I then went to the front window, while there was another 'boom.' When I looked out, I saw a truck, with a plow, barreling down my driveway, toward the street. He did it a couple more times, then pulled out into the street, got out, and yelled something to CSJ, then left.
*UPDATE* I just got the scoop from CSJ. I guess his dad met this guy at the gas station, and asked him to come to my house and plow. But, by the time they got there (because my FIL got stuck) CSJ was already pretty much finished. He made a couple of passes, but there was hardly any snow that needed to be removed. My FIL still paid him $30 because the guy waited around while my FIL was stuck.

There was also a big truck with a trailer parked in the street. It was CSJ's dad, who came back to pick him up. I am ever so thankful to the both of them. Except now, I have no excuse to not go to work tomorrow, since now I can get out of my garage. tee hee!

Blizzard of 2011

Ok, here are just a couple of crappy pictures, because my camera keeps dying on me. Plus, I can't get out my front door to take any good pictures!

This is what was happening last night, when I told you that snow was seeping under my back door.


Dorky Dog decided to wake me up around 2 am to go out again, and this is what the door looked like then. Thankfully, I was able to open it again after Stud forced it shut.
This is the snow drift that formed up against my garage door. You can see that by 2am, it was more than half-way up my door.
This is what the door looked like at 7am when I let Dorky Dog out again. It's about 3/4 of the way covered at this point. I hope I don't have to go anywhere anytime soon!! Crap, what if we have school tomorrow?!
This was the view from my kitchen window of what my neighbor's driveway and side of her house looks like.
This is her garage door covered in it's own drift. I don't know if you can see the huge drift between her yard and her other neighbor's yard. It's as high as the chain link fence that separates their yards. Try clicking on it for an enlarged view.I tried to get some video for you, but it's pretty crappy. It was way too snowy and the wind gusts were too strong to actually go outside, so I tried to take it from my kitchen window.

This was taken from my bedroom window. I don't think you can really see anything because it's so dark. I was trying to capture how strong the wind was blowing. We had wind gusts that hit 60 mph.

I wish I could have gotten my damn camera to turn on while it was thundering and lightening. THAT was quite a show!!

I know it's a snow day, but I think I'm going to go wake Stud up. It's already 10:30 here. That's plenty late to sleep in, don't you think? I have a feeling they may get another snow day tomorrow. They were sent home early yesterday, just like I had predicted. My poor baby sat at school for over 2 hours waiting to be picked up. The automated message I received on my phone said that they were being dismissed at 2pm, and that classes were canceled for Wednesday. They will be following a 'mass schedule' on Thursday (30 minute classes, with a full mass in the middle of the day, dismissal at 2pm) and then there is no school Friday because of a teacher institute day. So, I wouldn't be at all surprised if they just cancel tomorrow since it's a short day anyway.

Our weather is not going to get any better tomorrow. Once the snow stops, our temperatures are supposed to plunge. They're predicting temps of -5 to -20, which means windchill readings of -20 to -40. Ah, good times, good times.... I'll be really curious to see if we get another snow day tomorrow. I doubt it, but I'm still having a hard time believing we got TODAY as a snow day! It really is ridiculous to make those kids walk to school when it's below zero. So, send positive thoughts and prayers this way, if you don't mind! :)

Wish me luck, I'm off to wake a sleeping teenager!!

Just keepin' you in the loop...

A couple of news blurbs:

Here

Here (although, I have a hard time believing this one. It says we had a snow day 12 years ago, but I really don't remember it. Then again, according to the dates, it would have been merely an extension of our Christmas break.)

Here

Is the world coming to an end?!?!?

WE'RE GETTING A SNOW DAY TOMORROW!!!!!! Oh my freakin' hell!!! I'm way too excited to write a proper post, plus my laptop is having internet issues (I'm on Stud's desktop) so I'll have to come back later. WOO-TO-THE-FREAKIN'-HOO!!!!!! I'm going to try and take a little video to share later, too. But, right now, I need to get off this computer since it's basically in front of my picture window, and it sounds like the storm is about to blow it in.