The past few days

Tuesday was such a great day - it was warm and sunny. So, without looking at the weather, I got dressed on Wednesday morning assuming there'd be more spring-like weather. I wore a short sleeved shirt and backless, slip-on shoes with no socks. I didn't even take a coat with me. Although I looked cute, I would soon regret my wardrobe choice.

About 2pm, I was at a mountain development taking some pictures for the public hearing the following night (yes, on Valentine's day). I was sitting about 1/2 up the mountain at the mouth of a canyon. All of a sudden, a huge gust of wind hit. The outside temperature dropped about 10 degrees, and the car was rocking back and forth. It seemed like I was in some type of snow tornado, and I was seriously worried I'd blow off of the mountain. I finished taking my (snowy) pictures, and headed back to work. By the time I got there, the snow was coming in horizontally. But I still wasn't concerned: it has snowed 100 times this winter, and I"ve always been fine. My car is great in the snow. An hour later though, Ben called, and told me the snow was terrible by his office. He convinced me to leave work early. So, I finished up what I was working on, and left to get the girls. It was about 4:15 when I got them.

I work in a different valley than where I live, and there are only 3 ways to get home: Redwood Road, I-15, and the frontage road. I had heard on the radio that I-15 was closed because 2 semi trucks had jack-knived, so I opted to take Redwood. But getting there proved to be a challenge. There are only 2 roads to get to Redwood. One was closed due to a 16 car pile-up, so we tried the other road. After waiting 20 minutes, we turned around (I found out later that it was closed because a fire truck had gotten stuck in the snow). I decided to get the girls some McD's, and wait the storm out at my office. According to the radio, the storm was supposed to taper down. I still thought I could get the girtls home in time for bed.

We hung out at my office until about 6:00, and then we decided to try again. The snow appeared to have taped off. But we soon realized it hadn't. The winds were blowing from the north, gusting up to 70 miles per hour, and visibility was zero. We sat in traffic for about 2 1/2 hours before I decided it wasn't going to work. I'd had several offers from friends and family who lived in town to let us spend the night, so we decided to take my sister-in-law up on her offer. But I could tell it was going to take us at least an hour to get to her house - and it was only a mile away.

About this time, G informed me that she needed to pee. I asked her to hold it, but she was pretty desperate. There was no way to get anywhere, so I just pulled down her pants and held her while she peed into the wind. I don't think any of it even hit the ground. I finally decided to be a jerk driver: I put the car into 4-wheel drive, and took off down the shoulder. My vast knowledge of side-roads came in handy, as I was able to pass about 400 cars. It was still slow-going, but we were at least moving. It took over an hour, but we made it to sister-in-law's just before 11pm - almost 7 hours after we started home. We could have driven to Vegas in that time.

Thursday morning was Valentine's Day. My sweet SIL treated us to pink french toast with powdered sugar hearts, fresh fruit, and OJ. I dropped the girls off at daycare, and went into work. We were all wearing the same clothes from the day before. Not fun! And work was horribly busy. I did go on my lunch break to buy a new shirt, because I had to work that night too and I didn't want to have to be wearing the same thing I'd worn to bed. That night, I had a public hearing on Valentine's Day - of all the nights. I finally made it home around 10:15 pm. Almost 40 hours later.

Since I was Valentine's Day, I was expecting something special from my hubby. But, there were 6 inches of unshoveled snow on the driveway. The house was trashed. The sink was full of dishes. I was frustrated. He said something to me about not getting me flowers because he knows I think they're a waste of money - which is true. I do think flowers are a waste of money. But that doesn't mean I wouldn't like something else - something that isn't going to be dead in less than a week. Maybe some new jeans perhaps - a pair that actually covers my butt-crack? Instead, he said something about wanting to have sex - the absolute last thing I wanted at that moment. I just wanted to go to sleep and forget about the past 2 days.

I wanted to sleep in this moring too - but instead, the stupid dog woke me up at 6:15 by jumping on me and licking my face. I'm so ready for him to be gone, but I'm afraid he's here until the spring. I am grumpy, and I cannot wait for this week to be over.

Sorry for the rant.