1.  More and more I feel like I'm living in some quirky sitcom.  I don't know, maybe it's just the cold weather that's sapping my brain and weirdness is not really happening.

2.  We were part of that lovely ice storm that hit last night.  As expected, we lost some major tree limbs.  We lose major tree limbs in a summer thunderstorm, so I fully expected much more than we lost.

Unfortunately, other folks had a lot more problems than we did with the downed trees.  (See second picture above.) Our neighbor across the street lost several huge chunks of trees, not just limbs and one fell across her roof and tore down a part of her gutter.  The lady next to her had a similar thing happen as well.  Everyone was ok but it's quite a mess.  It looked like a war zone when we were driving to lunch today.

3.  And why were we driving to lunch today?  Well, because the university that Friend Husband works at was closed for a record-setting second day in a row.  Generally speaking, when we get to have Friend Husband home unexpectedly, we go eat at a nearby Chinese buffet.  While we were there, Keziah spontaneously reached out and gave Sarah a big hug.  Sarah was so delighted that she wanted to preserve the moment photographically.

And Friend Husband and I also enjoyed our brood and each other along with the yummy Chinese buffet.  We did have to laugh, though, when they seated us in an entire section by ourselves.  Oooh, our own private dining room...how about that?

(Um, no, it was not my idea to take this picture.  Obviously.)

4.  After going out for lunch, we dropped by our local Meijer for those all-important snowtime supplies:  Perler Beads, bananas, and (I'm embarrassed to admit) yarn.  Meijer had their clearance yarn on for about 90% off the original price.  Who can resist cheap stash?  Not this girl.  I finally had to leave when my eyes were getting glazed over, my breathing rapid, and my pulse thready.  But I acquired some more lovelies for my stash.  And I taught my son the all-important skill of scanning a UPC code to ascertain what the actual cost of an item is.  Every two-year-old needs to know that.  He also got a small yarn appreciation tutorial.  Mainly it consisted of having him pet the very soft yarns.  His wife will thank me some day.  Here are the goods:

5.  I took this lovely ice picture in the parking lot of our local Meijer.  Friend Husband is the most long-suffering, understanding man who ever walked the earth.  When we finished unloading the new stash, I mean the groceries into the Big Green Van, I told him I'd take the carts over to the corral.  His chivalrous nature bade him question my motives and I told him it was because I wanted to take a picture of this sign:

6.  Everything everywhere was covered with the most beautiful icy fringe.  It was a glorious, terrible, beautiful sight.  It looked like Narnia everywhere.  I tried to take a bunch of pictures but I could not even attempt to do it justice.

7.  Friend Husband just shrugged and got into the Big Green Van with the children.  The people who were sitting next to the cart corral did think it was a bit peculiar that 1) I was walking around the Meijer parking lot with a camera and 2) I was taking a picture of a cart corral sign.  Sometimes I just have to follow the inscrutible exhortations of my bizarre nature.

8.  Just like this morning, when I went out to shovel ice off the driveway.  I quickly discovered that it would be more prudent to leave the snow and its layer of sleet and ice mixture atop the blacktop so as to give it more traction.  Instead, I walked around taking pictures of the silent icy wonder that was my yard (and those of my neighbors).

9.  Neighbor

Neighbor

10.  Some of our front yard trees. 

If you look closely at this one, you can see the branch cracked at the top.  If we get the winds that I hear we're going to get, this one will be on the ground tomorrow.

  Leave your toys outside and you might not find them until the thaw!

11.  This bush and its twin across the driveway were squashed down about half again as tall as they normally are.  I hope we don't lose too much of them because birds nest in there.

12.  The terrible, icy beauty after the storm.

13.  My very favorite part of the aftermath was breaking all the ice off the cars this morning.  What a glorious sound of destruction!  It sounded just like smashing glass. 

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