It's Like A Winter El Niño Out There

Friday was a pretty slow news day. I mean, I took pictures of my mail to show you, that's how boring it was:

The mailman dropped four packages on our porch. The first was this new sippy cup from Juicy-Juice, for which I must have signed up as part of some offer. I'd rather have a coupon or three for juice, since we no longer use sippies. Oh well; this cup went right into the bag of stuff I'm perpetually keeping to donate to Stephanie's house.

Secondly, our new Veggie Tales DVD arrived. The kids love Veggies. Somehow, I ended up with a credit on eBay (really, I have no clue how), so I just paid a little in s/h for the DVD. We watched it last night, and it was really cute!

My favorite package was this notebook that I got for a steal (it was FREE!) on Snapfish! The picture clarity is much better in real life than it is here; do you recognize it? It's the one our Server took of us at our 9th anniversary sushi dinner a few weeks ago. I love the color scheme, too. Here's a look inside:

My picture and info are on the inside flap. I opted for plain paper in my notebook, because only wide-rule was a choice; I couldn't get college-rule. I hate wide-rule. It's for babies! Kidding, I just don't need that much room for my writing.

 

Lastly, in the big box, was my huge container of protein powder. I ran out a couple weeks ago and have been living off Caffeine-Free Diet Coke while I waited for this shipment to come from Amazon. I haven't gotten the chocolate flavor before, but I like it. I'll order it again. Rob doesn't care for it, but he's not trying to lose two small peoples' worth of weight, now, is he?

I love getting packages in the mail. You could send me a fossilized piece of poo, and I'd be excited to get it. No, not really. Please don't send me your shit!

We had a bit of a situation yesterday that made me see Rob as I've never seen him before. His radiator broke, and his engine overheated on his way home from his eye doctor appointment yesterday. Smoke was blowing all over the place, and his quick fix didn't work.

He wanted to borrow my van to get to work.

Only, three things were stopping me from handing over my keys:

1. I didn't have enough gas for him to get to work and back, and we had exactly zero dollars for gas,

2. The kids had a dentist appointment in a few hours, and

3. Jack's Pinewood Derby car check-in and impounding were in the evening.

So, naturally, I balked. I held firm. He kind of flipped out on me and ended up screaming that he was taking the van so he wouldn't be late and get in trouble at work, since his chief is a total dickwad who seems hell-bent on making his life miserable. He got in the van and gunned it down the road to get to work on time.

Now, you may or may not remember, but this is a man who drives like hell and rode his brand-new 2003 VW Jetta into the ground a mere five years later. I freaked. I called him and begged him not to drive my van like that, slow down, please slow down, and don't ruin my van, too! She may not be perfect, Vanna, but she's still in pretty damn good shape for being 8 years old, and I'd like to keep her that way a little longer, thank you very much.

He softened. He agreed. Whew. I was highly nervous about my poor baby, though! Wouldn't you be?

So, I had no choice but to:

1. Hope he didn't run out of gas and leave Vanna stranded somewhere,

2. Cancel the kids' dentist appointments, and

3. Find Jack a ride to the weigh-ins.

In the end, Jack's Tiger den leader came to pick him up, and he excitedly waved good-bye, holding onto the box containing his precious car. I was sad not to be able to go with him. Really sad. The appointment was canceled, and Rob ended up driving home with the gas light on the entire time, but he made it. Then he filled it with gas he had in the gas can... why it was in there, I don't know, but now he's been paid and we can put gas in my tank again.

Drama. Always the drama!

As for Jack, here's his prized pinewood derby car:

Pretty slick, right? It started as a plain, squared block of wood. Rob asked Jack if he wanted a nice-looking car or a fast one that would win the race, and Jack wisely chose fast. Rob's a prize-winning Pinewood Derby racer himself, so he was up to the task!

Poor kid can't figure out how to smile, ever since his fall school pictures came out looking so silly! But he was bouncing-off-the-walls excited to go to the races, believe-you-me!

When his leader brought him home, she was bouncing off the walls, too, because not only was Jack's the fastest car at the trial races, but he was beating all the adults' cars, too! His car is FAST.

That was about it for Friday.

On Saturday, I first got an email that Chloë's overnight trip with the Girl Scouts was canceled. Her troop was supposed to go to the Air & Space Museum in Hampton to spend the night building a rocket, which they would launch Sunday morning.

Then, we got an email that Jack's derby race was canceled! Poor Jack, he was so disappointed. I think we all were. It'll be rescheduled, but we don't know when yet. I think Chloë's trip will now take place in March.

Then the kids woke us up before 0800, jumping up and down, screaming and shouting, as they looked out the window at all the snow. More than four inches had already accumulated, and it was still heavily coming down. This may not be unusual where you live, but it sure is a huge event for Virginia Beach!

They couldn't wait to go outside, but of course, we first had to locate all manner of snow gear. I asked Sophia where her snow suit was, and she looked at me like I was crazy before telling me, "Mommy, I don't have a snow suit!"  What? No snow suit? Guess we'll just have to layer up, then, and do our best not to freeze!

I'm really, truly, seriously bummed, because while Rob was getting everyone dressed, I fell back to sleep. He didn't take any pictures of the kids' first real time playing in the snow!! By the time I woke up, they were already back inside, getting warmed up. Sadness. Maybe we'll go out and play again tomorrow.

I did go out after that to take pictures of the scene, though:

That was only about halfway through the storm, so we've got even more now. Amazing! It's pretty, I'll have to admit, but I'm wearing three layers and I'm still cold. Brrr! I need to make up some draft blockers for the doors and windows, yes I do.

I took another nap downstairs, all bundled up, since life was canceled and there was nothing else to do but cuddle. And I enjoyed my sleep. But now I'm paying for it, because it's nearly 0300 and I'm wide awake!

That's about it for our Saturday. I mean, I did a few things, and Rob did a few, and I did our taxes (woohoo, we're getting plenty back), but nothing to write home about. Probably more of the same for Sunday!

Fin.