Our Week In Review

Welcome to Georgia, where there's snow on the ground but it's 60 degrees.

When you last heard from us, The Husband was desperately trying to be a survivor man in our snow storm but we weren't in much need of survivor skills, seeing as how we kept power and most of the state cancelled any need to go anywhere.

We bought a house this week. Remember how we accidentally rented our house, and we have been squatters at The Husband's Nanny's old house for the last 8 months? We've put offers on 3 houses in the past year and this one finally worked. We like it.

We went over on Friday before the closing to do a walkthrough. Luckily for The Husband there was plenty of ice left on the driveway that he could shovel and scrape and be a survivor man. I was just glad he was making me a safe path to walk on, I didn't care what his motives were. A neighbor heard all the scraping and came over and introduced herself, all neighborly. She stayed for a minute and went back home, as neighbors do.

Then another neighbor came over to introduce himself. Within the first 90 seconds of meeting him he'd told us he was in plumbing distribution, he was a former federal agent, a former Henry County detective, a former triathlete, he doesn't drink Bourbon, and that his wife's sister was fat and could eat us all. The Husband and I decided later that he might not have been a good federal agent if it only took him 90 seconds to give himself away. But, he chipped in and started shoveling while our realtor supervised.

We closed on the house. We camped out in the house and ate pizza and slept on a mattress in front of the fire place. Happy Valentine's Day to us. The Boy was so excited he kept dancing and singing and squealing. This was very cute, for about 10 minutes. It lasted hours. The neighbors brought us warm pumpkin bread fresh out of the oven to welcome us. Holy cow we moved into the 50s. It was grand. 

When it was time for bed, we laid down and told him to go to sleep. He laid down, but his excitement was too much for him, and instead of sleeping he loudly sang his favorite ravioli song. He cannot actually say his Rs or Ls, so it comes out like this: "Waviowi is the one for me! Do I have it in my hair? Yes you have it in you' hair! Waviowi...." 

I asked him nicely to be quiet. So obviously he whisper sang "Wavioli is the one for me...." I clarified that he should be silent. 

"What siwent mama?" 

It means stop talking. 

"Okay, mama. I stop talking. I not gonna talk mama. I gonna be siwent. You gonna be quiet mama? You gonna be siwent? I be siwent now mama....." Then he proceeded to talk to himself and his toys. 

He eventually went to sleep, and not having any internet or tv or other entertainment, we followed suit. The Husband and I woke up at 3:00am. For no reason other than we went to bed at 8:30. We did not sleep well on a mattress in front of the fireplace in the new house. At 6:00am The Boy woke up and rolled over close to snuggle with me. He said "Mama, guess what?" 

What, honey? 

"How was you work?"

I wasn't working, I was sleeping. 

"How was you sweep?"

It was good. 

"Mama?"

Yes, honey? 

"Waviowi is the one for me!"

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The Boy's Valentine party was cancelled due to the snow last week, and it was rescheduled for today. We made Valentine cards with little canisters of Play Doh and I let him play with the leftover dough. 

There are 13 kids in his class. I made 13 Valentines cards. That means I even made one for him to get, right? Then I got the email from his teacher saying to send 16 Valentine cards. 16. Sixteen. I do not know why we needed to send 16 cards. Was this a teacher conspiracy to get candy and prizes (we sent them chocolates, FYI) or have I been sending the wrong number of string cheeses when it's our turn to do snack? 

We did not actually have 16 play dohs. Well, we did, but The Boy had played with one. It was no problem to print out another freebie card, but he had made a church and a tree and a mama out of the play doh and it wasn't looking so hot. We could have bought a new play doh, but I forgot until the night before. "Honey!" I called to The Husband last night as he was in bed. "I need you to work on this play doh, make it look presentable and like we aren't giving used play doh to someone for a Valentine present." The Husband never questioned it. So 10:00 the night before the party The Husband was in the bathroom, wetting and pressing and working the play doh to pass off as a gift for a two year old's party while said two year old slept. 

The Boy was happy about his party and never knew we re-fashioned and gave away "his" play doh. My apologies to the parent who might have received that. Let's hope they think their kid took it out, made a tree and a church and a mama out of it at school and pressed it right back in the can. Let's hope their parents don't even notice. It's not like they'll be federal agents or detectives or anything. Happy Valentine's Day! 

Snow Day Survival

It's a snow day in Georgia. That means we've gotten a couple inches of snow, there's no bread or milk in the grocery stores, and we're all trapped at home anticipating the power will go out soon. It's likely to get worse. Meteorologists are calling it a "catastrophic ice storm" and cautioning everyone to stay home. At my house a snow day means The Husband keeps making up reasons he needs to go outside and pretend to be Bear Grylls. He lives for opportunities to be a survivor man, and snow and ice are his yearly chance.

We've got this.

But in his mind, it's this.

And might call for this. 

Don't get me wrong. There's no one I'd rather be with in case of an emergency. When we had an ice storm a couple of years ago he rigged up a way to scramble eggs using a smoker in the carport. He delivered dry fire wood to friends with a baby, he cut down limbs in our neighbor's yard. This time he's got a generator on standby just waiting to power our fridge and a heater. He's been watching the weather all morning "we might get 5 inches" he says, trying to make his excitement sound like concern. 

He took The Boy sledding. I'm not sure who loved it more.

In typical fashion, my only concern has been food. I cooked up a big batch of potato soup, beer and cheese soup, and cookies. I woke up at 5:30 this morning, most excited about the cinnamon rolls in the fridge. I've also been trying to talk The Boy into less physical activity and more Nutella eating, cuddling, and tv watching. Talk about somebody useful to have during an ice storm. 

Earlier The Husband left to go to his mom's house to get the keys to their old 4 wheel drive truck "just in case we need it." He took a machete with him. "For branches and stuff." I'm not sure what he was expecting. Branches, in the truck? Covering her door and house like the Forest of Despair from Princess Bride?? Later he went to go check on her horses since she is out of town. He acted like it was a sacrifice to leave in this weather, but inside he was thrilled to get out of the house and be a prairie man. "I'll be back before dark, hon." He said, like something from a Laura Ingles book. 

While he was gone I called him for fun and told him the power was out. It was not. "Awesome!" He said. "I'll turn on the generator when I get back!" Come on, Bear, just come home and cuddle with us. We're eating cookies and watching Netflix.