The Ramblings Of Jenn Shuey

What’s better than having an awesome Valentine’s Day with Hubby and the baby?  Having an awesome Valentine’s weekend with Hubby, the baby, and lots of snow. This is one weekend I wasn’t looking at Outer Banks rentals wishing the cold would go away. We finally got the one good snow storm I wanted for the year, and now I’m ready for Winter to go away so Spring can arrive.

We did get a good bit of snow, well for what we consider a good bit.  We ended up with about 3 1/2-4″ of the really good fluffy stuff…the good kind you make snowmen and snowballs out of.  I was thankful we didn’t have any of the normal ice that ruins it, and we didn’t have to worry about losing our power this time.

We did build a nice sized snowman, and we did a little sledding before it mostly melted away.  There’s still a little bit out there we’ve been letting the dog play in.  Of course now I’m ready for it to melt away, but I doubt that’s going to happen.  Now we’re supposed to get more tonight, and I’m not too happy about that.

The mountains are supposed to get 3-5″, and that means all the subdivisions with construction will shut down.  The subdivision Hubby is working in right now won’t even let them in the gate if they get most than a dusting of snow.  Hubby has missed a lot of work this Winter because of that, and that means I’m finding myself constantly robbing Peter t pay Paul, and that totally sucks.

Yep, I’m definitely ready for Spring to arrive now.

Can I say yet again how much I seriously hate cold weather?  The only good thing about the cold is that I get some allergy relief. Winter is definitely letting us know it has arrived, and we’re feeling these cold temps.  I’m absolutely shivering tonight…one of those cold down to the bone shivers that just won’t go away even though we’ve got the wood stove going wide open and it’s definitely nice and toasty inside the house.

I’m not looking forward to this weekend either.  Temps are supposed to drop to seriously cold over the weekend.  Luckily I’ll have the baby to look after on New Year’s this year, so I won’t be volunteered to stand out in the cold lighting the fireworks. I doubt we’ll even buy any this year because I’m afraid of scaring Elliana. She’ll probably be big enough to enjoy some of the little sparkly ones come 4th of July, but I think we’ll put them on hold for now.

Now I think I’m going to go wrap up in my electric blanket and read a little since Elliana is asleep. Maybe that’ll finally warm me up a bit.

Normally when I hear the word snow I get super excited, but I’m not excited right now about the fact that we could get our first little bit of snow this weekend.  I’m not ready for it to be that cold yet!  I know it’s already December, but I feel like the cold has snuck up on me this year.

I find myself thinking about how I wish we could take a couple orlando vacations each winter just to warm up for a bit. Heck I’d be happy migrated a little farther south for the winter if we had the financial means to do so just because I hate the cold that much. There’s absolutely no way I could live up north where it gets really cold. I get cold chills when it’s 70!

I think the only upside to the possibility of snow Saturday is the fact that the Christmas parade is Saturday night, and it would be seriously pretty with snow falling.  Of course if we get even a couple flakes the entire town shuts down so the parade would most likely be postponed.  Too bad the little one isn’t big enough to enjoy it this year.  That would actually lighten my mood about the weather right now because I could imagine how much fun she’d have playing in it.  Maybe we’ll get a couple of good snows next year when she will be big enough to play in it.

I decided I have two options of what I can do with my time right now.  I can sit here ranting and fussing about how I’ve found even more stuff to add to the to-do list…like the fact that we totally need new faucets throughout the house, but the tub faucet is definitely leaking…or I can head outside and enjoy how nice the weather is today. 

Currently it’s 80 degrees out, but it’s a calm and cool 80 degrees.  There’s a ton of cloud cover and there is no humidity. Thank you lord!  I’ve been begging for the hot and sticky southern humidity to go away for at least one day so I could enjoy a little time outside.

I really need to head outside anyway because I haven’t realized how many grapes we have hanging this year just begging to be picked.  I guess I totally forgot because most of our vines only produce once every 2-3 years, and normally I’m disappointed because we don’t have any.  This year we’ve got an over abundance of grapes, and I definitely need to get outside and get some before they’re gone. 

Then I need to hit up the Scuppernongs before those go bad, and oh we’ve got tons of pears again this year.  The tree isn’t so full it’s about to break like it was last year, but it’s still pretty dang full.  Hopefully I’ll be able to get enough Scuppernongs to make Scuppernong Jam this year, but I know we definitely have enough Muscadines hanging like crazy at the pasture to make plenty of Muscadine jelly.  I just need to drag Hubby to the pasture with a few sheets so we can gather them before they’re all gone, too!