Dreams Of Warmer Weather

We woke up yesterday morning to snowfall.  By early afternoon, we had a little over five inches of the white stuff covering everything in sight.  The kids couldn't wait to get outside to play in it.  I, on the other hand, being from New York and sick as a dog, didn't want to leave the warmth of my computer chair.  But, being the awesome mom I am, I bundled everyone up and we headed out for about thirty minutes of fun.

After coming back inside and thawing out, I started looking forward to summer.  I long for warm weather and lounging in the pool.  I miss the time we were spending at my mom's house, cooking out and spending time together, eating hot dogs and hamburgers while sitting on brightly colored patio cushions.  

I know I have several months before the hot weather will make an appearance again.  Living in South Carolina, I am sure it will be warm again by next week, and all the snow will melt away.  For now though, I am going to sit here and imagine that the bathrobe keeping me warm is a towel that I just wrapped around myself after getting out of the pool.

Rain, Rain, Go Away...At Least For Today

 I woke up this morning, and when I opened my eyes, I thought it was still early.  I rolled over to look at my alarm clock, and it said 9:42. 

Well, that didn't seem right.  The light coming in the windows was not bright enough for it to be that late.  Then I heard it.  It was probably what had woken me up to begin with.  Thunder.  Loud, booming thunder.

Great.  That means no swimming today, and the kids have been looking forward to swimming for weeks.  I called my mom, and we are still going forward with the cookout.  Kind of.  We will be hanging out inside, instead of poolside, and we will be cooking on the stove instead of the grill.  It's disappointing, sure, but at least we have many more weekends, and Holidays, this summer to enjoy the pool.

The next big cookout Holiday is, of course, the 4th of July.  Last year, I hosted the cookout, and then we enjoyed a fireworks display put on by Cowpens Battlefield.  This year, we will no doubt have it at my mom's.  I want to go all out with decorations, and finding wholesales, closeouts, liquidations and sale prices on said decorations is a must.   I found this salad set for only $10, and it can be used on other occasions as well.  There are so many other great products for sale to the public at great prices.  You can find decorations for any occasion, too.  I will be focusing on Summer decorations, though, that can be used over and over again.  When I spend my money, I like it to be on things that will last through more than one use.

Hopefully, this storm will pass quickly, and we will be able to at least cook on the grill.  I bought all the ingredients to make those Polynesian Sausage Kabobs I have been drooling over, and I am pretty sure they won't come out right if baked in the oven.  So I will sit here, and silently sing to myself the "rain, rain, go away" song.  Do you think that will help the weather clear up?

I really hope so.

What A Storm!

Check out this sky! Do you see the green in it? It was so weird.

Three minutes after I took the above picture, the hail started falling.
Hard.

Check out the size of those suckers!

Thankfully it only lasted about fifteen minutes...but the rain, wind, thunder and lightning lasted a little longer. I was just glad we were home, safe and warm.

Let The Sunshine In!

The weather has been so nice the past few days. I have had the windows open, letting the fresh air inside. I have also been trying to get rid of the germs by following Kasi around with a can of clorox disinfectant spray. She is feeling better today, but still hasn't eaten more than a piece of toast at a time, for both breakfast and supper. I told her she needs to stay home again tomorrow to make sure her tummy can handle food. I would hate for her to go and eat breakfast and then get sick at school. I am a true believer in the "better safe than sorry" philosophy.

With it being so nice outside, Brandi and I have been enjoying taking walks when she gets home from school. This afternoon, as she was getting her bike out of the shed, a little girl from the neighborhood walked over and asked Brandi to play with her. An hour later, I had about 10 kids in my yard, including mine, and they were all playing together so nicely. I even let Brandi walk down to one of the girl's house to play there for a while. Of course, I sent Ryan to check on her every so often, because I am just overprotective that way.

I am just so happy that she is making new friends, in school and out. All the drama at school has stopped, and I think it is because of the email I sent her teacher. Mean had been nothing but nice to Brandi, and today all the girls played together at recess.

And that's the way it should be!

Is There A Song To Make The Snow Go Away?

This is a Sponsored Post written by me on behalf of AccuWeather. All opinions are 100% mine.

The kids were sent home from school yesterday at noon, and they had a two hour delay this morning. Why, you ask? Because it snowed. Again. In South Carolina. For the fourth time this winter.

Enough already!

Yesterday's snow wasn't too bad though, because an hour after it finished falling, it was gone. The schools were delayed this morning because of icy roads, not snowy ones. I am a strong believer in the "better safe than sorry" philosophy, so erring on the side of caution is okay with me.

By 8:30 this morning, when we headed to the bus stop, the roads were fine and the sun was shining. In fact, I think we are supposed to get up to about 50 degrees today. We were 50 on Monday, too. Mother Nature's mood swings are really starting to drive me nuts. Junior is starting to drive me nuts, too.

Everyone was home by 2 o'clock, and the snow was falling. Brandi was napping, because she has been sick and stayed out of school Monday and Tuesday. Ryan and Kasi were in their rooms, and I was sitting here, at the computer. Junior was watching television, and at every commercial, he would switch to a weather channel. I told him he needed to just check occasionally, but no. He needed to know every five minutes if the storm started moving slower or faster. He drove me nuts!

I prefer to check the weather online, and AccuWeather tells me everything I need to know in one place. I can type in any location, and find out the weather. This comes in handy when traveling, too. My sister was able to know the weather in all the states she drove through when she left here last week, and was able to anticipate where the rain was going to be. It made traveling a lot less stressful for them, as they were able to plan their stops according to the weather.

I don't think they will be planning another trip down in February, either. The weather down here that week was just as bad as it was in NY.

It Is COLD!

I woke up cold this morning, even though the heat was turned up pretty high. No matter what I did today, I could not get warm. At one point I had on pajama bottoms, a tshirt, a robe, fuzzy socks and slippers, and I was still cold.

Right now, it is 22 degrees outside.

I am not looking forward to heading to the bus stop in the morning...

More Winter Weather?

It looks like it is going to be a wet and cold new year. Our forecast is saying there will be rain, maybe sleet, on New Year's Eve. Thankfully, we prefer to stay home that night, so we don't have to worry about all the drunk drivers on the road. We will probably cook up a bunch of junk food and play some games.

I know it is only December, but I am so tired of the cold and rain. I am tempted to look online for San Diego homes for sale, and then spend the new year convincing Junior we need to move there. It's all sunshine in California, right? I want to be somewhere warm, where we can go outside without having to wear coats, gloves, and hats. Is that too much to ask for the new year?

Ice, Ice, And More Ice

Can you see the sleet falling? This is what my yard looked like around 3pm today. Luckily, the kids had half a day, so they were home before the ice really began to accumulate.

When I went to get Brandi off the bus at 11am, I stood in a sleet storm. It's was so cold! She got off the bus and we ran for the apartment. It didn't help that my yard is still one huge mud puddle, but we made it.

Colleen picked up Brandi and I for cookie day at moms, so Junior just went there straight from work. I was glad that we came home when we did, because by 8pm, our yard was covered in ice. The news is saying that there are thousands of people without power already, and I hope that we make it through the night with ours.

Winter Weather Warning

It's supposed to snow tomorrow. Depending on who you listen to, it can be anything from a rain/sleet/snowy mix that will fall starting tomorrow afternoon, or we are getting 6 inches of snow between tomorrow morning and Saturday afternoon. I am hoping for none of the above, because tomorrow is "cookie day", and I want to be able to go have fun baking at my mom's house.

The kids have half a day tomorrow, and then 2 full weeks off. I am looking forward to sleeping later than 5:20 every morning, but am not looking forward to being stuck in the house with the kids. Although, after Christmas, we will have new stuff to play with.

Whatever tomorrow holds, I know I will be busy. In fact, I don't see me not being busy until after we move.

It's going to be a long couple of months.

Summer Storms

I know it's not officially summer yet, but here in the south, the afternoon storms have started with a vengeance. Yesterday, it got so bad we had dime sized hail. I couldn't open my front door without using all my strength, the wind was that strong. The thunder and lightning were fierce, and the power flickered more than once. It's a good think I wasn't online in one of those private chat rooms or I would have been ticked. I was in the middle of a blog post though, and luckily it was still there when I rebooted the computer. These storms are frequent during the summer, which is good for my garden. It saves me having to drag the hose down there to water it.

It's Cold!

I'm not sure what happened to our nice weather, but it has disappeared! It is so cold outside today, with an even colder wind. The nearby mountains even had snow this morning. I had to bring my tomato plant in so it wouldn't freeze. I want my shorts weather back!