May or May Not Monday

May or May-Not Monday: Where you can divulge the secrets of life's mishaps without feeling like a failure. So go on... own up. I may have...

I may or may not have been out of my house for four hours in the past eleven days. I was doing just fine with cabin fever until Wednesday came about when we had plans and our entire city shut down due to what they are calling snowmageddon. Then my attitude couldn't be saved. You see the library takes a break from all programs while schools are on break. I've never understood this since that's when the school kids could participate in the library programs and all. So just on the day when they were starting and we could see our friends and people, they shut all the libraries in the county down for two days and opened it again when there were no programs scheduled. Why eleven days in the house? We had a sick kid last week and weekend. New Years Day happened and I've been programmed to believe that nothing is open but the movie theaters that day. Apparently untrue these days. Who knew? Not me. Then when the little was well enough snowmageddon hit. Which so far has proven to be far more bark than bite. The local forecaster told us to call our families and say goodbye for the next five days once it hit because that's how long we would be without power. So far we're doing just fine. Just enduring nasty weather.

I may or may not have dubbed this the best winter yet due to receiving 30 inches of snow in a month. That's just awesome sauce in my book. 

I may or may not think that saying our lows as of late have been almost -50 * C sounds a whole heck of a lot more exciting than -20*F. 

I may or may not think that all this snow is amazing but my house does not. Ice dams are causing serious damage to our house. A piece of siding is popping off our house from ice getting underneath it. A recessed light in our kitchenette started leaking water last week. Thankfully, it stopped leaking when we turned off the lights. My husband got up on a ladder with a space heater and a hoe to try to break up the dam to no avail. The damage is done and we will be making an insurance claim to be fixing our house when we thaw and the arctic air passes.  I thought our house was just awful until neighbors began reporting uncontrollable leaking through their ceilings and fixtures. Holes in ceilings from water. Waterfalls coming through their doors and windows. Furnaces going out. Pergolas crashing under the weight of snow and ice. Pipes bursting and freezing. Cars getting stuck or sliding off the road. So our water damage pales in comparison.

I may or may not have celebrated Hanukkah with my family for the first time in my life. What I realized is we don't eat as a family much. I feed the littles when they are hungry. My husband doesn't have a set time for coming home, ever. I eat when I'm hungry. I managed to light the menorah five out of the eight nights. We weren't home for three of the nights. Next year I'm going to add the blessings. This year was a bit of a trial run. We studied the history of Hanukkah. The best quote I saw to convey the miracle is: "your phone has 10% battery and it lasts for eight days. That's Hanukkah." 

I may or may not have thought about what I'd change in my life if I made resolutions for the new year. Last year I wanted to get on the treadmill more for mental health and to utilize the fancy in my wardrobe. None of that happened and thus the same wants are still there this year. I also realized that I don't really operate with long term goals and plans. I've gotten in trouble with my previous job for refusing to set long term goals. I have a moral objection to them. Or so I thought. Mostly, I've just never lived anywhere long enough to need or be able to set long term goals. If I wanted something to get done, then it got done. Now I realize that I could set long term goals if I want. I don't. So if the treadmill and fancy make it in my life, sweet. If not, there's always next year. 

I may or may not have spent the night on the living room floor. Our sick little decided he was spending the night on the couch. Our other little decided we could not abandon the sick little and we all must sleep in the living room with him. My husband negotiated the other half of the couch while the healthy little and I slept on the floor. I froze and woke up with an old person's body. Everybody else was perfectly fine. But I did enjoy the togetherness factor. 

I may or may not have this idea that eventually I will get to live in the middle of nowhere in the mountains. Away from busy. In the quiet beauty. On my list was Stanley, Idaho until this week when they hit an actual temperature not windchill of -42* F.  

I may or may not have made a dicey decision to introduce my littles to The Lord of the Rings (extended version) movies. We ended up having a marathon of the entire series in a day and then I knew that they were definitely my offspring. How can you take your time with those movies? They were shocked to find out that we had to wait a year in between each movie when they came out 15 years ago. Seriously, how has it been that long? I've lived a little more than half of my llfe since then. Some folks are all about Star Wars and such. My kiddos can't stand that. We are all about LOTR in this family. YASSSS!

I may or may not have come across my beanie as lost on our neighborhood facebook page this very night. It was found in a gutter a half a mile from our house. I saw it and then went are you kidding me! It fell off my car on the second outing of my 11 day captivity. I shoveled ten inches of snow off our not very small driveway and got excessively warm in 10* weather. I took off my hat and put it on the back of our car and forgot all about it. My beanie was run over by a snow blower and has a hole but can be fixed. I'm thankful for a neighbor who took the time and effort to post a picture of a lost beanie. 

We may or may not have gone from -13*F to 42*F in a day. That 50*! There's a massive melt of the 3 ft of snow and ice happening. Just in time for a refreeze and more snow storms coming. We haven't seen freezing in over a month. So 42 seems down right warm and balmy. 

Our trash and recycling didn't get picked up this week due to snowmageddon. We may or may not have forgotten to put the trash out last week. It's a good thing we are a low trash family. But recycling not getting picked up but once this month may cause us some serious overload issues. The news announced this week that our entire county only has 37 plows. Just let that sink in. 3 ft of snow and 37 plows and a half a million people. Brilliance on our city and county's planning for snow. They are never prepared for the inevitable snow that blow through every winter.