Snow Days!

We are on our third day of being snowed/iced in, and if you know me, I am loving it!  I was quite surprised to get out on Thursday; I figured we would have go in for a few hours, and then they would close as the weather got bad.  Imagine my surprise when I woke up to a text from my boss that we were closed!

So I went back to sleep for an hour.  I have a hard time sleeping in when I know we are having winter weather because I want to watch it and measure it and touch it and walk it.  Oh, I so LOVE it.  Once I got up, I started editing photos, cleaning, and catching up on TV shows. The sleet started early but didn't really start accumulating until mid-morning. Once Zach got up, he played video games while I continued my cleaning. We drank lots of hot cocoa and tea, watched the snow begin to fall, and played & snuggled with the kitties. In the evening, Zach built a fire, which was lovely.  Here's how we spent our "snow days:"

sleet starting to collect on everything

Yes, we still have pumpkins out.  We didn't carve any this year, so they are still in tact.  I don't have the heart to throw out anything that is still good.

The cats enjoyed having us home!

This is probably the coldest it's been in Arkansas since I don't know when!

It's a tradition for me to drink out of my snowflake mug on snow days.  :)

night fall, snow fall

When I got up on Friday, we had EIGHT inches!  It's now over nine.  :)  I wasn't sure if my guess was correct (eight inches), but I was right on the money when this photos as taken!

On Friday, I watched Christmas movies and prepared for our late Fall Feast.  And, of course, watched the snow continue to fall!

Since we moved up here, I've used these birds to measure the snow.

They have been quite snuggly with the cold weather.

Yes, I know, we make beautiful children raise beautiful cats.

dangers of winter weather in AR

I love our home in this kind of weather.  it reminds me a cabin!  Also, those bows used to hang in our stairwell during Christmas, but Dinah tore them up pretty good last year, so I shortened the tails and decided to use them one last year--outside.

my (rain)boot prints

Selfies in the snow are hard, especially when it is well below freezing.

why we named our home The Owlery

Our landlord's little lady statue looks like a gnome in the snow!

It's hard to see here, but there are some animal tracks in the snow.  Deer, maybe?

Last night, we had our Fall Feast, and I invited Amy over since she made it safely back home from her friends' house.  But I'll tell you more about this on Monday!

Today, I'm going to knit and address Christmas cards.  :)))
Oh, and next weekend, I'll be sharing our Christmas decor courtesy of Kelly's Korner SUYL!
Did you get any winter weather courtesy of Winter Storm Cleon?  How do you spend your snow days?

Weekend Update

Friday night, we stayed home, made appetizers for dinner, and got terrified by this movie Zach picked out (Upstream Color).  He ended up falling asleep on the couch when I went to change the sheets, and if you know my husband, he is IMPOSSIBLE to wake up when he falls asleep on the couch.  So I went ahead and got in bed, and Dinah-cat snuggled with me while I watched 19 Kids and Counting and read blogs.  (If you know me, you know I am OBSESSED with shows about big families, and now all the seasons of the Duggars are on Netflix!  I really like following them because they live in my area.  I've seen Jim Bob twice now and Michelle once.)

Saturday, I made raspberry pancakes and hash browns for breakfast--yummy!  (My recipe will likely be coming tomorrow.)

I made some more laundry detergent because we were out, and then I helped our friend Amy move and unpack some stuff.  (She just rented an apartment two duplexes down from us!)  After she and I got back from TJMaxx and Target, I got ready, so we could head to the lighting of the Fayetteville Square.  We left at 5 to run by Toys 'R Us and Starbucks beforehand, and we made good time, but there was absolutely NO PARKING.  The town was overrun with folks!  And we only has THREE DOLLARS in cash, so we couldn't park in any of the paid spots.  We thought we could park in the metered spots that let you pay with a card, but those had been turned off because they were charging extra, cash only.  ARGH!  WE tried to park in the Municipal Parking Lot, but it was full.  Then we tried the Chancellor Hotel's, and it was only for hotel guests that night.  As we backed out and headed past, one of the Hotel employees waved us down and said there was one spot left in the employee parking lot for THREE DOLLARS.  A pre-Thanksgiving miracle!  We zoomed up, and I got centered because this whole thing stressed me out to no end.

We made it to the Square in front of Tiny Tim's Pizza where we were meeting our friends.  The lights had already been turned on and the parade had started, but we still got to see quite a bit, and I even caught a CFA elf-cow (that I gave to a passing kid later).  It was packed, yet that was a good thing because it was sooooo cold.  However, I can't say that body heat made much of a difference.  I had my scarf wrapped around my face, so when I breathed, it flew upward, fogging my glasses.  I was a quite a frigid and funny sight!  After the festivities, we planned to eat at Tim's, but it was still a two hour wait.  So we grabbed gyros from Nomad's and went to Maxine's for drinks.  Both were AMAZING.  My beef-lamb gyro was so yummy, and we all enjoyed our grub as we crowded around the last available table and couch in Maxine's.  Then we ordered some hot drinks, and they were delicious.  Zach had a hot toddy, and he got me a spiked chai tea, which was so delightful.  The atmosphere of the bar was very neat, too, and you have to love any place that serves seasoned popcorn and nuts.  Apparently, it used to a sleazy dive bar, but they redid it earlier this year, and now it is way classy, and every drink exceeded our expectations at the right price.  We will definitely be back!

Photo here

Today, we cleaned around the house and then went to see Catching Fire!!!  It was so touching--I laughed and cried throughout it--and while it was a long movie (previews started at 12:45 and we got out at 3:30), the hours seemed to fly by.  Also, I must say that I wish Caesar Flickerman was a real talk show host.  This movie was better than the first, and I liked that one a lot; it was also very faithful to the book.  I want to go see it again!

Photo here

I love when the marketing mimics what could happen if the events of the book/movie were real.

Tonight, we cleaned some more, and I went grocery shopping.  "Pancake," our homeless kitten visitor, has been staying in our bathroom all weekend, and tonight I let her out.  (We have determined that she is a she, and not a he.)  Hobie caught me holding her, and he looked like I had stabbed him in the heart.  And Dinah has been hissing in such a ladylike fashion each time she sees "Pancake."  Poor kitty--she just wants to be part of our family, and our two spoiled cats don't want to share!