The Blizzard of 2011

The "important" post I mentioned yesterday will have to wait one more day thanks to this breaking news--today we had winter storm #3 in Lawrence, and it turned out to be the biggest blizzard I can remember! Once again I kind of doubted we would actually have the crazy storm the weather people were predicting, and I was especially skeptical when I woke up at 5:30 a.m. to absolutely no snow on the ground. I went back to bed for a couple of hours, and when I awoke again the snow had started. Within an hour or so it was coming down hard and the wind was howling, and it didn't stop snowing until more than 12 hours later. I kept shooting little video clips of the snow coming down because it looked like it couldn't come down any harder, but then an hour or so later I'd look outside and it would be coming down even harder! Needless to say I shot a lot of videos today. I think we must have gotten 6-8 inches, but it was hard to tell with all the drifting!

Thankfully the entire city pretty much shut down, and Chad was able to work from home instead of driving to Topeka. Even though the wind chill was way below zero and the snow was not stopping, my ambitious husband went out and tried to shovel a couple of times to stay ahead of the task, but the effort was pretty futile. After weathering the elements for a while, he decided that he wanted to take the storm head-on and drive to Kwik Shop to get a fountain soda. I expressed my concerns that this was a horrible idea, but I gave in and agreed to go on the adventure with him as long as I could get my new favorite treat--Orange Leaf Frozen Yogurt--which is right across from Kwik Shop.

Once we got down the driveway and onto the street we realized this adventure might take a while. The snow was deep and blowing hard, and even our 4 wheel drive Escape had a difficult time with traction. It was slow going, but we eventually made it to Kwik Shop without getting stuck, but we decided to scrap our additional Orange Leaf and possible Hy-Vee plans, since visibility was so bad we couldn't even see Orange Leaf across the street!

After our blizzard adventure was over I decided to put all my little video clips together so that I could share the experience with everyone. I probably had about 10 total minutes of video, which I edited down to about 7 minutes. My husband (the broadcast journalism major) informed me that it was entirely too long and needed lots more editing, so the final cut is less than three minutes long--which is certainly luckier for all of you. Of course, if you live in the Midwest, you're probably having your own blizzard experience and don't need to watch ours!



If you enjoyed the music, please check out decker. The song is from Chad's cousin Brandon's latest CD, which is fantastic!

Snow, Beautiful Snow

Yesterday we had our second snowstorm of the year, and I think I was one of the few people in Lawrence who was actually excited about it! It started snowing around noon yesterday and snowed continually until early this morning, which means that we had about 7 new inches on the ground when we woke up this morning. The snow from our first storm hadn't all melted yet, so there was probably more like 8 or 9 inches in our yard.

Our second big snow reminded me that I hadn't shared the pictures from our first big snow, which I finally started editing last night. Then in a shocking turn of events, I couldn't resist going out to take more pictures today. I know you're probably thinking that if you've seen one snow you've seen them all, but today when the sun came out with all that new snow on the ground, it just looked so totally different than last week! The snow was smooth and sparkly and just gorgeous! It actually turned out to be a nice afternoon too--sunshine and 30 degrees made for a nice walk with the pups!

Hope you enjoy just a few of the pictures from last week and earlier today!

Perfect Snow

Yesterday was the first snow day of the season here in Lawrence, and even though I was completely sick of the snow by the end of last winter, I was so happy to see it again this year! It was so beautiful here yesterday--the perfect winter day, in my opinion. There was no wind, the temp was right around freezing, and the snow was falling gently all day long. I couldn't resist taking a bunch of pictures of course, but I haven't had the chance to upload them quite yet.

In addition to the quick photo session I also shot a little video, just to capture the falling action of the beautiful flakes. Since Celtic loves the snow he came along, as did Fresco, who was also excited for the first snowfall of the season. Celtic would stay out in the snow for hours if you'd let him--it's like he's energized and invigorated by the cold. We used to joke about him wanting to grow up to be a sled dog when he was little, and even today he acts like a 5 year old again in the snow. I'm guessing now the cold and snow is kind of like an icepack for his entire arthritic little body. Check out the speed on our adorable little 13-year-old!


Notice who's missing? Hope was invited to come outside as well, but politely declined since she despises cold weather. In fact, when we took a quick walk with all of them later in the afternoon, Hope was so anxious to get inside she was outpacing her brothers by a long shot. Normally she's our best leash walker who stays right beside us, but yesterday she was pulling like she hadn't pulled in years. By the time we neared the house I was having to jog to keep up with her, so about three houses away I just let go of her leash (something we never do with our scent hounds) and watched her sprint for the front door. I half expected her to peel off to the first house she passed just to get back indoors, but thankfully she wasn't so frozen that she forgot where she lived. I knew I should have made her wear her coat.

I can already tell today won't be nearly as lovely, since the wind howled most of the night and is still doing so. I'm extra glad yesterday was beautiful since I'm guessing today will be quite miserable!

Ahhhahhhh, Kansas!!

Does anyone else besides Chad and I remember those promotional ads for Kansas that were on the radio when we were kids back in the 80s? They are so ingrained in our brains. Whenever we think about what a terrible place Kansas is to visit we think of those ads, which I'm pretty sure is the opposite of the effect the ads were supposed to have. Regardless, that's where the title of this post came from. If you have no idea what I'm talking about or would like to hear one of those ads just for the sake of nostalgia, you can check one out here--although that's a total digression and not the original purpose of this post!

When I mentioned in my Friday blog entry that the weather was unseasonably warm and beautiful, I knew it was supposed to turn cold over the weekend. I did not, however, realize the severity of the swing in temperature and wind speed. Overnight on Friday, we started hearing the wind howl and also heard some precipitation at some point. We awoke to ice on the deck and wind chills of about 15 below. It was miserable out, and the weather got worse as the day went on. It started lightly snowing late in the afternoon and was blowing so hard it was hard to keep your car on the road. While it was painful to be outside in the cold, it was actually kind of beautiful to watch the snow blowing on the road--it looked like liquid flowing over the asphalt. I'd hoped to get some video of it, but when I went outside after we got home Saturday night, it was too dark to even see the road. You can sort of see the phenomenon in this video from the Journal-World though--it was kind of fascinating.

Although I couldn't get my own video of the blowing snow late last night, while I stood there on our porch freezing to death waiting for a car to drive by to light up the street, I did get a video that clearly displays the ferocious wind. Since you can see the blowing snow as well, you can probably imagine how miserable it was out there!



Ahhahh, Kansas! Gotta love it!

Worst Ever

Ugh. What else can you say about yesterday, which was pretty much the worst first day of spring ever. If you paid any attention to the news last night, you already know the the primary reason it was a horrible day for us. Our beloved Jayhawks got knocked out of the NCAA tournament in the second round, and as our friends and family can imagine, we were devastated. I spent much of yesterday evening in tears and have struggled all day to find any motivation to do anything. I know it sounds insane, but I just love KU basketball so much. My heart is broken for our players--especially for Sherron, who had a terrible game to end his college career.

I couldn't bring myself to actually watch any post game interviews or read any post game articles today--the wounds are just too fresh! I don't really know what the experts are saying about why we lost, but I just think those guys from Northern Iowa played an absolutely perfect game. They made shots they hadn't made all year, barely had any turnovers, made free throws, and played tenacious defense. Our guys, on the other hand, seem lacking in energy, tense, and unsure of themselves. They missed free throws, turned the ball over, and didn't defend as well as they should have. They certainly didn't play up to their amazing potential.

There's probably a lot more I could say about the game and about Bill's boys, but it's just too depressing. Maybe in a few weeks I'll be able to put the whole thing into perspective.

To make yesterday a little bit worse (if that were even possible), we had the most ridiculous weather ever for the first day of spring. It started sleeting and then snowing late Friday night, and when we woke up, there was 8 inches of snow on our back deck and it was still coming down hard. It snowed the entire day until about the time the game ended in the early evening. It may have snowed a little more overnight, because there was at least 12 inches on the deck, although I'm sure a lot of that was just drifting. There were probably 6-7 inches total at our house. I took a few pictures in the morning, way before it was finished, to commemorate the first day of spring.











The tiny bit of good news is that it was super sunny today and got above freezing, so a lot of the snow melted. We're ready for some happier weather and happier times in Lawrence!

My Public Apology

I would just like to take this opportunity to publicly apologize to Joel Nichols, Gary Lezak, Bryan Busby, whoever does the Journal-World weather, and the whole darn team at Weather.com. Several days ago, when they predicted that we would have 6-8 inches of snow on or around Christmas, I completely poo-pooed their forecast. I did not believe for a minute that we would have any significant snowfall here in Lawrence, since in the 15+ years we've lived here, we've rarely had more than a couple of inches. I was completely wrong, and the weathermen and weatherwomen were completely right. I'm sorry to all of them for doubting their expertise!!

Seriously though, I can't even believe how much snow we've had! It started snowing soon after my first post on Christmas Eve, and it had snowed so much by the end of the day and was blowing so darn hard that every Christmas Eve church service in the city was canceled. It was still snowing pretty hard when we went to bed around midnight, and the blizzard winds continued throughout the night. All I could think when I woke up Christmas morning was "how am I going to get the dogs outside to potty in this mess?"

Thankfully, the drift on the back deck didn't form right up against the door, so the dogs had a little space to walk through and only a small drift to jump over to get to the stairs. I actually shot video of the event thinking it was going to be funny, but the only funny part about it was Hope balking about going outside entirely. She absolutely hates the cold and snow.

I have to say that while it was miserably cold and windy outside during all this, I absolutely loved having a white Christmas. I'm sure many people will hate me for saying so since they were trying to travel to see loved ones for the holiday, but since we'd already celebrated with all of our family members, we had no place to go and were totally happy! The more it snowed, the happier I was! We laid around the house and relaxed and watched movies and read and blogged and it was wonderful!

After being holed up for two full days, we were ready to get out of the house for a while on Saturday. We anticipated just driving over the snow covered driveway with our 4-wheel drive until Chad opened the garage door to find a huge undrivable drift. Although we'd probably only had 6 inches or so of snow, the snow was 27 inches at its highest point! Poor Chad spent over an hour shoveling just one half of the driveway so we could get out, and much to his dismay, by the time he was done it was snowing pretty hard again! It snowed off and on most of the day, and after we got home he took another hour and a half to shovel the other half of the driveway and the walk.

While we were out and about, we were kind of shocked at how horrible the roads were all over town. It looked like the snow plows had been through overnight, but there had been more snow after the plows, which hadn't really gotten much of the snow moved in the first place! There were cars stranded all over the place. Right on our own street a car had gotten stuck and been plowed into a 6 foot snow bank, blocking all but one thin lane of the road. Another car was stranded just around the corner on Bob Billings.The roads were a combination of packed snow, ice and fresh powder, so the hills out by our house were pretty treacherous! Today the sun came out a little bit, which meant that much of it turned to slush, which wasn't much better. Hopefully when the work week starts tomorrow the road crews will get out and get some more plowing and salting done.

Quite honestly, even though driving around town is a little difficult, I wouldn't mind if another big storm hit us tomorrow and snowed us in for another two days. All the laying around the house has gotten me really spoiled and I'm really not ready to go back to work!

Snow Season

Today we got the first snow of the season, and while I normally LOVE snow of any type, today was fairly miserable. First of all, it was super cold and windy, and second of all, it was wet. It was the kind of snow that needed an umbrella instead of snow skis. Ick.

With that said, the snow was actually pretty if you didn't have to be outside in it. The flakes clumped together in these huge massive blobs. I couldn't resist taking a few pics when I got home at lunch.



It's hard to tell from the pictures how huge the clumps of flakes were (and are, since it's snowing like that again right now), so I tried a little video to see if that would give you a better idea of what it was like outside.



It looks beautiful but it felt miserable!!

Are You Kidding Me Right Now?

You have to be flipping kidding me. I really can't even believe this. This morning, the weather guy said it would be cold today with a chance for a few flurries. A chance. It started snowing today at 8:00 a.m. and didn't stop until--oh wait...until never. It's still snowing. Granted, at this point there are only flurries coming down, but really it's just the point. Earlier today it was snowing really hard. You probably can't tell from my cell phone picture here, but outside my office building around the lunch hour there were tons of huge flakes coming down. Those streaks of white are big old flakes flying by!

I know the whole country is having bad weather, so I really shouldn't complain. I think our friends in the Dallas area even got snow this morning! Even so, I'm about to lose it with this cold. I'm definitely praying that spring gets here soon!

I've Had Enough

Okay, seriously. I know I'm always blathering on about how much I love the snow, but I am so done with winter at this point. It's not just that it's snowing again today--it's that the wind chill is below 10 degrees again. I'm so flipping tired of the cold. It's too darn cold to actually go out and enjoy that snow that I love so much!

I've just had enough of it. Seriously. I've had enough of the snow/melt/rain/freeze/snow pattern that has been going on for so many months. I've had enough of cleaning off muddy, wet dogs every time the snow melts. I've had enough with the swampy mudpit that is our backyard. I've had enough of not being able to go on long walks. I've had enough of the insanely high gas bills. I've had enough of wearing the same warm sweaters and turtlenecks over and over and over again. I've had enough of our vehicles covered in sand, salt and muck--inside and out. I've just had enough.

Okay, I'm done complaining now. From this point forward, I'm going to make a deliberate effort to be thankful that I live in a climate which has four seasons and has the snow that I love. I'm just going to tell myself that the crazy cold weather we're having today will make the beautiful spring sunshine that much more wonderful!!

Snow Day!!!

It finally happened! With all of the snow we've had in Lawrence this year, you'd think KU would have already had a snow day at some point, but it takes A LOT of bad weather for the Chancellor to close the offices on campus. Today that lot of bad weather finally arrived, and I just couldn't be happier! I'm snuggled in my bed with three adorable pups watching the beautiful snow falling in our backyard. There are at least 5 inches on the ground and it's still coming down, although it looks as though the flakes will be stopping soon. The only thing that could have made this day better would have been about 4 more inches! :)

Oh wait, there is one thing that would make the day better: sledding. I love sledding. I haven't been sledding once all year. I remember the days when Steeler and Celtic were little, when they still allowed dogs off-leash on campus. We would take the dogs and the sleds up to the Campanile and they would chase us down the hill through the snow, barking the entire way. It was so much fun. Since there isn't any hilly, fenced in area around town that I can think of, I'm afraid sledding is going to be out of the question for our current party of five.

So, I guess my plans for the rest of the day include blogging, napping, eating lunch with my hubby (who is actually snowed in as well but is being a good employee and working from home with his mobile office set up in the basement), and napping. Did I mention napping? I might also get around to doing a little laundry and some housecleaning if I feel like it.

I did actually get a couple of things accomplished already this morning, so don't think I'm a complete slacker. I was in the middle of my morning workout when Chad came down to tell me work was canceled, so I had time to do a full hour of cardio instead of my normal half hour. Later on I also took some pictures and video of the snow for your enjoyment, but beware--it sort of turned into a photo session of the dogs. At least I can check a couple of things off of my to-do list for the day! :)

Sudden Snowstorm

I know I've been blogging a ton about the weather lately, but the last three days have just been so meteorologically bizarre here in Lawrence I have to share. Saturday the weather was absolutely gorgeous, and I took the 3 pups on a nice long 4 mile walk for the first time in months, wearing nothing but a sweatshirt. Sunday was also quite mild, and then yesterday we hit a near record high of 60 degrees.

By yesterday evening, you could tell there was a storm on the way. The temp was supposed to be in the mid 20s throughout the day and then drop significantly in the evening, but early in the morning the wind began to howl and snow began blowing sideways. By lunchtime, this was what the backyard looked like at our house.


If you look closely, you might be able to tell that flakes are flying horizontally from the 30 mph gusts of wind. There were 40 mph gusts earlier in the morning, plus our backyard is fairly secluded with the fence and houses all around, so you really can't get a feel for how crazy cold and windy it was. I kept the camera in my pocket when I went back to work, where the gusts were a little more visible with all of the blowing snow.

Hopefully you're not too nauseated from my shaky photography. :) I don't do a good job walking and filming at the same time, obviously. I'm sure my coworkers who were looking out their windows on that side of the building thought I had completely lost my mind, but I just love the idea that a few years from now I can look back on my blog and say, "Oh yeah, I remember that day back in '08 when the wind was blowing snow tornadoes all over the parking lot!"

Snowing and Blowing but We're Still Going

Today was a bonus day for us. Whenever we get to spend time together that we hadn't planned to spend together, we call it bonus time. When we awoke this morning, we thought we'd be heading straight to Kansas City for a Christmas celebration with Chad's family. As soon as we talked to his parents in Salina, we discovered that the weather was going to prevent any sort of traveling, so we were excited about the prospect of a bonus day to ourselves. I thought I might spend the day doing laundry and finishing up my wrapping/painting of packages, and maybe I'd head over to the shelter for a few pictures of the new dogs. Just as I was mulling over all of my future accomplishments, the phone rang and Chad's boss Terry invited us to go to the KU basketball against Miami of Ohio. Since our day had just opened up completely, and since we never really know how many games we'll have the opportunity to see, we accepted Terry's offer immediately.

Minutes after getting showered and dressed we happened to look out the window, and it suddenly became very clear why Chad's parents couldn't make it to KC today--it was like a blizzard outside! We met Terry and his daughter Lindsay at their favorite parking spot and then walked through some crazy blowing snow to get to the field house! As we walked down Naismith Hill, we saw a sudden flash of bright light, and just as I turned around to Terry and Lindsay with a "what was that?" look on my face we heard these loud claps of thunder in the clouds! It was so weird--I have very few recollections of ever experiencing thunder snow!

I was definitely glad we went to the game, despite the fact that we had to walk through a blizzard to get there. The Jayhawks played well and they were super fun to watch since they pretty much dominated Miami. The snow was coming down just as hard when we left Allen Fieldhouse, and we had a very slow and steady trip home as the roads were incredibly slick from all the snow. We went back out into the elements a little later in the day to mail a few Christmas presents (which will clearly not get there by Christmas) and pick up a few more wrapping supplies along with a few groceries. The roads were still messy and slick and the snow was still coming down. By the time it finally stopped this evening, we had at least 4 inches of snow with drifts of about a foot in some places, including some crazy drifts on our back patio. Four inches is kind of a lot for Lawrence! It's supposed to be sunny and warmer tomorrow, but hopefully it doesn't get so warm that all the snow melts away--I'd love to keep this snow around for a white Christmas!

Snowy Season

There are so many things that Ive been wanting to blog about lately, but today I just have to mention the beautiful first snowfall that we had today! Just a few minutes after I got to work the snow started coming down, and it was absolutely gorgeous. It went from fine powdery flakes to huge clumps of flakes to so many flakes you could hardly see! I tried to take pictures out my office window, but I only had my Palm camera and not my real camera, and the quality was so low that it just looked like a big mass of white through the glass. I opted to use this cool picture from the Lawrence Journal-World instead to help me remember the day. It snowed until almost 2:30, and we ended up with around 2 inches on the ground. I'm probably one of the few people in my office that was hoping for the snow to continue all day, since I don't mind driving in snowy weather at all!

While I do love the snow just for being snow, I also loved the weather today because for the first time this year it actually felt like the Christmas season! Hooray for my favorite holiday of the year!

Best Intentions

My intention was to wake up early this morning and go out and walk 8 or so miles since we only walked around 6 miles yesterday around Boulder, even though I was scheduled for 10. We didn't set the alarm, since generally as soon as the sun comes up I'm awake, whether I like it or not. This morning, a woke up and rolled over to look at the clock, and it said 8:13, which I found rather shocking. I jumped out of bed and started getting dressed, putting on my layers since I knew it was supposed to be cold today.

When I rounded the corner from the bedroom to the main area of the loft (which is gorgeous, by the way...pictures later), I realized why the sunshine didn't wake me up this morning. The normally picturesque view from the plethora of windows in the loft was completely clouded by SNOW! ACK!! There will clearly be no walking this morning, since I have no access to the health club here!

While we're enjoying a cozy morning up on the lounge level of the loft building (there's Wifi here but not in our room because of all the concrete in the building), where there's free breakfast and drinks and newspapers, we're still a little bummed about the weather. The first problem with this weather is that I'm not going to get my scheduled 8 miles in. Secondly, we did not drive the Escape, but brought the Hyundai instead!!! ACK!! When we left Thursday evening, the weather was still saying that there would be RAIN in the Denver area instead of SNOW! The Hyundai just seemed like the logical choice based on gas mileage, but we should have realized that the weathermen and women in Colorado were just as unreliable as they are in Kansas!

The third problem with this weather, of course, it that tonight we're supposed to be sitting outside, at Mile High (the football stadium) watching the Steelers and Broncos play. The snow is supposed to stop by then, but the temperature is still supposed to be in the 30s. Thankfully, we brought lots of layers of warm clothing, but I have a feeling the game isn't going to be quite as enjoyable as we had hoped!

Birthday Blizzard

Ugh. That's about all I can say about yesterday. It was probably one of the worst birthdays Chad could have ever asked for. Let me just give you a synopsis of how the day went.

7:00 a.m.--Getting ready for work, we watch local weather people who say the day's high should be 30, with lots of sun, and a small chance of flurries late in the afternoon.

7:30 a.m.--Chad almost drives out of the driveway, but decides to go check the sump pump overflow PVC pipe outside, and discovers that it's completely encased in ice, and therefore none of the water draining into our sump can exit.

7:35 a.m.--Chad begins calling the landscape company who designed this sump system to see if they'll come work on it so that our sump pump doesn't overflow. He waits for them to return his call.

9:00 a.m.--Chad finally calls a plumber because he can't get a hold of the landscapers. He reschedules his meeting that was supposed to be in KC so that it was in Lawrence. He waits.

10:00 a.m.--Plumber arrives, and Chad stands outside in the below zero wind chill trying to help him unfreeze the pipes.

10:30 a.m.--I receive word that Darrell Hammond has canceled that night's show, to which I had invited a bunch of our other friends as a surprise to Chad.

10:45 a.m.--I come home from work to hang out with the plumber so that Chad can go to his meeting, and begin trying to contact our 12 other friends to let them know that we're still going to go to The Improv.

11:00 a.m.--Plumber leaves and only charges us $82, which was nice, but the fix is only temporary. More work will have to be done later once the temperatures get back up to normal.

12:00 noon--I head back to work, where I frantically try to get some stuff done so that I can leave early to go to the Improv.

3:15 p.m.--I exit the KUEA building, surprised to find that it has started snowing--hard--in the last half hour or so. As I drive home I call friends that were supposed to attend with us that night. Everyone is still on board. It takes me much longer than usual to get home because the roads are wet and slippery, and people are driving ridiculously slow.

4:00 p.m.--Chad starts questioning whether we should go to KC at all because of the weather, still not knowing that 10 other people besides Dante and Jaimie are going with us. I try to tell him that it can't be that bad. The snow starts coming down harder.

4:30 p.m.--We make an attempt to head towards KC. The snow is coming down so hard, we can't see a quarter mile in front of us. We get out to the Interstate and traffic is moving about 35 miles per hour. We realize it will take us two hours to get to Zona Rosa at that pace. Chad decides we shouldn't go, so we pull off at the East Lawrence exit.

4:40 p.m.--I start calling friends to tell them we won't make it. Chad is surprised that so many friends were coming. When I call our friend Mike, he is not happy with me because he's already at Zona Rosa, since clearly the weather hasn't gotten as bad in KC yet. I feel terrible.

4:45 p.m.--When I call our friends in Lawrence who were planning to make the trip, they suggest that we at least go out to dinner since we're all out driving anyway. It takes us 30 minutes to drive 2.5 miles from 6th and Iowa to 6th and Wakarusa. We pass several emergency vehicles tending to or driving to accidents. At this point, we are very thankful that we didn't try to go to KC and subject our friends to the same dangerous trip. The snow is coming down so hard, we can't see 200 yards in front of us.

5:15 p.m.--We arrive at J.B. Stouts, where we meet 4 of our other friends, but it's FREEZING in the restaurant because apparently their furnace can't keep up with the ridiculous cold outside.

6:00 p.m.--We have a good meal, but certain people in our group (who shall remain nameless) aren't in a very good mood because all the wrongness of the day is starting build up. Our server is kind of pushy and keeps calling everyone "hon" and "sweetie," which gets on nerves until finally Chad is downright rude to her because she won't leave him alone.

6:30 p.m.--Chad apologizes to the server for being rude.

7:00 p.m.--We check the weather and it has stopped snowing completely. We decide to head to the bowling alley, even though some in the group don't really want to bowl. The bowling alley is packed since the annual "Bowl for Kid's Sake" tourney is going on. We try to call Jaybowl, but they are very busy too. We finally realize there is actually a lane open, and pay over $21 a couple to bowl two games.

7:30 p.m.--Chad is not getting any happier because he's not bowling so well. Heather beats us all in the first game with a 111. I'm satisfied with my 67 in the first game, because it was better than my opening 50 from earlier in the month.

8:30 p.m.--Chad doesn't bowl any better in the second game, but Grant is burning up the lanes. I bowl a strike, then two gutter balls in a row, then 2 strikes in a row. Then I kill my turkey.

9:00 p.m.--Chad still isn't getting happier because he's still not bowling well. He finally rolls his first strike on the 10th frame of the second game, and follows it with a spare, and ends up beating me 120 to 105. That makes him a little happy.

9:45 p.m.--We leave the bowling alley, and see that the roads are perfectly clear and safe. Which makes us realize that we probably could have actually gotten home from The Impov safely after all. Getting there still would have been a problem.

10:00 p.m.--We arrive home and go straight to bed after a long and frustrating birthday.

I write all of this now in the hope that some day I will either look back on it and laugh, or look back on it and never try to throw a surprise party again. You can see how all of my planning to do something special for Chad's birthday totally backfired on me.

The one blessing in all of this was that Darrell Hammond actually canceled so that our money was refunded. Had that not been the case, and the snowstorm had prevented any of us from getting there, we all probably would have been out the $66 for a pair of tickets.

I guess God really does use all things for our good--even if it doesn't feel so good at the time! :)

Snow Beautiful Snow!

If you've read my blog before or know me at all, you probably realize that I absolutely love pictures. I love taking them, looking a them, editing them and sharing them. Today is a day that I wish I had my camera. The snow is absolutely beautiful! There were about 3 inches at our house this morning, which was just enough to cover most of the grass and make everything white. Because it was such a wet snow, tons of it stuck to the trees, leading to a gorgeous "Winter Wonderland" effect. Since I was one of the first people to leave the neighborhood, the snow was almost completely untouched and just so amazing! Can you tell I like snow?

Since I didn't have my real camera, I tried taking some pictures with the 1 megapixel camera on my Palm Pilot. I went to several different windows around my office building, attempting to capture the beautiful snowfall. There is one office in particular on the 3rd floor of the south side of the building that has the most amazing view of the south part of Lawrence. I tried to capture it, but the snow was just so bright white it didn't turn out at all. The only picture that was remotely cool was this one, which is from the 3rd floor, looking north out the front windows, overlooking the foyer. You can sort of see how pretty things are! Maybe I should start taking my real camera everywhere for just such a photo opportunity!

Snowman Mania

Can I just say that I love snow? I was outside yesterday afternoon enjoying the beautiful snowfall here in Lawrence, hoping and praying that we would get the 6 inches the weathermen had predicted. We only ended up with about 4 inches, which would normally be enough for me to drag Chad up to Campanile Hill for some sledding. Unfortunately, today's snow was very wet, the kind that was great for snowman making but a little too soggy for sledding. As I walked the dogs this afternoon on our regular 1.5 mile route, I counted TWENTY snowmen in front yards alone! That's like a couple of snowmen on every block. Some were a little more elaborate than others, but every one of them brought a smile to my face. I should have been out there helping to make them. I LOVE SNOW!