{ c'mon, Irene }

We survived the "big storm" (that wasn't).

My daddy was here visiting, which 100% took the stress off. We ended up stocking up on lots of booze, cooking big pots of yummy food ("just in case..."), and enjoying some cooler temps and beautiful showers.

Thankfully here on the New Hampshire Seacoast, the extent of our hurricane effects was brief gusts of wind (that cleaned out the "loose" tree branches) and some moderate rain -- nothing but a good ol' fashioned thunderstorm.

snow, snow, and more snow

I was starting to think that the infamous New England winters were "no big deal." After a chilly yet pleasant fall, and an almost snow-free December, my southern bones were lulled into a false sense of toasty security.

Enter January.

We were graced with our first blizzard right after Christmas, and every week since has ushered in another round of the white stuff. So much of it, in fact, that it seems as though the 6-foot drifts in our yard will be a permanent fixture 'til June.

On top of the snow, we're dealing with bitterly cold temps. Tomorrow's forecasted high of 16° and low of -11° is just a tad ominous. Thank goodness for warm fires, hot chocolate, and sweats that feel oh so comfy on a most un-comfy cold day.

It's made for a bunch of fun, though, especially for the five-year-old (and forty-year-old) in our household. Aidan and Ty have become quite the sledding connoisseurs. And me? I'm getting really good at figuring out how to take pictures of snow on my camera.

warm and toasty

Baby, it's cold outside.

Really cold.

It's currently 18°, and I can't imagine it getting any colder. But the local weather gurus are forecasting temps as low as 11° are on the way (not accounting for the wind chill, which will make the air temp feel close to 0°).

What exactly does 0° feel like?

And I'm wondering at what point your eyeballs freeze?

Blessedly, my little ones are happy, healthy, comfy and warm.

Put another log on the fire....

decisions, decisions

Two major things are going on in my life right now ... so major in fact, that choosing which one was the bigger deal made blogging a challenge.

1. It's cold in Houston. And when I say cold, I mean COLD -- an Arctic front has hit the area, and it appears to be socked in for a while. I just made an early-morning run for our usual Saturday morning breakfast tacos, and the water bottle I keep inside my console in the car was frozen. The digital thermometer on my dashboard read 19° -- even after the sun had already been shining brightly for an hour or two. It's cold.

2. We finally received our new orders, care of Uncle Sam. We're heading up to Boston this summer. Boston? It's cold there, right? And they talk funny.

So in trying to gauge which was more blog-worthy, I critically looked at both -- crazy-cold temps, or moving to Boston? Hmmm ... I'm thinking I can combine the two.

God has a kick-ass sense of humor -- timing is everything. We've been waiting for months for word on our next duty station, and low and behold, we happened to receive the news while Ty was still home on leave, as well as on the afteroon before I took a rare personal day off work.

So we basically got to spend all day together yesterday saying things like, "Are you ok with this?" ... "Where would you like to live?" ... "We need to hit the winter sales right now and stock up on coats and hats." Usually these types of conversations take place for us on the phone, with thousands of miles between us. But again, timing is everything.

And I bet the Big Guy is getting a kick out of watching us freeze our Texas tails off right now, chuckling and enjoying the fact that this type of weather will be the winter (and fall and spring...) norms for us once we're living in New England.

So life goes on. Today we'll get the brakes on my car serviced, take Aidan to a birthday party, meet some friends for a few glasses of wine and good times, and go to sleep appreciating the fact that we have warm blankets, central heating, and each other.

God's sense of humor is grand. So is cold weather, and so are new adventures in New England.

tableau tuesday (on thursday)

Crazy wicked weather blew through town this morning ... right as the morning commute was getting underway (of course).

It's currently 9:00 a.m., and we've already had over 5 inches of rain this morning.

Gotta love it. Especially when the rain has nowhere to go, so it sits on the road ... and rises ... and rises ... and rises ....

The silver lining is that its bringing cooler temps with it.

break out your jackets, boys and girls

Lost Maples Nature Area, Vanderpool, Texas

(OK, well, maybe not your jackets.)

The 10-day forecast for Houston has lows around 70 and highs around 90 heading our way ... just around the corner! Woo hoo! Maybe I won't break a sweat until 8am, rather than as soon as I walk out the door at 6:45am (ok ... I'm lying. I start sweating as soon as I begin putting on my make-up. It's a way of life for me).

But back to the subject at hand, the mornings have felt noticeably drier and yes, even cooler. It's been a beautiful weekend, as far as August on the Texas Gulf Coast goes -- could be so much worse.

I'm such a cold weather girl. I know, I know. Why in the hell do I live in Texas and not somewhere like Colorado? It can't be helped ... it's in my blood. I love my peeps, and I love my state.

But I sure do adore trips to cooler climates. And even better, cool weather in my own backyard. So, based on the current forecast, a little mini-happy dance is in order.

storms are a-brewin'

After a quiet hurricane season so far, several tropical storms are churning out in the open waters of the Atlantic, just waiting to make their leap into the Gulf.

My post-traumatized-stressed-syndromed-self still has occasional heart palpitations whenever the lights flicker during a big thunderstorm, so just thinking about dealing with another major tropical event of any kind makes me want to crawl into a fetal position in the corner with a strong cocktail. Hurricane Ike still lingers in my brain ... not as a distant memory, but as a recent monster.

So as Gulf Coasters always do, we'll be watching, monitoring, and waiting as things begin to unfold.

tornado warning

There's something about getting that message in your email that makes your heart race some ... if only just a little bit.

It's absolutely black outside (even though the sun should be shining brightly). The lightning and thunder is shaking the windows, and the dogs are pacing.

Aidan is eating waffles and watching Ni-Hao, Kai-Lan ... totally oblivious to the menacing weather around him, which is as things should be. I'm enjoying a glass of wine and a chunk of parmigiano reggiano.

I love this weather, but I've always been a [bad] weather junkie. Life is a blessing.