Unacceptable!

This is our current weather forecast:



Normally I wouldn't be too worried about it, but tomorrow is the Regional swim competition, and we really need some good weather in order for all the teams to get there. It's in Versailles, which is 100 miles away and--oddly enough--pronounced exactly as it's spelled.

So if it's not too much trouble, please send good weather to Kentucky tomorrow. If you will do that for me, I promise that when we are having some random nice day and it is raining on your parade wherever you may be, I will send the good weather to you.

We were robbed!

Meade County? Schools closed on account of snow. Hardin County? Schools closed on account of snow. Fort Knox? Schools open despite the snow!

As it turns out the roads cleared by mid-morning anyway, but a snow day would have been so nice. I could have cancelled my dentist appointment and stayed home, but noooooooo. It was business as usual and now I'm looking at $1700 worth of gum upgrades.

Snow days are so nice. I remember how it felt as a kid to get up early and watch the closings crawl by at the bottom of the TV screen, hoping and praying that we would be some of the lucky ones who would get to put on 2 pairs of jeans and stuff our feet into breadbags inside our shoes and go slide down hills on cookie trays. (We southern children weren't very well outfitted for winter weather, I'm afraid, given that we didn't get it that often.)

I think my very first snow day must have been this one in Pensacola, Florida. I made a snow angel:



And I decorated a snowman to look like my dad:



Good times!

Metaphorically snowbound

We drove to Rochester on Monday afternoon and made it home without any major snags. Since then though, I have been playing whack-a-mole with duties and deadlines, smacking each one down only to see 2 more pop up in its place.

Christmas is kicking my rear end this year. Remember the cards I started working on back in mid-November? I am just now getting around to mailing them. I think my shopping is finally done, but there's still wrapping to be done and food to be bought, cooked, and consumed. I think I would enjoy Christmas more if it weren't an annual event.

Sometimes it startles me when I see myself in a Cathy cartoon, but this captures the essence of my Tuesday and Wednesday so perfectly:



I am going to have some non-holiday fun tonight though! My friend Angie and I have tickets to see the new "Sweeney Todd" film up in Louisville. On Halloween night, when Annabelle came running home to announce that one of the neighbors actually knew she was Mrs. Lovett without needing to be told--Angie is that neighbor. Should be fun!

Yup, definitely snowbound

Ah, home sweet Holiday Inn Express!

Fred and I went to the airport this afternoon to turn in the rental car, re-book our flight for tomorrow, then take the shuttle back to the hotel. Well, nobody at the counter would talk to us at first, as all they were "authorized" to do was "help" people use the do-it-yourself check-in kiosks. I called NW and was told yeah, I was free to rebook but everything tomorrow is full. Then there was a rumor (out of the NW people) that we would be flying this afternoon first to St. Louis and then to Detroit. Then (finally) the flight was cancelled. At that point, they handed out the emergency rebooking number, and I managed to renegotiate by phone. Fred re-rented a car, we got another room at the hotel, and we're flying out of Rochester tomorrow afternoon.

I'm am told that there was much squealing with delight at Maya's house when the girls were informed of the change of plans.

Let's hope the roads are clear between here and Rochester tomorrow. They were saying at the Northwest counter that nothing will be leaving Syracuse until Tuesday or Wednesday.

Snowbound

Greetings from snowy Syracuse, NY! We arrived on Friday, and Maya was waiting anxiously for Annabelle:



Fred and I turned Annabelle over to Maya and her mom for safekeeping for the weekend, grabbed our luggage and rental car, and headed 3 hours south to Split Rock Resort in Lake Harmony, PA. We got checked into our "room," which was actually an apartment with a huge whirlpool tub and a gas fireplace, and Fred taught his classes at the conference. We went out for dinner and then started anxiously watching the Weather Channel. We had been lucky in dodging Friday's bad weather and getting everyone where they needed to be, but Sunday (today) was looking dicey.

Fred hated to cut out early on the conference, although he was done teaching on Friday and our only real official event on Saturday was the big dinner. Still, they were predicting a buttload of bad weather for Sunday morning, and I asked him what he would tell one of his captains to do. He had to admit that in that case his advice would be to get the hell out of Dodge, so that's exactly what we did.

We traded our gas fireplace and whirpool tub for a quite acceptable room at the Holiday Inn Express at the Syracuse airport and waited for the bad weather to hit. Sometime around midnight it did indeed hit, snowing all night and then turning into the dreaded "wintery mix" (doesn't that sound like a Chrismas breakfast cereal? "I would like a bowl of wintery mix, please").

Annabelle is continuing to have a fantastic time across town with Maya, and I have to wonder if they didn't pretty much wish this snowstorm into existence. The universe is not equal apparently to the whims of determined 12-year-old girls.

Meanwhile, I'm playing weather detective and trying to figure the likelihood of us getting out of here, through Detroit (ha ha ha ha!), and back to Kentucky tonight. I wouldn't mind being stranded for an extra day too terribly much, although this certainly doesn't get my indexing project done or my Christmas cards and the rest of my Christmas presents sent. I just want to know NOW, not after I have the pleasure of hanging out at the Syracuse airport for hours on end and then stressing about the possibility of getting our hotel room again. Is that too much to ask?!