BLIZZARD in the midwest!

Most storm warnings out here I kinda ignore. Why? Because they are over-dramatized! The first tornado siren I heard was last spring and it was at night and we all bundled up and went to the basement. We waited for about 20-30 minutes and then decided it was too cold and there was nothing to do down there so we came back up and just watched the news carefully. Since there I've heard that tornado siren a dozen or so times and nothing really happens! We get a lot of rain,  a lot of lightning, but since we live on the side of a hill we aren't worried about floods, or lightning hitting us, and sheesh it doesn't even get that gusty!

But this blizzard that is splattered all over the weather news reports across the nation actually had me a bit nervous. A foot or more of snow and an inch of ice would down power lines and THAT is what I really couldn't do without. Everything is cancelled or closed around here. It's pretty weird and people all the time ask me, "oh you must think this is nothing compared to Alaska weather, huh?" Well.... yes and no. I don't ever remember getting ice storms and even more than that, the roads and everything that I've encountered in Alaska was pretty well-maintained. We'd get a lot of snow, then rain, which would turn to icey slush, making some parts of town inaccessible, but for the most part life went on! School was never cancelled and businesses never closed! Out here, the weather changes so quick and most people are very unprepared. Like, for example, in all the grocery stores right now, there isn't hardly any bread or milk to be found! Ice-melting salt and shovels are sold out at Home Depot, Lowe's, Sears, etc. On Sunday and Monday, it was like Black Friday all over again, but for survival essentials.

Most of me is thinking this is another over-dramatization and I'm continuing with life as usual. Except I made 3 dinners this afternoon in case the power goes out, we'll have food for a couple days :)

So far, in west St. Louis (where we live), it has been icing all morning and afternoon. By icing I mean, it's raining ice pellets.  Last night it was freezing rain and that coated everything with ice crystals. It is actually quite beautiful! Take a look:

 Cute little Alex, who was yelling and pounding on the window until I turned around and looked at him:

In other news, which I will hopefully get documented with pictures within the next couple weeks, Owen started Karate (well, actually Tae Kwon Do)- twice a week, Soccer- twice a week, and he can now read! We got him a Leap Frog Tag reader thing and within about 3 days he could read small words. He still can read only small words, but he sounds everything out and can read a few simple books! I'm pretty proud of how quick he picked up on it!

I also had my friend come over and fix my sewing machine, so I'm going to start working on re-decorating projects in the evening. I always get the re-decorating fever at this time of the year and I want everything different. Unfortunately our budget doesn't agree, so I have to compromise and get creative. I'm thinking a new living room rug (the single big expense), new pillow covers, and new curtains will do the trick. Anyways, more to come on that later.