{7QT} Snow, Snow, Snow, and Fun Links

We've been cooped up all week due to the weather. No school, no work. We've had some days when we've all stayed in PJs and others where we all get ready with nowhere to go. We've watched a lot of TV, shoveled a lot of snow, and read a lot of books. A snowfall like this one (about 10" on Monday and another 2-3" on Wednesday) is very unusual for our area of Kentucky. My husband tells me it has been about 20 years since the last time KY had snow like this. So this Quick Takes is all about our week being cooped up together because of the weather.

#1
We knew the snow was going to start before we woke up Monday. We knew it was predicted to be a big one (anywhere from 8-14"). We knew, too, that our garbage collection was Monday and they usually came early. So Sunday night, Hubby gathered the trash and got it all out to the curb before it got too cold (we were getting pretty cold temps, too). We hoped that maybe they would start earlier than normal to try to get routes done before the snow got too bad. No such luck. Our trash is still sitting by the curb.

#2
So when your trash cans are down on the curb and you have about 10" of snow on the ground that is taking forever to clear off the wrap-around-to-the-back-of-the-house driveway and the diaper pail is starting to fill up again, what do you do??

I had to be a little discriminating on which diapers went into the pail and which had to wait. That's all I'm saying.

#3
In anticipation of the snow, Hubby picked up some sweetened condensed milk at the store on his last run on Sunday and then put a large bowl out on our back porch Monday morning. Later in the day we gathered some snow from the large bowl and made snow cream. He put it all together but from what I understand it was basically the sweetened condensed milk, some vanilla, a little bit of maraschino cherry juice all mixed together and then mixed into some snow. It was actually pretty good.

#4
Hubby got outside and shoveled a few times on Monday just in an attempt to keep up with it. He was able to do about 7 or 8 feet in front of our garage, plus the walkway between the driveway and the back porch, and cleared out the snow from in front of the drier vent. Each time he went out to shovel he was basically shoveling a few more inches from that same area. Just enough to get the small car out of the garage, but not quite enough to get the van out. As a result we had a mountain of snow sitting about 8 feet from the back of the garage.

You can see the pile starting to mount in the middle of our driveway.
The garage is actually just out of view to the right of the photo.

#5
Tuesday I went out and helped. I'm completely out of shape, haven't exercised in forever, and I was out there chipping away at the layers and layers of snow. It was a great workout. One of the boys didn't want me to leave them in the house, so he told me I had 6 minutes only (why 6 minutes I have no idea). The two of them (baby was napping) sat by the large kitchen windows watching us for a while. At one point, I heard knocking on the glass, turned around, and through the glass one of the twins reminded me that it had been 6 minutes (in reality it had probably been 15 by then). I told him I still had five more. Eventually they both got bored and went back to watching TV.

#6
I have not been good about actually showering every day this week. What's the point, really? I know I did one morning, another I skipped completely, and on Wednesday I showered and dressed while the baby took his afternoon nap. I didn't bother drying my hair after that Wednesday afternoon shower since I wasn't planning on going anywhere. So I walked downstairs with wet hair and Peter sees me and starts trying to ask about my hair. He kept pointing and saying, "Your hair it's, it's ..." I waited for him to find the right word. I was just about to say "wet" when he said. "it's not pretty."

Awwwww! Kids say the cutest things!

#7
Okay, let's get away from the snow for at least one of these takes. Two quick links to share with you. First, my little blog here was featured on Wednesday in a new series on Catholic Sistas. You can check out the "Fabulously Featured" post HERE and be sure to follow Catholic Sistas to get all the great posts in addition to the "Fabulously Featured" posts to feature various Catholic bloggers on Wednesdays. Second, my post on Catholic Sistas today is the first interview I did for the Year of Consecrated Life series I started this year. Please go visit the post HERE and leave a comment for Sr. Anne Joan and share the post with others. I think this is a great way to honor this Year of Consecrated Life.

Thanks for stopping by and please go visit Kelly for more Quick Takes posts. I hope everyone has a good weekend. Stay warm!!