Ice Days!

Tomorrow begins day three of being trapped in my house.  Who knew that Texas could get a freak ice storm and that temperatures would drop to the lowest they have been for 15 years?  This is not Canada, we Texan's do not have parkas, snow shovels, and emergency ice/snow storm kits.  I grew-up in Colorado so you would think I would be okay in the climate, however, I was a kid at the time and I don't remember the world stopping around me when it snowed there.

Ice Day #1: Tuesday, February 1st
My husband and I woke to ice pellets hitting the windows constantly like a tree tapping its branches non-stop.  Ice covered the entire front and back yard.  Needless to say, school was cancelled and I did not have to get out of bed at 5am to drive to work.  after going back to bed for a few more hours we finally woke-up.  In an attempt to put food in our bellies we had to get out of the house and head to the store.  It took about 20 minutes to go 3 miles because of the ice, we were driving an average of 10 miles per hour because we were stuck behind drivers who CAN NOT drive in the ice.  Newsflash: If you are attempting to go up a hill that is covered in ice, you cannot go slow, you will fall backyards.  Really people?

The ice had not melted at all.  The low for the day was 10 degrees with a windchill of -11.  WOW, hell really can freeze over! haha! I was in quite a hurry to get out the door so I did not bring gloves for my cold, cold hands.  I was fine until we walked out of wal-mart to get back into the car.  I had to hold a 2 gallon jug of Laundrey Detergent across 50 yards of slippery ice with no gloves.  I was in so much pain when I got back in the car I thought my hands had frostbite.  Of course, my husband laughed at the idea.  Well....needless to say when we got home and turned-on the news, i heard, "The windchill outside can cause frostbite within three minutes of exposure to skin." Turns-out I was right about my hand hurting.  No, I did not have frost bite, but it did feel like it.  ...BY the end of the day we were officially getting cabin fever and ready for the ice to melt.

Ice Day #2: Wednesday, February 2nd
Once again schools were cancelled.  My husband had to go in to work today so he had to leave the house at 4:30 to make sure he had enough time to get there with the ice.  I of course stayed warm in bed.  I woke-up  a few hours later to the sound of our house alarm going off.  Not a great way to wake-up.  It was beeping because the power had been turned-off.  The city decided to do rolling black-outs in an attempt to save energy, that would have been nice to know before I woke-up thinking the house had been broken into. After fixing the alarm and re-setting the clocks in the house I decided to make some coffee, only to find out that the water pipes were frozen.  I could get frigid water from the faucets in the bathrooms, but no water at all from the shower, bathtub, or kitchen sink.  I had a great time taking an old-fashioned sponge-bath in the sink from water I heated-up on the kettle. I felt like I was living in Little House on the Prairie.

As if not having water wasn't enough, i discovered that the cold cracked one of the windows in my front room from top to bottom.  Hopefully it won't fall out because it is way too cold outside, but it will cost a pretty penny to replace it.  Basically, I felt like the weather was making my house fall apart.

A few hours later I received the call yet again, "No School Tomorrow." Let's just hope tomorrow is better than today.  I know one thing for sure, I will be getting out the house for a few hours, ice or no ice.  I just hope we have hot water so I can take a normal shower!

Ice Day #3:
Coming soon...