Ice Day

Last Monday (1-31-11) the meteorologists were predicting a “wintry mix” for the weekend (I was stoked!). As the week went the forecast was specifically expecting 3-5 of snow for Friday. By Wednesday, schools were closed, even though nothing had happened yet. L-O-L! I have to say that I didn’t mind all the closings though, traffic was so much easier. Friday morning when Phil & I woke up we ran straight to the window (picture 2 little kids running to the window to see if school would be canceled). Unfortunately we saw nothing, so we went about a normal morning trying to get ourselves out the door in a timely fashion. Phil left first but returned within 10 minutes. He said that he slid across the garage because there was so much ice. Here is the ice on our car.

Yes that is a real icicle in Houston!

I decided that I would still go to Texas Children’s Hospital (where I volunteer). I got out of the parking deck just fine (there was less ice around my car), & headed up to the freeway (in Houston if you’re going anywhere you have to take the freeway). As soon as I got onto 59, I felt like I was in a parade...I was the only one driving on the road, everyone else had spun out & was sitting on the side...watching me...waiting for me to spin out & join them. I had no intentions of playing bumper cars with the other Houstonians so I immediately got off the road & went home! As soon as I got home, I stepped on the first step up to the door & slipped. As I was falling, in what felt like slow motion, I remembered Phil telling me right before I left (only 5 minutes earlier), “Be careful D, the last few steps have ice on them.” Well isn’t that convenient to remember AS I’m falling. So I slipped going UP the steps, hit my knee cap on a very hard cement step, & spilt my hot coffee all over myself. Graceful? I don’t think so! One of my neighbors was outside smoking (who smokes at 5 in the morning?!) & had a lovely little chuckle at my performance. Throughout the day I monitored my left knee & the various shades of changing purple.

Ready for the ice!

So what does one do on an Ice Day for fun in Houston?
-I took a 45-minute shower as soon as I came inside; quite frankly, that’s how long it took me to thaw-out. (Oh no! I’m adapting to Houston weather!)
-I g-chatted with some of my favorite people (thanks for keeping me company Ashley, Katie, Kellyn, & Miriam)
-Checked my email (of course!)
-Wrote a few posts for you fine folks!
-Made a delicious breakfast for Phil & I
- Researched things to cook for Sunday’s football extravaganza
-Considered getting our tax stuff ready for the accountant, but that idea was short-lived
-Walked to the local grocery store & meandered around but bought nothing
-Ordered 2 new cookbooks from Amazon for only $20 including shipping, (they were on sale AND I had a gift card, wahoo gotta love a good deal!
-Considered going to the gym but decided to order a new Scentsy instead (Priorities here people!)
-Kicked the monkey grass covered in ice because it sounded really pretty, like glass wind-chimes

-Monitored the Transtar website all day. This Houston-based website tells people where the accidents & traffic are. There are cameras that you can select to see what a specific road looks like, but these are some overviews. There were over 800 accidents that were reported (imagine how many more that weren’t reported) from Thursday night until Friday night! WOW!

All those red dots are accidents. This is at 8am

All the accidents at 11:30am

By 4pm things were finally starting to clear up on the roads

Friday evening we had a relaxing dinner & stood around the fire pit. We were enjoying being outside while it was cold. And really, who knows when it will be that cold again? It was a great Ice Day, but mainly I think because we did nothing of real significance but felt productive & had fun anyways. Why don’t we always have 3 day weekends?!