The end is in sight

I'm now in my 4th night at my parents house, stranded by the snow. My parents will never truly know how much I appreciate them letting Carley and I stay at their house, while watching Carley while I go to work. But I'm at the end of what I can take and I just want to get home.

My emotions, due to stress, are so raw. Most everything sets me off. With Christmas coming, my shopping not done, my inability to get home, no way to get groceries and hardly any presents wrapped, I am simply overstressed and I just can't handle it anymore. Unfortunately, I am not sleeping well at my parents house (about 4 hours per night) which just adds to my emotional instability.

I am still not sure how I'm going to get home tomorrow. Ideally, I'd like to drive, but it's been snowing so much that just might not be possible. My brother has offered to drive me home, and so has my Uncle Jeff. At this point, I just want to be home - in my bed, in my house.

I've not been this stressed out in so long and I've made myself sick. I know that people are going to say that we need to move, or buy a vehicle with 4WD, but neither option is within our means. We actually love where we live the other 350 days of the year. So, for now I'll be at my parents house and I hope I can get home tomorrow, and I can't wait to see my husband again.

Next...trying to get back into town for Christmas.

Snow

What more can I say (or rather what I DO want to say contains a lot of expletives so I'll just let the pictures speak for themself)

Whatcom Creek

Whatcom Creek. Imagine once all of this melts (if it does), this is going to be unbelievable.

Top of my car. It was clear at 8AM, this picture was taken at 12:45PM (12/17/08)

Dupont Street (December 17th).

This must be what hell looks like frozen over.

She's growing up

Today is day 2 of our "snow-in". Chris is able to drive to work, but the thought of driving with my baby in the car makes me so nervous, so we stayed home today, our second straight day of staying home. Yesterday we did all the things that 2 people can do at home, including putting up her new table and chair set.

Today we did this...


When I was all done, I called Carley into her room and she was really excited and hopped right in.


At nap time, she climbed right into bed and I sung to her and she proceeded to fall right to sleep (of course there's a pile of pillows and blankets on the floor in case she falls out).


I'm actually a little sad thinking that my daughter is almost 2 years old and ready for a toddler bed. Ever since Thanksgiving she's been talking in sentences. Today she's been coming to get me and saying "come on mommy". So I guess the next natural step is her sleeping in her own big girl bed, and frankly it makes me sad, in a happy way.

Carley's Snow Day!

Carley and I made the trek outside today. First, I had to shovel the driveway if we had any hope of ever leaving, or Chris coming home - especially since they said it is likely to be this cold for 2 weeks or so.
I told Carley to wait in her wagon patiently, which she did, while I started shoveling the snow.


While we waited, I gave Carley snow to eat (don't worry, it was white snow)...



...and she loved it! She kept asking for more.

Finally, I was done and she wanted to ride in her wagon as we explored the neighborhood. In hindsight, I was really glad because if she'd had wanted to walk, I would have ended up carrying her and probably slipping on the ice.



We went to the end of the street and the back.


Once inside we enjoyed a hot cup of cider (which Carley called "coffee") and started to thaw out.
Even though snow days make me anxious, we had fun and look forward to building a snow man.

I hate snow

Chris attempted to get to work today and slid the entire way down the driveway, then proceeded to peel his tires (studded, mind you) as he slipped his way to work. He made it, but passed at least 40 abandoned or wrecked cars on the way.

Let it snow, let it snow, let it &@#$ snow!

I liked the snow when I was a kid. I liked it when I lived in Bellingham. But once I started living in Sudden Valley, I started to loathe the snow. It starts snowing and my anxiety level rises. I have to reserve several days vacation when it snows because inevitably I won't make it.

Tonight, it started snowing at my house around 6:00 PM. This is what it looked like at 8:00 PM:


2 hours later, it's become this...


It's freezing cold, which I don't mind, except that means that the snow won't be going away anytime soon. We'll see what the morning brings.

Shop til you drop!

For the last 20 years (at least) my mom and I take 2 days and go to Seattle for Christmas Shopping. We spend the first day shopping like crazy, then go see a play that night, spend the night and shop more on the second day and then come home and crash! It's been a fun tradition that started when I was in high school. My parents told my brother and I we could each play hookie for a day and do whatever we wanted with our parents so that's how this tradition started.

Amazingly, after 20+ years of doing this, we have never taken pictures of our trip. We have one picture from a few years ago, but that's it. So this time, I decided to "document" our trip.

This is my mom, driving us to Seattle. As you can see, she's all smiles...

...as was I. It was early. Our feet were fresh and we were excited for the bargains to be had!

Of course, it wouldn't be a proper trip to Seattle without documenting the one iconic place in Seattle. This is taken from the car, on the bridge at 70 MPH. Not my best work, but hey, you get the idea.

We stayed at the Silver Cloud Inn. A beautiful hotel, decorated for Christmas. They have cheap rates, a free breakfast and shuttle for where you want to go.

Downtown Seattle is absolutely beautiful at Christmas. The lights everywhere will put even Scrooge in the Christmas spirit.

The Christmas tree outside of Westlake Mall.

More lights... and part of the famous star on the Macy's building.

Because it was a last-minute trip, we were unable to see any plays this year so we decided to go to dinner at The Rock Bottom. A few years ago we went and the waiter was flirting with my mom so much so that I thought I was going to have to get my own hotel room! And since then we've gone back (but alas, the flirting hasn't returned). This time we had a great dinner and we both tried their daylight ale beer. Yum.

After dinner, we walked to the Purple Cafe and Wine Bar located on 3rd and University for dessert and wine. And this is what I look like through beer goggles...


This is me, relaxing waiting for our delicious dessert (there is a tower of wine behind me that goes to the ceiling).


Mom waiting for her dessert...


The wine tower...


My desserts. some cake thingy on the left with a red wine pairing, and a vanilla creme brule on the right with a white wine pairing. Yum. I tried licking the creme brule bowl, but mom said it wasn't dignified.


The decor was beautiful. A great place for a date. We happened to be sitting next to a couple, obviously on a first date. Not sure if there will be a second date. The woman was obviously still hung up on her ex because during the entire time we sat there, she talked about her ex boyfriend. I wanted to help the poor sap. Maybe the ambiance, and their wine, dulled his hearing her pine over some other guy.


After dinner we walked to Pike Place Market, only to find it closed.


The next day we got up and had breakfast at the Silver Cloud Inn. They serve breakfast in a sort of cafe area overlooking the water. It's not the best view, but still nice.


It was a successful trip, as you can see (don't look too close - you might see one of your gifts!)


After that much shopping, I was pooped and my feet were sore (can you tell?)



It's a fun trip and I'm so glad that we've kept up this tradition. I wouldn't trade these trips for anything and I hope someday to have the same sort of tradition with my own daughter.

Merry Christmas!