ice storm 2007

We have had an ice storm almost every winter since I moved to Austin. This year winter's storm is taking place right now. It is FREEZING outside, and it has been very cold for the last two days. I didn't go to work today -- MLK holiday. David didn't go to work either -- he didn't have the day off but he works up north and the ice on Mopac and 183 were not inviting. Further, he can work at home so that's what we did. We had omelettes for breakfast and we worked all morning.

At 3 pm, due to a heavy attack of cabin fever and the decision to use somebody else's heating, we headed out to a coffee shop. The place was obviously packed. Since it was a holiday, lots of school-aged children were doing homework and/or hanging out (cool place to hang out with friends -- I didn't have a place with mochas and vanilla capuccinos when I was in elementary school). Unfortunately, Seattle's Best Coffee shop decided to close at 4:00 pm. I guess they also wanted to go home and avoid icy roads. You can't blame them. So, we had to go somewhere else because coming back home didn't sound like a great idea. We found another coffee shop and stayed there until 6:00. We went to Randalls after that to get food because --- we might forget about everything but not about food. God forbid we don't eat our three daily meals! We were back at home around 6:30 pm. I cooked some dinner -- lime & garlic tilapia, lightly buttered brussels sprouts, and a green salad with a olive oil and balsamic vinegar ( I am still counting my calories-- even though it is getting tougher and tougher). We ate all that in about 25 minutes while watching "24" -- well, David, because I really can't watch the show. (It is just so mindless that it is almost offensive.) At 9:15 pm, we both just plainly said it, "We are bored!!" And there was nothing fun to do... I wanted to go to the movies but I was also afraid of the icy roads on the way back home. We didn't have any other TV shows to watch -- we had watched HBO's Rome yesterday. We had already cleaned the kitchen, I had already thought about a healthy dinner for tomorrow, checked email for the tenth time, talked on the phone with friends and family, cleaned the TV room..... AAAAHHH! It them hit me....Three days without going to work having to stay in almost all day because it is freaking cold and terrible dark outside can really get to you! In the morning I was thrilled about my day off and the possibility of another day off on Tuesday, hanging out in comfy clothes all day, but I kindda got tired of it by the end of third day! Going out was out of the question. I really like my car and roads were being closed. What to do?! David found something to do-- organize some cables and watch like four episodes of Battlestar Galactica.... And I decided to read about Mafalda and write a blog entry... a boring one but at least one more entry.

To make things a little bit worse, tomorrow is another day in paradise. Work will be closed and I don't think David will go to work.... And roads will be icy again, and places will close early, and.... However, I should enjoy it and stop complaining. It is nice to be toasty at home and, more importantly, safe. And, right now, as I type this, David is giving a little massage to my feet while I am drinking a glass of wine (shit, I have to add it to my food log!)... Life is not that bad after all.... Well, it could be better if we were not watching the fourth episode of Battlestar Galactica in a row... but it is fine. David likes it. It's his show.