Yeah, scratch that last post

News Flash #4: So, about two seconds after I finished my last post saying that things were looking up, out of the blue it started snowing again. Hard. And it hasn't really stopped. PPS schools on the west side (that's us!) reversed their earlier decision and schools are now closed again.

Per an email from Ian's school director, the holiday program has been officially postponed. And I'm a bit nervous about venturing out and about now in my car as temperatures are dropping once again.

Even Zach is wondering when this madness will end.

Until I write again.

A few news flashes

There have been some developments overnight that I feel are important to report on this morning.

News Flash #1: After the additional snow they predicted overnight did not materialize and temperatures have remained just above freezing (also contrary to what was predicted) - PPS decided to open schools today. Woo hoo! While this does not affect us today because Ian doesn't attend preschool on Thursdays - it does mean that he will definitely be going tomorrow. And it means that ice shouldn't a be problem so we can feel free to go about our day as we normally would. So, things are definitely looking up! We're still not sure whether or not the holiday program is on for tonight but if it is, I'm sure you'll hear about it.

News Flash #2: This one is actually more of a correction versus a news flash. Yesterday I stated that Jeff brought home some peppermint schnapps to go with the hot cocoa. It was actually peppermint extract. Still a yummy addition, just no alcohol involved. I don't know why I felt the need to correct that. I just did. The hot buttered rum thing still stands, though.

News Flash #3: Okay, this one is a BIGGIE. I made a monumental declaration last night to myself and my family - or at least to the one family member who was here and still awake at the time. And here it is: I have decided that Haagan Dazs' Chocolate Peanut Butter and Ben & Jerry's Coffee Heath Toffee Crunch are my two most favorite ice cream flavors in the world. (At least I'm pretty sure they are. Unless there's one I'm forgetting about, but I don't think so.)

Okay, that's all I have to say right now. Until I write again.

Okay, this isn't fun(ny) anymore

Well, this week has turned out to be a little frustrating. No, scratch that. Actually, it's been a LOT frustrating. What started out on Sunday as a fun and pretty little snow day is now shaping up to be a week-long nightmare full of what I like to call Bummer Moments. Let's review them here.

As you might guess, Bummer Moment #1 came as I was wrapping up my last post and it was announced that Portland Public Schools (PPS) would be closed on Monday. Now, you're probably wondering - well how much snow did you actually get? And the answer is - not a ton. I mean, in reality we only ended up with a few inches on the ground Sunday (though it was a bit hard to tell because there was a strong wind blowing most of the day). But thanks to the frigid temperatures that also arrived on Sunday and decided to stick around for a while, the ice factor kicked in. Now, this is particularly a problem for those of us who live on the very hilly west side of the city (versus the relatively flat neighborhoods that are east of the Willamette River). Thus, the PPS cancellation on Monday which, by default, meant that Ian's preschool was also closed. Okay, fine, I thought. I had a few things on the schedule for my valuable kid-free hours but no biggie - I'd just switch them to Wednesday.

On Monday, I took Jeff to work so I could use his car. It was definitely slippery but overall Ian and I did a couple things out and about with no problem (though not for long since it was colder than a Popsicle outside). Despite the generally fair conditions, by sometime on Monday, PPS, as well as most other districts in the region, had already announced that schools would again be closed on Tuesday. Ugh - really? Now, Ian doesn't go to school on Tuesdays, but he does go to Sports Class. And yesterday was scheduled to be our last one so it was kind of a special day. So, first thing yesterday morning I called the Rec Center and experienced Bummer Moment #2: our last Sports Class was indeed, cancelled. So long Sports Class. We didn't even have an opportunity to say a proper goodbye. Sniff, sniff.

With Sports Class off the roster, I needed to find something else to do with Ian. So I put together a shopping list and figured we'd head out to the store early to pick up some things and spend the morning baking Christmas cookies. I knew that would be a hit since he's really into the cooking thing these days. Jeff was still home getting ready to leave when Ian and I got all bundled up and piled into my car. I had no sooner backed out of the driveway and into the street when Bummer Moment #3 hit. I turned to go forward and try as I might, couldn't get any traction to get going forward up the slight incline outside our house. (We have been needing to change out the bald tires on my car but it hasn't been a priority due to $$.) I tried a few times without luck before pulling back into the garage. We piled out of the car and went back inside to see about sharing the MDX with Jeff again, but no such luck as he needed to use his car at work that day. So off he went while I sat on the couch unbundling an unhappy toddler who was whining, "I need to go in the car, mommy. I need to go in the car right nowwww..." I felt like saying, "Yeah, well me too so just zip it!!!!" But I didn't.

By midday Wednesday the weather guys and gals were all abuzz again about Bummer Moment #4: the fact that Phase 2 of "ARCTIC BLAST 2008" was forecast to arrive on early Wednesday morning. This was to be another dose of snow mixed with some freezing rain, then rain then back to snow overnight Wed and into Thursday - all matched with continuing freezing temperatures, of course. By early Tuesday evening PPS had once again cancelled school for Wednesday morning. Another ugh. Suddenly I found myself relating to how the prisoners at San Quentin must feel. On a bright note though, about 2 p.m. yesterday Ian and I made another attempt to exit the house and were successful this time. So, we ventured to two different grocery stores just because we could. (Though by 4ish it was clear my car was turning back into a pumpkin as we did some slipping and sliding on the road back home. )

So, here we sit. We made cookies this morning, which Ian loved, and did a couple of other activities before I resorted to parking him in front of Sesame Street after lunch. We've had snow showers off and on all day, but again, nothing monumental. Just enough to continue to make travel on hilly side roads difficult. (Jeff made it to work this morning but they closed the Nike campus at 1pm so he's been working at home this afternoon.) We are expected to get a couple more inches overnight tonight. I figure this should be just enough to cancel school again tomorrow, which brings me to Bummer Moment #5. Ian was supposed to debut in his first-ever holiday program at school tomorrow night. As you might guess, we had already tuned up the video camera in anticipation. But at this point, I don't have high hopes of it actually happening - and with not much time left before Christmas, I don't know that it will be rescheduled unless they are able to do it for maybe Monday of next week.

And speaking of Monday, this brings me to Anticipated Bummer Moment #6 and #7, which I predict will occur this coming weekend. First of all, Ian is also scheduled to attend a "Parents Day Out" this Saturday where his school will provide a few hours of childcare during the day on Saturday so parents can go out and wrap up last minute shopping or just take a few hours to themselves. I believe we were first on the sign-up list for that event. Anyway, if school ends up closed all week, I won't hold my breath on that event still happening either. Oh well.

And then there's Sunday. I happen to be about two weeks overdue for a haircut right now. I mean, it's not pretty (literally). But I do finally have an eagerly-anticipated appointment with my new lady scheduled for this Sunday afternoon. You know, the very same day that they are now forecasting that Phase 3 of "ARCTIC BLAST 2008" will arrive (calling for more snow and freezing temps Sunday into Monday). Awesome.

It's not all bad, though. We do have our cookies and on the way home today Jeff made a stop for provisions: the makings for hot buttered rum and hot cocoa with peppermint schnapps. I'm also very thankful that we aren't both struggling to work and deal with closed schools all week as many families are right now. I feel for them.

For now, I'll leave you below with a shot that Jeff took the other night of our happy little snowmen outside our front window as well as a humorous little video that I saw on CNN today which pretty much says it all around here right now. Until I write again.

The white stuff and Santa make an appearance

There are two things that I thought we were saying goodbye to when we left the DC area: The first was good restaurants and the second was seeing snow fall at our house. (Actually, I think there are more than two but these are the two that come to mind right now.)

Well, I was most certainly wrong about the restaurant thing given that there are many great eateries here that more than rival the best restaurants in DC. And as we go through our third winter now, it also appears that I was mistaken about that whole no snow thing as well. In general, it does tend to get colder here in the wintertime than I thought it would. I mean, it's definitely not typically that biting cold like you get back east but we still have our share of quite chilly days. More often than not, the most extreme weather issue we deal with is ice. But at least once over the past three winters we've also seen a bit of snow. Last winter we barely had any, but what did come was on Christmas day which was kind of cool.

So around last Thursday the weather people started making a fuss that we had a big storm approaching shore that would bring a lot of wind and rain (shocking, I know!) on Friday and Saturday. Then by Sunday (as in, today) temperatures would plummet to highs in the 20s in Portland and the rain would turn to possibly significant snowfall. Of course for the ski resorts who have been tapping their watches since before Thanksgiving waiting on Mother Nature to do her thing, this storm was music to their ears. But for those of us down on the "valley floor" as it's called - well, we were skeptical about the wet stuff actually turning into white stuff.

In general, the whole Friday and Saturday thing was kind of a bust. I mean, yeah sure, there was definitely some wind and rain - but nothing earth shattering, especially for December in Portland. Saturday evening we went to Jeff's holiday party at an art gallery in the Pearl District downtown and had a very nice evening. By the time we exited around 11 p.m. to make our way home, there was definitely a good bite in the air. And by around 8 a.m. this morning some white stuff started coming out of the sky somewhat fiercely and as of this writing has yet to stop. Our high was about 32 degrees this morning and it's been going in the wrong direction ever since. It's been very windy too, which makes for nice blowing snow dramatics as well as fun wind chill factors. And the awesome (and unusual) thing is that these 20ish degree temps are expected to stick around most of the week giving us the coldest weather here in about 10 years (at least according to the weather people and everyone knows that weather people are always right). Brrr! And to think that when we moved here I thought the coldest it would get was maybe in the 40s. Apparently I needed to beef up on my Portland weather history a bit more.

So, of course we had to take this opportunity to head outside this morning and do a little snowball action with Ian and let him enjoy his first real snow experience (that he recognizes and will remember, at least). There were also a couple of snow angels involved at one point which we caught on video. So all in all, it's been a wintery but fun Sunday here.

And in other weekend news - I think I've mentioned that this is the first year that Ian is really starting to get the whole Christmas concept. Of course for him this means a tree, presents and Santa Claus. He's been especially intrigued by Santa Claus so we decided to break Vow #683 on the "things I will never do when I become a parent" list and took him to see a mall Santa yesterday. The line sucked but at least there was some entertainment involved in watching all the parents shove their screaming babies in Santa's lap in hopes of getting the perfect shot. We offered Ian the option of backing out several times while we were in line but no such luck. He was very excited to get on Santa's lap. I said, "You know, Santa will probably ask you what you want for Christmas - so what will you tell him?" And he threw up his hands and said, "A tostada!" Awesome. I think we can handle that one. While we weren't really interested in taking out a second loan on our house to pay for one of the "professional" photo packages they offered us, we did manage to snap our own shot:

Oh, and then just to cap off the weekend extravaganza - I'm extra excited to report that less than a week after finally recovering from the effects of my last cold, I came down with a new one yesterday. Frustration and disbelief are the two words I'll throw out and leave it at that. (Ian came down with his latest around Wednesday and already appears to be on the mend, by the way.)

Last, I'll leave you with some food for thought: If you were awakened in the middle of the night fearing your house was on fire - do you have an evacuation plan? Because we don't. And I realized this at about 4:30 a.m. this morning when for some unknown reason multiple smoke alarms - including the one in our bedroom - starting going off in our house. Let me just say I didn't know I could move that fast. All I remember is jumping out of bed and racing toward Ian's room when the alarms just stopped after about 10 seconds and everything seemed to check out fine. I don't think my heart stopped racing until about midday today, though.

Until I write again.

LATE BREAKING NEWS: We just heard on the news that basically every school district in the region is closed tomorrow which means no preschool for Ian. Our first school closing experience. Bummer.