The Day After Tomorrow

This is what our weather forecast looks like in Richmond for the next seven days.

Do you see it?  It's 64 degrees today here in Richmond- practically balmy.  And on Friday it's supposed to snow!  The high is 38- how does that happen?  Do you see that low?  Twenty degrees, and that's in Fahrenheit folks!  Last night we had the weirdest weather, with incredible gusts of wind with hail and rain, and temperatures in 50-60's.  Today is bright and sunny and then all of a sudden a large cloud will pass and it will rain for like one to two minutes.

I rarely get sick from catching something from someone else.  In fact, it's only happened once in three years (the awful H1N1) and twice in  eight years.  But the two things that always get to my immune system are severe changes in weather and stress.  Without fail, every time there is a drastic change in the temperature, my body lets me know that she's not pleased.  So lets hope that doesn't happen this week!  The only thing worse than being sick, is being sick when you have a small child.

Back to the weather.  We usually have cold winters in January- nothing like it used to be in Minnesota, but still very cold.  This has been the craziest month for us here.  Just two weeks ago we were having highs in the low 20's and lows in teens to single digits.  That just doesn't happen in central Virginia.  And then today we're in the springtime, tomorrow it's back to the winter, and Friday there's getting a snow storm.  It's like we're in the movie The Day After Tomorrow. 

A Southern Nor'Easter

We're in the middle of a huge, non-moving, perfect-esque storm. The remnants of Hurricane Ida have converged with a New England Nor'easter and are currently sitting on top of Virginia. Something about a pressure system to the north that's preventing it from moving anywhere. And let me tell you, it's pretty gross over here.

We're in the second day of heavy rain and huge gusts of wind. My front yard is flooded and I'm just waiting for the power to go out. The weatherman said that if it were a little bit colder, we'd be digging ourselves out of snow for the rest of the month! Everything is closed, the price gouging laws have gone into effect, and the Governor has declared us in a State of Emergency.

So we're basically just hunkering down here. Spencer is a wild woman, this being her second day of complete indoor isolation. It's hard to wear out a two year old when you're cooped up inside all day long. And it's not supposed to let up until Saturday, so I'm sure tomorrow is going to be really, um... special. I did make sure to get out all my candles, the big flashlight, some batteries, and I charged the battery run generator- just in case the power does out. I'm assuming it will, because the wind is howling and there are already 30,000 Richmonders without power.
To be honest, I didn't even know it was possible for a nor'easter to occur in the south- you learn something every day!

Virginia is For Lovers

We're back! It was a LONG car ride, L-O-N-G. We left this morning at about 9am and we pulled in the driveway at 6pm. Right after we left we stopped at McDonalds to get some breakfast. We walked in the door, Spencer was in my arms, and she threw up ALL over me. Curdled strawberry yogurt- everywhere. We cleaned up as best we could, but I smelled like sour yogurt for almost 9 hours in the car.
I have a gazillion more pictures from our trip, but these are some my favorite ones. We're both pretty exhausted and a little sad to not be with the GPGPs. It's so nice to be surrounded with family, so tonight is a little lonely. But this upcoming is the first week of my classes! (My first one is Thursday) I'm super excited and ready to get back into school mode. And of course I can't wait to go school supply shopping- there's not much that beats buying new pens, notebooks, highlighters, and other "must haves!"

That's Leah, Gran's 8 week old puppy. She was trying to pull over Spencer's shorts.

Spence in her mini-chair. It makes her look like a giant!

Calling All Virginia Bloggers

For a long time I've been attempting to find some Virginia bloggers, as in those of you who are from and/or reside in the Commonwealth. I know there must be some out there, but up until today, I only knew of one other one. (Now I know two!) So if you're reading this and you're from Virginia, let me know!

Almost every blog I read seems to acknowledge their local bloggy friends and I'm jealous. I think it would be great to find some local bloggers, so this here is my attempt. Leave a comment or write me an email so I can create a list of all the bloggers in this area. Don't be shy, even if you don't have one, but you're from around here and you enjoy reading them, I want to hear from you, too. The more the merrier!