Who Said Life was Fair..

Friday was a big day for Evan. After school he went with his dad to the license branch and got his drivers license!! He passed the test with a 99% - awesome! We're very proud of him. Then, through the night we got hit with a huge winter storm. 6 inches of snow was dumped on us. Unfortunately for Evan it was a little too unsafe to let him drive, so he has a license, but can't use it. Life is not fair.Secondly, get this, the license branch now MAILS you your drivers license! What??? Yeah, he took the test, passed, and got a PAPER with his stats and picture on it. I was so looking forward to taking a picture of him with his new license. Now I have to wait until it comes in the mail! Life is not fair! (he cried)

Saturday morning, we made our kids shovel the driveway and sidewalk instead of sleep in and play video games in the warmth of our home. Life is not fair! (they cried)

Saturday afternoon we went to the gym and worked out. The backs of my arms and stomach muscles are crying out in pain now! It hurts to move. Life is not fair! (I cried)

Finally, as we drove to church Sunday morning, we oooohed and aaawwwed at the beautiful frost that froze and painted the trees and grasses white with ice crystals. The horizon was tinted pink, fading into that beautiful, crisp blue shade you see on a clear winters day. It was 10 degrees outside. The rising sun cast a yellow glow to the frosted landscape. It was truly a beautiful sight to see and I didn't have my camera! No fair!!

I'll leave you with a picture of my girl playing in the snow this morning.

1 Year Ago Today

We woke up to the worst ice storm to hit the Tri-State area in history.

I vividly remember hearing the weight of the ice snap the limbs off of my century old trees, cringing each time wondering if one would land on the house and leave a gaping hole in my roof.

We had no power for 3 days. Dennis was out of town. Keeping the water lines from freezing, the kids warm and fed was top priority for me. It was the worst winter moment in my life.

Here is a little flashback. More can be seen HERE and HERE and HERE

Tree lands on car at the University of Evansville

Cherry Street - The road I take when I drive into Downtown Evansville

My backyard

The back of my house all dripping in icicles

More backyard

The road I normally drive down to take Isaiah to school

A Break in the Clouds

Today the weather man has said this is our 8th straight day of overcast skies. However, last Thursday evening while I was driving to pick Isaiah and a friend up from a basketball game the sun popped out for a brief moment. I used the opportunity to run down to the river and take a few sunset snaps.

Roughing It and Magic Mike

I'll admit, ice storms are beautiful. I love the look of snow covering the ground making our world look fresh and clean. It reminds me of what my heart must look like after I ask God for forgiveness. Washed clean, white as snow. I love to see ice covering the trees, glistening like diamonds when touched by the sun. The downside to all of this is the disaster that lays in the wake of the storm. Power lines down, transformers blown, roads covered in icy danger. Then comes the worst of it all; a power outage! We lost our power on Tuesday at 4am and it did not return until Thursday at 7pm. Our house grew colder by the hour. It hovered near 50 degrees. We burned through almost all of the firewood, but with vaulted ceilings and a big home, it did very little to help. Enter Magic Mike. That's what I call him. Mike is our neighbor. He is the best neighbor anyone would ever want to have. Mike can fix anything. My son's mini motorcycle broke a chain, Magic Mike fixed it. My lawnmower was spewing oil and coughing smoke, Magic Mike fixed it. Dennis old gray Suburban wouldn't run, Magic Mike to the rescue. I backed out of my garage and smashed my side mirror on the garage door frame, you guessed it; Magic Mike fixed it. (did I tell you he's a auto body repairman?, they're good to have around you know!) So when my husband was out of town the entire ice storm week, who brought me a heater? Magic Mike! He brought me the shop heater from his auto body repair shop, set it up for us and we had heat! Thanks Magic Mike!! You rescued us again.

This is Magic Mike.

I forgot to mention that he cooks up a mean batch of homemade spagetti sauce

and always shares it with our family!

Blanket, hat, cell phone, i-pod! Good to go!

Even the dog wore her sweater

Game Time!

Ok, this is our game room. We brought the heater in this room because it is the only room on the main level of the house that can be closed off from the other rooms, thus keeping the heat in! See the heater in the middle of the room.

Me "blowing" my hair dry over the heater.

When the heater was in the entry way, the heat rose to the second level. Isaiah hung his feet over to get them warm. Also notice the aquarium. Those are fruit flies. Part of Logan's science fair experiment. They were dieing in the cold temps.

Ice Storm

Life has been rough here the past week or so. We got slammed with one of the worst ice storms in this area in it's history. Schools were closed for 4 days. Over 100,000 people were without power and some still are. It was bone chilling cold and we were without heat. We lived like pioneers for a few days (more on that later.) Here are some pictures of what old man winter left behind.
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This is the road we travel down to get to my son's school. A large pine tree fell across it.


Power lines down in the road


Trees down on the power lines


My favorite pond


My Japanese Maple tree bowing down and touching the sidewalk. It's usually about a story and a half tall.




Ice on the side of the house


Ice on the trees






The "war zone" we call our back yard


Ice on our deck rail


Ice on the back of the house




More of the "war zone"


On my next post I will share some photos of us being pioneers .