I'm Back Baby!

Oh, how I have missed you so! I hate when life interferes with my blogging, and oh how it has.  When one moves in January, one knows:  it is a risk.  January, after all, is infamously known for short days and snow squalls.  However, it was with an optimistic heart that I scheduled not only my moving truck (too small) but my Lowes delivery containing the beginnings of our finished basement (too big).  One thinks to oneself, "Sure, it may be cold, but as long as it doesn't snow, it should be fine!"

Despite early week predictions for eight inches of snow on moving day, I remained cheery, and towards the end of the week, I was rewarded by the weather gods, who stepped down their prediction to just a light flurry with only one to two inches of accumulation.

It was around the time that we went to get the truck that the flurries began, and on the way back to the apartment, my car actually slipped a tad when I stopped at a stop sign.  At this point, there was only about a quarter inch of snow on the road.  Good thing it was only going to be a dusting!

I think you may see where this is going.  We got about eight inches that day.  The State Highway Administration was just as surprised as the rest of us, so roads were not plowed at all.  And did I mention that I bought a house near a state park?  aka Middle of Nowhere?  My normal route to work requires driving on unpaved roads and crossing four one lane bridges.

Luckily, we all managed to traverse alternate routes (eventually - Dad was so excited to use his four wheel drive...at first.)  However, Comcast did not come.  Comcast did not call.  For all we knew, the poor, frightened Comcast man was out there some where, slipping and sliding, trying desperately to fight through the elements in order to connect our internet.

On Monday, we assumed Comcast would call to reschedule their appointment.  But alas, that Comcast representative is still missing.  On Tuesday, we called to remedy the problem.  They couldn't find our account number, and when they did, they said they had simply not come due to the snow.  Apparently, it is not standard procedure to call when they cannot make it....We called off the search party for the rep.

A week later, Comcast was again scheduled to come out.  I feared living without internet for such a very long time, but it was the soonest they would come. 

In the meantime, we got 26 inches of snow.  I have always looked down upon those trying to buy snow shovels they day of a snowstorm - like, duh!  You knew it was coming!  What happened to your old shovel?  And then.  I entered Wal Mart on the day of a snowstorm.  The store was packed, as usual, but I was amazed to see so many people buying non-essentials.  There were people trying on shoes and clothes, people buying jewelry and handbags.  Crazy.  I did not find a shovel (but bought a drying rack and laundry detergent, which I had been meaning to get anyway...)

Target - no shovels.  Superfresh, Home Depot, Shoppers - no shovels.

I went home, and Adam told me he wanted to replace some electrical outlets while the snow fell, and asked me to go to Home Depot #2 with a list.  They had shovels...I overheard a man ask about them as soon as I walked in, and I followed him to a bin.  We both looked skeptically at the heavy-looking silver shovels with the $32.99 price tag.  With a sigh, I picked one up, and found it was aluminum, quite light.  "Not as heavy as they look," I remarked.

"I was hoping to spend less than $35," the man replied.  Though technically less than $35, I saw his point.  But I bought the shovel anyway, because I was not going to be out there with the coal shovel (very heavy!) again, picking away at two feet of snow.

Thank goodness the neighbor let us use his snow blower.  And it still took two hours.

I went to work on Monday, the day Comcast was scheduled to arrive (again).  Once again, a Comcast representative seems to have been lost, without a call or a note.  And we were to endure a third snow storm without internet. 

On Wednesday, it snowed all day.  We got 20 more inches, and did not bother the neighbor for the snow blower.  I have shoveled more snow in the past two weeks than I have shoveled in the last ten years.  I also got a terrible cold, which was not too bad as long as I didn't move.  Or breathe.

On Friday, Comcast came!!  Yay!

Now, I have a lot of blogs to read....and I have to make up the time lost at work.  Sigh...