Snow, and What Happens Here

Where we are there is a little bit of snow on the ground.  You can see the ground through the snow.  When we got out to the parking lot of the apartment complex, we discovered it was almost completely filled with cars.

When we got to the office, the parking lot was completely empty!!! 

The Oregonians are just not able to handle snow.  Dear One learned that all the schools are closed.  I was thinking mildly judgmental thoughts, but then thought again and realized that with all the hills in Portland it really is not safe for many people to drive unless chains are a part of a car's accessories.  Every part of Portland seems filled with hills.

Wednesday Wonders: Snow on Spring Flowers!

For days the forecast has been for snow.  Dear One and I drove a missionary to the airport yesterday during the late morning.  There was wet snow falling as we drove through the city.  I was a nervous wreck just sitting there in the passenger seat.  We did get to the airport and back.  By the time we got back through the city and onto Route 26 heading west to the office there was no snow, and not even any rain.  The pavement was dry.  So nice.

This morning I was up early talking with my retiree representative to find out about the new prescription provider (big surprise yesterday: insurance coverage ended 12/31/2018!).  Dear One came into the living room and said, "The ground is white."  Well, isn't that a pretty pass...

When we were finally ready to leave the apartment I checked on our little spring flowers.  Here they are.  I hope they are not discouraged!

Snow Day, Work Day

Today a huge snow storm was forecast.  After a difficult sleep night I woke up around 7 AM.  It was snowing, as predicted, but it was light snow at first.  Later it became a much heavier fall of the white stuff.  As of about 4 PM we have had twelve inches of snow and the wind has picked up.  It will be interesting to see what comes of the storm by the time it is forecast to end late tomorrow.

This morning I decided to make it a busy day at home since my visiting teachers canceled, my art instruction canceled, then Michaels closed at 11 AM which canceled the art class I was going to teach tonight.  All of these were good things.  There was then no need to endanger life or limb, my own or other people's by going out on the roads.

The first thing I did was make some nice pan-fried diced potatoes and scrambled eggs for Dear One who loves that sort of thing.  Well, I do, too, but am avoiding them currently. At least for the most part.   I had a little scrambled egg with fresh made pico de gallo on it.

The next thing I did was sat down at my computer to do some house-cleaning.  My storage said I had used up 14 GB out of 15 GB and did I want to spend $19.99 to get 100 GB of storage.  Well, no, I did not want to spend that money because, 1.  I did not have that much I wanted to spend because a.  I was too disorganized and b. too lazy to change the organization on my email; and 2. I also did not want to spend the money because it would just put off the evil hour when I would have to face my own mess of email messages.

SO...I spent an hour at the computer, emptying out most of the email accounts I have.  (It is remarkable how many email accounts one person can have.  It would be really amazing if one person could actually manage all those email accounts and not just store messages...!)  Eventually I was ready to empty the trash.  I was messaged this cheery little note:  "Do you want to bulk delete forever 10,978 messages?"  I took a deep breath (knowing I had probably deleted some very important messages) and said, "Delete!"  It took a while but they are now gone.

Next I moved on upstairs to the workroom.  There is so much room for improvement that there is no room for any other stuff.  The main table is full.  The auxiliary table is full.  The knitting machine table is full.  The queen-sized bed is full.  The bureau is full.  The bookcases are full.  It is time to do something about it.  Having all that stuff is a terrible burden.

What I did:  I picked through both wastebaskets and put all the paper into one bag and all the plastics into another bag.  As I was going through the paper trash I used a hexagonal paper punch and a small heart paper punch and cut out as many hexagons and hearts as I could for future paper-crafting projects.  The tiny bits then went into the recycling bag.  Both wastebaskets now have liners.  Each wastebasket now has its own mission: one is paper scraps, the other is plastics and other non-recyclables.

Next it was on to the surfaces of the tables and TV stands (2 of them in the room--one has the yarn winder and swift on it, the other was full of paper-crafting supplies).  The auxiliary table was mostly cleared off with stuff put where it needed to go, then the main table was worked on. I was able then to install the new pine shelving unit/cabinet that Son #3 and Larry at the lumberyard made for me yesterday.  That made me happy.  Now I just need to screw in some cup hooks for hanging some other tools.

Pretty soon things will be cleared off enough that I can take down the knitting machine and table and move the auxiliary table into its new home.  THEN maybe I can get the bed empty.

These are things I really want to get done today but by the time the above-mentioned were done the old blood sugar was dipping very low and I was a dragging puppy.  Took a break to get some food.  Which morphed into a longer break to make food for Dear One with morphed into yet a LONGER break where I made some whole wheat tortillas from some freshly ground whole wheat flour.  Now I need to stuff a couple of them with refried beans and the pico de gallo left over from breakfast THEN FINALLY I will get back to the workroom.  Almost no chance of finishing tonight  but the good news is the storm is forecast to continue until tomorrow evening so maybe I will have tomorrow free as well!