Seven Frozen Takes

This week the country experienced a winter storm caused by a polar vortex. In Texas, we aren’t used to sub-zero temperatures. Since this is not “normal,” our systems couldn’t handle the effects. We were fortunate not to lose power, water, or have frozen pipes. 

When you look at the map of Texas, we are in the southern part of the panhandle (known commonly known as the South Plains or West Texas) on the Caprock. While we do get cooler temperatures and snow on occasion, the temperatures of this past week may have been colder than anything we experienced in Colorado or Germany. All over the state, even on the Gulf Coast, snow accumulated, the power grid went offline, and millions of people faced dangerous situations. 

In the last arctic blast, we had a very short power outage, so we bought a couple of cast iron pans that we can use on top of our woodstove/fireplace.  Last week, we made sure we had enough wood, “just in case.” While we are grateful we didn’t have an emergent need, we are prepared.

Because Texas isn’t used to such amounts of snow, activities were canceled and many businesses closed. We did start the week with an orthodontic visit on Monday and then we didn’t get out again until Thursday afternoon. Today is going to warm up to the low 40s! In central Texas, my parents’ house was without power for two days and without water for most of the week. They were able to stay with some friends during the worst of it. They have to wait a little longer to warm up. 

I celebrated my birthday, by escaping the house to take Madilynn to ballet. This was the first day the studio had been open all week. I was pleasantly surprised to see my friend, Christy, and visit for awhile. I thrive on social interaction and sometimes I CRAVE the connection of in-person interaction. Going more than a few days without physically connecting with my friends is so challenging. I’m thankful the worst we all experienced was the inconvenience of being “stuck” for a few days. 

For the first time in many years, I had an angel food cake for my birthday. If you follow our story, you know that Dietrich was diagnosed with an egg allergy at the age of two. While testing hasn’t shown much change, our own experimenting shows that he is able to tolerate eggs when they are in baked goods. He doesn’t care for straight eggs, but I can’t blame him with the issues he had as a baby. We watched the Muppet Movie and ate Chick-fil-A. 

Being snowed in helped us in our newly revamped homeschool plan. We still had some fussing and arguing, but overall, the week went well. I introduced the kids to Schoolhouse Rock to fill in the boring parts of the cold days. How did you get through this Winter Storm? You can also find other quick takes on Kelly’s blog.