Snow Day

I knew there was no way that winter was over for us! We live about 65 miles directly west of Chicago, so winter for us could really keep showing itself well into April, but we've had a pretty mild winter so far. There's probably been maybe 8-10 inches of snowfall since November and lots of above freezing temperatures which is pretty unusual. I knew it was all too good to be true and that we'd get at least one more good snowfall before spring officially started. Yesterday they were calling for about 4-8 inches of wet, heavy snow overnight right on top of all the rain we got during the day. Many people at work were talking about and wishing for a snow day, but I was not getting my hopes up. Four to eight inches really isn't the end of the world when it comes to a snowfall around here, and right before I went to bed last night I checked the weather report one more time and the predicted amount of snow for our area went down to 2-4 inches.

All bundled up!
Below: Our outside entrance
to our apartment - those
are the slipperiest stairs ever!

The sidewalk along the
side of our house that I
shoveled. Thanks to our
neighbor, she used her snow-
blower to do the front of the
house (to the left). You can see
my car in our driveway at the top
left of the picture.

At 5:30 this morning I got that wonderful automated call from the superintendent saying that due to the rapid snowfall and icy roads, it was too dangerous to drive so school was canceled! I was pretty surprised because I didn't expect it to get that bad. When I woke up and looked outside, we had only gotten about 3-4 inches of snow, but the roads were not plowed at all. Tim still had to work because he works for a property management company so I'm sure they'll all be out there clearing all of the properties' parking lots, sidewalks and stairways. I was debating this morning whether to go out and shovel, or to see if it would melt a little first. Last night on the news the meteorologist referred to the snow as 'heart-attack snow' because it was going to be so wet and heavy, so he encouraged those with medical issues to use caution when shoveling. Well since I'm not doing a darn thing today, I decided to go out and give shoveling a try. I bundled myself up with several layers because of the high winds, put my iPod in with my 'gym' playlist and headed outside. First thing I noticed was how warm it felt outside. It was probably only about 30 degrees, but the wind was not as bad as I thought it was going to be - it didn't take me too long before my hood came down, and my hat and gloves came off because I was sweating. The snow was definitely heavy, but not as bad as I thought it was going to be either. Thanks to my iPod, I was able to sing along and actually somewhat enjoy myself outside. I shoveled the entire sidewalk along the side of our house (see picture) and our next door neighbor used her snow blower to get the front sidewalk for us (thanks!). I also shoveled our half of the driveway and cleared off our outside entrance stairs. Clearing all of this took me about an hour and fifteen minutes, but it definitely didn't seem that long. I felt really good about myself for getting all of it done! I was also able to breathe really well the whole time I was out there, brought up some lovely mucus, and got a great arm workout - they're killing me now! I'm glad I chose to shovel instead of walk through it to go to the gym (across the street from our house). Now I have the rest of the afternoon to do some reading, watching TV or just relaxing. I love having a snow day on a Friday - yay for a three-day weekend!! :-)