ice, frozen pipes, electricity outage oh my...

To say that it has been cold would be an understatement. I think that the storm that has come through is the storm of the century!! The reason I say that is because this state has shut down for 4 plus days. When I say shut down I mean it... Schools were out for not one, not two, not three but 4 days.. 4--- that is unheard of here. The ice came on Tues and never went away. Temperatures dropped to -12 degrees Fahrenheit, then last night there was SNOW on top of the ice. Not just a little snow--- but just about 4-5 inches!!!

Oh yeah, and you know that phrase: "neither rain, nor slett, nor gloom of night...? Well apparently that does NOT hold true here in Texas... we have not had mail for several days now!-- I told you, the town has SHUT DOWN!!!!

We were literally iced in. 2 inches of solid ice on driveway, in the alley and on the front street. Kirk went out yesterday and barely got the truck back up the drive into the garage (thanks to the top soil we used he got in)

Did you know that they do not insulate pipes in Texas? No, they don't want to know how I know? We had a frozen pipe... No hot water and we were questioning as to IF and WHEN it would burst. Kirk worked on it most of the day. He guessed correctly and found the source... The hot water heater is on the outside wall of the garage. He stood on a step ladder and blew the hair dryer in there for quite a while and then he cut into the wall to help get the hot air in there--- just a wall and pipe-- NO insulation of any sort... ZIP, ZERO, ZILCH. Way to go honey, thanks for preventing an enormous headache not to mention bill!So, it is the COLDEST day of the week. wind chills below zero and what happens? The electricity goes out. It was exciting for the kids (until they realized that all cartoons are attached to electricity) but we were questioning how long this was to happen, and when do we need to get the blankets out. Thankfully it was only out for 30 minutes, we were able to find out that they were randomly turning off electricity state wide. (whew, good to know it was controlled and not a snapped power line) Thankfully it only happened 2 times, for just an hour!

This was to be a busy week, instead it turned into crazy, lazy house-bound-ness. I love my house, I love my family, but I am SO ready to get out!! I mean, I live in Texas for a reason you know?!
I do feel really sorry for Jerry though--- we are hosting the super bowl, not so sure the bad weather and shut down towns were in his big plan!